Chapter 324: The Crazy Haunted House Explorers
William turned his head. Seeing that Kerson had closed his eyes and started sniffing the air again, he had no choice but to step forward and handle the situation.
"May the Lord bless you." He drew a cross on his chest.
"Our identities are special, and it is not suitable for us to appear in restricted-rating videos. Please edit us out during post-production."
"Uh, okay... Huh??" Mia was just about to tell Simon to lower the camera, but upon turning her head, she suddenly felt something was wrong.
A moment later, her face flushed bright red.
"No... I... it's not what you think!" she hurriedly shook her head and waved her hands.
William smiled slightly: "You don't need to do this. Every profession is sacred. This is all the Lord's guidance for us."
"What... guidance!" Mia took a deep breath and clenched her fists.
"We are internet channel creators, not that kind of actors!"
William nodded, his eyes full of innocence: "I see."
"You clearly don't believe me looking like that!" Mia roared.
William spread his hands: "You really don't need to explain. What content you want to film is your freedom."
"But as a member of the Church, I must remind you that a murder occurred here in the past. It's not suitable for activities that are too 'exciting.'"
The corner of Mia's mouth twitched: "What 'too exciting' activities... we're just here to film content about evil spirits!"
"So you're here to court death..." William said thoughtfully.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing." William smiled slightly. "While it's still not too late, I suggest you don't linger here for too long..."
Hearing this, Mia's eyes lit up: "Right! You're from the Church. Does that mean evil spirits really exist!"
Aside, Tsuna Nakamura turned his head slightly.
"So they really are from the Church. I heard there was a disappearance case here previously, and among them were Holy Clergy Members," he thought to himself.
"These two are probably here to investigate. But local churches only ever put on a show; I bet this young kid is the same. The foreigner behind him might have some skill, though..."
He then frowned: "No, I can't let these two guys steal our business."
Thinking of this, Tsuna Nakamura immediately stepped in front of Mia.
"Kid, the residential area here isn't under the Church's jurisdiction. You have no right to order us around."
"Of course. Therefore, this is merely a well-intentioned reminder." William maintained his smile.
Since the other party insisted on seeking death, he wouldn't say anything more.
"Hmph." Only then did Tsuna Nakamura turn his head back. "Miss Mia, I still need you to cooperate and rehearse the material shooting once. Let's start now."
With that, he adjusted the collar of his shirt and turned around coolly.
Mia crossed her arms over her chest, revealing an apologetic expression: "Thank you for the reminder, I'll be careful!"
Facing this blood-pumping scene, William merely looked on calmly.
Tsuna Nakamura, on the other hand, paused his steps and admired the view from the most extreme possible angle.
Simon also captured the shot.
He skillfully adjusted the camera lens, recording the scene from the best angle before giving a thumbs-up.
Only then did Mia straighten her back and pull the neckline of her shirt up a bit.
Subsequently, she trotted over to Simon's side: "If there are stairs later, remember to get a close-up of my feet. I plan to use those for the thumbnail; it'll definitely attract some guys with weird fetishes."
Simon nodded upon hearing this and gave a thumbs-up.
"So it's all just a show..." The corner of William's mouth twitched. He almost opened his mouth to reject the other party just now.
However, he did manage to figure out this group's objective.
Recently, there were indeed many people enthusiastic about exploring haunted houses.
If this were before, William might have forcefully given them a lesson in safety education.
But due to the special nature of this commission, if the evil entity in this haunted house couldn't be found through conventional means, relying on these people who were actively courting death was an alternative method.
"Hmm... looks like I need to keep a closer eye on these people," William thought inwardly.
As it stood, that guy in the suit seemed to be planning something.
According to classic horror movie tropes, if anyone among this group was most likely to be targeted by evil, it was definitely this guy.
William quickly sorted out his thoughts.
He then turned his head, not expecting Kerson to still be maintaining his "air-sniffing" state.
William immediately asked curiously: "Did you find anything?"
"Hmm? Hmm?"
Kerson seemed to just wake up. Then, with an intoxicated expression, he said, "I smell the scent of resentment. What a beautiful emotion. It must be waiting for me somewhere."
Hearing this, William instantly gave him a weird look.
Setting aside how absurd it was to describe evil aura with the tone of treating a lover... just look at this environment.
He looked around.
A gloomy sky, a sparsely populated street, and that exceptionally conspicuous house a few meters away.
No matter how you looked at it, there was absolutely zero connection to the word "beautiful."
William couldn't help but rub his forehead. He finally understood why Sid always reeked so heavily of the "exhausted employee" vibe.
"Ahem... in that case, let's observe the surroundings first. Maybe we'll find something," he proposed a viable suggestion.
Kerson took another deep breath before nodding: "Alright."
The two subsequently arrived at the front yard of the haunted house.
At this time, the door was already open, and Mia's group had entered ahead of them.
William didn't enter. Instead, he walked over to a nearby utility pole, where many notices were posted near the base.
"...Missing Person Notice: A young child went missing in Setagaya Ward. Surveillance last captured her entering deep into the park..."
"...Mr. Yamada dined at a tavern, and someone saw him head toward Shinjuku Station afterward..."
"A total of 7 young people disappeared at night in Shibuya Ward..."
After reading the contents, William was somewhat surprised.
He then ran to the adjacent utility pole.
The result was exactly as William expected; these notices were all missing person flyers, and they spanned across various wards of Tokyo.
Moreover, judging by the content of the notices, multiple missing person cases had occurred in this city, which was why people rarely went out as evening approached.
"Could all these be related to the evil incident..." William thought to himself.
But the Church's commission database showed that in the Sakura District recently, only this location had obvious anomalies.
If the disappearances were truly the doing of a certain evil, there was a high probability it was the doing of the thing inside the house before him. Thinking of this, William returned to the front door.
Earlier, while at the intersection, he had already observed the situation here.
The outer wall was overgrown with wild vegetation, and the main structure of the house was extremely old, with some of the wood even showing signs of mildew.
But through the windows, one could see the condition of some rooms. The furniture and decorations still maintained their appearance from before the incident, as if the owner of the house could return to live there at any time.
This also cast a veil of eeriness over the entire house.
Only the fill lights turned on by Mia's group added a touch of human presence to the building.
Yet, around such a house that looked abnormal from every angle, there wasn't the slightest trace of an evil aura, exactly as described in the file.
Therefore, William could only find Kerson and ask him how he discovered the existence of resentment.
But the latter merely stated—it was a feeling.
Helpless, he could only look for another method.
At this time, William suddenly felt something and looked up at the second floor.
There were no lights there, so visibility was very poor, but he noticed a shadow seemingly lingering in the darkness behind the curtains.
With William's current eye abilities, this level of darkness could not escape his detection.
But whenever he tried to see what was in the darkness clearly, all that entered his eyes was more darkness.
At this moment, William raised an eyebrow; a trace of evil power had actually emanated from the crack in the window.
Three circles of golden patterns instantly surfaced in his eyes as he used [Divine Eye Seal] to attempt to control the flow of spirit particles nearby.
But the next moment, that evil aura vanished instantly, as if it had never appeared, leaving the Holy Power he released without a target.
"Ah—!"
Just as William was about to investigate further, a scream suddenly echoed from inside the house.
He frowned, and his figure instantly appeared in the yard.
"OMG! This is truly too disgusting. I can't accept this!" Mia held up her hands with a look of resistance, shaking her head continuously.
Then she seemed to remember something and hurriedly turned her head: "Simon! Did you get that! That last bit is definitely a viral moment."
Simon was switching camera angles and merely gave a thumbs-up upon hearing this.
"Phew... good thing the footage wasn't wasted," Mia let out a long sigh of relief, but then she touched both her cheeks.
"No! I still can't accept it. Are there any other methods, Mr. Nakamura?"
Tsuna Nakamura was holding a lump of fresh raw meat. The bloody water from it dripped onto the wooden floor, leaving several deep red streaks.
"Miss Mia, this is a crucial part of the ritual." He glanced at William, who had just walked in, and frowned.
"The souls of the dead are influenced by the power of the Kingdom of Heaven. Under normal circumstances, it is very difficult for living people to see them. Therefore, only by tainting your own body with the aura of death can you attract them to come to you on their own initiative."
Hearing this, William almost couldn't resist going up and knocking the guy out with one punch.
Carrying bloodstained raw meat in a clearly problematic haunted house, and actually planning to attract dead spirits to seek them out... This talent for courting death...
If this were in a horror movie, the person would probably be dead before the director even called "action."
But at this time, a pitch-black camera lens slowly moved close to the raw meat. It turned out the cameraman, Simon, had dropped to his knees at some point, finding the perfect angle for the shot.
Mia took a few deep breaths, then closed her eyes and shouted, "Bring it on."
Only then did Tsuna Nakamura reveal a satisfied smile, tearing the raw meat into chunks and smearing them onto the former's clothes.
"Bleh..." Mia covered her mouth with her hand, forcefully suppressing her discomfort.
But then, facing the camera, she squeezed out a smile again.
"Hey! Everyone, I just completed a mysterious ritual. It's said this is the only way to attract..."
Seeing this scene, William was instantly shocked.
Was filming video content actually more important than running into an evil spirit?
He couldn't help but admire the other party's dedication to her job.
But the next scene made William's scalp tingle even more.
Mia found a rope from somewhere and tied it to the pillar of the staircase banister.
Immediately after, she stood under the rope, striking a "hanged" pose.
"I heard the stairs are a high-incidence area for deaths. Perhaps among the people who died tragically before, someone was hanged like this," Mia said with a face full of pity.
"That person must have been in a lot of pain. I really hope I can empathize with them."
What is there to hope for in something like this! Empathize with something good, can't you!
Don't raise such guaranteed-death flags in a haunted house!
William tried hard to calm his emotions, constantly reminding himself: Stay calm, I have to rely on them to find the evil spirit. This is all necessary work...
"Huh... why hasn't anything happened?" Mia looked around. "Is this method not working?"
But what the group didn't notice was that compared to the beginning, the bloody water pooling on the floor had already become much lighter in color.
On the other side, Tsuna Nakamura, who was originally observing the situation inside the house, hurriedly stood up straight upon hearing this.
"Ahem... Miss Mia, you're being too impatient. There are many living people here; we naturally aren't liked by dead spirits. Later, you can try staying in the room upstairs alone."
Immediately after, he took out a pair of red high heels from his bag: "You can wear these then."
Simon's camera lens immediately zoomed in.
Mia asked with a face full of confusion: "Evil spirits... like this?"
Tsuna Nakamura smiled mysteriously, deliberately raising his voice: "In the customs of a neighboring country, red shoes have an extraordinary attraction to evil spirits."
"According to research records, many extremely dangerous ghosts are born accompanied by red shoes."
Mia looked enlightened: "Mr. Nakamura, you truly are an expert in the paranormal."
Tsuna Nakamura nodded coolly, while images of himself cramming paranormal video tapes at home surfaced in his mind.
Outside the door, William had frozen on the spot.
His gaze stared dead at those red high heels.
Clearly, nothing was happening around them right now; there wasn't even the slightest trace of an evil aura.
Yet, this striking color gave him a strong sense of unease.
Even when encountering demons, William had never felt this way.
This was an instinct rooted in his blood.
"Uh... excuse me," William finally couldn't help but speak up.
"Wearing high heels in a place like this is very inconvenient. Once you encounter danger, it will be very difficult to escape immediately..."
He tried his best to use a more acceptable reason.
But Tsuna Nakamura had been keeping an eye on him the whole time.
Seeing William speak up now, he immediately jumped out: "Mr. Priest, instead of interfering with other people's work, why don't you find your own people first?"
His gaze was meaningful.
"Otherwise, I might just file a complaint with the local newspaper."
William narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself: "Delusional enough to try to threaten me with the recent disappearances of Holy Clergy Members..."
But he wasn't afraid of any of that.
"Pardon my bluntness, but if you continue like this, it's no different from seeking death."
"Oh? It seems this priest also believes evil spirits are attracted to high heels," Tsuna Nakamura said immediately.
"Heh... I never said that."
"If that's the case, why was your reaction so strong when I took out these shoes?" Tsuna Nakamura snorted coldly.
"Could it be because you witnessed a true professional and realized you no longer have a chance, so you're getting anxious?"
William narrowed his eyes upon hearing this.
This was genuinely hard for him to refute. After all, the taboo of red shoes belonged to his past life.
He couldn't exactly tell the other party: I'm from there, you think you know more than me?
Seeing William remain silent, Tsuna Nakamura felt he had gotten a handle on the other party and immediately turned his head: "Miss Mia, let's not waste time with irrelevant people anymore. Let's begin as soon as possible."
Mia also looked at William, a feeling inexplicably arising in her heart—the priest doesn't seem to be lying.
But thinking about the severe decline in her channel's metrics recently, she pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind.
"Alright, Mr. Nakamura."
Just as the three were preparing to head to the second floor, Kerson's voice suddenly came from the doorway: "William is not wrong. Your current situation is extremely dangerous."
The people inside the house turned around upon hearing this.
They saw Kerson kneeling on the floor. One hand held the iron chain, while the other constantly groped the ground.
A moment later, his eyes lit up: "Found it!"
☆☆☆
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