"One dollar, thank you."
Father York carefully took the bottle of mineral water passed over by the supermarket owner, finding a crumpled bill from the corner of his pocket and placing it on the counter.
Then, glancing at the still bewildered people around him, he smiled and strode out of the supermarket.
According to the progression of the movie, besides the male lead and the first woman who left, the fate of the others in the supermarket wasn't disclosed.
It could be said they all died from monster attacks before the army's arrival or survived by being rescued.
Now, he was certain that in this parallel world, everyone in the supermarket survived, and even lived on kindly.
Perhaps except for the cult leader who kept staring at him.
Through the hologram, Father York got into the driver's seat without needing to look back to know that the people in the supermarket were standing by the windows, watching him leave through the dense fog that still obscured visibility.
They could only sense his departure through the diminishing sound of the engine and the vague headlights piercing the fog.
Father York, with one hand on the steering wheel, ignoring the thick fog and the distant howling, took a big gulp of the water he had just bought, feeling utterly carefree.
"It's over..."
With these muttering words, Father York went back to pick up a calm John Wick and a surprised Erin.
Decisively, leaving Jim's family and his friends somewhat baffled.
"Father!"
Jim called out to the priest getting into the car.
"Thank you for stepping in."
Father York didn't mind, merely urging John Wick and Erin into the car before driving off into the fog under the gaze of the onlookers.
He had a feeling the military was about to arrive.
Father York didn't want to stay longer or deal with official personnel, finding it too troublesome for his liking.
The Ford Raptor, under the watchful eyes of Jim's family, slowly left the area with its headlights cutting through the darkness.
"Jim, it seems like the fog is starting to clear," Mike, next to Jim, remarked.
"We can see the lights of the car."
Jim, watching the receding lights, didn't respond because he had already noticed it.
If the space rift had been resolved by the priest alone, then the day the fog would clear was inevitable.
That day came in the morning.
As the sun rose, the fog gradually dissipated, revealing the true face of the earth once more.
The sunlight, piercing through the thin clouds, warmed the earth, offering a sense of warmth and hope.
At the moment the fog completely cleared...
The fully armed military, just arriving at the edge of the incident, saw one monster after another dissolving under the sun.
Not just the military, but Jim's family, his friends, and the people from the supermarket all stepped outside, watching the monsters rapidly dissolve, their faces a mix of relief and contemplation.
Survivors randomly saved by Father York and others also stepped out of their cars and buses onto the road, welcoming the first light of dawn.
As they watched, what they all had in common was thinking of the man they might never forget for the rest of their lives.
Besides Jim, everyone else was asking themselves.
"Who exactly was that man?"
However, the man they were questioning, as usual, sat at the breakfast table, enjoying a meal prepared by the deaconess sister, scrolling through his phone like a browsing monster, observing the lives of his followers.
As if the events of last night were just an ordinary occurrence.
Of course, the only thing not ordinary was the total of 65 attribute points.
"Let's add points at the church later, but what about that Katy Sloth today? What's with her recording?"
Muttering to himself, Father York glanced at the chat group records, quickly finishing his breakfast, and then headed towards the garage.
After returning, the car had been specially cleaned, looking formidable. Father York was quite satisfied with this modification.
The scorpion-tailed beasts or pterosaur-like creatures couldn't even dent the car, let alone shake it.
With a hum, the garage door automatically rose.
The dark muscle car shot out.
As the garage door slowly slid down again, the protagonist, scrolling through the car's system and connecting to his phone, found a number and called it.
"Now that the bishop's matter is concluded, he shouldn't refuse the call this time, right?" Father York's face showed a touch of helplessness.
This time he had caught the old man just as he was having breakfast.
Usually, at this time, the old man would take his call.
This time, however, he wasn't so confident.
The dialing tone rang out, and unbeknownst to Father York, on the other end, Bishop Cecil was holding his phone, slowly walking into a room.
Within his calm yet slightly fluctuating gaze, the old man lay in bed, sleeping deeply with an IV drip in his hand.
Some medical staff were also present to prevent any emergencies.
Bishop Cecil waved them out.
Seeing the gesture, the medical staff bowed slightly and carefully left, leaving Bishop Cecil and the old man alone.
Sighing at the sight of the bedridden old man, Bishop Cecil stepped forward, preparing to quietly alert him.
Unexpectedly, the old man opened his eyes at that moment, clear and penetrating as if seeing through the worldly dust, and smiled at the slightly startled Bishop Cecil.
"Did Father York call?"
Bishop Cecil took a deep breath, nodded, and whispered, "Yes, Your Grace, Father York called."
The old man grinned, letting Bishop Cecil put the phone to his ear: "Do you know what's been happening recently?"
Bishop Cecil still nodded, acting as the old man's eyes and ears: "Someone accidentally discovered a space rift. Before anything could be studied, the rift became unstable and fragile, expanding and connecting to another dimension..."
As Bishop Cecil spoke, the phone ringing stopped, but the old man smiled.
"So, a priest resolved the matter alone?"
"Yes," Bishop Cecil calmly replied: "A researcher survived, saved by a priest by chance. This is what he witnessed, and he said the priest's name was Father York..."
"Heh, what a coincidence." The old man chuckled, gesturing towards the phone.
"Call him back, it seems Father York must have some doubts about this matter."
The old man's weak voice slowly became firmer.
Bishop Cecil sighed: "Yes, Your Grace."
"Ah, the old man has changed, he's not taking my calls."
Father York parked outside the church, his designated parking spot, sighed, disconnecting his phone from the car's system, then prepared to get out.
"He's changed!"
Just as he muttered this complaint and opened the car door, his phone vibrated.
"Hm?"
Father York raised his eyebrows slightly, leaned against the car, and picked up the phone.
Seeing the call from the old man, he narrowed his eyes and answered.
"Old man?"
"Mm."
The voice from the phone made Father York straighten his expression, returning to calm.
"You finally took my call. Having breakfast?"
"Yes, so what do you want?"
Listening to this seemingly stable but actually forced voice, Father York pursed his lips. With his supernatural hearing, he could tell the old man was weak.
"Has the world... become more dangerous?"
Father York sighed inwardly, sideste
pping the issues with the bishop and Erin since what's done is done. Compared to the bishop, this matter was of greater concern to him.
Without hearing the old man's response, Father York leaned against the car, nodding to passing parishioners while his thoughts drifted far away, then said.
"I recently learned through an incident that our world isn't the only one; there are other worlds."
Continuing, Father York initiated the conversation, recalling the slowly fragmenting, star-like space rift, and calmly said.
"The important thing is, our world's space seems unstable. Is this related to the increasing number of supernatural events lately?"
Father York's words were concise and direct, throwing out the main point.
He had thought the rise in supernatural events might just be temporary, but with the space rift in mind, he felt it wasn't that simple. It was a feeling that greatly concerned him.
This conversation reached the old man's ears, who then chuckled.
The spacious room was empty; he looked at the ceiling and said.
"Father York, you've felt it, huh..."
Father York remained silent, hearing the last sentence from the phone.
"If you want to know, wait until your inauguration ceremony. I will tell you everything."
The weakness in the voice couldn't be hidden any longer, and the phone was hung up at that moment.
Father York, expressionless, pocketed his phone, nodded slightly to the passing parishioners who bowed to him, and strode into the church.
Bypassing many parishioners, bypassing Erin, he directly went to his personal rest room to find the email about the bishop.
Initially, he had been too lazy to look at it, but now it was different.
From the old man's words, it seemed there was indeed something to the burgeoning supernatural events.
He had guessed right but didn't want to be right because it clearly involved a major global issue. He truly hated trouble and didn't want to deal with it, following the adage, "Let the big heads handle big problems." He was just a nobody, living in New York, hunkering down in the Pluto Church.
But remembering the old man's extreme weakness in his voice, Father York couldn't help but open the email and take out the documents.
Skipping over the bishop's notification, Father York looked at the time for his inauguration ceremony.
"November 1st, doesn't seem like there's much time left..."
Father York confirmed the date, slowly put away the documents, and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall in front of his desk.
"Today is October 25th, only seven days left. After Halloween, I'll have to leave immediately."
This preparation was incredibly fast, so fast it weighed on him.
Because this matter must have been premeditated for a long time.
Otherwise, just notifying the church's bishops would take quite a bit of time, and these few days would definitely not be enough.
Father York carefully put away the documents back into the envelope.
He could imagine that tomorrow or in the days to follow, clergy would inform him to prepare for the trip.
"So, what exactly happened to this world?"
...
Unfortunately, before attending the inauguration ceremony, no one could answer his questions, except for the old man.
Father York did his priestly duties for a while, having John Wick catch Frank, who arrived on time, to finish the big cleanup that hadn't been completed.
Only, compared to yesterday, Frank's face bore some swelling, as if he had been beaten, and he also brought two big kids to help him.
From their conversation, Father York learned who had beaten Frank and why the two kids came to help.
It turned out the two kids were his sons, and helping with the cleanup was part of a deal with Frank.
In exchange for helping with this big cleanup, Frank would return the winter savings he had stolen.
This made Father York realize for the first time the depth of Frank's shamelessness.
Somewhat speechless, Father York's attention returned from the hologram to the package just delivered by Erin.
It was a package from the Warrens, containing something he had requested: the totem found by the Warren couple.
Unwrapping the paper, the item inside caught his eye.
It was a small bull skull, broad and solid at the head, with horns curving outward, tied with heavily stained straps, which he recognized as bloodstains. Below the bull's head were some undecipherable patterns.
Father York sat on the bench, touched the top of the bull's head, and the environment around him began to change momentarily before he forcefully broke out of the trance state.
"It seems indeed related to the person who acted."
Thinking, Father York looked towards Erin, who was chatting with some old parishioners, and gestured for her to come over.
"Sorry."
Seeing this, Erin had to apologize to the parishioners, who nodded with smiles, and then she approached the priest.
"Father, you called me over because..."
Erin's words halted there. It was only then she noticed the evil bull's head totem next to the priest.
In that instant, she sensed the evil aura swirling within it.
"Do you feel it?"
Hearing the priest's question, Erin nodded.
"Yes, Father."
Father York smiled, patting the seat next to him.
"Come, sit! I have something I want you to do."
Erin complied and sat down, noticing the priest passing the evil bull's head totem to her side. He smiled at her and said.
"Touch it, use your mediumship to sense the information it reveals, then tell me what you see..."
___________________
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