Inside an alleyway by the street.
William opened his eyes and quickly climbed up from the ground.
Holding a crucifix in his hand, dense runes surfaced on his forehead and neck, while an invisible barrier enveloped his body.
Two circles of golden patterns appeared in his pupils as he sized up his surroundings inch by inch.
"Where is this? Wasn't I in the house..."
A narrow and gloomy alley, ssy ground, relatively tall buildings on both sides, and the air filled with the stench of garbage.
This seed to be an urban area, and Catherine and the others were not around.
After confirming there was no danger around, William checked himself.
At this mont, his clothes were sowhat damaged, but the surface of his body was not injured.
He recalled the scene just now—after the evil spirit's power erupted, fierce winds began to blow in the room, and William imdiately activated the ans he had set up in advance.
Despite this, the evil spirit's power still seed difficult to suppress.
When cracks appeared in the surrounding space, William's vision went dark, and when he woke up again, it was now.
He looked not far away; the ground at the exit of the alley was bathed in dazzling sunlight. It was currently dayti.
William walked out of the alley.
He raised his hand to block his forehead, narrowing his eyes to look around.
A wide asphalt road lay across in front of him. On both sides were industrial-style buildings, red brick outer walls paired with old-fashioned fire escapes.
The street was also sowhat dirty, with newspapers and discarded bags thrown randomly on the ground.
The n mostly wore fedoras, white shirts on their upper bodies, and suit pants on their lower bodies, looking like gentlen.
The won also wore hats and knee-length skirts.
The pedestrians' expressions were sowhat serious. Even while walking on the road, people held newspapers, constantly drawing sothing on them with pens.
Further away was another kind of scenery.
Nurous skyscrapers overlooked the surroundings, their outer reflective glass mirroring the golden sunlight.
This didn't look like a suburban town at all, but rather the financial center of a large city.
"Where did this send ..." William sweatdropped a bit.
He found a newsstand by the street to ask, but the answer he got surprised him a bit.
"This is f*cking New York, of course, Manhattan, New York! The only area in North Arica that can still maintain prosperity! Are you drunk, Mr. Priest..."
But another thing surprised William even more—according to the year printed on the newspaper, he was currently several decades in the past!
"What's this situation... A second transmigration?"
William covered his face; he had never encountered this kind of situation before.
But at this ti, his theological abilities and panel progress were still there, which indicated he was still using his original body.
Therefore, William deduced he was still in the previous world.
Because there were too few clues at present, he had no idea about "how to go back," so he could only randomly pick a direction and move forward.
Before long, William ca to a plaza.
"New York University..." he read the words on a nearby road sign.
At this ti, a voice suddenly ca from behind.
"Oh~ Mr. Priest, haven't you gone in yet? The cultural seminar is about to start."
William turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing a suit.
"You are..."
"John, in charge of the preparation work for this archaeological seminar." John extended his hand.
"Please co with , the materials brought by Father rrin still need you guys to verify."
William raised an eyebrow.
"Father rrin... isn't this the one in 'The Exorcist'? Could it be..."
He imdiately nodded and followed this guy nad John.
A few minutes later, inside a certain classroom.
Several boxes were piled up here, containing so antiques. At this mont, a few staff mbers were inventorying them.
"Oh... my god, soone finally ca."
A staff mber ca in front of William and handed over a roster.
"These are the materials Father rrin will use later. If there are no problems, please sign your na."
William smiled slightly and wrote down the na "Roen".
"Father rrin is in classroom 07 next door. He just called for people to co move these items. Do you need to..."
William looked at the large boxes and imdiately said: "Thanks for your hard work, leave the rest to ."
The person breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'll leave it to you."
William pushed the cart to classroom 07 and knocked gently on the door.
Before long, the door opened, and in front of him was an old man with graying hair.
Seeing William's face, the old man was obviously stunned for a mont, but still stepped aside: "Thanks for your hard work helping move them in."
William nodded.
He had already recognized that the other party was the sacrificed Father rrin from The Exorcist.
Many students were sitting in the classroom. He instantly felt many gazes gather on him.
"Fellow students, this is the statue I excavated at the archaeological site, coming from sopotamian civilization and Assyrian mythology."
Father rrin opened the box and took out a tal object.
William turned his head to look, then frowned slightly.
He saw the statue had a ghost-like head and wings on its back, very similar to the evil spirit he had seen not long ago.
"According to literature records, this should be an evil god nad Pazuzu, the god controlling storms and diseases."
Father rrin wrote its na on the blackboard.
"Pazuzu... it's actually an evil god," William pondered secretly.
"A thousand years ago, it caused chaos in the human world and was ultimately sealed underground by the Church."
At this ti, a student in the seats raised his hand.
"Father rrin, by digging it out, aren't you letting the evil god regain its freedom?"
As soon as this was said, scattered laughter imdiately rang out in the classroom.
Father rrin spread his hands: "What you said makes a lot of sense, but this is just a myth and legend. Just like now, most seemingly bizarre possessed people ultimately recover their health through psychological treatnt."
He spoke with a smile, but a barely noticeable trace of worry flashed in his eyes.
"Alright, everyone, please look at this now."
rrin drew a pattern of a coin on the blackboard.
"This is the silver coin unearthed together with the evil god at that ti, also called the 'Apostle Badge'. It is an offering specially used by the Church to seal evil powers."
After introducing it a bit, he continued: "This silver badge is now kept in the Church and is an important clue for researching early Church culture."
"Father rrin, I once read in Church texts that there are twelve such badges in total, corresponding to the initial twelve missionaries?" a girl spoke up.
"Your preview preparation is very detailed!" rrin praised, "But actually, this is an erroneous record."
"In the Assyrian text 'Hymns' unearthed more than ten years ago, there were records of the silver badge..."
"This thing itself is an exorcism item. No matter where you are, you can feel the power coming from Heaven, which is why it was widely applied in sealing evil."
"The Church at that ti made many silver badges; the number was far more than twelve."
"The latter actually cos from another saying—"
"The initial twelve missionaries, in order to resist the evil invading the human world, spilled their own blood on the silver badges, thereby blessing the badges with the power bestowed upon them by the Lord."
"Since then, twelve silver badges were distinct from the rest. Later believers also called them—the Holy Apostle Silver Badges."
As soon as his voice fell, a gleam of brilliance flashed in William's eyes.
"These holy relics are very powerful, containing power truly from Heaven. Relying on them, believers were able to survive the invasions..."
Soone asked curiously: "Is the one you excavated one of them?"
rrin shook his head: "I am not clear on that. In the long river of history, these silver badges gradually went missing..."
"However, the unearthed literature records a thod that can grant ordinary silver badges a holy blessing..."
William pricked up his ears.
"...It requires a silver badge, and simultaneously a Holy Clergy mber whose heart is extrely devout, brave, and pure, to spill their blood on it. At that ti, miracles will reappear..."
Father rrin sighed: "This definitely isn't talking about , I'm a bit afraid of pain..."
"Hahaha..."
Laughter rang out below the podium.
Ring... Ring...
"Students, if you are interested in Church archaeological culture, you can send your research to my email..."
The students gradually left, leaving only two people in the classroom.
"Your na is..."
Father rrin looked at William while packing up his things.
The latter stated his na.
"Father William? Please help pack these things up, my back isn't very good."
William nodded and proactively stepped forward.
"Which... church are you from? I don't seem to have seen you before," rrin said.
"West Philadelphia Community Church."
"Oh~ No wonder I saw your attire was a bit different..." rrin nodded. "Are you here to replace Father Martin? I haven't been able to find him."
"No... I'm just passing by. That Mr. John seed to have so misunderstanding..."
Hearing this, rrin only then realized William wasn't a staff mber for this seminar, so he hurriedly apologized to him.
"Please don't mind. I have always been very interested in Church texts."
"Oh~ Really? That's rare!" rrin's eyes lit up. "Nowadays, few young Holy Clergy mbers focus on this..."
The two chatted about so Church knowledge.
Relying on decades of future knowledge, even rrin was surprised by William's Church erudition.
"I am sowhat interested in the Holy Apostle Badge..."
William took this opportunity to ask his true purpose—whether this badge possessed spatial power, such as going to Heaven.
"Hehe, Father William, this is just a legend." rrin smiled and shook his head. "It's a thod the Church uses to recruit believers."
"Even if the legend were true, not many people are interested in it."
"After all, the economic crisis has been severe these two years. Those factories have all moved abroad, and many people have lost their jobs..."
"Therefore, fewer and fewer people believe in the Church, to the point where even so Holy Clergy mbers cannot maintain basic food and clothing."
William was slightly stunned.
Why did the style suddenly change from supernatural and evil to heavy realism...
Moreover, hearing these from a priest's mouth really felt a bit uncomfortable.
William could only nod in agreent.
"Alright young man, I should go too." Father rrin picked up his backpack and handed a slip of paper to William.
"This is the storage location of that silver badge. If you are interested, you can go take a look. I will inform them in advance for you."
William stepped forward and took it with both hands: "Then thank you very much."
After bidding farewell to Father rrin, William also left the campus.
He didn't expect that coming here by a stroke of luck this ti would actually yield clues to the Holy Apostle Silver Badge.
From rrin's introduction, this badge could connect to the power of Heaven.
And Heaven in this world was closely linked to the "Unknowable Space."
So this badge might truly possess spatial effects.
Therefore, William's hope of returning might just lie in this item.
"Such a holy item is probably strictly guarded, how do I get it out..."
Thinking of this, he suddenly realized sothing was wrong.
The Holy Apostle Silver Badge needed to be stained with the blood of a devout, pure believer.
This stealing... should have absolutely nothing to do with purity, right?
"I am guilty, I hope the Lord forgives my greed..." he hurriedly tried to make ands in his heart.
But if he didn't steal... if he didn't do this, what other way was there?
William was focusing on his thoughts when suddenly a person bumped into him.
"Sorry," that person whispered, then picked up his box that had fallen to the ground.
"Are you... a priest?" the other party spoke up.
"Yes." William nodded, also sizing up the other party.
The person in front of him had dium-long hair, wearing a black suit, looking like a boxer.
But the other party's inner shirt was a black turtleneck, the standard attire for early Church priests.
More importantly, William recognized the other party—Father Karras.
In the original work of The Exorcist, he lured the demon into his own body, and then took the evil away completely by committing suicide.
"Oh~ this is my first ti seeing such attire," Karras said curiously.
"I didn't damage you by bumping into you, did I?" He looked at the tears in William's clothes and imdiately asked.
"Don't worry, these damages were already there." William smiled slightly, shifting his gaze to the other party's neck.
A silver necklace hung there; it was a round badge engraved with a pair of wings.
"That's good." Karras breathed a sigh of relief. "I still have matters to attend to, I'll take my leave first."
He waved goodbye to William.
The latter watched from the spot for a while, and quickly followed.
Half an hour later.
At the entrance of the Manhattan State Psychiatric Hospital.
Father Karras hurried over here, and a man was waving at him.
"Uncle, what's wrong with Mom?" Karras's tone was a bit unsteady.
"She was yelling and screaming, not letting anyone get close, so I could only bring her here first..."
The two entered the hospital building all the way.
Karras was a priest and a psychiatrist, responsible for the church's confession services.
His father had passed away long ago, so he had always lived with his mother.
But due to his busy work, Karras rarely went ho.
Leaving his elderly mother ho alone.
Not long ago, Karras's mother accidentally injured her leg in a fall.
Due to the high dical costs in North Arica, combined with the current economic downturn, he couldn't afford his mother's treatnt costs.
He could only give his mother so simple bandaging.
This also made him feel even more guilty.
But this wasn't Karras's first ti facing such a situation.
His mother's brain blood vessels developed a pathology, which caused damage to so of her brain functions.
Therefore, besides Karras himself, it was difficult for others to get along with his mother.
And this illness had dragged on for a long ti.
It wasn't until his mother fell last ti that Karras realized what he truly cared about.
So he had just resigned from the church and returned today, intending to find a higher-paying job to stay by his mother's side.
Inside the ward.
So patients lay blankly on their beds, while others looked excited, interacting with non-existent things in the air.
Seeing this scene, Karras reached out and wiped his face hard.
"Your mother's bed is in the last corner." The nurse pointed.
Karras took a deep breath and walked in.
During this ti, patients would occasionally run towards him with a smile. He could only forcefully break free from these patients' hands.
Finally, Karras saw his mother lying on the hospital bed, her hands and feet all tied with restraints.
"Mom!"
Karras threw himself over.
His mother turned her head. Seeing it was her son, she imdiately turned her head away again.
"Why did you send here...!"
Outside the hospital.
Karras looked at his uncle: "Why couldn't she be arranged sowhere else?"
"Like where? A private hospital? Who has that money! Do you!"
Hearing this, Karras wiped his face again.
After his uncle left, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Just as he was preparing to light it, he couldn't feel his lighter anywhere.
"Do you need this?"
A voice rang out behind him.
"It's you."
Karras turned his head, finding the person who arrived was the Holy Clergy mber he had bumped into not long ago.
"Let introduce myself. My na is William."
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