"Hey, Monte! What's up? Why do you look like this?"
Inside Old Pete's bar, a disheartened Monte was hunched over in a booth, cradling a bottle of liquor, when suddenly a familiar voice reached his ears.
"Pietro, don't bother me!"
After shoving the other's hand away, Monte took another fierce gulp of his drink.
Seeing his former colleague in such a state, Pietro looked back at his companions and spread his hands.
"Guys, it seems we need to save a lost soul!"
"I'm good at this!" A hip-hop youth with sunglasses perched on his head jumped over the table and sat next to Monte.
SNAP!
After snapping his fingers, he called out to the bartender.
"Buddy, bring us a few more bottles!"
Watching the sunglasses-wearing youth's actions, the girl beside Pietro rolled her eyes.
"Daster, cut the stupid act. If you want to drink, just say so."
"What's wrong? This is a line I got from Dongfang Chen, 'One-year-old wire stinks'! Camille, do I sound like him?"
At his words, the girl rolled her eyes again.
"Oh, please! It's 'One drink dispels a thousand worries'!"
"It's all the same to me!" Daster, unconcerned, waved his hand and took the bottle of liquor the bartender had just delivered.
"By the way, Pietro! The Florida trip is scheduled for three days from now. Are you all prepared?"
Pietro, who had also sat down, smiled and nodded.
"Of course! I've already contacted our friends there. It's definitely going to be an unforgettable trip!"
"To be honest, dear, I'm a bit reluctant to go now!" Camille said hesitantly, clinging to Pietro's arm.
"What's wrong, Camille? Haven't we been planning this for a long time?"
Pietro looked at his girlfriend, puzzled, not understanding why she had suddenly changed her mind.
"My dad says America is getting more and more chaotic, and he's really worried about me! Besides, with all these Bizarre incidents increasing, aren't you guys scared?"
Before Pietro could respond, Daster cut in, his expression exaggerated.
"Oh, Camille, don't believe those damn politicians! Those Bizarre incidents are just lies the government uses to deceive us!"
"But I've seen it with my own eyes..." Camille started, but Daster cut her off.
"Think about it, Camille! A few makeup artists, some good actors, and maybe a few machines here and there. Boom! A Bizarre incident is created right before our eyes, isn't it?"
"And think again, did you ever touch those so-called Bizarre incidents? That Bizarre thing you saw before—have you ever seen it again?"
Daster looked at them with a mocking expression, as if he alone were sober while everyone else was drunk.
"You're right, I haven't seen it since..." Camille seemed swayed by his words and nodded subconsciously.
"Have you ever wondered why?" Daster's smile widened as he saw the others shake their heads.
"Of course, they can't have the same Bizarre incident appear frequently. They even make sure ordinary people rarely encounter these so-called Bizarre things. Because if they appeared too often, people would eventually notice something was off!"
Meanwhile, Monte, curled up in the booth, didn't want to pay attention to the others, preferring to be immersed in his own world. But I didn't expect some idiot to be here spouting even more foolish ideas.
"Bizarre incidents are real!"
The slightly hoarse voice instantly drew everyone's attention.
"You heartbroken loser, stop spouting your nonsense here!" Daster was clearly annoyed that someone had suddenly refuted him, especially someone who was obviously a failure.
"He's entitled to his opinion, Daster! And I've decided, I'm going on this trip." After glaring at her friend, Camille hesitated for a moment but ultimately agreed to go to Florida. After all, it was a journey she had long looked forward to.
"YES! Camille, you definitely won't regret your choice today!" Daster cried out triumphantly, looking excited.
Pietro, however, turned his attention to the man curled up on the other side. "Monte, do you want to go? It's the perfect opportunity to clear your head and forget all this misfortune!"
Hearing this, Daster frowned and was about to object but was silenced by a sharp glare from Camille.
"That's right, Monte! This is a great chance. Let's all go have some fun; everything will pass!"
After a while, Monte still hadn't responded. Daster finally couldn't hold back any longer. "Why do we have to invite this depressing guy? He'll ruin my vacation mood!"
"Damn it, shut your mouth!"
Just as Camille glared at Daster again, a hoarse voice suddenly spoke up.
"Alright, count me in!"
...
"What is this?"
Jessica looked at the obviously crude and Bizarre disk in her hand with confusion, turning her gaze toward Chu Feng.
"You can think of it as a portable Exorcism Formation, only much more effective in Exorcism!"
"Exorcism Formation?"
Jessica fiddled with the disk in her hands but couldn't find any familiar Runes. The patterns on the disk also seemed somewhat Eastern in style.
"How do you use this thing?"
Having tried to channel Spiritual Power into it and receiving no response, Jessica could only turn her pleading eyes back to Chu Feng.
"You'll need to learn how to use it!"
Chu Feng spread his fingers in front of Jessica, beginning to demonstrate the Finger Technique needed to activate the Array Plate.
"The energy within this Array Plate is limited. Though I've modified it to absorb Spiritual Power for replenishment, it doesn't do so quickly. You have to use it at the right moment!"
As Chu Feng demonstrated the Hand Seals, he also explained the important points of using the Array Plate, hoping she would get the hang of it quickly.
"Why do the fingers have to be like this? This is too difficult!"
"No~ This angle, ouch, my fingers hurt!"
"Chu Feng, how do you do it?"
"I've got this one down! What's next?"
"..."
As time slowly passed, the intelligent Jessica finally memorized all the Finger Techniques. However, her execution speed was more than ten times slower than Chu Feng's.
"Just like that. Keep practicing, and you'll soon reach my speed!"
Seeing that Jessica had finally learned, Chu Feng breathed a long sigh of relief. This teaching job really isn't easy.
Once Jessica's speed in executing the Finger Technique had improved a bit more, Chu Feng finally decided to let her try it out in practice.
"Come on, let's go to the front line. You can test out this Array Plate there!"
With that, without waiting for Jessica to respond, Chu Feng directly grabbed her hand, and they turned into a ray of rainbow light, disappearing from the spot.