I looked at Tom calmly: "Didn't you say you were not afraid of evil spirits? They are just communicating with you."
Tom's face turned extremely gloomy: "Did you do this?"
"We are just playing tricks on each other!" I said calmly, "You are using human means, and I am using the secret methods of Taoism. You just seized my things, but I can take your life."
I said coldly, "Fame or profit, they are only useful to you while you are alive. Once your name is engraved on the stone tablet, even the greatest fame will have nothing to do with you."
Tom pounded the table with both hands and roared, "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you know a little bit of witchcraft. The Church will not let you go!"
I smiled and said, "That would require the Vatican to dare to come to China to arrest me."
I am not pretending to be indifferent. The Holy See is a huge force in Europe, but it becomes a toothless tiger when it enters China. Although there are churches in China, they are not affiliated with the Holy See, and the Holy See has never recognized the churches in China. The church will not take action against the warlocks just because of their words.
Besides, the feud between the Taoist sect and the Holy See started in the late Qing Dynasty, and it has not changed at all until today. Tom wanted to arrest me through the Holy See, but it would be better to call the police directly.
Tom roared, "Just wait! You..."
Without waiting for me to say anything, Xie Wanhua started arguing with Tom. I couldn't understand what Xie Wanhua was saying, so I turned to look at Lao Du. Lao Du whispered, "Xiao Hua is threatening him."
Only then did I realize that Lao Du could understand English. Lao Du said, "Xiao Hua said that you could try going to the Vatican. Don't forget, I also have a godmother. When the Vatican investigates me, I can just say that you want to study witchcraft."
"What the Church hates most is not evil spirits, but pagans. In the past, the Church burned countless witches and pagans to death in Europe. Although they will not publicly execute pagans now, the stake of the Inquisition has never been extinguished. If you want to be disgraced, you can go to the Church and try."
Xie Wanhua's voice slowed down a bit. "Let's take a step back. Even if the Vatican didn't regard you as a pagan, what would happen? Do you still remember the most popular evil spirit legends in Europe? What happened after the evil spirits were exorcised from those people? They were all brought into the Vatican and became monks and nuns."
"For those who have no other pursuits, dedicating their lives to the light may be a kind of happiness. But what about you? All your honors come from the field of psychology. Once you become a monk, they have nothing to do with you."
Xie Wanhua smiled and said, "Besides, I think the Vatican will be very interested in you. Turning a person who advocates science into a believer in theology will definitely become a model for the Vatican. Do you want this?"
Tom sat in the chair with a pale face and couldn't say a word, but Xie Wanhua said slowly: "To paraphrase your words! I think our conversation is becoming more and more boring. Goodbye!"
Before I could say anything, Xie Wanhua turned off the video.
When I looked at Xie Wanhua, she spoke first: "Give Tom some time to think about it. When he can't bear the psychological pressure anymore, we will win."
I looked at Xie Wanhua: "How long will it take?"
"It's hard to say." Xie Wanhua shook her head. "The ability of a psychiatrist to endure is often beyond that of an ordinary person. It's hard for me to estimate how long he can endure it. If you continue to put pressure on him, he might collapse soon."
"No!" I shook my head. "Some things have to be stopped in time. If the evil spirit in the diary kills someone, it will be difficult for us to get the diary back."
"Then wait!" Xie Wanhua comforted me, "Before, I didn't catch Tom's weakness and was always at a disadvantage. I believe that he will soon be unable to bear the pressure."
Although Xie Wanhua was confident, Lao Du seemed worried. The two of them had completely different ways of thinking and different perspectives on issues. Lao Du must have something in his heart that he didn't say.
I can also see that Xie Wanhua seems to be deliberately avoiding something. What's going on with these two guys
Over the next few days, I kept observing the two of them. They both seemed to avoid being alone together, and sometimes, even if they bumped into each other accidentally, they would deliberately avoid each other.
What I didn't expect was that at noon on the third day, a courier suddenly delivered a package. Xie Wanhua took the package and walked into the office: "It's Tom's courier. Did he mail the diary back?"
Tom sent the package back without contacting us
I couldn't help but frown.
According to common sense, even if Tom didn't have the courage to negotiate with us, he should have returned the diary after making sure that we would not continue to cause trouble for him. Once he lost the last bargaining chip, he would no longer have any advantage over us. Would he be so stupid
Xie Wanhua, who had no idea what I was thinking, opened the package and took out a few pages of a diary and a toy dagger: "What does this mean?"
I took the dagger, looked at it several times, and handed it to Lao Du. Lao Du looked at the dagger and said, "This is a magic prop. There should be a cylinder that matches the dagger."
I understand, it's a trick. Put the cylinder on your hand, and then stab your arm with a dagger. The dagger with toughness will go around the slide of the cylinder and go to the other side, making it look like you stabbed your arm, but in fact it didn't hurt the performer at all.
Lao Du rummaged through the box and asked, "Why would he mail something like this?"
"Let's see first." I reached out and took the diary from Xie Wanhua's hand, removed the curse on it and started reading.
"Tongtong is fascinated by magic. Although his tricks are childish, he enjoys the applause of others. He is very happy every time I praise him. He has prepared a lot of magic tricks and said he wants to perform them for his father..."
The whole page of the diary looks very ordinary, but the last page turns into a picture drawn by a child.
The painting technique is very immature, and even the painting skills are not visible. However, it can be seen that the painting depicts a man in black standing outside the window, holding a sharp knife and peeping into the house.
Especially the dagger in his hand, which even carried a clear murderous intent. At first glance, it looked like a murderer who was waiting for an opportunity had already locked onto the target in the house and could kill at any time.
I couldn't help but frown: "Lao Du, is this drawn by your child?"
Lao Du suppressed his sadness and said, "Tongtong has loved painting since he was a child, but I don't think this should be drawn by him. He couldn't have seen a similar scene!"
What Lao Du said is right. Most of the time, children draw things they have seen. Even if they draw things they imagine, there are still traces to follow.
In this painting, the murderer's movements are so lifelike. Could it be that Tongtong has ever seen the murderer standing in the window
Xie Wanhua said, "I think this is the painting drawn by Tongtong. I have seen many of Tongtong's paintings. Tongtong's observation ability exceeds that of many children of the same age. Sometimes I even think that he inherited his father's talent, which is why he has such keen observation ability."
Xie Wanhua pointed to the window in the painting and said, "Look here, this string of wind chimes. They were made by my sister herself. This should be your window."
"Impossible!" Lao Du immediately retorted, "My house is on the eighth floor, who can stand outside the window? Unless it's a ghost..."
After Lao Du finished speaking, he was stunned. Xie Wanhua couldn't help but shudder: "You... you didn't provoke anything before, did you?"
Lao Du turned and looked at me: "Xiao Wu, what do you think is going on?"
I shook my head and said, "What I'm concerned about now is not the painting, but what does it mean that Tom only sent two pages of his diary and a knife."
"This..." Xie Wanhua and Lao Du looked at each other in bewilderment, unable to utter a word.
If Tom has given in, he should mail the entire diary to me. What's the point of only mailing two pages
Xie Wanhua stamped her feet and said, "I'm looking for Tom."
Xie Wanhua picked up the phone and called, but there was no response from the other end. Xie Wanhua put down the phone and said, "Tom didn't answer my call."
I thought about it and said, "Since Tom didn't mail the diary to me all at once, there must be a way to delay or eliminate the time of the evil spirit's attack. We can't wait any longer. Lao Du, let's go to your house first."
Lao Du hesitated for a long time before nodding and saying, "Okay, I'll take you there."
When Lao Du went out to pick up the car, Xie Wanhua whispered, "After my sister left, my brother-in-law never came home again, and his house has always been kept in the state of a crime scene. My sister's case has always been a thorn in my brother-in-law's heart. He may not be able to control his emotions after he returns. You..."
While Xie Wanhua was talking, Lao Du had already driven back. Xie Wanhua quickly stopped the car, and I nodded to him, meaning: I understand.
Lao Du drove us to an old building in the suburbs without saying a word. When I followed him up to the eighth floor, Lao Du suddenly became furious and asked, "Who did this?"
I followed closely and saw that the door of Lao Du's house was nailed shut with wooden boards. Not only was the door nailed shut tightly, but there was also a string of wind chimes hanging on the wooden boards.
Lao Du was so angry that he was fuming: "Who the hell did this?"
"Wait a minute..." Before I could finish my words, Lao Du kicked the door. Although he was not a martial arts master, he was a soldier after all. With one kick, the wooden board on the door broke into two pieces with a "crack". Lao Du kicked the door twice more without waiting for me to say anything...
The noise of Lao Du kicking the door made the whole corridor buzz. After a while, the resident next door poked his head out and asked, "Are you sick?"
Lao Du looked at the other person with red eyes: "Who nailed my door shut?"
"Your home?" The man was obviously stunned for a moment. Before he could say anything, an old lady came out of the house: "Xiao Du, you're back! Come in!" (To be continued)