Chapter 522: Extra Text – A Mouse
“Cardu’s attitude towards Nali is viewed as a brazen provocation by both the Griffin Party and the New Party. This arrogance has been building for a long time, stemming from historical culture and the faith in the Mother God. I believe our citizens have endured this group of relics for far too long. Even the fishermen at the lowest level of Saint Nali, even the residents of Snakehead Street feel discontent.”
“As I have repeatedly emphasized, Cardu’s intervention in our conflict with Shivali is an intolerable provocation! We have had enough of their interference and bullying!”
“We must expel all those damned Cardu people!”
“Boom!”
The sky over Saint Nali was heavy with dark clouds, sporadically lit by faint flashes of lightning, which were the few dim points of light in the otherwise ominous atmosphere. The oppressive sea breeze felt like a stone being lifted by the people, bringing in the threatening storm that enveloped the entire Saint Nali.
The entire Saint Nali, and even Nali, was shrouded in the shadow of war with Shivali, and this uneasy emotion even reached the most sacred church.
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
The clear bell sounds of the church rang out in a small church that felt particularly lively amidst the storm in Saint Nali. Many people were busy inside.
“Father, come see if this needs to be demolished?”
“Demolish it all! All these texts on the walls are Cardu originals; they must at least be translated into Nali!”
At this moment, many nuns who originally wore heavy and simple black veils were moving around in this tiny church. Instead of holding the Genesis to recite, they now held various chisels and hammers, hammering away at everything in the church that had ties to Cardu.
A short-haired priest with golden hair was anxiously supervising the construction site, occasionally instructing the nuns who were hammering away on the floor.
“Father! Father!”
“Quick, change that over there too!”
“Father!”
“And the statue of the Mother God.”
As the priest anxiously shifted his gaze to the benevolent and unblemished Mother God statue watching over everyone below, a nun who had been calling out to him finally caught her breath and stood in front of him. She opened her arms to stop him from directing his modifications towards the Mother God statue.
“Father! You cannot arbitrarily change what is on the Mother God statue! Many of the original texts nearby are not accurately translated into Nali, I think it shouldn’t be done.”
This nun appeared extremely young, looking quite innocent, yet the nun’s robe she wore serving the Mother God was perfectly intact, demonstrating her piety without fail.
The priest was somewhat taken aback; then he looked her up and down and said, “You are… the one who was assigned to us a few weeks ago?”
“Ah, yes, I was from the church in Avanna Township.”
“Sorry, I don’t have time to care about you right now. You can go outside and see if there’s anything you can help with, Windsor. Help me knock off that Cardu relic from the Mother’s right hand, or replace it with a cup that we use here in Nali!”
“Okay, Father!”
The young, naive nun saw the priest still wanting to hammer away at what should be sacred in the church and once again stood in front of him, saying,
“Father! No matter what, the Mother God statue…”
“Enough! Do you think I don’t know we can’t touch the Mother God statue? But what can we do? Is this something that can be explained through orthodoxy and scripture? Do you know how chaotic Saint Nali is right now? Do you not know that many children of only Cardu blood were killed last week? Parents even have things used to smash their doors and windows at home, let alone those abandoned in orphanages and on the streets!”
The priest could no longer tolerate the nun repeatedly blocking him; he rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on, and said, “Many Cardu people living in Saint Nali even need to dye their black-haired children’s hair golden with paint when they are still in swaddling clothes. Even with that, they cannot save their children from that loud, riotous crowd. Young lady, you need to understand, this is not a matter of faith, but a political issue! The hatred in Saint Nali towards Cardu has completely spiraled out of control; there are even many extremist elements who are not part of the Mother God’s church demanding that all Mother God churches be expelled from Nali.”
“The main church and high churches have knights stationed at the Golden Palace for protection, and even their outer walls have not been spared, being smashed to bits by many angry individuals. Do you prefer we piously modify the Mother God’s statue with regret, or would you rather wait for those madmen to sneak in at night and desecrate the Mother God statue?”
The young nun stared blankly at the priest, and after a brief silence, she looked around and noticed that all the nuns in this small church were looking at her.
Perhaps they didn’t want to do it either, but circumstances made it a necessity.
This young believer from the countryside finally learned her first lesson in this big city.
She bit her lip and, feeling somewhat sad and distressed, apologized to the priest in front of her, “I’m sorry, Father, I didn’t consider this thoroughly.”
“…Go outside. We currently do not have the energy to teach you about the Mother’s teachings. For now, use what you’ve learned to calm others, and if any believers come to visit outside, please arrange accordingly.”
In reality, what kind of visitors could a small church like theirs have?
They weren’t even a proper church; rather, they were a prototype of a church school that was yet to be completed, and few people came to visit and pray.
Of course, it was not ruled out that in the case of other churches being smashed, some believers might come here.
But the greater possibility was that the priest merely wanted her out of the way to calm down.
This young nun understood that, but she nodded and left the church, which was undergoing renovation.
The sky outside was hazy. Stepping from the inner hall to the outside, she took a deep breath, preparing to adjust her state of mind, but at that moment, another young nun who had been on guard outside ran over, looking very tense as she eyed the nun who had just come out.
“Hey, that crazy person from earlier is back! It’s up to you!”
“Eh? Again, it’s up to me?”
This nun pointed at herself in confusion, but when she turned around, her companion was already running far away, seemingly fearful of that “crazy person.”
Watching her companion disappear, the nun sighed helplessly. She straightened her outfit and walked to the front hall, quickly spotting a woman dressed in gentleman’s attire with long black hair sitting at the end of the neatly arranged chairs.
Although her outfit looked quite good, the relaxed demeanor she exuded made her seem out of place here.
She casually propped her legs up on the chair in front of her, using her hands as a pillow behind her head. Despite her long hair, the pair of eyes that seemed somewhat fierce immediately captured the attention of the nun entering the front hall.
The woman waved at the nun with an amused smile, “Hey there, beautiful, want to get married?”
“Eh?”
The young nun sighed and swiftly grabbed a broom next to her, then swung it at the lounging woman, “Go away, go away, go away!”
“Ouch, ouch, okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
The woman, hit by the broom-wielding nun, ducked her head and fled, while the nun seemed to be venting her frustration from these past few days, launching a frantic attack on this crazy woman, yet the person before her was incredibly agile, dodging effortlessly.
After a long while, the nun was left panting, while the madwoman still appeared unfazed.
She smiled and again crossed her legs as she sat back in the next chair, looking as if she was challenging the nun to continue.
The nun was too exhausted to stand upright, leaning on the broom while panting, filled with regret.
Two weeks prior, she had encountered this madwoman when she took a train into Saint Nali. The woman had been moody and sitting by the road, and the nun, remembering the Mother God’s teachings, went over to help her, comforting her with many words, only to have this character latch onto her.
“What are you even doing here?”
“Me?”
The crazy woman pointed at herself and then grinned, pointing towards the wall behind her. The nun looked up and saw the text on the wall still unremoved, which read, “Confess your sins.”
The nun slightly froze and then lowered her broom. Although she felt somewhat angry at the frivolous demeanor of the woman in front of her, her faith in the Mother God made her prioritize the other’s needs.
The Mother God said one must not give up on anyone.
She sighed, adjusted her mindset, and then forced herself to sit next to the woman, saying, “Alright, what sins do you have? Following the Mother God’s teachings, I promise to keep it confidential, without selfish desires. I will guide you out of your troubles with pure kindness, in the name of the Mother God.”
The woman smiled and said, “No need to be so serious. Just think of it as a normal chat. With your tone, people coming here to confess will feel too pressured.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Actually… I’m a madwoman.”
“I know, and then what?”
“I’m serious.”
The smile on the nun’s face became somewhat forced, thinking the woman was just joking again. But the woman fell silent for a long time, and when she turned her head back to face the nun, what she wore was merely a cracked smile.
The nun’s helpless expression gradually faded and turned serious as she heard the woman smilingly continue, “People like me are born to face an endless torment, destined for tragic outcomes. I once thought I was special, transcending others, but in the end, I found out that I am not… I’m just someone who happened to have better luck than others.”
The nun slightly stunned, then said, “So, how did this sickness come about? There must be a source or a reason, right? Can you tell me?”
The woman turned her head to look at the nun, shaking her head, “This…”
“Is it a bit hard to express? It’s okay, the Mother God will forgive you, but I can feel you’re troubled by something. Can you tell me what’s bothering you?”
“…Nun, tell me a fable.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Do you know the Titanic?”
“…What is that?”
“Ah, just… never mind, I’m starting to lose my mind.”
The long-haired disheveled woman shook her head helplessly. The nun, perhaps due to a strange feeling, thought she saw something wriggling on the woman’s body,
“The situation is as follows, imagine you are a passenger on a large ship sailing on the endless sea when suddenly, the Grim Reaper appears, playfully telling the captain and first mate a prophecy. However, no one can understand what the prophecy means; they only know one thing: this ship is destined to sink. But where and how it will sink remains a mystery.”
As the woman animatedly acted out the scene, dynamically portraying multiple roles and bringing the ship to life,
“The captain says: ‘Oh no, since it’s so dangerous, let’s return quickly, back to where we started!’ But the first mate says, ‘Wait, Captain, what if the place we’re returning to is where the prophecy says the ship will sink? We should bravely push forward and try to find a nearby shore!’ The second mate says, ‘Haha, is it not possible that it’ll happen while we’re trying to dock?’ The third mate says, ‘We must keep heading towards our destination, without deviating from the line!’ The helmsman suggests, ‘Why don’t we just wait and die?’”
In the next moment, her smile suddenly froze, changing to a somewhat chilling, neurotic expression, as if that was what she should look like at this moment.
She pointed her finger directly at the nun in front of her and, slowly speaking, said, “At that moment, you, an ordinary person on this ship, are actually extraordinarily clever. You not only overheard the Grim Reaper’s prophecy for the captain but also inadvertently deciphered what that prophecy truly means. But when you realize what that prophecy truly signifies, you find that it is looming near, so close that you feel there’s nothing you can do to change the fate of sinking.
“But in reality, you also have a choice, which is to slip away quietly all alone. Abandon everything on the ship, all that nonsense about prophecies, the friends you know on board, the devout believers, leave everything behind and run away since apart from the captain and first mate, no one else knows that prophecy. They are still singing and dancing day and night in the cabin, enjoying life.”
The nun furrowed her brows in confusion; she seriously contemplated the words of the woman, then murmured, “Hmm, can’t you take more people with you when escaping? If you already have a way to run away?”
“Of course not! Just think about it, how could a teasing Grim Reaper tolerate to see prey on the verge of falling into its grasp escape? Maybe with so many passengers aboard, it wouldn’t notice one missing, but if two, three, or more were to vanish, it would definitely notice!”
The woman shook her head again and further explained, “Moreover, to be honest, most people on that ship don’t treat you well either. Perhaps you shouldn’t be one of them; you should be a filthy rat that everyone wants to beat up, right? Haha, this logic makes more sense; rats can overhear the conversations of big shots, and they can slip away from the Grim Reaper’s grasp, right?”
The nun pondered but did not fixate on the prophecy, nor did she analyze the flaws in that prophecy.
She merely looked worriedly at the somewhat dazed woman in front of her, and after hesitating for a moment, she suddenly opened her arms and enveloped the woman in a hug.
The nun’s selfless, gentle, and warm embrace melted the words the woman was about to share, and after a brief shock, she let her hands fall open without returning the embrace.
One second later, the nun gently released the woman and said, “Though perhaps this prophecy doesn’t pertain to you, I can feel your confusion and pain. You feel guilt, regret, and a rat and evildoers wouldn’t experience such feelings.”
The woman glanced at the nun, then replied with a laugh, “If it were in the past, with a beauty like you in my arms, I would have long…”
The nun turned back expressionlessly to grab the broom, but she was interrupted by the woman’s laughter from behind.
“Just joking, you know I’m not like that. Although I was a bit of a pervert before, I’ve reformed.”
The nun sighed in disbelief, then looked at the vacant-eyed woman beside her. After a brief hesitation, she suddenly said, “If there’s truly no way to avoid it, then just leave.”
The woman turned her head to look at her, but the nun kept her gaze on a section of the Cardu original text on the wall. She knew that soon, this line of text would also be chiseled away.
Given the current sensitive environment, this nun assumed the black-haired woman beside her was a Cardu person trying to survive in Nali, although her appearance didn’t seem to match, that the woman’s face was mostly concealed by her black hair, perhaps indicating that she hadn’t observed closely enough?
Perhaps just her black hair could reveal her Cardu identity?
“The Mother God once taught us to be gentle, to do good, to be devout, but since I moved from my hometown here, I have been greatly disappointed by others. It’s not just Nali that has disappointed me, but many devout believers of the Mother God’s church too. Those who should have distanced themselves from the mundane are reciting the Mother God’s vows while harming beings, deceiving, and being violent.”
The woman smiled gently and, looking at the nun lost in thought, said, “Disappointed?”
Unexpectedly, the nun shook her head and then turned to smile, “No, I am not disappointed. Perhaps I just have not discovered that the teachings I believe in were only meant for me. I do not wish to be a mad believer, nor do I harbor unrealistic fantasies about the Mother God, whom I have never seen. I simply believe in the Mother God’s goodness and hope to transform that goodness into my own; I merely believe in the Mother God’s wisdom and hope to convert that wisdom into my own.
“As long as I do not feel guilty and strive to do my best, then I shall not blame myself. Friend, you are the same; no one will blame you, the only one who ever does is yourself.”
The woman before her looked intently at the nun, and after two seconds of silence, she smiled, stood up, and suddenly beckoned. A stack of thick banknotes and a small box suddenly appeared in her hand.
“Thank you, I feel so much better now. Perhaps today is the last day of our fate together; therefore, before I leave, I want to leave you some gifts to express my gratitude.”
The woman chuckled and tossed the stack of banknotes and the box, which seemed to fly right into the nun’s hands as if seeking out its owner on its own.
The nun was slightly taken aback and hurriedly tried to rise and refuse, “As a believer of the Mother God, how can I—”
“Why don’t you open it first and see before deciding whether to refuse?”
“…”
The nun was momentarily shocked, and then she opened the small box only to find inside an extremely ancient book.
The book seemed to have endured countless years of erosion, and the text written on it was not even Cardu but an even older human language. Fortunately, although the nun came from a small place, she loved learning and studying various classics since childhood, so she had some knowledge of ancient human language.
She recognized the name of this book,
“Genesis.”
“Genesis, the source text?!!”
The nun was so startled that her hands trembled, nearly dropping the box, but thankfully her faith in the Mother God allowed her to hold onto this incredibly precious item.
Her face turned pale as she stared blankly at the enigmatic “madwoman” in front of her, stammering, “You… you wouldn’t be that world-famous thief, would you? This source text is… kept in the deepest part of the Cardu Cathedral, guarded and worshipped by countless cardinals. How could… why you…”
The woman smiled faintly and said, “Don’t worry, it hasn’t been lost; the one you have isn’t a fake at all.”
“Then… did you switch them?”
“No, it’s just that nothing in this world is unique to me.”
“Eh?”
The madwoman turned to leave, while the nun stood frozen, like a steel nail, trembling in place. The weight of this object was simply too heavy. If this thing were stolen, Cardu would go to any lengths to start a war, either wiping out the entire nation or reclaiming this item, indicating just how important it was.
And now, the sacred object worshipped by all churches laid right in her hands?
She couldn’t toss it away, nor could she keep it, not even daring to move, just lamely watching the woman with an easygoing demeanor walk towards the door.
“Hey! You… how do we handle this… sacred item…”
“What else can we do? You can just keep it. You might sell or share it; just know that you could be secretly captured by Cardu spies in the night and tortured to reveal the truth.”
“Ah?”
“Haha, just joking.”
At the end of her words, the madwoman, about to exit the door, turned back, smiling slightly, revealing a pair of eyes filled with mischief and depth from beneath her long black hair, “Don’t worry, no one, no existence will discover you and this place, not even your Mother God.”
“Eh, what are you…”
“Speaking of which, we’ve known each other for so long, and you still haven’t told me your name, Sister.”
“Teresa, just call me Teresa.”
“Oh, I’m called Qin Shihuang; you can also call me by my nicknames, Red Middle, Ultraman, Kamen Rider… of course, don’t call me a Subhuman Girl Enthusiast.”
“Huh?”
Teresa stood in shock, holding the banknotes and the ancient Genesis, watching as the madwoman waved goodbye, disappearing at the church door.
From that day onward, the woman never appeared again, just as she had said, their fate ended that gloomy afternoon.
Everything for Teresa felt like a dream; if not for the genuine version of the Genesis lying on her desk that she had confirmed repeatedly was authentic, she might genuinely doubt whether she had woken from a nap that afternoon.
The following weeks saw beautiful weather, clear skies, with no more dark clouds, and their church school surprisingly enjoyed remarkable luck; not a single mad unruly person noticed that there was still a fish that had slipped through the net. They had prepared for the impending political storm, but it all turned out to be in vain.
The priest and other nuns cried out “Mother God bless!” Only Teresa, who was day and night studying the Genesis, for some reason, recalled the woman’s parting words.
A few days later, on a sunny afternoon, the entire school enjoyed some long-awaited tranquility under the somewhat humid sunlight, as if everything happening outside in the bustling, commercial Saint Nali had nothing to do with them.
Feeling weary from studying the Genesis, Teresa took the broom outside to clean, arranging the dust and tidying up the chairs where the visiting believers had sat.
On the wall, a line of pure Cardu original text that had escaped changes by the nuns, marked by “luck,” remained engraved, reading, “Confess your sins.”
Young nun Teresa paused in front of that line of text for a long time, and it was not until she read through the entire Genesis that she suddenly realized the Mother God’s words to the suffering children among mortals were not this line; what she truly said was,
“Face your heart.”
With this thought in mind, Teresa couldn’t help but smile slightly, but just as she shook her head to continue sweeping, from outside the church school, a clear sound of an infant crying suddenly tore through the silence.
“Wah! Wah! Wah!”
Teresa was momentarily stunned and quickly ran to the door, hurriedly opening the tightly closed door.
She saw a small wooden basket on the steps outside, which had no idea how long it had been there.
Inside the basket, a baby swaddled tightly was crying loudly, looking like it had just been born and possibly just awakening, crying out in hunger as it sought its mother’s nourishment.
And the most crucial part was that even the hair that had just begun to grow atop its head was indicative of its natural black hair.
This child had Cardu blood!
Realizing this, Teresa took the basket in shock, vigilantly watching her surroundings, fearing someone might discover this child’s heritage during such a sensitive time.
But just as their church had experienced such good fortune, this child miraculously enjoyed the same luck; it had been left at the church door for so long that not a single person noticed him.
“Mother God bless! Mother God bless! Mother God bless! Mother God bless!”
Tears nearly welled up in Teresa’s eyes as she tightly held the wooden basket in her arms, feeling the presence of that vigorous life within.
And the child in the basket seemed to sense her presence, gradually ceasing its crying. Its little hand slowly lifted, reaching out to touch the face of this nun before it.
“Ha ga… gu lu.”
The baby in the basket pouted, curiously looking at the nun before him with bright, sparkling eyes.
He was a boy.
Teresa smiled slightly and gently touched his little hand with her finger, quickly carrying the infant back into the school.
It was also at this moment that she noticed there was a note stuck on the outside of the baby’s swaddling.
On the note, a line of flamboyant black ink wrote in Nali language.
For some reason, upon seeing those characters, Teresa’s mind suddenly conjured the image of the madwoman’s carefree demeanor.
Just an illusion, perhaps?
She looked down to see the note, which read,
“No one knows, that the mouse that left will become a nightmare for the Grim Reaper.”
Please vote, reward, and support; this is very important to me!
Thank you immensely for your support!
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(End of Chapter)
