BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.
The next morning, Chu Feng was jolted from his deep sleep by the buzzing of his phone.
Groggily opening his eyes, Chu Feng irritably glanced at his phone and discovered it was James, who had just become his intermediary.
"James, you'd better have a good reason for this!"
The cold, suppressed anger in his voice made James, on the other end of the line, involuntarily shiver.
After a glance at the current time, James replied carefully, his expression sheepish, "Chu, I have a client here who can accept the price on our rate card."
"Oh? Which level of Exorcism Task?"
Hearing there was a client, Chu Feng's mind cleared considerably.
"I'm not quite sure which level, but the client said one hundred thousand US dollars is no problem!"
Listening to James, Chu Feng suddenly remembered he hadn't taught James how to distinguish the levels of the Bizarre.
Embarrassed for less than a second, Chu Feng quickly shifted his attention elsewhere.
"Has anyone died at the client's place?"
"No one so far. The client explained that her husband, previously a cheerful and gentle person, had suddenly changed dramatically. He now talked to himself when alone and had started to domestically abuse her, even trying to kick her out of the house."
After hearing James's account, Chu Feng made a rough assessment.
It seems to be a weak possession by an Evil Spirit!
Chu Feng rubbed the stubble on his chin and made his decision.
"James, we can take this client. Come over to my place right now!"
After giving James his new address, Chu Feng got up, washed, and ate a Chinese-style breakfast from the System Store.
After breakfast and some time later, the doorbell of the villa finally rang.
"Chu, your new home is just perfect!"
James, visiting for the first time, was completely astonished and kept looking around the villa's hallways.
"Alright, alright! There'll be plenty of time to look around after we've taken care of business!"
With that, Chu Feng dragged the still-reluctant James into his car.
This client lived in a villa complex in the southern part of Brooklyn.
Following James's directions, they drove for nearly two hours before finally reaching the villa complex where the client lived.
"Chu, that's the villa over there."
"Alright, call the client."
Chu Feng parked the car on the roadside outside the villa.
After getting out of the car, Chu Feng surveyed the surrounding area while waiting for James to contact the client.
On both sides of the road were two rows of uniformly styled townhouses, each with its own front lawn. Behind the villas was a forest.
Just as Chu Feng was admiring the pleasant surroundings, James delivered some unsettling news.
"Chu, I've called several times, but there's no answer from the client! Perhaps her phone isn't with her."
Chu Feng looked at James skeptically. "Are you sure the client lives here?"
"Positive. This is the place!"
"Then let's go ring the doorbell!"
After speaking, Chu Feng walked directly towards the villa's front door.
Just as he approached the door, he heard James call out with surprise from behind.
"Chu, look there, it's Ms. Huizi, she's home!"
Looking up, Chu Feng saw a petite woman at the villa's third-floor window, facing them. James finally let out a sigh of relief.
Thank God, the first order hasn't been messed up!
The client, Yamada Huizi, was a Japanese-American who, after marrying a wealthy man, had begun living the kind of life many people dream of.
They waited outside for a long time, but Yamada Huizi never came to open the door.
"Hey! Ms. Huizi! It's me, I called you yesterday! Ms. Huizi? Ms. Huizi?..."
When the client didn't come to the door, James looked up at the figure in the window and started shouting, hoping for a response.
"Stop shouting, James!"
After taking a closer look at the woman in the window, Chu Feng's gaze hardened. He waved his hand, immediately silencing James's shouts, then went to the front of the villa and kicked the front door forcefully.
BANG!
With a loud noise, the front door in front of Chu Feng was kicked right into the villa.
"Oh God! Chu, what are you doing?"
Seeing Chu Feng's actions, James stared, eyes wide, his face a mask of shock.
Ignoring James's astonishment, Chu Feng flipped his palm, and an exquisite Array Plate appeared in his hand. With a casual toss, the Four Symbols Spirit Trapping Formation enveloped the entire villa.
"Want to know why? Then come in with me and see for yourself!"
After saying that, Chu Feng immediately walked into the villa.
"Chu, wait for me!"
James didn't dare stay there alone and hurriedly followed Chu Feng.
On the first floor of the villa, everything appeared normal, without any of the bloody scenes James had imagined. It was just eerily quiet; even the chirping of birds from outside the villa had vanished.
Ignoring the surrounding anomalies, Chu Feng went straight to the stairs and ascended to the third floor.
Outside a bedroom on the third floor, Chu Feng said, "James, come and see our client!"
After saying this, Chu Feng directly opened the bedroom door.
The scene inside the bedroom terrified James so much he stumbled and fell to the ground.
On the bed in the bedroom, a Caucasian man with a large gash across his neck lay there, his expression ferocious.
On the man's chest, a boning knife, about twenty centimeters long, was plunged directly into his heart.
"Look over there, James. That must be your Ms. Huizi!"
At the bedroom window, a petite, dark-haired woman was hanging by a steel wire. The wire was very thin, and with the dim lighting in the room, it was no wonder James had earlier thought the client was watching him from the window.
"Chu, is this murder, or was it an Evil Spirit? Should we call the police?" James, still shaken, stammered.
"Even if it's the work of an Evil Spirit, my choice... is obviously to call the police! You don't want to end up on a wanted poster, do you?"
Chu Feng rolled his eyes. This was a villa complex, after all; its residents were either rich or influential. The New York Police Department would take any problems here very seriously.
The two waited outside the villa for about half an hour before a black-and-white police car finally drove up.
"James, are you sure you told them two people were dead when you called?" Looking at the four detectives getting out of the car, Chu Feng was somewhat astonished.
"Of course! My memory isn't failing me yet!" James, having recovered from his shock, replied with certainty.
Watching the detectives approaching, James walked up to greet them.
Of course, the detectives' reaction was quite understandable.
"Stop! Don't come any closer!"
James could only stand helplessly in place, watching the detectives, whose hands were on their holstered guns.
After one detective stepped forward and thoroughly searched James, the officers finally relaxed a little.
"Good day. You're the ones who reported this, correct?" the lead detective asked, showing his badge.
"That's right, it was us!"
"Okay, tell us what happened."
A female detective stayed behind to take their statements, while the other three detectives went straight into the villa.