"Hello, Father James, have you been promoted?"
At the entrance of Christian Town, Mike met his old acquaintance, Father James.
Behind him was a line of clergy, seemingly blockading the town.
"Mike, long time no see." Seeing the support personnel, James forced a smile, but it looked a bit awkward.
What happened in Christian Town this time was definitely a stain on the church's reputation.
"Tell me about the situation here."
Looking at the heavy dark circles under Father James's eyes, Mike no longer teased him.
"When I arrived, the situation here was already very serious. Several clergy members died, including a Cardinal…" Father James spoke about the church's situation.
Previously, the radical faction of the church had joyfully come here to seek miracles. However, before they could rejoice, several "blasphemers" among the residents here died.
This included Alice's uncle, the local church's priest.
The blasphemers mentioned here do not refer to those who blaspheme God, but specifically to those who questioned Alice, the initiator of the miracle.
After the church's radical faction realized something was wrong, they also launched an exorcism ritual.
Then, the Cardinal responsible for presiding over the exorcism ritual had his Bible suddenly melt in his hands during the ritual, and then he himself was gently patted on the chest by the Black Madonna [Mary], whom Alice had transformed into.
And then, there was no then—
That Cardinal died on the spot.
At the same time, other clergy members who participated in that exorcism ritual were also sought out by the Black Madonna, and several of them died while trying to escape.
At this point, the first group of clergy who came here, those who survived, all left Christian Town overnight due to fear.
This led to Father James being subsequently sent here to deal with the aftermath.
"The specific situation at the time, those surviving clergy couldn't quite explain, only knowing that the girl named Alice had a very strong evil energy on her." Father James stated that he didn't have much information either.
Then, he stepped aside for a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard behind him and said, "His name is Gerry, a reporter for the New York Times. He was the first to realize that Alice had a problem."
This reporter named Gerry looked over forty, with a somewhat decadent demeanor, and many gray hairs mixed in his messy hairstyle.
In fact, his life had been very difficult recently, and his purpose in coming to Christian Town was to clear his mind.
"Hello, Gerry. Can you tell me what information you know?" Mike looked at the middle-aged man.
He didn't need mind-reading to know that this haggard middle-aged man had something on his mind.
"Yes, yes—" Gerry seemed a bit afraid of MIB, his eyes flickering as he said, "Actually, I don't know much, I just suspect Alice might be possessed by a demon…"
"Oh, right, I found in local documents that a demon was once sealed under the ancient tree in front of the church here. Perhaps you can find some clues there."
Yes, Mike didn't feel wrong, this middle-aged man named Gerry was indeed a bit wary of the MIB.
The reason might be that he had recently cursed the MIB, or more accurately, cursed the X Squad within the MIB.
Now that he saw the real deal, he would naturally feel guilty.
As for why he cursed X Squad, the reason was very personal.
Gerry was previously an excellent newspaper reporter, and also a staunch atheist.
He didn't believe in the existence of God, demons, or even Vampires and werewolves in the world.
Therefore, when he wrote political news, he always adhered to this style.
Until…
The MIB announced the existence of aliens and supernatural beings like Vampires to the public.
Gerry's viewpoint could no longer hold water, and he even almost lost his job because of it.
If calculated this way, there was nothing wrong with him cursing the MIB or X Squad a few times.
"Alright, then let's go to the church first." Mike gave Gerry a meaningful look and agreed to his suggestion.
With Mike's current strength, he wasn't afraid of others deceiving him; after all, the one who would suffer in the end would definitely be the other party.
"If faith cannot bring justice, and kindness cannot bring hope, but instead, a demon can fulfill your wishes and give you new life… between God and a demon, how would you choose?"
On the way to the church inside Christian Town, Father James, walking side by side with Mike at the very front, suddenly began to ask Mike about philosophy.
Of course, this wasn't him suddenly going crazy; it was likely related to what he had recently experienced.
One must know that Father James's previous view was: God should stay in heaven, or in people's faith, and should not interfere with mortal life.
This was already a disguised "atheist."
But his current confusion sounded a bit like he was complaining about "God's" inaction.
"I choose… whoever brings me the most benefit, I will believe in them." Mike answered indifferently.
God? Demon?
Mike only believed in his own strength; as long as he was strong enough, no matter if it was God or a demon, they were all inferior.
"Forget it, I shouldn't have asked you," Father James, who was immersed in his own inner world, shook his head speechlessly after hearing Mike's answer.
However, this effectively interrupted his tangled thoughts.
About ten minutes later, the group arrived at the church.
Before even getting close, they saw a girl with a holy aura in front of the church, leading a group of dazed "believers" praying to an incredibly ugly dead tree in front of the church.
The scene looked very strange—
"That girl should be Alice." Mike consulted those around him, then continued, "All the strange events here should have originated from her. Haven't you thought about just getting rid of her directly?"
This was equivalent to physical exorcism.
Demons might be immune to physical attacks, but people possessed by demons are still flesh and blood. In this situation, weapons could definitely be used for exorcism.
"No, Alice is innocent; her original intention was to help others, she was just controlled by a demon." Gerry seemed to know some important inside information and immediately spoke up to defend the girl.
As for Father James, he chose to remain silent.
He had personally witnessed Alice helping many residents in Christian Town, curing them of chronic illnesses and incurable diseases.
And all the residents had to pay was their faith in [Mary].
The "demon" was helping humans, but God did not appear; this was also the reason for Father James's confusion earlier.
"Blessings cannot come from nothing; there must be something wrong with those believers…" Mike strode towards the dead tree, wanting to witness the demon's abilities.
However, the girl named Alice seemed very wary of Mike; before he could get close, she took her believers and hid inside the church, then locked the main door from the inside.
"Is this playing hide-and-seek with me?" Mike stood under the dead tree, at the spot where the girl had stood earlier, and shook his head boredly.
If he had wanted to, he could have stopped the girl earlier.
However, Mike could sense that the girl named Alice, just now, had no other aura on her; she was just an ordinary human, as ordinary as could be.
In other words, the demon behind the mischief was not here right now.
"Oh, why is there a broken doll here?" Just then, Father James, who had also come to the dead tree, found a half-buried small doll at the root of the tree.
The doll was covered in exorcism talismans, and an outer layer was tied with a red string used for sealing demons.
Father James, being from the church, was very familiar with these methods.
"There really is a demon here; this is a sealed demon [Voodoo Doll], but who broke it?" Father James picked up the terrifying doll, his expression gradually becoming solemn.
Generally speaking, such dolls sealing demons are kept in very secret places and would never be discovered by outsiders.
However, the doll in Father James's hand, from the looks of it, seemed to have been dug out and then deliberately smashed.
At the same time, Gerry, who had followed along, saw the broken doll and could barely hide his guilty expression.
"Um, I'm feeling a bit unwell and want to go back and rest." To avoid being seen as acting strangely, Gerry found an excuse to leave.
"Go, get some good rest. We will handle things here…" Father James, treating Gerry as an ordinary person, didn't think much of it.
As Gerry left, Cross walked up to Mike and whispered, "Boss, I feel there's something wrong with that person. Do you need me to monitor him?"
A killer's perception was indeed sharp.
Needless to say, Cross must have also noticed that Gerry had a secret.
"No need, we'll just wait for him to come to us," Mike shook his head, rejecting Cross's suggestion.
As for what happened to Gerry, Mike, with his mind-reading ability, knew everything clearly.
Yes, Mike had used mind-reading on Gerry just now and knew that the [Voodoo Doll] was deliberately crushed by him.
The reason was also quite laughable: Gerry, an atheist, accidentally discovered the Voodoo Doll under the dead tree on the night he first arrived in the town, and then wanted to use this thing to create a big news story.
Of course, he didn't know the purpose of this Voodoo Doll before; he just thought it was strange and had a strong terrifying vibe, so he wanted to crush it, take a few photos, and then go back and weave a bizarre story.
He was trying to use a "fight fire with fire" approach to regain his position at the newspaper.
After all, if you can't beat them, join them—
It's not shameful.
However, Gerry couldn't understand how his small, unintentional act would cause such a big problem for this town.
His departure earlier was more like an escape driven by guilt.