American variety show world begins with subduing Jason

Hearing this, Christine, who was standing nearby, became agitated again, her eyes red and trembling as she cried and cursed:

"She's a madwoman! A shameless, selfish madwoman! I've already forced her to apply for two extensions, just because I feel sorry for her!"

Besides, I've checked the records; she has a group of relatives, and her granddaughter lives locally. Even if the house is auctioned off, she'll still have a place to live!

Clay quickly hugged her and comforted her, but neither of them noticed that as they talked, the expression on the boy's face became increasingly strange.

"Ahem, if I may ask, something strange has happened to Miss Brown since then, hasn't it?"

And wasn't that old Gypsy woman blind in one eye? Did she pass away recently?

The two women, who were embracing each other, were both startled. Christine asked blankly, "How did you know? She did have a problem with one eye; she had a prosthetic eye. After strange things started happening around her, I went to look for her and found out that she had already passed away from her illness."

Zhu Mingyao barely managed to keep his expression from crumbling, but inwardly he was ranting and raving:

"Isn't this that morally questionable movie 'Descent into Hell'?"

Chapter 34 contained inappropriate words and was censored; it has been reposted.

Chapter 38 The Bad Guys Get Old

"Please wait a moment, I need to use the restroom." Zhu Mingyao forced a smile, quickly stood up, and turned to leave.

He was afraid he would lose his temper and yell out loud the next second.

Watching his figure disappear down the corridor, Christine suddenly realized what was happening and her face lit up with surprise. She grabbed her fiancé's sleeve and exclaimed:

"He's a prophet, no, I should say a powerful psychic or diviner? I'm saved! He can definitely help me!"

……

The boy, who had slipped into the washroom, splashed cold water on his face. With the help of the power of the Eight-Clawed Celestial Venerable permeating the divine realm within, he managed to calm himself. He rubbed the stiff muscles on his face, muttering to himself:

"First it was 'Look Not For Profanity,' and now it's 'Falling into Hell.' Does that mean my place is the center of the universe?"

If you're not here, you can't trigger the storyline?

While I appreciate you bringing your experience to my doorstep, could you please give me some preparation beforehand? Don't just launch surprise attacks like this all the time.

After venting his frustrations by spouting nonsense, Zhu Mingyao wiped the water droplets from his face and returned to the living room to continue questioning the two in detail.

It seemed that the boy's apparent precognition had given Christine considerable confidence, and she became much more proactive, taking over her fiancé's story.

"That Lady Gainus, that old woman, she's actually, she's a witch! She cursed me!"

That day in the parking lot, she yanked off my buttons and then shoved them back in, saying she'd drag me to hell as punishment. It was utterly unreasonable!

“We didn’t believe in witchcraft at first, but strange things started happening from that day on!”

First, strange noises started coming from the house, then I had nightmares and auditory hallucinations. I even dreamt that she turned into a rotting living corpse, crawling on me and vomiting up a bunch of maggots..."

Recalling the scenes from her nightmare, even though several days had passed, Christine still felt nauseous and couldn't help but gag while holding onto the edge of the table.

Zhu Mingyao promptly refilled her cup of floral tea, which Christine grabbed and drank in one gulp. The sweet floral aroma suppressed the churning sensation in her stomach. She looked at the young man gratefully and then said:

“In the following days, I started having nosebleeds again without warning, and I kept hearing strange buzzing sounds in my ears. My life and work were in a mess. I felt something was wrong, so I went to the house of that woman’s granddaughter.”

Christine said with a hint of fear on her face, "When I found her granddaughter's house, I found a funeral was being held inside. That woman... she had died of illness."

"After her granddaughter learned who I was, she mocked me, saying that I was cursed by her grandmother and would soon have to go to hell to atone for my sins!"

"What the hell! What crime have I committed? I'm just a bank clerk! I've helped her twice, and just because I didn't help her a third time, she's going to curse me? This madwoman, this witch!" Christine suddenly burst into a rage and cursed.

Zhu Mingyao frowned, instinctively sensing that something was amiss. Ever since the woman became angry, she had exuded an inexplicable aura that made people feel very uncomfortable.

He focused his mind, pinched his right index and middle fingers into a sword shape, and made a light stroke between his brows, softly uttering a single word: "啇!"

Using the Xuanmen Qi Observation Technique to activate spiritual vision, the woman's appearance was immediately different from what the naked eye could see. A grayish-white shadow overlapped with her body, with wisps of faint black energy wrapped around it, carrying an eerie aura, swaying gently like seaweed.

As the eerie black energy swayed, the grayish-white shadow on Christine's body trembled, as if it might separate from her body at any moment!

As expected! The three souls are in turmoil, the seven spirits are adrift, the mind is on the verge of losing control, and emotions are difficult to control—these are signs that the soul is about to leave the body!

Zhu Mingyao strode behind the counter, took out a small three-legged celadon incense burner from underneath, lit a short, jade-white incense stick, and placed the incense burner on the customer table.

As wisps of white smoke curled upwards and a faint fragrance lingered, Christine, panting heavily, gradually calmed down.

"I'm sorry, I lost my composure." The woman took a couple of breaths and glanced at the incense burner before saying:

"Thank you, this incense is very effective. I haven't felt this relaxed in days. Can I buy some later?"

"It's alright. This calming incense can soothe the mind and soul, but it can't solve your fundamental problem."

"By the way, since you know you might be under a witchcraft curse, haven't you tried to find someone to remove it?" the boy suddenly asked.

It's normal not to believe in witchcraft normally. The federal government has always kept quiet about the supernatural, neither confirming nor denying it. The number of people who believe and don't believe is probably only about 50/50. But since you've encountered it in person, finding someone related to it shouldn't be too difficult.

After all, as a top-tier metropolis within the Federation, Los Angeles has a diverse but still substantial number of people working in related industries.

“Of course we looked for it!” Clay interjected from the side.

“We found a medium named Ram Jess, who saw that Christine was under an extremely vicious curse that could summon the power of the devil and drag a person’s soul to hell in just a few days!”

"Mr. Jess was quite frightened. He admitted that he couldn't handle such a deadly curse and didn't even dare to accept a consultation fee. Only after we begged him repeatedly did he agree to introduce us to a psychic master who was well-versed in occultism. We heard that this Mrs. Shauna Sand had exorcised the same curse a long time ago."

Christine continued, "Mrs. Sander is willing to help us, but she also frankly said that the exorcism ritual performed for the victim back then was actually a failure and did not save the cursed boy, so she cannot guarantee that it will be successful."

Furthermore, the ritual is extremely dangerous and difficult, and will cause her great harm; at least ten thousand gold coins are required as a commission fee.

At this point, she took her fiancé's hand with deep affection in her eyes.

“I’m just a lowly clerk, where would I get so much cash? Luckily, Clay borrowed from my colleagues and managed to scrape together the money for me.”

“It’s nothing, Christine, it’s what I should do.” The man gently squeezed her hand back.

Seeing the two gazing deeply into each other's eyes, looking like they were about to embrace each other again in the next second, Zhu Mingyao coughed, breaking the romantic atmosphere.

"So, since Mrs. Sander was willing to help, how did you end up here?"

Christine looked extremely annoyed and said:

"Just a few days ago, the day before the exorcism ritual was to begin, Mrs. Sander suddenly informed us that she had been asked by the federal government to investigate some matters and would not be able to return for some time. She also refunded the fees and said she felt very sorry, so she recommended several occult experts she knew, including your adoptive father."

"So we visited them one by one, only to find that these mystics and psychics had either been invited by the federal government or had left Los Angeles in a hurry a while ago. Your place was the last one on the list. Who knew that even Mr. Zhang wasn't there."

After hearing the whole story, Zhu Mingyao sighed inwardly. Although there were some discrepancies in the details of the latter half, it was certain that this plot was exactly like the movie "Falling into Hell"—no doubt about it!

In his past life, when he watched this movie, he thought it was morally questionable. Why would you curse a female bank employee when you can't pay your mortgage? Besides, she has already helped you twice.

Turning gratitude into enmity! They've even tried to extort money from me, haven't they?

We are all poor people, why should we hurt each other?

This movie should just be renamed "Bad Guys Get Old"!

New author, new book! Please read and add it to your favorites!

Chapter 39 Even Casting Curses Must Follow Basic Laws

Having figured out the current situation, Zhu Mingyao picked up his cup, took a couple of sips of tea, and calmed his chaotic thoughts.

Seeing his pensive and enigmatic expression, the two people opposite him were filled with trepidation and dared not speak for a long time. Finally, Christine mustered up her courage and asked:

"Can you help me break this curse? I only have 10,000 yuan in cash, but I can raise more. I can also write an agreement that allows for installment payments if you agree. I can also gradually raise more money for higher fees..."

"It's not about the money," Zhu Mingyao explained.

The boy had heard of Mrs. Shawna Sander, whom they had just mentioned.

As the world's largest immigrant nation, the residents of the Federation have brought a great deal of culture and faith from their respective homelands.

Furthermore, due to the Federation's extremely abundant natural resources and high economic level, most people enjoy a relatively affluent living environment. Under these circumstances, just like the middle class in the Victorian era who had no worries about food and clothing, the people developed a strong and lasting interest in mystical culture such as divination and spiritualism.

To put it more politely, "the witchcraft culture is quite prevalent." In the West Coast area alone, there are at least three to five thousand people engaged in this profession.

Of course, at least 90% of them are scammers trying to make a living and genuine enthusiasts.

After removing those who were merely pretending, among the remaining people, apart from those with only a superficial understanding, there were indeed many truly extraordinary individuals.

This psychic, Mrs. Shawna Sander, was one of them. Since they all lived in Los Angeles, they knew each other to some extent. Zhang Shouzhong had mentioned her to the boy in casual conversation, saying that although she wasn't a highly skilled person, she did have some real talent and her moral character was acceptable.

Zhu Mingyao simply didn't realize at the time that she was the supporting actress in the movie "Falling into Hell".

The ability of a medium is mainly to communicate and connect with various spirits, similar to the folk practices of spirit mediums in China. Without cultivating other methods, they have little combat power. Dealing with such dangerous and deadly curses does indeed involve considerable risk.

Mrs. Sander only charged ten thousand dollars, which was not an exorbitant price; it was practically a voluntary offer.

Zhu Mingyao asked Christine a few more questions about the details and compared them with the movie plot in his memory. He then stroked his chin and pondered deeply.

In our past lives, when watching Hollywood movies, we only appreciated the special effects and no one bothered to investigate the logical flaws. After all, everyone knows what those American screenwriters are like: they are watertight on political correctness but don't care whether the plot is reasonable or not. They just dabble in whatever they can.

But now that it's happening in reality, it must conform to the logic of reality!

Putting everything else aside, from Zhu Mingyao's perspective as a quasi-professional, there's one thing that just doesn't make sense:

What right did that old Gypsy woman, Lady Ganos, have to curse someone to death?

It should be understood that no matter how mysterious, magnificent, and omnipotent magic may seem to laymen, its essence is still a way of operating energy, and like natural science, it must abide by some basic rules.

So the question is, what prerequisites are needed to curse someone to death?

It should be understood that even the flesh and soul of ordinary humans possess considerable mystery; otherwise, why would those demonic artifacts and evil rituals use human body parts as materials?

To kill a living person out of thin air, one must either expend a great deal of magical power or pay an important medium or sacrifice and a complicated ritual as compensation.

In this incident, Lady Gainuss only took one of Christine's cufflinks, yet within ten days she was cursed to the point of near death, almost losing her soul.

Is this reasonable? Of course not!

Where's your spellcasting medium? Just a button?

Even if you don't mention your parents' remains or your own life essence, at least give me your birth date and time!

What about the magical ritual? Were there any offerings?

This is even more impressive than the Seven Arrows Book of Nailhead! Other people have to build an altar, write their birth date and time on it, and worship for twenty-one days!

Such a spell can succeed, which is neither scientific nor Taoist!

If someone can be cursed to death with just a button and a few harsh words, there's only one possibility: this old Gypsy woman is a hidden master!

That's even more impossible. If she were really a master, would she have ended up unable to repay her bank loan, having her house taken away, and ultimately dying of illness because she had no money?

Even if you're just playing around, this isn't how you play the game!