The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4255 Possession by an Evil Spirit (Thirty-Five)

The others immediately understood what the detective meant. From their previous recollections, they knew that the circus had already begun to decline when old Berg was young. At that time, he was no more than thirty years old, still a vigorous and energetic man.

What is already known is that after the town's tourism industry declined, the city government began to transfer pollution, directly connecting the factory's sewage system to the town's underground water system.

These two conditions combined actually indicate that water pollution had already begun when the elder Berg was young, rather than after his death.

Detectives even suspect that the town had already begun secretly discharging pollutants during its heyday, when industrial development was already rapid. Politicians wouldn't care about the lives of townspeople and tourists. The relatively restrained approach was simply due to the large number of tourists and the fear of being discovered.

Binger's statement that "emissions only started because of decline" actually means that he stopped pretending because of decline—since fewer people came, he openly emitted emissions, and no one dared to say anything to him.

Moreover, considering the historical context, circuses were among the most opposed forms of entertainment by leftists at the time. Human rights and animal protection movements of that era had some genuine substance. Given the fame of this circus in Great Valley, it was bound to be a prime target for their crackdown.

This group also wields considerable influence in the political arena. The politicians in West Virginia may have restrained themselves somewhat to avoid being discovered. But once the circus was brought down, these people stopped coming, and the global climate shifted, they began to act with unbridled impunity.

As the leader of the sect, old Berg probably sensed something was amiss. After all, he often had contact with the mayor, and the sect's high-ranking members were not restricted in their movements and could go to the city. They were bound to notice something was wrong.

His past actions clearly show how much he values ​​his sect. He could have used his looks to move to a big city and live a life of luxury, but he insisted on returning to this small town, even using his marriage as leverage to continue doing his old dirty work. He absolutely does not want the sect he leads to be destroyed.

On the other hand, this cult maintains its stability by controlling the lives of its members in every way. The presence of stimulants in the water meant that members were often out of control, something old Berger could not accept.

Therefore, he had every reason to resist this.

But as I said before, although old Berg was handsome and had traveled to many big cities with the circus, giving him some experience, it was still too difficult for him to fight against the government system alone. If his rebellion failed, he would certainly suffer a terrible fate.

The smaller the place, the more lawless it is. These politicians would wipe out the entire town to cover this up, so why would they care about just one more person?

It's just unknown whether old Berg died with resentment and turned into an evil spirit, haunting the town and living the sectarian life they dream of in the spiritual world.

So let's speculate: if this evil spirit isn't Old Berg, then who could it be? Or is it really just a concept?
“There’s one person who’s suspicious,” Bruce said, “that’s the pastor Derby who’s supposedly escaped town. He looks like he’s not dead, but it’s not certain that he actually got away.”

“Indeed, Familo was pushed into the magic circle as a sacrifice, but this magic circle may not necessarily be used for escape.”

“We need to find that air-raid shelter,” the agent said.

The group quickly set off. Their thinking was actually the same as Peter's: whoever it was, whether it was old Berg or someone else, there was definitely someone in this town researching dark magic. This person researching dark magic would certainly have a safe exit for their base, which would basically be the route from their own house to the outside of town.

The mountains on the other side of the waterfall are the best choice. The complex terrain provides ample time to escape, and because they are close to the tourist attractions, even if someone discovers you there, you will have an excuse.

“This leads us to conclude that the entrance to the air-raid shelter may not be far from the lake,” Binger said after thinking for a moment. “The cave I stayed in before seemed to have a cavity at the bottom. I felt airflow in the cracks of the rocks, but I was too small to be sure.”

So they went back into the crevice. The cave still contained the corpses Peter had brought. For some reason, the corpses in the spiritual world were very lifelike after death, showing a detailed process of transformation. The air inside the cave wasn't very good.

But because of this, Bruce noticed with his sharp eyes that blood was seeping down the cracks in the rock.

“There really is something down there,” Bruce said. “There must be another exit. Let’s go check it out.”

They climbed over the mountain where the waterfall was located, and then, at the foot of the overgrown mountainside, they found a small door. It was indeed an air-raid shelter, and judging from the traces of its construction and style, it was probably a product of World War II.

There was indeed a lock on the door, but it wasn't enough to stop a few people. They simply smashed the lock and went inside. After passing through a narrow, elongated tunnel, they finally arrived at the main hall.

The hall was also semi-transparent, but no magic circle was visible. Bruce looked up and saw traces of blood seeping from the ceiling. This proved that this place was indeed below the waterfall cave.

"It seems that the magic circle exists in the real world, but it may not be able to manifest here due to the influence of mysticism. We still need to return to the real world to figure out what's going on."

Just then, a noise came from outside the cave. They turned around and saw that it was Peter.

“You guys are here,” Peter sighed. “I knew you’d be investigating this far. I found old Burger’s base, did some research on dark magic, and actually found some things.”

“What is it?” Bruce asked.

"Old Berg is probably not an evil spirit. To be precise, he wanted to become an evil spirit, but failed."

Peter went inside, looked around, and said, "He set up a ritual circle here, but ultimately, he wasn't the one who used it. He died before that."

"In other words, old Berg is indeed that dark sorcerer, but he is not an evil spirit."

“That’s right,” Peter nodded. “After doing some research on dark magic, I discovered that this magic circle’s function is to turn a person into a soul state, allowing them to reside in another body. Old Berg seemed to believe that this would grant him immortality. But unfortunately, he died before he could even try it.”

"how do you know?"

“Because of black magic,” Peter said, “this kind of magic seems to originate from the shamanistic practices of primitive tribes, which uses all sorts of objects and spells to alter a person’s soul. I tried making a little gadget to track old Berg’s soul. The spell indicated that he was already dead.”

"What about his body? Can you find out where his body is?"

"His body is in the town."

Everyone suddenly realized. The agent looked at Bruce and said, "It seems that the mummified corpse dressed as a clown really is old Berg. This is very strange."

The reason the others hadn't considered this possibility before was because they already knew that old Berg was the sect leader and that he had long since retired from acting when he died. There was no reason for him to be dressed in a clown costume and stuffed into a box. It looked too much like a smokescreen.

But unexpectedly, life is like a play, and the truth is so absurd. This cult leader, with blood on his hands and who had killed countless people, became someone else's puppet after death. He once performed on stage with a scare box, but after death, he became a doll inside the scare box, yet he failed to frighten anyone.

“It’s an insult,” Kate said. “I told her that the other party harbored great malice towards old Berg. He deliberately dressed old Berg’s body in a clown costume and put the body in a box to express a sense of superiority that ‘you are nothing but my toy.’”

"And he really likes using the clown's scare box and all sorts of deception," the agent said. "Perhaps it's because he sees himself as superior to others and enjoys the thrill of manipulating people's hearts and lives."

"Can you find out who killed him?" Bruce asked Peter.

Peter shook his head and said, "Black magic isn't that powerful; it can only reveal the result, not the details. But I did manage to uncover something else. Take a look."

He emptied the contents of the bag he was carrying. It was a bag of small toys. Peter shrugged and said, "My sewing skills are really limited, and these aren't easy to sew, so you'll have to make do with them."

The group picked up the dolls from the ground and noticed that Peter had thoughtfully sewn them into their likenesses. Bruce frowned and said, "But I haven't killed anyone. Perhaps I..."

“There was no need to kill anyone,” Peter said. “They used the method of sacrifice because they got it wrong.”

"what?"

“They’ve misunderstood the use of this dark magic,” Peter said. “Think about it, the conditions for sacrifice can’t be this. Killing isn’t that simple. The purpose of dark magic is to carry out a surprise attack when you can’t kill someone by conventional means. If you have to kill someone first to use it, wouldn’t that be a paradox?”

The agent nodded. Although he had never been interested in such mystical things, he knew that if a weapon required knowledge, came at a high cost, and was easily discovered, it was completely useless. It would be better to just break down the door and fire a burst at the enemy.

Black magic requires time to learn, and the learning curve is steep; even those who have inherited this magic throughout history haven't fully mastered it. Furthermore, it demands a dedicated workshop for crafting various magical artifacts and a large area for setting up rituals. So, if its sacrificial conditions are extremely difficult to meet, who would use it?

“The condition for making this kind of doll is to infuse it with a certain amount of soul power, but it doesn’t necessarily require killing a person,” Peter said. “I’ve infused it with a little, enough to activate it. When you use it yourselves, you also need to continuously provide power, so you can’t use it for too long and you have to come back to recharge it every now and then.”

"Approximately how long can we participate in the activity?"

“About twelve hours,” Peter continued, “and now this evil spirit can also use black magic. I suspect that he discovered old Berg’s research before he died and inherited his research. Considering that old Berg would not have told anyone about this, the evil spirit may be the one who killed old Berg.”