Chapter 213: 3:15 A.M.
Gideon shot a sidelong glance and subtly applied force with his foot.
Judy immediately tumbled onto the grass.
Isn't that the kind of thing older people usually say? Trying to take advantage of me… he muttered inwardly.
Rubbing her nose, Judy glared at him in outrage.
"Gideon! I'm angry now!"
Nearby, Kathy smiled faintly—but the expression quickly dissolved into sorrow.
Just over ten days ago, her family had shared smiles just like this. Ever since moving here, everything had fallen apart.
Standing beneath the veranda, Lynn watched quietly, her gaze once again hardening with resolve.
At the same time, a shadowy figure stood by the attic window at the top of the villa, staring down at Judy on the lawn.
Judy seemed to sense something and looked up—but the window was empty.
"Father, what did you want to ask me?" Kathy spoke up.
Gideon dodged a clump of grass Judy hurled at him and turned around.
"Mrs. Lutz, how has George been emotionally lately? How long each day does he remain irritable?"
Since the man of the house wasn't inside, this was a good chance to clarify things.
If George's personality had already undergone a complete shift, Gideon would need to deal with that first.
Kathy thought for a moment. "About two or three hours a day. But as long as he leaves the house, Joe goes back to being his old self."
Gideon twitched slightly. "And even then, you didn't consider moving out?"
Kathy sighed helplessly.
"We spent nearly all our savings buying this house. Unless we can sell it quickly, we have nowhere else to go."
Now that the supernatural activity had been reported to the Church, selling the house in a short time was nearly impossible.
In some ways, Gideon reflected, being poor is more terrifying than ghosts.
He nodded. "Mrs. Lutz, I need to conduct a preliminary inspection of the house. Please call the children outside."
Kathy rose and complied.
Gideon then turned to Lynn. "After the DeFeo family murders, how were their bodies handled?"
"After the autopsy, the remains were handed over to a distant relative," Lynn replied after thinking.
"I heard they were buried in their hometown—Carson City, Nevada."
Gideon stroked his chin.
The burial site was extremely far from the villa. Under normal circumstances, spirits shouldn't be able to cross such a distance.
Yet the DeFeos still lingered here.
That meant their obsession ran deep.
However, since arriving, Gideon hadn't sensed overwhelming malevolence—which suggested the DeFeo family hadn't fully transformed into evil spirits.
If that was the case, identifying their obsession would be enough to cleanse them completely.
Gideon took out his exorcism tools. Judy stood nearby, equally focused.
"Set up a standard isolation barrier around the perimeter first," he instructed.
At that moment, Lynn hurried over, hesitating.
"Something wrong?" Gideon raised an eyebrow.
"Father Gideon… leave the evil spirits to me. I've just reached the Flesh stage."
He immediately understood.
So she, like him, needed exposure to corruption for cultivation.
"No," he replied without hesitation.
There were only so many spirits—he wasn't about to share.
Lynn grew anxious. "I can help set up holy water and drive them out! Just give me one!"
Seeing how eager she was, Gideon relented slightly.
"If there are enough spirits, I'll consider it."
Lynn nodded quickly and went to help Judy.
She thought it would be easy.
Instead, the two of them ended up burying dozens of holy relics across the lawn.
"Aren't the spirits inside the house?" Lynn panted. "Why haven't we gone in yet?"
Judy tilted her head thoughtfully. "Charging blindly into a haunted house is extremely dangerous."
"Then how do we exorcise it?"
"We wait for them to come out."
"…What?"
Night fell quickly.
The surroundings grew silent, and the villa took on an eerie presence.
Gideon scanned the area through a monocular.
Besides him, the Lutz family was standing by the roadside.
George, in particular, hadn't entered the house since returning that afternoon.
"Father, you said there are spirits here?" His eyes were full of doubt.
When George came home, he saw the group busy at work and assumed something had happened.
Only after Kathy explained did he realize they were exorcists sent by the Church.
He found it absurd.
Yes, he hadn't been feeling great lately—but to think his own wife believed he was possessed?
He and Kathy had argued fiercely.
George even tried to drive the three away.
But he soon discovered that the priest was frighteningly strong—it felt like grappling with a wild beast.
After some friendly persuasion, he finally agreed to sit down and talk.
George had intended to call the police—but one remark from Gideon gave him pause.
"The moment you step onto this property, your body starts reacting. Haven't you wondered why?"
George fell silent.
He had thought about it—but assumed it was fatigue. After all, he felt energetic at work.
In the end, he decided to believe the priest—at least for now.
After that, he watched Gideon cut up newspapers and scatter them across the front lawn.
He endured it, resigning himself to having to clean the yard later.
But after waiting ten hours with no sign of the so-called spirits, he spoke up again.
Gideon lowered the monocular and checked the time.
2:58 a.m.
According to the report, abnormalities always began at 3:15 a.m.
There was still time.
Gideon turned to George.
"Mr. Lutz, I won't repeat myself."
"Whether you believe in the dead is your choice. But if you interfere, I won't hesitate to temporarily disable you."
"That's the only way to ensure everyone else's safety."
He stared directly into George's eyes.
"So—would you prefer to pass out peacefully and survive the night?"
"Or be knocked out and still survive the night?"
George swallowed hard.
He wanted to argue—but the priest before him felt genuinely dangerous.
In the end, he looked away.
Seeing this, Gideon added calmly,
"Oh, by the way. I arrived this afternoon with these two ladies."
"They can both testify that I hadn't met Mrs. Lutz before today."
The moment he said that—
Everyone froze.
George, in particular, looked utterly constipated. He shook his head repeatedly at Kathy.
"Darling, I swear—I never thought anything like that."
But Kathy's gaze had already darkened.
Having successfully given George something else to worry about, Gideon smiled and turned back.
---
More than ten minutes later—
When the minute hand pointed to 15, the surroundings subtly changed.
An eerie stillness descended. The night seemed heavier, darker. Even the air temperature dropped noticeably.
"Huh…" Kathy rubbed her arms, shivering slightly.
Just as she was about to speak, movement came from inside the house.
A shadow flickered across the glass, drifting back and forth.
Yet in reality, there was nothing there.
Except for Judy, the other children instinctively stepped back in fear.
"Psychic force," Gideon said, glancing up.
A layer of gloomy darkness now enveloped the house. Even from a distance, he could feel the suffocating stillness within.
Then something new appeared.
A girl in a dress ran along the balcony railing.
Her skin was deathly blue, and her clothes were stained with blood.
Kathy was certain she had never seen this girl before.
But her younger daughter, Chelsea, whispered softly,
"That's Jodie. She plays with me all the time."
A chill crept up Kathy's spine.
Chelsea had often mentioned playing with someone—Kathy had always assumed it was childish imagination.
She never imagined…
Nearby, Gideon and the others already knew.
That "girl" was Jodie—the youngest daughter from the DeFeo family massacre.
The spectral girl looked panicked, as if fleeing something.
Moments later, she vanished straight into the wall.
---
At the same time, inside the basement, a pair of hands burst through the ground.
Old Ronald DeFeo emerged, his gaze vacant as he surveyed his surroundings.
His body was drenched in blood, white matter seeping from his eye sockets.
After standing motionless for a moment, he seemed to receive some unseen guidance.
Dragging himself forward, he climbed to the second floor—the room that once belonged to George and Kathy.
It was empty.
A rasping growl escaped his throat.
Soon, more figures appeared.
By their appearance, they were all members of the DeFeo family.
Faint malevolent auras radiated from them, plunging the house into an icy chill.
Bang! Bang!
All the bedroom doors flew open at once—yet no living human was inside.
Still, the air was thick with their presence.
Old Ronald raised his nose and sniffed.
In the next instant, every member of the DeFeo family turned toward the same direction.
The scene was deeply unsettling.
---
Outside.
Gideon narrowed his eyes.
The abnormal currents drifting through the air told him clearly—them were out.
Sure enough, five figures soon appeared beneath the veranda.
They stared fixedly toward the entrance—especially at George.
George's mouth hung open.
At this point, belief no longer mattered. The truth stood right in front of him.
The moment he saw the spirits, a stabbing pain exploded in his head.
"Ah—!"
He dropped to his knees, his face twisted in agony.
"Father Gideon! What's happening to him?" Kathy cried out.
Gideon observed briefly before replying calmly,
"Since moving into this house, every night at 3:15 a.m., George's brain has been assaulted by the spirits' psychic power."
"Even though he remained conscious tonight, the aftereffects don't vanish that quickly."
Lynn spoke up anxiously, "Father Gideon… they're coming."
Everyone looked over.
The five spirits were advancing toward them step by step.
Wherever they passed, the grass blackened instantly, and even the soil began to rot.
"Oh?" Gideon narrowed his eyes. "They can influence the environment."
He took out a thirty-year consecrated relic and handed it to Judy.
"Place this at the designated point."
"Father Gideon, I can hold them off," Lynn said.
She had clearly sensed how dangerous these spirits were.
Kathy's voice trembled. "Should we… leave first?"
But Gideon only smiled faintly.
"Don't rush. The exorcism has only just begun."
He stepped forward, stopping just inside a boundary line.
"Hey," he called out calmly, "how about a chat?"
Everyone except Judy froze.
"Father Gideon… who are you talking to?" Lynn asked hesitantly.
She had a vague guess—but didn't dare believe it.
Who tries to negotiate with the dead?
That would mean something was wrong with his mind!
Even the DeFeo spirits looked confused.
They sized up the priest briefly—then launched a psychic assault.
Yet the expected control never came.
Instead, their power was blocked by some unseen barrier.
As they reeled in shock, they suddenly heard the human's voice.
"I know you're bound by obsession," Gideon said evenly.
"Cooperate, and I can grant you rest."
Old Ronald's jaw dropped—tearing grotesquely down to his neck.
This damned human dared to speak of terms?!
But Gideon only sighed.
"You people really won't cooperate unless you suffer a bit."
He pointed at the ground.
"Mr. Ronald—take a look."
Ronald followed his gaze.
On the grass lay scraps of newspaper.
A bold headline screamed:
'FAMOUS DEALER FOUND DEAD AT HOME! THE TRUTH IS SHOCKING!'
Ronald's attention snapped to it.
An article about him.
Though dead, fragments of his memories remained.
As he read further, his expression twisted with rage.
"…Sources claim Ronald maintained multiple illicit affairs—both male and female… His eldest son, unable to bear his mother's humiliation, struck first…"
Lies!
He and his wife had been married for decades—deeply devoted.
How dare they!
Beside him, Mrs. DeFeo moved to clutch his arm—though the gesture felt disturbingly unnatural.
Seeing the bait take hold, Gideon smiled and pointed to another scrap.
Even worse:
'A TOXIC LOVE—RONALD FATHER AND SON, A TWISTED ROMANCE OF BLOOD.'
The DeFeo family snapped.
A violent wind tore across the lawn. Every window in the house shattered.
Seeing the moment was right, Gideon spoke again.
"This is how the world works," he said calmly.
"When truth is buried, rumors dance freely."
"The reputation, virtue, and wealth you built in life become stepping stones for others after death."
"And you—remain trapped here forever, slowly reduced to slaves of evil."
"Do you want to keep lingering here, frightening a few unfortunate residents?"
"Or do you want the truth of your deaths revealed—so the real butchers fall into hell?"
Silence filled the air.
At last, old Ronald lifted his head.
"What do you want?"
Gideon smiled, his gaze sweeping over the DeFeo family.
They shuddered under his stare, repeatedly confirming that this man truly belonged to the Church.
"What I want is simple."
His eyes burned with fervor.
"Your souls."