Chapter 137: Fragments of the Past: A Planet Without Old Men

An atheist once told him that although he never believed in God Almighty, the Sistine Chapel made him suspicious.

How can anyone in this room question the existence of God? Cardinal Andreas Torque has witnessed many sinners tearfully confessing as they look up at the ceiling and witness Michelangelo's brilliant work. No one will remain indifferent to this perfect architecture and visuals. Most people only remember the Creation of Adam part of the mural, but Michelangelo also painted many more stories, each stunning in its own way. Cardinals can marvel at this sacred feast for the senses for hours on end; He burst into tears when he saw the tourists photographing the spectacle without appreciation.

But that's not the opening hours of the Vatican Museums. When the clock struck midnight, only one man's footsteps echoed in the church, to join his superiors.

"Father Torque," Prosecutor Ambrosius greeted the cardinal, who was dressed in a Roman Catholic black robe. Ambrosio, who is more than twenty years older than Andreas, is balding and has a blonde beard that falls off the edges. However, his green eyes flickered with the same witch flame that warmed Andreas's heart.

By order of Pope Jean-Paul II, Andreas Tork is one of the youngest cardinals of the Catholic Church; He was not yet forty years old. Many questioned his appointment, his virtues, and his accomplishments. He didn't have any great deeds, he liked it.

His work is best done in secret.

The Vatican's secret agency, the "Hammer of Justice" (Malleus Malefica

um) does not exist, even for the majority of its members. The Church formally remains neutral in international affairs, functioning only through its extensive diplomatic network.

Of course, this is a lie. The Catholic Church has many enemies, and it needs both quills and flaming swords. The purpose of the Prayer Gavel is to make His Holiness the Pope aware of all the dangers that threaten the true faith and to advance the interests of Catholics throughout the world.

When Andreas joined the army, he was nothing more than a prosecutor, the lowest rank in this secret brotherhood. The future cardinal spent much of his career trying to eradicate the communist plague in Eastern Europe and revive the influence of the Church in the disintegrating Soviet Union. Seven years ago, when he finally became the organization's attorney general, Andreas Tock (A

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On behalf of His Holiness, he examined the influence of terrorist groups in the Middle East. Even when Jean-Paul II was dying, surrounded by scheming cardinals, Maleus Maleficallum worked tirelessly to fulfill the Pope's desire for world peace.

In short, Andreas Tork has become accustomed to fighting the evil of humanity.

But the horrors they face now ...... It's another thing entirely.

Something unnatural.

The two priests sat on the benches, and Ambrosio handed his superiors a twenty-five-page document. Only two words are written on the cover.

"The Stanford Affair."

Andreas's eyebrows furrowed deeper with each line he read, and when he saw the first painting, the priest frowned completely. "Who else knows?" Torque asked.

"At the moment there are only Americans. and us. Father Ambrosio folded his hands and frowned thoughtfully. But a video has already been circulating on the internet. It was only a matter of time before MI6 and the Russians found out all this. ”

The internet has made it more difficult than ever to keep secrets from the outside world. The cardinal was surprised that the Americans could keep such a big thing a secret, but he wondered how long it could be kept secret.

They can hide the destruction of a village, but not a wandering monster.

This photograph shows an abomination coming straight out of the deepest parts of hell. A white-skinned, faceless beast lifted a car as easily as it carried a chair. The arms were unusually long, and there was a gleam on the face where it should be. Considering the height difference of the people it trampled underfoot, this monster is at least six meters tall. A layer of blue mist envelops it like a whirlpool.

Andreas has only seen human hands at work in his life. But what else could that thing be other than the flesh-and-blood demons described in the Bible?

"This is Satan's masterpiece," Andreas said firmly. "Demons".

"It's a man, priest." Ambrosio replied coldly, sending chills down the cardinal's spine. "Read on."

Andreas skimmed through the contents of the report and summarized it aloud. It helps him to memorize information. "Stanford, Nevada, 202 residents. Because their iron ore is depleted, this place is going to become a ghost town. Half of them are dead or missing, and the other half are in government custody. ”

The incident took place on 14 November, six days before the cardinal's report. According to survivors, the monster rushed out of the local clinic at around half past seven in the evening and went on a rampage. The beast tore people to shreds with its bare hands, and the mist that erupted from behind it made them savage. By the time the survivors managed to contact the authorities and the government to isolate the area, the monster had fled into the Mojave Desert.

The lack of internet and phone coverage makes it difficult for the government to respond quickly, but it is easy to cover it up afterwards. It's always the same pattern.

"All previous events took place in similar isolated areas," the cardinal noted.

"But there has never been such a fatal consequence," Ambrosio replied. "The monster is there, and the U.S. government hasn't caught it yet. It won't be hidden forever. ”

"No, it won't." The murderers are getting bolder and more reckless. Andreas flipped through the pages until he saw a picture of a man who looked like a thug, he was so thin that the cardinal wondered if he was malnourished. "James Poole?"

"A dirty repairman," Ambrosio said. After the first discovery was a placebo, he was due to receive a second tetanus shot. The town's doctor, Jason Hopfield, was supposed to receive him at 7:30. ”

The report states that the doctor's body was found in the wreckage, with the chin to the groin hollowed out like a fish.

"Both vaccines came from a private company called New H," Amb

osio continued. "You know Americans, they always don't trust their health care. Some people think their government put microchips in, so they look for 'alternative' sources. ”

It's better to have a microchip implanted than to become a monster. Andreas prayed to both the doctor and the patient. "What do we know about this company?"

"Nothing, no clues other than those written records."

The cardinal gritted his teeth. "So this is another dead end?"

"Not exactly," Ambrosio said, his boss flipping through the report. The sheriff in the town snapped a picture of the vaccine carrier. Some of her actions upset him. ”

her

It's that woman again.

Andreas quickly found her photo and frowned. It's her, with short black hair, blue eyes, and a mediocre appearance, in her thirties. She wore a hat when she spoke, but it was the clearest portrait of her that Marles Malefikalum had ever found.

Nov. 14, Nov. 14...... Doubts arose in the cardinal's mind. "What time was this picture taken?" He asked his companion. "Coordinated Universal Time?"

"I think it's 1 a.m. UTC."

Torque closed the file and gritted his teeth. "Prosecutor Silles saw her near an illegal laboratory in a border town of Uzbekistan at two o'clock UTC time, and then he fell silent."

They hadn't found the body yet, and while the cardinal prayed that his agent would survive, he knew it was best not to expect. By the time reinforcements arrived, the lab was in smoking ruins, and Cyrus was nowhere to be seen.

Ambrosio frowned when he heard this. "Are you sure it's her?"

"Cyrus's description matches that picture." The agent has been tracking this person for a year since she was seen in the "Burning Woman" incident in Tajikistan.

"How can a woman move on both sides of the globe in an hour?"

"Or maybe she's in two places at the same time." Who is that woman? What does that woman do? Is it a witch or a demon?" Did you use our facial recognition software to process your photos?"

"Yes, it came up with a name," Ambrosio replied. While most priests are too old to understand new technologies, Maleus Malefikalam has invested heavily in these techniques in order to maintain an advantage. "Combined with previous sketches, the project came up with a name: Eva Fabre."

Eva Faber, Eva Faber ...... The name sounds familiar. Thankfully, Andreas has an amazing memory, and he quickly remembers where it came from. "GEIPAN FRENCH ARCHIVES," HE SAID. "Mass suicide in Antarctica in 1992."

The French kept a not-so-secret archive of UFO sightings, and Andreas heard that they intended to make some documents public, but certainly not the ones that were really interesting.

France may have separated from Catholicism a century ago, but Catholicism still has friends at the top. A French general shared a copy of the GEIPAN documents with Maleus Malficalem, some of which were very disturbing.

Just like many countries around the world, the French have a presence in Antarctica. They have an official research station there that studies penguins...... But Teucer knew that France once had a second secret laboratory deep inland, called the Orfinn Station. The reason for the secrecy is that the station has always been working on bacteriological weapons far from civilization. Eva Fabre was the base's chief geneticist.

"On the night of December 12, 1992, the Olphin station contacted the Ministry of Depression in France and reported to them a strange thing." Andreas whispered. Scientists saw a flash of purple light in the sky, and then an unidentified object crashed on a nearby glacier. Two days later, the French authorities lost contact with the station. When the French soldiers arrived at the station to investigate, they found 23 of the 22 researchers dead. ”

An experimental, lethal bacterium escaped and infected the staff. The soldiers thought it was an accident until they checked the radios and found that they had been damaged. Although almost all researchers have found it, Eva Fabre's body has never been found.

The French government quietly covered up the incident, closing the archives after five years of searching for the missing scientist. They believe that Eva Fabre may have caused the outbreak before committing suicide. Isolation drives men and women crazy. Investigators also did not find any traces of the meteorite impact, not even satellite surveillance. This event, like other strange stories in the GEIPAN file, was forgotten.

Ambrosio found a photo in his clothes and gave it to his superior. To

Que raised an eyebrow and compared it to the sheriff's snapshot.

Not only is Eva Fabre able to teleport, but she hasn't aged in nearly 12 years.

Somehow, the cardinal was not at all surprised.

"How cold?" Andreas asked after putting all the photos in the file and closing them. "I mean the new H-lead?"

"The Americans couldn't find the employees of this company, but my informant was more fortunate to find the vehicle used to deliver the goods," Ambrosio explained. "It was purchased through an American shell company owned by a Swiss bank."

It may be that bank that financed the illegal laboratories in Uzbekistan. "Find someone and let them speak." Andreas ordered. "The severity of these incidents is escalating, which means they are accumulating something."

"A confessional priest told me that one of the bank's managers might ...... Willing to cooperate with the Church's investigation. ”

"For his soul?"

"For his bank account."

In this age of greed, the God of Wealth rules absolutely. "How much?" The cardinal asked, frowning deeply when his agent told him the amount. "It's a heavy price. Judah also asked for only thirty pieces of silver. ”

"Now the price of a traitor is higher than ever, Father Tork. Supply and demand. ”

"Then I'll have to ask him for help." Thankfully, he's next to make an appointment. "I'll send the money to my usual account. Don't fail. ”

Ambrosio took a deep breath. "Allow me to ask a question, Chief Prosecutor...... What are we investigating?"

"I don't know," the cardinal admitted, "that's exactly what I feared." Communists, bullets, they are all human beings in the end. But that woman, and these abominations...... They are another matter. ”

"Do you think time is running out?"

"Can you still doubt it now? The cardinal asked. "If we find this picture, it means she's no longer hiding. His Holiness the Pope will soon die, and then there will be a crisis. The church must act now, or it will be too late. ”

"May the Lord be with us," Ambrosio prayed before leaving, leaving the cardinal alone in the chapel.

Andreas's gaze turned to the ceiling and saw God's hand reach for the first man. He pondered how inexorably the situation had unfolded to where it was today.

A series of disappearances in early 2002 occurred in the southern hemisphere. Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Tanzania...... Hundreds of people disappeared without a trace, and there is no evidence to link them together. Nothing, except that the cases all took place in remote areas, and the same woman appeared in all three cases. Then humanity also began to disappear in the northern hemisphere.

2003. A woman in Tajikistan spontaneously combusted, killing 14 people. A laboratory was discovered in Siberia with human test subjects. Some have extra organs or limbs, all of whom disappeared last year. In Utah, a scale that becomes invisible was recorded.

In 2004, a man shot and killed a Serbian war criminal in his own home, and the authorities learned that the killer was made of bolts and wires. Sarajevo was hit by an unexplained earthquake, and people swore that they heard the movement of gears underground.

What now?

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Que is finally beginning to see the bigger picture, the tendency to unify all these events into a coherent narrative. When he heard the word "vaccine", his mind suddenly flashed.

Test.

Eva Fabre experiments on humans and turns them into monsters. This is the only explanation that Andreas Tock can understand, although he cannot understand any science or witchcraft to make it possible.

In any case, this evil woman poses a threat to the natural order of the world, and she must leave.

The Cardinal Church found Eva Fabre before she killed more victims. He would listen to her story and make her confess her sins so she could be forgiven by God. Then he would burn her like a witch.

When Andreas heard new footsteps, he looked away from the ceiling. Ambrosio has always been gentle and careful; These are sturdy, full of power and purpose. The man who walked into the church was in his fifties, had fought six gangster wars, and was a giant in a red suit bought with drug money. The cardinal could almost hear the sound of blood dripping from his hands, even though his hands looked clean. His cold and unforgiving eyes hid nothing. As soon as you see this person, you can't help but doubt his true nature.

"Jenas," said the cardinal.

"Andreas," the man replied, his eyes shining like a shark. "You look worried."

"Me. We live in strange and dangerous times. "The cardinal invited the mafia to sit down, but he refused." The benches were warm. ”

"I'd rather we meet at the Classical Art Gallery," replied the gang boss. Unlike any sane person, he didn't even bother to look at the ceiling.

Janus Augustus was a man who did not believe in God, but he still served the Lord.

"What are you thinking, my friend?" Janus asked, looking down at the seated priest. While many people shiver with fear at the sight of this man, Andreas Tork remains calm. "I think it must be urgent to organize this meeting so late."

"I'll get straight to the point." The cardinal took a deep breath, not wanting to resort to it. "I need millions of dollars."

"You're going to get your money. If you wash them clean. ”

Of course. Some officials at the Vatican Bank laundered money for the mafia to enrich themselves, but Andreas Tork was for a nobler cause. Maleus Malefikalum needed a black budget, independent of the Holy City's finances to maintain plausible denial. It's a dirty job, but everything is forgivable if it's in the service of God.

However, Janus was not a member of Maleus Malefikarum, and the less he knew about the Vatican's clandestine activities, the better. Andreas could see that if he let this man meddle in the organization, he would make a mess of the organization like he did with so many others. His influence on Naples Scomola was almost unparalleled, and from what Andreas heard, he intended to expand. No one can resist him for long.

Unfortunately, Janus Augustus smelled weakness, just as a shark could detect blood from miles away. "It must be a bad situation for you to ask for so much," he said, looking at the pastor suspiciously. "If you need my protection, just ask."

"God bless me."

"If I want to hurt you, he won't protect you." This is a blasphemous boast, but this man is not to be underestimated. He filled the entire cemetery, cementing his sinful empire with blood and tears. "But I'm sincere. You're pretty much my friend now, and I need someone as talented as you. ”

"I can be your wife's penitent, but as far as I'm concerned, you're a necessary demon, Janus," the cardinal replied. "Let's keep it that way."

The mob boss giggled. "You say it's a necessary sin?" I guess that's appropriate. I do separate the valuable from the worthless. Really kind and strong people don't need my services. ”

Andreas did not miss this not-so-subtle mockery. "Do you think I'm evil, or weak?"

"There is no good or evil, Andreas, but I would love to know what your Pope will think when he sees us together. Somehow, I doubt he'll approve of your work. ”

"What His Majesty doesn't know will hurt him," replied the cardinal, though his resolve wavered a little. "I did some dirty work to keep his hands clean. For the greater good. ”

Janus clearly didn't believe his words, if the amused look on his face meant anything. "It doesn't matter," he said. "As long as you launder my family's money so I can pay for my daughter's birthday, I'll make you stick to your fantasies."

Andreas ignored his ridicule and remained solemn. "How's little Livia?"

The mob boss's face softened. "She asked me for a pony."

The cardinal couldn't help but smile. "She was outsmart beyond her years, but ultimately a child."

"My wife said I spoiled her. What do you want me to do, father? Is it a sin to indulge a child?"

"I can't say. Never have I ever been. ”

Janus searched through his clothes. "Speaking of gifts, I have a gift for you."

He tossed a small bag full of colored crystals to the priest, who instinctively caught it, and immediately frowned in disgust. "What is this?"

"Our new product," the mob boss replied with a laugh. "I hear you're right ...... Mind-opening experiments are interesting. ”

Andreas winced, and a smile appeared on Janus' lips.

Many cultures use drugs to try to reach the higher realms of being, and the cardinals wonder if they have stumbled upon something. He never dared to test his theories on himself because it would be a sin, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity.

How did Augustus know? Did he spy on the cardinal?

"Take it back," Andreas said. It's all some kind of power play. "I don't need it."

"Really?" In this case, you can simply throw it in the nearest trash can. If you really are the good guy you think you are, you will. "He laughed even harder." But if my opinion of your true self is correct...... Then when you are ready to accept your true nature, I will welcome you with open arms. ”

Augustus walked away, leaving Andreas alone with the poison.

27 March 2005.

Last Easter .

They looked for him inside the Vatican.

He could hear them behind the church door, which Andreas blocked with a bench. He knew they would make it. None of his men could hide from them for long, and they left the cardinal to last.

He failed, and the whole world went crazy. Little did the world know at the time that iron pillars had risen from the ground in Sarajevo and six other cities in the Balkans, raining down iron men and drones. Other human monsters she unleashed in the wild. Prototypes, early test subjects, those who keep their sanity.

His Majesty the Pope is a natural death. God graciously called him back so that he would not suffer the horrors that preceded him again. Father Ambrosio also died, but his death was less merciful. Eva Fabre killed him, along with his Swiss informant. But before he died, he gave Andreas enough information to start figuring it all out.

But he never thought about it. It is impossible to imagine how deep it is.

So they began to hunt him down. They eliminated the "hammer of evil" in a matter of days before the church could stop it from spreading around the world. They already knew. They always knew, but never cared.

Even six months ago, Andreas Tock was too late.

Now, the cardinal understands why he never found a clue. It's an organization, yes, but just an organization of one person. They are many, because they are many. The others are ghosts, deceived people, tools to provide her with money and equipment, but never trusted, know nothing. She hired hundreds of companies to deliver the poison, but none realized that they were delivering bottled poison to millions of people around the world. He had tried to warn others, but she was everywhere and always in his way. Intercept his messages and make him fear for his life. The people he trusted had vanished without a trace.

She's not human anymore.

Does she have it?

He should have gone to Augustus. Now everything makes sense. Who can exorcise demons better than demons in human skin?

His hand pulled the gun out of his black clothes and pointed it at the bolted door. The sound on the other side stopped. Did they hear that? Do they know?

Andreas Tock turned in panic when he saw a flash of blue light behind him.

There were dozens of people in the church. The woman in the blue suit is holding a strange weapon that looks like a rifle made of meat and metal. They're all her, but they're not exactly the same. Some people have different eye colors, and some people have different hairstyles. That's her, but with a myriad of variations.

"Eva Fabre". Andreas Teucer tried to hide the fear in his voice, but was unsuccessful.

They all laughed, but only one spoke. "That used to be my name," she said, her voice so flat. "But I'm called an alchemist now."

He heard them break down and surrounded him. "Satan would be more suitable," replied the priest, who tried to threaten them with a gun so that they would not dare to approach. But there were dozens, maybe 100, and he fired only 5 shots.

"I used to be human like you, but you're right. There's a demon out there, priest. But they are not under our feet. "Some of them are looking at the ceiling." They are right above us, in the terrible darkness of space. ”

"Someday they'll come to us," said Eva, another with burns on the left side of her face. "In other worlds, they've done it."

Other worlds? What kind of madness is this?" Stand back!" Andreas warned, his finger almost pulling the trigger. "Stand back!"

But the circle is getting tighter. "To be a superior race in the universe, humanity must evolve," said one of the mad women, so close that he could almost feel her breathing. "Go beyond the theory of natural selection and into the field of intelligent design."

"Our design," added another Eva Fabre, whose voice is very masculine.

Twist pulled the trigger and shot a man in the head.

She collapsed into blue particles, as if she had never existed.

The others then immediately set their eyes on him. He beat and beat and raged, but in the end, they forced him to kneel and disarm and surrender. They searched his clothes for hidden weapons, and found only the medicine that Augustus had given him a few months earlier.

"What is this?" When they examined the substance, Eva Fabre asked, though Teucer couldn't tell which one it was. "Bounce?"

He...... He kept the substance, but only to study it. Never use it on yourself.

The madwoman began to argue. "Did we try it in the process of building a relationship?"

"I don't think so."

"That's what we should."

"We still can. The results should be interesting. ”

Andreas Tork is desperately trying to figure out how to solve the problem. Why didn't they kill him like they killed anyone else? Why did they let him live, instead of cutting his throat?

But then they brought the blue syringe and he understood.

"No," Andreas pleaded, his voice choking in his throat. The liquid swirled around in the container, as if alive and hungry. "No, please. Kill me. Don't turn me into ...... Don't turn me into that kind of thing......"

"It's a blessing," said one man, shoving Augustus' medicine into his mouth. It tastes like salt, mushrooms, and chemicals.

"It's a reward for your perseverance," the other added, rolling up his sleeves.

"We should bury you with your secrets," the third man said, stabbing him with a syringe. "But killing you is a waste."

"Your brain is going to break," said the fourth. "But you'll live."

The world turned blue when the blue elixir entered his veins, and Andreas Teucer screamed.

His heart was on fire. The drug reacts with the blue substance in his body, and reality crumbles around him. The ceiling of the church swirls like a blue swirl, and the shape collapses. Colors danced in the corners of his eyes, and the image of an angel began to whisper to him.

Hallucination. These are all hallucinations, nothing more. A dream.

However, he sensed something else. Something different, something that squirmed in his brain and neurons. The alchemist's poison pierced his nerves and infected him like a plague. His entire body seemed to be on fire, and his skin peeled off, revealing the raw flesh underneath.

The pain is tormenting and makes people mad!

"Please! He shouted, and the hallucinating angels screamed in unison. "Let it stop!"

Something is listening.

His soul left his kneeling body, and his mind was freed from the bondage of the body. His immortal soul was dragged into a vast blue vortex, into a place he had never seen before. He can't see with his eyes, but ...... But images flooded his mind. The pain was gone, replaced by an ethereal numbness.

He became a thought, a rising consciousness, into a bright blue world.

A kingdom of numbers and letters, an organized archive of smells, smells and sounds. A book without pages, wandering thoughts. A spiritual world without flesh and blood, where the mind is no longer limited by the limits of neuronal storage.

This singular dimension has a powerful force at its center, ruling it from the throne of information. Andreas's detached mind could not understand it. It's so big, so big, so complicated. Geometric figures, equations, and rotating sentences are unified into a single, sacred whole.

"Lord? The cardinal asked, and though he didn't have a mouth, the words came out anyway.

No.

That's God, but not the Lord of the Bible. It is neither male nor female. It did not create man in its own image, because it did not have any humanity. It is a sentient mind, a divine mind without a body, a knowledge without a container. A pure blue being, the psionic power of the universe. All the information in the universe is concentrated in one singularity.

The entity noted Andreas.

Looked at him.

Andreas screamed, and the entity tore his brain apart with a vague thought. It shatters the cardinal's brain into countless tiny thoughts, flipping through his memories like a child flipping through a book. There is no pain, but there is no comfort either. Because this being, this ultimate being, has neither love nor hate.

Only curiosity.

It breaks down Andreas Teucer into his molecules to understand how he works. Why does it need a heart? Why the brain? How do they fit together? What is Andreas afraid of? Why does he prefer apples over cheese? Why is he still alive? What is the underlying logic?

Why, how, how?

It asked all the questions and got all the answers.

This entity records every thought in the cardinal's head, every feeling he feels. It completely destroyed the foundations of his existence, to figure out how it all fit together. Andreas Tock doesn't know how long it took, maybe centuries or minutes, but in the end, the Supreme knew himself better than humanity.

Then, it pieced together Andreas Tocke's brain.

But instead of stuffing it back into the human tiny brain, the Ultimates shared it.

The mysteries of the stars and the principles of the universe were revealed to the priest. His questions about the origin and purpose of mankind were answered. This entity taught the true history of the saints and prophets he worshipped throughout his life. When it discovers that the priest wants more, it teaches him mathematics, botany, and chemistry. This knowledge is imprinted in the cardinal's nerves like burning letters.

There are no words to describe the experience. It's an unimaginable joy, an ecstasy. Andreas's tiny and fragile human mind briefly merges with the supreme divine consciousness, immersed in infinite knowledge. At that moment, humanity feels whole, truly whole, free from all doubts and fears. He is a man who has something greater than himself, and his sense of self dissolves like a drop in the ocean.

This one...

This is heaven.

This is God. This is the entity that Andreas has aspired to serve all his life. This is the afterlife he longs for, and his mind merges into this divine consciousness and becomes a new neuron in a cosmic-sized brain.

Then it ended, just as abruptly as it began.

The spiritual connection with the Supreme collapsed. His brain was thrown back to the ground, back to his finite brain, back to his flesh, back to this prison. He was cast out of the Garden of Eden, and perfect happiness was replaced by an icy feeling on the church floor.

Andreas didn't know how long he had been lying on the floor, crushed to pieces. He felt numb. He felt numb inside.

He was still breathing, but felt dead.

Eva Fabre is long gone, but even if she is still there, he won't care. His gaze wandered over the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but all he saw now was human imperfection. Subtle, almost invisible mistakes, mistakes, ugliness in the design. Michelangelo's work now looks as rough and chaotic as horse manure.

Andreas Tock had tasted heaven, and now he felt that the world was ugly.

He stood up, his gun on the ground, and next to it was an empty medicine bag. "No!" His fingers immediately grasped the container, his tongue licking the plastic in search of a taste, just a taste of heaven. "Send me back!" Send me back!"

In desperation, he tore open the empty bag and grabbed his skull with his fingers. He felt his mind struggle against this bony cage, wanting to escape, wanting to rise, wanting to go back. Finally, he felt blood dripping onto his nails.

He gasped for breath from despair and weariness.

His mind is as clear as water, and he is single-minded.

His mind is no longer fragmented and tugged in all directions. Now, there is only one thing he can think of.

Get back.

Andreas Tock stumbled out of the church, his eyes unblinking, his senses battered by the chaotic universe around him. The holy city of the Vatican trembled and crumbled. But he didn't care. He no longer cares about the Church, the world of suffering, or Eva Fabre. He must return to the blue world, to his new God, to this happy afterlife.

He went outside, into the gardens of the Vatican, looking out over Rome. It was night, but he didn't know if it was March 27 or something else. Either way, he could see that the alchemist's plan was going well. Everywhere he looked, there were signs. Flames spread from St. Peter's Basilica; Giant mushrooms grow in old historic neighborhoods; ICBMs flew through the northern skies and flew towards the Balkans and Sarajevo.

The old world is burning, and a new world will rise from the ashes.

And A

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Que doesn't care at all.