Night had fully settled over the apartment.
Sean and Jamie, the two strongest among them, struggled to restrain the violently thrashing Quinn while Tucker hurriedly searched for rope nearby.
Quinn's strength was terrifying.
No one could understand how a girl with broken legs and an injured neck could unleash such monstrous power.
It took the combined effort of four grown men just to hold her down.
Her hair hung messily over her face as she laughed like a madwoman. Though her features were obscured, those sinister eyes could still be seen faintly through the strands.
"You... all of you are going to die here! Hahahaha! I'll be waiting in the darkness for all of you to suffer! Hahahaha!"
The bespectacled man, who was trying to tie her up, suddenly froze.
Something moved beneath Quinn's skin.
No...
Something was crawling upward.
It squirmed from her chest, wriggling across her neck toward her throat as though it were alive.
Everyone's eyes widened.
The next moment, Quinn opened her mouth.
Inside—
an eye.
A pitch-black, sinister eye stared back at them from deep within her throat.
The moment their gazes met, cold sweat erupted across everyone's bodies.
Their clothes were soaked instantly.
The bespectacled guy's hands trembled so badly the rope nearly slipped from his grip.
"Tie her up! Hurry!"
Jamie's shout instantly snapped everyone back to reality.
Among everyone present, he had experienced the evil spirit firsthand and retained the clearest mind.
The bespectacled man swallowed hard and hurriedly finished tying the final knot.
Only then did Quinn suddenly become still.
Her body relaxed.
She slowly closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Silence filled the room.
Everyone remained shaken.
Especially Tucker and Glasses.
The two had only come to film footage.
They never expected any of this to be real.
Completely pale, they finally confessed everything.
They didn't know how to exorcise ghosts.
They had no psychic powers.
They were just internet ghost hunters making videos.
Sean's expression darkened instantly.
Already overwhelmed by worry over Quinn, hearing this nearly made him explode.
He immediately wanted to throw the two frauds out.
But Ellis stopped him.
"Wait."
Her face was pale as she held her injured shoulder.
"These two may still be useful."
Sean frowned.
"Shouldn't we go to a hospital first?"
Ellis shook her head immediately.
"We don't have time."
"The evil spirit has already taken part of Quinn's soul and begun possessing her body."
"If this continues, her soul will be completely dragged away."
Her expression turned grim.
"Some spirits seek possession because they want another chance at life."
"But the one we're facing..."
Ellis looked around at everyone.
"...is much more malicious."
"It wants to drag souls into darkness itself."
She turned toward the group.
"I'll use my psychic abilities and enter that dark world."
"One of you record everything."
"The other handles the cameras."
"I'll stand guard."
Jamie suddenly stood up and walked toward the door.
During the struggle earlier, he had noticed a detail nobody else saw.
And that detail gave him an unsettling suspicion.
He needed confirmation.
After assigning everyone's tasks, Ellis extinguished the lights and lit several candles.
Holding Sean's hand and Quinn's hand together, she slowly closed her eyes.
The candle flames flickered.
Despite there being no wind, they swayed violently.
When Ellis opened her eyes again—
she found herself standing within a dark and icy world.
Meanwhile—
outside Apartment 414—
Jamie stepped into the hallway and took a deep breath.
Suppressing the emotions surging within him, he dialed a number.
At the same moment—
Ding.
The nearby elevator arrived.
The doors slowly slid open.
Jamie's phone call ended.
Then a figure stepped out.
Jamie turned.
The moment he saw that familiar face, his body froze.
His eyes widened.
The fear.
The oppressive atmosphere.
The constant chill invading his body.
Everything seemed to disappear the instant this person appeared.
It was Lucien.
At the most critical moment—
he had come.
Who else could it possibly be?
Lucien walked toward him calmly.
No greetings.
No nonsense.
His expression remained as indifferent as ever, as though the danger surrounding them meant absolutely nothing.
"How's the situation inside?"
Jamie quickly answered:
"Ms. Ellis is trying to use psychic abilities to save Quinn."
"She said Quinn already lost part of her soul."
"If this continues... her entire soul might be dragged into that dark dimension forever."
Jamie's voice trembled slightly.
"Lucien..."
"Do you think Ms. Ellis can succeed?"
He had seen ghosts kill before.
But possession?
This was his first time witnessing something like this.
Especially that eye hidden inside Quinn's throat...
Even now he still felt chilled.
Lucien glanced toward Apartment 414.
In his spiritual sight, threads of black evil energy continuously leaked from beneath the doorway.
"It should've worked before."
"But now..."
His gaze narrowed.
"It's hard to say."
Jamie froze.
Lucien looked at him.
"Remember the evil spirit I mentioned before?"
Jamie nodded immediately.
"I remember."
Lucien spoke calmly:
"Simply speaking, becoming a true evil spirit requires surviving the punishments of Heaven, Earth, and Man."
He paused briefly.
"Although the oxygen-mask spirit never suffered Heaven and Earth's punishment..."
"...being struck by the Exorcism Talisman counted as Human Tribulation."
"Because the talisman failed to destroy it completely, the spirit escaped."
"And anything surviving extermination becomes stronger."
Jamie's face turned white.
Only now did he truly understand what Lucien meant before.
Endless trouble.
Because of his failure—
the evil spirit had evolved.
"If I had properly placed the talisman..."
"If I watched it more carefully..."
"Maybe none of this would've happened..."
"Stop blaming yourself."
Lucien interrupted him.
"This situation is related to you."
"But not in the way you're thinking."
Before arriving here, Lucien had first gone upstairs to Room 514.
Using his spiritual sight, he found many unusual traces.
Those clues perfectly matched the results of his earlier divination.
A talisman wasn't ordinary paper.
Before an evil spirit was destroyed completely, it couldn't simply be blown away by the wind.
Which meant—
something interfered.
And according to the divination—
it wasn't human.
Meaning...
there was more than just the oxygen-mask spirit involved.
"Come with me."
Lucien pushed open the apartment door.
Jamie's eyes widened.
"Lucien... you're helping?"
"I knew it."
"I knew you wouldn't watch someone die."
Lucien laughed lightly and shook his head.
He didn't particularly care whether Quinn lived or died.
His reason for coming was much simpler.
The oxygen-mask spirit had begun showing signs of evolving into something much worse.
Just like Freddy before.
Some people weren't useful alive—
but once they died...
they caused endless problems.
Rather than saving Quinn—
Lucien was simply preventing her from becoming food for the evil spirit.
And preventing that thing...
from becoming even stronger.