The old man's fall did not cause any unwanted ripples—even if his position in the mortal world was so important, and if he had been more cautious today, and had not committed such a grave sin, perhaps in a dozen years he would have been able to ascend to the presidency.

But there is no if, at least, in the case of the Adventist "current" Son (who of course will not recognize him as a false Son).

It has to be said that unlike Calvin, who escaped from the Adventists at a young age, Joshua Wright's fate was a little more fortunate - of course, if you wish, you can call this so-called luck a tragedy.

He was born half a year after Calvin's "departure".

yes

On that rainy night, when Calvin inadvertently smashed Daniel Wright's skull like an egg, his mother, Rosa, already had a thriving embryo in her womb.

Joshua was tenacious, never leaving his mother's womb even when Rosa had a nervous breakdown and continued to be addicted.

…… At least that's what Rosa claims to be to the outside world. But where exactly this child came from, there is no way to say clearly.

Joshua was the right "gospel," and his presence undoubtedly gave Rosa and others of Adventism a glimmer of hope.

It is somewhat of a miracle that he survived in such a harsh situation. Well, everyone knows that this miracle is nothing compared to Rosa's first son, the winged Son Calvin. But who made the Adventism of that time quite good? Daniel Wright in such a short period of time extended a cult that had no other merits than a deformed child to most of the United States, and it was not just because of his clever tongue and cheap chicken soup for the soul speeches. He brought in a lot of clever and cunning people before his head was smashed, and it's really hard not to succeed when you drop your preconceived notions and run a sect that already has a lot of initial members as a commercial project.

And they also had Calvin, the deformed child, and the deformed child with an angelic face, angelic wings, and that boy formed the basis of the Adventist existence.

The above passage may be a bit overly complicated, but it is actually quite simple.

The Adventists need miracles, and they need angels.

So Joshua appeared in the Adventists, and some people even really felt that it was a gift from the higher gods in the dark.)

And Joshua was good-looking, and he was indeed a rather sweet child, at least for the first two or three years of his life.

He has snow-white skin and beautiful curly blonde hair, as well as a pair of clear pale blue eyes. He looks a lot like the kind of kid who would be on a baby diaper ad, cute, pure, sweet.

If he were just the child of an ordinary couple in an ordinary family, he would have enjoyed a very happy childhood, and perhaps he would have earned a little more pocket money for his future by taking pictures of baby commercials.

But everyone knows that at the very beginning of his life, there was no "what if" here in Joshua.

In order to maintain great profits, the almost disintegrated Adventists quickly functioned after Daniel Wright's head was crushed.

Joshua became the new Son.

Everything seemed flawless, except for the fact that he was too ugly.

Isn't that a bit of a logical error? He's a cute kid, isn't he?

Joshua had the same confusion when he was a child.

More than once, the young nanny who took care of him kissed his soft little face and called him "little bread" with a smile. She said Joshua was the sweetest child she'd ever met—and it was a long time before Joshua realized what it was called benign deception.

You know, the Adventists have had real miracles, real angels.

His brother, the Son of God, the Child of Light, Iel, whom he had never met.

……

Recalling the hallucinations he had seen in his weakened body, Joshua's face suddenly burst into a bright light, and his heart overflowed with adoration and joy that made his chest ache.

"Brother......

He pressed his chest and let out a sweet call, a flush of pleasure on his sickly pale cheekbones.

"I'm going to see my father. ”

Joshua muttered, "I want to share this vast joy with him." ”

His voice was very faint and small, but the attendants around him would never miss a single gasp for his breath.

A waiter crawled to Joshua's feet, and he reached out and grabbed the old man's body. Like a giant python in the forest dragging its prey, he dragged the corpse to the other side of the room, the marble that was washed and polished by hand every day made him silent.

"Great Child of Light, please allow it. ”

The attendant looked up and looked feverishly at Joshua.

"I allow it. ”

Joshua mumbled.

More attendants came on their knees, and they used their robes to wipe the reflection of where the old man's body had once stayed. Joshua walked slowly forward.

Behind him, the waiter, who had dragged away the old man's body, ecstasically took off the old man's clothes and costumes, and draped them all over his body. The attendants who stayed beside him briefly stopped what they were doing, saluted the lucky one, and kissed his fingers and toes.

That man had been blessed by the Son—

And on the other side is the corpse. No matter how much time and effort it took him to finally climb to his current position, his position and power in this world, in this sect, would be reduced to dust after the clothes that represented his status were taken off.

His body would be swiftly removed, and his death itself would be sold as goods on the black market – rival parties, or their own competitors, would be glad to see such a fierce rival die in a most disgraceful manner.

Oh, and what do you mean by "dishonorable way"? When you have the corpse and the intelligence, a lot of interesting scenes can be arranged.

Much later......

One scholar who has studied Adventism has suggested that this brutal and cold mechanism may be the reason why Adventism has become so large, dark and indestructible.

Even the strongest minds of the most entered, once they enter it, they will involuntarily be captured by that terrible law of the jungle.

Either they will do everything in their power to express their devotion and sincerity to the Son, so as to gain some favor and great privilege.

Either...... It is to descend into the hell of the jungle, where everything will be stripped away by the competitors around it, who will bring great fear and shock to human beings enough to make people lose control of their minds without realizing it.

But the undercurrents that surged among the waiters, and the bloody competition, were all mundane matters that Joshua didn't care about.

At this moment, the only thing on his mind was to see his "father" - oh yes, he actually loved his mother too, after all, the man's womb had given birth to his favorite brother. But his mother was mortal after all, and even if she had given birth to a true angel, the original sins and filth of humanity still remained in her body and bewitched her mind.

Thinking of his mother's unconcealable fear and disgust for his brother, Joshua felt a faint upset. This was his original sin as a usurper and a pretender, which could not be removed no matter how many times he was scourged and penanced in the secret room. Even though he has a certain degree of blessing, he still has that weak and hypocritical emotion.

Maybe he should find a way to extend some more penance.

Joshua thought as he walked slowly along in the company of the attendant, and some of the wounds on his body were open again. Those abrasions and scratches are actually quite serious, and they are not something that can be dealt with by ordinary wiping and cleaning. Even in the softest and smoothest silk robes, the friction of the fabric against the wound still caused severe pain, but it was the pain that made Joshua feel reassured.

The pain always reassures him.

Joshua's fingertips tickled slightly, and he wanted to rip open his wound bit by bit, as he had done many times, sucking the blood pouring out of his body, feeling the sharp pain that seemed to burn his nerves.

The senior elders who cared for Joshua were actually quite troubled by Joshua's growing self-harm. They used all sorts of tricks to try to slow down his almost insane self-harm.

But those persuasions often had little effect. It can be said that if it weren't for some mysterious power in Joshua, this young man who was keen on self-cutting and self-harm would have died a long time ago.

Joshua never told the stupid and ugly old fellows the real reason why he was so obsessed with blood and wounds.

Actually—

In the midst of that sharp pain, he could always see a white light.

Behind the curtain of light was the shadow of his brother, his angel, whom he had never met.

"Click-"

Door after door slowly opened as he passed. Joshua slowly came back to his senses, and everything around him returned to his vision.

The thought of seeing his "father" soon, the kind of self-harm that emerged from his body finally faded a little.

The dome of the church is raised very high, showing a graceful and carefully calculated arc, and the ceiling is made of a very special material, showing a soft translucent state, and the violent sunlight from the outside is cast at the bottom of the building by a soft opalescent halo of filters.

On both sides of the building, there are oval arches with a strong classical orientation, and the silk curtain hangs softly, giving the view of the outside...... The flowers and verdant lawns that require a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain are hazy. Most of the walls are painted with gold veins – not of pigment or cheap gold leaf, but of real gold polished and set in jade slabs.

If there were flowers in the painting (which was Joshua's favorite element), the stamens should be round pearls, and the petals should be made of rubies and precious stones such as jade and coral.

This Adventist church is exceptionally grand and luxurious.

It must be said that the main church of the Adventists seems to be a building of much older age, and only in the most obscurantist times, the church, which had absorbed a great deal of wealth through religion, could have built such a magnificent and splendid building, almost a work of art.

Who would have thought that in the modern world with the increasing development of technology, such a building would be recreated again? Hundreds of millions of tributes were remitted into Adventist accounts, and then turned into the exquisite brick walls of the church. But money alone is not enough, such a building rises in the middle of the desert, and it requires more piety and worship.

Numerous crooked cloisters are centered around the where the penance room is located, connecting the large and small rooms and council chambers inside the church. If you look down from the sky, you will see that the corridors and rooms form a line drawing of a huge rose bud.

Of course, from another angle, the bud looks like a human heart.

But nothing in the world was Joshua's concern.

Resisting the urge to cut himself, he staggered through the unusually complicated corridors, and the attendants and monks who passed by leaned down in awe.

They were silent, for the people who were able to enter this wonderful building were carefully selected, and they remembered all the preferences and details about the Son as if they were breathing.

Born with a slender and sensitive nerve, the Son hated noise and noise, and more importantly, he was always shackled around his neck, which was said to prove to God that he was his docile lamb.

And the pendant hanging underneath the shackles would make a faint bell as he walked. No one knew what the bell really meant, but Joshua seemed to care about it. When a loud noise obscures the tiny bell, the person who makes it will cause Joshua to be furious and disgusted.

In a normal society, Joshua's behavior would only make people feel that he was not sane, but this is the core area of Adventism.

No rules, no explanations—where Joshua passed, the people would lean down in awe and do their best to remain silent. Only the most favored have the privilege of having a voice, and unfortunately, those are only in the confines of the Chamber of Suffering.

And the room of the "father" is located to the west of the church.

Unlike Joshua, who loved light, "Father" preferred to stay in a dark and damp place.

Considering that he had suffered a serious head injury in the past, it is understandable that he had a lot of strange preferences as a result. Joshua did as his father had requested, and set up his room underground.

The entire room is made of a special non-reflective black material, and the temperature is very low. Joshua could clearly see the whitening heat rippling through the air as he breathed.

In the very center of the room is an altar, which looks very old and quaint, but still has a sacred atmosphere.

The "father" did not allow anyone but Joshua to come close, so as he descended the steps and sank into the dark room, the obedient attendants and monks stopped at the top of the steps.

The atmosphere here is very peaceful.

Although the light was dim, it did not make Joshua uncomfortable, on the contrary, he liked the place where "Father" was. It was so quiet, dark and cold, like a grave, that quieted the blood that was stirring from time to time in his body.

"Father, I have come to share my joy with you. ”

Joshua slowly approached the old man.

The man who founded the Advent had been badly wounded, but in Joshua's opinion, he had not been weakened by the severe injury.

On the contrary, he looked unusually young, almost the same as when he first established the Adventists. His skin was still smooth, his eyes were sharp and shrewd, and his former friends had to face the beer belly, fat, fatty liver, and receding hairline that fate had given them, but Daniel Wright undoubtedly escaped that fate.

Perhaps this is the gift God has given him for all that he has done. The only flaw in his body was the back of his head, which was horribly dented by Calvin.

However, due to the unusually dim light in the room, the wound was not easy to see, so Daniel Wright was still the handsome and wise middle-aged man.

"What joy do you want to share with me? My dear child......

Daniel Wright sat on a black altar in the middle of the room, tilting his head to look softly at Joshua.

"Brother...... My brother is coming back. ”

Thinking of his dream, Joshua trembled slightly with excitement.

The sweet joy once again rushed through his body.

"Calvin is God's only salvation for us wretched human beings, and he will return naturally, my child, as I have already told you. ”

Daniel Wright grinned as he whispered at Joshua.

"I'm so happy. Joshua rested his head on Daniel's knee.

"I can at last put an end to this sinful act—I sit on the throne that belongs to my brother, and usurp his divine light—every word I say in his place is sinful, and it is probably because of this that it burns my tongue and makes me feel so painful. And every time I substituted for him for one more day, my food was rancid, the wine I drank was like sulphuric acid that corroded my entrails, and the clothes I wore were as coarse as sandpaper, even the finest silks......

Joshua burst into tears, his throat choked.

"I want to be redeemed, Father, you know, I have a sincere love for Him......"

"Yes, you are the most pious child I have ever met. You are Il's most sincere believer. ”

Daniel's whisper came from the darkness.

Joshua felt as if someone was gently touching him, which made him feel a little better.

"Will I be redeemed?

He asked with a shudder, a great uneasiness rising in his heart.

"He'll be—"

Daniel Dao.

"Even if it's me who has sinned so much?"

"Even if it's you, you're guilty—"

"Will my brother forgive me?"

"I think he'll ......," Daniel's voice grew hoarse, and Joshua felt as if he was about to freeze, "he'll punish you, but he'll forgive you eventually." Joshua, no one will ignore all this you have done for him. ”

After receiving Daniel's affirmation, Joshua suddenly felt that his heart was filled with that pure happiness.

"But, Joshua, my child. It was then that Daniel suddenly spoke again, "I have seen visions—your brother, your god, Calvin, with a shadow around him. ”

"What?!"

Joshua screamed.

"Don't be nervous, it's normal...... The devil doesn't want the light that God has given us back to earth, so he will find a way to confuse him and lead him to the labyrinth and the abyss. Unconsciously, Daniel's tone seemed to become strange, his sunken head distorted in the dim light, and the look on his face was full of mystery.

Joshua noticed goosebumps on his arm.

"Joshua, this is your mission—you need to help your brother get back on the right path—you need to find him, and then kill the devil around him. ”

"I'm going to find him and kill the devil. ”

Joshua muttered to himself.

"You will be blessed for it. ”

Daniel whispered.

Then he fell silent.

Joshua knelt beside him, and it took him a long time to slowly leave the basement—and as soon as he got out, many people rushed up in panic.

They draped Joshua in heavy clothing and wiped his hands, feet, and cheeks with hot towels.

Joshua knew it was because they were afraid that their limbs would die from the prolonged hypothermia, but the temperature of the humans approaching and the sound of their breathing made him feel unusually irritable.

"Where's Elder Kara—call him over—"

He screamed, clutching his hair.

He had a rather important job to be entrusted to the former agent.

The latter used to be the top agent sent by the CIA to infiltrate the Adventists as a spy, but after decades of immersion in the Adventists, the former top agent finally came out of the fog.

He is now a very important part of the Adventists—not irreplaceable, but certainly quite important.

There are many very tricky jobs, one that involves darkness and blood, and that requires his abilities.

But Joshua knew that Kara had a much more advanced skill than assassination and coercion.

That man, very good at finding people.

The author has something to say: I feel like I'm about to die after taking medicine...... This chapter will be overhauled in the future.

My brother is a real self-harm and a sick brother...... 166 Reading Network