The agent had already learned from Bruce about the clown performer-related matter. And after Binger provided this critical information, everything connected.
The high levels of the Mormon Sect aren't all fools. Managers preach morality, but their hearts are all about business. They're not doing this because they truly believe in God; it's to exploit believers. And the wealth exploited, of course, needs a good place to be stored.
So over the years, like ants moving homes, they've gradually transferred the wealth to large banks in other cities to pave the way for their future. And that clown performer, also Berg's father — Old Berg, was one of those involved in the wealth transfer plan. This means he's the owner of part of the safety deposit box. As Berg's descendant, Linda has inheritance rights.
But that's not the main point. The main point is the agent and Hunter's encounter with that safety deposit box in the bank. It had been speculated before that this must be the evil spirit's plot. By ensuring the box possessors simultaneously meet two conditions, the evil spirit placed this box in the bank's vault.
And this box was exactly the scare box the Joker used in his stage performance. This can't be a coincidence.
If the evil spirit existed before the tragedy occurred in the small town, and if, before the tragedy, someone had stored a harmful scare box in the bank vault, then who the long-existing evil spirit is, has become evident. This Old Berg must have issues.
Having sorted out the clues, the agent no longer hesitated. He said to Binger, "There's not much for you to do staying here; why not leave with me? You are more familiar with the situation in the town and can guide me."
"But I..."
"Your mom is now acting crazily, and even if the evil spirit wasn't watching her, she might not go with me. Since you said you two are very close, you at least need to help me persuade her."
"Alright," Binger immediately agreed, saying, "but I can't appear in the Psychic_Battlefield in spiritual form, or I'll be instantly spotted by the evil spirit; he hates me to death. You'd better find me a hiding place."
"His biggest hate now shouldn't be you. Let's go."
After speaking, the agent didn't care about Binger's wishes and grabbed him directly. Binger shrieked wildly, but he didn't seem like a powerful evil spirit, so he couldn't do anything beyond struggling.
The agent floated upward with Binger, quickly surfacing. Bruce, seeing him carrying a child, was taken aback.
Upon seeing Binger's face, he realized quickly and said, "You're the Binger roasting fish in the cave, right?"
"Yes, that's me. But… have you already encountered the evil spirit's trap?"
"What do you mean?"
"The news about the town's tragedy was suppressed, but the town used to be quite popular, so inevitably some people would come around. The evil spirit set traps in the real world; as long as you touch related items, you'll fall into memories of the year. The more you touch, the more your mind shifts closer to the Psychic_Battlefield. If you get hurt a bit in the real world, then you will quickly be lured into the Psychic_Battlefield, never to leave again."
Bruce recalled something. He did see some unusual people among the townsfolk before. Some looked like law enforcers, some were hikers. They might all have been drawn in this way.
"It may be a trap for ordinary people, but not for us," the agent said. "Alright, there's still a teammate we haven't found. We need to explore this world properly while the evil spirit's away."
In fact, Peter had already started exploring. Since he recovered some Spider-sense, allowing him to avoid most dangers, he began exploring house by house and did uncover a clue.
Peter was inside a townhouse, phone directory in hand, specifically the one used by town residents. The first entry in the directory had a repeatedly edited phone number with "Honored Priest gentleman" written above and "Famillo" listed for the name; below, "Derby" was listed, but without a phone number.
Peter immediately recalled the memory from when he read the Mormon Scripture. Then it was two men moving through what seemed like an underground tunnel, and he saw an array and got pushed from behind, falling onto the array.
Could it be these two priests?
He certainly hadn't forgotten how, just after entering, a self-proclaimed Priest Famillo offered him cup after cup of water. He knew this person wasn't good early on. But if they were the two men from memory, they surely knew something.
As Peter pondered, Bruce and the agent followed the traces and found Peter with Binger. After exchanging information, they all looked at Binger.
"Alright, I lied about some parts," Binger said, "You also know, townsfolk suffered chronic poisoning; they didn't all die on the same day. Regular believers couldn't see doctors because the sect preached against it, the town lacked doctors, and they couldn't leave, so symptoms went untreated. But the upper levels were different."
"Most had been missionaries, traveled, and didn't actually believe what they preached, fearing death most. They actually left town for yearly check-ups. When their bodies showed discomfort, they quickly realized and prepared to leave town for treatment. Of course, I couldn't let them go."
"For some reason, after I became a ghost, I also gained the ability to control bodies. But my own body was too weak, so I controlled my grandfather's body, which is Berg's corpse, and killed all the town's high-level officials who attempted to leave. These two must be the ones who got away."
"However..." Binger furrowed his brow slightly, saying, "I'm pretty sure nobody can leave the town. There are no living people here except my mom. Where did these two go?"
Peter had found pen and paper nearby. He started sketching repeatedly and then drew a rough pattern, handing it to Binger, "Do you know what this is?"
Binger looked at it for a while, then shook his head, "I don't know, is this some kind of drawing?"
Both Bruce and the agent took a look, then the agent said, "It looks like some kind of array."
"Supernatural events should truly exist," Peter said, "In these series of events, there must be some mystical powers at play. Earlier, I already saw Famillo in the town, which proves he might be dead. But if according to what I saw in my memory, Famillo was pushed into an array, then did Derby, the one who pushed him, gain something through this action?"
"You mean he sacrificed Famillo and then escaped through the array? Is he that skilled?"
"Ah!" Binger suddenly exclaimed, "I remembered something."
"What?"
"I remembered where I've seen a similar pattern. My grandfather had a box, a black one filled with circus performance props. But it wasn't originally his; it was left to him by his father. I recall once, when I was rummaging through it, I seemed to have seen this pattern on a photo."
"That's Old Berg's stuff again, right?"
Binger nodded, "Yes, if there's no accident. You're saying it's an array, but what's an array?"
Nobody answered him; they were all deep in thought. The agent had already confirmed that Old Berg might well be some sort of black magician, who continued to haunt the town after death. The formation of the Psychic_Battlefield is definitely related to him.
"We still have to go back to your house," Bruce said, "the place where two generations of Berg lived. There must be some traces left behind."
So they walked toward Aunt Cain's house. In the Psychic_Battlefield, this house wasn't old, instead, it was ridiculously new, without a speck of dust, like a dollhouse.
They searched the house but found nothing. Everything in the house seemed as if it was just taken off a factory assembly line, without any sign of use. Or rather, everything in the entire Psychic_Battlefield was like this. This was probably the heresy's ideal Heaven.
"My house has a basement," Binger said, "let's check the backyard, there should be an entrance there."
They went to the backyard but didn't find any entrance. The whole backyard was visible at a glance, with nothing but the lawn.
"He must have hidden the entrance," Binger said, "let me think... the tool shed, let's check the tool shed."
So they went to the tool shed. As soon as they arrived, they realized something was wrong; this tool shed was more like the real world, and as they got closer, they found it presented in a semi-transparent state, like when those spirit bodies are about to withdraw from this world.
"This might be the entrance to the real world," Peter speculated, "that evil spirit wants to enter the real world, either through an unclaimed body or in a designated location."
"Wait." The agent found something in a corner of the room; it was a small doll, identical to the one that popped out of the jack-in-the-box they encountered in the bank vault.
Then he remembered that back in the real world, when he was searching through the tool shed, he found a box without a doll, and thought it was unfinished. Now it seemed this doll was actually removed.
"Can it also possess a doll?" The agent looked at the doll somewhat puzzled and after squeezing it, found something inside. So he opened it from the back and found a segment of a finger bone inside.
"It's an adult's," the agent said, "and it's been here for some years. This might be Old Berg's bone."
He rummaged inside again, scooped out the stuffing, and turned the whole skin inside out, revealing a pattern quite similar to the previous array inside the doll's inner skin.
"As expected," the agent said, "this guy is the real Son of Satan. He's been studying black magic and can directly operate in the real world by possessing dolls. He could use the doll's body to harm others and seize their bodies. Perhaps he used this method to possess Aunt Cain far away in New York, causing Berg's escape plan to fail, resulting in all the tragedies."