Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Midnight is a very delicate time.

It signifies the end of one day, and the start of another.

In the hotel corridor, there hung a round, old-fashioned clock, and as the hour, minute, and second hands all struck twelve, there was a ticking sound.

Then, suddenly, the whole corridor was filled with a short burst of urgent, ticking alarm sounds.

Even with a torrential downpour outside, creating quite a racket, the alarm of the clock was still piercingly sharp.

Every hotel designs their hallways with dim lighting, because this gives people a sense of comfort and ease.

Of course, in Mrs. Mary Shaw's hotel, this aspect was greatly exaggerated.

After nightfall, the lights would dim gradually, leaving the corridor pitch black and deep as if an invisible gaping maw had opened, ready to swallow whole anyone who entered it.

...

Meanwhile, in Du Wei's room.

He was not sleeping, but sitting on the bed, wiping his gun with a clean cloth.

Upon hearing that urgent alarm sound.

Suddenly...

An inexplicable sense of gloom surfaced in his heart, accompanied by irritability caused by the loud noise.

"Who could be so foolish to set an alarm to sound at midnight?"

"No wonder this hotel has no guests other than myself."

"However, I feel this is just the prelude."

Du Wei wiped his gun, a sarcastic smile on his face.

His tone was odd, filled with anticipation and impatience.

He didn't care about any secrets that Mrs. Mary Shaw might have.

What he cared about was solving the Evil Spirit case, using this opportunity to have a valid reason to reveal his own Evil Spirit Transformation, thereby penetrating the inner workings of the church to gain more information he needed.

On his bed, there were several items laid out.

First were two white masks, one covered with cracks, the other brand new.

Then there were two Joker Cards, a Dagger...

The Holy Nail, stored in its slender box, and the lighter that could be used against Evil Spirits.

As for the Black Umbrella, it was placed beside his leg.

One could say he was fully equipped for protection.

Any Evil Spirit appearing in the room would not be able to kill him easily, not even a nun.

And, at the head of the bed, there was a red balloon tied up.

All of a sudden...

Du Wei turned his head, looking toward the direction of the door.

Under the state of Spirit Vision, he could feel a gloomy presence gradually brewing at the door.

"Interesting..."

His eyes showed a hint of coldness, but his entire demeanor remained very calm.

He even glanced only once before withdrawing his gaze, flipped open his coat, and began to pack up the scattered items on the bed, one by one.

This time, due to bringing Pennywise, he deliberately bought a large overcoat with many pockets, enough to fit all the items needed to face Evil Spirits.

Following this.

Du Wei picked up the Black Umbrella, stood up expressionlessly, and walked toward the door.

At the same time...

The bulbs in the room also started to flicker, as if there was an issue with the electrical voltage, flashing on and off erratically.

The temperature dropped suddenly at a rate perceivable by the human body.

Quite cold...

But Du Wei completely ignored this sensation; the Evil Spirit incidents he had been through were too frequent. Just this level of an anomaly had no effect on him whatsoever.

However, this was also partly due to the Evil Spirit Transformation...

A hunter is a process of transforming into an Evil Spirit, and it will inevitably turn a person stranger and more desensitized over time.

From body to soul, it is a process of decay.

Tap tap tap...

The sound of footsteps echoed.

Du Wei stopped at the door, not moving forward.

He was now close to the door. Leaning forward, he could peer through the peephole to see the outside scene, a pull of the handle away from opening the door.

However...

At that moment, he heard a series of footsteps coming from the room next door.

Thud thud thud...

They were identical to his own footsteps in both frequency and volume, with no discernible difference whatsoever.

If there had to be a difference mentioned, it would be that the footsteps next door seemed delayed.

Instantly, a strange idea surfaced in Du Wei's mind.

Was there someone standing at the door in the room next door now?

But, there was no one else in the hotel besides himself, and since he had entered his room, there hadn't been any signs of life from next door.

Not human...

He immediately made a judgment.

But it probably wasn't an Evil Spirit either.

Because the anomalies detected under the Spirit Vision were only present outside the door of his own room.

Thud thud thud...

The footsteps sounded again.

This time, they came from the room on the left.

The room Du Wei was staying in was sandwiched between two other rooms.

The footsteps he made walking from the bed to the door seemed to have triggered some special change, causing the rooms on both sides to echo with the same footsteps.

"Like some bored mischief... or rather, a low-end scare tactic,"

Du Wei spoke very calmly and then stretched out his hand to the doorknob.

Creak...

He twisted the handle and pulled the door open.

A blast of cold air hit him in the face.

His vision, as if affected, caught a glimpse of a blurry shadow flashing by.

The abnormalities seen under Spirit Vision vanished instantly.

A door, both closed and opened, seemed like a button that, once pressed, would trigger the opposite effect.
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Du Wei slightly lowered his head.

On the floor of the corridor outside, there was a puddle of water.

It was as if something had been standing outside the door, waiting for him just a moment ago.

"But why did you run?"

Du Wei couldn't understand but decided to step out and have a look.

The entire corridor was eerily dim, and except for the flickering light seeping out from his room door, his line of sight was severely impaired.

Furthermore, because of the flickering light bulbs, the area visible to the naked eye fluctuated between brightness and darkness.

Just like turning lights on and off.

Sizzle...

The sound of electricity buzzed as the lights inside the rooms went out completely.

With no light, Du Wei found himself plunged into darkness at the doorway.

But he didn't mind it and instead stared intently towards the end of the hallway.

In the darkness, there seemed to be something there.

Under Spirit Vision, he could vaguely see a blurry humanoid silhouette standing at the end of the hallway, staring back with a pair of void and lifeless eyes, fixed solely on him.

The malevolence grew more intense.

Yet Du Wei regarded it with an indifferent gaze, equally icy and devoid of any emotions one would expect to have.

"Evil Spirit?"

He spoke inexplicably, then picked up the Black Umbrella with his left hand and drew a Dagger, suspected to be a medium for evil spirit activity, from under his coat with his Right Hand, ready to walk over for a closer look...

But before he could take a step, his shoulder slightly dropped.

An almost inaudible snap, and a pale, slender hand like that of a woman emerged from the room behind him, resting on his shoulder.