The Exorcism Began in America.

As Monte sat restlessly in the hospital ward.

Having stepped outside, James hesitated for a moment but still dialed the number on his phone.

The call, answered after just a few seconds, carried Chu Feng's indifferent voice.

"James? Is something wrong?"

"Over here, there seem to be traces of a devil..."

「...」

"Director, the survivor from yesterday's accident died in the hospital!"

"That's the hospital's business. What does it have to do with us?"

Upon hearing this, Sergeant Bulson wished he could storm back to the station and shove this pig-headed Director back where he came from.

"Mr. Director, this isn't the first case. To my knowledge, there have already been at least a hundred survivors of various accidents who later died in all sorts of other accidents!"

"Shouldn't we do something?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Just as Bulson thought the man might have had a change of heart, another sentence came through that sent rage coursing through him.

"So what? You said it yourself—those were just accidents. They can only blame their bad luck!"

"You damned fool, those are human lives! Anyone with a shred of sense can see these aren't ordinary accidents."

Enraged by these words, the Director on the other end of the line grew angry as well. Although he was merely a puppet for the higher-ups, he wasn't someone a mere sergeant could insult.

"Watch your language, Sergeant Bulson! What are you trying to say? Insisting on linking these things to the Bizarre? Do you know what will happen if you do?"

"Besides, you're the damned fool, a ridiculous clown even. If those accidents were really caused by the Bizarre, then you'd better watch your own back. Don't want to end up crushed under some inexplicably collapsing building one day."

The moment he finished speaking, the distinct click of the call ending came from the other side.

Face flushed crimson, Bulson roared in anger and smashed his phone onto the ground.

Shattered phone parts scattered in all directions.

One fragment landed right at the feet of a man who had also just hung up his phone.

"Allow me to introduce myself. James, an Exorcist from the Exorcism Agency."

The sudden voice and the hand extended before him startled the panting Sergeant Bulson. He instinctively looked up.

The scarred face of a Black man met his eyes.

"Hello, Bulson." Hearing the man identify himself as an Exorcist, Bulson's eyes lit up, and he immediately reached out to shake the offered hand.

"Do you have time to talk?"

"Of course! I'd be delighted!"

One after the other, the two men quickly returned to the hospital ward they had just left.

As the ward door closed, no one noticed a faint sound emanate from several load-bearing columns in the hospital lobby, almost simultaneously.

It was like some kind of pronouncement.

"Mr. James, what's the situation? Is there a solution?"

Seeing the figure enter, Monte immediately stood up, his voice laced with urgency. After all, going by the sequence, he was next.

"Relax."

James glanced coolly at the young man who had lost his composure, his voice calm, as if he already had a plan.

He then paid Monte no further mind and turned to Sergeant Bulson.

"Sergeant Bulson, please tell us what you know."

Bulson, having casually closed the door, glanced at the few people in the room, a clear hesitation in his eyes.

But recalling the voice on the phone, he gritted his teeth and walked over to sit on the hospital bed.

"This probably started about a month and a half ago, with a bus accident. Of course, it had nothing to do with his accident."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Monte.

"A month and a half ago?" Monte and Li Mi exclaimed in unison.

How could something like this have been happening for so long without any action from the police department?

As if guessing their thoughts, a hint of mockery crept onto Bulson's face.

"Do you really think the bigwigs in the federal government still care about these things?"

"Do you remember how long it's been since you last saw those speech-loving bastards in public?"

"Um..." Monte and Li Mi were taken aback, quickly searching their memories.

But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't recall anything of the sort.

"Are you trying to say that they..."

"No, I don't really know either." Bulson shook his head, contrary to what they might have expected.

"All I know is that our Director is now like a hunting dog leashed by the higher-ups—far too obedient!"

"Get to the point," James's calm voice interjected from the side, pulling the conversation back on track.

"Sorry, I got a bit carried away," Bulson acknowledged with an apologetic nod.

He then seemed to drift into memory.

"That bus accident was like a switch, triggering one unfortunate event after another."

"Incidents identical to that bus crash happened twice more within just three days! After that, there were chain-reaction car pile-ups on the highway, roller coaster accidents at amusement parks, planes exploding shortly after takeoff... even a bridge that had been open for over a decade... There were too many, far too many! We police officers even began to wonder if we were all collectively trapped in some terrible nightmare."

"Then, two days after one particular accident, something happened that struck me as truly odd for the first time," Bulson's voice grew low and solemn.

"It involved two lucky kids who'd gotten off a bus before an accident because they'd had an argument."

Monte was startled by this.

How similar this story was to his own experience that day! The same reason for getting off, the same early departure...

"I thought I'd never see them again, until I was at the scene of that strange accident."

Bulson's gaze swept over the three people before him, an unreadable emotion in his eyes.

"Do you believe someone can drown in a fountain? With no one nearby noticing anything unusual?"

Seeing Monte and Li Mi instinctively shake their heads, Bulson gave a bitter laugh.

"I didn't believe it either, especially since the deepest part of that fountain wouldn't even reach my knees! Yet, that's where I found a child's body."

"How is that possible?" Li Mi cried out immediately upon hearing the depth.

As a child, accompanied by her father, she had often played in the plaza fountain with other children during the summer.

She knew that drowning in such a shallow fountain, especially with other people around, was virtually impossible. If it were really that dangerous, she probably wouldn't be sitting here safe and sound.