“What a shame. Why didn’t we go with my plan?”
Dean sighed, looking rather regretful.
When he’d learned that Su Fan was planning to squeeze this family for money, he’d suggested that he and his brother go in first as advance scouts, take on the exorcism job, and deliberately lose.
Back and forth like that, wouldn’t they be able to fleece even more wool?
“Too much trouble. Besides, our connection with Su would be uncovered with just a little digging.”
“Fine, fine.”
Dean pulled the million-dollar check out of his pocket.
“This is more than enough to give our standard of living a serious upgrade.”
“If you’re planning to use this money to go wild chasing women, I’ll knock your teeth in, Dean.”
Dean, caught red-handed by his younger brother, gave an awkward chuckle.
“Setting aside your boring plans, what I really want to know is how Su was so certain there’d be a ledger and surgical records.”
“Probably a guess.”
“…When you pulled it out earlier, did you flip through it?”
“Took a quick glance. The contents were… pretty shocking. Honestly, I can’t believe how many prominent social figures were involved.”
Dean paused for a moment as he said this.
“No wonder they kept a ledger… If they didn’t have leverage in hand, the moment something went wrong, they’d be the first to die.”
At that, Dean suddenly grasped the implication behind Su Fan’s earlier words.
Once those closely tied to the family behind the scenes learned that the Armitages had been wiped out, they’d rush to take over the estate immediately.
They’d need to destroy the evidence and erase anything that could implicate them.
But by then, the pre-booked construction crew would have already finished remodeling the manor and villa.
And the high-ranking officials and power players who took over would be met with an unending stream of bad luck.
Maybe soon, they’d see negative news about certain officials or public figures on TV.
“I thought Su would just grab a sword and charge in to wipe them all out himself.”
“In your eyes, is he really that thoughtless? Can’t you tell from this ledger business? He’s thinking about way more than we are.”
“Sharp mind, and terrifying combat prowess… In any movie or show, he’d be a top-tier villain.”
“No, he’d be a top-tier good guy. The good guys should be smarter than the bad guys—otherwise, how are they supposed to fight against evil?”
As they walked, Sam and Dean came to a halt.
Because they realized Su Fan hadn’t followed them. At some point, he’d stopped in his tracks.
“Su?”
“Did you find something else?”
Su Fan didn’t directly answer Dean and Sam’s questions. He simply shook his head lightly.
“Alright then, we’ll head outside first.”
Seeing this, the Winchester brothers understood and didn’t press further. They turned and left.
There was nothing left for them to do now, and sticking around would probably just get in Su Fan’s way.
After they left, Su Fan looked up again.
His eyes locked onto the location of the study within the villa.
In the transparent world revealed by his spiritual sense, the tome on the bookshelf gave off a dizzying, eerie aura.
The unadorned, ancient spine of the book seemed to twist for just a moment—like the body of a serpent.
It was so uncanny and dangerous that it stirred an irresistible urge to examine it closely and uncover its mysteries.
No…
Su Fan narrowed his eyes, pulling himself out of that strange trance, his heart racing with alarm.
Had he just been bewitched by this book?
Without even opening it, merely gazing at it with his spiritual sense, it already possessed such unsettling power.
Clearly, this book was no ordinary object.
Su Fan raised his hand, preparing to use his summoning ability on the book on the shelf.
A peculiar pulling force connected his palm to the target.
In the empty study, the pitch-black book trembled, as if about to fly out from its place.
But the next second, a wisp of grayish mist shot up along the invisible force, coiling like a serpent, and surged toward him with alarming speed.
It moved so fast that even Su Fan almost failed to react.
Just a moment before the mist reached his hand, Su Fan severed the pulling force.
But then the mist, like a serpent, suddenly burst apart.
In an instant, the entire ground floor of the villa was swallowed by it.
Frowning, Su Fan extended his spiritual sense.
But what he encountered was unexpected.
[My spiritual range has been compressed… This dense fog restricts psychic perception.]
Su Fan could feel that his mental energy, which had always flowed freely before, was now sluggish and constrained, limited to the fog’s thinner areas.
Fortunately, with his yin-eye perception active, he could still see clearly through the mist.
This gray haze instinctively repulsed him.
He cultivated the righteous path—one that valued a clear conscience and sought to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for his own use. He wasn’t wielding the Celestial Revelation Talisman.
The fact that this mist stirred such aversion in him meant its source was undoubtedly something evil.
And not just any evil.
From within the gray mist came a faint, indistinct murmur.
The obscure, archaic language carried a fervent sense of devotion.
A corrupting force began to probe and taint Su Fan’s will and spirit.
Su Fan remained unaffected, but that didn’t make the corrupting power any less sinister.
Any ordinary person whose soul hadn’t been fortified would likely be driven to madness in an instant.
[No warning from my intuition. The mist isn’t a serious threat to me directly.]
With that thought, Su Fan raised his hand, and threads of spiritual power traced the air, forming exorcism talismans.
Several talismans materialized instantly and shot off in all directions.
Just as Su Fan had expected, the gray mist began to dissolve upon contact with the talismans.
In terms of sheer intensity, it was slightly weaker than the mist Malthus had produced.
But Su Fan didn’t underestimate its source.
The previous two had manifested their true forms. This one was merely a remnant of power left behind on the book.
The comparison was clear enough.
After suppressing the gray mist that had erupted, Su Fan gave a light leap and landed in the study.
With a casual flick, he unlocked the door and walked over to the bookshelf.
Dean Armitage’s profession was brain surgery, so most of the books here were medical texts.
But aside from the medical books, the most abundant were actually mythological tales from various regions.
Su Fan took one down and began to read at an astonishing speed.
To an outsider, it would have looked like quantum speed-reading, but every bit of information entered Su Fan’s mind with perfect clarity.
This one contained strange events from the early nineteenth century.
Vampires, werewolves, evil spirits, murderers—all were included, along with detailed records of numerous psychiatric patients.
Among them were many pitiful souls who had undergone so-called “brain bridge severance” surgeries.
After finishing one book without finding what he was looking for, Su Fan put it back.
Finally, his gaze settled on that particular tome.
He reached out and ran his hand over its spine. A cold, slippery sensation came through his fingertips—unpleasantly so.
When he lifted it down, a faint fishy smell reached his nose.
Su Fan’s eyes widened slightly.
Because, at that moment, he found himself once again surrounded by gray haze.
Only this time, the floor beneath him had turned into rotten wooden dock planks.
A warm, damp, salty sea breeze swept over him, dampening his skin.
And before him stretched an endless ocean, veiled in gray mist.
