CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER 41: REASONS

His back was hunched, his head lowered so that his dark hair hid most of his face.

But his fingers were moving, slowly scratching at the wood of the bedframe as if carving a design or symbol.

Even with the distance between them, Lana could feel the evil ghost lurking underneath his skin.

"I will, but can you step outside a moment with me, please?" Lana asked, her eyes never leaving Xander.

"But he..." Mathilda’s heart was pounding with distress and fear.

"Please. It’s important." Lana emphasized her words in the hopes of highlighting how important it was for her.

Mathilda hesitated for a brief moment before leaving the room.

Once outside, Lana asked softly,

"Miss Mathilda, you never told me about why your son was possessed in the first place? And from when did he start to show such signs of being possessed?"

Mathilda took a deep breath and wiped away the tears with her handkerchief, explaining in a soft voice,

"My son is only 19 years old. His real name is Colin; however, I wanted his name to be Xander, hence I gave him the nickname Xander. Just a few weeks ago, he had gone on a field trip with his university friends. I tried to stop him, but he was too stubborn and didn’t listen to my words at all... as a result... hu! It’s all because of those friends of his! I warned him that they weren’t a good company, but he didn’t listen..."

Lana: (ᵕ—ᴗ—) All mothers love to nag, I guess.

"Miss Mathilda." Lana interrupted, her voice filled with sternness, "So you mean that after coming from the trip, he was possessed? Where did he go?"

"Just in the suburban area of Xila City." Shame clawed at Mathila when she realized that she had started to nag in between.

"I see..." Lana muttered, her eyes flashing with a deep glint, "Last question: do you remember the statue I had taken away? Who had given it to you?"

"That? It was brought to Xander. Wait! Is it the reason why my baby is possessed? I should have destroyed it!" Mathilda’s heart ached, and she regretted not throwing that strange statue away when she had time.

"No." Lana shook her head, her eyes flashed with certainty, "The statue is something that assists the ghost; it isn’t the medium that helped the ghost possess Xander’s body. In fact, from what I suspect... the ghost possessing Xander isn’t from the ghost portal at all."

"Just because he can speak Spanish, you think it is from our world?" Mathilda questioned, and a deep frown appeared on her face.

"No." Lana shook her head. "A wild ghost out of a portal won’t just have 2 years of cultivation; they at least have 3 years of cultivation. Second, the ghost’s aim is to kill your family and not become strong..."

"What?" Mathilda felt her ears ringing, and a chill shot through her spine.

"Ghosts out of those portals usually aim for power. But the one possessing wants to end the entire Ferns family. Third reason... the statue belongs to this world." Lana laid out all the investigation she had done in the past few days.

Mathilda felt her ears ringing hearing the third reason. "How do you..."

"I researched." Lana’s lips curved into a smile, while her eyes flashed with nostalgia.

The reality was, she hardly had time to investigate everything and asked for Monk Anaro’s help when she hit a dead end with the statue.

With just one glance, Monk Anaro had given a profound smile. "This stuff... it seems it is from our world."

The moment he said those words, Lana investigated and, sure enough, found the statue’s origin.

It was a defense artifact that created a barrier made of evil energy, making the exorcism tricky.

The strange part in it was... these statues were banned and had been stopped in production long ago.

Indeed, once these statues were mass-produced for tamed ghosts.

Just as the name suggested, humanity once tried to make an alliance with the ghost and reached a deal.

The humans will help selective ghosts with cultivation, while the selective ghosts will help humanity deal with wild ghosts.

To assist them, these statues were even made.

One of the dumbest decisions by humanity.

At first those tamed ghosts acted innocent and kind and even dealt with a significant number of ghosts, but once their power surpassed humans... they became one of the most powerful enemies of the humans.

In the end a huge battle had taken place, but Lana focused mainly on the statue.

The last batch of these statues was destroyed. 20,000 such statues were made, and almost 19,995 of them were destroyed.

Indeed, the government maintained a record of this, anticipating the potential unrest that could arise if they didn’t disclose the truth to the public.

Only 5 copies remained, out of which 2 were bought by a mysterious owner from the black market, and the remaining 3 were destroyed in the past 10 years.

Lana suspected that the statue in Mathilda’s house was given by the very person controlling or secretly working with the ghost possessing Xander.

After Lana’s explanation, Mathilda remained silent.

"I only want to leave a single piece of advice for you: the person who benefits after your death is the one behind it. Now I will go and exorcise the ghost; no one should enter the room till I exit. If, even 1 hour later, I don’t come out... just use the master key or something and rescue me."

Mathilda: (O_O;) How concerning! Weren’t mystic cultivators supposed to be reliable?

Mr. Crow:You have opted for the defective one!

Ignoring the weird stares Mathilda was throwing in her direction, Lana pushed open the door and was stunned by the sight in front of her.

There was no one in the room. The faint, wrinkled bedsheet spoke about the human presence before.

But right then... the same human was plastered on the ceiling like a lizard, looking at oblivious Lana with a venomous gaze.