Chapter 40: Death Comes Knocking (III)
More than ten minutes later.
The three arrived in front of a house.
"Do you sense anything?" William looked at Alex.
Alex looked up upon hearing this, and some images quickly flashed through his mind.
Alex's face became solemn.
Seeing him like this, William understood.
At this moment in his eyes, the roof of Tod's house was covered with a layer of gloom.
Some kind of black substance was flowing into the house from the window.
Withering, ominous, dangerous.
It made William feel an aura of death.
Aside, Alex rushed to the door.
Bang... Bang...
He pounded on the door.
"Tod! Mr. Wagner!"
But inside the house at this moment.
Tod's father, Jerry, was snoring on the sofa, oblivious to the knocking.
William took out holy artifacts and gave them to Emma, instructing her to place them nearby.
He observed the surrounding situation.
"Judging from the wear and tear of the house, it shouldn't collapse immediately."
"The lawnmower is still plugged in; that's too careless."
"Better move these gardening tools away first..."
After eliminating external hidden dangers, the door to Tod's house finally opened.
"Alex? Why are you here at this hour?"
Jerry Wagner rubbed his face and checked his watch.
"It's early morning."
"Mr. Wagner, is Tod home? He might be in danger!" Alex looked anxious.
Jerry frowned, then glimpsed William behind him, instantly wary.
"He's already asleep. What do you mean?"
So Alex told him William's deduction.
Unexpectedly, Jerry was furious after hearing it.
"Alex! I've already lost a son today; please don't joke with me like this!"
"And you!"
Jerry pointed at William.
"Whatever you said to bewitch this kid, I advise you to stop, or I'll call the police!"
With that, he prepared to close the door.
But William reached out to stop him, facing Jerry directly.
"Mr. Wagner, this is indeed a bit bizarre."
"But do you really dare to bet on that 'what if'?"
"If Tod is fine, you were just disturbed from your rest. But if something really happens, do you want to lose two sons in one day?"
William stared into his eyes.
Jerry swallowed.
Then his brain seemed to clear up at this moment.
"Yes, why was I so resistant..."
A trace of confusion flashed in Jerry's eyes.
Seeing traces of black substance dissipating from him, William narrowed his eyes.
"Okay, I'll call Tod out."
Jerry shouted into the house several times, but there was no response. Instead, Tod's mother, Linda Wagner, was woken up.
This was abnormal; Jerry knew his son was a light sleeper.
Aside, Alex saw this and didn't wait any longer, immediately rushing past Jerry into the house.
William didn't stop him.
Generally, in American horror stories, the more urgent the situation, the easier it is for the rescuer to die.
But he remembered that in the original work, death proceeded strictly in order.
When it wasn't their turn, survivors couldn't even commit suicide if they tried.
To some extent, this could be considered—"If Death wants you to die at the third watch, he won't keep you until the fifth."
The Wagners soon followed.
William lagged a step behind.
He eliminated some potential hidden dangers in the house along the way before carefully going upstairs.
Inside the bathroom.
When Alex arrived, Tod was already dying in the bathtub.
He was being strangled by a clothesline, his face turning blue, and an open bottle of shampoo had fallen by his feet.
This made the bathtub slippery, causing Tod to lose his footing and be unable to get up.
Alex hurriedly pulled Tod up, allowing him to take a breath.
"Oh! My God!"
Mrs. Linda looked terrified and rushed to the bathtub to help untie her son.
Jerry also stood frozen, seemingly still in disbelief.
"What the Father said... is true."
Thinking back to how he tried to drive them away downstairs just now.
If not for the priest's words, he would really have lost his only remaining son.
Jerry broke out in a cold sweat, terrified in retrospect.
At this time, William also arrived at the bathroom.
As soon as he entered, he sensed something wrong.
The floor, the window, under the toilet...
Traces of black substance remained everywhere.
"It seems the toilet water pipe leaked, causing Tod to slip, get entangled by the rope, and fall into the bathtub..."
Using [Night Vision], William quickly reconstructed the event.
"But..."
There were no water stains on the floor, and he checked the water pipe; there was no sign of leakage.
He guessed that "Death" had erased the traces.
"Truly insidious..." William decided inwardly to be doubly vigilant.
He called Emma over and gave her a bottle of holy water.
Then he asked her to sprinkle holy water on the designated spots.
Upon contact, those black substances were purified by the holy water.
"It seems this method works, and the black substances won't backlash when purified."
Seeing Emma wasn't attacked, William relaxed.
After helping Tod out of the bathtub, Jerry came to William.
He looked a bit awkward, seemingly not knowing how to speak.
A moment later, Jerry took a deep breath.
"Sorry, Father, I wronged you earlier. If not for your reminder, I dare not imagine the consequences..."
William waved his hand upon hearing this.
Jerry might have been influenced by those black substances, so William didn't take it to heart.
Now that Tod was saved, there should be a period of safety.
Then the next one...
William called Alex to go to Ms. Lewton's house together.
Jerry even lent them his car specifically.
...
More than ten minutes later.
The three arrived at Lewton's house.
Knocking on the door, she came out quickly.
"Alex... what are you doing here?"
Lewton's hair was messy, and there were tear stains in her eyes, obviously still immersed in the pain of the plane crash.
Alex stated his purpose.
Lewton frowned, looking a bit afraid of him.
Then seeing the priest behind Alex, she looked terrified immediately and turned to close the door.
"Sorry... please leave, don't come to me." Lewton leaned against the door, her voice choking with sobs.
The events of this night were unimaginable; she couldn't take it anymore.
William patted Alex, signaling him to handle it.
When they arrived just now, there was nothing unusual outside Lewton's house, so it seemed Death's design for her hadn't started yet.
William comforted her with [Psychological Counseling] and finally got her to open the door.
Throwing the holy artifacts to Emma and completing the routine check, he entered the house.
Since the accident hadn't come yet, William had time to prepare.
He checked everywhere in the house.
"The knife block is placed right on the edge of the counter; it's easy to fall off like this."
"High-proof alcohol; this catches fire easily."
"Computer plugged in... better unplug it first."
...
William ran back and forth in the house, occasionally picking up a sharp object.
When encountering electrical switches or immovable objects, he placed holy artifacts nearby.
Lewton looked confused, not understanding what this priest was doing.
Emma leaned against the wall.
Seeing this scene, she raised the difficulty level of killing William by several notches.
And secretly made up her mind that after learning exorcism, the plan against this damn priest must be foolproof.
After spending some time, William finally finished the arrangements and immediately called Alex to leave.
Now everything was ready; they just had to wait for the accident to come.
Across the street from Lewton's house, the three hid in the bushes.
But after waiting for a long time, nothing unusual happened.
Emma was unhappy; this was simply damaging her ladylike image.
And!
She scratched her arm.
There were too many mosquitoes here!
Emma was about to go crazy.
She reached out and grabbed William's black robe, wanting him to cover her.
But this damn priest remained unmoved, putting a finger to his lips to quiet her down.
Just as Emma was about to stand up, she was suddenly pulled back.
At this moment, William looked solemn.
In his eyes, a large amount of black substance emerged from the roof of Lewton's house.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you