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

Sergio stood furtively by the window for half a minute, then tried to pry the wooden window frame with his fingers, but the window remained unmoved. Finally, he sighed and turned to leave.

He left with light steps, as if afraid of waking something, his thin figure disappearing into the shadows of the trees, heading towards the community.

Li Ang stepped out from behind the tree and looked up at the small house.

The wooden exterior walls were painted white, appearing grayish-white under the moonlight.

The windows were indeed tightly shut, with even the cracks nailed shut from the inside with wooden strips. It didn't look like they were keeping outsiders out, but rather like they were keeping the people inside out.

He walked to the door, placed his palm on the rough wooden door panel, and let his consciousness slip through the crack in the door, flowing into the room like mercury.

The first floor consists of a living room and a kitchen, furnished simply with a wooden table, a bench, and a kerosene lamp.

His consciousness ascended the stairs.

The second floor was a small attic with a low, sloping roof. There was a single bed against the wall, and a woman was sitting on the bed.

"It should be Ellie. I don't want them to find out I've been here, so I'll use this one."

Li Ang stroked his chin, withdrew his divine sense, and opened the system shop.

Talisman [Wall-Walking]: Transforms obstacles into paintings, allowing travel through walls for thirty breaths. Requires 10 contribution points to redeem.

"Two, please."

[20 contribution points consumed, 161 contribution points remaining]

Two white talismans landed in his palm, their surfaces adorned with twisted patterns drawn with cinnabar.

Li Ang slapped the talisman onto the wooden wall and infused it with a trace of magic power.

The talisman burned silently, its ashes falling, rippling across the wall surface like water waves, the wood grain beginning to distort and blur, eventually resembling a faded ink painting.

Li Ang lifted his foot and stepped straight in.

The feeling of passing through the wall was a bit strange, like passing through a layer of cool jelly. The scenery in front of me blurred, and I was already standing in the room.

A musty smell of wood mixed with dust wafted over. The room was quiet, with only the sound of his own breathing.

The staircase was in the corner of the living room, so narrow that only one person could pass at a time. Li Ang stepped lightly onto it, and the old wooden steps creaked softly.

Upon reaching the second floor, the attic felt even more oppressive than perceived by divine sense. The sloping roof hung low, and moonlight streamed in through the only small window, cutting a square patch of light across the floor.

Ellie was still sitting on the edge of the bed, having put down the book she was holding. She heard footsteps and turned around abruptly.

Their eyes met, and even the battle-hardened Li Ang couldn't help but marvel at the girl's beauty.

With shoulder-length blond hair, wearing a white crew-neck T-shirt and denim shorts, and thick black stockings, her outfit was completely out of place among the long skirts and aprons common in the Amish community.

Ellie's eyes were light blue and shone brightly in the moonlight. She paused for a moment, then sprang up from the bed, took two steps back, and pressed herself against the wall.

"Who are you? How did you get in?" Her voice was a little nervous.

Li Ang raised his hands, making a reassuring gesture:

"Relax, lady. My name is Leon, Leon S. Kennedy. I've come on behalf of your brother Jonah."

He took the amulet out of his pocket and tossed it gently.

Ellie caught the amulet, glanced down at it, and ran her fingers along the surface of the wooden carving. When she looked up again, the wariness in her eyes had lessened, but the doubt had increased.

"Jonah..." she murmured.

She patted the spot next to the bed, gesturing for Li Ang to sit down.

"Thank you for receiving my message."

"He said you were in trouble and asked me to come and take a look." Li Ang didn't sit down, but walked to the window and looked outside.

"Now it seems he was right."

Ellie clutched the amulet in her hand, the relaxed expression on her face slowly fading. She was silent for a few seconds, then lowered her voice: "It's not as simple as just trouble. Father... he's changed."

Li Ang turned around, leaned against the windowsill, and stood with his hands behind his back: "Tell me more about it."

"It started about two months ago..." Ellie stammered, her fingers unconsciously gripping the bedsheet.

"He suddenly called me back, saying his mother was sick, and then started going out at night, saying he was going to check the livestock. But one time I secretly followed him and saw him go to the old woods behind the barn."

Her voice was tinged with fear: "He was there...doing something, I couldn't hear what he was saying, but it certainly wasn't a prayer."

Leon suddenly remembered the ritual mentioned in Andrew's notes and couldn't help but ask:

"Did you see exactly what they were doing?"

Ellie shook her head: "I didn't dare get too close. The moon was very dark that night. I only saw him draw some patterns on the ground, and then he squatted there fiddling with something. Later, I was discovered."

"The next day he said I was sick and needed to rest, so he locked me here, nailed the windows shut, and locked the door from the outside. It was only opened when he brought me food each day."

"What happened with the missing livestock you mentioned?" Li Ang asked, changing direction.

Ellie looked up, her light blue eyes appearing clear in the moonlight:

"Actually, they weren't missing. First, it was chickens and ducks, then sheep, and last week even the cows disappeared. All that was left at the scene were horrific bite marks, but no signs of the animals resisting."

Ellie thought for a moment and added, "And there are always strange noises at night before they disappear."

"What kind of strange noise is that?"

"Like the sound of wind blowing through a hole, whistling and sharp, lasting for several minutes, followed by a strange beastly roar."

Li Ang frowned as he recalled what had taken the old man that night.

"Is your father involved in these matters?" Li Ang asked.

"I'm not sure," Ellie said, rubbing her temples.

"But the timing was too coincidental. After his midnight rituals started, the disappearances became more and more frequent. And the attitude of the other elders in the community was also very strange... They knew something was wrong, but they just told everyone to pray more."

She looked at Li Ang with a serious expression: "I feel like they're hiding something, or rather... they're cooperating with something."

The attic quieted down, and the moonlight slowly moved, creeping from the floor to the edge of the bed.

Li Ang stood up: "Let's leave here first. Your brother means that if you're willing, I can take you out. We can investigate further once we're in a safe place."

Ellie didn't answer immediately. She looked down at the amulet in her hand, her thumb tracing the edge of the wooden carving.

"What will happen to the other people in the community if I leave?" she asked softly.

"Those children, those old people... they know nothing, they just obey the elders."

"Your staying won't change anything; you'll just be in the way," Li Ang said frankly.

Ellie bit her lower lip, and after a dozen seconds, she looked up and said, "Fine, you're right."

She stood up from the bedside, bent down and pulled a small backpack out from under the bed, skillfully stuffed a few pieces of clothing inside, and after thinking for a moment, also stuffed the book from the bedside table inside.

"Let's go."

She slung her bag over her shoulder, took a deep breath, and said, "But I have to warn you, this door is locked from the outside."

"I have a way." Li Ang took out another mural talisman.

The two went down to the first floor. Li Ang walked to the wall by the door and was about to slap the talisman when he suddenly stopped.

His divine sense detected a subtle fluctuation.

It didn't come from outside, but from the house itself.

Li Ang stretched out his hand, hovering it about ten centimeters from the door frame. He felt a slight resistance, as if there was an invisible film in the air.

"Wait a minute," he said softly, withdrawing his hand and taking out a bit of spirit dust left over from refining the weapon from his storage ring.

Grayish-white powder slipped through my fingers and drifted toward the door frame. The moment it touched the air, the powder suddenly lit up, as if drawn by something, tracing a dark red ring of light along the outline of the door frame.

The light patterns twisted and swirled, forming complex symbols that looked like Hebrew script. Each symbol was slowly wriggling, like a living worm.

Ellie gasped, "This is..."

"A binding magic array." Li Ang stared at the symbols, his brows furrowing.

He turned to Ellie: "Did you touch the door?"

"I tried it. The moment my hand touched the door, it hurt like being pricked with needles. I thought it was just some kind of mechanism my father used..." Ellie's face turned pale.

"It looks like a blood pact; if you forcibly break it, you might get hurt."

Li Ang's assessment wasn't just based on hearsay; the system had already provided an evaluation just now:

[Ding! Blood Pact Demon-Binding Array detected. The caster uses their own blood as a medium to bind the target within a specific area. Forcibly breaking the array will directly attack the target.]

Ellie was silent for a few seconds, her voice a little hoarse: "Then what should we do?"

Li Ang didn't answer immediately. He quickly weighed the options in his mind.

Blood pact-type bindings are troublesome, but not impossible. The problem is that Jacob will immediately know that someone has tampered with his magic circle.

Li Ang didn't want to alert the enemy before figuring out the truth.

"I'm not leaving tonight," Li Ang decided.

Ellie seemed to want to say something, but in the end she nodded: "Whatever you say."

"Go back upstairs first, and pretend nothing happened." Li Ang glanced out the window.

Suddenly, Li Ang heard a whistling and sharp wind, and Ellie's face turned pale instantly.

Immediately afterwards, a deep roar ripped through the silence of the night.

"Hooray...Gah—!!"