Brady was not in a hurry and followed slowly, like a cat chasing a mouse, with a sense of play.
Dean rushed all the way to the lobby, and just as he was about to push the door open, Brady teleported and blocked him in front of him.
At this critical moment, a sack suddenly covered Brady's head from behind. The Devil's Trap painted on the sack instantly lit up in red. Brady groaned and shook his body, most of his strength suppressed.
Crowley came out from behind with a crowbar and hit the sack several times with such precision and cruelty that he knocked the person unconscious before stopping.
"Nice job, right?" Crowley shook the crowbar with a proud look on his face.
"What a beautiful fart!" Dean wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and cursed angrily, "He doesn't want the ring at all, he wants my life! You already knew that, right?!"
"Yes, I know." Crowley nodded matter-of-factly, with an innocent look on his face, "The confused look on your face is so real, it can't be acted out at all. The plan is sound and perfect."
Dean was so angry that he almost punched him in the face, gritted his teeth and cursed, "You bastard."
"That's what it's like to cooperate with the devil." Crowley shrugged, not caring. He squatted down and used a dagger to carve a confinement rune on Brady's wrist. The rune lit up red and was deeply embedded in the skin. "This rune can lock him in this skin. He cannot run away or teleport. It is a key tool for negotiation."
The two people stuffed the unconscious Brady into the trunk of the car. Dean sat back in the driver's seat and started the car. The tires made a screeching sound as they rubbed against the ground.
"Where to go next?" Crowley sat in the passenger seat and adjusted his suit.
"Go back to the hiding room." Dean said.
"No!" Crowley objected immediately and turned to look at him, "You can't bring your brother to see him."
"Why?" Dean frowned and looked at him sideways, with vigilance in his eyes, "What exactly are you doing? Tell me clearly."
"They have an old friendship." Crowley said in a vague tone, refusing to tell the truth, "You take him there, Sam loses control, Brady directly explodes, and all our work is in vain. This is our last hope, this is the end of the world, Dean."
"What's the festival?" Dean asked, his tone even deeper.
Crowley refused to say anything more, and kept asking Dean to change places and go to his other safe house.
Dean stared at him for a few seconds, then turned the steering wheel sharply, and the car still drove in the direction of the hiding house, without any intention of turning.
"What are you doing?!" Crowley shouted.
"I don't care what you are celebrating." Dean said with a cold face, his tone leaving no room for negotiation, "I believe it is my brother. And Bai Haorui is there to suppress you, nothing will happen. Stop sowing discord here."
Crowley opened his mouth, looked at Dean's tough profile, and remembered Bai Haorui's look of being not easy to mess with. In the end, he didn't say anything more and leaned back on the chair angrily.
He finally understood that with Bai Haorui here, what he said didn't count at all.
The orange skylight in the evening swept across the roof slantingly, giving the Impala's body a warm edge.
The car ran over the gravel road and came to a stop. Dean took the lead in pushing open the door. His boots kicked up fine dust on the ground. He walked quickly to the door, his expression a bit solemn.
"Sam, no matter what you see later, put down your anger first. Prioritize the task, understand?" His eyes fell on his younger brother's face, with worry hidden in his tone, and he looked sideways at Bai Haorui, "Haorui, help me keep an eye on him, don't let him mess around."
Sam frowned and pushed Dean away and walked over. The tall and thin figure stood in the sunset with a puzzled face. "What's going on? In this mysterious place?"
Bai Haorui followed.
He didn't speak, just nodded slightly, Divine Sense moved and it was Brady.
The peach wood sword was slightly hot in the scabbard on the back, as if sensing the owner's mood, it trembled slightly.
Crowley came over dragging a burlap sack, his black custom-made suit was spotless, his hair was combed sleekly, and his usual playful smile hung on his lips.
He walked to the center of the room and pulled off the cloth on the sack. The cloth made a swishing sound through the air.
People on the ground slowly woke up.
It was a man in his twenties, with messy brown curly hair, dirt and scratches on his face, and a wrinkled light blue shirt. He was none other than Brady, one of Sam's best friends in college.
He squinted his eyes to adapt to the light, and when he raised his head to see the three people in front of him clearly, he was stunned for half a second, and then laughed out loud, with a hint of nostalgia for reunion with old friends in his tone. "Sam? Bai Haorui? It's really you. Long time no see."
Sam's face instantly turned pale.
His eyes suddenly opened wide, his pupils shrank suddenly, and his whole figure seemed to be struck by a thunderbolt, and he was frozen in place, unable to move.
There was a buzzing in his ears, and the fragments of his college years were falling down on his face - Brady helped him occupy a seat in the library, stayed up late to study questions together during finals and Mondays, and Brady smiled and pushed Jessie in front of him and said, "This girl has been secretly in love with you for a long time."
It turns out it was fake from the beginning.
Bai Haorui's eyes also turned cold. The temperature of his whole body seemed to have dropped a few degrees in an instant, and the tremor of the mahogany sword behind him became more obvious. A little light golden Lotus Seal was hidden under the skin between his eyebrows. Only by looking carefully can you notice the glimmer of light flowing.
"Brady?" Sam's voice was trembling, as dumb as sandpaper rubbing against wood. He couldn't believe his eyes, "How could it be you..."
"Brady?" The people on the ground laughed even louder, their eyes full of malicious mockery, "There has been no Brady since sophomore year. Since then, there has been a devil on your shoulder, eating, living and sleeping with you, and you didn't even notice it? Sam, you are so innocent and cute."
Sam's breathing suddenly became rapid, his chest heaved violently, and all the scattered fragments in his brain were suddenly spliced together at this moment. He staggered forward, stared at Brady's face, and squeezed out his voice word by word through his teeth. "It was you... who introduced Jessie to me. Is it you?"
"Ding--Congratulations, you got the answer right." Brady tilted his head and smiled playfully, as if he was watching an interesting show.
"You bastard!"
Sam roared with red eyes, and rushed forward like a beast breaking free from its chains.
He held Ruby's Knife in his right hand, and with a cold light flashing in the sunset, he headed straight for Brady's face.
Dean reacted very quickly, threw himself sideways, wrapped his arms tightly around Sam's chest, and pulled him back, causing him to stagger two steps.
"Sam! Stop!" Dean growled, his arms tightening so Sam couldn't breathe, "We can't kill him! We still need him to ask for Pestilence's location! Calm down!"
"Let me go!" Sam struggled desperately, his shoulder hitting Dean's chest causing pain. His eyes were bloodshot, and hatred almost overflowed from his eyes. "Let me kill him! I'm going to kill him!"
Bai Haorui stood still and did not move.
The air pressure around him was getting lower and lower, and the little warmth in the living room disappeared instantly, and fine pieces of ice seemed to be floating in the air.
Lotus Seal's eyebrows glowed slightly with a golden light, and the invisible pressure spread. The cold demonic energy surging in Brady's body was suppressed by most of it in an instant, and even the dust in the room seemed to sink.
Brady was laughing wildly, but when he was hit by this coercion, his chest suddenly felt tight, as if his heart was being grasped by an invisible hand, and his laughter suddenly stopped.
He raised his head and looked at Bai Haorui, a trace of unnoticeable fear flashed in his eyes, but he still insisted on saying, "What? Daoist Master Bai is also angry? Didn't you say that I have a lot of yin energy at the Halloween Haunted House back then? Why didn't you see that I was a devil?"
He paused deliberately and spoke slowly, each word piercing the most painful part of his heart. "Do you still remember Thanksgiving in my junior year? You two forced me to go to the small house you rented to eat turkey, and Jessie also baked chocolate chip cookies, which were so sweet. She was wearing a white skirt when she opened the door, and she almost fell when she stepped on the steps - have you forgotten all this, Sam?"
Sam was shaking even more violently, and Dean could hardly hold him.
At this moment, Bai Haorui took a step forward.
His movements were very light, and his footsteps landed on the floor with almost no sound, but his fingertips flicked slightly. A purple-gold True Gang, as thin as an ox hair, flew through the air, so fast that it was difficult to see with the naked eye, and accurately penetrated into Brady's kneecap.
"Uh--"
Brady grunted in pain, his knees softened, and he knelt on the ground. Cold sweat instantly flowed down his forehead, and he could feel the tiny Gang Qi like a red-hot needle, drilling into Bones in pain, and most of his legs were numb.
"Did I let you talk?"
Bai Haorui's voice was as cold as ice, he spoke slowly, and every word carried heavy pressure.
He lowered his eyes and looked at Brady who was kneeling on the ground. There was no anger in his eyes, only a cold indifference. "If you talk nonsense again, I will destroy your tongue."
Crowley leaned against the door frame, secretly speechless.
He touched his chin and looked at Bai Haorui, muttering to himself: Good guy, this Eastern Daoist priest is really ruthless.
His attacks were accurate and vicious, without even a single word of nonsense. He was ten times more difficult to deal with than Dean's flaming fool.
Dean took the opportunity to support the struggling Sam and walked out, closing the door of the holding room with his backhand.
The corridor was narrow and dark, the walls were peeling off badly, and the light bulb above them was dangling, making the shadows of the two people very long.
Sam was holding on to the mottled wall and panting, his whole body shaking, Jessie was nailed to the ceiling and almost died.
It turns out that from acquaintance to falling in love, from sweetness to breakup, it was all a well-planned scam.
One of his best friends has been a demon in human skin since his sophomore year, dragging him into the abyss step by step.
"You heard... He was the one who introduced Jessie to me, and he almost killed Jessie." Sam's voice was hoarse, with a suppressed cry, and his shoulders were twitching.
"I know, I know everything." Dean patted his back, his brother's tense back was under his palm. He was also panicking, but he could only say with a heart, "But now we have to rely on him to find Horseman Pestilence's location, understand? When you get the news, you can do whatever you want, I will never stop you."
"So we just believe Crowley?" Sam suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of self-deprecating red bloodshot eyes, "Just like when I believed in Ruby? Just like when I believed in Brady?"
Dean opened his mouth, but no words came out for a long time.
He couldn't refute. They were deceived by the devil time and time again, and fell into trust again and again, but now they had no choice but to cooperate with Crowley.
Apocalypse is around the corner. Once Horseman Pestilence takes action, thousands of people will die.
In the detention room, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it seemed to be frozen.
Bai Haorui stood there, his eyes falling on Brady, and the pressure around him became heavier and heavier.
Brady was so pressed that it was difficult to breathe, and his chest felt like a huge stone. He turned his face away, not daring to look into Bai Haorui's cold eyes, and the cold sweat on his forehead became more and more.
Crowley came over and wanted to talk. As soon as he said "Daoist Master Bai" with a smile, Bai Haorui glanced at him coldly.
There was no emotion in those eyes, but it was like looking at a dead object.
"You'd better stop playing tricks." Bai Haorui's eyes moved from Brady to Crowley's face, his tone was calm, but full of threats, "Brady is useless, you will be next."
Crowley immediately shut up, stepped aside angrily, and raised his hand to adjust the collar of his suit.
He finally understood it.
Among these three people, the most difficult one is not the hot-tempered Dean, nor the paranoid Sam, but this Eastern Daoist priest who looks gentle and doesn't talk much.