Chapter XXVIII. Religion and Religious Rituals
After agreeing to Catherine's request to participate, Martin reached out and opened the folder on the workbench, took out a few documents from it, and handed them directly to Leo, perhaps in his opinion, both Nelson and Jason are just accessories, and Leo is the one who really does things.
Leo was not polite, and after taking the document, he found a random chair and sat down, and looked carefully at it by the light on the wall.
The documents that Martin took out were homicide records, with sketches of the scene drawn by the artist, although sloppy, but with the written record, it can also give people an idea of what the scene was like.
These homicides all took place in the cage city, judging from the place name of the place, the location is not fixed, but all the homicides are the same situation, the victim's eyes and heart are all gouged out, a mouse is placed in the heart part, and two insect cocoons are placed in the eyes, and both the mouse and the insect cocoon are dead.
As for the dug-out heart and eyeballs were not with the deceased, judging from the traces at the scene, someone took the heart and eyeballs after the deceased's death, and placed rats and insect cocoons.
The most bizarre thing about these cases is that all the people who recorded the case without exception believed that the heart and eyes were dug out by the deceased himself, and that the deceased dug out the heart first, and in this order, it means that the deceased was already dead when he gouged out his eyeballs.
"Are these cases from a few years ago?" Leo noticed the date on the document and frowned, "You don't want me to help you solve these cases, do you?"
"No, these cases are just causes," Martin pulled out a few more papers and handed them to Leo.
Leo handed the documents in his hand to Nelson and Jason respectively, took Martin's documents, and looked at them carefully, and Jason and Nelson couldn't help but exclaim after seeing the contents of the documents.
The documents in Leo's hands are now dated last winter, and by this spring, the closest date is ten days ago, and this time the victims are no longer adults, but children.
The same technique, the same arrangement, except that this time the items are no longer simply rats and insect cocoons, but the so-called berserk rats and two moths on the workbench.
"What about the moths?" asked Leo.
"Yes. Martin explains: "Moths are made of ice and melt after a long time. With that, he handed all the remaining files in the folder to Leo, and said, "Actually, we didn't look for you to ask you to investigate these cases, we have already investigated these cases, and this sect is the most suspicious,"
Following Martin's finger, he looked over and saw that the document said the Aknaya sect of the Church of Ebon.
"Is it a cult?" Leo asked directly, instead of looking.
"No, it's the Orthodox Church. Martin shook his head and explained.
Leo carefully recalled the religion of this world, and found that the religion of this world was both tolerant and strict.
As long as a denomination is registered by the Holy See and included in the Orthodox list, then the denomination can preach to anyone, anywhere, in any country.
However, once a sect preaches without the permission of the Orthodox Holy See, it will be regarded as a cult, and the Inquisition Army of the Orthodox See will be dispatched to completely exterminate all those who believe in this cult, and the governments of various countries will also actively cooperate.
As for the Holy See, although the core of the Holy See is the belief in God, it is more like a council on another continent than a religion. Because before the establishment of the Continental Congress, when disputes between countries needed to be mediated, the Orthodox See was responsible for mediation, and the twelve cardinals of the Orthodox See were all people sent by various countries to administer the Orthodox Curia, and the Inquisition Army of the Orthodox See was also formed with the participation of various countries, so the governments of various countries were not worried that the Orthodox See would become bigger.
After hearing Martin's reply, Leo continued to look down at the information in his hand, although he could quickly remember everything on the information through the auxiliary brain system, but it was too shocking, he still honestly flipped through the pages.
According to the records, the Church of Ebonn is a very ancient polytheistic church, which first appeared in the swamps of the Black Forest, and they deified all the creatures that could be seen in the swamps, such as the god of poisonous snakes, the god of toads, and so on.
Although this church is very old, it is a pity that the gods they believe in are too strange to be liked and spread widely, and it is almost impossible to see the missionaries of this church anywhere else except in the swamps of the Black Forest.
The Aknaya sect is a new sect in the Church of Ebon, and the deity of this sect is called Aknaya, also known as the god of a thousand eyes and a thousand hearts.
Although the church officially said that this god Aknaya was a very old god who had been asleep in the past, but now he had woken up, so they wanted to create a new sect to spread the faith of Aknaya.
But in fact, more people think that this so-called god Aknaya is the person who wants more young people to become the church of Ebon, and deliberately creates such a strange shape and simple and easy-to-understand deity.
Although the deity has a very strange appearance, there is nothing unusual about its teachings.
In the teachings of Aknaya, it is mentioned that the truth of this world is hidden under the prosperity of the world, and only by believing in Akenaya can we use the power of His thousand eyes to see through the fog and see the truth of the world, and only those who see through the truth of the world can attain eternal sublimation.
At the same time, the doctrine also mentions that the truth of this world is not something that mortals can bear, and anyone who sees the truth of the world will receive the impact of the world's will every time they snoop, and only by believing in Aknaya, with the help of the power of his thousand hearts, can they survive the impact again and again, otherwise the soul will die in the impact, and the body will be tortured endlessly.
After reading this paragraph, Leo couldn't help but think about what happened to him, and those experiences seemed to coincide with the content of this doctrine.
After pondering for a moment, Leo realized that Martin and what he said were somewhat similar to the content of this doctrine, so he put down the information in his hand and asked Martin very seriously, "Are you also a believer in Arconaya?"
"Yes. Martin nodded and said, "Or more accurately, the Arknaya Sect in Cage City was built by me. ”
"And now, have you lost your church?" said Leo, who struck Martin in the sore spot mercilessly.
Martin frowned and said, "In order to avoid conflict and avoid the division of the church that has grown so hard, I chose to avoid it. ”
Leo saw the information in his hand and asked, "So what do you think now, do you want us to help you take it back?"
"Haha!" Martin suddenly laughed when he heard this, and the laughter was full of obvious mockery, even Jason could hear it, and was even about to teach him a lesson, but was stopped by Leo, who looked calm.
"Martin. Catherine reproached Martin.
"Alright, alright, I won't laugh!" Martin raised his hand and made a gesture of mercy, and said, "I always thought that I was the most arrogant person in the world, and I always liked to say that I could change the world and that I could do great things, but I didn't expect that there was someone here who was as arrogant as me." ”
"Am I saying something wrong?" Leo didn't get angry at Martin's behavior, but asked the branch seriously.
"Do you know how many people believe in the Aknaya Church in Cage City?" Martin asked, and without waiting for an answer, he directly revealed the answer: "More than a million people, accounting for one-third of the total population of Cage City. What do you think you can do to help me regain control of the sect of more than a million people?"
Leo asked rhetorically, "If it's not for sectarian control, then what are you for?"
"For the sake of the order that we have managed to establish. Martin put away his smile and said very seriously: "You are not from the cage city, you don't know what the cage city was like before, this is hell, the whole cage city is a monster that devours some hope, and the people who live here will either become monsters or be swallowed." Now that we have been slaves for many years, we have finally established a complete order in the cage city, and everyone's life is starting to get better and better, but at this time, someone wants to destroy this order, what do you think I should do?"
"Was Cage City that bad in the past?" Nelson said suddenly.
"It's worse than you think. Catherine also felt very painful about the past years, and replied in a deep voice.
"It's okay, it's gone. Nelson couldn't help but reach out to grab Catherine's hand, but changed direction on the way and slapped her on the shoulder.
Leo ignored the little ambiguity of the man and woman next to him, but looked at Martin and asked, "What do you want us to do?"
"My people, everyone in the church knows, and when I go to the church, I will only be noticed by everyone, and I can't find anything at all. "But the three of you are different, you are all fresh faces, and you can disguise yourself as workers living in Cage City, and blend in as new members of the church, and see if you can find the people who did these things, and it would be better if you can find evidence, so that I can convince the three patriarchs of the church to intervene directly in this matter." ”
"Judging from the information above, it is clear that the person who did this has been living here for a long time, and what he is doing is some kind of religious ritual, and it is more likely that someone is helping him to cover it up. Leo asked, questioningly, "Didn't you suspect that the three high priests you spoke of had done it?"
"No way. Martin said with great firmness: "It can't be them, please don't ask me why, I can only say that I know very well that the three of them will never do such a thing." ”
Leo was silent for a moment and said, "I also need more information, such as the geography of the cage city, roads, etc., as well as information about the interior and surroundings of the church." ”
Hearing Leo's request, Martin said with some displeasure: "I don't even have the information you want, I need to collect it temporarily, and even if I collect it, there will be a lot of it, and it is not at all possible to read it in one day, let alone master the content of the information." If His Excellency Leo Dodd is unwilling to cooperate, he will refuse, so why bother me with this method?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm asking for something a little too strong. After Leo took the initiative to apologize, he asked, "However, we are not familiar with Cage City and the location of that sect at all, and even if we get involved, it will be difficult to investigate something in one day." ”
"I've taken that into account as well. Martin quickly replied, "Originally, I was going to send someone with you into the church building, and he would help you find the way. But now that Catherine has taken the initiative to join in, it is best to let Catherine lead you in the rent, and she can cover for you if necessary. ”
Hearing Martin's words, Nelson frowned and was about to say something, but was stopped by Catherine on the side, and shook her head suggestively.
"As for the investigation, it's not as difficult as you think, we've already figured out that it may be the stronghold where those guys conduct religious ceremonies, but the geography of that stronghold is a bit special, and it's inconvenient for me and my people to get close, but you can easily sneak in, and when the time comes, you can find something that can be used as evidence and get used to it, so one day is completely enough. ”
Leo thought for a moment and said, "In that case, I don't have any problems. ”
Martin asked, "What about the two of you?" ”
Nelson shook his head dryly, "I don't have any requirements. ”
Jason said recklessly: "We should always have some guys in our hands, right? If there is an accident and someone finds out, we can kill it!"
Martin was stunned, nodded, and said, "Of course this is needed, after all, Mr. Dodd's musket is impossible to bring in, and you need to prepare some additional weapons." It's just that I hope that if you are really discovered by accident, you will try not to do anything, because even if you are caught, I have a way to rescue you, but if you do, it may cause some accidents. ”
"Rest assured, we know how to do it. Leo replied for the other two.
Seeing that the matter had been settled, the group began to split up, with Catherine leaving with Nelson to prepare the identification and clothing that the three of them needed, while Martin left the clinic with Leo and Jason, and after a few laps back and forth between the narrow passage and the air aisle, they were taken to a small building near the ground.
This small building is cluttered with all kinds of mechanical parts, and in a relatively open area, there are some welding machines and cutting machines that look like patchwork machines. Another thing that attracted Leo's attention was that the small building was decorated with electric lights, although there were only two bulbs, and the lights were a little dim, and they flashed from time to time, but this was indeed an electrically powered bulb.