Night.
A Dodge Ram pickup stopped in front of the desolate road sign, and a middle-aged white man, looking a bit weary, stepped out of the car with a travel bag on his back.
Near the sign was an expansive field, and as far as the eye could see, it was all golden wheat fields, with variously dressed scarecrows designed to scare away birds trying to steal food.
Looking further into the distance, hundreds of ters to the north, there was a cluster of houses, all two to three-story Arican-style low buildings, located in Gospel Town.
"I hope Henry didn’t deceive , and this Priest can really help get rid of that damn thing," the middle-aged white man muttered to himself, striding through the wheat field toward the distant houses.
...
After spending the day tidying up the old house, Sun Yan was lying on his bed, swiping through his phone screen and watching TikTok news about the cetery.
In North Arica, ceteries have always been public places. Before the nineteenth century, the deceased were buried in the land near local churches.
Gradually, this accumulated into a dense network of ceteries, lacking in aesthetics.
Even after being buried, the bodies of people of color would endure various damages. In areas like Manhattan and San Francisco, public ceteries didn’t even allow them to be buried.
Thus, in so remote small towns in the countryside, the cetery industry began to erge.
As long as you own a piece of land and enclose it, you can operate it as a cetery.
If anyone in Gospel Town wishes to bury their deceased family in Sun Yan’s cetery, they must first pay him a hefty ’Knife Pleasure’.
Otherwise, they could only bury the bodies in unsupervised remote places, which could result in vagabonds opening graves in an attempt to steal burial items for money, or wild wolves digging them up, leaving the bodies exposed in the wilderness.
’Bang’
"Father Stevenson! Are you at ho?"
The urgent knocking on the downstairs front door instantly woke up Sun Yan, who was already a bit sleepy.
Stephenson was grandfather’s Western na. Generally, overseas Chinese fighting in North Arica would adopt such nas to ease daily life.
He didn’t expect anyone would co looking for his grandfather at night, and what surprised Sun Yan more was that the person called his grandfather a Priest?
Holy moly, what secrets is Grandpa hiding behind the scenes?
Getting up, he walked to the first floor and opened the door.
A brown-haired middle-aged white man stood outside, looking extrely haggard. His whole attire was outdoor sportswear, filled with the scent of dust and travel, seemingly from a very distant place.
"Who are you?" Sun Yan asked.
Coming to a rural place like Gospel Town this late, it must be because of so trouble.
"My na is Joles, I’m sorry to disturb Father Stevenson so late, is he ho? I urgently need his help."
Sun Yan shook his head: "Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away a few days ago."
"What!"
Joles went pale as a corpse, clutching the door fra to prevent himself from collapsing onto the ground.
Under the house lights, his lips trembled slightly, his expression imnsely desperate.
Curiously, Sun Yan asked, "What do you want from him?"
"Evil Spirit, I’m haunted by an Evil Spirit."
Joles covered his face in regret: "These days I hear strange sounds beside my ears, it wants to go to Hell, it wants to kill , only Father Stevenson can save now."
"Don’t worry, take your ti, things might not be as severe as you say. Perhaps you’ve encountered so tough issues lately, ntally too anxious, causing hallucinations,"
Sun Yan pulled out a cigarette and handed it to him, lighting it for him: "Take one, maybe you’ll feel better. Co inside and sit, tell your troubles, perhaps I can offer so insight."
"You? Right, since you are a descendant of Father Stevenson, you should know Exorcism, right?" Joles suddenly showed a little excitent.
"Not necessarily, theoretically I’m just a cook at Ah Fen Restaurant in Chinatown."
Sun Yan invited Joles into the living room to sit down, gesturing toward the sofa: "Tell your situation in detail."
Joles quickly took two puffs of the cigarette, then lifted his shirt in front of Sun Yan, revealing nurous black Palm Seals on his skin, as if he had been beaten.
Sun Yan asked in confusion: "What’s this?"
"A curse, right after I got this thing, my body started turning like this."
Joles took out a round mirror from his travel bag and pushed it across the table to Sun Yan.
It’s a dieval-style antique, the mirror surface even showing signs of yellowing.
Two shattered cracks mixed with dark red impurities, resembling bloodstains soaked in.
Sun Yan observed the mirror and asked: "How did you get it?"
"Last week, a friend of mine returned from a trip to Europe and gifted this mirror. I don’t know its origins, but my friend said it houses a magical spirit inside. If you keep wishing to the mirror every night before sleep, the spirit will fulfill your wishes."
"So magical? Did it work, or did his wishes really co true after doing it?" Sun Yan picked up the mirror and asked.
Joles ran his fingers through his hair in collapse, shaking his head: "How could it be? He died, just a few days ago, jumping off a high floor of a hotel, no one knows why he committed suicide when life was so happy, but before he died he made a call to ..."
"What did he say?"
Joles raised his head in fear and said: "It ca from Hell... right beside ."
At that mont, a black Palm Seal slowly appeared on the skin of his neck.
The sudden anomaly occurred, yet Joles had no reaction whatsoever.
Sun Yan’s gaze twitched, instantly believing Joles’ story, silently lighting another cigarette and putting it into his mouth.
Cetery Entry ’Stare at Fear’ activated.
The initially fearful emotions instantly cald down, and his brain beca absolutely clear.
"So it seems, there’s indeed a problem with this mirror. Perhaps your friend was dood a long ti ago, and gifting you this mirror was a way to pass on the curse. It’s the classic horror movie trope," Sun Yan analyzed while examining the round mirror.
Like a drowning person grabbing onto a straw, Joles eagerly asked: "Priest, can you help exorcise it?"
"Mr. Joles, firstly, I’m not a Priest, you can call Jack Sun, actually in terms of exorcism, I’m not at all..."
’Bang!’
A stack of ten thousand US Dollars placed by Joles on the table, urgently imploring: "Please, Father Jackson, my friend is the sheriff of Saint Anna City, he strongly recomnded I co to Gospel Town to seek Father Stevenson’s help. He said Father Stevenson is an outstanding exorcism master, definitely can help , and as his descendant, you must have learned the skills of exorcism, right."
"Thank you for your trust, perhaps I can give it a try."
Sun Yan swallowed back the intended refusal, accepting ten thousand dollars and stuffing them into his pocket.
If he could earn this money, he would have his own second-hand car, his greatest dream since adulthood.
With the opportunity at hand, there’s no reason not to seize it.
Buzz Buzz Buzz.
At this ti, the notebook Sun Yan was carrying in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
Feeling the notebook’s anomaly, Sun Yan hurriedly took it out to check, only to find blank pages slowly erged new bloodstains.
Reward Mission [Cursed Magic Mirror]
Task Difficulty: ☆☆
Task Synopsis: A Magic Mirror cursed and filled with resentnt, interacting with it will bring misfortune to mortals, an Evil Spirit will take the life of every owner, your death countdown has begun.
Task Requirents: At midnight, ignite a candle in the darkness and face the Magic Mirror, when the Evil Spirit appears, maintain clarity and rationality until dawn, under no circumstances open windows or doors or leave the room, failing the task will suffer the Evil Spirit’s backlash.
Task Reward: Tomb Magical Artifact
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