Chapter 85: Layout
Marcus walked to the window, opened it, and looked out. The air by the river was fresh and clean.
Kyle followed closely to the window.
"You need to prove you have the ability to be flexible and adaptable before I feel comfortable letting you take on this responsibility. He'll be working for you."
"And that rising star, Greyson, he also needs to be brought in. For this online livestream, it'll be just those two teams. This is a test, and also a way for the company to cultivate talent."
"I understand, Uncle, don't worry!" Kyle replied firmly.
After arranging things for Kyle, Marcus told him to go back and continue preparing. He then dressed in a suit similar to that of a Catholic priest, leaning on a cane with a gilded handle, and went to a street. He was waiting for someone.
A plainly dressed girl in a black hoodie and blue jeans, with slightly messy short hair, carrying a shoulder bag, walked out of her house with her head down.
Seeing that the person he was waiting for had arrived, Marcus deliberately slowed his pace slightly.
As the girl approached, Marcus, who was taking a walk, suddenly looked up, staring intently at her with a serious expression, scrutinizing her from head to toe.
When the girl drew closer, Marcus even took a step back, as if trying to avoid her.
Jamie found Marcus's gaze strange, wondering if there was something wrong with her attire. She looked down at her pants and tugged at her hoodie, but found nothing amiss.
If it had been an ordinary-looking middle-aged man staring at her with a lewd expression, she might have thought she'd encountered a creep.
But this middle-aged man was neatly dressed, and especially since he exuded an aura of solemnity and grace, yet he was staring at her with such cautious eyes, which made Jamie feel uneasy.
His gaze was like that of someone looking at a dead person.
Just as Jamie was feeling extremely uncomfortable, the middle-aged man's gaze suddenly changed, turning into pity and a sigh, as if he were mourning her.
Jamie couldn't understand how someone's eyes could express such profound emotions.
"Hello, is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Jamie couldn't hold back any longer and took two steps forward to ask.
Marcus remained silent, shook his head slightly, his expression turned helpless, sighed, and turned to walk away down the street.
Such changes in expression were incredibly easy for someone with his sensory control abilities.
However, he was using a cane, and his pace didn't seem very fast.
This made Jamie even more uneasy.
Being young and agile, she quickly caught up with Marcus and stood in front of him with a series of light jogs.
"Hello, sir, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with me?"
Jamie was somewhat at a loss, but she felt that if she didn't get a clear answer, she would be on edge all day.
"Sigh!"
Marcus sighed and turned back the way he came.
"Sir, just tell me."
Jamie circled around again, blocking Marcus's path once more.
"Child, this is your fate!"
Marcus seemed to have limited strength and couldn't get past the young woman, so he could only speak helplessly.
"What...what fate?" Jamie's heart skipped a beat, and she asked anxiously.
She had always felt that fate was unfair, that she was responsible for the death of her parents, and had felt a sense of guilt since childhood.
"You are going to die!"
Marcus sighed.
"How, how could this be!"
Jamie staggered in fright, barely managing to stay standing.
"Born with the Sight, marked by four dark omens, you are destined to bring misfortune to relatives and friends, and die young."
"And..."
"And what?"
Jamie's face turned pale. She believed it, because she could indeed see those dark entities, but she could only pretend not to see them. When she was young, she was ignorant and acknowledged those entities, which resulted in the death of her parents.
"Child, have you promised someone something lately? Your aura is corrupted, and your life force is fading. You've attracted a fatal calamity. Cough cough."
After saying this, Marcus seemed to lose his energy and coughed twice.
Jamie's body trembled slightly. She thought back.
To save some money to help with household expenses, she had indeed promised her high school classmate Quinn that she would help her and her boyfriend, Greyson, film a video of them summoning Bloody Mary in a few days.
After filming, she would receive 500 dollars as payment.
"Uncle, Father, can you help me? I never want to see those things, and I don't want to die," Jamie said, her voice trembling with tears.
Her arms were half-bent and tucked between her sides. Although she was standing, she exuded a helpless feeling, as if she wanted to curl up.
"Escaping your fate comes at a price!"
Marcus said, seemingly with some pity.
"I have money."
Jamie hurriedly unfastened her shoulder bag and pulled out a handful of bills from a hidden compartment. It looked like a few hundred dollars—all her savings.
She always carried all her savings with her because she was afraid that her uncle, who often mistreated her and her aunt, would find and take her money.
"This isn't about money. It's about whether misfortune will bring fortune. If you're lucky enough to survive this ordeal, your luck might change."
"But if you choose to give up your special abilities, although you'll get rid of the curse in your destiny, you'll become just an ordinary person. There are gains and losses. You need to think about these things carefully."
Marcus advised her, seemingly reluctant to help.
"I've long wished I could just blend into the crowd, so my parents wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't have become an orphan, living with my aunt. I don't need to think about it, please, Father."
Tears streamed down Jamie's face as she sobbed silently, uttering these words without hesitation.
"Sigh, another poor child,"
Marcus sighed helplessly. "How about this, think it over for one more night. Here's my card. Tell me your decision tomorrow. Your ordeal is only a few days away, don't rush."
Marcus handed her a business card with only a phone number printed on it.
"Do you have any paper? I'll write something for you, so you can prepare."
Marcus asked Jamie for paper and pen and began to write: holy water, blessed salt, sage, silver thread—he wrote over a dozen different items, totaling nearly 400 dollars. That meant Jamie would need to find a way to raise twice as much money besides the few hundred dollars she had.
All this writing was meaningless.
Marcus didn't care about the small amount of money, but he knew that free things were always suspicious; only by paying, and even exceeding the initial cost, would people believe.
Amidst Jamie's flustered expressions of gratitude, Marcus left the street, walked along a country lane, through the undergrowth, and arrived at an abandoned building. He glanced at it from afar before returning to the hotel.
That abandoned building was the factory where the six victims had been hanged, the very place where Father Cross had been murdered by the Soul Collector.
Since his mentor's death, Father Cross's disciple, Brother Kane, had lived there, using it as his dwelling.
Marcus had only glanced at it to scout the location.
Back at the hotel, he turned on his communicator and contacted Little Sheep; it was time to use her.
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