Chapter 122: Danger Level, Placement, Gathering Begins

Louis prepared to categorize these hazardous items by danger level, placing items of different levels in separate zones.

This would also minimize expenses and facilitate classification management.

Based on his current understanding and information obtained from Ilis and Alma, Louis temporarily divided danger levels into three stages.

Evil Spirit Level.

Demon Level.

Great Demon Level.

From his debut until now, strictly speaking, Louis had only dealt with Evil Spirit Level entities; the range within this level was clearly defined, so he roughly categorized them as bottom-tier, ordinary, and upper-tier.

Mary Xiao was merely ordinary within the Evil Spirit Level; the cannibal ogre, though somewhat unusual, was still upper-tier Evil Spirit; as for the deformed ones, they were bottom-tier Evil Spirit trash.

As for the Jack Music Box, though its power was suppressed to bottom-tier Evil Spirit strength due to sealing and fusion with a mortal, its abilities were bizarre, and the entity sealed inside was undeniably a true demon, so Louis classified it under the Demon Zone.

Jason, due to his immortality and evolution, was placed in the Demon Zone despite his current power level being only Evil Spirit.

The Monkey’s Paw was too dangerous; though its upper limit remained unknown, its wish-granting ability alone was sufficient for Louis to place it in the Demon Zone.

The box containing the Tarot Cards was placed in the Demon Zone for the same reason as the Jack Doll Box.

These were all the hazardous items Louis had collected so far.

What? Perfume and the scarecrow?

The perfume was for personal use; the scarecrow was merely a gatekeeper, its power no higher than bottom-tier Evil Spirit, and it had already been tamed—no need to imprison it in the Evil Spirit Zone.

The Evil Spirit Zone housed the deformed pig-sheep and the Heart-Stopping Cannibal Ogre.

The Demon Zone housed Jason, the Jack Doll Box, the Monkey’s Paw, and the Tarot Cards Box.

The Great Demon Zone remained empty for now.

The Great Demon Zone existed because of Mamen and Erdiki—two useless beasts manifesting themselves in the mortal world—and because Louis had once accidentally seen the Warrens on a paranormal talk show on TV.

The Warrens were regulars in American horror films.

Since they appeared, spirits, nuns, Annabelle, and countless Great Demons and the Seventy-Two Demon Gods would inevitably follow.

Hence, the Great Demon Zone was established.

When Louis would actually imprison hazardous items there, he did not know—but he believed such a day would come.

Soon after, over the next several days, Louis began urgently arranging the Rebirth Prison.

He transferred the Bloodhounds of Khaos to patrol at all times.

The idle scarecrow was placed in the wasteland outside the Rebirth Prison to serve as the first line of surveillance and defense.

He also cleared out his own experimental area: each criminal corpse had its blood drained for blood curses, its soul harvested for soul-stones for poison-fire spells, and its bones ground into bone powder to feed the deformed pig-sheep…

For staffing, Louis followed his second uncle’s advice and targeted those suffering hardship, desperate for life-saving money; though America’s economy was not heavily oppressive toward ordinary people and welfare was decent, as long as class existed, there would always be those in despair.

As for trash, Louis didn’t need to worry—his second uncle specialized in this; with a mere flick of his finger, a batch of Mexican drug addicts was transported over.

“Mexico constantly sees illegal crossings; most of those who come over, aside from a few with legitimate livelihoods, engage in underground industries, and among those, drug trafficking dominates—a bunch of short-sighted fools chasing quick money, utterly disregarding local gangs and government, and our gang has long had conflicts with them.”

“Those syndicates have temporarily withdrawn, but the snakeheads haven’t—illegal crossings remain frequent.”

It was easy to imagine that, for the foreseeable future, consumables would not be lacking.

In addition to assigning family members as prison guards, his second uncle was also negotiating with Orlando’s government to integrate the Rebirth Prison into the local law enforcement system.

In time, prisoners would be delivered, and the prison would officially begin operations.

Inside the prison.

Watching Jason, his wrists and ankles bound in iron chains, his head encased in a hood with only one eye exposed, sitting silently, Louis stroked his chin, pondering whether to ignite poison fire.

Jason had been resurrected by the Book of the Dead, his soul dragged back from hell—he should have undergone soul mutation, yet his body changed too, growing stronger with each death, his physical attack power increasing each time.

Clearly, something was wrong here.

But Louis always believed Jason’s core lay in his soul; after all, in one movie, even after his body was blown apart, his soul still possessed others and eventually reincarnated and escaped—evidently, the body was not essential; his essence was the soul.

And the soul had always been the specialty of poison-fire spells.

The only issue was the faint, elusive evil aura he sensed from Jason—when poison fire burned him, he didn’t know what strange changes might occur.

“Forget it. First, let’s explore his utility. His origins and secrets can be investigated later.”

Soon after, Louis discovered Jason’s usefulness.

Though Jason looked human, his body was no longer human; any non-fatal wound could heal given time. His blood’s spiritual energy was extremely low—even lower than the Cannibal Ogre’s—but his recovery speed was far faster.

Now, when cultivating poison or feeding the hounds, he no longer had to be stingy with the Cannibal Ogre's flesh and blood.

While Louis was busy extracting Jason’s remaining value, striving to escape his status as a mystical pauper, the student council gathering at school had begun.

With graduating members removed, the gathering was small—only a little over twenty people.

Besides some student council members, others were Christina’s friends—ordinary students at the school.

American gatherings came in many forms, but as a student council, they had no room for outrageous activities, so everyone mostly ate, drank, chatted, and played games.

Christina shook her head, performing a flashy head-tilt drinking routine with a tough-guy flair to warm up the atmosphere, then quietly vanished from the main area.

She slipped to a corner and whispered to a Latino boy.

“Haley, is everything ready?”

“Relax, I’ve had it ready for ages. But are you sure you want to do this here? I warn you—this thing is real. If something goes wrong, I’m not responsible,” said Haley, the Latino boy, with concern.

“What’s the point of talking? It’s just a dare game. What could go wrong? Are you trying to…” Christina’s expression changed, then she smiled, her nail-polished finger gently tapping Haley’s cheek as she leaned close, her soft touch brushing his ear.

“Don’t worry—you’ll be rewarded when it’s done. Don’t forget to record it.”

Feeling the dampness on his earlobe and that soft touch, Haley nodded eagerly.

This was the student council president! What an honor!

At this moment, consequences? I don’t care—I just want to ride wild!

At one side of the gathering, Yulinka swirled her glass, seated beside two girlfriends.

Her gaze shifted, glancing at them. “So these are Christina’s friends—Jade, and Mia as an afterthought? So many friends for a student gathering?”

Yulinka didn’t believe Christina, nearly ousted, would have such leisure. From the start, she suspected something was off, so she investigated and made arrangements.

At that moment,

A girl approached and whispered something in Yulinka’s ear.

Dare game? Paranormal game? Spirit Arm?

Yulinka instantly understood—Christina was trying to drag others down with her.

The target could only be me and Nancy.

But a paranormal game???

Yulinka’s brow tightened instantly.

With Louis—an anomaly—existing, and after experiencing the Cannibal Ogre and other events, Yulinka had avoided all paranormal games for years.

She had no desire to invite trouble.

Thinking this, Yulinka immediately stood and walked out—she’d rather leave outright than stay another moment.

“Hey! Yulinka, where are you going?”

“The gathering just started! The surprise hasn’t even happened yet—why leave? So boring.”

Christina hurried over to block her.

Yulinka ignored her; she didn’t want to stay here even a second longer. She walked past without a word, and several of her spies followed her out—suddenly, the gathering’s atmosphere plummeted.

Everyone exchanged glances.

Christina gritted her teeth in silent fury but forced a smile, maintaining the mood—even dancing a sultry dance.

Whistles and laughter erupted.

Soon, Christina announced the day’s surprise—the dare game.

Haley produced a ceramic severed hand, covered entirely in dense black markings.

Young people loved risking death; everyone present approved of this thrilling game—except Nancy.

Looking at the object, Nancy frowned. For some reason, she felt a strange, unsettling familiarity with it.

Her instinct told her this thing was no good.

But already, a classmate had volunteered to go first.

It was Christina’s Black friend, Mia.

“Close your eyes, grip the severed hand, and say—respond to me.”

“When you open your eyes, you’ll see something thrilling.”

“Then say, I permit you to possess me.”

“You’ll feel the ecstasy of soul departure—extremely, extremely, extremely satisfying!”

(End of Chapter)