The tunnel wall retained very obvious excavation marks, which is hard to imagine in Gospel Town, a place where even the slightest gossip spreads like wildfire.
Silently digging such a long tunnel under the villa without being discovered must have taken many years.
After walking for about a dozen meters, the path began to branch. Looking at the two entrances, Sun Yan shone his flashlight on the ground and discovered human footprints at both.
He couldn't determine which entrance Lorne had taken.
Henry instructed a police officer sternly, "Split into two teams. You go over there, I'll go this way. Remember to report anything via the walkie-talkie, and if anyone gets injured, evacuate immediately."
"Yes."
Half of the team immediately went into the left entrance, while Sun Yan followed Henry into the right entrance.
Along the way, he saw numerous wooden beams and pillars used for support, indicating that whoever dug this passage had carefully considered preventing collapses.
Just then, a broken clay pot on the ground caught Sun Yan's attention.
The pot seemed to have been shattered recently, with sharp shards still stained with fresh blood, suggesting the person who broke it was badly injured.
"It should be Lorne, looks like he also went this way." Sun Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as this cave has an end, they can find this love-struck fool alive or dead.
The path became increasingly narrow, eventually requiring them to turn sideways to pass through, and anyone too tall would bump their head on the ceiling.
Several officers with claustrophobia began breathing rapidly, their legs trembling.
Henry had no choice but to let them retreat and return the way they came to avoid endangering their lives.
After losing a few team members, Sun Yan squeezed through the narrow passage and stepped into a vast underground space.
This place was at least four or five meters high, littered with rocks of various shapes, all covered with mysterious symbols that Sun Yan had seen on the clay pots in the basement.
Sun Yan felt as if he had accidentally stumbled into an evil ritual site, and not far from him, Lorne sat under a rock, clutching his wounded arm, trembling.
"Don't go near him; something's not right with him."
Henry shone the flashlight on Lorne's face, and everyone saw Lorne's face was pale with no trace of color, his eye sockets dark, and his face dripping with sweat unnaturally, making him look like he'd been fished out of water.
"Water... I'm so thirsty..." Lorne muttered, staring at everyone.
A cut over 10 centimeters long marked his arm, but instead of blood, a black viscous substance oozed from his skin.
Sun Yan frowned deeply, quickly recognizing from his recent reading of the "Mountain Chasing Manual" that Lorne exhibited signs of possession.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!
Just as Henry was about to ask Sun Yan if Lorne could be saved, a strange gurgling sound came from the surroundings.
Instinctively, Sun Yan looked toward the source of the noise, spotting an old woman stretching her neck from between two rocks, sliding along the stone as she approached.
Her hair hung loose, her mouth stained with blood, but Sun Yan instantly recognized her as the missing Madam Lolian.
"Oh my God! What is that thing!"
"Fuck! Did a demon escape from hell?"
Seeing Madam Lolian's condition, all the officers gasped in fear, their grip on their guns doing nothing to quell their panic.
Below Madam Lolian's neck was a body covered entirely with snake scales.
Her arms had fully merged with her waist, and her legs had fused into one, resembling a real serpent, sliding over the rocks on her belly.
Sun Yan's mind flashed back to the strange corpse he'd taken from Madam Lolian's villa.
It matched Madam Lolian's current form exactly!
[September 28, 2005: He's back. His dream fulfilled, he became a citizen of Butis Country.]
Sun Yan's eyes widened as he hurriedly urged Henry, "Do it! Shoot now!"
Bang bang bang!
There was no need for Sun Yan's reminder; Henry and the other officers instinctively pulled the trigger at Madam Lolian.
The bullets left no marks on her body, instead, they awakened Madam Lolian's wild nature. She hissed, swiftly crawling down from the rock and approached Lorne.
In the next moment, Madam Lolian opened her mouth, her human jaw expanding infinitely, not dislocated but with her skin cracked.
She became like a python, swallowing half of Lorne's body in one gulp, attempting to shove him entirely inside her.
"Father, the bullets don't work on her!" Henry shouted anxiously.
He was witnessing for the first time a creature that could not be killed by bullets, their greatest reliance.
With firearms useless, the creature in front of them became the hunter above them, and the situation reversed immediately.
Sun Yan's "Celestial Eye" opened, revealing an ugly snake coiled around Madam Lolian, emitting a dense black mist.
"A powerful Evil Spirit, not a simple one."
Sun Yan's expression was solemn, clutching the Ghost Torturing Stick tightly. This Evil Spirit had possessed Madam Lolian, not only turning her into a ghostly form but also granting her an undying body impervious to bullets.
If this Evil Spirit isn't exorcised, they would surely all fall prey to Madam Lolian, just like Lorne, becoming her food.
"Stop, I'll handle her."
Sun Yan lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, his mind instantly calmed.
He took out the General Sun Mask from his pocket and placed it over his face; at this crucial moment, he couldn't afford caution and needed to quickly exorcise the Evil Spirit to ensure his safety.
Sun Yan grasped the Ghost Torturing Stick and sprinted towards Madam Lolian, facing the monstrous transformation, he did not hesitate and struck her fiercely on the face.
The Evil Spirit on her trembled instantly, and a large mass of dissipating black smoke burst from within her, causing her to painfully disgorge Lorne, saliva splattering, eyes filled with anger as she lunged towards Sun Yan.
Bam!
Caught off guard, Sun Yan was slammed by Madam Lolian, a powerful force surged from her body, flinging Sun Yan away, his back crashed against a rock and he fell to the ground in disarray.
"Ugh."
The severe blow to his viscera made Sun Yan unable to hold back his bile, sprawling on the ground, unable to stand for a while.
Aside from having a body impervious to bullets, her physical strength was incredibly powerful. If this monster escaped and harmed others, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Seeing Madam Lolian crawling towards Sun Yan again, Henry knew that if Sun Yan was in trouble, without any exorcism ability, they would be no match for Madam Lolian and all would become food for this monster.
He immediately dashed over, shouldering Madam Lolian mid-air and pressing her firmly to the ground.
"Father Jackson! Pull yourself together!" Henry shouted.
Even though Henry regularly worked out, his arm strength far exceeding the ordinary, he still felt strained, fearing he couldn't hold Madam Lolian down for long.
The remaining officers rushed over to help, Sun Yan staggered to his feet, raising the Ghost Torturing Stick to strike Madam Lolian's head with all his might.
Large amounts of black smoke floated out of her body, converging into a phantasm of a human-headed snake creature. Its appearance was hideous, holding a horn and sword, and screamed malevolently, "Mortal! You dare to strike Butis's servant, you are provoking me!"
"Ja, Father Jackson, what is this?"
Seeing this sudden appearance of a talking half-human, half-snake creature, though its sound was akin to serpent hisses, Henry couldn't understand it, but this didn't stop him from feeling terrified facing the snake creature.
"Who cares what it is, hold her down."
Sun Yan struck the half-human, half-snake creature with the stick, although merely a phantasm, it appeared to be a projection of some demon, yet the spirit possessing Madam Lolian had only a bit more strength than an Evil Spirit, not posing much challenge to Sun Yan.
Under the blows of the Ghost Torturing Stick, the half-human, half-snake creature grew fainter, unable to resist, its body surging with gray flames, initiating self-dissipation.
Amidst the flames, the half-human, half-snake creature glared venomously at Sun Yan, "I will remember you, Jackson! You dare to oppose Butis, I will curse you from Hell until your death, the day your soul plunges into Hell!"
With the dispersal of the gray flames, the half-human, half-snake creature vanished altogether.
Deprived of the Evil Spirit's possession, Madam Lolian no longer had divine power, she lay on the ground in tears, sobbing brokenly, "Butis! Great Butis! Don't abandon me, take me to that beautiful realm, I am your faithful Believer!"