Exorcism 021

"What do these mean?" Fang Linjie looked at the stack of documents on the table, all crossed out with red pen. After some time, he had finally accepted this reality. It was fine; at least his family was still around.

"These are the prayers of humans. This man murdered his own child, but supposedly they couldn't find any evidence. For us, however, we don't need evidence to get things done."

"This one distributed hallucinogenic drugs. The victims' families felt his prison sentence was too short and inappropriate, so they came to complain to us."

"And this one... tortured and killed small animals. No one actually reported this, but it just so happened to be witnessed by a demon wandering nearby."

Fang Linjie flipped through the documents, his gaze gradually shifting from dull to furious.

"Oh, by the way, I have a meeting with the human rulers this afternoon regarding the Abyssal laws. They want to discuss whether it's too harsh for the Abyss to take over after human criminal laws have been fully executed." Fang Zhiyi stood up, preparing to leave.

"But I have to make it clear to them that we are demons, after all... Who knows a person's inner darkness better than a demon?"

"I'm so busy. I still have to expand branch offices in other places. Brother, if you have nothing else to do, help me process some documents."

Fang Linjie began to understand why the demons under Fang Zhiyi's rule were so obedient. After all, evildoers made up a significant portion of humanity, and their souls were quite delicious to the demons.

Suddenly, the mortal realm was filled with penitents. Some knelt naked in the streets, covered in self-inflicted wounds, endlessly confessing their crimes of animal abuse. Others were directly possessed by demons, their souls locked away in the Abyss to suffer endless torment.

With plenty of corroborating evidence from humans, it was clear these people deserved their punishment. The demons' reputation gradually improved, and some even began to worship the Abyss.

But Fang Linjie still couldn't understand what good this would do for the demons in the long run. Over time, he grew familiar with the other demons, such as a demon lord with a smoking hot figure who called herself Lust.

"Oh, you're the boss's older brother." Lust looked him up and down. "Are you single?"

Fang Linjie backed away.

"If I can't be his wife, I can be his sister-in-law! Don't run away!"

When Pride came to the human world to report on work, it saw a bewildered Fang Linjie. Its words left Fang Linjie somewhat confused: "The boss once said that demons can also be gods." It patted Fang Linjie on the shoulder. "We trust him."

Fang Linjie grew even more baffled. What gods? There were no gods in this world!

Pride smiled without a word and strode away.

The appearance of demons also sparked a booming industry: exorcists. Unlike the previous exorcists who were just demons in disguise, these were genuine professionals trained by the demons themselves. Their exorcism methods were simple: sign a contract with a corporate demon and summon it for possession when necessary. After all, no one knew what a demon feared better than its own kind. Their only quirk was a preference for physical exorcism.

"What is our slogan?"

"Talk! If talking fails, beat them! Beat them until they submit!"

Passersby frequently heard such slogans echoing from the exorcist training centers.

Yet, with the backing of the Abyssal demons, these violent methods were highly effective against independently wandering demons.

However, after some time, this type of exorcism was halted. The reason was that some people impersonated exorcists to take the opportunity to beat up their neighbors or enemies, causing an extremely negative social impact. After human peacekeepers came to negotiate, the demons adjusted their exorcism methods.

As the number of evil-doing demons gradually decreased, Fang Zhiyi shifted his focus to handling human requests. Under his leadership, an unbreakable Abyssal corporation was formed, and its existence promoted friendly relations between humans and demons.

It wasn't until Fang Zhiyi died a natural human death that the demons failed to find their boss's soul. However, per the boss's wishes, Fang Linjie took the chairman's seat. Only then did he realize that his younger brother had spent his entire life planning out the complete future of the Abyss.

Looking at the detailed steps and speculations about certain key milestones, Fang Linjie once again felt like an inadequate older brother. He didn't understand his brother at all; even after decades together, he had never truly known him.

He closed the proposal book and looked at the demon lords standing before him. "Zhiyi said that the bright future of the Abyss starts now."

Years later, the world began to progress. Having bid farewell to the era of panic caused by demonic invasions, humanity started to develop, and many former wastelands were opened up for development.

However, there was an abandoned cemetery in a prime location that no one ever touched. Anyone who wanted to take over its development would dream of being warned by demons to stay away. Over time, rumors spread among the people that the cemetery was the entrance to the Abyss, and very few ever set foot there.

It was said that agonizing screams from underground could occasionally be heard there, making one's blood run cold.

According to the New Century Chronicles, it took hundreds of years for demons to transition from being synonymous with evil to being synonymous with gods. During those centuries, the demons consistently upheld laws such as punishing the wicked, hunting escaped demons, and maintaining order in the human world.

After gaining the support of human faith, these demons were gradually worshipped by humanity, transforming into god-like beings.

But this beautiful scene did not last long. Just a century later, a new Abyss was born, spawning new demons. This new Abyss was called Hell by the gods, and the entire world gradually divided into a structure of gods, humans, and Hell.

It was said that the demons of Hell were ruled by former defectors of the Abyss. Filled with malice toward humans and gods, they occasionally appeared to invade the mortal realm. Due to their differing beliefs, the gods and Hell entered a prolonged standoff. It wasn't until a certain great war that the gods and Hell signed a peace treaty, mutually agreeing to no longer interfere in the human world. This single agreement led to the decline of the traditional exorcist profession, and in turn, spurred the rise of the Divine Church and the Cult of Hell.

"Mom, so what do the gods look like?" a child asked his mother, who was telling him about history.

The mother turned to an illustration. Looking at the hideous and grotesque appearance of the god, she paused for a moment, then closed the book. After some thought, she picked up a pen and began to draw. Under her pen, a beautiful woman in a holy white dress gradually appeared, surrounded by other cute and gentle gods.

"So this is what gods look like? They're so beautiful."

"Go to sleep. Tomorrow, Mom will take you to the Divine Church to pray." The woman made up her mind that tomorrow she would talk to the Church administrators about the portrayal of the gods. How could gods possibly have such bizarre and monstrous appearances?