13 Minke Street - Chapter 27: I Summon You

“Hey, did you take my money?” The old woman’s eyes were completely clouded over and milky white, her pupils invisible.

Under her gaze, Karen felt like his body had been thrown into an ice cellar. A bone-chilling cold began seeping into his skin, invading his bones, and finally, surging in from all sides to envelop his heart.

Even the thoughts that should have been free and flowing were like the surface of a frozen river at this moment. The water was still flowing underneath, but it had been stripped from you.

It was a very strange feeling.

You felt like you were still you, but you had forgotten who you were.

You felt like you could still think, but you couldn’t think of anything.

If the previous experience of entering Ms. Molly’s ‘sleep paralysis’ state due to Jeff was like a layering of dreams, then this current experience was a further division of your soul and consciousness.

It wasn’t trying to scare you.

It wasn’t trying to intimidate you.

And it wasn’t searching for any vulnerabilities in your heart to amplify and exploit the cracks in your defenses to eventually overwhelm you.

In that very first encounter, it had instantly petrified your consciousness.

“My money, you took it, didn’t you?”

The old woman’s lips curved into a slight smile, not particularly sinister, even allowing one to sense a kind of geniality. But this contrasting visual sense was enough to make people feel twisted and uncomfortable physically and mentally.

It wasn’t that Karen wanted to stand there dazed like that, but rather, he had lost the ability to react.

It was happening right in front of you, to you, and yet you were merely an observer.

A masterpiece was right before you, you were admiring it, but you couldn’t offer any critique because you were just a character painted within that masterpiece.

“You have to give me back my money…” The old woman’s face inched back.

Then, a withered hand emerged from the hole, grabbing Karen by the throat.

Karen’s upper body was still suspended over the edge of the bed, one hand still braced against the tile floor, but he had no way to change or influence his situation – he could only feel the icy chill around his neck.

The hole in front of him, just large enough for a face, began expanding, and expanding, and expanding – transforming from a deep crevice into an abyss, and he seemed to have become an offering about to be presented to it.

“My money… my money…”

The tiles began melting, like molten chocolate, and the bed frame, table, and everything else in sight also liquefied. Karen’s body melted into this rhythm as well.

This hole seemed to suck everything above it inward.

At that moment, a dark lump fell from the bed, and just as it was about to be sucked into that hole, the lump moved.

“Meow!!!!!!!”

Karen was someone who really enjoyed silence. Whether in his past life or this one – he really disliked noise and clamor.

But this ear-piercing cat yowl….was like heavenly music to him.

Under that cat’s cry, the surrounding ‘fluids’ rippled chaotically, and Karen’s consciousness seemed to return, at least partially.

“My money… my money…”

The old woman’s voice carried a stubborn determination to take everything back.

But Pu’er, who had just yowled, was crouched at the edge of the hole. The claws on her left paw extended, raised, then swiped down!

“Ahhhhhh!!!!!” A clear bloody gash from the cat’s claws appeared on the old woman’s face, and she let out a scream.

The previously inward-pulling suction force instantly froze.

Then, it rebounded outward, exploding!

BOOM!

…

Plop!

Karen fell off the hospital bed, the joints where his body hit the ground sending jolts of pain, followed by a second wave of pain from the wound on his chest being pulled.

“Hiss…” Letting out a pained grunt, Karen instinctively curled up, thinking there was a hole beneath him. But when he looked down, he saw the tile floor was intact.

Maybe a bit dirty, but definitely no hole.

At that moment, with a ‘click’, the overhead light turned on.

Pu’er was standing on the bedside table, one paw retracting from the light switch.

Before Karen could react, Pu’er spoke first: “A bewitching demon.”

Then her gaze fell on Karen. “You didn’t hallucinate this morning. There’s a bewitching demon beneath us – this is a big deal. We need to notify Diss.”

“Before notifying Diss, you could help me press the call button,” Karen groaned, one hand on his chest.

Pu’er blinked her cat eyes, and extended a paw to point towards the door. “Before pressing the button, I think you should move that obstruction first.”

“Ah…” Karen let out a sigh, lying down on the floor until the pain subsided, or at least until he could bear it. Then he slowly got up, went to the door and moved the cabinet aside, taking down the mop as well.

Pu’er pressed the call button.

Karen sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully examined the wound on his chest. Fortunately, although the wound was pulled, it hadn’t reopened.

“A bewitching demon, is that a type of demon?” Karen asked. Demon was probably a general term, just like humans have different races.

“Yes, but bewitching demons are quite rare,” Pu’er replied, looking at him. “To a certain extent, even Alfred whom you know, despite having Succubus Eyes, cannot be considered a bewitching demon.

“Bewitching no longer merely influences one’s emotions and mind through illusions or dreams – it can directly sever and command your consciousness, instantly reducing you to a puppet it could control.

“Compared to a bewitching demon, entities like the one that possessed Mrs. Hughes, or even the harmless little Ms. Molly who just scares or eats people, could be considered cute little darlings.”

“So why did she come after me? I can confirm I didn’t steal her money.”

There must be a reason she targeted me, since where there’s a debt, there’s a debtor.

“I may not have known how to describe it before, but after her visit, I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“Your overflowing talent, it’s brimming to the point of spilling over – like how Trent got up this morning with a flushed face and snuck off to the washroom to secretly wash his underwear.”

“…” 

“It’s not that she deliberately meant any ill will towards you. Rather, as a bewitching demon, her soul’s sensitivity is extremely acute. And with you being so close to her, it’s like if her eyesight was pitch black, then you would be the boastfully glowing lightbulb right in front of her.”

“And what about you earlier?” Karen licked his lips, continuing, “You were awesome just now.”

This was indeed a compliment – if not for Pu’er’s claw, Kalen felt his soul would have been stripped away.

“She was just unlucky,” Pu’er was quite humble. “I’m no good at fighting, but in this regard, I still retain some… instincts, let’s say.”

“Instincts?”

A smile appeared on Pu’er’s lips, eerie coming from a black cat. “Because I used to be a bewitching demon myself – a noble pureblood, in fact. She… is not.”

“Demons have bloodlines too? I thought only cats and dogs cared about that stuff.”

“Mind your words, especially in front of an elder who just saved your life.”

“Sorry.”

“Bloodlines represent the process of evolution. Demons can seek to break through to higher levels of existence through various means, to achieve purity. Clergy work the same way.

“Though they constantly preach about becoming servants of God, deep down what they want is to one day stand atop God’s altar themselves.”

“So you can’t handle it? I mean, the one down there.”

“I’m just a cat. If we need to fight, we’d be better off bringing that dumb golden retriever from home.” Pu’er shook her head slightly. “Never mind, that retriever is even more cowardly.”

“I see.” Karen nodded.

“Let’s call Diss. Bewitching demons are rare these days, but whenever one appears, no matter how it comes about, if it goes out of control it can cause immense devastation.

“The one that possessed Mrs. Hughes only killed a few people. But once upon a time, a powerful bewitching demon became the leader of a nation through speeches and elections, establishing a brutal but short-lived empire.”

At that moment, the door opened and a nurse entered.

Maina worked during the day, so she wasn’t on night shift tonight. This was a different nurse. (TN: Maina was the nurse who gave Karen a book and treated him nicely)

“Sir, how can I help you?”

“I need to make a call to my family, it’s urgent,” Karen said.

Living in the VIP ward, any reasonable request would generally be accommodated. Of course, if you are young and unmarried, you can even take away a young nurse to take care of you when you are discharged from the hospital.

This was why the turnover rate for nurses in the VIP ward was about the same as front desk staff at major corporations.

“Alright, your phone number is…”

Karen looked at the nurse in front of him with some confusion. In theory, even if he wasn’t in the VIP ward, the nurses’ station should have records for him as a patient. With his VIP status, his information should be listed separately.

She shouldn’t be asking him this.

“Meow!!!!”

Suddenly, Pu’er yowled and pounced directly on the nurse’s face, and clawed at her face.

Shhrrraa… 

It sounded like a pencil tearing through a notebook page.

Pu’er’s swipe had directly ripped off a piece of skin from the nurse’s face – it was still attached, but hanging loose.

Yet the nurse didn’t scream, maintaining her previous expression. But her hands immediately reached for Pu’er.

Pu’er leapt up and swiped at her hands again.

But the pain didn’t seem to affect the nurse’s movements, as her hands still managed to grab Pu’er.

Then, she lifted Pu’er up, and slammed her to the ground!

Bam!

Pu’er hit the floor hard.

The nurse kicked out, her flat but hard leather shoes connecting.

Thwack!

Pu’er was kicked away, slamming into the wall corner. Her whole body curled up, blood pooling on the floor.

The nurse continued advancing on Pu’er, reaching a hand to grab her.

Everything had happened so fast – from Pu’er initially leaping up to swipe her claws, to her being grabbed and slammed down – that Karen had no time to react.

But at this moment, Karen braced his hands on the edge of the bed, tensed his body, and delivered a hard kick to the nurse’s waist.

The nurse was knocked to the floor, her head slamming against the tiles with a loud crack.

Karen quickly stood up, looking for something to use as a weapon.

But the nurse he had just kicked down extended her arm almost without pause, grabbing Karen’s ankle and lunging forward.

Karen was knocked back onto the bed as she crashed into him. The nurse then clambered on top of him like a vine, sitting squarely on his chest.

“Agh…” His wound was squeezed, and the intense pain almost made Karen faint. Perhaps blacking out from the pain would have been a good self-defense mechanism in that moment. But Karen knew if he passed out now, he might never wake up again.

The nurse stretched out her hands, clamping on Karen’s throat. Her expression was serene, without a hint of savagery, but her grip was utterly ruthless.

Karen began struggling violently, his chest wound reopening and soaking a large patch of his hospital gown in fresh blood.

But this frail body, further weakened from injury and recovery, was simply no match for the nurse, who seemed to feel no pain at all.

Karen groped with his left hand and found the book Maina had lent him – ‘I’ve Bound Your Heart’. Thank goodness it was a hardcover.

Grabbing the book, Karen used the corner to repeatedly strike the nurse’s face where she was choking him.

Thwack!

Thwack!

Thwack!

The nurse’s eye socket was split open by the blows, her nose broken and her face rapidly became purple with bruises. Yet the force of her choking hands didn’t ease at all.

Karen himself was growing weaker from the strangulation, and after the final strike the book flew from his hand.

In the corner, Pu’er remained curled up motionless.

And all Karen could think was:

How much better it would be if the previous ‘Karen’ had paid more attention to exercise.

How much better if he had started strength training and protein supplements from the first day he woke up.

How much better if Diss had never stabbed him.

But now, it seemed too late for all those ‘what ifs’.

Karen could feel the strength draining from his body. He could only flail his arms in impotent rage, his fingertips barely grazing the nurse’s face and neck – he didn’t even have the strength left to slap her.

But then, at that moment, Karen suddenly saw another nurse, identical to the one on top of him, standing by her side. The two were completely alike, except the latter lacked the scratches from Pu’er and bruises from Karen’s strikes.

She stood there dazed, like a young girl who had just lost her wallet and didn’t know what to do.

And instantly, Karen’s mind flashed back to the basement at home – to the scene with the two Mr. Mausons.

It’s happening again. Has it been triggered somehow?

There was no time to think. Karen began turning his face, or rather, shifting his gaze. And likewise, the girl’s figure began moving with him.

Finally, as Karen felt himself nearly ascending to the heaven, his soul on the verge of separating from his body which had reached the limits of asphyxiation…

That girl’s figure completely overlapped with the nurse on top of him!

In an instant, the nurse’s hands released.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!” Karen began greedily gulping down the sweet, intoxicating air, followed by gasping coughs so violent they drowned out the pain from his chest wound.

Meanwhile, the nurse knelt on the bed, her hands continuing to reach out, then retracting halfway, reaching out again only to retract once more.

Next, one hand grasped her own throat while the other pummeled her arm relentlessly, her mouth opening to gnaw on her own fingers – the whole scene was a frenzied, bloody mess.

It was like two mortal enemies battling, except the two combatants were sharing the same body.

Pu’er, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, slowly and painfully raised her head to see the scene on the bed. She called out hoarsely: “Control…her…”

The ability to revive the dead was a must for Inquisitors of the Order church. She had witnessed Karen make Mr. Mauson rise in the basement. She knew Karen had this power, but also understood Karen lacked the control over it.

But right now, the bewitching demon was attached to the nurse’s body. If it could not be suppressed by the ‘disorder’ that awakened the corpse’s consciousness, the bewitching demon would soon regain control of the body.

Don’t underestimate the battered body of the nurse! What chance did an injured cat and a recovering young man have against a possessed, pain-immune adult woman?

Kalen didn’t actually hear Pu’er’s faint voice during his violent coughing fit. But he saw the nurse’s eyes gradually shift from vacant to being focused on him, while her self-struggle was visibly waning.

The ghostly girl seemed to be dissipating, fading from the nurse’s body like evaporating mist.

“Hehehe…” A laughing sound emerged from the nurse’s throat. Ignoring how one hand was still twisting her own neck, she reached the other towards Karen.

Karen’s eyes widened. He shouted:

“Kneel!”

Plop!

The nurse’s forehead struck the bed frame, her outstretched arm still groping but unable to reach Karen in the corner.

After calling out and seeing a reaction, Kalen was momentarily stunned himself. But he didn’t dare hesitate, shouting again:

“Stay still!”

In the next instant, even that grasping arm froze in place. All that remained was the muffled, suppressed sound coming from the nurse’s throat – to be precise, just a single syllable:

“Mon…ey…mon…ey…”

“Silence.”

The voice that had tormented him with nightmares for nearly an entire day finally fell quiet.

Karen didn’t dare move the motionless nurse with her forehead pressed against the bed frame. Instead, he flitted away from the bed himself.

Pu’er also struggled to her feet with great difficulty.

Karen asked, “How long will she stay quiet?”

“Not too long,” Pu’er said, as she couldn’t gauge the duration of the binding effect from Karen’s ability.

“I’ll call Diss.” Karen left the room. Strangely, despite the intense struggle that had just occurred inside, it remained quiet outside – only the occasional cough could be heard from distant patient rooms.

As if his room had been cut off from the outside world during that time.

Clutching his chest, Karen made his way to the nurses’ station. He found the night nurse passed out on the floor. On the counter was a row of lights, each corresponding to a patient room, with the VIP rooms listed separately.

When a call came in, the nurse would turn off that room’s light before responding. But the light for his room was still on.

Rather than try to wake the unconscious nurse, Karen picked up the phone and first called home.

After ringing for a while, the call was answered – by Aunt Mary.

“Hello, this is Inmerales Funeral Home.”

“Aunt, let me speak to Grandpa.”

“Karen? What’s going on there?”

“Let me speak to Grandpa.”

“Your grandpa isn’t home tonight. For the next few nights he’ll be visiting Mr. Hofen whose condition has worsened and…”

Click.

After learning that Diss was not at home, Karen hung up the phone immediately. It was not because he was impolite, but he really did not have the time to explain to his aunt, let alone to be perfunctory.

The frustrating reality was that without a mobile phone, tracking down someone away from their landline was very difficult and time-consuming.

However, without any pause after hanging up, Karen quickly dialed another number.

This time the call was answered extremely quickly, after just a single ring.

Then, a rich, magnetic male voice came through the receiver:

“Hello?”

Karen breathed a sigh of relief before speaking into the mouthpiece:

“I am summoning you now.”