A Temporary Respite! A Mysterious Demonic Wind!

The atmosphere inside the ruined wooden house was somewhat subtle.

Faced with the boy's self-righteous lecture,

Charles and Constantine were both a little dumbfounded.

"Who is America's sun?" Constantine was completely bewildered. He did not quite understand Ian's words. He understood every single word, but put together, they left him confused.

"Of course, General MacArthur."

Ian answered without a second thought. Having lived in Metropolis for so many years, he had some life experience. He knew that Americans actually had their own "Mr. Zhou Shuren."

Anyway, whenever someone wanted to say something from a position of moral superiority, pinning it on General MacArthur could never go wrong. Hardly anyone would question whether MacArthur had actually said it.

And so,

Constantine and Charles suffered from not reading enough. The two looked at each other, yet neither questioned it. They only felt that there was already such a vast generation gap between them and modern young people.

"Do kids these days worship World War II heroes? That's really different from how we only liked long-legged beauty pageant queens back in our day." Charles even sounded a little sentimental.

Just as the two of them were being led astray by Ian's words,

"Grrr~"

Ian lowered his head to look at the thermos in his hand. Judging from the minimum return, he could probably still get at least one attribute point from it, and he swallowed expectantly.

"Eeeek!!!"

The Evil Spirit did not know what he was thinking, but that did not mean it could not sense the boy's "malice." It began frantically slamming against the transparent lid inside the thermos.

"Constantine! Don't give up on me! You have to take me with you!"

"I know many secrets of Hell! I know how to redeem your soul!"

"Quick! Take me back!"

The Evil Spirit screamed wildly.

Constantine only felt that the situation was becoming more and more absurd. He had seen plenty in his time, but he had rarely seen something from Hell fear a human so much.

It was truly difficult to imagine.

What kind of mental state did an Evil Spirit have to be in before it would beg an exorcist for help?

"Seriously! I can help save your soul!" The Evil Spirit desperately tempted Constantine. It was truly terrified. Only something that had used others as nourishment could truly understand how miserable it was to become someone else's nourishment.

"I'm serious too. You're not getting away." Ian directly stuffed the thermos into his coat. He watched Constantine warily, only to find that Constantine no longer seemed intent on demanding the Evil Spirit from him.

"Fine. It's yours." Constantine was not tempted by the Evil Spirit. Instead, after hearing it call for help, he directly gave up on trying to get it from the boy.

"Hm?"

Even Ian was thrown off by Constantine's sudden change in attitude.

Constantine merely gave him a deep look.

"Charles, there's still a poor woman upstairs who died tragically. To be safe, we need to bury her properly." Constantine turned and headed toward the stairs.

He raised one hand. Burn marks still lingered on it. Thinking of the pendant the boy wore, the exorcist felt that Ian must have an extraordinary background.

"Coming."

Charles snapped back to his senses and was about to follow him upstairs, but Ian glanced at the sky outside and directly blocked his path.

"You have to take me home." Ian spoke seriously. He had no intention of walking back to the city on his own two legs. This place was quite a distance from downtown.

"Wait a little. I need to help my friend first." Charles did not refuse, but he still planned to take this "special" passenger back only after everything had been settled.

"..."

Ian watched Charles go around him and clamber upstairs. He checked his watch. If he did not get back soon, his parents would probably start worrying about his safety.

Looking over the scattered ruins, Ian became thoughtful. Soon, just as Constantine and Charles entered the second floor and prepared to twist open the room door that had been smashed with a huge hole,

"Vroom!!"

The roar of a car engine suddenly rang out.

Immediately afterward,

Charles's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly checked his pockets. Though the keys were clearly still on him, the sound of his damaged beloved car starting had definitely come from downstairs.

"Damn it!"

Charles's heart leaped into his throat. He rushed into the corridor and looked down over the railing. Sure enough, that "stubborn" taxi had actually started.

Hot-wiring it

was no challenge for Ian.

This was why studying math, physics, and chemistry well was so important.

"What are you doing?! Damn it! Stop! Stop the car!" Charles watched as Ian stomped on the gas, backed straight out of the garage, and brutally smashed the rear of the car through the already damaged house again.

He was frantic, but he also knew that even if he immediately vaulted over the railing and jumped down, a human's two legs could never catch a speeding car.

Because of that,

Charles and Constantine, who had arrived a step ahead of him, could only watch helplessly through the huge hole in the wall, now enlarged by the second impact, as the taxi that was still worth some money drove farther and farther away.

"I can't wait for you guys at all! Pick up your car near the bus station tomorrow!" Ian even stuck out a hand and waved goodbye to them.

He felt that since he had told them where he would return the car, it should not count as theft. He had no choice. If he did not return soon, he would probably be interrogated harshly about where he had gone after school.

In such a remote wilderness, he was truly grateful for this automatic sedan with manual mode. It was sturdy and durable, simple enough to operate, and made Ian feel that he could probably take his driver's license test tomorrow.

"Driving isn't that hard, after all."

Ian stared intently ahead. One foot rested on the brake and the other on the accelerator as he drove the battered taxi out of the exorcist's and his assistant's sight.

"..."

"..."

Constantine and Charles looked at each other speechlessly.

After a moment of eerie silence,

"So, are we walking back to the city today?" Constantine perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be utterly unconcerned. His attention was obviously not on Charles's property loss.

After all, it was not his car.

"..."

Charles, already feeling miserable, felt even worse after hearing that.

"If you don't know how to talk, then talk less!"

He glared fiercely at Constantine, but Constantine merely smiled without concern. In a showy gesture, the exorcist flipped his hand and produced a card.

"Relax. You'll get your car back." Somehow, Constantine had silently lifted Ian's student ID from him long ago.

At that sight,

Charles immediately let out a breath of relief.

He looked at the student ID in Constantine's hand.

"Constantine, I think the strange things surrounding that kid are worth investigating." Charles gave a cautious reminder. He was absolutely not holding a grudge over his stolen car.

"Indeed. Our little boy must be hiding some truly incredible secrets." Constantine looked thoughtful as he lowered his eyes to the ID in his hand.

And just then,

Suddenly,

A powerful wind swept through the empty wooden house without warning. Constantine's vision blurred. Before he could see anything at all, the ID in his hand had vanished.

It was as though the wind had carried it away.

Or as though someone had forcibly snatched it from him.