"Did Mr. Ashen show any abnormal behavior?"
Gideon Black asked the group.
Luen was still flipping through the diary.
At that mont, Huang Ren spoke:
"Mr. Ashen was generous. He offered to donate thirty thousand dollars to rebuild the church, and his wife would assist with the process."
Gideon was sowhat moved.
In the original story, Mr. Ashen had been turned into a puppet.
His wife also had so connection with Mary Shaw.
These people were truly bold to have made a deal with a monster.
Gideon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
This ant Mary Shaw might have set her sights on this group as well.
The townsfolk thought Mary Shaw's curse was history, but in truth, she had been lurking in Ravens Fair all along, slowly turning the town into her own domain.
The original ending had almost no survivors.
Thinking of this, Gideon imdiately resolved to act preemptively.
"Again with deals involving the devil… Mary Shaw is truly a sinner!"
Luen, having finished reading the diary, imdiately drew his cross, intending to enter the church to purify the place.
"Hmm… With such a target for hatred, others have a much better chance of survival," Gideon thought.
Still, he told Luen that the journal's events happened decades ago, so Luen relented.
The group soon arrived at the funeral ho.
The door was opened by a man in his sixties—Henry Walker—who had lived in the town with his wife, Marion, for decades.
Henry had already heard from Mr. Ashen about their arrival.
"Hey! Mr. Walker, is the town so depopulated because of Mary Shaw's curse?"
Luen asked suddenly as they entered.
Henry was startled and placed a hand over his mouth, shaking his head anxiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't ntion that na here."
"Hey, we're from the diocese, carrying out the Lord's will to cleanse evil spirits. You say Mary Shaw…"
Luen's words were ignored as Henry cut him off sharply.
"Enough!"
"If you're not here to discuss a funeral, please leave."
Olivia quickly changed the subject and returned to talking about arranging the funeral.
Gideon stepped into the yard.
An elderly woman sat quietly in a chair.
"She… seems to be back…"
"Don't look for …"
The woman muttered softly.
Gideon guessed she was Marion.
Using Ethereal Sight, he saw her soul was unstable and had not fully rged with her body, indicating she had suffered great trauma causing her spirit to wander.
Given Henry's close ties to the Ashen family, Gideon suspected Mary Shaw had long considered the couple her prey, ready to take their lives at any ti.
"Hey, Marion, the Lord feels your helplessness…"
Gideon tried communicating using psychological counseling.
At first, Marion was frightened, but soon she felt a wave of calm.
[Psychological Counseling 1]
[Current Progress: Tier 1 (19/100)]
Marion revealed a buried secret.
As a child, she had witnessed Mary Shaw committing murder, which beca a nightmare that haunted her even after many years.
Gideon comforted the fragile spirit carefully.
Gradually, Marion's eyes showed a spark of life, no longer dull or stupid as before.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
Suddenly, a voice shouted behind him.
Henry frowned and rushed over.
He hadn't seen his wife inside and now found the priest speaking with her.
No doubt, he suspected they were prying about Mary Shaw!
Mary Shaw's na was taboo in the town. These people's inquiries seed like a threat to the couple.
Henry glared at them and pulled Gideon aside.
But the next mont—
"Henry."
Marion looked affectionately at her husband, tears brimming in her eyes.
Henry was stunned.
Decades ago, Marion's mind had beco disordered from an accident.
They had seen countless doctors over the years, all to no avail.
But life must go on.
Henry had endured working with corpses daily, surviving on a ager funeral ho salary, caring for his wife alone all these years.
He withstood the town's curse and overca his fear of the dead, suffering countless hardships.
Today, his wife finally recovered.
"Henry, thank you so much for these years."
Henry's eyes welled up, and he tightly embraced her.
Gideon quietly stepped back.
After a mont, Henry wiped his eyes and looked at Gideon.
"Thank you, Father."
Though he didn't understand how Gideon did it, the man had indeed saved his wife.
Luen and the others arrived, still unaware of what had happened.
So Gideon explained Marion's condition. Having frequented the community, he had so experience.
Olivia was surprised.
Psychological counseling was also an important part of exorcism training.
They needed to negotiate with demons, coaxing them to reveal their nas.
For the possessed, the exorcist also provided support, encouraging them to resist the demon.
Thus, this skill was difficult to learn.
Judging from Gideon's approach, he was quite competent—Olivia doubted she could do as well.
With this episode over, Henry finally shared the town's hidden secrets.
After hearing it, Luen decided to handle Mary Shaw after the funeral.
Henry's information was largely consistent with Gideon's.
"At a ti like this, Mary Shaw will probably seek revenge on Henry and Marion," Gideon thought.
After a warm mont ca tragedy—a standard horror story trope.
Aware of this, Gideon imdiately erected demon containnt formations around the funeral ho, and secretly gave them relics he made himself.
At the funeral.
As a diocesan priest, Luen naturally led the ceremony.
Afterward, he took Jamie Ashen—the original story's male lead and Mr. Ashen's son—into the dense forest.
Luen confided Mary Shaw's background to Jamie and invited him to exorcise near the couple's graves where Mary Shaw's corpse was buried.
Soon, Gideon saw them drive away.
He did not idle either, taking Huang Ren to another location.
If Gideon recalled correctly, all the puppets Mary Shaw made were stored in the graveyard.
The only puppet dug up—Billy—was with Jamie.
Combined with Luen's earlier provocations toward Mary Shaw, it ant this evil spirit's focus was now on the two of them.
Therefore, the puppet theater—the performance venue Mary Shaw had once used—should be temporarily safe.
This place was also one of her secret hideouts.
Now was the perfect ti to strike!
By the lake.
There was a broken bridge, and across the water stood the theater.
The small boat on the lake was the only passage across.
Using Ethereal Sight, Gideon verified evil spirit activity inside.
But at this mont, the theater was empty.
Gideon called Huang Ren over to unload supplies.
"What are you two doing here?"
A voice ca from behind.
Gideon turned to see Olivia.
After brief conversation, she revealed she was also investigating this place.
Olivia noticed they were carrying gasoline and iron hamrs.
But from prior experience, she assud Gideon was setting up escape backups again and didn't press further.
The three entered the theater.
The ceiling was very high with almost no cover.
All kinds of props were scattered ssily on the floor.
Olivia went off searching on her own.
The other two carried supplies backstage.
Gideon recalled a passage to Mary Shaw's puppet workshop.
They quickly found it.
They poured all the gasoline onto the puppet storage cabinets.
Outside the workshop was a prop bridge elevated sowhat.
Gideon considered for a mont, then reinforced it with tools, also placing crosses on top.
This was to prevent Mary Shaw from blocking their retreat unexpectedly.
Half an hour later, Olivia returned and happened to see Gideon hiding a package under a pile of trash.
"What's that?"
"A dical kit," Gideon explained.
"In case soone is injured fighting Mary Shaw, we can treat them promptly."
Olivia was stunned, once again revising her impression of Gideon.
Compared to a priest, he seed more like a bandit—who else would pour gasoline and stash dical supplies inside soone's house?
Although this was the lair of an evil spirit, it was the right thing to do!
She didn't ask why Gideon thought there would be a fight with Mary Shaw here.
Though they differed in exorcism philosophy, they surprisingly agreed on one thing—handling Luen's attempt to purify Mary Shaw.
Thus, Gideon and Huang Ren made so improvents to the theater.
Though it looked the sa, so new elents had been added.
After a final check, the three left.
That night.
Luen returned, "successful" in his exorcism, carrying the puppet Billy.
"They're just a bunch of puppets…"
Luen bragged about his experience, but saw strange looks from the others.
He lowered his head and saw the puppet staring right at him.
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