Chapter 105: Mission Complete
Inside the room.
Marcus drew the curtains and took out a gray canvas sack.
The method everyone had discussed would take too long, and he couldn't wait, so he decided to try his own idea first.
Marcus first affixed a ring of blessed papers around the opening of the sack and hung a finger-length blessed cross on it.
Only then did he open the sack, revealing a small gap.
A wisp of black mist instantly tried to fly out, but was blocked by the blessed papers, bounced back, dispersed into a cloud of smoke, and then fell back down, returning to the wooden carving.
He took out the bottle of transparent holy water that could purify evil energy, which he had obtained from Father Henderson, and dripped a drop onto the wooden carving.
The wooden carving, which was entirely black and resembled a seated horned demon, emitted a sound like a red-hot iron hitting ice water the moment it came into contact with the liquid.
That black part visibly turned gray.
The eyes of the Soul Collector carving flashed a faint red light, and a series of ancient curses rang out from the sack:
"I want you to come to me."
The same old curse, without any originality.
Seeing that the liquid worked on the Soul Collector, Marcus felt relieved.
If all else failed, the only option would be to sacrifice Brother Kane in conjunction with a ritual to summon divine power to slay the Soul Collector.
"It seems this feeling excites you!"
Marcus dripped another drop of the liquid. The gray area above the Soul Collector's head spread, the red light in its eyes slowly faded, and the curse disappeared.
Was it backing down?
"Soul Collector, your path has come to an end. Now, your only way out is to write down your Seven Souls Transformation Ritual through me. Perhaps I can help you!"
Marcus took out a piece of paper and a pen, put them into the sack, retied the sack, and waited quietly.
Even the possessed victims in previous cases were constantly writing about rituals; it shouldn't be considered secret knowledge for the Soul Collector.
After waiting for about half an hour, during which only a few sounds were heard, Marcus opened the sack again and glanced inside. The paper only had a few words written in an ancient script.
He opened his phone's translator and tried decoding. The text meant, "Let me out!"
He'd waited half an hour, given it paper and a pen, and this was all he got?
And it was written in the middle of the paper, in huge letters—clearly no one intended to write anything else.
The Soul Collector's actions almost made Marcus laugh in anger.
He took out his holy water and dripped three more drops.
The wooden carving of the Soul Collector began to vibrate rapidly and slightly, as if enduring immense pain.
Marcus was about to continue when a possibility suddenly occurred to him:
"Could it be that this Soul Collector only understands the ancient language and doesn't know what I'm saying?"
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Marcus took out his phone, used a translation app to convert his words into the ancient tongue, and clicked on voice playback.
Then he placed another sheet of white paper inside.
This time, the rustling sound of writing began quickly and continued for five minutes before stopping.
Marcus opened the sack a crack again; this time, the paper was densely covered with strange symbols.
He didn't remove the paper; the Soul Collector had many possession methods.
So, using a camera with blessed papers attached, he photographed the symbols inside the bag and translated them using a mystical reference app. It was indeed the necessary Seven Souls Reincarnation Ritual.
Marcus translated one sentence again and played it to the Soul Collector:
"I'll find a test subject to verify this. If it's confirmed to be real, I'll help you. So, Soul Collector, you'd better think it through carefully again, make sure there's nothing you've missed, after all, this concerns your reincarnation."
As the audio finished playing, a rustling sound came from inside the bag, a few additional sentences about the ritual.
Seven sacrifices must be hanged, their birthdays must be in winter months, a mirror must be placed before their deaths so they can see their faces at the moment of their demise, and a place where life and death meet must be chosen.
He verified the translation again, confirming that the Soul Collector was no longer of any use; it was time to finish this.
"Very good, but now, you need to be cleansed."
"Let's begin today's purification!"
Marcus dripped holy water into the sack continuously, nearly 20 drops in total.
The Soul Collector's jet-black demon statue turned completely grayish-red, with a vertical line appearing around its entire body, like a seam formed by two pieces of wood carving pieced together and glued on.
After dripping in 5 more drops of holy water, the wood carving made a cracking sound, completely splitting into two pieces along the seam.
Marcus's system emitted a long-awaited notification sound:
[Completed Mission Story 1: Destroy the Soul Collector, gain 3000 survival points, exploration progress and story score increased]
Hearing the notification sound, Marcus finally felt relieved, proving that the Soul Collector was truly dead.
He completely opened the sack and poured out its contents.
The Soul Collector's statue was split into two pieces.
But in the middle of these two pieces, there was a miniature dagger, about the length of a hand, with an iron handle and ancient engravings.
This dagger had a distinctly occult style, and Marcus felt that this should be the core of the Soul Collector's power. The red light in the Soul Collector's eyes seemed to emanate from the blade of this dagger.
The Soul Collector's ritual also seemed to transfer its core from this small dagger to a real, living psychic.
Could it be because psychics also possess a trace of supernatural attributes?
Although he didn't know what the dagger was for, Marcus felt it should be a valuable item, so he put away the broken wooden carving and the dagger.
After the notification that the Soul Collector had been destroyed, Old Lamp and Little Sheep immediately sent messages.
Old Lamp: I was just working out when I received the notification, and I almost pulled a muscle. The Soul Collector is dead! Doctor, did you do it? You're amazing! I'm still preparing. When is the big showdown going to start?
Little Sheep: Wow, Doctor, you're amazing! How are things going over there? We went to the beach to collect seashells today.
Old Lamp: I haven't even had a chance to contribute yet. Doctor, call me anytime if you need anything.
Doctor: A female demon died earlier, leaving only the Soul Collector, so I asked the mediums to eliminate it. I'm busy now, let's talk later.
Doctor: By the way, Little Sheep, you can bring Jasmine back now.
Marcus chatted with the two for a few minutes.
Recently, Little Sheep had been sending a lot of photos of herself and Jasmine at various scenic spots via the communicator, and Jasmine had gained a lot of weight.
Unfortunately, Little Sheep looked elderly, and Jasmine looked like an ordinary college student, so their photos didn't really interest Marcus and Old Lamp.
After ending the call, Marcus continued to think about Brother Kane. Even now that the Soul Collector was dead, Kane's fate hadn't changed.
What could completely change a man?
There was probably only one thing: family and responsibility.
Marcus had an idea.
Knock knock~.
"Come in, Kane, the door isn't locked."
Marcus replied, sitting down in a chair.
Brother Kane had been racking his brains trying to find a way to eliminate the Soul Collector, but Marcus suddenly told him that there was a very good method that didn't require his sacrifice, but he needed Kane's cooperation, and asked to discuss it in detail.
So he arrived eagerly.
"Mr. Davis, you said on the phone that you found a way to eliminate the Soul Collector, is that true?"
Kane asked anxiously as soon as he sat down.
He dreamed of completely destroying the Soul Collector; he couldn't repeat the mistake he made five years ago, simply suppressing it.
If the Soul Collector wasn't eliminated, it would be a menace sooner or later.
(End of Chapter)
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