Chapter 233: Investigation and the Psychiatric Hospital
William's mouth twitched upon hearing this.
This title of "The entire police department's most beautiful daughter," won't you really get beaten up by your colleagues...
"Can you mobilize a large number of police forces?" He looked at the other party and said.
For William, it didn't matter who could help, as long as he could contact those audiences.
Gordon shook his head repeatedly: "Young man, mobilizing a large number of police forces must be approved by the higher-ups. Plus the need to maintain Philadelphia's daily public security, I don't have that much ability."
"Moreover, those audiences came from various states. Normally, the Philadelphia police have no authority to summon them."
He shrugged as he spoke.
"Especially in such an era of tense police-civilian relations."
William sighed: "Then my Mr. Sheriff, what can you do? Let's stop beating around the bush."
Gordon flexed his muscles again: "Hehe, I happen to know a person in charge at the TV station; she's been wanting to ask me out recently."
William's eyes were strange.
"Hey! Don't look at me like that. Martha's mother ran away a long time ago; I am now a veritable single man." Gordon explained seriously.
"Previously, Skye's concert was commercially docked by her, broadcasting exclusively on the 'Big Beauty' channel."
William's eyes lit up.
This way, they could find out whether the "Smile Curse" could spread through media.
"Thank you, Sheriff, I really need this help." He smiled.
"When you meet with that lady, I must ask you to investigate a few questions clearly."
"Did all the audiences who watched the entire concert show hallucinations in the past two days, such as a weird smile..."
William informed the other party of the way to confirm the curse.
"William, aren't you going together?" Gordon was puzzled.
The former shook his head.
"I also need to personally examine the corpses of Skye and that drug dealer. You should be able to arrange this, right?"
Gordon said: "Of course. In order to investigate the truth, the Chief has been delaying letting her family take the body back, which has already caused a lot of dissatisfaction."
William added: "By the way, I will let my assistant go with you. You can also ask her about supernatural issues."
"She? William, are you finally willing to become a normal man!" Surprise flashed in Gordon's eyes.
"I am a normal man to begin with..." William covered his face.
"When you see her later, I hope you won't feel guilty inside."
Gordon looked strange, not quite understanding the meaning of William's last sentence.
But when he saw Judy, his face instantly squeezed together, like constipation.
This girl was about the same age as his own daughter, and Gordon had actually made such a joke not long ago.
"William... I hate you!"
Gordon constantly pounded the wall, his heart full of guilt.
"Will, what's wrong with him?" Judy whispered.
"Nothing, he also has a daughter as old as you. Because of work, the father and daughter haven't seen each other for a long time." William said casually.
Judy nodded, half understanding.
Afterwards, William also privately instructed Judy to pay attention to anyone around her, especially guys revealing a bizarre smile and attempting suicide.
Judy naturally understood the terror of the Smile Curse and nodded seriously.
Next, the three split into two groups.
Gordon and Judy hurried towards the TV station, while William came in front of a building according to the Sheriff's guidance.
Philadelphia Coroner's Office (PCO).
With Sheriff Gordon's "Privilege," William quickly arrived at the morgue.
The smell of formalin and the low temperature in the air gave this place a strange quietness.
After pulling out the corpses of Skye and the drug dealer, the staff left first.
William first arranged the necessary magic tools around, and then came to the side of the corpses.
Just as described in the file.
Skye's right eye socket had a deep depression, which had already pierced to the location of the brain.
And the murder weapon was just a microphone.
Skye had a history of long-term alcoholism and drug use, and at the same time, she was a woman.
Under these circumstances, she could actually use a microphone to chisel through her head.
And midway, she could even ignore various emotions brought by fear and pain.
This was obviously against common sense.
But it was very consistent with the symptoms of "Evil Spirit Possession."
However, when William observed with [Holy Eye], he didn't find an evil aura on the other party.
Instead, he noticed another thing.
"There are signs of the soul being pulled out..." He narrowed his eyes.
A faint spirit body aura remained on Skye's chest; it was a broken transparent chain.
Through previous commissions, William already knew that this maintained the connection between the two when the soul was dragged away from the body.
And the drug dealer aside also had a similar situation.
"The previous Smile Entity didn't seem to have this characteristic." William thought secretly.
When he went to Teacher Isa's house with Judy and Jal back then, the evil spirit only tried to drill into the latter's body.
But judging from the present, the evil spirit this time was much stronger.
Not only was the power aura hard to trace, but it also seemed to possess the power to influence souls.
Thinking of this, William took out the item obtained from his first commission—the Smiling Face Mask.
[Smiling Face Mask]
[Effect: Strengthens the connection between soul and body, guiding the lost. During wearing, the user's personality will be slightly affected.]
[Note: It comes from an unknowable place.]
The brown texture and the twisted smiling face on the surface.
This item was still the same as before.
Since using it once in the "Insidious" commission, this thing had always been thrown at the bottom of William's trunk.
Back then, he was worried the face mask itself might have unknown dangers, so he didn't try it rashly.
But with William's current theological strength, he had long stopped fearing these. Relying on [Holy Eye], he found a peculiar pulling power in the face mask.
It could reinforce the strength of the "Chain" between the soul and body.
This was also the source of its efficacy.
As for "personality being affected during use," it was just a very minor side effect.
It wouldn't fundamentally change the soul itself.
Combining with the "Soul Peeling" phenomenon discovered just now, obviously, the appearance of this item was not accidental.
"Maybe the face mask is the key item to deal with the Smile Entity this time." He looked thoughtful.
Next, William re-examined the corpses, ensuring there were no omissions before leaving.
On the other side.
Judy and Gordon also brought back key clues.
"The Smile Curse cannot spread through media." Judy's tone was certain.
Through Gordon's "Old Flame," they contacted over 50 audiences who watched the entire broadcast that night.
Most of them claimed their mental state had problems.
But through the problem test William prepared beforehand, as well as observation with Holy Water, screening with Judy's eye ability, and other methods.
It was quickly confirmed that those people were only frightened.
They were not possessed by any evil spirit, nor did they see anyone with a "Bizarre Smile."
William breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
In this way, there were much fewer people needing purification.
Otherwise, he was even planning to go on TV and hold a public exorcism ritual.
Now only one problem remained—finding all the audiences who participated in the concert that day and giving them an exorcism purification.
And regarding the whereabouts of the evil spirit, William had also been thinking.
Since the traces of the evil spirit were hard to track, it would be better to find its transmission carrier first.
When the evil spirit tried to influence those innocents, it would definitely reveal flaws.
Thinking of this, the three set off to a private hospital.
That was the place mentioned in the file where many audiences applied for "Psychotherapy" after the concert.
Receiving them was a female psychiatrist, Sarah.
Also the chief psychotherapist and person in charge of this private hospital.
She had smooth pale golden long hair, calm eyes, and always wore a shallow smile.
Giving people a feeling of being "Approachable."
"Sorry, I cannot provide patients' privacy, even if the police come to investigate."
Hearing the few's purpose, Sarah smiled and shook her head.
"When encountering intense stimulation, the human brain activates a protection mechanism, sealing the stimulating scenes in the patient's memory in a more appropriate way."
She explained.
"In this situation, they will naturally see some hallucinations, rather than so-called evil spirits."
Sarah looked at Gordon as she spoke: "I understand the pressure the Philadelphia Police Department faces, but, Mr. Sheriff, as a law enforcement officer, I think you should base things on evidence."
There was a hidden meaning in her words; even Judy could hear who it was aimed at.
"Then gentlemen, I still have many consultations later, so please excuse me first."
After Sarah left, Judy had an unhappy look on her face.
"What gives her the right to say that! Many evil spirit incidents in the city before were solved by Will!"
Gordon also crossed his arms and sighed:
"Little Judy, the world is just like this. Before encountering danger, many people are stubborn with their own opinions, and this often makes them face life-and-death crises too."
"Moreover, psychotherapy concerns that guy's business. Once she admits this matter was done by evil spirits, then who would come to see a psychiatrist in the future?"
Judy frowned: "But... but, to make money, do they not even care about those people's lives!"
Gordon spread his hands: "This is exactly what I admire about Father William; he values human lives more."
Speaking of William, the two only then found he had disappeared.
Searching around, they found the priest squatting beside a young girl.
"Will, what are you doing?" Judy said with a curious face.
She saw him observing the girl's eyes for a moment, then walking in circles nearby.
And the girl was sitting quietly on the chair at this moment; her eyes were unfocused, seeming to have no conscious awareness.
"Father... what's wrong with Willie?" Aside, the girl's mother Marianne looked anxious.
William didn't answer immediately but asked rhetorically: "You said, Willie went to see a concert three days ago, and became like this after coming back?"
Marianne nodded.
"Skye was the idol she had always admired. When she heard Skye was taking a break back then, Willie was sad for quite a while."
"So when she heard Skye was going to hold a concert again, she started saving money months in advance. I also hoped Willie could see her idol standing on the stage again, but didn't expect that kind of thing to happen..."
Fear flashed in Marianne's eyes.
Due to busy work, she couldn't accompany Willie.
Therefore, the latter went to the venue with her good friends.
After learning of the accident, Marianne found Willie immediately.
"She was terrified, and heartbroken, but the next day, she was like a different person..."
According to Marianne, after the concert ended, Willie frequently had massive emotional fluctuations.
Sometimes she would yell loudly, sometimes she was very quiet, and would even make some movements she never had in the past.
This made Marianne very worried about her daughter's mental condition, so she decided to bring her to see a psychiatrist.
While waiting, Willie once again showed the condition of being "Abnormally quiet."
Although Marianne was still worried, this symptom had occurred multiple times, and moreover, they were at the hospital at this time.
So she planned to ask in detail after the doctor checked her.
But she didn't expect this priest to suddenly appear and also express that Willie's condition might not be right.
William indeed noticed something wrong.
Just now he vaguely perceived a burst of evil aura surging nearby.
When he turned to observe, that feeling suddenly disappeared.
But he still discovered this girl's anomaly.
At this time, from William's perspective, Willie's soul and main body had a dislocation.
This caused the latter's consciousness to blur.
If not restored in a short time, it would likely cause the connection between the spirit body and flesh to become weaker and weaker.
Ultimately Willie would very likely become an empty shell.
In this situation, William could restore it just by gently moving his hands.
But what he cared about was that two handprints rich in evil aura were left on the spirit body.
Judging from the traces, the owner of the handprints seemed to intend to pull Willie's spirit body out.
This was consistent with William's previous judgment.
It could be seen that this evil spirit was hiding nearby.
Just as William planned to help Willie restore, an unkind voice rang out behind him.
"What are you doing?"
Sarah's eyes were cold, staring at Gordon and saying:
"Mr. Sheriff, I don't want to hinder your investigation, but please don't harass my patients either."
"This is a private hospital; I have the right to ask you to leave."
A police officer, a girl, a priest.
This combination of three identities was itself quite conspicuous.
Plus Sarah's voice, it instantly attracted the attention of many people in the waiting room.
At the same time, some security guards also appeared around, vaguely surrounding them.
Seeing this, William knew this misunderstanding couldn't be avoided.
Just as Gordon said before, if Sarah agreed with the theory of evil spirits, it would undoubtedly damage her own interests.
Not to mention there were so many patients nearby at this time.
If she let a priest cure a patient, then probably no one would come to her door in the future.
But Willie obviously couldn't wait that long.
So William immediately stepped forward, staring calmly at Sarah.
"This girl is very dangerous right now. If my subsequent actions cannot prove my words, you can drive me out."
"Of course, for the sake of some unnecessary impacts, I suggest you prepare a quiet and empty room for me."
He specially emphasized the words "unnecessary impacts"; if the other party was smart enough, she would naturally understand.
Sarah's face was as gloomy as water upon hearing this.
Gordon aside had long been on guard, and hearing William's words made him even more surprised.
"Being so arrogant on someone else's turf... isn't that a bit bad."
But to Gordon's surprise, Sarah didn't drive them away.
After thinking for a moment, this psychiatrist turned and said: "Follow me."
VIP Ward.
"You'd better be able to prove yourself."
Sarah leaned against the wall, with sturdy security guards watching the door.
Indeed, as William said, whether this priest could solve the girl's so-called "Problem" or not, Sarah couldn't let the other party do this in front of the public.
And she had also personally checked just now, indeed finding an anomaly in Willie's brain.
Clearly, all indicators were normal, but the girl had no consciousness at all.
This situation had also occurred multiple times in the past few days, but those patients' symptoms quickly returned to normal after a brief appearance.
For this reason, Sarah had already contacted her teacher, trying to find the cause of the problem.
But so far, there was still no harvest.
Now that there was a priest claiming to be able to solve this puzzle, she wanted to see for herself whether there really were so-called "Evil Spirits" existing in this world.
William didn't care about Sarah's threat.
In the words of Eldest Senior Brother, if they really fought, everyone present was "Trash."
He came to Willie and took out a crucifix from his bag.
For a time, everyone's gazes were all on William.
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