"The Burger family inherited black magic." The first sentence was astonishing enough. For Kent, who had never entered the Psychic_Battlefield, this truth was utterly shocking.
"Berg manipulated Jin Jiesi to kill me because he wanted the Circus." The second sentence was equally explosive. Kent's eyes widened even more.
"There's something wrong with the town's water, people have mutated."
Kent was full of questions. Kate had mentioned something about the town's water pollution before, but he hadn't asked for details. Seeing this sentence now, he still couldn't understand its meaning.
Finally, after swallowing a burger, Linda wiped her mouth and said, "Someone poisoned the water, and then they mutated. Their thoughts became entangled..."
This made even less sense to Kent, who couldn't understand a bit of it. And Linda, limited by her ability to express, couldn't articulate it either. Finally, Satean revealed the truth.
"Factory waste."
Seeing these words, Kent immediately understood. As a journalist, he was very sensitive to such issues. He had written dozens of similar reports.
He tried hard to combine what he knew with what they said, deducing part of the truth: it seemed like industrial wastewater caused people to mutate, and then their spirits gathered together and created something.
"Berg's son died, entered there, and used black magic to establish new rules in that place."
"So it's not an object, but a new world?" Kent worked hard to understand what they were saying and then said, "The Burger family's ancestor's son, Linda's grandfather, let's call him Old Berg. After he died, he entered there, used black magic to establish new rules in this world?"
Satean's soul did not answer him, just continued to write on the paper, "He escaped. Bring him back."
The paper showed no more words. Kent rubbed his forehead, feeling like his head was about to explode.
If what Satean's soul said is true, then Old Berg died and entered the Psychic_Battlefield composed of the townspeople's souls, using black magic to alter its rules.
But since he himself modified the rules, why did he run away? And why is there now a need to bring him back?
Of course, to bring this behind-the-scenes manipulator to justice, he must be found. But from what Satean said, there seems to be some necessity in bringing him back.
Kent could only guess that possibly because he used black magic in the Psychic_Battlefield, if he wasn't brought back, the Psychic_Battlefield wouldn't recover. So he had to be captured.
But the question is, where did this guy go?
Kent took a deep breath. Usually, he didn't utilize his so-called super brain much, nor did he feel it was superior to an ordinary one—at least not stronger than Batman's.
But now, needing to think about these complex matters, he's not allowed to use his super brain, truly missing the luxury when it's required.
At this moment, Linda suddenly pulled out a bottle of water from her bag and said, "I brought this from the town, do you want some?"
Kent paused for a moment. He didn't immediately react: having been told the town's water was polluted, why would...
Then he remembered, Batman had told him "drink less water, but a little won't hurt," such a contradictory statement.
Kent couldn't figure out what was going on, but he felt Batman's judgment should be correct. So he took the bottle of water Linda handed him. The water was still full, clearly untouched, seemingly prepared just for him. So he gulped it down.
And sure enough, as soon as he drank the water, he felt different. Although it didn't reach the level of a super brain, Kent clearly felt his thought speed increase and his mood improve slightly.
Seizing the momentum, Kent hurried to think. Although his super brain wasn't fully functional, even a tiny fraction was much smarter than the average person. As he thought, he did come across a clue.
The Sheriff said he never saw a ghost, meaning he certainly never saw that evil spirit. Due to the lack of clues, Kent thought Old Berg might be that evil spirit. He kind of guessed it right. The Sheriff never seeing a ghost implied Old Berg might not scare him in the form of a hobgoblin.
But the Sheriff still seemed very scared. He was evidently threatened or encountered something unusual while investigating matters related to his wife. This indicated that Old Berg used some other means.
Although the Sheriff called them "Devils," it didn't seem like fear of supernatural things, rather just finding them evil but overpoweringly so. Therefore, he must be dealing with some kind of power.
As a journalist, Kent understood some of the twists and turns in this. Water pollution issues aren't caused by a few factory owners; there are definitely powerful backers, either a State Legislator or a City Councilor.
If the Sheriff was afraid of some big shot, that would be understandable. And combined with Kent's previous observation of the Evil Spirit's form as an agent, he already figured out that this Evil spirit could take on others' appearances. If it could transform into a legislator, it truly could pose a threat to the Sheriff.