"Welcome, Master Fuli and Miss Lin....."
The clergy, dressed in flowing robes with wide sleeves, stood on the church steps, a warm smile on his face as he looked at Master Fuli visiting the church late at night.
"Next, I will guide our distinguished guests. Please follow me to the confession room."
Unlike the chapel where the congregation usually gathers, the confession room within the church is a dedicated hall where believers confess their sins to the clergy, who act on behalf of God's forgiveness. This way, they obtain God's forgiveness and acceptance, purifying their hearts.
"To be honest, I really don't understand. Look at our Old Qin with its aggressive militarism, the Southern and Northern Dynasties prevailing with effeminate men, Old Tang's division of territories, Old Song's party disputes and internal frictions, Old Yuan's racial discrimination, and Old Ming's embezzlement of military funds—any one of them could trigger a systemic collapse..."
"But your America has all of the above, and masters them, yet why hasn't it exploded on the spot?"
Old Li's teasing words reached Master Fuli's ears in the corridor.
At this moment, a deep voice with some amusement helplessly spoke up:
"Because.... the Heavenly Father teaches us that one needs to maintain diligence, generosity, humility, gentleness, temperance, forgiveness, and chastity. Love is power, and it's hard for me to explain to you atheists."
"Pfft..." Another voice interrupted, teasingly saying to the earlier deep voice: "That's not love; you could only say they are well-trained, having lost the potential for unity and coalition, brainwashed by you wicked landlords and capitalists."
"If you didn't split them into small groups, you think they wouldn't revolt even if they saw your charming mother?"
"Oh..... I can't understand what position you're in to criticize me." The deep voice seemed incredulous as it rebutted the young voice.
The argument continued, but it wasn't heated, and laughter echoed in the confession room.
There exists a treasured sword capable of severing the head of an evil dragon, and with the dragon's demise, the world enjoys a brief peace.
The evil dragon's offspring, having witnessed what once transpired, had already erased the legend of the sword before committing any acts of evil, and meticulously fortified themselves against any unexpected possibilities, even crafting a new layer of scales and armor.
"In your confession room, it seems that you're hosting demons and Satan. Isn't it time to exorcise them?"
Recognizing Old Li and Old Lin's voices among the three in the hall, Master Fuli couldn't identify the distinctly deep yet slightly soft male voice.
Master Fuli looked at the guiding clergy, teasing him.
"Xia Country forbids promoting feudal superstitions, and what we wish to convey to the world is merely virtue. Belief is a personal freedom.... it doesn't interfere with me earning a salary." The clergy turned around, smiling wryly in response.
Brother, the person inside is my boss!
As for exorcism, I can only say that promoting feudal superstitions in Xia Country could get you imprisoned, so there's no way to exorcise anything.
Following the clergy's lead, Master Fuli and Lin Ying arrived at the candlelit main door.
The clergy gently knocked on the door, and after receiving a response from inside, opened the hall door.
In the confession hall, bright candle flames warmed the room, and a small wooden confession booth, about four square meters, was tucked in a corner.
Only a small round table with food and fine wine was placed in the center of the hall. Li Wenkang sat on a handcrafted leather sofa, wearing a vest, with galoshes on his feet, arrogantly crossing his legs.
Beside him was a fishing box, with a wet fish carrier casually tossed aside, clearly showing he'd just returned from fishing.
Lin Qi, disguised as Lin Zhe, sat on the sofa next to Li Wenkang, holding a champagne glass, clinking glasses with the third person at the table.
The third man was very fat, his body mass accumulated at his belly. He sat in an electric wheelchair by the table, his limbs short and stout, and due to his large belly, his hands couldn't even reach the tabletop.
He placed a cigar ashtray on his belly and raised a glass of blood-red wine, his face showing a warm and kind smile as he clinked glasses with Lin Zhe.
But under the white candlelight, the third man's warm smile appeared particularly eerie and stiff.
"Old Li! Old Lin!"
Master Fuli glanced at the third man without saying anything to him, instead greeting the two old men he knew loudly.
"You're here, have a seat!"
Li Wenkang extinguished his cigarette, gestured to an adjacent sofa intentionally left vacant, sat up straighter, and smiled at Master Fuli as he spoke:
"The guy sitting across from me is barely trustworthy. We usually call him the 'Earl.' He forms the core of our Security Bureau's overseas intelligence network."
The fat man, codenamed 'Earl,' smiled at Master Fuli, raising his short and chubby hand to wave in greeting:
"Welcome, new friend. Before anything else, allow me to extend my sincerest apologies to you all."
"I myself have a congenital defect and have no intention of getting involved in the struggles of you new humans, so please forgive me. I cannot introduce myself; I can only tell you my code name..."
The Earl wore a cheerful smile and offered a genteel apology, but with his bulky face, it was hard to say he seemed friendly.
Lin Ying took a seat with Master Fuli, placing Master Fuli on her lap.
"Are you also wearing a human skin like Old Lin?" Master Fuli looked at the Earl and asked.
"Maybe?" The Earl chuckled, not directly answering Master Fuli's question.
"My existence is not really important; what's crucial is... the information I bring is very accurate."
The Earl's true identity cannot be revealed because he belongs to the capitalist landlord class.
Moreover, his industry is traditional manufacturing, and he is a very old-school capitalist landlord. Even within the Security Bureau, only a small number of leaders know his true identity.
He belongs to the landlord class but is not a leader.
If the Earl's identity were exposed, he would face family execution. The Earl chose to cooperate with the Security Bureau for a very simple reason.
His own interests do not align with his family's.
"The Earl's identity is quite special, and exposure might lead to being killed by his own parents." Li Wenkang looked at the Earl with a hint of mockery and said, "Earlier during the interrogation of Nean, we extracted a relatively important piece of information from him."
"Between the Philippine, Australian, and Brazilian triangles at sea, there is a special island built by the medical complex. The Vimal Group and the medical board hold absolute authority in this territory."
The Vimal family is involved in the food industry, but behind it, there is actually an interest alliance.
That is a monopoly alliance known as the "Thrace" organization. All companies participating in the Thrace must surrender control of their own enterprises to merge, ultimately becoming one of the directors of the "Thrace Organization."
The merger of the Thrace organization usually involves similar production organizations or strongly related enterprises, jointly integrating the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, forming a monopoly organization.
Medical, chemical, food, finance, and agriculture are the core of the Thrace Organization behind Vimal.
"This Thrace Organization is not making money from the consumers' pockets..."
The Earl let out a laugh and said, "Within their organization, there is a group of grain merchants and financial institutions."
"First, let the financial institutions establish a presence, lend money to sovereign regions in low-cost loans, sign agreements, dispatch grain organizations, distribute problematic seeds and pesticides, creating a famine in three to five years."
"As the economy collapses, financial institutions provide loans to help the main regions through the crisis, but the condition is to hand over food and medical aid to a division of the same organization."
"And then... there's no more then. They have already monopolized food and medical care. The main regions go bankrupt, and everyone, from the day they are born, owes Thrace tens of thousands of dollars."
"You don't have to believe in their reputation, but you must trust the accountants' skills. In consumer business, nothing is more comfortable than turning consumers into slaves, who have no right to demand any after-sales service..."
"You see, this saves costs and still offers a continuous stream of orders."
The Earl lightly chuckled, shaking his head, introducing the history and achievements of that Thrace organization.
Although Vimal is engaged in the food industry.
Their way of profit is not through selling goods but by subjugating a nation with a collar and then hijacking all its citizens.
"Old Lin, I'm talking about you! Did you hear that!" Master Fuli's corner of his mouth twitched lightly as he listened, and he side-eyed, scolding the neighboring landlord Old Lin.
"What does it have to do with me? I'm not part of Thrace; they don't share their profit with me, don't drag me into your scoldings, we're not close...." Lin Qi waved his hand and said.
"Heh heh heh..." The Earl chuckled and said, "I specially flew to Xia Country just to bring you the coordinates of that island and the method to land."
"The death of the false god is worth celebrating."
"Some demons who stole the power of the heavenly father deserve the most cruel and severe punishment."
As the Earl said this, he subconsciously turned his gaze towards Master Fuli, revealing anticipation in his eyes.
The nickname of the King of the Arctic, the Earl had heard of it, or rather it was because the King of the Arctic said he wanted to personally punish Vimal, that the Earl made this special trip.
Outer Region, the landlord's foolish son's total annihilation comedy.
But it's what made the Earl eat a few more bowls of rice during his late-night snack.
Thinking of Vimal, ending up miserably in the hands of the King of the Arctic, made the Earl want to get up and dance a tap dance.