North Tivian, Cathedral District.
At noon, sunlight shines on the spires of the cathedral buildings. Inside the work hall of the Historical Scripture Department, a group of priests and nuns have just finished their morning tasks and are preparing to head to the cafeteria for lunch.
"Vania, let’s go to the cafeteria together." Passing by Vania’s workstation, Sister Aurora greets her. Vania, however, shakes her head and responds.
"You go ahead. I still have a few things to finish up here. I’ll join you soon."
Vania smiles at Aurora, who nods in understanding.
"Alright then, I’ll go ahead. Time for some roasted meat!"
With that, Aurora leaves with the others, and the spacious hall quickly empties, leaving only Vania behind.
Seeing this, Vania sits down at her desk, closes her eyes, and carefully assesses her mental state. After finishing her self-assessment, she silently prays to Akasha, asking for divine grace to cleanse the cognitive poison within her.
Once her prayer is complete, Vania slowly opens her eyes and begins to carefully observe the changes before and after her prayer.
“It seems there really is a difference. I must have been contaminated with cognitive poison from the mystical texts I read this morning…” Vania thinks to herself, her expression serious as she looks at her hands. Then, she turns her gaze to the large instrument beside her.
“According to Miss Dorothy, the issue might be with my instrument. The protective measures might be incomplete, allowing the cognitive poison to leak through... But the instrument was just inspected the day before yesterday. Could it have been damaged during the inspection? It was working fine before that.”
Frowning, Vania ponders this possibility. She decides to report her findings to Dorothy first.
With that, Vania takes out her Holy Scripture, flips to the page where she communicates with Dorothy, and begins to write, informing Dorothy of her morning observations and suspicions.
After a short wait, Dorothy’s handwriting appears on the page.
"It’s indeed possible that the instrument was damaged during the inspection. But if that’s the case, your instrument should be an isolated incident. Can you confirm if your colleagues’ instruments are also experiencing the same issue?"
“My colleagues’ instruments... Aurora also seemed a bit strange…”
Seeing Dorothy’s response, Vania suddenly recalls that during dinner with Aurora last night, Aurora had unexpectedly taken out a locket and reminisced about her mother—something she doesn’t usually do. It was a bit odd.
"One of my colleagues might have an issue. I’m not sure about the others yet."
Vania writes in the Holy Scripture. Soon, Dorothy’s response appears again.
"You can try to subtly probe your other colleagues to see if they’re experiencing similar issues. You can use topics related to the themes of the mystical texts to test them. By the way, do you know what themes the mystical texts they’re reading are about? And where did they come from?"
"The texts we’re interpreting this time are part of a series. Our reading tasks are assigned by the head of the Historical Scripture Department, Deacon Cork. As for the origin of the texts, I heard they were collected from the hidden market."
"A series, huh... In that case, you can try to subtly bring up topics related to the themes of these texts with your colleagues."
“Subtle probing... If it’s about the themes of these texts, I can start with topics like mothers, the Holy Mother, or meat…”
Thinking this, Vania writes in the Holy Scripture.
"Alright, I’ll try it during lunch and this afternoon."
With that, Vania closes her Holy Scripture and heads to the cafeteria.
…
Time flies, and soon, the day comes to an end. As the sun sets and night falls, Vania finishes her work for the day and hurries back to her dormitory. After closing the door, she sits at her desk, takes out her Holy Scripture, and begins to write urgently.
"Miss Dorothy, your guess might be correct. Today, I subtly probed three of my colleagues and found that their responses seemed off. Like my symptoms yesterday, they’ve all been feeling a strong sense of longing for their mothers recently, and they seem to have developed a stronger interest in meat. One of my colleagues even said that the more he looks at the statue of the Holy Mother, the more it reminds him of his own mother. They might all be contaminated with the same cognitive poison as I was."
With a hint of worry, Vania finishes writing. After a short wait, Dorothy’s response appears.
"This means the issue with the instrument isn’t isolated to you. Your colleagues’ instruments might also be damaged. It’s possible that multiple people have been contaminated with cognitive poison. The inspection you underwent the other day might have been tampered with. This might not be an accident."
Seeing Dorothy’s response, Vania grows anxious. She quickly writes back.
"This is serious, Miss Dorothy. Thank you for the warning. I’ll report this to the deacon immediately and have them fix the instruments and help the others cleanse the cognitive poison."
Vania’s words sink into the page, and soon, Dorothy’s handwriting appears again. This time, her writing is slightly rushed, as if she’s in a hurry.
"Wait! The situation you’re facing might not be an accident but a deliberate act. Reporting this to the church now will only alert the perpetrators, causing them to hide again. And you might expose yourself to them."
Dorothy’s words appear before Vania’s eyes, almost as if her voice is echoing in Vania’s ears. Seeing this, Vania pauses, realizing that her earlier plan might have been too hasty.
"Sorry, Miss Dorothy, I was too rash earlier... Now isn’t the right time to report this to the church."
Vania writes this, and Dorothy’s response comes quickly.
"For now, it’s best not to act rashly. Wait patiently. If someone deliberately damaged the instruments to infect you all with cognitive poison, they must have a goal in mind. To achieve that goal, they might try to contact you in various ways, perhaps attempting to guide those contaminated into doing something. So, for now, just wait. Pretend to be contaminated and wait. The mastermind will eventually reveal themselves. If nothing happens, then you can report it to the church."
“Waiting, huh…”
Seeing Dorothy’s advice, Vania nods thoughtfully and writes back.
"I understand."
…
Over the next two days, Vania follows Dorothy’s advice and continues her daily routine as usual, praying and working on interpreting mystical texts as she always does.
The only change is that Vania notices the atmosphere around her workplace becoming increasingly strange. Her colleagues occasionally stare at the statue of the Holy Mother in a daze, sometimes mixing up their mothers’ names when praying to the Holy Mother. When they gather to discuss, their conversations increasingly revolve around the Holy Mother, veering into increasingly bizarre directions.
In this subtly shifting environment, Vania grows more concerned but continues to blend in, chiming in with her colleagues’ conversations.
Just like that, following Dorothy’s advice, Vania waits silently, and her patience finally pays off on the morning of the third day.
That morning, Vania wakes up early as usual. After finishing her morning prayers at the church, she has a quick breakfast in the cafeteria and heads straight to her workplace.
Vania walks into the main hall of the Historical Scripture Department as she always does. When she pushes the door open, she finds the hall in chaos. Her colleagues—priests and nuns—are gathered together, heatedly discussing something, creating a bustling scene.
“What’s going on?”
Seeing the scene before her, Vania is filled with confusion. She steps forward, trying to listen carefully to what they’re discussing.
...
“How could it just disappear? We haven’t finished studying it yet...”
“Yeah, yeah, it was gone as soon as we arrived this morning.”
“Could it have been stolen? This is really urgent. We need to report this to Deacon Cork...”
...
In front of Vania, the priests and nuns of the Historical Scripture Department continue to discuss, their expressions tense and even somewhat panicked. Witnessing this, Vania can’t help but frown. She steps forward and taps Sister Aurora, whom she knows.
“Everyone seems so anxious. Did something go missing?”
Vania asks Aurora, who turns around with a worried look.
“It’s gone, it’s gone... Vania, the batch of documents about the Holy Mother that we were studying suddenly disappeared. We hadn’t even finished reading them...”
“That batch of mystical texts is gone?”
Hearing Aurora’s words, Vania is quite surprised. That series of mystical texts was the source of their cognitive poisoning. Vania had been staying vigilant every day, but now they’ve suddenly vanished.
“That batch of mystical texts is gone... No wonder everyone’s so panicked.”
Vania thinks to herself. She knows that after being contaminated with cognitive poison, people become dependent on unfinished mystical texts. The poison lures readers into becoming obsessed with them.
Just as Vania is pondering who might have taken those mystical texts, the door to the hall opens again, and Deacon Cork, dressed in his priestly robes, walks in. Seeing him, the priests and nuns who had been fervently discussing immediately swarm forward, gathering around Cork.
“Hmm? Everyone, what’s going on?”
Seeing the crowd of subordinates before him, Cork shows a hint of confusion and asks. A priest steps forward and says respectfully.
“Deacon Cork, the batch of documents we were studying disappeared this morning. Do you know where they might have gone?”
“The batch of documents you’ve been studying these past few days? Last night, I had the library staff take them away for storage. I reviewed your records, and the classification and labeling work for these mystical texts is pretty much done.”
Deacon Cork says calmly. Hearing his words, the crowd becomes agitated.
“Deacon Cork, the study of those documents is far from complete! We still need to continue studying them...”
“Yes, yes... There are still so many parts we haven’t read yet, Deacon Cork. Why wasn’t this discussed with us before they were stored?”
“Our work isn’t finished, Deacon Cork. It’s not time to store them away yet.”
The crowd begins to voice their dissatisfaction with the storage of the mystical texts in front of Cork. Faced with this scene, Cork’s expression shows a hint of helplessness.
“Everyone, our job isn’t to study the entire mystical text. It’s to determine the general content for classification and labeling. In that regard, the work on these documents is done.”
Cork spreads his hands and says helplessly. However, the crowd, already affected by cognitive poison, is clearly not satisfied with this answer. They just want to get the unfinished mystical texts back.
“Deacon Cork! We believe these documents have significant research value. Many of the contents provide important references that could deepen our understanding of the current Holy Mother scriptures. They could also serve as excellent supplements to some missing parts of the classics. So, we strongly recommend retrieving those documents and continuing our study.”
“Yes... It’s not time to store them yet. These aren’t heretical texts; they’re quite legitimate...”
“This batch of mystical texts about the Holy Mother is the most valuable material I’ve seen in recent years. After studying and detoxifying them, they might even be added directly to the current Holy Mother scriptures. Storing them away now would be a huge loss.”
In front of Cork, the priests and nuns speak passionately, as if the entire Historical Scripture Department supports retrieving the stored mystical texts. Seeing the uproar before him, Cork sighs helplessly.
“Sigh... Alright, alright. Since everyone values these documents so highly, I’ll find a way to get them back. However, books that have entered the underground library aren’t easy to retrieve. Even for me, I need a good reason to gain access.”
Cork ponders for a moment, then looks around before finally turning his gaze back to the crowd before him.
“Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll draft an application right here, requesting access to the library to search for and borrow the relevant mystical texts. Once it’s written, all of you will sign it. This application will represent the will of the entire Historical Scripture Department. With that, I’ll have sufficient grounds to enter the library and retrieve the texts for you. How does that sound?”