83-84

*Chapter 83: Memories *

Gurgle, gurgle—  

In the backyard of the church on Elm Street, near the dry well...

Agent Zhou stood calmly as he poured the transparent liquid from the bucket into the dry well.

The pungent odor of the liquid mixed with the stench of decay from the well, forming an unbearable stench that assaulted his nose.

Holding his breath, he emptied the last drops from the bucket.

Agent Zhou stepped back, took a deep breath, and turned to Amanda.

“All right, this gasoline should be enough.”

Using gasoline’s flammability to destroy Freddy’s remains in the well without direct confrontation was undoubtedly Amanda’s suggested alternative solution.

“Since everything is ready, the next step is...”

Amanda glanced at the brightening sky, immediately lit the Bible left behind by the priest, and set it aflame.

As the tether for the evil spirit, it couldn’t simply be destroyed by fire alone.

Only by using the medium’s power could the flames transform into something capable of harming Freddy’s remains, destroying the remnants hidden in the well.

White flames engulfed the Bible, filling the air with a scorching smell.

Watching the blazing Bible in her hands, Amanda tossed it into the dry well before her.

Boom!  

As the Bible met the gasoline, flames burst forth, roaring skyward.

Thick smoke billowed with specks of ash drifting from the well.

Watching the fire and smoke rising from the well, Agent Zhou couldn’t help but speak.

“So, it’s all over?”

He hesitated, finding it all a little too easy.

“Yes, it’s over.”

Faced with Agent Zhou’s doubts, Amanda murmured softly.

...

“Of course, it can’t be that easy.”

In New York, inside a hotel reserved by the Screenwriters Guild for their strike...

Allen stretched lazily, loosening his stiff neck. Staring at the evolving storyline on the system panel, he instinctively muttered to himself.

After painstakingly designing the script for The Sleepless Town, it would be absurd for Freddy—the main antagonist—to bow out so easily. That would hardly justify the 15,000 plot points he invested.

...

As Allen’s words fell...

Amanda and Agent Zhou, standing near the well, immediately sensed a change.

From the smoke and ash rising from the well, a vague figure emerged.

The shadow opened its mouth in a silent roar before lunging at them, cloaked in the swirling smoke.

Swept by the smoke, both Amanda and Agent Zhou’s expressions turned dazed.

Their eyes became vacant as their clear minds blurred.

“Now... extinguish the flames...”

A sinister voice whispered softly in their ears.

Under its influence, Agent Zhou stumbled toward the well in a trance.

His vacant eyes rolled as Amanda, watching him move, instinctively followed.

At that moment, the silver necklace around Amanda’s neck began to glow faintly.

Bathed in the light, Amanda’s memories started to resurface.

...

“Haha, haha...”

Amanda opened her eyes.

She found herself standing on the backyard lawn of a house.

She looked up at the wooden cabin behind her. It was just as she remembered, her gaze flickering with emotion.

Suddenly, a clear, cheerful laugh came from the lawn behind her.

Turning around, she saw a little girl with a ponytail happily running and playing on the grass.

“...Amanda, don’t dirty your clothes...”

A gentle voice came from behind. Amanda turned around.

She saw a woman’s indistinct figure pass through her, approaching the little girl playing on the lawn. The woman crouched, smoothing the girl’s messy hair and flattening the wrinkles on her dress.

“It’s your birthday today, so don’t get too wild and ruin your clothes,” the woman said softly.

“All right, Mommy.”

The girl pouted as she glanced at her red little shoes, reluctant but obedient.

Seeing her daughter’s sulky expression, the woman smiled helplessly. Stroking the girl’s head, she spoke with a mix of exasperation and amusement. “Just for a little while. But don’t get dirty. Today, you’re a princess, not a little rascal.”

“I love you the most, Mommy!”

The girl’s sulky face instantly brightened. She kissed the woman on the cheek and asked innocently, “Mommy, when will Daddy come? It’s my birthday—can’t he come home today?”

The woman’s smile froze momentarily at her daughter’s question.

Behind her, Amanda’s expression shifted.

The woman gently patted her daughter’s head and replied softly, “Daddy is far away. He’ll only come back when Amanda grows a little older.”

“How much older, Mommy?”

“Just a little more.”

“Then I’ll grow up quickly, really big, so I can see Daddy.”

Standing on the lawn, Amanda watched the woman and the little girl with a deeply complicated expression.

“Mom...”

She instinctively moved toward the lawn.

Suddenly, everything around her began to blur. A thin mist enveloped the mother and daughter, separating them from Amanda.

...

“...Extinguish the flames, extinguish the flames...”

The necklace’s faint glow faded as Amanda regained her consciousness.

Her surroundings seemed to revert to the dry well at the church.

The eerie whispering continued.

But now fully aware, Amanda was no longer affected by the voice.

“No!”

She looked up to see Agent Zhou teetering at the edge of the well, ready to jump in.

She rushed forward, tackling him to the ground.

Near the well, decayed leaves and mud soiled Agent Zhou’s body.

“What just happened?”

Shaking his head, Agent Zhou began to regain clarity.

“No!”

From the well, Freddy’s scream echoed, followed by an even fiercer blaze.

...

“You can’t stop it, Merlin...”

In the Nightmare World...

Freddy’s body twisted and blurred as his tethered remains were destroyed.

But his sharp voice still rang out in fury.

“The darkness will rise. All evil will return to this land...”

*Chapter 84: Business Card*

*Morning, Springwood Town*

The light of dawn dispelled the shadows of darkness.

“Are you sure you won’t reconsider, Father?”

In front of the church on Elm Street, Amanda once again attempted to extend an invitation to the elderly priest standing before her.

With the growing number of supernatural occurrences, the BSI was in dire need of someone who could provide them with assistance.

“I have prayed to the Lord and pledged to remain at this town’s church, to guard against the resurgence of evil.”

Shaking his head, the old priest gently clutched the wound on his abdomen, freshly treated and bandaged. He declined Amanda’s invitation with a tone of firm resolve.

Seeing his unwavering attitude, Amanda had no choice but to abandon her attempt. Instead, she shifted the conversation to another pressing matter.

“Freddy once conveyed through Nancy some intelligence about the rise of dark forces. Do you know what that means, Father?”

Freddy's dark resurgence reminded Amanda of the "Great Purge," an event mentioned by a demon hunter in passing. There might be a connection between the two.

“…”

Faced with Amanda's inquiry, the priest hesitated. A complex expression crossed his face, as if debating whether to reveal the deeper significance behind it all.

After a long pause, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice, quoting a passage from the Bible:

"The Lord closed His eyes, and once again, evil forces shrouded the earth. Judgment Day began, and the dead, both great and small, stood before the throne. Books were opened, including the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what was written in the books, each according to their deeds. When the fires of hell’s punishment were extinguished, the entire universe rejoiced and praised the Lord. The days of Satan’s dominion were gone forever. Sin was eradicated for eternity, and eternal peace and tranquility reigned across the cosmos as the Lord turned His focus to creating a new world."  

“So, Father, are you saying that the rise of darkness signifies the final judgment?”

Amanda wasn’t unfamiliar with the content of the priest’s prayer. It was a description of the Final Judgment from the Bible.

“Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t. I am merely the Lord’s servant, unable to fathom His great will.”

The priest chose not to delve further into the topic of the dark resurgence.

Instead, he looked at Amanda with his cloudy eyes. Noticing her furrowed brow, he hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you truly want to learn more, I happen to know someone who might be able to help.”

Reaching into his pocket, the priest pulled out a weathered business card and handed it to her.

“Spirek Agency?”

Amanda read the name on the card aloud.

...

“I hope this will be of some help,” the priest murmured a prayer as he watched Amanda's retreating figure from the front of the church.

Turning around, he supported his frail body and walked back into the church.

“Our Father in heaven: May Your name be honored as holy. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven... Deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever... Amen.”

Under the cross, the priest prayed devoutly before pushing open the iron gate leading to the courtyard where the dried-up well stood.

Perhaps due to a past fire, the air in the courtyard still carried a faint charred scent. Amidst the overgrown weeds, remnants of ash clung stubbornly to the leaves.

Approaching the dried well, the heat from the fire’s aftermath was palpable.

Looking down into the scorched and cracked mud at the bottom of the well, the priest traced the sign of the cross over his chest and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, an unprecedented dark force enveloped the courtyard.

The force was bizarre and malevolent, making the priest’s face twist in shock.

Under his gaze, everything around the churchyard distorted and warped. The wild weeds grew erratically, their forms grotesque and claw-like. Even the iron gate at the entrance twisted unnaturally. Amid this chaos, a tall, thin figure appeared.

Standing over two meters tall, the figure wore a black suit and hat, exposing only sharp, gleaming teeth. It held a warped umbrella and moved with an unsettling gait as it stepped toward the priest.

Confronted by the strange being, the priest instinctively closed his eyes and began to pray.

“Our Father in heaven, in Your name, banish this dark power. Christ, guide me to save the souls possessed by evil and free them from deception. Expel this wicked spirit. In Your name, Lord, redeem them... Amen!”

The priest’s prayers seemed to take effect.

Father Moreland felt the twisted, maddening power receding. The surroundings appeared to return to their normal state.

“As we witness, we make demons tremble; trust me, Lord! Remember how You spoke in chapters 4 and 5: when we face our enemies, they are powerless. The divine sound draws near. The Lord is with you—pray!”

Continuing to pray aloud, the priest opened his eyes, only to find the distorted figure standing before him. The grotesque being leaned forward, watching him with a twisted posture.

“Almighty Lord... I beseech Your power...”

“Powerless Lord... I curse all that is Yours...”

Locked in a macabre exchange with the figure, Father Moreland’s prayers grew frenzied and incoherent. Under the influence of the force, his body began to contort, and his abdomen wound reopened, spilling blood. His prayers turned to anguished cries.

Crack, crack, crack!  

With a series of sickening bone-snapping sounds, his head twisted backward unnaturally, and he collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

Blood seeped from his body, staining the weeds around him.

Ignoring the priest’s mangled corpse, the twisted figure extended its warped umbrella over the well.

The dried-up well inverted itself, its scorched base rising to the top under the figure’s influence.

Stepping toward the well, the figure bent down in its crooked way and sifted through the muddy ashes at the bottom.

Eventually, it retrieved a charred pinky bone.

Clutching the bone in its claw-like fingers, the figure disappeared into the church’s shadows with its twisted umbrella in hand.

As the figure left, all signs of distortion vanished from the churchyard, leaving only the priest’s contorted body lying in silence.

…

On Elm Street, a grateful Nancy and her companions were heading toward the church.

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