Chapter 26

"According to the report," the Minister of the Sacred Rites spoke slowly, as if weighing the gravity of every word, "since you began making independent decisions regarding demonic affairs, the relevant cases have increased rather than decreased. Over the past decade, cases related to demonic and witchcraft crimes have risen by 47%, while your closure rate is only 63%—Brother Gabriel, how do you explain this phenomenon?"

Father Amos did not answer immediately.

He stared quietly at the data on the screen; he remembered the name and fate of every victim, all of which had once caused him pain.

By the conventions of this world, souls that fall into the hands of demons suffer literal, endless torment and infinite, ultimate humiliation.

It is easy to look at the data, but for Father Amos, behind every piece of data lies a living person suffering endless torment.

"Please allow me to defend myself. The International Exorcism Association has never denied the surge in demonic cases over the past decade, but this is not because of us, rather it is because—" Father Amos said.

But before he could finish his sentence, a dull thud echoed through the auditorium. It not only interrupted the priest's words but caused the air in the auditorium to freeze instantly.

"Because of what?" A female voice rang out; though not loud, it carried an unquestionable power. In an instant, everyone fell silent.

"Watch your tone, Brother Gabriel." The speaker sat upright at the table.

She was a tall female knight, her beautiful golden hair swaying as if moved by an unseen wind. Her blood-jade eyes were as sharp as swords. Even while attending the meeting, she wore her gold and red gown armor. Not only was it impregnable, but it was as magnificent as a work of art, adorned with carved prayers; it was form-fitting yet majestic, inspiring awe.

Seeing her calm and cold demeanor, everyone held their breath, not daring to speak further. Because she was a supreme powerhouse.

Master Leipu was the "Strongest Man on Earth" invited from the outside.

But this one, the Commander of the Order of the Holy Lance—Gwendolyn van Staphia, was the strongest of this generation within the Church organization.

She was not human, but a vampire who had inherited the blessed blood of the Son, Jesus. A peerless heroine whose combat power was enough to rank in the top ten in the human world.

Although Father Amos, the "Pope's Exorcist," was also in the realm of the superhuman, he was, after all, human, aged and frail, and always a step behind.

But he still had to finish his sentence.

"Because of the Church's long-standing indifference to these cases."

This was a bit heavy. For a moment, the auditorium was filled with the whispers of the Church's high-ranking officials.

"Since the Annie exorcism case in the Federal Republic of Germany era, the Church has been tight-lipped about such cases. However, demons do not appear out of thin air." Father Amos continued, speaking without hesitation.

"Since ancient times, a large number of demonic crimes have existed for a long time; in the last ten years, data has proven that the number of demonic cases is increasing rather than decreasing, and it is clearly growing! The injuries and disappearances caused by demonic and witchcraft incidents around the world are already comparable to car accidents. It is just that the Church is unwilling to face it—"

Few people notice that about one in every three or four thousand people dies due to a traffic accident.

And the supernatural Slaanesh-like cases in this absurd world in recent years are at about the same ratio, slightly lower than car accidents, and most do not leave behind bodies, making them even harder to verify.

But then again, although car accidents really do kill a lot of people in any world, whether people in daily life really pay special attention to them… that's hard to say…

In any case, the old exorcist's words were certainly unpleasant. The Commander of the Order of the Holy Lance sighed.

Subsequently, another voice interjected at this moment.

"Father Amos, our kin have been fighting for the Church for over 800 years."

Her voice was more arrogant and colder than the Commander of the Order of the Holy Lance, and it made the entire venue tremble slightly. Because it was not a human voice, but a dragon's roar.

"Do you perhaps think that our kin's fighting has been without merit?"

Everyone knew that the Great Ducal House of Romania was the descendant of the ancient dragon.

Duchess Remina Dracula, holding a white parasol and wearing a light purple evening gown, appeared to be just a young and beautiful girl. But her dragon-like voice was enough to make the earth shake.

Because she was also a supreme powerhouse.

The descendant of the dragon, the bride of the dragon. She and her husband, Duke Dracula, could both rank in the top half of the list of top-tier powerhouses, and both were the pillars of the Roman Church in Eastern Europe, capable of fighting off an army.

Powerhouse. This word made the old priest sigh quietly in his heart.

"Duchess, I have never doubted the contributions that you, the Shadows of the Saints, have made for the Church. Your blood is likewise the seed of the Church… but people are trapped in despair and pain, and this is far from enough." He tried his best to argue.

But one mouth could not compete with many.

"The root cause of people being trapped in despair and pain is likely not demons, but the poverty of reality." The Minister of the Doctrine—Martin Nguyen Van Thuan, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

"Brother Gabriel, since you speak of people's pain, then you should also know that the reason people turn to seek demons and witchcraft is often because the Church has failed to help them on a practical level. Do you admit this?"

"I do not deny it, Excellency."

"The Pontiff's encyclical this year mentions that poverty is more terrifying than demons. Are you aware of this?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the reason for this?" the Minister of the Doctrine asked coldly.

"Because—'Demons only make people fall into hell after death, but poverty and social injustice make people feel as if they are in hell while they are still alive.'" The old exorcist repeated dryly the words that His Holiness the Pope had just spoken this year.

"Exactly so." Minister Nguyen closed the folder on the table and said seriously,

"Data from the last two years proves that since Master Leipu joined the International Exorcism Association, he alone has been able to complete 70% of the Association's exorcism business."

"You, along with your apprentice Sister Elaine, and those circus members you found from all over the world, are nothing but parasites on the Church's finances."

"I propose gradually cutting the funding of the International Exorcism Association and diverting this portion of funds to the Church's support for the impoverished and silent groups."

"As for Mr. Qi Xing, we can hire him at a higher salary anyway; it is much cheaper than maintaining a useless international organization."

If one only looks at the data, this is indeed true. After all, no matter how much Qi Xing spends as an individual, his expenses could never compare to the astronomical funds required for the annual operation of an international organization. Moreover, Qi Xing doesn't really spend much money at all.

"Since Brother Gabriel believes that the Church's series of policies in the past have treated the symptoms but not the root cause, then we should try a method that treats both the symptoms and the root cause—the most important way to stop the public from turning to demons is to change their real lives. After all, if people find themselves living in hell, then even the kindest person will inevitably turn into a demon."

"But—"

"Brother." Another archbishop, Cardinal Ricardo, the Dean of the Roman Rota, also took the opportunity to interject.

"You have spent decades preaching about 'building an army to resist the devil's invasion.' But it seems this army of yours is not very useful."

"The circus you spent money to assemble, consisting of people found from all over the world, allowed a second-rate parapsychologist and a terrorist to sneak into the Vatican's underground treasury as if they were visiting a friend's house, and take away the spearhead containing a fragment of the Holy Lance. The Church allocates so much money to you every year, not for you to find people to perform acrobatics."

The security of the Vatican's important holy relic treasury and library has been entrusted to the Association in recent years. The Holy Lance was stolen, so of course, the responsibility of the head of the Association and its founder, Father Amos, must be investigated. It is only natural.

"I'm afraid I must defend Father Amos on this matter, Supreme Judge." Duchess Remina grinned at this moment and teased,

"Father Amos did promise to build an army—but he never promised that this army could win!"

Pfft. That was a bit vicious; even many of the stern-faced old Cardinals around couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Sitting in their seats, they counted Father Amos's flaws one by one.

You do not have a law degree. You have never held public office in the Church. You are not even a bishop. Being able to climb to the position of Cardinal is entirely due to the Pope's personal favor.

The organization you created has caused such a huge mess this time, and it has also proven how useless you are; it is even worse than hiring experts directly. For the sake of everyone, why don't you just voluntarily resign?

Father Amos, surrounded by a bunch of colleagues and criticized like a target, couldn't help but feel a bit desolate.

In fact, politics is like this; it is very ugly, and no matter what political system, ruling institution, or bureaucratic organization… it is often like this once it grows large.

But do not misunderstand. In fact, just as Qi Xing said before, most of the good guys in this world are in the "Good Alignment." Most of them are still good people, and they all have kind goals and actions.

However, everyone has their own version of good. And the stronger one is, the more they will act for the good as they define it.

The Order of the Holy Lance, the Great Dragon Duke—they are not human, and they all have their own ancient heritages. They all eliminate evil and do good in their own ways, following their own love and justice.

The modern people of the modern Church, humans like Minister Nguyen, also have their own views—the most important way to stop the public from turning to darkness is to change their real lives. Instead of just focusing on beating up the demons and monsters that grow out of evil thoughts.

Is this view wrong? Not necessarily. But how to operate it specifically is another matter.

Powerhouse! Powerhouse! This word is easy to say. Everyone present was more or less quite powerful, at least there was not a single weakling.

But how does one act to be worthy of being called a true powerhouse?

Just as Vice Pope Domingo was preparing to speak—suddenly, everyone heard a dull, low sound coming from the distance.

In an instant, the ground trembled slightly. A faint resonance came from beneath people's feet, as if the air itself was trembling.

A few seconds later, the roaring sound suddenly exploded, low and heavy, rolling across the heavens and earth like thunder. It caused people's chests to vibrate and made their eardrums buzz.

Although the source itself was not seen, the power and aura were enough to make one's hair stand on end.

A moment later, the back door of the chapel was suddenly kicked open with a bang. A deacon walked in, ran quickly to the Vice Pope, and reported to him in a low voice.

The content of this report immediately shocked the Vice Pope: "Ah?"

"You say Master Leipu blew up Castel SantAngelo?!"

030: The Storm is Coming

A few hours before the inquiry meeting.

—At this moment, Qi Xing, of course, had no idea that Father Amos had been dragged into a meeting by the top brass to be given a hard time.

After all, Father Amos hadn't mentioned this to Qi Xing.

After all, Qi Xing was just his friend, not his son.

In fact, Father Amos hadn't even had the "thought" of asking Qi Xing for help.

This story tells us how important it is to keep in touch with friends, share each other's difficulties, and vent a little.

So, during the day, Qi Xing didn't think too much about it. He rested in the villa, gathered his energy, and headed to Castel SantAngelo at night to prepare to check the information.

Why not go during the day? This is actually a tacit understanding of the supernatural society. Demons, ghosts, and superhumans basically live with their days and nights reversed, only coming out to do things at night. Moreover, Castel SantAngelo is a tourist attraction with a museum during the day, and it is only suitable for receiving industry insiders after it closes at night.

Therefore, the supernatural society is also commonly known as the "Dark World." Non-human creatures like demons and ghosts, even if they are not necessarily afraid of the sun and do not necessarily have to live by night, all have this habit, and there is an elegant name for it called "Night-Born."

When the sun was about to set today, Qi Xing and Elaine arrived at Castel SantAngelo together.

Castel SantAngelo is also a very old building in Rome, located on the banks of the Tiber River, near the Vatican. A long, long time ago, this castle was once a fortress blocking the Gothic barbarians from invading Rome, and later it became a national prison for Rome. It wasn't until the 14th century that it was rebuilt into a papal palace.

To this day, Castel SantAngelo has become a museum, displaying the ancient papal chambers and telling the story of Rome's bumpy fate over the centuries.

However, few people know that beneath the seemingly bright and beautiful museum of Castel SantAngelo, there is hidden a top-secret library of the Vatican, which keeps many of the Roman Church's most important ancient holy relics.

Although the uniformed security guards at the entrance of the museum looked very ordinary, Qi Xing recognized at a glance—they only looked ordinary, and their positioning seemed loose. In fact, their postures were very steady, their eye contact with each other was subtle, and they always maintained comprehensive attention to the surrounding environment.

Their pistols were ingeniously hidden under tactical vests, with small steel wires or sleeve swords hidden in their cuffs, and some even had spare weapons hidden in their leather boots.

And as soon as they saw Qi Xing, they immediately screamed as if they had seen a big star: "Look, it's Rep-Man!"

Sometimes Qi Xing really wanted to beat these people to death… but that would be too much, not to mention that they themselves didn't think there was any problem with saying that.

So Qi Xing just smiled and walked over, knocking each of them on the head in an instant, making them howl in pain.

These were the Witch Hunter squads of the Association.