Chapter 172: Riddled with Doubts
He accepted this commission indeed because he had the ability to evacuate safely.
But more importantly, such ambiguous commissions might lead to encounters with some powerful enemies.
After the last Memorial Day, William realized something.
It was already rare for an ordinary-level commission to have two or three evil spirits.
To efficiently improve the progress of various abilities, he must contact some more powerful guys.
This would certainly involve more danger.
But William wouldn't rashly conflict with the opponent.
If he discovered during the preliminary investigation that the evil related to the commission was difficult to confront, he would give up immediately.
Making sufficient preparations within his ability and increasing the difficulty of the accepted commission as much as possible—this was his goal.
But at this moment, William felt a sense of being calculated, which made him a little unhappy inside.
Perhaps seeing that the atmosphere was not quite right, Jack hurriedly apologized:
"Sorry, I didn't mean to target you."
"It's just that Jenny has been lost for so many days... After Helen left, I only have her left. I really have no other way."
"Five days. Regardless of whether there are clues after five days, this commission will be considered complete," William said coldly.
"But... this..."
Jack looked hesitant.
But a moment later, he still said: "I understand."
William threw a few banknotes on the table, then got up and left.
On the way driving to Green Town.
William recalled the conversation in the restaurant just now; this Mr. Jack obviously had some problems.
The other party claimed to be an outdoor explorer with experience in wilderness survival.
But after Jenny accidentally fell down the slope, he stated that no abnormalities were found at the scene.
This was obviously unreasonable.
Even those guys from the Wings of Vengeance would leave traces when setting up means.
Did the evil in the forest have more hidden methods?
Of course, this alone couldn't fully prove anything.
Secondly, this father seemed a bit too confident about his daughter's survival.
A nineteen-year-old young person, even if mastering rich survival skills.
Surviving in a forest full of traps was still very dangerous.
Not to mention the existence of powerful Cannibals inside.
William remembered that in the original work, the animals in the forest had long been eaten clean by those monsters.
In this way, food and water sources would obviously become the biggest problems.
He didn't think an ordinary girl could survive for so long.
Besides this, there were two other very suspicious points.
First, a normal father didn't call the police immediately after his daughter went missing.
Jack's reason seemed reasonable, but actually, there were many loopholes.
Visibility in the forest at night is very low.
As long as the person is not found in a short time, calling the police is definitely a very correct choice.
Firstly, this can increase manpower. If the local police station has police dogs, the efficiency of finding people will increase exponentially.
Moreover, did Jack search in the forest continuously for five days?
How was the food problem solved during this period?
Besides, going to the police station wouldn't take much time.
Jack himself also said that he taught Jenny many survival skills when she was young.
What if the latter found her way out of the forest herself? Jack was so certain that his daughter wouldn't return to the town?
Second, Jack seemed very cramped, but in the matter of hiding the commission content, he planned an unexpected calculation.
This showed that the other party was not a stupid person.
In this way, many of Jack's behaviors before and after appeared very contradictory.
However, what finally confirmed it for William was that amulet.
There was a trace of energy fluctuation contained within.
He was very familiar with this.
In the passage on Memorial Day, those evil statues had similar original power inside.
But unlike the former, the energy in the amulet had no evil aura.
But it was also different from the purity of Holy Power.
It seemed somewhat... mysterious.
When Jack took it out, William had already checked it with [Holy Eye].
Although he hadn't seen the power on it before, it was not dangerous.
This was also the reason why he dared to take over.
Anyway, Jack was definitely not as simple as he said.
That Jenny should also be hiding some secrets.
Before long, William arrived at Green Town.
Although this place was remote, there were quite a few residents.
Plus the local natural primeval forest environment attracted many people to come for hiking.
At this time, there were many tourists on the street, and the shops along the road were also open.
At first glance, the town could be considered prosperous.
"Under such circumstances, so many people die accidentally in the town every year, and there are local legends of cannibals, yet the officials haven't sent anyone to investigate..."
The corner of William's mouth twitched; this was indeed very unreasonable.
The bookstore was not difficult to find; he soon saw the shop's sign.
There were not many tourists inside, and the bookstore owner was resting on a chair.
After a simple inquiry, William quickly bought the map he wanted.
He also learned some local information from the owner.
The other party stated that the legend of "Cannibals" was just a gimmick artificially created by the town.
And those missing people were all inexperienced tourists who strayed into the depths of the forest, eventually leading to accidents.
This statement was obviously too perfunctory.
From the original work and Jack's description, the anomalies in the forest obviously existed.
Unless this shop owner deliberately concealed it.
For this reason, William also used [Psychological Counseling] on the former.
But the result was somewhat unexpected; this shop owner did not lie.
In recent years, because the town's tourism industry was getting better and better, many townspeople switched to related businesses.
The shop owner was no exception.
Plus the forest prey decreased year by year, so he finally decided to put down his gun.
After leaving the bookstore, William found a few local residents, and the results were much the same.
These people had not encountered danger in the forest.
William rubbed his chin.
There were too few clues at present, so he could only put them aside for now.
After that, he replenished some emergency supplies, such as flashlights, gasoline, car spare parts, food, etc.
The last item was prepared for Jenny.
Although William thought the possibility of the other party's survival was small, the necessary preparations should not be missed.
Subsequently, he drove to the primeval forest again.
According to the map, the forest range in this area was very wide.
According to the bookstore owner, most areas had never been developed, and there might be wild beasts and poisonous plants inside.
But William felt that the probability of having cannibals might be greater.
In short, there were only three routes suitable as escape routes.
These areas were relatively flat, and there were water sources around.
So William visited these three places one by one, set up Holy Statues along the way, and used small isolation magic arrays as cover.
In this way, even if a route was destroyed, he could leave safely.
It was already dark after finishing these arrangements.
So William returned to the town for the time being.
Nothing happened overnight.
Early the next morning.
After completing the Holy Water eye cleansing, William drove to the place where Jenny had the accident.
That was an interstate highway.
Following normal navigation, it should lead to the neighboring North Carolina.
But it would pass through a primeval forest on the way.
There were many forks in it, and one could get lost if not careful.
Green Town was located on the edge of the forest.
At this time, it was still early, and there were very few vehicles on the road.
Due to the tight schedule, William chose to complete today's Bible practice in the car.
Solemn scriptures were playing on the car radio.
William also recited loudly along with it.
This scene was somewhat like learning English in his previous life.
Approaching a fork in the road, he suddenly raised an eyebrow.
Not far away, a car broke down.
A man and a woman, two young people, stood by the roadside.
Seeing a vehicle passing by, Nina Pappas hurriedly waved her arms, shouting and running to the middle of the road.
Pale blonde long hair fluttered in the air, and excitement revealed in her gray eyes.
She was wearing black cargo pants and a gray short-sleeved shirt on her upper body. The overly low front collar revealed an eye-catching curve.
Even when running to the middle of the road, Nina pulled her clothes down further.
Seeing the incoming car gradually slow down, she trotted up hurriedly.
"Hey! This is too dangerous! What if you get hit!" Jake frowned. (Note: This is a different person from the client Jack, possibly named Jake or similar in English context for distinction, but sticking to "Jack" if untranslated source uses same characters, here assumed distinct character based on context "Black guy"). Correction: Let's call the client Jack and this new guy Jake to avoid confusion, or assume the source uses the same name.
This burly black guy was obviously frightened by Nina's previous behavior.
"Compared to being hit to death, I don't want to miss the chance to earn 100,000 dollars!"
Nina sounded a bit indignant.
"If it weren't for your broken car, maybe I would have arrived at the destination long ago."
"Hey! Watch your language; this is a Mazda MX-5 with a six-speed manual transmission!" Jake sounded excited.
"Screw your rotten car!" Nina raised an international "friendly" gesture.
On the other side, inside the car.
William sized up the two.
"No evil aura on them."
"The girl has no reaction to the amulet on the front of the car."
"Suspicion of evil spirits and demons can be ruled out temporarily; judging from appearance, they don't look like cannibals either."
William tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel.
"But people blocking the road halfway are too suspicious; it's safer to drive away directly."
Outside.
Nina kept forcing a smile, constantly signaling the other party to open the door.
But seeing no reaction inside the car, she was also a little angry for a moment.
"Why do I meet crappy things all day today!"
Nina raised her foot to kick forward.
In the next moment.
"Ouch!" She clutched her leg.
The driver's door suddenly opened, and Nina kicked right on the hard part.
"Hey, you!"
She frowned and stood up, but then was stunned.
"Priest?"
Before long.
The pickup truck started again, leaving the convertible behind.
Jake lay by the window first, then looked at the rear windshield.
"Hmm... thanks for giving us a ride." Nina tucked her hair.
"You're welcome; helping others is an obligation given to us by the Lord." William smiled slightly.
The reason why he suddenly changed his mind was because he remembered something.
In the Wrong Turn series, handsome guys and beautiful girls are standard. Under the classic setting of "Series getting worse later on," "Fan Service" (selling flesh) was one of the few highlights of the original work.
These two in front of him were likely the protagonist group of a certain movie.
And the communication with the two later also confirmed this point.
They came to the primeval forest to participate in a Wilderness Survival Reality Show. As long as they could become the last survivors, they could get a large sum of money.
Of course, this Jake was not Jenny's father.
Remote forest, American horror world, a show name that looked painful just by reading it.
William shook his head secretly; this was simply writing "I want to seek death" on their faces.
Of course, he didn't forget to persuade (trick) these two to drink Holy Water.
The latter showed no abnormalities.
"Father William, do you also plan to participate in the show?" Nina took the initiative to strike up a conversation.
The unhappiness accumulated early in the morning vanished after seeing this handsome priest.
"He is very thoughtful and took the initiative to give us water to drink, although it was a bit salty..." Nina thought to herself.
The two chatted idly.
William was also fishing for information from the other party.
Just at this moment, Jake in the back row suddenly shouted: "Watch out!"
A figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the road ahead, standing right in the center.
Seeing that the car was about to hit the person.
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