Chapter 09 The Art of Language

The dying rays of the sun quietly burned on the horizon, as Xu Yi strolled through the Crape Myrtle Cemetery.

Crape Myrtle Cemetery was the largest cemetery near Chinatown, spanning thousands of acres. After sending Lisa home, Xu Yi had come straight here.

He was here, of course, to "level up" his Psychic Entries. Psychic Entries needed to be in the presence of supernatural activities, which roughly equaled dead people. And where were the most dead people?

Obviously, in a cemetery.

"The scenery is really nice, these reliefs are so exquisite..."

After wandering around, Xu Yi was dumbstruck; the cemetery's environment was indeed nice, but it lacked the "supernatural" atmosphere he had imagined.

Could it be that all the dead in America were orderly ghosts, adhering to doctrines and not considering stirring up trouble after death?

It wasn't until he saw a few priests praying with their Holy Bibles that Xu Yi suddenly understood—it wasn't that they didn't want to cause trouble, they just couldn't.

In this world, with both ghosts and demons, those priests and Priests were not just for show; the church even had professional Exorcists.

"Miscalculation, indeed!" Xu Yi sighed to himself.

He felt that he should have sought out some disorderly burial mounds instead of such a formal cemetery.

But since he was here, he decided to complete the tour, as the scenery was indeed beautiful.

Cemeteries abroad were unlike those at home, resembling gardens more. He heard that the neighboring United Kingdom was even more extravagant, being the top choice for camping.

Xu Yi walked to the edge of the cemetery and saw a wooden house in the distance, with a person in front who looked somewhat familiar.

As he got closer, he realized it really was an acquaintance—the real estate agent he met at the barber shop.

Ailent was talking with a few people, presumably potential tenants looking at the house.

Xu Yi couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could see the customers shaking their heads repeatedly, indicating the negotiation wasn't going well.

The clients left, leaving a distressed Ailent behind.

"Mr. Ailent, what a coincidence!" Xu Yi approached proactively.

As he neared the house, his body suddenly paused, and the system transmitted another notification:

[Psychic Entries experience +8, current progress: 19/100.]

A fortuitous find after an exhaustive search, he never expected to stumble upon such a windfall here.

"It's you!" Ailent recognized Xu Yi, but clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation.

As a middleman, whether the house rented out was not a concern for him, but upon hearing the house was selling for an incredibly low price, he was overcome by greed and bought it.

Now he couldn't rent it out at all, and it had become a burden on his hands.

"Won't you take me for a visit inside?" Xu Yi asked softly.

"You also want to rent the house? I would advise you to look elsewhere! This house is not so good," Ailent sighed.

He had given up on the house, as today marked the eighth prospective tenant that had visited and left after viewing, turning away even despite the low rent offered.

Xu Yi looked at Ailent curiously; such a conscientious real estate agent was rare.

Ailent did not refuse Xu Yi's request, after all, he didn't have anything else to do and considered it killing time.

He opened the door to the house and showed Xu Yi around.

The house's layout and decorations weren't bad. After touring the first and second floors, Xu Yi took a glance at the attic.

Ailent was about to show Xu Yi out, but Xu Yi stopped, "Haven't we missed the basement?

Ailent looked at Xu Yi, at a loss for words, and finally let out a sigh, "Go ahead, but let's hurry up and leave afterwards."

The door to the basement swung open, and Xu Yi stepped inside, immediately shuddering.

It was still the peak of summer outside, but the basement was as cold as an ice cellar.

Xu Yi glanced at Ailent and noticed his usual demeanor; he suddenly realized that this wasn't a cold in the physical sense, but rather, the workings of the Psychic Entries.

Although the Psychic Entries were less than twenty percent complete, they had already made his senses unordinary.

At the same time, the system transmitted more information.

[Psychic Entry Experience +18, current progress: 37/100.]

I received 18 points of experience, plus the 8 points from outside the door, making it a total of 26 points, far surpassing the previous sum. Indeed, to rapidly gain experience in Psychic Entries, one must encounter the supernatural.

But the system's prompts didn't end there.

[You are checked in at the "Resentment Funeral Parlor," sign-in successful, you've obtained 1 Resurrection Coin!]

This place is also a Land of Fear! Xu Yi was somewhat surprised.

He had researched the system's check-in feature for a while and generally, the more Resurrection Coins received from signing in, the more dangerous it meant the place was.

This place only gave out one Resurrection Coin, indicating that the danger level was very low. Originally, the "Cannibal's Dismemberment Kitchen" gave out three Resurrection Coins.

But this perfectly suited Xu Yi's needs, as he was searching for places with supernatural events to farm experience for his Psychic Entries.

If it was overly dangerous, he might have turned around and left.

"Five hundred US dollars!" Xu Yi suddenly spoke up.

Ailent was taken aback. At first, he was only asking for two hundred US dollars for this house, and now he had dropped it to one hundred, but still no one was interested.

Could it be that the other party meant the cost for half a year, or even a year's worth?

"Wouldn't that rent be too low for one year? Moreover, are you sure you want to rent it? I'm not going to lie to you, there's something not right with this house," Ailent kindly advised.

Xu Yi shook his head, "What I mean is, you give me five hundred US dollars, and I'll take care of the problem here for you."

Ailent was stunned for a moment, then it clicked, "Are you an exorcist?"

He scrutinized Xu Yi up and down. Xu Yi was young, probably still in school.

But one can't tell an exorcist just by their age; there are many exorcists as young as seven or eight years old. Sometimes the younger they are, the stronger their spiritual power, which might disappear as they grow older.

Ailent mentally weighed his options. He had thought about hiring an exorcist before, but the cost of hiring one was enough to buy three houses like this one.

Exorcists are rare nowadays, and as the saying goes, scarcity makes things more precious, hence the steep price for their services.

There are cheaper exorcists, of course, but they're either frauds or celebrities like the Warrens. He had once secretly called an assistant of the Warrens, hoping they would come for an exorcism.

After asking about his situation, the assistant said the Warrens were very busy lately, but they would come to help him with the exorcism when they were free.

He wasn't a naive young man fresh to society; of course, he could read between the lines of the assistant's polite refusal. When were the Warrens ever free? It was just a roundabout way of saying no.

An exorcist that only asks for five hundred dollars, could the person in front of me be a scammer?

"Five hundred upfront, and upon completion of the exorcism, I'll charge an additional fee based on the level of difficulty," Xu Yi said, as if seeing through the other's thoughts.

Ailent let out a sigh of relief, no longer seeing Xu Yi with the eyes of a swindler.

Xu Yi was speechless; to level up his Psychic Entries, he was willing to do it for free if necessary, but alas, the other party wouldn't believe that, so what could he do? Naturally, it was time to raise the price!

This was the going rate for exorcists. According to newspaper reports, an exorcist had charged a wealthy businessman two hundred thousand US Dollars for an exorcism.

This was two hundred thousand dollars in 1980, which could buy a very fine villa.

Xu Yi was eager to level up his Psychic Entries for this very reason, as being an exorcist was simply too lucrative.

In the future, while performing exorcisms, he could farm entries, and in his free time, "admire the flowers." Wouldn't life be splendid?

"About this subsequent fee?" Ailent asked cautiously.

"The situation with this house is not complicated. I estimate that three to five thousand US dollars should suffice. Of course, you can also choose another method of payment," Xu Yi had his pitch ready.

"What method?" Ailent's ears perked up instantly.

After buying this house, he didn't have much money left, and he was still a bit worried; after all, legitimate exorcists usually have licenses from the church, and since the person before him hadn't shown one, he clearly didn't have it.

But one couldn't be sure, some exorcists just don't like working with the church.

"As an exorcist who has just started out, I haven't established a reputation yet. As a real estate agent, you come into contact with many people. I can exorcise this house, but in return, you need to refer clients to me," Xu Yi said softly.

"Of course, no problem!" Ailent immediately agreed and handed over the spare key of the house to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi watched as Ailent appeared as if he'd gotten an incredible deal, feeling a sense of pleasure in his heart.

Such is the art of language—if I had offered to exorcise for free from the start, I would definitely have been seen as a scammer, but if I pitched it differently, not only does he believe me, but he's thankful too?