Chapter 1897

After the welcome banquet ended, the exorcism ritual proposed by the priest was immediately prepared. Mr. Nihilite, who returned later, and the stiff Hancock had no objections, but they didn't look very enthusiastic or pious either, just a bit noncommittal.

The priest proposed that the ritual should be held in the bedroom of the crazy Isabelle, where it would be easier for the demon to reveal its traces. Mr. and Mrs. Nihilite and Hancock did not object. When several supporters of the ghost possession theory said they hoped to be able to observe, they also calmly agreed.

The one who made the biggest fuss was Mr. Plosi, who blocked the entrance to Isabelle's room and shouted: "You can't all come in, there isn't enough space here, and this is very impolite. She's just a little girl! There's no demon at all!"

"Hurry and move aside, Plosi." Mr. Nihilite said as if he were a bit helpless: "This is for the good of your own niece. Do you want her to keep going crazy like this?"

Then he turned his head and smiled apologetically at the few people, saying: "He is my wife's brother. His mind was stimulated some years ago, and he is a bit crazy. Everyone, please don't mind."

"However, my daughter's bedroom is not big enough and really can't hold so many people. How about this, I'll have the butler take her to my bedroom. The space there is larger and won't crowd everyone."

Everyone naturally agreed happily and, led by the servants, walked through the corridor to the master bedroom.

In the Catholic cultural circle, after marriage, the husband and wife sleep in separate rooms. Both the master and mistress's bedrooms are quite luxurious, and Mr. Nihilite's bedroom is no exception. Just the inner room of the bedroom is about as big as the dining room.

What made Shiler a bit surprised was that during the process of walking to the master bedroom, the tall man named Hancock deliberately walked a few steps slower, fell to his side, and asked in a dull tone: "I heard you are a doctor? Which department are you in?"

"Cardiac surgery. I am a chief cardiac surgeon, most skilled in pediatric cardiac treatment." Shiler replied.

"So you came for Charlotte?"

"I only heard that your family encountered some trouble. As for which young master or young lady it is specifically, I wouldn't be so offensive as to investigate." Shiler looked straight ahead, didn't even look at Hancock, and said calmly.

Hancock seemed very satisfied with this answer and quickened his pace to catch up with the main group, while Shiler looked at his back and revealed a smile.

Batman also walked a few steps slower and fell to Shiler's side. He said: "Something is very wrong, isn't it? This whole family is very wrong."

Shiler looked at the backs of Hancock and Mr. Nihilite and said: "I can only say that antisocial personality and psychopathy are not inherited through bloodlines, but they can be cultivated and learned later. Children will follow suit."

"You think they are psychopaths?" Batman didn't ask again, but immediately said: "But they don't quite fit the characteristics of psychopaths."

"No patient gets sick according to the textbook." Shiler gently straightened his tie knot and said: "They will never realize that the things that bring them an advantageous position, the things that allow them to be above others—those so-called wealth, status, and reputation—are all pitifully fragile."

Batman felt a trace of chilling coldness from Shiler's tone, but there was no anger mixed in it, just bottomless coldness.

"Art is not about heating a sword red and then smashing it, but about forging a piece of useless scrap iron into a knife. They will use sharp blades to slice open every mask, letting those self-righteous high-ranking people understand how stupid and short-sighted their past actions were."

Shiler quickened his pace and walked to the front of everyone, while Batman, who was left behind, looked at his back. He had a feeling that things were at a subtle turning point, and everything was just a sense of calm before the storm.

Everyone entered the master bedroom. Isabelle was lying on the bed with a pale face. It was not Shiler's first time seeing her, but it was his first time observing her at close range.

This was a little girl carved from pink jade. Although her pale complexion and bloodless lips made her look more like a lifeless doll, they couldn't hide her exquisite facial features inherited from her mother.

As soon as Lady Nihilite saw her daughter's appearance, she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She sat by the bed and sobbed in a low voice. Mr. Nihilite hugged her gently, patted her on the back to comfort her, and asked her to leave temporarily.

Lady Nihilite didn't resist, just obediently stood at the head of the bed. The onlookers moved a bit further away. Only the priest walked up and poured the freshly prepared holy water into a white ancient porcelain dish.

He picked up the cross and shook it on Isabelle's forehead, muttering ancient prayers in a low voice, dipped his fingers in holy water and wiped it on Isabelle's forehead, then pointed it on her chest and wrists respectively.

At first, Isabelle had no reaction, but soon she woke up in a daze. Seeing so many people surrounding her, and a weirdo holding various utensils in his hand, she was so frightened that she began to scream helplessly. Mr. Nihilite hurriedly walked up to comfort her: "Don't be afraid, Isabelle, the priest is performing an exorcism ritual for you, and you will be better soon."

Isabelle curled up to the head of the bed and began to make meaningless screams again. She made everyone think that she couldn't speak at all, but Shiler understood that she could.

Suddenly, Isabelle tilted her neck and made a huffing sound, then kept scratching her neck with her fingers, as if it were very itchy.

"The holy water is working." Someone shouted: "The demon seems to be being burned. He will be burned to death by the power of the holy water!"

Isabelle's movements became larger and larger. While scratching, she kicked her legs, making huffing sounds, and changed from scratching her neck to scratching her cheeks.

Suddenly, a powerful hand grabbed her wrist. Isabelle looked up and saw a slightly familiar face.

Shiler grabbed Isabelle's wrist tightly. Everyone was startled by his sudden rush. Just as the onlookers were about to scold him, Shiler said in a steady tone: "This is an acute allergy, go get allergy medicine immediately!"

Everyone looked a bit confused and hesitant, but it was the priest who, after being stunned for a moment, looked down at the holy water in his hand and then said to Mr. Nihilite opposite: "Please go get the medicine, sir. The situation looks a bit wrong. The demon's reaction to holy water is not like this."

With the authority speaking, the discussion among the crowd subsided a bit. Lady Nihilite looked at her constantly trembling daughter, let out a scream, and shouted at the butler: "Hurry and get the allergy medicine!"

The butler hurriedly ran out. Shiler didn't miss the expressions of the three people opposite for a single moment. Sure enough, when Lady Nihilite spoke, a trace of obscure dissatisfaction flashed in the eyes of the tall man named Hancock.

The allergy medicine was sent over quickly. Fortunately, although it was an acute allergic reaction, the degree of allergy was not serious, just some symptoms of suffocation and whole-body itching. Shiler dissolved the medicine with warm water and poured it into Isabelle.

During the process of feeding the medicine, he saw some red rashes on her body through Isabelle's collar, which should have been caused by the allergic reaction, but there was a bruise on her back that looked like it had been there for a long time, as if she had fallen somewhere and bumped into it.

Shiler cautiously withdrew his gaze, just took the towel from the butler's hand to wipe Isabelle's sweat. Lady Nihilite finally couldn't hold back and cried out in collapse. She said: "Thank you, doctor, thank you. I really don't know why such things always happen to my children. God..."

"What on earth is going on?" Hancock looked at the priest and asked: "Why is Isabelle allergic to holy water?"

The priest didn't answer immediately, but after staring at the pale Isabelle for a while, he said: "I used the local water source and didn't add anything else. I guess it was the dust or some special substance stuck to the utensils that caused her allergy."

Hancock sighed and said: "This originally had a chance to save her, but it was such a coincidence and unfortunate..."

"Can you please think of another way?" Mr. Nihilite looked at the priest and said very sincerely: "As long as you can save my daughter, the Nihilite family will provide a generous reward. We are willing to contribute to the church you belong to."

The priest's gaze never moved away from Isabelle's face. His expression showed a trace of complexity, but he still said: "I'm afraid I'm powerless, gentlemen. I will go to the church to pray for her."

After speaking, he turned and left, and this farce also ended more than an hour later.

Before returning to his room, Shiler heard the servants who were already at the entrance of the porch saying: "What a poor child. Even God is unwilling to save her. Suddenly allergic to holy water, isn't that a sign that God has abandoned her?"

"Maybe there are no demons, it's just that this child did something that made God unhappy. Perhaps she didn't pray piously. The daughter of the Nihilite family actually became an outcast. The master and mistress must be very sad, right?"

Shiler listened silently for a while and returned to his room. After a while, he called the butler and said: "May I ask which room the priest is staying in? I have some interest in the local educational classics and would like to ask him for advice in person. I wonder if you could take me there?"

Soon someone led the way for Shiler and brought him to the priest's door. The priest's exorcism failed, and logically speaking, he should have been packing his things to leave by now, but when Shiler knocked open his door, he found that the priest was organizing his clothes and utensils.

Hearing Shiler's intention, the priest sighed and opened the door to let Shiler in. Before Shiler could speak, the priest nodded and said: "I know it wasn't dust allergy. Someone added something to the holy water. This is my dereliction of duty."

"That child was not abandoned by God." The priest turned around, somewhat hunched, and said: "But she was indeed abandoned."

"And you feel you are powerless."

The priest turned around and looked at Shiler with clear eyes. Shiler also stared at him and said: "I understand that feeling. Other medical staff and I saved a child with congenital heart disease with an almost perfect surgery. God couldn't have been better to him, everything was so smooth."

"He died three days after the surgery was successful because his parents' property dispute caused him to be taken out of the hospital early. Three minutes after the equipment was turned off, he had no vital signs."

"At that time, I also felt that I was powerless." Shiler lowered his eyes and said: "I ended my career as a surgeon."

The priest's eyes were filled with tears. He began to constantly make the sign of the cross on his chest, praying, but kept shaking his head.

But Shiler's eyes suddenly changed. He stepped forward.

The priest's eyes went blank. He took two steps back as if he had realized something, and then he heard Shiler say in a low voice:

"Twelve hours after their child passed away, the parents who came to claim the body were overly sad and jumped down from the ninth floor of the hospital... and I also became a psychologist."