10. Possessed by Evil Spirits

"Exorcist! Exorcist——"

Tolkien called out loudly, chasing after and blocking Lu Li in front of the living room.

"400 shillings! Please, you must help my son."

Lu Li stopped in his tracks, his expression serious, "Mr. Tolkien, the spirit possessing Henry is too powerful, beyond my abilities to resolve. I suggest you seek a more powerful exorcist."

Tolkien pleaded desperately, "But I don't have that much money... 500 shillings! 500 shillings, Exorcist, please save Henry..."

Lu Li had no intention of taking the risk. He sidestepped Tolkien, planning to leave, when suddenly, a sensation of being watched emerged within him, and he turned his head instinctively.

At the corridor, in front of Henry's room door, a shadow retracted behind the door, its hem vanishing.

"...?"

A slight stir in Lu Li's heart.

"Exorcist?" Tolkien's voice showed surprise, thinking Lu Li had reconsidered.

Indeed, it was so. After a moment's deliberation, Lu Li spoke, "I can try, but I can't guarantee it will work."

"Then please do!"

Accompanied by Tolkien, Lu Li returned to the front of Henry's room.

The figure lying on the bed was motionless, as if the shadow Lu Li had seen earlier was just an illusion. Henry's pale lips moved as if muttering something overlapped by whispering voices echoing in the air.

"Henry... Henry..."

Tolkien softly called the name of his younger son who remained unresponsive, his eyes blankly fixed on the ceiling.

Lu Li did not rashly enter the room; he stood at the door, his gaze slowly sweeping over every corner of the room.

He found the source of the whispering, that prayer-like murmur emerging from a cabinet at the foot of the bed.

Taking a deep breath, releasing the turbid air, Lu Li walked into the room under Tolkien's anxious gaze.

Lu Li approached the cabinet at the foot of the bed, part of his attention on the figure on the bed, part on the cabinet emitting the whispering, and the last part on the curtained window.

Should any supernatural phenomenon occur, Lu Li would not hesitate to jump through the window to escape.

However, until Lu Li stood in front of the cabinet, Henry did not exhibit any strange reaction to this intruder.

The whispering became clearer, intensifying as Lu Li knelt down, almost resounding next to his ear.

In the deepest part of the cabinet, a white linen cloth covered an item, the source of the sounds. Hesitating for a few seconds, Lu Li reached into the cabinet and lifted a corner of the cloth.

Lu Li glimpsed the true nature of the item, the murmuring in his ears as though emanating from a gloomy forest, exuding a disconcerting malicious atmosphere.

Atop the item, black thread-like appendages resembled the tentacles of an obscure creature, the sharply defined deep brown shape nastily sprawled, splitting open in the middle like a frightening chasm.

It was a vacuum tube radio currently broadcasting.

Kael'thas Cathedral channel, which broadcasts the mass prayers from the church at noon daily.

So it was...

Lu Li let go of the cloth, covering the radio again, and stood up to open the drawer.

A few envelopes quietly lay inside the drawer.

"Exorcist?"

At the doorway, Tolkien asked in a lowered voice, unable to comprehend the sequence of Lu Li's actions.

"I need to understand why Henry is possessed by a spirit, whether it's through some medium or a direct possession."

Lu Li picked up the stack of envelopes, his peripheral vision lingering on the cot.

A gaze silently watched from the bed.

"Mr. Tolkien, has Henry exhibited any unusual behavior recently, such as..." Lu Li casually opened one of the envelopes and unfolded the letter inside. The elegant handwriting filled with utterances of adoration, with Henry's name interspersed among them.

"...whether he has had overly close relationships with the opposite sex."

Mr. Tolkien paused, seeming to think of something, but before he could speak, a burst of hysterical, frantic laughter suddenly rang out in the room.

"You'll all die! Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!!!"

Henry laughed sharply, his eyes rolling back to reveal disturbing whites, convulsing on the bed as if struck by epilepsy.

"Exorcist sir! My son... my son!" Mr. Tolkien exclaimed in horror, seeking help from Lu Li.

"I saw it." Lu Li closed the drawer but did not put back the stack of envelopes, and calmly said to someone outside the door, "Then I shall begin the exorcism, Mr. Tolkien, please wait in the living room."

With worry, Mr. Tolkien closed the door and left; Lu Li silently waited several seconds until Henry's convulsions slightly subsided before speaking, "Tell me why you pretended to be possessed by a ghost."

As his words fell, the room plunged into silence.

"Hehehehehe... you will die! You will all die!" Henry shrieked, his mouth contorted.

Wham—

A stack of envelopes was thrown by Lu Li, hitting Henry, one envelope smacking right onto his face.

"Because Tolkien disapproves of your affair with Evelyn?"

Lu Li's casually spoken words made Henry halt all his actions. After a few seconds of silence, Henry, bewildered, removed the envelope from his face, "How... how did you know...?"

"Tell me the details, and maybe I'll be persuaded not to tell your father."

The previously fierce and frenzied Henry now looked like a just-grown young boy, hesitantly explaining his reasons to Lu Li.

Henry and Evelyn had met by the seaside, and like most young men and women, the surge of hormones soon drew them hopelessly in love. However, trouble also arose; before Henry had the chance to tell his father about his girlfriend, his father had hastily arranged a fiancée for him.

Of course, Henry was unwilling, but Tolkien was domineering at home, and the younger son, Henry, naturally had no right to argue. After consulting with Evelyn, he decided to pretend to be possessed by a ghost.

"Why pretend to be possessed by a ghost?" Lu Li asked.

"That way my fiancée might get scared and call off the engagement..."

"And then?"

"I succeeded!" A hint of joy surfaced on Henry's pale face.

"But you didn't think about what to do next, leading Tolkien to call me here."

Lu Li's words plunged Henry into silence.

A moment later, Henry lifted his head, pleading, "Will you tell my father?"

"Will you do this again?" Lu Li countered.

"Never again, I swear!"

"I will keep your secret," Lu Li replied.

This solution was ideal for both; Lu Li received 500 shillings, and Henry escaped his parental-imposed engagement.

Except for Tolkien.

If the stingy Tolkien knew that his younger son had pretended to be possessed by a ghost, causing him a loss of 500 shillings, he might end up with only one son.

The commission concluded, and with no reason to stay, Lu Li turned off the radio in the cabinet and headed towards the door.

The door was nearly closed when Henry suddenly smiled coldly on the bed—

The barely closed door swung open again, and Lu Li reappeared at the entrance, having returned.

"Is there something you need, Exorcist sir?" Henry asked, looking up bewildered.

"Nothing."