Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Mary Shaw's hotel was located near the Tulip Community.

Because the whole community was so remote, the hotel's business was not very good.

When Du Wei was brought to the hotel by Officer Allen, he almost thought he had arrived at a dubious inn.

Outside the hotel was a dark green signboard, with neon lights flickering from time to time, giving off a rather eerie feeling.

Of course, that was just a feeling.

As soon as he entered the hotel,

An elderly woman with gray hair and an extremely outdated floral jacket was sitting behind the counter, wiping a coffee cup.

She seemed very old, her face full of wrinkles, and her distinctive hooked nose was slightly drooping, casting a somewhat sinister shadow, yet her demeanor was very kind.

Seeing Du Wei and Officer Allen come in, the old lady lifted her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose and said in a slow voice, "Isn't that Officer Allen? What brings you here? And who might this be?"

Officer Allen forced a smile and said, "This is Dr. Du Wei, who is traveling to Yard City. I'm bringing him to stay here for a couple of days."

This old lady was Mary Shaw.

And every time Allen thought about what Du Wei had said before—the incidents with the Evil Spirit and the terrifying legend of Mary Shaw—a chill ran down his spine.

Although he didn't know what the so-called terrifying legend was.

Mary nodded at Allen, then sized up the aloof-looking Du Wei and exclaimed, "It's quite a surprise. My hotel has been open for several decades now, and I've never hosted anyone from the Orient before."

With that, she turned to Du Wei with a friendly smile and said, "Hello, Dr. Du Wei, hmm? You're a doctor, hmm, very good, very good."

Her words were a bit rambling, but that was typical of someone her age.

Du Wei glanced at Mary Shaw and, under the state of Spirit Vision, he did not sense anything unusual about her.

This was a living person.

Not an Evil Spirit.

So, he gave Mary Shaw a friendly smile in return: "Hello, Madam Mary, I will probably be staying here for two days, thank you for your troubles."

But in his heart, there was not the slightest stir; on the contrary, he became even more vigilant towards Madam Mary.

The Evil Spirit incidents in Yard City, something was off about them all.

It all seemed not the work of an Evil Spirit, but rather human.

Yet Du Wei always remembered that the message from the church was that this Evil Spirit incident originated from the terrifying legend of Mary Shaw.

Of course, regarding this legend, Allen had not provided him with any useful information.

In other words, it seemed there were not many who knew of this terrifying tale...

And this... didn't quite add up.

Officer Allen looked at Du Wei, then at Madam Mary Shaw and hesitated before saying, "Please arrange for my friend to check in first, I need to get back to work. You can chat amongst yourselves."

For him, a police officer on duty, there was no such thing as being off; unless the case was resolved, he had to be on duty 24 hours a day. Otherwise, it would be dereliction of duty.

Hearing this, Du Wei nodded towards Allen, showing his understanding.

Madam Mary Shaw smiled kindly and watched him leave.

There was a kind of deep-seated affection and peace in her eyes.

Du Wei sharply caught this and asked thoughtfully, "Have you known Officer Allen for a long time?"

Madam Mary Shaw laughed and said, "Allen, I watched him grow up, he's a very hardworking child, just a bit too mischievous, isn't he?"

"Mischievous?"

Du Wei was somewhat puzzled. No matter how he looked at it, Officer Allen seemed to be a very calm person, totally unrelated to the word 'mischievous'.

Madam Mary Shaw smiled and said, "Yes, he really was mischievous, and he had a conflict with his family while he was at the police academy. If it weren't for me mediating, I guess his relationship with his family would be very bad by now."

Du Wei made a mental note of this and, after a moment of thought, began to steer the conversation.

Thus, he intentionally changed the subject, "I have known Officer Allen for a while, and I came to visit Yard City this time. I wonder if you could recommend any unique sights here? Or perhaps, are there any interesting legends?"
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Madam Mary Shaw frowned, causing the wrinkles on her face to bunch up, looking a bit angry as she said, "That Allen really, didn't he tell you that Yard City is not suitable for tourism at all?"

Du Wei showed a look of surprise and then cursed, "Fuck, that bastard is so unreliable. I thought there were some special attractions here, but it seems I'm going to be disappointed this time."

Madam Mary Shaw said helplessly, "That's just his personality, but you don't have to be too discouraged, even if you want to travel, this kind of weather is not very suitable."

Du Wei feigned a sigh, "Indeed it is, but I only recently got a vacation, I have been really busy lately."

After saying this, he looked into Madam Mary Shaw's eyes and asked slowly, "By the way, I heard that Yard City has had a lot of deaths recently, is that true?"

Madam Mary Shaw's face darkened as she said, "Indeed, many people have died, about a dozen or so, but I'm not clear on the specifics. After all, I'm old, not like those young people who have the energy to keep up with such matters."

Du Wei immediately took over the conversation, "What a coincidence, I'm very interested in these matters. And I just heard about an amusing story about you from Officer Allen. He said that in Yard City, there's a terrifying legend named after you, called the story of Mary Shaw."

For some reason.

He always felt there was something off about Mary Shaw, but this feeling was illogical, almost like a sixth sense.

Upon hearing this, Madam Mary Shaw's face suddenly changed, her previously kind expression freezing over.

She leaned out from behind the counter, moving closer to Du Wei's face, and asked in an odd tone, "Did Allen really tell you that?"

Of course not...

Du Wei had just made up a fib on the spot.

He stayed composed, even smiling, "My relationship with Officer Allen is very good, he has no reason to lie to me."

Before entering the hotel, he had already informed Allen and organized a set of pretexts, also reminding him not to approach him for the next couple of days.

In a sense, during his time in Yard City, he could freely use Officer Allen's name to talk about things. As long as the Evil Spirit case was solved, there wasn't a problem.

At that moment.

Madam Mary Shaw looked at Du Wei and began to speak with a complex tone, "Actually, regarding that terrifying legend, I too find it strange how it came to be circulated. Many years ago, when Yard City was still a village town, a woman named Mary Shaw suddenly came here."

"She was very pretty and supposedly once a famous ventriloquist. She would make various interesting toys and sweets, and the children loved her, including myself."

"But then one day, someone discovered that there was one less child in the village."

"Later on, another child disappeared."

"Everyone panicked and organized a search throughout the town, but nothing was found, and more and more children went missing, making the matter more troubling."

"Suddenly one day, someone realized that all the missing children had had contact with Mary Shaw, so they went to her house, and that's when the angry truth came to light."

"It turned out that Mary Shaw had trafficked the children to other cities; she was a human trafficker."

"The parents were enraged, and they beat her to death. Most of the missing children were also found."

"However... I don't know from when, a terrifying nursery rhyme began to spread through the town."