Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

First floor.

Du Wei sat on the sofa, having exited his Spirit Vision state.

He held a pencil in hand, looking up at the Antique Clock on the wall, as well as Annabelle enclosed within a mounted cabinet.

On the coffee table lay the white mask made from an unknown material, with only small holes for eyes, along with a special medical record.

He felt something off about himself, partly due to the mask and partly from the effects of the Spirit Vision.

Long exposure to Evil Spirits was unavoidable in his line of work.

So, he thought for a moment, lowered his head, and looked at that medical record—it was his own.

This medical record had been updated once, right before he boarded the bus, with additional remarks added.

At that time, he had written that he was waiting for the Exorcist to arrive, with the task at hand being to investigate the information regarding the bus and find a way to contain it.

But now, the situation had changed; before the Exorcist had arrived, he had already obtained the church's Exorcist qualification certificate and had entered the Third Phase of Spirit Vision, displaying symptoms of Evil Spirit Transformation and becoming a hunter feared by the church.

As for that bus, he had only managed to uncover superficial information; its purpose, the stops at each station, and how to restrict it—Du Wei had no leads on these matters so far.

Thus, Du Wei made a new medical record for himself.

[Name: Du Wei]

[Occupation: Psychologist, Exorcist]

[Condition: Caught in a curse by a horrible being whose name cannot be written in text, established contact with an Evil Spirit within the mask, the longer the contact, the higher the chances of full possession, Evil Spirits brought by Aisha and those within the photographs, the yet-to-erupt Evil Spirits in the Horror House, and another mask's Evil Spirit]

[Hypothesis 1: The trigger for the curse is related to a ring with the letters "val"... and another item, a Golden Brooch, which, unless one rides the bus, is hard to come into contact with again]

[Hypothesis 2: The Antique Clock and the mask belong to the same category of items, seeming to contain rings with letters and the Golden Brooch; these items are somewhat like lighters that can combat Evil Spirits but seem more mysterious and powerful—among them, the Golden Brooch and the other mask can only be accessed via the bus, necessitating another trip eventually]

[Hypothesis 3: Concerning the death scenes seen in the Spirit Vision state, this is advantageous, but its occurrence seems to be more of a mutation, likely related to the Antique Clock]

[Hypothesis 4: Inside the Antique Clock, a more mysterious Evil Spirit is hidden]

[Regarding the clinic's Evil Spirits: According to their danger levels, in descending order, are the Antique Clock, mask, Annabelle and the shadow that seems to be on par, and the Evil Spirit brought by Aisha]

After writing everything down, Du Wei thought for a moment and then placed his own name before the Evil Spirit brought by Aisha.

In fact, with his current abilities, he was already capable of dealing with the Evil Spirit brought by Aisha, but it was meaningless.

Because for now, this Evil Spirit posed the least danger, its existence merely meant to accelerate the rate of Evil Spirit Transformation.

Thinking of this, Du Wei's mood became somewhat oppressed.

There were too many troubles on him. It was no longer about whether he wanted to encounter Evil Spirits or those strange things; now, he had no choice but to do so.

It was like walking on a tightrope...

In the long term, after the Horror House's eruption, not one of those Evil Spirits inside would be easy to provoke, and he had only managed to confront one of them back then.

Eventually, the likelihood of these Evil Spirits targeting him was probably even higher.

In the shorter term, there were the Cultists and the Evil Spirit in the villa—that one wasn't incapable of leaving the villa, just temporarily staying there for now.

And then, there was all this clutter at home.

Of course, even more dangerous was the curse, for in every dream, the nun would get a little bit closer to her, seemingly wanting to possess her rather than simply want to kill her.

Following this trend, if she were to dream again tonight, it would mean they were really going to be completely merged.

As Du Wei pondered, increasingly troubled, he suddenly received a call from Alex.

After a moment of contemplation, it should be about the antique clock matter he had asked her to inquire about this morning.

So, Du Wei pressed the answer button.

He said, "Good evening, Alex."

On the other end of the phone, Alex's gentle voice resounded, "Good evening, darling, I've found out about the antique clock. Interested in hearing about it?"

Automatically filtering out the 'darling' from her speech, Du Wei replied, "Please go on."

Alex's voice carried a hint of mirth, "The person in charge at the Berson Auction House told me that when the antique clock was brought to the auction, there was also a cabinet and other items. Most of the auction items were sold and would be hard to trace, so I only investigated the source."

Du Wei asked with a frown, "The source? Did all these items come from the same place?"

Alex responded, "Yes, it was a church located in the suburbs of New York, but it's been demolished now, replaced by a mental hospital."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Du Wei paused, "A mental hospital?"

Alex continued, "Yes, and it seems to be on the brink of closure too. By the way, why do you always deal with these secretive things? The last gift you gave me was holy water and a cross, which is quite... um, cool."

Unsure how to explain, Du Wei said, "Thanks. Do you have more detailed information?"

Alex replied, "Of course, I'll send it to your email."

Du Wei said, "Alright, I'll hang up now and wait for your email."

Alex's voice carried a note of confusion, "Hanging up? So soon?"

Du Wei spoke indifferently, "I've got some things to take care of, I'll call you next time."

"Really? Then I'll be waiting."

…

Meanwhile.

Within the boundaries of North Brook District, in a small alley.

Random piles of garbage emitted a foul stench, and due to the terrain, rainwater had accumulated enough to cover the ankles.

Many garbage bags floated on the surface, drifting further in.

The pitter-patter of rain hitting the garbage bags was irritatingly noisy.

But at the very end, a muffled groan suddenly sounded.

It was as if suppressing pain, making the sound that escapes from the throat through the nasal cavity.

Looking further in, a tall man in a raincoat, one hand covering the mouth of a very handsome, Asian-looking man dressed in black, while the other hand held a sharp knife, slowly pulling it out from his abdomen.

After a while, the man in the raincoat dropped the body and walked away with a mechanical, rigid gait, from the contour of the raincoat tightly clinging to the body, it seemed to be shriveled and hollow inside.

At the scene, the body lay in the water, and upon closer observation, it bore a faint resemblance to Du Wei's appearance.