Chapter 3713: Evil Strength (14)

In the room on the first floor of the sanatorium, Shiller painted a huge magic array with blood—not belonging to any existing system, it was something he made up on the spot, but it looked splendid and complex, so much so that it appeared legitimate—while Johnny and his brother were helping him set up the items needed for the ritual.

Meanwhile, standing on the side disguised as Shiller, Mephisto wore an expression that said, "What on earth are you doing?"

Shiller caught a glimpse of Mephisto's expression from the corner of his eye and noted a hint of hesitation in his confused face.

What kind of array is this? Why haven't I seen it before? Mephisto's heart started to beat nervously. He had heard that this Doctor Sophocles had just returned from the Vatican. Could it be that those birdmen had cooked up something new again?

Could this thing really drive me away???

Of course, Mephisto didn't know that Shiller had made it up. The logic was incoherent. A PhD from the human race's most prestigious institute of mysticism returned from the Vatican with some academic results, only to draw a made-up array while exorcising here—it made no sense at all.

Moreover, even though the elements used in this array were somewhat unfamiliar, they were clearly interconnected. There had to be some kind of logic to it; random fabrications couldn't achieve this level of cohesion.

Seeing Mephisto's expression, Shiller could pretty much guess what he was thinking. He chuckled inwardly. This wasn't just any ordinary fabrication. Even with his skills at making things up, he had drafted, revised several times, and then rendered the finished drawing. To fool Mephisto, a cunning and experienced devil, he indeed put in a lot of effort.

The image focused on the fleeting anxious emotion on the face of Mephisto, disguised as Shiller.

Eddie pressed the space bar, crossed one leg over the other, spun his chair, and said, "Are you sure you want to keep this scene? Isn't the hint a bit too obvious? If the audience guesses who the behind-the-scenes manipulator is too early, it might affect the film's reviews."

"It's fine. Thanks to Mr. Nelson's superb performance, everyone's attention is on him now. Besides, if I don't suggest anything at all, it will be very abrupt later. Better to play it safe by giving some hints first."

"Alright." Eddie continued reviewing the subsequent material, and he had to admit Shiller's praise of Nelson—he truly was a natural actor.

The entire exorcism process didn't have any special effects. Shiller also didn't ask Eddie to add any flamboyant light effects in post-production, yet the scene of the devil banishing ritual was extremely eerie. Nelson first stood up in an incredibly unnatural posture, his whole body seemed to be lifted by something, his limbs touched the ground, his back arched upwards, constantly swaying his limbs, shivering, and uttering terrifying murmurs.

Danny saw something was wrong and was about to rush in. Johnny reached out to stop him and stared intently at the figure in the center of the array. Then he took two steps back, looked at Shiller, and asked, "Is this normal, Doctor?"

Shiller, with a solemn expression, slowly shook his head and said, "Clearly not. The power of the Holy Light cannot converge in the center of the array; something is interfering with the ritual process. Not only did it fail to expel the devil from him, but it also stimulated..."

Bang!!!

A sudden loud noise came from upstairs, and everyone looked up. They immediately realized that the devils attacked upstairs again.

Simultaneously, Nelson collapsed completely, falling to the ground unconscious. Danny, Johnny, and Shiller raced upstairs as fast as they could, only to encounter that terrifying long-limbed figure once again.

"Don't run!!!" Danny shouted.

The Spirit of Revenge suddenly responded. As Danny charged at the monster, flames erupted, transforming his whole body into a fiery skeleton. He leaped into the air like a flying arrow of fire, crashing into the monster's chest. It let out a strange wail, its long limbs slammed hard against the walls, hastily running towards the window.

Seizing the opportunity, Danny wouldn't let it go. Raising his hand, a flaming chain shot out, tightly binding the monster, then forcefully flung it back. The monster tumbled and crashed against another side wall.

Johnny, who had just rushed upstairs, disregarded the fact that his strength was depleted and forced himself into the Ghost Rider state, grabbing the monster's neck, the flames in his eye sockets blazing as he stared into the monster's eyes.

Instantly, flames began to rise from the monster's body, its long limbs flailing and struggling with horrific screams, yet to no avail, as it slowly turned to ashes in Johnny's hands.

Both returned to their human forms but did not relax. Danny shook his head and said, "This is just a puppet. We need to find the source; otherwise, these monsters will only become more numerous."

At this moment, Danny noticed Shiller, who had just walked up the stairs, looked a bit off. He wanted to ask something, but Johnny gave him a glance and then said, "Dawn is breaking, we should take this time to rest, to restore our strength."

After speaking, he pulled Danny back to the resting room. Shiller also returned to their next room. But within ten minutes, Danny climbed in through the window.

"Doctor, did you notice something wrong?"

"Yes. In theory, my magic array should not have issues," Shiller said with great certainty. "Even if it can't completely banish the devil's power, it should certainly limit it. But Nelson's condition hasn't improved, which means something went wrong in some part of the process."

"You mentioned something interfered with the magic array, what do you think it might be?"

"I can't determine it. However, just as I was about to take some actions, something happened upstairs. This means, the devil knew we were conducting an exorcism and intentionally wanted to interrupt us."

"Exactly." Danny agreed with him and said, "He might have sensed the strong power of the magic array and had to make some noise upstairs to attract our attention. If only we hadn't gone up."

"Had we not gone up, he would have certainly attacked others upstairs. Even if it's for the sake of protecting ordinary people, we had to go there. You did nothing wrong."

Danny sighed and continued, "Actually, the one who should know the situation best is Nelson. But people who have been controlled by the devil are not trustworthy. They lie, or they think they are telling the truth, but it's actually the lies the devil stuffed into their brains."

"No, I think there is another person worth noting," Shiller said. "Don't you think the owner of this asylum is a bit suspicious?"

The right side seating of the cinema suddenly erupted in cheers. Stark spread his hands and said, "Finally, someone understands! It's really commendable, they should have noticed the most suspicious person from the moment they entered - the owner of the asylum!!!"

Shiller slightly rolled his eyes. Unexpectedly, Natasha also nodded and said, "If it were me, I would first look into the information of the asylum owner. But this isn't out of any agent's professional ethics, purely because you really look too suspicious, doctor."

Steven also nodded and said, "I was originally going to say, the protagonist group seems a bit dumb, ignoring such a suspicious target and instead going after Nelson."

Peter seemed a bit confused, pausing his chewing of cheese balls, and then said, "What's the situation? Who's suspicious? Are you talking about the doctor? What's suspicious about him?"

Stark slapped the back of Peter's head, nearly pushing him into the cheese ball bucket. Peter coughed twice and said, "I didn't see anything suspicious about the character the doctor is playing, isn't he quite normal?"

Beside him, Hawkeye sighed and said, "From the moment he appeared in the Doctor's room, it seemed a bit off. A normal person, knowing which floor has ghosts, would definitely stay far away. But the doctor went to that floor when it was almost dark and even entered someone's room, that's already suspicious enough. Not to mention, the basement where Nelson ate the corpse isn't something that was dug up in a day or two; only the owner of the asylum would have the capability for such a big feat. Also, during the devil banishing ritual, apart from the protagonist, only he was present. The ritual was interfered with, besides him, who else could it be?"

The critics discussed amongst themselves, not thinking this plot was cliched. Most were teasing that Shiller was becoming a professional antagonist. But some said the villain Shiller played this time was a bit lacking, though this could be a disguise, and only the future development would clarify.

Later, the movie's pace sped up. Doctor Sophocles explained to Danny his reasons for suspecting the asylum director Dr. Rodriguez. Though Danny was hesitant, he somewhat agreed with Sophocles.

They devised an action plan: Shiller would research related materials online, while Danny would attempt to break into Shiller's office at noon tomorrow to see if he could find any clues.

Of course, they found something. Because apart from Mephisto who can use magic to access the office, Shiller could also use his fingerprint to enter, easily planting evidence inside—Shiller used Hell Ash brought by Mephisto himself.

Devils like Mephisto leave no traces. The smell and ashes are actually his scare tactics. After all, if there's only a monster, the atmosphere isn't enough. Sometimes, premonitions before the ultimate strike heighten human fear to the maximum.

When Danny found the Hell Ash in the office, he felt anger and fear, and once again sought out his brother. As the two discussed countermeasures, Shiller came in with his computer, saying he found information about the asylum and its several owners online.

In Shiller's research materials, several points stood out as especially suspicious. But the most obvious was: since Dr. Rodriguez finished filming a certain movie, his schedule and travel habits had drastically changed.

Previously, this doctor would usually go out during the day and almost never leave his bedroom at night. But since returning to the asylum after filming, he has been sleeping during the day and moving at night, his schedule becoming very irregular. Moreover, the nurses and assistants in the hospital said Dr. Rodriguez seemed somewhat different from before, less patient with patients, and the management of the hospital was in chaos, and these were real testimonies.

After Danny saw all this, he slammed the table hard. Shiller, on the other hand, secretly laughed in his heart.