Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

In the room.

The lights were still on.

After hearing Du Wei's words, Ruth didn't suspect some kind of prank, because she indeed felt an unusual chill at her back.

It was like standing near an air conditioner, that kind of bone-penetrating coldness, but not quite the same, since this chill was accompanied by a clear malice.

She didn't dare to turn around at all, and could only rush towards Du Wei.

This man was able to make the shadow merge into the darkness; the closer she got to him, the safer she surely would be.

In less than a second, Ruth had made the most correct assessment.

Unfortunately...

She hadn't managed to rush to Du Wei when the scarecrow in her hand instantly burst into ashes.

Then, she felt the scene before her eyes suddenly change.

Her point of view shifted to a bird's eye view, looking down from above.

Hovering...

Then, Ruth couldn't help but let out a scream, her voice filled with pain and ferocity.

She felt as if an invisible large hand was gripping her feet and head separately.

Upon seeing this, Du Wei quickly drew his hand out of his pocket, where it had been clutching a gun, and closed the door, peering through the peephole to observe the scene inside.

He saw Ruth's body freakishly levitating mid-air, twisting from head to toe as if being wrung out like a towel.

Blood spurted forth, splattering the ceiling and the ground everywhere.

The scene in his eyes turned a bloody red.

He knew that some blood had splattered onto the peephole, causing his vision to blur.

So, Du Wei stood outside the door and waited for a while.

Soon he heard a strange squelching sound.

Even without seeing clearly, Du Wei could imagine the horrifying scene happening inside the room.

He looked down at the three Cultist corpses in the corridor; two of the female bodies were twisted into pretzels, their heads had flown off.

The shadow seemed to be fixated on taking the heads after killing its victims.

If it were human, it must have a very strange collecting habit.

Du Wei lit a cigarette for himself and took a drag as he silently pondered in his mind.

"The Evil Spirit has killed three more people this time; it's likely to become more terrifying, but looking at the situation at home, it shouldn't cause any trouble for the time being," he thought.

"As for that Dagger... it definitely cannot be obtained by it before a way to deal with it is found."

As he spoke, Du Wei glanced at the darkness around him that was gradually receding, then took out a white cloth, wrapped up all the photographs of the Veda Sect followers, lit his lighter, and burned them all to ashes.

As for that Evil Corpse...

Let it stay a corpse!

The oppressive gloom in the room slowly dissipated, and the lights in the corridor came on one by one.

Du Wei knew that after he got home, he would have to "clean up" again.

When leaving New York and heading to Massas, by the way, dispose of all that trash...

He told himself this in his mind and took out his phone from his pocket.

Although the matter with the Veda Sect was over, there was still cleanup to be done.

He selected Officer Tom from his contact list and pressed the call button.

Suddenly, the call connected.

Tom's exasperated voice came through at once, "Fuck! Mr. Du Wei? Why are you calling me again? Didn't we just meet this afternoon?"

Du Wei was taken aback for a moment before replying, "Yes, to be precise, it was eight hours ago."

Tom angrily said, "So what? What do you mean by calling me now? Another Evil Spirit causing trouble?"

Du Wei answered, "Indeed, there's an Evil Spirit causing trouble, hmm, but rest assured, those who died are all people from the Veda Sect, with no ordinary people involved."

On the other end of the phone, Tom seemed stunned for a moment and it took him a while to react, "You mean the Veda Sect? Where are you right now? I'll come over immediately."

Du Wei replied indifferently, "I'm near a hotel close to the middle school in North Brook District. The one opposite a lovers' cafe."

Tom's tone was a bit strange, "Where are you? Alright, I'm not far from you now. Just wait a moment; I'll be there in a few minutes!"

After finishing, he hung up the phone directly.

...

On a certain street.

Several black cars were parked discreetly in the shadows by the side of the road.

After hanging up the phone, Tom glanced at the area opposite, flickering with soft peach-colored lights, snorted coldly, and said to his subordinate sitting in the passenger seat, "Notify the others, operation's off, we're going to handle other cases."

His subordinate asked in confusion, "Boss, didn't you say we were going to thoroughly clean up the Red Light District tonight? Why change your mind suddenly? Should we leave a few people here?"

Tom swore under his breath, "Fuck! Are you trying to tell me how to do my job? I said we're handling other cases! Put the Red Light District on hold for now!"

The subordinate shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Alright, boss, got it!"

After speaking, he opened the walkie-talkie and notified the others.

While Tom looked coldly towards the Red Light District, he actually breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, when he found out the neighbor he had a crush on was already dead, his heart shattered!

Constantly responding to calls, especially during times of frequent special cases, it's very stressful not to get any mental release.

And it's the kind of thing that's best kept to a minimal number of people in the know.

The Red Light District held a special meaning for Tom.

Without a girlfriend, he lingered there frequently. Now that he no longer had his beautiful neighbor as a target, he suddenly realized that taking down the Red Light District wasn't really in his best interest.

Well... although he had only been there once that month.

Symbolism over practicality.

The more Tom thought about it, the more upset he got, and he couldn't help but utter another "fuck!"

...

A few minutes later.

Inside the hotel.

Officer Tom reached the fifth floor of the stairs and looked with an anguished face at Du Wei, who was quietly smoking against the wall.

Then he felt even worse.

"Oh, my dearest friend, do you know how ridiculous it looked when the hotel manager saw us cops coming and got so scared he ducked down and hugged his head?"

Du Wei glanced at him and asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"

Tom sneered, "Because they know about the existence of the Cultists, fuck! These damned pests! They really should be taken out and shot!"

As he spoke, Tom looked at the corpse on the ground with disgust and asked for another cigarette from Du Wei when he reached him.

"You're practically a lady-killer. From what I've seen, wherever you show up, women seem to meet with misfortune. If I didn't know you're an Exorcist, and given that the ones who died this time were all vile Cultists, I'd think you did it on purpose."

Du Wei exhaled a puff of smoke and said lightly, "The Veda Sect conjured an Evil Corpse, hmm... it's that one in the raincoat, you better burn it. I can't ensure that there won't be any more problems either."

Tom frowned, "That thing is too weird; I saw it crawl out of the room in the hotel's surveillance footage, then it killed the other Cultists, and afterwards, the whole corridor went pitch black. What exactly happened at that time?"

After thinking, Tom added, "I only saw you enter the corridor and your figure smoking at the door. Can you tell me what happened exactly?"

Du Wei nodded, "Actually, there's not much to tell. Tonight, the Evil Corpse appeared at my place again. It didn't fight me, then left in a certain direction, and I followed it all the way here, then saw it disappear."

"So, I sat for a while in the couple's café across the street, and then, I noticed a body at one of the fifth-floor windows."

"After that, I went into the hotel, only to find the Evil Corpse committing murder, and it seemed that the Evil Spirit that probably had killed Roy also appeared here."

Tom pondered for a moment and said, "I think I understand. These ghost things are hard to comprehend. I don't know how you deal with them."

Du Wei exhaled another puff of smoke and said slowly, "I don't want to deal with them. If possible, I'd prefer to just run my clinic properly."

Tom sneered, "I don't think you're cut out to be a doctor."

Du Wei frowned, "What do you mean?"

Tom took a fierce drag on his cigarette and answered, "Because I think you're always in a bad mental state, you give off a very oppressive feeling, or rather, very indifferent. I've been reading some psychology books lately, buddy, you're under a lot of stress."

Suddenly, as if Tom had thought of something, he chuckled, "I have a way to relieve stress, do you want to try it?"

Du Wei looked at him, was silent for a while, then turned and walked away.

"No need, I have a girlfriend…"