America: The Cremator

Chapter 151 Intrigue and Hunting!

Ten minutes later, a dull rumble grew louder as it approached, tearing apart the deathly silence above the forest.

A fierce wind pressed down from above, completely shattering the surrounding grayish-white mist and causing the ancient trees around to shake violently, their thick branches snapping under the weight.

A black heavy helicopter broke through the clouds, circled halfway above everyone's heads, then slowly descended, finally hovering a dozen meters above the ground.

The cabin door was pulled open from the inside, and Mrs. Hedley, carrying a small leather suitcase, appeared at the doorway. She looked at the terrain below, then took a step forward without hesitation and jumped directly from the sky.

Upon landing, her legs naturally bent slightly, perfectly dissipating the enormous impact.

Surong and Hannah, who were standing not far away, watched this scene unfold and couldn't help but exchange a glance, both feeling somewhat shocked.

A fall of more than ten meters would be enough to break the legs of an ordinary person, but Hedley was able to land so calmly and steadily. The physical fitness of an A-level exorcist is indeed far beyond that of ordinary people.

After Hedley regained her footing, she waved at the helicopter. Without lingering, the helicopter quickly gained altitude and flew away from the area.

Hedley calmly reached out and tidied her wind-blown hair, then straightened the collar of her coat. Her gaze quickly swept over the five people present, and only after confirming that none of them were injured did her tense expression relax slightly.

She spoke gently, "It seems you are all alright."

"Mrs. Hedley, you've finally arrived," Suron said, stepping forward to greet her.

Hannah followed closely beside Suron, bowing respectfully in greeting, while Evan also pulled Leah forward to exchange a few words.

Only Isaac remained leaning against the thick tree trunk, arms crossed, merely nodding slightly in Hedley's direction.

Hedley walked up to the group, sighed, and said helplessly, "Now, I have bad news and good news."

"The bad news is that seven candidates are now out of contact—this is truly the worst examination I've ever proctored."

"Of course, there is also good news: the five who were still in contact are now all here with all their limbs intact."

L

After hearing Hedley's exclamation, Surong couldn't help but chuckle: "Madam, your lame joke is quite humorous."

Hedley snorted and turned to walk to the open space to the side, saying, "Suron, come with me for a moment."

Su Long put away his joking thoughts, nodded, and followed Hedley away from the area where the crowd had gathered, walking to a huge banyan tree a dozen meters away.

The distance here is far enough, and with the cover of the wind in the woods, there's no need to worry about others overhearing the conversation.

Hedley stopped and turned to look at Suron, her tone serious. "Suron, have you discovered something?"

Looking at the elegant and graceful woman before him, Su Long did not answer immediately, but instead began to think.

Is this A-level exorcist in front of me trustworthy?

The answer to this question seems to lean more towards the affirmative.

After all, Hedley is both Elena's mother and the matriarch of the Campbell family.

The likelihood that she was an accomplice in this conspiracy is extremely low.

After finishing his analysis, Surong considered his words for a moment and then asked, "Mrs. Hedley, before answering your question, I would like to ask you a few things first."

Hedley raised an eyebrow slightly, signaling him to continue.

When was the last time you served as an examiner for the B-level exorcist exam?

Hedley thought for a moment and replied, "It was probably three years ago, when the Campbell family wasn't so busy."

Surong pressed on, "So, before this, did the association consider Little St. James Island as a site for its investigations?"

Hedley shook her head decisively and explained, "Never before. This island only became a permanent examination venue six months ago, and it has only held three examinations so far."

As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to realize something and froze. After hearing her answer, Su Long's doubts were finally resolved.

Hedley served as an examiner three years ago, when the examination venue was not yet on Little St. James Island, and the island only became the examination venue six months ago.

Given Hedley's family background and her blood relation to Elena, Sulong had no doubt about her character; and considering her level of involvement in the exam, the probability of her being an accomplice of the mastermind was extremely low.

She is most likely a pawn, just like the other test takers, being kept in the dark by certain people.

Having confirmed this, Su Long finally stopped hiding it and said with a serious expression, "Madam, then I will be frank. This exam—has many suspicious points."

Hedley took a deep breath and said, "Take your time."

"First, regarding the Corpse of Sorrow that we just killed, you should be well aware of the conditions for the birth of this C-rank bizarre creature. Only exorcists who have endured extreme suffering in life can transform into it after death. This means that not only have exorcists died on this island, but they also suffered inhuman torture before their deaths."

He paused, then raised his second finger: "Secondly, the island's bizarre numbers. We only ventured a short distance before encountering hordes of ghouls. Even in a low-intensity modern battlefield, it would be difficult to generate a ghoul horde of this size. This requires an extremely large number of corpses."

Su Long lowered his hand and looked directly into Hedley's eyes: "And the most important third point, I'd like to ask you, were the credentials required for the previous Level B assessment also these kinds of plastic wristbands?"

Hedley shook her head decisively and said, "Of course not. The usual assessment method was to require candidates to bring back specific materials from the monster, such as claws or venom glands, and then make a comprehensive judgment based on the content recorded by the head-mounted camera."

Surong pulled a blue bracelet from his pocket and handed it to Hedley: "That's it. We dug it out from deep within the flesh of a ghoul's forelimb."

Hedley took the bracelet, her gaze falling on the serial number on it, and her expression changed drastically.

Surong explained from the side, "We discussed this before; the size and design of this thing are entirely for human-worn medical identification rings."

"These people must have been some kind of test subjects on the island, or even played a more tragic role. They were then massacred, and their corpses decomposed into a strange black mud. These bracelets were wrapped in the black mud and eventually merged with the newborn ghouls."

Hedley's grip on the bracelet tightened abruptly, her voice filled with suppressed anger: "You mean—"

Su Long bluntly stated the worst possible conclusion: "I believe that the higher-ups of the Exorcist Association have long been secretly colluding with the owner of this island. From the moment we stepped onto the yacht, we have all fallen into their carefully laid trap."

Hedley remained silent for a full half minute. She took a deep breath, pulled a black, specially made cell phone from the inside pocket of her coat, and handed it to Su Long.

"My personal cell phone isn't affected by the island's signal jamming. You can contact Elena and ask her to look up some things in the department's internal database."

Su Long took the phone and dialed twice, but no one answered.

It seems that Elena is busy with some work again.

The situation was extremely urgent, so Su Long could only look up at Hedley and then raise his wrist.

I can't worry about anything else, so I can only resort to a slightly more romantic way of calling out to you.

The next moment, the image of Elena appeared on the back of Su Long's hand, and he reached out and pinched the chest and buttocks of the clay.

Hedley frowned slightly as she looked at the statue on the back of Suron's hand. "This should be Shoggoth's—a clay sculpture of atonement? Why is it in your hands?"

Surong dialed Elena's number again, and while the call was still pending, he briefly explained to Hedley the process of transferring the holder of the Atonement Clay Sculpture.

Hedley smiled upon hearing this: "Is this how you met her?"

After saying that, a blush appeared on her face: "Young people these days have so many tricks up their sleeves. I even sparred with Shoggoth a few times with her father back then—how come I never thought of something like this?"

Just as Su Long was about to marvel at Hedley's open-mindedness, the phone in his hand finally connected.

Elena's slightly angry voice came through: "Suron, don't tell me you were the one answering the phone."

"I'm sorry, it really is me," Su Long said.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone: "Shouldn't you be on Little St. James Island taking your assessment right now? Why are you calling me using my mother's phone?"

Su Long explained, "The situation is urgent. There's been a major problem with the assessment. We've been set up. I need you to investigate two things for me immediately."

"First, can you still track down the exorcists who participated in the B-level assessment here in the previous three sessions?"

The sound of rapid keyboard typing filled the air, and a dozen seconds later, Elena's astonished voice came through: "We found it. There were a total of forty-two exorcists who took the exam on Little St. James Island in the first three rounds, and eleven of them passed the exam and obtained their licenses."

"However, from the day the assessment ended, all traces of these forty-two people's activities completely disappeared. There were no spending records, no entry or exit information, and even their original church and exorcism society had no news of them."

Upon hearing this, Su Long said coldly, "I suspect that they didn't leave this island alive at all. We just encountered the Corpse of Mourning in the forest. There's definitely more than one of these things. Those missing examinees have probably become monsters on the island."

A gasp came from the other end of the phone, but before she could say anything, Su Long continued.

"The second thing is to help me find out who owns this island, Jerry Epstein. I need the most detailed criminal records of him in the federal database."

A few minutes later, Elena's voice came again, filled with extreme disbelief and anger: "FUCK—this man's accusations are outrageous! How has he managed to get away with so many serious crimes?"

"I've sent the file to this phone, you can check it yourselves."

An encrypted file was quickly transmitted. Su Long opened the file, and a series of shocking accusations instantly filled the entire screen.

Jerry Epstein

Between 2003 and 2019, he was involved in multiple charges, including:

1. Sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit such acts.

2. Sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and coercion to provide sexual services.

3. Instigating, organizing, and controlling prostitution networks.

4. Interstate transportation and enticement to engage in illegal sexual activities.

5. Irregularities and falsification of information in the registration of sex offenders.

6. Serial murders, intentional homicides, and conspiracies to commit murder.

7. Mutilating corpses and cannibalism (ritualistic and consuming human tissue).

8. Illegally possessing or using heavy weapons.

9. Obstructing judicial fairness, forging or destroying evidence, perjury, and instigating perjury.

10. Lure and kill law enforcement officers and exorcists.

11. Disrupting bizarre law enforcement operations and concealing significant bizarre information.

12. Organizing or leading cult groups and carrying out illegal cult activities.

13. Worshiping and worshipping evil gods and holding anti-human cult rituals.

14. Using humans as sacrifices in cult practices.

15. Abuse of supernatural powers endangers public safety.

16. Using supernatural means to exert control and coercion.

17. Using supernatural means to commit murder.

After quickly scanning the long list, Su Long couldn't help but exclaim, "Good heavens, these accusations are more and more interesting than the last, there are so many that they can't even fit on an A4 sheet of paper."

Hedley took the phone, quickly scanned the text on the screen, and although she maintained her elegant and dignified posture, her fingers unconsciously tightened around the phone.

Hedley shouted, "This is no longer human! This is a demon in human skin, using living people as sacrifices to hunt exorcists—the Campbell family will never stand idly by!"

On the other end of the phone, Elena's anxious voice came through again: "Sulong, your situation is too dangerous. Do you need me to lead a team over immediately to provide support?"

"Can you coordinate with the mysterious support agencies around the Caribbean to help?" Suron asked in return.

Elena sighed helplessly: "It won't work. The support bureaus are not subordinate to each other, and cross-regional coordination requires cumbersome procedures and approvals from higher levels."

Surong looked up at the gloomy sky and refused, saying, "It will take you at least ten hours to fly here from Seattle. By the time you arrive, our bodies will be cold. You can stay there and wish us luck in safely cracking this conspiracy."

Elena was silent for a moment, then said, "Okay, Sue, be careful, and tell my mother too."

"I will."

After saying that, Su Long hung up the phone and handed it back to Hedley.

She put her phone away, straightened the hem of her coat, and turned to walk towards the direction where the four examinees were resting: "Let's go, it's time to meet up with them."

The two returned to the giant banyan tree. Hedley's gaze swept over the five young people in front of her, and she announced in a deep voice, "Gentlemen, the situation has changed. From now on, we must be wary and suspicious of Inspector Zena and the organizers of this assessment."

Upon hearing this, all four were startled, but none of them interrupted, waiting for Hedley to continue.

"Our top priority now is to find the other seven missing examinees. If we can find any survivors, we must immediately find a way to evacuate them from this island," Hedley said in a deep voice.

Su Long stepped forward and asked, "Madam, what is the situation with the seven missing examinees? Are there any leads?"

Hedley took a special tablet out of her small suitcase, brought up a map of Little St. James Island, and pointed to the red square area marked "No Entry" in the center of the map.

"All seven of them lost contact near this central restricted area. The system shows that their GPS location signals disappeared completely at the same time, and the command center did not receive any distress signals from any of them before they lost contact."

They vanished at the same time, without even a chance to call for help—Su Long stared at the glaring red area on the map, the image of Bei Hu's exaggeratedly smiling face flashing through his mind, and he sneered: "It seems that the real monsters on this island are waiting for us there."

He pointed to a winding white dotted line on the tablet map, sliding it towards the red square area in the center of the island, and said, "Let's go, just keep going along this road, and we'll reach the central restricted area."

Everyone nodded in agreement, quickly regrouped, and headed towards the heart of the island.

The deeper you go, the lower the visibility in the forest becomes. The towering ancient trees intertwine their branches, like a giant black spider web, completely blocking out the already gloomy sunlight.

The five young people all looked tense, constantly on guard, afraid that some monster might suddenly jump out from the thick fog. However, Hedley, who was walking in the middle of the group, was quite relaxed, not at all like someone in a strange forest full of dangers.

Twenty minutes later, Su Long stopped, glanced at the map in his hand, and said, "We've arrived. This is the edge of the central restricted area marked on the map. The other examinees lost contact around here."

Hedley stepped forward, surveying the dense forest ahead. The soil on the ground had turned an extremely dark color, almost an eerie purplish-black. A strong stench of blood permeated the air, mixed with a pungent, acidic odor reminiscent of some chemical reagent.

Just then, a strange gust of wind suddenly rose from the ground, and the previously thin gray-white mist around them suddenly began to churn violently, pressing down on everyone.

Leah opened her eyes abruptly and said anxiously, "My vision and hearing are being suppressed by this damned fog! This thick fog is interfering with my abilities!"

She rubbed her eyes hard. Her normally superhuman vision, which could penetrate obstacles, was now as if covered by a thick layer of frosted glass, and she could only see a chaotic gray-white.

Evan immediately shielded his sister behind him, drew his longbow taut, and cautiously aimed at the white mist ahead. Isaac quickly brought the bull horn to his lips, ready to launch a sudden attack at any moment.

Su Long narrowed his eyes and instantly activated his spiritual vision. The layers of thick fog around him immediately disappeared in his field of vision, revealing five huge red weakness boxes.

They were closing in on their location at an extremely fast speed.

Surong roared, his right hand flashing as he drew Sirius: "Hannah! Defend!"

Hannah abruptly opened the Bible in her hand and quickly recited a string of obscure prayers.

Holy light burst forth from the pages of the book, rapidly intertwining and condensing in mid-air to form a cylindrical, semi-transparent light shield with a diameter of five meters, firmly enveloping the six people in the very center.

The holy light disc player dispersed the thick fog within a few meters, barely clearing a section of the field of vision.

The moment the light shield took shape, the thick fog in front was violently torn apart, and accompanied by a nauseating, foul-smelling gale, five enormous reddish-brown figures emerged simultaneously from the depths of the dense forest.

They were all over three meters tall, and their five faces, which had melted into rotten flesh, all wore exaggeratedly horrifying smiles.

"A pitiful corpse!"

Evan gasped, the veins on the back of his hand gripping the longbow bulging. The four of them had barely managed to take down one Sorrowful Corpse before, and now five had appeared at the same time!

While it's possible to work together to solve the problem, it would likely come at a very heavy price!

Although these five wretched corpses were enormous, they were extremely agile. With a sudden burst of power from their legs, their massive bodies crashed straight into the light shield that Hannah had erected.

"boom"

With a deafening impact, fine cracks immediately appeared on the top of the light shield. Then, large spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly along the point of impact, instantly covering the entire cylindrical shield.

"I can't hold on any longer!" Hannah gritted her teeth, her voice hoarse.

The next moment, the light shield shattered, turning into countless golden specks of light flying everywhere. Five wretched corpses, accompanied by a pungent acid rain and a foul wind, opened their drooling, blood-red maws and charged straight at the people in the center of the formation.