Chapter 20: The Puppet Theater
"Did that Mr. Ashen show any abnormalities?"
William looked at the others and asked.
Luen was still flipping through the diary.
Ren spoke up at this time:
"Mr. Ashen was very generous. He proposed donating 30,000 dollars to rebuild the church, with his wife assisting in the matter."
William felt a little emotional hearing this.
That Mr. Ashen (Edward Ashen) was turned into a puppet in the original story.
And his wife (Ella Ashen) had some kind of connection with Mary Shaw.
These guys really had some nerve, making a deal with monsters?
William rubbed his chin.
This meant Mary Shaw might have already set her sights on their group.
The residents here thought Mary Shaw's curse was history, but in fact, she had been lurking in the town, turning Ravens Fair into her private property step by step.
And in the original ending, almost no one survived.
Thinking of this, William immediately decided—he had to strike first!
"Another deal with the devil. This Mary Shaw is indeed a sinner!"
Luen finished reading the diary and immediately took out his crucifix, intending to enter the church and purify the other party.
"Hmm... with this guy drawing aggro, the survival rate of the others should be much higher," William thought to himself.
But he still told Luen that the events in this diary happened decades ago.
Only then did the latter give up.
...
The group soon arrived at the funeral home.
The door was opened by an old man in his 60s, Henry Walker, who had lived in the town for decades with his wife, Marion.
Henry had already received the message from Mr. Ashen.
"Hey! Mr. Walker, is the town's small population due to Mary Shaw's curse?"
Luen blurted out as soon as they entered.
Henry was startled. He put a finger to his lips and shook his head with a worried look.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't mention that name here."
"Hey, we are from the Diocese, carrying the will of the Lord to purify the evil here. You can tell us about Mary Shaw..."
Luen ignored the warning and continued.
"Enough!"
Henry interrupted him.
"If you are not here to discuss the funeral, then please leave."
Seeing this, Olivia changed the subject and restarted the conversation about officiating the funeral.
William went to the courtyard.
An elderly lady was sitting on a chair.
"She... seems to be back..."
"Don't look for me..."
She was mumbling something.
William guessed this must be Marion.
Using [Night Vision], he saw that Marion's soul was unstable and not fully integrated with her body.
This indicated that she had suffered a huge shock, causing her soul to wander.
Combined with the close connection between Henry and the Ashen family.
William guessed that Mary Shaw had long regarded the couple as her prey, ready to take their lives at any time.
"Hey, Marion, the Lord senses your helplessness..."
William tried to communicate with her using [Psychological Counseling].
Marion was terrified at first, but soon felt a sense of peace.
[Psychological Counseling +1]
[Current Progress: Tier 1 (19/100)]
And Marion revealed her buried secret.
It turned out that as a child, she had witnessed Mary Shaw killing someone. This became her nightmare, haunting her even after so many years.
So William used words to soothe the fragility of this soul.
Gradually, a hint of life returned to Marion's eyes; she was no longer dull and unresponsive.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
A voice suddenly sounded from behind.
Henry rushed over with a frown.
He hadn't seen his wife inside, and when he came out, he found this priest talking to her.
No need to guess, he must be asking about that name!
Mary Shaw's name was a taboo in this town. Weren't these people trying to get them killed?!
So Henry glared at them fiercely and came up to pull William away.
But in the next moment.
"Henry."
Marion looked at her husband affectionately, tears in her eyes.
Henry opened his mouth, shocked.
Decades ago, Marion had lost her mind due to an accident.
Over the years, they had seen countless doctors, but nothing worked.
But life had to go on.
So Henry dealt with corpses every day, relying on the meager income from the funeral home to take care of his wife alone for decades.
He endured the town's curse and overcame his fear of corpses, suffering unspeakable hardships over the years.
Today, his wife had finally recovered!
"Henry, thank you for all these years."
Hearing this, Henry's eyes moistened, and he hugged his wife tightly.
William stepped back tactfully.
A moment later.
Henry wiped his eyes and looked at William.
"Thank you, Father."
Although he didn't know how he did it, this man had indeed saved his wife.
At this time, Luen and the others walked over. They didn't know what had happened.
So William explained Marion's symptoms to them, claiming he had experience with this due to his frequent community visits.
Olivia was surprised after hearing this.
Psychological counseling was also an important part of the exorcism curriculum.
Because they needed to negotiate with demons and guide them to reveal their names.
And for the possessed, exorcists also needed to counsel them and encourage them to fight against the demons.
So this course was hard to master.
Judging from the effect of William's guidance, he did a great job—something Olivia admitted she couldn't do.
With this interlude, Henry was finally willing to reveal the town's hidden secret.
After listening, Luen decided to deal with Mary Shaw after the funeral.
The information Henry gave was similar to what William already knew.
"At a time like this, Mary Shaw will likely come to take revenge on the Walker couple," he thought to himself.
Tragedy following a heartwarming moment—that was standard horror movie procedure.
With this in mind, William immediately set up a Demon-Trapping Array around the funeral home and secretly slipped his handmade holy artifacts to the couple.
...
At the Funeral.
As a priest from the Diocese, Luen naturally became the officiant.
After the ceremony, he pulled Jamie Ashen aside—
Jamie was the male protagonist in the original work and also the son of Mr. Ashen.
The two went into the dense forest.
Luen told Jamie the truth about Mary Shaw and invited him to go to the cemetery to exorcise the demon. Mary Shaw's body was buried there.
Soon, William saw the two drive away.
He wasn't idle either; he called Ren to head in another direction.
If William remembered correctly, the puppets made by Mary Shaw were all in the cemetery right now.
And the only puppet that had been dug up, Billy, was also with Jamie. Plus, Luen's provocative attitude toward Mary Shaw earlier.
This meant that the evil spirit's attention was currently focused on those two.
Therefore, the site of Mary Shaw's performances when she was alive—the Puppet Theater—should be temporarily safe.
And this place was also one of Mary Shaw's potential hideouts.
This was the perfect time to steal her base!
...
By the Lake.
There was a broken bridge here, and the theater was on the opposite side.
The boat in the lake was the only way to get across.
William used [Night Vision] on the theater. Sure enough, there were traces of evil spirit activity on the other side.
But right now, it was empty.
So William signaled Ren to grab the gear and get on the boat.
"What are you doing here?"
A voice sounded from behind.
William turned around; it was Olivia.
After a brief exchange, it turned out she was also here to investigate.
Olivia saw the two moving a lot of gasoline, hammers...
But because of the previous experience, she thought William was setting up some backup evacuation plan again, so she didn't say much.
The three entered the theater.
The ceiling here was extremely high, with almost no obstructions.
Besides that, various props were scattered all over the floor.
Olivia went to search on her own.
The other two took their stuff to the backstage area.
William remembered there was a passage here leading to Mary Shaw's puppet-making workshop.
The two found the place quickly.
They poured all the gasoline on the cabinets storing the puppets.
There was also a prop bridge outside the workshop, suspended at a certain height.
William thought for a moment, then reinforced the bridge with tools and placed crucifixes on it.
Just in case Mary Shaw returned suddenly and cut off their retreat.
Half an hour later.
Olivia returned and happened to see William stuffing a package under a pile of trash.
"What is this?"
"Medical kit," William explained.
"If someone gets injured while fighting Mary Shaw, we can treat them in time."
Olivia was stunned. Her impression of William was refreshed once again.
Compared to a priest, she felt William was more like a bandit.
What kind of priest pours gasoline in someone's house and stashes medical supplies...
Although this was an evil spirit's home, was this something a decent person did?!
She didn't ask William why he thought they would be fighting Mary Shaw here.
Although the two had differences in their exorcism philosophies.
Their expectations for Luen's "purification" of Mary Shaw were surprisingly consistent.
Just like that, William and Ren renovated the theater.
Although it looked the same, there were some extra "additions."
After checking everything again, the three left.
...
That Night.
Luen returned from "completing" the exorcism, holding the puppet Billy.
"Just a bunch of puppets..."
Luen bragged about his exorcism experience, but noticed everyone looking at him strangely.
He looked down and saw the puppet staring right at him.