"I am absolutely sure she was dead, but the next night... she appeared again. I really don't know why she's haunting me. Do you think this is a curse, Mr. Jackson?"
Sun Yan rubbed his fingers together, his expression pensive.
From Jamie's description, this indeed seemed like an Evil Spirit incident, and charging him 2000 US Dollars for the exorcism was reasonable.
"Your coffee, please enjoy."
At this moment, the waiter walked over with two mochas, placed them on the table, and then turned to leave.
Sun Yan took a sip of his coffee, gently comforting, "Don't worry, Mr. James. Based on the information you provided, my initial assessment is that this should be a simple haunting incident. As long as I perform an exorcism at your apartment and expel that evil spirit, everything should be fine."
"Are you sure? That's wonderful. When I told my friends about this, they didn't believe me. You really are the professional. Let's go now." Jamie's face lit up with joy.
"Hold on. According to my policy, Mr. James, you need to pay me 2000 US Dollars in advance as the exorcism fee. I am responsible for thoroughly solving your problem. If I fail to exorcise successfully, I will refund your 2000 US Dollars and compensate you with an additional 500 US Dollars for the failure."
Sun Yan took out a POS machine and a PayPal payment code from his backpack, asking, "What payment method would you prefer?"
Jamie immediately took out a bank card and handed it to Sun Yan. As a computer programmer, his income was quite considerable.
For him, 2000 US Dollars wasn't a significant amount of money. If he could resolve his trouble with this sum, it would be a bargain for Jamie.
...
Following Jamie's car, they arrived at a district filled with apartment buildings, inhabited by many middle-class residents.
The apartment Jamie rented was somewhat old-fashioned by today's standards, lacking even an elevator installation.
Sun Yan and Elise climbed to the eighth floor by foot, and under Jamie's guidance, entered his suite.
"Your home's decor is quite charming, Mr. James." Sun Yan observed the layout of the suite and couldn't help but praise it.
Although it was a rented apartment, Jamie had pasted green wallpaper on the walls and laid black-and-white checkered carpet on the floor.
There were even a few roses in glass vases on the tables and cabinets. Before coming here, Sun Yan couldn't have imagined that Jamie, a programmer, would have such a style at home.
"Work is already exhausting. If you can't relax when you come home, life would be too dreary."
Jamie pointed to the sofa, "Please have a seat, both of you. I'll get you some water."
Sun Yan didn't comply and instead started walking around the house on his own.
He quietly opened the Celestial Eye. If Jamie was really haunted by an evil spirit, it would not escape his scrutiny.
While passing by a room with a tightly closed door, a sensation shot through the Celestial Eye on Sun Yan's brow, and he immediately stopped.
Being a Divine Power bestowed by the True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao, Sun Yan had utmost faith in the Celestial Eye's perception—this room definitely had issues.
He grabbed the doorknob and was about to push the door open to take a look inside when Jamie hurriedly ran over, his expression strange, saying, "Mr. Jackson, maybe you shouldn't look into this room."
"Is there a problem inside?"
Sun Yan replied, "Mr. James, to perform an exorcism, it's crucial to know the full situation. I don't want you to hide anything from me. Any information gap might lead to exorcism failure. Are you aware of its seriousness?"
Jamie could only smile wryly, "You can look, but please be prepared, and after seeing the situation inside the room, please don't call the police. I'm innocent."
Upon hearing this, Sun Yan quickly took out the General Sun Mask from his backpack and placed it against his chest for protection.
What unspeakable secret could it be to keep things this mysterious?
With Elise by his side, Sun Yan wasn't concerned that Jamie might be a deranged killer who had lured him here with malicious intent.
In terms of strength, Elise, this Blood Race girl, was certainly superior to ordinary humans.
Creak!
The moment Sun Yan turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, the room was immediately filled with chaotic murmurs.
Jamie reached out and pressed the light switch on the wall, and instantly, the scene inside the room was fully revealed to Sun Yan's eyes.
His eyes widened in disbelief, and for a moment, he was at a loss for words.
On the floor, lay numerous intertwined bodies, all with the same face, body shape, hair color, and even clothing.
It was as if they were produced by the same automated assembly line in a modern factory.
Some bodies had been dismembered, some had their throats slit, while others had died in various manners.
And some bodies were not entirely dead, struggling, opening their mouths for help, or waving their arms, all trying to crawl towards the door.
"Did you kill all these?"
Sun Yan asked Jamie in disbelief.
Jamie nodded seriously, "Since that day, the landlady has appeared every night, and even killing her was pointless. She would continue to appear the next night—it's impossible to kill them all, just impossible."
"That's why you asked me in the coffee shop if I believed there were people in this world who couldn't be killed."
Sun Yan looked at the room full of piled bodies, his expression exceptionally complex.
He had never encountered such a situation; it was almost as if it was taken right out of the story of Tomie Kawakami.
"Oh my, so many bodies."
Elise peered over Sun Yan's shoulder with a mischievous curiosity, examining the scene inside the room, which could only be described as sinister.
"Do you have any insights?" Sun Yan asked.
"This seems like some form of Devil's power. You must find the token related to the Devil as evidence, or else you won't be able to unravel the Devil's power."
Elise stepped into the room and began carefully examining each of the landlady's bodies.
Even when the landladies who still had a bit of breath left reached out, trying to grab her ankle, Elise showed no sign of panic and deftly avoided the contact with these strange entities.
Before long, Elise had found something. She bent down and removed an ancient bronze necklace from the neck of one corpse and returned to hand it to Sun Yan.
"This seems to be some form of American Shaman's witchcraft. Although I don't know how this human obtained power from the Devil, her ability to reappear countless times after being killed is probably related to the Devil."
Sun Yan took the necklace, moving it closer for inspection.
It was a very old necklace, so aged that it already seemed worn. Made of leather, it strung together a golden eye.
On the eye, some unknown text was carved. As Elise suggested, this necklace was likely the Devil's token.
"How can this be resolved?" Sun Yan asked.
"Currently, it's unclear, but once the old lady reappears tonight, capturing and observing her might provide some answers."
"That's likely the only approach." Sun Yan nodded.
In Western context, demons and devils are not strictly the same kind of entity.
Demons are evil beings with supernatural power that have destructive force and strong spells.
Devils, however, are the embodiment of evil within religious contexts, representing any negativity, degradation, or sin, they can all be called devils.
Strictly speaking, devils are like evil versions of Divine Spirits.
They may not have physical form or concrete manifestation, yet they possess mysterious and formidable capability, able to make deals with ordinary humans, providing them with what they desire.
Of course, the price of dealing with devils is often unimaginably grim.
In order to help Jamie solve the trouble he's encountered.
And to avoid not only failing to make money, but also having to indemnify him with 500 US Dollars,
Sun Yan, together with Elise, decided to stay at Jamie's home, planning to meet the infinitely resurrecting landlady that night.
He made a phone call to the graveyard to inform Sosia, who was staying there, that she didn't have to wait for him for dinner.
With nothing better to do, Sun Yan sat on the floor, playing PS5 with Elise at Jamie's place to pass the time.