Jimmy had been looking up at the black smoke swirling towards the rooftop. When he glanced down at Priest Royte, he realized the priest had already finished the ceremony, and the monk apprentice beside him had started to untie the person on the bed.
Well, aside from missing the very last bit of the ceremony, everything else seemed quite ordinary, nothing particularly spine-chilling. Had it not been for Jimmy switching to "Heart Eye" mode, with the naked eye, he would have only noticed the white cloth moving, nothing else unusual.
Priest Royte held a cross in his right hand, placing it in front of his chest, while in his left, he held the Bible, continuing to pray softly. After finishing the prayers, Priest Royte turned to look at Jimmy.
Priest Royte, "Jimmy, did you see anything unusual?"
Jimmy was somewhat silent; he wasn't sure if he should say what he saw.
Priest Royte, "It looks like you did see something. Please be mindful of keeping it confidential." After saying this, Priest Royte walked towards the rest room.
Jimmy stopped Priest Royte, "Priest, was what appeared just now a demon?"
Priest Royte turned to look at Jimmy, "Yes, many demons are incorporeal. They often deceive humans, possess them, and use them to unleash their magic or achieve their goals."
Jimmy, "But they seem very weak, just a wisp of smoke that drifts away and disappears, nothing like the powerful demons of the legends."
Priest Royte, "They are certainly not weak. The simplicity of what you saw is because they had already been bound inside the host's body. Under the suppression of the church's holy relic, they couldn't resist. I merely performed the final step of the exorcism."
Jimmy, "Priest, can I learn to perform exorcisms?"
Priest Royte, "Exorcism ceremonies require pure faith, Jimmy, as you know. It's late; you should head home. Goodnight."
Jimmy, "Goodnight, Priest."
Jimmy left the church and drove back to his apartment.
After washing up, since it was still early, Jimmy turned on the TV and lay on the couch, lost in thought.
Apart from observing the smoke-like demon, Jimmy had noticed something peculiar.
Initially, when the demon was a disorganized cloud of smoke, Jimmy saw nothing unusual. But as the smoke coalesced downward into a human shape, although it remained a cloud, Jimmy observed three white spots on the human-shaped smoke that were very conspicuous against the surrounding black-gray smoke.
These spots were not fixed; they moved randomly within the cloud until the smoke hit the ceiling and dispersed, and the white spots vanished with it.
Jimmy didn't know what these white spots were, but it was definitely the first time he had observed such a phenomenon since he acquired the "Heart Eye."
Since there was no control group and this was the only observation, Jimmy couldn't deduce the meaning of these white spots and could only note it down to see if he would have a similar experience in the future.
Jimmy didn't have Roland's phone number, so he couldn't call to confirm his observations with him. If he didn't encounter similar situations in the near future, he decided he would need to find time to ask Roland about what he had seen.
Apart from the white spots, Jimmy was also very concerned about Priest Royte's statement that he only performed the final step of the exorcism, and the demon had already been bound inside the person beforehand.
This meant that someone had already fought the demon, used some special method to fix the demon within the person, and then sent it to the church for Priest Royte to perform the last step of the exorcism.
This information was substantial, unlike the exorcism movies Jimmy had seen before. In those movies, a priest directly faced a person possessed by a demon and performed the exorcism then and there, even engaging in battle.
It now appeared that there truly were professionals in this world who battled demons and protected the world, all while deliberately keeping it secret so the general public remained unaware. If such information were widely known, Jimmy, who had been a police officer for nearly two years and somewhat of a public figure, could not have remained oblivious, especially since many liked to chat and share stories with him.
Jimmy watched TV for a while, then decided to lie down and rest. He had been overthinking about demons all day, on top of watching the exorcism ceremony that night, which was quite disappointing. It was better to rest early and clear his mind.
The next day, Jimmy arrived at the police station. After James started his day, Jimmy walked into James's office.
James, "Jimmy, no danger last night?"
Jimmy, "None at all, just observed the ceremony performed by Priest Royte, and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary."
James walked over to a safe on the floor, pulled out a key from his pocket, turned the dial, and opened the safe to retrieve a folder.
James opened the folder, added the date, location, and participants of last night's events to a document, and pointed to a spot for Jimmy to sign.
After Jimmy signed, James asked him to leave, closed the folder, and returned it to the safe.
Jimmy was once again left with nothing to do; the aftermath of the 911 event hadn't concluded, and it wasn't time to issue a warning to gang members yet. With few significant events occurring, Jimmy, not required to patrol, was truly bored.
While reflecting, Jimmy pulled out his study materials to begin learning the final part of his course, hoping to pass the year-end assessment and apply for early graduation.
"Hey, Jimmy. Amy's looking for you; she asked you to go directly to the chief's office."
"Okay." Jimmy tidied up his desk and walked to James's office.
James was sitting in his chair, holding an A4 paper, while Amy stood opposite him. When Jimmy entered, James handed the A4 paper to him.
Jimmy looked at it; it was a notice. LAPD had arrested a suspect during routine law enforcement, and the system showed that he had an active arrest warrant from Plaskey County; the letter was to confirm his identity.
Dick Diaz, Caucasian, aged 48, had pretended to hitchhike in August 1996 outside Little Rock, Arkansas, murdered a truck driver, and escaped after being discovered. He had been at large ever since, leading to an arrest warrant issued by the Plaskey County Police.
The reason Dick Diaz was identified as a habitual criminal stems from his sporadic stints in prison since his youth, involving theft, robbery, illegal possession of weapons, and more, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.
With complete photos and fingerprint records, Dick was caught in Los Angeles, and through the system, his warrant was activated, prompting the LRPD to send the document to the Plaskey County Police.