"Damn it."
Raine wasn't sure what was happening; he didn't have the means like Sun Yan to open the Celestial Eye and see the existence of the Evil Spirit directly.
He could only quickly flip open the Bible in his hand, lift the Silver Cross, and recite the True Words from the Bible to Betar, who looked pale.
As Raine recited loudly, the Cross in his hand immediately shone with a faint white light.
"Hmm?!" Sun Yan's eyes changed; the fact that the Shajiao District Police Station invited these two priests as Spiritual Consultants indeed had its reasons; they indeed had some exorcism methods.
Bathed in the Holy Light of the Cross, the Evil Spirit that was strangling Betar's neck looked extremely pained, quickly releasing its grip and jumping down from Betar, hurriedly running towards a place far from the Holy Light.
At this moment, even without the Celestial Eye, Raine could see a moving fuzzy figure within the Holy Light.
He hurriedly continued chanting the True Words while pursuing, cornering the Evil Spirit to a corner to accept the purification of the True Words.
"Ah!!!"
The Evil Spirit's body quickly started to decay, and finally, under the burning of the Holy Light, it screamed and turned into scattered ashes.
"Is this the method of exorcism by the church? The method seems quite straightforward." Having witnessed a Western-style exorcism for the first time, Sun Yan was amazed, which indirectly proved that the church indeed had some depth.
"Betar, are you okay?"
Seeing the Evil Spirit had been destroyed by his True Words, Raine quickly ran back to check on his companion.
When he saw the two black handprints on Betar's neck, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, breaking into a cold sweat.
If it weren't for Sun Yan's reminder, they would never have noticed that there was actually an Evil Spirit hiding in this room, which was truly terrifying to think about.
"Cough, cough, cough." Betar covered his neck and stood up from the ground, coughing until his face turned red, glancing uncomfortably at Sun Yan who was watching the show.
"Remember to be more careful next time, a priest only has one life." Sun Yan ignored his gaze, walked into the room, and inspected around to see if there were any other victims turned into Evil Spirits.
"Is there any connection between the murder case on the 4th floor and the disappearance case of the officers on the 7th floor? Was it the work of an Evil Spirit, or was there another culprit?" Sun Yan frowned, pondering in his mind.
At this time, the notebook in his pocket suddenly vibrated, and Sun Yan's expression became subtle. He now knew very well that the notebook would only vibrate when a new task appeared or a task was completed.
Upon taking out the notebook, new content indeed appeared on it.
——
Time-limited Task [Longevity Pill] 23:59:58
Task Difficulty: ☆☆☆☆
Task Description: When all hope is lost, some will stop at nothing to try to live, even if it breaks the taboo.
Task Requirement: Stop the Fallen's crime
Task Reward: Cemetery Entry
——
Time-limited Task [Nonexistent Door] 23:59:58
Task Difficulty: ★ (Dangerous)
Task Description: Every midnight at the Hour of the Rat, does a door that doesn't exist really appear in the hallway, and where does it lead?
Task Requirement: Investigate the truth about the door
Task Reward: Tomb Magical Artifact
——
Seeing the two brand-new time-limited tasks in the notebook, Sun Yan felt a mixture of emotions.
Unlike the previous daily tasks and bounty tasks, these time-limited tasks come with a time limit, which means if he doesn't complete these two tasks within 24 hours, the tasks would be considered failed, and the time is very tight.
And now, let alone completing the tasks, Sun Yan had very few clues at hand, which made the hope seem dim.
"The Longevity Pill task should refer to this multiple homicide case, and the Nonexistent Door is related to the disappearance of those two officers on the 7th floor."
Sun Yan returned to the living room, seeing the two priests were still there, and he directly walked out of room 401.
The police would surely have collected and taken away the remaining clues at the scene. The job of these Spiritual Consultants was to ensure no Evil Spirits remained at the scene, and if found, to eliminate them on the spot.
Through the notebook, Sun Yan directly concluded these were two separate cases; the murders on the 4th floor were not the doing of an Evil Spirit but a human perpetrator, which was not in Sun Yan's domain to handle and could be handed over to Henry.
Sun Yan proceeded directly to the 7th floor to personally examine what the situation was with the 'Nonexistent Door'.
Taking out the General Sun Mask from his pocket, Sun Yan felt slightly more secure; although he wasn't sure what the mask was for, it was a Magical Artifact, and if he did encounter an Evil Spirit, it should still have some exorcism capability.
The 7th floor of the apartment led to the Celestial Platform, with only a storage room and no other rooms.
Sun Yan stepped out from the stairs to a six-meter-long cement corridor, and at the end of the corridor was the door to the Celestial Platform.
The white walls didn't show the Spring Festival couplets captured by the law enforcement camera; instead, a rusty iron basin was placed in a corner of the corridor, containing a good amount of burned paper ashes.
Among the ashes, one piece of paper that wasn't entirely burned caught Sun Yan's attention, with a few prominent traditional Chinese characters 'Heaven and Earth Bank' printed on it.
Sun Yan wondered, "Is someone burning paper money here?"
Burning paper money has always been an ancient Eastern tradition, typically done for ancestors to allow them to have money in the Underworld.
The appearance of such an event in an apartment in California indeed made Sun Yan feel a bit out of place.
Crack!
The silent corridor suddenly emitted a strange sound, causing Sun Yan to shudder and instantly turn toward the direction of the noise.
"Who's there? Come out."
The door of the storage room in the corridor slowly opened, and a disheveled white man timidly walked out.
He was gaunt, wearing thin clothes, holding toiletries, and asked with bewilderment, "Hey man, what are you doing here."
"I'm here for a police investigation; I'm checking the scene. Who are you, and why are you hiding in there?"
The documents mentioned that there were no residents on the 7th floor. Sun Yan acted calm and pulled out his phone, already poised to press Officer Henry's number. If this white man showed any danger, he would immediately call for support.
"I'm living here; last month, the owner of this apartment rented this storage room to me for $100 US Dollar a month. Although the conditions are a bit poor, having a place that doesn't leak for $100 US Dollar is totally worth it. But he gave me one condition, that I couldn't let others know I'm living here, please don't tell the other residents in the apartment." The white man quickly explained, stretching and intending to brush his teeth and wash up on the Celestial Platform.
"Is there really someone living on the 7th floor? How did Henry not discover this?" Sun Yan thought to himself.
Just then, his phone rang; it was a call from Henry.
"Father Jackson, I've got the latest news to share. The police forensic team found something new during the autopsy of the deceased. Can you believe it? The hearts of the victims were all removed. Perhaps this might be the motive for the murders. Do you have any insights?"
On the other end of the line, Henry's excited voice came through, while Sun Yan, upon hearing this news, had a very peculiar expression.
"Longevity Pill...?"