'My partner is truly a monster and a devil at the same time!' James thought to himself as he walked beside the swings. When he looked back, he saw Xiao Peng standing and looking at the swing a little girl was playing on, and his usual cold gaze was absent from his face now. Instead, it was a rare and unexpected look.
'It seems as if he was deprived of his childhood rights!' James thought to himself, his tone carrying pity for Xiao Peng. He said, "Peng! Let's move!"
"Ah, I'm coming!" Xiao Peng ran and stood beside James before they moved, heading towards the church in the middle of the garden.
When they stood in front of it, Xiao Peng looked up using his ability to see something strange attached to the church, but he couldn't discern what it was because something was obstructing his view.
"James! There's something strange up there!" Xiao Peng spoke to James beside him.
"You sensed that too? That's really interesting," James spoke, praising Xiao Peng.
"You're the third person to tell me that today!" Xiao Peng spoke while looking at the church door in front of him.
"Really? Who are the other two?" James asked, teasing.
"I'll tell you later. For now, how do we get in? Should we break the door?" Xiao Peng asked.
"Break what? Are you crazy? We'd be arrested the next moment by the official power-bearers!" James spoke and said, "Don't worry, I have a solution."
James advanced towards the door, grabbed the handle with his hand, and knocked on it three times quietly, only for the priest to open it the next moment!
"How may I serve you, sirs?" asked the priest, who was wearing priestly robes. His long blond hair resembled that of an African lion, but his face was also handsome. Around his neck was a small chain with a metal cross attached, and in his hand was a celestial rosary.
That person looked at James and then shifted his gaze towards Xiao Peng, seeing the black glove on his right hand. But he didn't say anything and quickly looked back at James, who was holding a red umbrella.
"Hello, Father, I'd like to receive blessings! I feel as if I've been suffering from hallucinations and hearing strange things this week!" James spoke, feigning symptoms.
"You are being pursued by evil spirits, it seems. You need a protection ritual!" the priest said and then asked, "And you, what are you suffering from?" This question was directed at Xiao Peng.
"I'm suffering from the same symptoms, but it seems my head hurts a lot," Xiao Peng spoke, feigning symptoms.
"It seems as if you've been touched by a malicious evil spirit! May I ask?" the priest spoke.
"Ask!" Xiao Peng replied quickly.
"Did you go to places where evil spirits abound? Or did you touch some object in the past two days?" the priest asked.
"I didn't go anywhere, but it seems I picked up something yesterday!" Xiao Peng said.
"And what is it?!" the priest pressed further.
"It's a rusty pot!" Xiao Peng said proudly.
"..." The priest.
"..." James.
'For goodness' sake, man, come up with a better excuse than that!' James cursed inwardly when he saw the priest's reaction.
"You need a purification ritual!" the priest said as he turned and entered the church door, signaling for Xiao Peng and James to follow him.
James and Xiao Peng followed obediently, closed the door behind them, and entered the main hall inside the church. It was dimly lit, adding to its mystery.
There were many stone benches, with a few people sitting on them looking at the platform in front.
On the platform was a massive bishop with brown hair, wearing strong metal-rimmed glasses. He was reading some strange words from the book he held in his giant hand, with his other hand placed on the head of one of the ladies, behind whom stood many muscular guards, but they were not bulkier than the bishop in front.
The Abyss Ring pulsed strongly on Xiao Peng's hand, and the purple gem glowed with a faint black light intermittently. Xiao Peng didn't know what that meant, so he ignored the ring's pulsing on his hand. But it didn't stop pulsing and glowing the more the bishop repeated his incomprehensible words.
Xiao Peng, standing at the beginning of the hall beside a pillar, asked James beside him, "What is that bishop saying?" As he said this, he felt the ring on his finger pulsing strangely the more he heard the bishop's strange speech.
"I don't know either!" James replied quickly and said, "Do you feel a strange sensation? I mean, do you feel as if these people in the hall aren't real?!"
'What? Not real? Is that why the Abyss Ring is pulsating violently? Is it the feeling of deep hatred for these soulless bodies?' Xiao Peng was surprised as he looked at the people in the hall with his ability and saw no colors in their bodies like the snowy white representing sadness, the pale white representing malignant diseases! Blue representing thoughts! And also the most important color, silver, representing energy! There was none of these colors in the bodies of the people sitting in the hall, except for the priest, the bishop, that lady, and her guards.
"Yes, they really are unreal people!" Xiao Peng replied and didn't let any energy leak from his body at all, even while using his power.
"There's something ominous here!" James said, looking at the circular windows in the church ceiling.
"We must remain cautious, and it seems we have to intervene now!" Xiao Peng said as he walked to the middle of the church, followed by James.
They walked under the gazes of the soulless people, whose expressions and actions suggested they were alive but were not.
"Big brother, wait!" said one of the girls among the seated people, grabbing Xiao Peng's coat.
James stopped and looked at this situation cautiously, ready to take any necessary actions to escape the situation safely with Xiao Peng.
"What do you want, sweet girl?" Xiao Peng asked with a kind smile on his face.
'Is this how he looks when he smiles? This is new to me!' James thought, looking at that lifeless girl in front of him.
The priest looked deeply at Xiao Peng, but upon seeing Xiao Peng's natural reaction, he stood still beside the giant bishop and closed his eyes, while the bishop didn't even glance his way.
"This girl lost her home! And she wants the brother to return her!" said that lifeless girl, smiling.
'Lost her home? And wants me to return her? But what does it have to do with me! She's just a body without a soul, so I shouldn't take her words seriously!' Xiao Peng thought and said, "And how can the brother return you to your home?"
"With this! The sister can return to her home!" the girl said while pointing her finger at the black ring with the purple gem on Xiao Peng's hand.
'Huh! Did she discover the concealment? No, no... that's impossible, how could she? Unless she is...' James thought as he looked deeply at Xiao Peng.
'How did I not notice this! I knew they were soulless bodies and didn't connect all the threads together! ... Yes, I think her ability to detect the concealment ability of the Abyss Ring means she is a malicious spirit! And I also think all the soulless people here are actually the people killed by that serial killer, their bodies summoned without their souls! I think he performed rituals and burned their souls after killing them! Fearing that the official power-bearers could use an artifact to speak with the person's spirit and discover him afterward. He is truly a conscience-less person to torture them even after death!' Xiao Peng analyzed sadly to himself and looked towards James Beyond, who seemed to have deduced the same thing, before saying, "Alright, wait for me here a little while, and I'll return you to your home afterward!" Xiao Peng patted the girl's head.
At that moment, James clenched his hand tightly. 'I will make sure to avenge you, little girl, that is my promise!' he said to himself as he followed Xiao Peng to the platform.
"Excuse me, Bishop!" Xiao Peng said humbly, maintaining his composure outwardly but boiling with anger inwardly. He didn't know why he felt this anger. He was trying to act coldly and abandon his humanity to achieve his gains, but every time a situation arose that shook his feigned composure, it awakened his inner humanity.
The giant bishop opened his eyes while still reading and saying strange things, and said, "What do you want, honorable sir?" the bishop asked naturally.
But the priest beside him quickly interjected, saying, "He needs a purification ritual! And the other needs a protection ritual, Your Grace!"
"Hmm.. I happen to have finished with this lady, so come before me," the bishop said, urging Xiao Peng to stand before him.
Xiao Peng looked at James beside him before James signaled with his head, and Xiao Peng moved to the place of the lady who had gathered her guards and walked to the middle of the hall, opened the door, and left.
James and Xiao Peng said nothing to avoid suspicion and only watched her until she left, leaving only them, the bishop, the priest, and the soulless bodies on the stone benches.
Xiao Peng stood before the giant bishop and saw the metal chain around his neck with the cross attached to it; it seemed stronger and heavier than the cross on the priest's neck.
The bishop placed his giant hand on Xiao Peng's head after slightly moving the black umbrella aside and began reading from that book.
'This isn't the Bible? What is it then, I wonder?' Xiao Peng remarked to himself as he listened to the strange words the bishop said while placing his hand on his head.
After exactly one minute, the bishop stopped reading and said, "You are now blessed, a person purified from any touch you were exposed to!" Saying this, he signaled for James to take Xiao Peng's place.
'Is this bishop a fraud? Clearly, I didn't feel any change! Can it be that this person isn't a real bishop? Yes, that's also possible!' Xiao Peng thought to himself before saying, "Excuse my curiosity, but what ritual did you perform for that lady?"
The priest looked at Xiao Peng before answering, "It's a luck ritual! She said she would deliver important words at an evening event tonight, so she came here!"
'And you, it seems instead of giving her luck, you stole it completely. Now I'm certain that these two aren't a priest and a bishop, but just two criminals who killed the real ones and hid them somewhere I don't know!' Xiao Peng analyzed to himself before saying, "Thank you for your work, Bishop and Father!" Saying this, he took James and stepped down from the platform after the bishop finished reading the book in his hand, and they walked in the middle of the hall.
Xiao Peng looked at the girl who was looking at him and said, "I will make sure to return you home, and I will also kill these two people who have killed you twice so far! That's a promise!" Xiao Peng walked out the open door, followed by James.
"I will certainly do the same!" James said while continuing, "I found out what that thing on the church is! It's an artifact that can steal intangible things and reflect them. For example: if you want to repel evil spirits, it will make them chase you, and if you want protection and prevention from them, it will reverse the matter and make them attack you more strongly! There are many things I don't know about it, but I heard it resembles a small lantern and is called the 'Pillaging Flame'!"
'An artifact? That explains why I couldn't see through it!' Xiao Peng thought and said, "But why did he place it on top of the church? Don't tell me..."
"Yes, he placed it on the church's roof to reflect the weak lantern light through the roof glass onto that book in his hand! So I think we couldn't understand what those reversed words were because they can only be read by the person it acknowledges as its master, and I think reflecting the words through the glass is a negative effect, but I think its level is low!" James said as he clenched his fist and pressed on his hat.
'What accuracy in his observation! And his knowledge of artifacts is truly on another level compared to mine! Yes, this is what I need in a partner!' Xiao Peng thought and said while pressing on his hat, "And this explains why he asked us to stand before him and didn't come to us! He just stayed in his place! They are just a pair of killers who deserve death!" Xiao Peng said as he passed by the swing area and saw that girl's spirit playing quietly and happily.
"It seems I've gone mad," Xiao Peng said in a strange tone.
"What did you say?!" James said as they left the garden and returned, after crossing the street, to the center of Freundinestream city, and saw that lady standing and giving some instructions to people who were transporting tables and chairs to the city center, and also the workers preparing the stage for the show.
"It seems it's going to be a long and tiring night!" James said while thinking of the excuse he would give to Madeline when she wakes up! 'She won't wake up until tomorrow, hehe.' He laughed to himself.
"You're right! It will be a long and exciting night!" Xiao Peng said while remembering that little girl, and his eyes gleamed coldly.
…
End of Chapter ~ To be continued