Chapter 21: Stealing Travel, Stillness?

Living together as a family made doing anything seem convenient.

Even though Esther was cautious, she couldn’t guard against Emma, who was determined to steal her secrets.

On the day before the holiday, while Esther and David went out shopping, Emma pulled out the key someone had made for her during spare time and slipped it into the lock.

Click-clack.

“Of course, this thing locked the door.”

After two more attempts, the door finally opened, and Emma stepped into Esther’s room for the first time—everything looked utterly ordinary.

Only the series of castle paintings in the center looked beautiful; beside the painting desk, besides brushes and pigments, lay a purple light and a book.

It was the black-bound Bible Esther never let out of her hands.

Emma smiled and picked up the Bible, flipping through it carefully—not randomly, but comparing colors and creases to target pages likely often turned.

Yet this loose-leaf black Bible held few clues; she only found a few pages containing key words like father, lover, murder.

But this was useless!

“Do I really need to know what’s beneath those black ribbons?”

As Emma thought this, her hand flipped to the last page of the book’s cover—its texture immediately caught her attention.

Her gaze sharpened, and a line of engraved letters came into view.

“Printed by Sarn Institution.”

Ha, Esther, you’re done for!

Emma tilted her head slightly, a cold smile curling at her lips.

She noted the name, planning to ask her father to buy a computer later for easier, faster searches—otherwise, tracking down a single name would be too troublesome.

At this time, computers were already common among the middle class, but compared to borrowing one from someone else’s home, she felt it simpler to have her father buy one.

She truly disliked getting too close to too many people.

Having thought this through, Emma didn’t leave immediately; she carefully examined Esther’s room—this was a rare opportunity, and she wanted to find more traces.

She paced slowly.

Suddenly.

She turned on the suspicious little purple light and swept it around the room, quickly spotting something odd.

The castle in the painting now showed tiny, writhing blood-red figures, flames burning everywhere, filling the space with a sense of destruction under the purple glow.

Seeing this, Emma narrowed her eyes.

…

David’s approval for the computer came as no surprise, but it would have to wait—either after some time or upon returning from the trip.

I have to say, David really dotes on his daughter.

Also, David had successfully chosen the travel destination.

A beautiful island in the middle of a lake in neighboring Mississippi State—Angela had learned of it while chatting with her sisters; the place was said to have stunning scenery, and David also had a business deal to attend in Mississippi.

So they chose it perfectly.

Just two days later, the holiday arrived, and the family officially began their road trip.

Due to its social structure, America never prioritized building unprofitable public infrastructure, so every household owned a car, and for every American child, the most desired coming-of-age gift was a car.

David and the others climbed into a spacious car, David and Angela taking the front seats, the three children sitting in the back.

Since it was a neighboring state, the journey wasn’t far—just one day’s drive—but they stopped overnight in a small town called Ravensfall.

Yet for some reason, the town’s population seemed sparse, and one household was holding a funeral.

Louis sat on the hotel bed, bought a rooster’s head from the chef, gently soothed it with words, then stepped outside and hurled it over the roof.

Yes, he was performing the Rooster Head Exorcism.

Yesterday, he had successfully mastered the Blade-Spitting Technique and bought a freshly slaughtered rooster, using the exorcism once.

The Rooster Head Exorcism wasn’t just about cutting off the head and throwing it over the roof—it had requirements: the rooster couldn’t be killed by oneself, and the older the rooster, the better.

This folk method was simple and quick; Louis had mastered it after just one use, and today’s repetition was both for practice and precaution.

After all, they were away from home—better to stay alert.

After throwing the rooster’s head, Louis went to the back of the house and found it on the ground covered in dry leaves—his gaze instantly sharpened!

The rooster’s head had completely withered!

Its bright red comb had turned a dull black!

“What the fuck?”

Louis involuntarily blurted out a Chinese curse.

A withered rooster’s head meant evil lurked near the house; the darker the comb, the worse the situation!

Louis frowned, momentarily at a loss—he’d never encountered anything like this before.

At this moment.

Louis’s gaze drifted and spotted a nursery rhyme scrawled like a child’s doodle on the wall behind the house.

Beware Mary Shaw’s gaze;

She has no children, only dolls;

If you see her, don’t scream;

Or she’ll rip open your mouth and tear out your tongue!!!

Louis’s pupils shrank—he stepped back two paces, clutching his mouth with both hands.

Mary Shaw, scream, tear out tongue…

This is Dead Silence!

I knew it, I knew it—Min Dian offered so many folk methods against ghosts not just because ghosts were common in folklore, but because there really are ghosts here!

He didn’t remember the exact plot of Dead Silence—it was an old movie—but he recalled the gist: a fanatical ventriloquist turned people into dolls; anyone who screamed before her had their tongue ripped out.

This town must be where the Dead Silence story took place.

Damn it, what bad luck!

He checked the sky—it was pitch black. Driving at night now would be suicide; countless horror films ended that way.

Looks like they’d have to stay here for now.

Louis forced himself to stay calm—he remembered Mary Shaw primarily hunted the cursed boy’s family; others were just collateral.

Combined with today’s funeral and the fact that the town, though sparse, still had signs of life, Mary Shaw hadn’t gone on a killing spree—so as long as they didn’t cause trouble, they’d be fine.

“Wait—Emma and Esther, those two troublemakers!”

Louis’s eyes widened—he immediately remembered them.

He couldn’t let them cause trouble—if they screamed here, things would get interesting.

(End of Chapter)