The red lips on the screen disappeared without a trace. The webpage was calm again. The webpage that contained the keyword ‘family’ frequently visited at this IP address was shown.
The thin monkey who fell and was in a broken state was moved to the nearby bed by the fitness trainer where he could rest for a while.
Shen Jie leaned toward the computer and muttered in a low voice, “Formation, existence, disintegration, emptiness. To be born and to be extinguished. The divine power of Christ, our Virgin Mary Cheng Li, the holy sage Zhang Yongji, retreating from the evil spirit of the visitor, raising the prestige of God all over the world…”
The fitness trainer frowned when he heard these half archaic and half nonsense words. “What the hell is this?”
He and Shen Jie instinctively looked toward Nan Zhou, wanting to get his advice, only to find that his figure was no longer at the door.
***
Jiang Fang was holding Nanji Star while leaning against the bed and flipping through Xiao Ming’s textbooks on the table with the lamp. Xiao Ming really liked to draw in various places. He loved to draw things that included but weren’t limited to clocks, human faces, tortoises and apples.
The more he hated a subject, the more doodles there were and the more diverse the variety. For example, the title page of the mathematics homework book had a big clock drawn on it. He had also written in the diary: I hope that when the clock is turned to the end, the math homework will be finished automatically.
It was full of childish but sincere thoughts.
Then after re-reading the textbook, Jiang Fang made a new discovery. In the English textbook, there were big chunks of black. Xiao Ming liked to black out Chinese characters and English letters but this phenomenon was particularly widespread in the English textbook. Entire words were blacked out. Some articles even had denser blocks of black.
Based on the context, it could be determined that the word he smeared and covered up was ‘family’. Did he hate this word? Did he hate his family or…
Just then, the door was pushed open. Nan Zhou came inside quickly.
Nanji Star was originally falling asleep with his head drooping down. He saw the arrival of Nan Zhou and his eyes brightened. He used Jiang Fang’s shoulder as a springboard and threw himself toward the other person with a chirp, affectionately hugging Nan Zhou’s neck.
Nan Zhou gently rubbed the soft fur of his neck in response.
Jiang Fang asked, “What’s happening out there?”
Nan Zhou opened his mouth. “Formation, existence, disintegration, emptiness. To be born and to be extinguished…”
Jiang Fang, “……?”
It wasn’t until he finished repeating it verbatim that Nan Zhou asked Jiang Fang, “What does this mean?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“It sounds like…” Jiang Fang closed the textbook in his hand. “The doctrine of a cult.”
Lf kbcvfgfv, “Pr atfgf jcsatlcu wbgf rqfmlolm?”
“P vlvc’a gfjv la. P tfjgv Vtfc Alf gfjvlcu la.”
Aljcu Mjcu lcdelgfv, “Qtja jybea joafg atja?”
“P mjwf yjmx klatbea ilrafclcu ab tfg.”
Aljcu Mjcu, “…Qts?” Rjc Itbe kjr bynlberis nfgs meglber.
Rjc Itbe qblcafv bea, “Glvc’a sbe rjs atja qfbqif mjc’a yf jibcf?”
Jiang Fang who was alone, “……”
He couldn’t help saying, “Didn’t you leave Nanji Star with me so I’m not alone?”
Nan Zhou calmly answered. “You are the same. Very…”
He tilted his head as he stared at Jiang Fang’s beautiful face and thought of a relatively suitable adjective. “Fragile.”
Jiang Fang was startled slightly before he couldn’t help laughing. “Do you mean me?”
Nan Zhou nodded earnestly. In his eyes, Jiang Fang’s combat effectiveness was basically equivalent to Nanji Star. There was no fundamental difference between the two of them. So despite being very interested in the content of the website, he still had to rush back in order to protect his teammate worth 100 points.
Nan Zhou resisted his curiosity and sat down at the desk, comforting himself, “It’s fine. We still have Li Yinhang.”
He mentioned Li Yinhang and Li Yinhang arrived. 10 minutes later, she held a small notebook and knocked on the door of the children’s room. She put together simple notes based on the content of the website.
The webpage was the official website of the ‘Christ’s Divine Power Sect’ and the logo was ‘Family’. It was exactly the same as the logo inside the matchbox. The full name of this religion was ‘Christ’s Divine Power Sect’ and the doctrine was called ‘The Published Truth’.
The background of this religion was basically copied from the story of Jesus’ rebirth in the Christian church. It was combined with the bold and imaginative style of an individual and formed a program that combined local and foreign cultures that made a person think ‘are you fucking kidding me’ when taking a closer look.
According to the doctrine, their lord was Jesus after his resurrection in Jerusalem. Cheng Li and Zhang Yongji were the pure-blood descendants of this religion. As the people of God, the couple traveled far and wide, showing a humanitarian spirit and stepping foot on this land to preach about love.
Their main services were healing, disaster protection, longevity and resurrection. If someone wanted to cure a disease then they had to go to gospel classes regularly, listen to the instructions of the teacher, breathe with the followers and recite the doctrine.
If they wanted to avoid disasters then they had to deposit a forgiveness token in the ‘Gospel Bank’. One forgiveness token was equivalent to 10 yuan and there were fluctuations in the exchange rate. The fluctuation depended on whether the gospel was revealed on that day or not. During the holidays, a ‘festival fee’ must be paid.
If they wanted a long life then they had to do both of the above. After doing this for a period of time and buying enough forgiveness tokens, they would be promoted to an official and absolved of their sins.
Only officials had the opportunity to live a long life. If they wanted their loved ones to be resurrected, the conditions were all of the above. It also wasn’t enough to save for their share. They had to save enough for their loved ones.
The doctrine also didn’t forget to give people a preventive injection: if you read our doctrines and feel uncomfortable, it is because you have evil in your heart. We will teach you to drive it away.
Li Yinhang roughly told the story and waited eagerly for the analysis of the two bigshots.
Nan Zhou’s expression was even more confused than Li Yinhang’s expression. He turned to the thinking Jiang Fang. “Aren’t these words too deceiving?”
Li Yinhang, “……”
Wasn’t this natural? Anyone who heard the name ‘Christ’s Divine Power Sect’ would know it was a type of money-gathering organization that cheated money from others without blinking. Why did it seem like Nan Zhou was hearing about it for the first time?
“Yes, it is a lie.” Jiang Fang was patiently explaining it while Li Yinhang tried to convince herself that artists were existences relatively above the common populace. “However, there are always weaknesses and obsessions in the human heart. Once you encounter a desire that you can’t let go of and you really want to achieve it, such as longevity or resurrecting the dead, you will try it even if the possibility is only small.”
“However, if you try this then you might never come out from it.” As he spoke, Jiang Fang instinctively touched the side of the choker.
The woman’s hysterical screams, curses and helpless crying rang in his ears once again.
“You clearly killed him. Why do you want me to forget about him?!”
“Have you forgotten about him?!”
“Remember it for me! Remember!”
After many years, the old hallucinations full of pain and fear still haunted Jiang Fang from time to time. He had seen terrible obsession that was like a swamp and at one point, he had been ashamed of it. He had countless hobbies, changed countless jobs and met countless people. Nevertheless, it was all just a game. Until…
Jiang Fang looked at Nan Zhou who was turning over Li Yinhang’s notes and his expression softened. The pain from his neck subsided and the noisy hallucinations disappeared. He returned to the reality of having Nan Zhou.
In order to distract himself, Jiang Fang turned his attention to the child’s doodle on the wall beside the bed. The three family members held hands and showed off their white teeth as they smiled happily at Jiang Fang. He thought of the 13 boxes of matches printed with the church’s logo, the frequent visits and the beautiful parent-child drawing.
Then Jiang Fang said, “This family has a father and two children. However, the mother has always been absent, right?”
At the same time, Shen Jie and the thin monkey in the second bedroom were studying the content of the webpage.
“Isn’t this fucking bullshit?”
After hearing Shen Jie’s simple summary, the thin monkey couldn’t help cursing. “Fucking Jerusalem. If this bullshit founder can say if Jerusalem is in North America or in Europe then I will say he is awesome.”
The fitness trainer agreed. “These people of faith are all crazy.”
“Last time when I went to the street to distribute the flyers for my gym, an old lady stopped me and wanted to talk to me about joining her religion.” The fitness trainer continued speaking. “I didn’t listen to her. I said that I firmly believe in RMB. If she gives me RMB then I will believe it. As a result, she called me a blind bear and said I would suffer retribution after death.”
Shen Jie didn’t answer them. She stared at a paragraph on the website and her body was cold all over.
“The child is the bone, flesh and blood of the parents.”
“It is only when a child is led by their parents that they can be born into the world. Their parents have great virtue and can control them. This is the grace of Heaven.”
“The lamb shows filial piety, the crow shows filial piety, the child leads the way. Once the dutiful child leads the way and their heart is sincere, there will be double returns. God’s power will be given to the dead and the filial piety will be the gospel of rebirth, just like the second coming of Christ.”
The original meaning of this sentence, written from the interests of the person writing the doctrine, was actually easy to understand. Most of those who got involved in Christ’s Divine Power Sect were those who were fragile in heart, gullible, blindly obedient and had some financial means, especially middle-aged and elderly people.
This was why the religion preached that children were raised by their parents and had no right to care how their parents spent their money. In a way, it became the parents’ freedom to give money to the church. If the children made trouble then they were unfilial and betrayed the ‘holy grace and great virtue’. If they wanted to resurrect their loved ones, they needed a filial child to call the soul and ‘lead the way’.
If the believer had no child or if the child refused then the ‘resurrection’ would naturally fail. If the believer had such a ‘filial son’, the believer would spend their wealth to meet the ‘resurrection’ standard. Even if the ‘resurrection’ wasn’t successful in the end, the church could easily shift the responsibility to the ‘insincere’ child. This was a good deal that was profitable and reasonable for the church.
Shen Jie thought of the lock of hair in the sewer connected to the scalp piece and her hand holding the mouse was wet with sweat. What if the master of the family did so in accordance with the doctrine?
Proofreader: Purichan
There’s something about our ML… I’m so curious. But I’m more curious about our MC. He’s like a puzzle. Each pieces are disordered, but when you put it together, we might get a little surprise in return.
Thank you for the chapter
sects have always been absolutely absurd and merciless
Thank you for new chapter
madness, madness in people’s heads
thanks for the chapter~
Thanks for the chapter 💜
thanks for the chapter! <3
Damn, these sects! (＃`Д´)
Thank you for the chapter 💜
How the heck did the ML fall for the MC in such a short amount of time? He literally just heard him during the bus incident and just fell in love immediately. Well, I guess it’s normal in BL novels and manga.
Seems like you missed all the clues/hint but MC and ML already know each other in the past. MC just doesn’t remember it.
I just read ahead a little bit and I found out lol. My brain cells have been slowly diminishing while procrastinating. ;;;
Cannibalism?🤔
So mom died dad was alone with kids daughter couldn’t resurrect the mother so father killed her leaving the brother home alone as he (the father) returned to the cult to raise his rank some more? This is a guess not the story that or father killed daughter to have son reassure her but son couldn’t do father abandoned him home alone?