Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Du Wei pocketed Andrew Dowqui's booklet.

He had already learned a portion of the true nature of the bus incident; at this moment, his heart was extraordinarily calm.

Then, he glanced down at his phone, which had lost its signal, and the time was 11:34.

Only 26 minutes remained until midnight.

Midnight is a subtle time.

It signifies both beginning and end.

It can also be interpreted as life and death.

Most horror films and novels like to use midnight as a divide; frightening events often occur at this time.

Although Du Wei could not understand why Evil Spirits or ghosts favored this time of night for their appearances, it was clear this was indeed what he was encountering.

Midnight truly was out of the ordinary.

Andrew Dowqui was undoubtedly a very capable Exorcist, or perhaps the term Hunter would be more appropriate.

After midnight, he died on the bus, becoming part of something else, and so much time had passed since then. The only things that could prove his existence, aside from a piece of human skin and the booklet recording his information, were probably just a list with his name on it somewhere in the church.

Du Wei placed Andrew Dowqui's silver cross dagger into his backpack.

He guessed that Andrew Dowqui might not have brought other Exorcism items against Evil Spirits because of the special occupation known as Hunter.

A Hunter could be understood as a predator.

The church's purpose is to spread faith and combat Evil Spirits.

Hunters should be established specifically for the hunting of Evil Spirits; they may possess strengths and abilities beyond ordinary people, which was mentioned in the booklet—Evil Spirit Transformation.

At that moment, the bus slowed down and gradually came to a stop.

Outside was pitch-black; a crossroad could vaguely be seen.

Du Wei looked at the time on his phone; there were 12 minutes left until midnight.

The rear door opened...

The two passengers sitting in the last row, wrapped in bandages, stood up and walked down.

Du Wei sighed in relief, but at that moment, a cold wind blew against his face and the front door also opened slowly.

A man dressed in a decent black suit, walking with a cane, came on board. He wore a white mask without features on his face, and pinned to his chest was an exquisitely designed, lavish and luxurious, completely golden brooch.

If not for the unmasked malice Du Wei felt emanating from him, he might have thought him to be a noble gentleman from high society.

It was an Evil Spirit, and this brooch...

Du Wei's face turned very gloomy.

Staring intently at the Golden Brooch, Du Wei held the mirror tightly in one hand while beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

He was all too familiar with this Golden Brooch.

Previously, in the church in North Brook, he had seen black particles emanating from Mrs. Mina and uncontrollably entered a state of Spirit Vision, where he witnessed an incredibly bizarre Illusion.

He stood on a street that seemed to be in a slum, leaning against a lamppost, with one hand holding the Golden Brooch, stabbing it into his neck, dying in the rain.

The Golden Brooch, identical to the one the Evil Spirit was wearing on his chest.

"Could it be that I will die here?"

A thought flashed through Du Wei's mind, lingering relentlessly.

"Wrong, the timelines don't match up."

The Evil Spirit was also looking at Du Wei. Though the mask obscured his face, the unmasked malice gradually made the atmosphere deathly still.

Du Wei looked up too, staring coldly at him. Even if the Illusion was real and he really died, it would be after getting off the bus.

If the Illusion was fake, then it mattered even less; he only needed to consider whether the Evil Spirit would make a move against him.

But obviously, it wouldn't!

Because this eerie bus had its own rules. It wasn't an Evil Spirit, but some kind of existence that was similar to an Evil Spirit, yet above it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

There was some kind of mechanism at work.

The Evil Spirit was merely a passenger, wishing to kill another passenger in the case of insufficient seats. Only that other Evil Spirit, whose appearance no one could recall and who had spoken through the African American couple, could violate this rule because it had forced its way onto the bus.

The rest of the Evil Spirits seemed willing to abide by this mechanism, otherwise, they would have taken action already.

Instead of waiting for new passengers to board and then only acting when there weren't enough seats.

What's more, his current identity was that of a driver.

In the end,

After staring at Du Wei for a while, the Evil Spirit moved to a seat and sat down, its posture elegant, yet the malevolence emanating from it intensified.

The bus continued to drive.

Ahead, one could vaguely see a slum with dilapidated houses and a worn-out street.

It was almost identical to the illusion Du Wei had seen.

Through the rearview mirror, Du Wei looked at the Evil Spirit, his eyes cold as ice.

He directly pressed the button to open the rear door.

During the journey, the moment the back door opened, the whooshing wind blew in. The Evil Spirit seemed shocked that Du Wei would do such a thing, appeared to become enraged and the lights inside the bus began to flicker wildly, as if about to lose power.

Du Wei didn't even look, and even rang the bus bell to urge it on.

At this moment, he was grateful that his role was that of a driver.

He remembered when that creepy Scarecrow tried to take Linda off the bus, it got off without hesitation when the bell rang, as though failing to get off would lead to some unknown consequences.

Putting together the details from Andrew Dowqui's diary, one could surmise that if an Evil Spirit refused to get off the bus, the true horror of the bus itself would reveal itself.

That was a force that an Evil Spirit could not resist.

Indeed, after Du Wei rang the bus bell, the Evil Spirit with a cane and a white mask devoid of facial features stood up, slowly made its way to the door.

It was resisting, trying to delay.

Du Wei pressed the bus bell again, urging it.

It hesitated, gave Du Wei a deep look, then stepped off.

Du Wei breathed a sigh of relief, tried to control the bus, turning, accelerating, decelerating.

Just as he had surmised, he had no influence over it...

It seemed all he could do was to press the bus bell, and control the opening and closing of the front and back doors.

The slum up ahead was getting closer, and the speed of the bus gradually slowed down, ready to stop.

He glanced at the time, it was 11:58 PM.

Then, without a moment's hesitation, he crushed the mirror.

...

May 19th, 8:00 PM.

"I am Du Wei, and I'm still alive."

"By crushing that mirror, I managed to get off the bus, but the time as I perceive it seems to be skewed. Four hours on the bus translated to an entire day in the real world."

"The current time is 8:00 PM, the same time when I boarded the bus."

"That bus seems to possess some sort of idealistic power, affecting both space and time. Now, I find myself in the eastern city of Manlu, 150 kilometers away from North Brook District of New York City."

"But I've run into trouble, I've discovered that I seem to have entered the Third Phase of Spirit Vision."