A priest in North America, what the hell is the Demon Gate system?

"So your rock-hard girlfriend slept with three burly guys from the football team, and then ran away to escape punishment?"

"Jennifer isn't like that! And she's just a rock... I skipped class because I wanted to go see her again by myself..."

Li Ang couldn't help but scrutinize the boy.

Wearing unremarkable Nike sneakers, a neat shirt and vest, and carrying a backpack with a Marisa figure hanging on it!

At the bottom of the typical American school food chain, the type who would never be invited to a party.

[Ding! Sect Quest Triggered: Stone Fairy]

[Mission Description: A spirit stone has seemingly materialized and gained sentience within the base's territory. Deacon, please investigate the truth.]

[Task Rewards: 50 Contribution Points, 10 Talismans]

"Well, actually, I'm quite interested myself..."

The teasing expression on Li Ang's face vanished instantly. He patted the armrest of the bench and stood up.

"Let's go," Li Ang said with a smile.

Allen paused for a moment, then asked, "Where...where are you going?"

"Go and take a look at the place where you and your girlfriend had your date."

Allen jumped to his feet, a look of surprise and delight on his face: "Father, you're willing to help me?"

"I'm not helping you." Li Ang strode towards the bus stop.

"It was the Lord who guided me to save the lost sheep."

Allen jogged after him, and the priest's back looked so selfless and great at that moment.

"Let's get this straight," Li Ang suddenly interrupted him.

"Once we get there, you do whatever I say. If I tell you to run, you run, don't look back, understand?"

"Understood!" Allen nodded vigorously.

About an hour later, an old-fashioned bus came to a stop, swaying and rattling.

The car door opened, and Li Ang and Allen got out.

The sight before him made Li Ang stop and look around.

Contrary to his expectations of a purely natural ecological area, the Sleeping Lake Scenic Area is quite well developed.

The parking lot had dozens of cars parked, and there was a wooden boardwalk by the lake with benches and trash cans every so often, and surprisingly there wasn't much trash lying around.

The lake was wide and shimmered in the sunlight. In the distance, several small boats could be seen rowing, and many people were fishing.

Many families were having picnics with their children by the lake, some elderly people were taking a walk, and a few young tourists who looked like college students were taking pictures.

"The stream is in the woods on the southeast side," Allen quickly explained, afraid that Li Ang would get impatient.

Li Ang nodded, and the two walked south along the lakeside boardwalk.

After walking about two hundred meters, Li Ang saw a familiar figure – it was old Thomas Payne.

The patriarch of the Payne family was sitting in a folding chair, holding a lure fishing rod, and wearing his top hat.

Next to him was an ice bucket, inside which lay two palm-sized fish.

"Father Li!" Old Thomas also saw Li Ang and waved with a smile.

"What a coincidence, you're fishing too?"

"Just browsing around, looks like you've had a good haul?" Li Ang walked over and glanced at the ice bucket.

"So-so," Old Thomas shook his head and sighed.

"The fish in this lake are getting worse every year. We used to be able to catch big pike weighing tens of pounds, but now we only catch these little guys."

He pointed to the ice bucket and said quietly, "They're all blackfish, not very big, but they have big appetites. Last week, a tourist from the East got lucky and caught a big one, hanging it on the back of his car and parading it around. He ended up getting fined five hundred dollars by Bob. He deserved it."

Li Ang smiled and said, "Fishing is all about finding peace and quiet."

"You're right." Old Thomas nodded and looked back at the lake.

"By the way, have you heard? Things have been unsettled in town lately. Three students have gone missing, and my grandson says the whole school is buzzing about it."

I've heard a little about it.

"These young people nowadays...maybe they've run away from home to become hippies in New York like I did back then..." Old Thomas shook his head and didn't say anything more, focusing on casting his line.

Li Ang bid farewell and left, continuing on his way with Allen.

The further south you go, the fewer tourists there are. The boardwalk ends and becomes a dirt road worn into the ground, which extends into a dense forest where the light dims.

"It's in there." Allen pointed to the woods, and the two of them went into the woods.

The fallen leaves rustled underfoot, and the woods were quiet except for the chirping of birds and the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves.

The sunlight was blocked by the layers of tree canopy, leaving only a few scattered rays to fall down.

After walking for about ten minutes, the view suddenly opened up before me.

At the edge of the woods lies a riverbank, where a stream flows down from a low mountain and merges into Sleeping Lake.

The riverbank was covered with pebbles of various sizes, smoothed by the water, which seemed to give one a +1 agility boost.

The stream is very clear, and you can see small fish at the bottom, but most of them are very small and not worth catching. The stream is about four or five meters wide and the water is not deep, with the deepest part only reaching about knee-deep.

"This is it, Jennifer... she used to be right there." Ellen pointed to the other side of the riverbank.

Li Ang looked in the direction he pointed.

It was a relatively flat riverbank, and at first glance, it didn't seem particularly special.

Li Ang walked over several large rocks in the stream and squatted down to examine them.

On the sandy soil of the riverbank, there are some marks of being pressed down, indicating that a heavy object was indeed placed there before.

There were several faint footprints around the stone. Li Ang compared them with his own footprints and could tell that the owner of the footprints was taller and heavier than himself.

"This must have been left by Jennifer and those school bullies?"

Li Ang pondered, then decided to open his divine sense to see if he could capture more details.

At this moment, Li Ang felt like he was playing Red Dead Redemption, and many details that he couldn't see before suddenly became very obvious.

"The spot where Jennifer and these footprints finally stopped... looks like there were drag marks?"

The feeling of this mark is unique, as if a person was standing still and was suddenly hooked away by a passing crane, leaving only a diagonally upward mark on the spot.

Moreover, this scene happened in an instant, because there were no signs of struggle around the footprints.

Li Ang frowned.

"Father, have you made any discoveries?"

Allen also rushed over, his trouser legs were wet, obviously he had dipped his feet into the water while crossing the river, after all, he didn't have Li Ang's skills.

"Good news, your girlfriend probably didn't kill those classmates."

"I knew it! Jennifer is definitely not that kind of person!" Allen clenched his fist excitedly.

"The bad news is, they might have all been kidnapped by something." Li Ang stroked his chin.

"ah!?"

Ignoring the bewildered Allen, Li Ang activated his divine sense to its maximum. Since his demonic arts improved, his divine sense had also been enhanced, and now it could cover a range of about 50 meters.

The divine sense crawled around like fungus, not missing any detail on the ground.

Soon, Li Ang reaped the rewards.

On the side closer to the stream, under a fairly large pebble, there was something pressed down, which looked like a metal piece.

Li Ang walked over, moved the rock, and found a lighter stuck underneath.

The silver metal casing has signs of wear on its surface, and a skull pattern is etched on the side, with a burning flame beneath the skull.

The style is cheap; it looks like something you'd find in a niche jewelry store.

"Do you recognize this?" he asked Allen, turning to him.

Allen leaned closer for a look, and his expression suddenly changed.

"This...this is Mark's lighter! He often smokes in the bathroom, and this is the one he uses..."

Li Ang weighed the lighter in his hand, and with a thought, a tracking compass appeared in his left palm.

Li Ang separated a wisp of his divine consciousness and established a connection between the two.

The compass needle in the center began to rotate.

It first spun around randomly for a few seconds, then slowed down and finally pointed towards...

Sleeping Lake.