Flames and Madmen

Angel's tone was nothing like that of someone speaking to her supposedly very close brother; her voice was flat, as if Alex were just a complete stranger to her.

No, that's not quite right. Her numbness was enough for Yu Xing to feel a kind of "despair" and "heartbreak" in her mind.

After Angel exposed his identity, Alex, who was just a moment ago terrified that the door had been closed and his escape route cut off, immediately put on a mischievous expression.

The young man, who looked to be just coming of age, smiled slightly, walked to her side, and flicked the silk binding Angel's neck.

He said softly, "Yes, Angel, these are the last three."

Then he looked up and said, "I'm sorry, fellow exorcists, but unfortunately, your adventure Yugi has come to an end."

Yu Xing: "..."

York: "Tsk."

"Wait, what?" Masha was stunned for a moment, then a surge of anger and fear at the same time welled up in her heart.

"Mommy, Alex is a wizard?" She was a little confused. No, no, no, the most important thing was, what did it mean that they were the last three?

A look that seemed incongruous with Alex's handsome features appeared on his face, like a venomous snake that has bitten its prey but does not kill it immediately, only injecting venom and then slowly enjoying the prey's struggle.

Then he frowned.

The three men didn't seem as panicked as he had imagined— Roy and York even had a hint of smugness on their faces that annoyed him.

He didn't want to cause any trouble at this juncture, so he sneered and looked down at the emotionless Angel, saying, "Kill them with your dolls, and you'll be free soon."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Xing heard all the dolls in the space move at once.

The clicking sound was particularly noticeable in the small space. Then, the dolls that seemed not to have absorbed human souls began to move. Just like when Yu Xing found the first doll under the guest bed, the dolls would not move as long as you stared at them.

The problem now is... there are just too many dolls here.

While they were focusing on one area, dolls would start crawling towards them from the other side. Moreover, the dolls on the attic were much more agile than those on the ground. In the blink of an eye, the dolls could get much closer.

Masha gritted her teeth, took out the last stack of yellow talismans, silently lit them, and threw them into the pile of dolls.

"Boom!"

To her surprise, the flames on the yellow talisman ignited, and a large number of dolls scattered in panic, as if they were terrified of the talisman.

While Masha was still in a daze, Yu Xing's voice rang out softly. "Dolls are afraid of fire, otherwise why do you think Mrs. Brown would use Mr. Brown's illness to light the fireplace on the first floor?"

Mr. Brown's madness has absolutely nothing to do with whether it's warm or not, so Mrs. Brown's act of lying must have some significance.

Yu Xing almost guessed the purpose of the fireplace as soon as she learned that Angel had studied witchcraft... In reality, it was just a defensive line set up on the first floor, so that if any dolls appeared on the first floor, she could quickly find a fire source to drive them away.

Unfortunately, this trick didn't reach Susan's ears after Mrs. Brown disappeared in the garden. She clearly didn't know this, otherwise, if she had approached the fireplace earlier, she might have been able to drive away the doll that called "Sister".

Yu Xing had thought of all of this beforehand. Now, in the somewhat cramped attic space, with countless dolls approaching him, he didn't have the energy to think about anything else.

He pulled his lighter out of his pocket—the detective character smokes, and although he hadn't smoked since he started playing the role, he had moved the lighter from his briefcase to his trouser pocket.

Now is the time to put your skills to use!

He grabbed a cardboard box containing things from the side, lit it with a lighter, and threw it into the pile of dolls. With the help of the yellow talismans that Masha occasionally threw out, he managed to control the situation in a short time.

York raised the cross, and wisps of black mist emanated from its center. The black mist that had previously caused Lucia to reveal her true form of death seeped into the dolls, slowing them down and even causing them to become increasingly stiff.

Yu Xing even had the leisure to ask, "This cross is so strong, what exactly is it used for?"

The cross is a sacrifice and cannot be weakened by deduction, so even though it has nothing to do with the restraint of puppet magic in this deduction Yugi, it can still function normally.

His question wasn't exactly impolite; York had already used his own methods. He wasn't asking about specific abilities, but rather out of curiosity about the general direction.

York didn't hide anything; he said, "It's for purification."

Purification encompasses a wide range of things; perhaps sending ghosts to their annihilation... could that also be considered a form of purification?

However, it seems that the cross's purifying power is indeed used to purify certain impurities, such as the living appearance of the already deceased Lucia, or the ghostly aura that Angel has bestowed upon the dolls.

As the ghostly energy weakens, the doll will naturally become weaker as well.

The three offered their solutions, Angel sat there quietly, fine beads of sweat appearing on his white skin.

Alex wasn't in a hurry at all. In his view, these three people were just putting up a stubborn resistance. He had seen many, many people like this, unwilling to accept their fate of death and determined to struggle in his hands.

He could see that the little girl with pigtails didn't have many talismans left, and Roy, who thought he was clever but had actually been completely fooled by him, didn't have enough flammable material to ignite them. They would soon lose their ability to resist.

The only trouble was this guy named York; the aura emanating from the cross in his hand made him very uncomfortable, even wary.

Alex grabbed a few dolls and moved closer to York.

Yellow talismans? Burning debris? None of these mattered to him. As long as he protected these dolls and threw them at York, the only threat would be gone.

Thinking this, Alex's eyes gleamed with a wild, ecstatic pleasure. He believed that Roy, York, and Masha had all seen his actions, but none of them had the strength to stop him!

Closer, very close.

Alex laughed and threw the dolls at York!

"Hahahaha... Perfect, now that you're dead, I can take your cross and study it--"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw something flash by.

To make it easier for Angel to make dolls, lights were installed on the ceiling of the attic.

At this moment, the slender blade reflected the light from above, casting a jagged, cold gleam.

York steadied the cross with his left hand, remaining motionless, while his right hand drew the somewhat awkward fruit knife from his belt and, with astonishingly nimble knife skills, sliced all the toys thrown in front of him in half at the waist!

Yu Xing guessed that this person was not simple, but he did not expect him to be so skilled. He was probably not an ordinary person in reality either.

He couldn't help but glance at York a little, and saw a morbid smile on York's lips, his expression even more insane Alex's, and the already dead Susan and Mrs. Brown!

It's like a bunch of mentally ill people surrounding and bullying a Doctor in a white coat. Little did they know that the Doctor was actually the most ruthless mental patient in disguise. Once his true nature was revealed, he outshone all the other mentally ill people.

York's madness was chilling.