John recounted everything that happened that night. Including hearing screams in his sleep, seeing human skin fluttering in the wind that he thought was a black flag, and Pastor Zach being skinned into a bloody man.
Sean frowned and thought: "Attacking the priest? The priest is an individual protected by divine power. This kind of blasphemous behavior is quite difficult. Only some evil creatures with very high intensity or deep resentment will do this. Kind of something."
After listening to John's narration, the fat Jock next to him pinched his hat and added: "Actually, before Pastor Zach's accident, the town was not peaceful... At first, someone heard strange things on the street at night. There were footsteps, but when I opened the curtains and looked, the street was empty.
"A lot of bats also appeared. In addition, in another house not far from John's house, a horse's internal organs were eaten..."
Will looked at Mayor Marshall: "I want to see the body."
Marshall looked embarrassed, and Pastor Winston next to him explained: "It has been buried - we dare not keep that ominous... thing."
Will sighed inwardly: a corpse can tell a lot of things.
However, there is nothing wrong with what the people in the town did. The corpses that were tortured by evil forces are likely to contain curses or evil residues. Timely burial is also a wise choice.
"However, we asked the correctional officer to take photos of the body." Marshall handed Will the file bag on the table.
Will took the photo out of the document bag and put it on the table after reading it. Sean and Yueguang walked to the table and browsed one by one.
After picking up the first photo, Sean felt a mental impact.
It was a piece of human skin that had been completely peeled off and laid out on the table in a human form. It can be seen that the surface of human skin seems to be covered with text tattoos, and the content of the written text is so dense that it is difficult to see clearly.
The second photo shows the condition of the body. The fascia, fat, muscles, and tendons beneath Zach's skin were exposed like a fresh anatomical corpse.
Any sane person will feel intense discomfort when seeing such photos.
But the four explorers all had stronger mental resistance than ordinary people and did not show any obvious discomfort.
Will pointed to a photo with dense text tattoos on his skin and asked: "Is this his original tattoo, or...?"
Pastor Winston held the diamond-shaped frame and took a few steps closer, his eyes deliberately avoiding the photos: "As far as I know, Zach doesn't have any tattoos on his body - we clergy are not allowed to have tattoos on our bodies."
"In other words, this should be the work of Xie Yi."
"Maybe..." The old man Winston lowered his eyes, drew a diamond shape in the direction of his forehead, left shoulder, abdomen, and right shoulder, and whispered softly, "May the Holy Father bless this place."
Winston took a deep breath and said as if he was exhausted: "The writing on his body - we asked the correctional officer to copy it. Since the letters did not form any familiar words, we thought at first that they were some secret words. arts……
"Then Pastor Winston discovered the mystery of these words." Mayor Marshall couldn't sit back and watch Winston being mentally tortured, and took over the conversation, "Those are the words in the Holy Book, but they were written backwards. come out.
"The pastor discovered that it was an episode in the Book of Jonah..."
"The Book of Jonah?" Although Yueguang has a basic understanding of Salvationism, he has not read the entire text of the "Holy Book".
Jasmine said: "The Book of Jonar records that the prophet led his people out of the desert, and in order to imitate God's transformation, he washed away the filth and sand on his body in the river. It usually describes a person After being reborn, you will drink this story recorded in the Book of Jonah. In addition, it is said that baptism also comes from this story."
After Jasmine finished speaking, she drew a diamond shape on her chest. Pastor Winston did this action in sync with her, and then exhaled "Amen" at the same time.
Marshall continued: "The plot recorded on Zach's tattoo is a description of the transformation of God and the rebirth of man." He picked up a page of copied paper: "God came out of yesterday's self, The whole body is brand new, leaving behind an empty shell of the past..."
John and Jock exchanged an uneasy look. Sean said: "So, this method of killing is imitating the description of transformation in the Book of Jonah? Like a snake shedding its old skin?"
Winston lowered his eyes: "How can a human being guess such thoughts?"
Will said: "We almost understand the situation, let's go to the scene of the incident and take a look."
Marshall and Winston looked at each other, and the mayor nodded. The two of them, along with the mayor's young assistant, led the team out of the meeting hall and towards the old church.
Along the way, Sean noticed a lot of looks from inside the building. Almost all the residents of Levin Town stood behind the windows of their homes, like spectators, watching the team of explorers from a distance.
"This feels a little weird," Sean muttered.
Jasmine turned around and said nonchalantly: "Although people are deeply afraid, they are always a little curious."
Only when you walk in front of the church door can you intuitively feel the scale of this old church. The front area is close to that of an apartment building.
Will raised his head and raised his eyes. The mayor walked next to him and looked up at the empty flagpoles stretching out high above the church: "During festivals, we will hang out the national flag and the flag of the Holy Palace."
Jasmine also looked up, and the sight of human skin floating on the flagpole flashed before her eyes in the night sky, which made her shudder. She quickly closed her eyes and stabilized her spirit.
"Why are you hanging Pastor Zach's skin on the flagpole?" Will frowned, "Is this a demonstration?"
No one can answer.
Sean looked back and saw that they were in front of the green-painted double doors of the church and across the square. There were many Lewin townspeople standing in the distance, watching from the outside.
Several people came out of the church, all wearing black correction officer uniforms, with silver diamond-shaped shield badges prominent on their hats.
"This is Chief Williams, the correctional officer of Levin Township."
Williams was a short man with a blond mustache. He seemed very calm when facing the explorers and said straight to the point: "My people and I have checked the entire church several times, and we haven't found any suspicious traces." , whether it’s fingerprints or footprints, there are no..."
Although judging from the method of committing the crime, this incident must involve evil elements, in order to rule out the possibility of man-made factors, the disciplinary office still has to conduct routine inspections.
What Chief Williams just said completely rules out the factor of human crime.
"In addition," Williams took a few steps closer to Mayor Marshall, "we found some abnormalities in the cellar..."
Marshall motioned to enter the church before talking, and several people walked into the church together.
For the size of the old church, the interior of this church is a bit crude. Generally speaking, a church of this size must have more solemn decoration, such as large chandeliers/stained glass mosaics, ceiling paintings, etc.
Except for a chandelier that seemed to be newly installed and used an electric light bulb, everything else in the old church was very simple. The walls were painted white and the windows were just ordinary glass.
There are inexplicably many traces in the shape of black handprints on the white wall, which makes people feel uncomfortable.
The podium was slightly decorated. Under the dark red curtain was a wooden podium. A diamond-shaped frame slightly larger than a human body hung on the wall. There were obvious blood stains on the wooden floor directly below the diamond-shaped frame.
"Pastor Zach's body was tied upside down to this diamond-shaped frame."
It is recorded in the "Holy Book" that the Holy Son Joshua suffered for mankind when he was tied to a diamond-shaped frame and died, and then resurrected in the cemetery.
However, Joshua was tied head-up. The upside-down victim usually symbolizes "anti-Savior evil."
"This is obviously an act of blasphemy!" Pastor Winston, who was holding a diamond-shaped frame, frowned. He changed his tired expression and said angrily, "In the holy realm, blasphemy against the Holy Father and the Holy Father." Son and Holy Spirit!”
Sean's guess about the team's makeup was correct. This incident was judged to be sacrilegious, so there were two Salvationist clergy in the team.
"Sir Williams, what's the abnormality you mentioned before?" Will asked.
There was obvious fear in the eyes of the little officer - ordinary correctional officers were only responsible for daily security incidents, and only the "Shepherd" team would respond to evil incidents that threatened the public's daily life.
However, the "Shepherd" team was only a small organization set up by the Holy Palace to deal with sudden evil events and was affiliated with the discipline centers in various places. It is impossible for a small town like Levin to have a permanent team of education officers to fight against evil forces.
Therefore, in the event that there is no shepherd team, or the team is not enough to solve the problem, the Divine Court will need the more professional power of the Explorers Association.
Williams said: “Today is the day to inspect the cellars at the back of the church.
"There was some dark liquid seeping out from the wall of a room in the cellar. We began to think that it was the liquid flowing out of the cellar wall due to moisture.
"However, after analysis, it was found that those seemed to be human blood..."
Bleeding wall? Sean and Moonlight looked at each other: This is a typical feature of the entrance to the spirit world!
Will naturally understood and said directly: "Take us there!"
Williams and two other correctional officers led everyone around the church's pulpit, through a corridor, and to the entrance of the cellar.
This cellar is as old as the church. The floor tiles around it have been eroded by the years and their original appearance cannot be seen clearly. The wooden door of the cellar is almost rotten...
"Is there anyone else down there?" Jasmine asked quickly.
"No." Williams shook his head, "This thing was a bit weird, so I pulled everyone out and closed the cellar door."
"Well done." Will patted the little officer's arm. Then he turned around and said to the mayor and Winston: "According to my inference, the source of the evil is probably in this cellar, and we will go in to investigate next.
"But I need two volunteers to go down to the cellar with us - to serve as guides and messengers, this is not very dangerous."
Williams looked back at his two men. The two young correctional officers had pale faces and were somewhat avoiding the commander's gaze. The little officer turned around and said, "I'll go."
The other correctional officer was a little regretful for his performance, and just about to raise his hand, Father Winston next to him took a step forward: "And me - this is God's territory, and I am God's servant, so I should be allowed to participate. "
Will nodded and opened the cellar door. After a creak, a musty wind blew out from the depths of the cave.
