Chapter 38

— — It was as if Qi Xing had targeted the wrong objective.

As if he were playing a game and had cast his crowd control skill on an invalid unit.

[Black Spartacus] had vanished into thin air.

"Tsk."

The golden skeleton knight armor dissolved into particles, peeling away from Qi Xing and returning into his silver coin.

He hadn't exactly lost, but it was hard to call it a win either.

Although he had managed to repel the enemy, he felt even more restless.

Is this what it feels like to fight a [Silver Coin Messenger]?

Or was it because the enemy had seen through his thoughts?

— —

The thick, white torrential rain continued to fall without end.

Starting from the University of Rome, it spread across the entirety of Rome, growing heavier and heavier.

At this stage, Rome's excellent sewer system could still drain these thick white fluids quickly. Besides, with the Tiber River running through the middle of Rome, it wasn't so easy for the city to flood.

But if this rain were to fall endlessly, I fear that sooner or later, a flood of █ fluid would break out.

Vatican City had its own independently operating exorcism and warding barrier, so the thick white rain hadn't yet penetrated inside.

Even so, when Qi Xing arrived, bringing the group from the [Association] headquarters in his gourd with him, every corner of the city was still suffused with an indescribable atmosphere of tension.

In the hall, the icons before the altar cast long shadows, and the priests were praying in hushed tones, their eyes filled with anxiety.

In the corridors, the Swiss Guard soldiers wore solemn expressions, patrolling every corner of the city, including the walls, with hurried steps to ensure that the fear and chaos from the outside did not spread into this last sacred fortress of Rome.

Although Qi Xing saw many people coming and going with anxious expressions… then again, he truly didn't know what they were doing, or even what they were saying.

Fortunately, there were usually only three or four hundred people in Vatican City, so no matter how tense things got, it couldn't become too chaotic.

By the time Qi Xing released Elaine and the other [Association] exorcists from his gourd, Father Amos hurried over to meet them with a worried look on his face.

For two reasons, Father Amos was currently quite distressed—he had to finish this last shift before he could resign. After all, half of this catastrophe was likely his fault, so naturally, he had to clean up his own mess. Yet, who could have expected that this final shift would turn into such a massive disaster?

But regardless, seeing that Qi Xing and Elaine had returned safely, and that he had even managed to bring back the vast majority of the [Association] headquarters personnel alive, he still felt genuinely happy.

"Enough small talk." Qi Xing asked directly, "Father Amos, how much information do you have?"

He seemed a bit displeased.

Father Amos opened his mouth, wanting to speak but finding himself at a loss for words.

There was truly too much to discuss this time.

"I will start by explaining the current situation."

He sighed and led Qi Xing and Elaine to a lounge next to the Sistine Hall.

After all, even if they couldn't be touched by the █ █ rain inside the barrier, they couldn't just stand at the plaza entrance to discuss serious matters.

The first thing to address, of course, is the overall situation.

"It is raining across all of Rome right now—a bizarre, thick white liquid rain. This rainwater is addictive and produces effects similar to psychedelic anesthetics. Furthermore, everyone who is rained upon will turn into a Black person who can only speak Haitian Creole."

"Not only that, but the downpour is extremely heavy. A few streets have already started to flood. People who come into contact with too much of the rain will not only become addicted and turn into Black people, but also…"

In other words, all those who are submerged by █ █…

"Regardless of gender, they will █ █."

When Father Amos said this, even the expression on his face became extremely fearful.

█ █, in other words, it will produce even more people.

Honestly speaking, this was actually easy to guess. When Qi Xing heard before that this was an African myth of █ █ creation, he had vaguely guessed that such a phenomenon might occur.

But regardless of whether one could guess it in advance, it was still a terrifying thing.

Someone looking in from the outside might even find it funny if they heard about this for the first time.

However, Qi Xing did not find it funny at all—even though he himself was protected by the [Dominator] silver coin's divine combat armor and was not affected by this white rain.

The feeling rising from the depths of his heart right now was still one of absolute, deep disgust.

To make █ █ fall like rain, to make everyone rained upon █ █ addicted, turn into Black people, and for those drenched in it, regardless of gender, to even [increase] into more Black people because of it—hahaha! What the hell is this! What kind of crazy bastard could come up with such an idea!

Yet Qi Xing couldn't laugh at all. He only felt disgusted.

That [Black Spartacus] treated everyone who wasn't a [Silver Coin Messenger] like a toy doll, yet was quite generous and polite toward Qi Xing, seemingly wanting to be on equal footing with him.

But unfortunately, Qi Xing still only felt disgusted.

He had to kill that arrogant idiot.

Tear that [Black Spartacus] into pieces █ █ █ █, drag out █ █ █ █, and dig out █ █ and █ █ to feed to the crows.

"Has the Italian government taken any emergency measures?"

After shaking his head, Qi Xing asked first.

At this point, it finally needs to be explained—the ordinary society of this absurd world actually has a slight awareness of supernatural powers.

The average Muggle public doesn't know about magic. They don't know that monsters, demons, and deities are real; they don't know about these [magical] things.

But on the other hand, the general public does know about superpowers, hypnosis, and even Qigong—that's right, Qigong is regarded in this world as a scientific, researchable type of superpower!

Although in Qi Xing's world, these things are unscientific, in this world, the general public generally believes that [superpowers]—or at least not-too-powerful superpowers—are [scientific]. It's just that they are very rare and aren't usually seen.

Why can superpowers be [scientific] but magic cannot?

Because if the general public knew that magic, fairies, and demons existed, modern society certainly wouldn't be able to sustain itself. Scientists can claim that demons are radioactive, genetically mutated monsters. But they absolutely cannot admit that they can truly sign contracts with you, buy and sell your soul, and grant your wishes—otherwise, modern society would collapse sooner or later.

Similarly, if ordinary citizens saw demons smashing things in the street, they would all assume they were genetically mutated monsters, perhaps a biochemical weapon terrorist attack… unless the demons did something so unscientific that it truly couldn't be explained by genetic mutation.

"The Prime Minister has now announced that this is a toxic gas leak, and that the cumulonimbus clouds contain highly toxic pollutants that cause biological mutations. They are calling on citizens to stay at home and not go out."

Father Amos sighed,

"But the government's response to those who have already been affected and need rescue is very slow. We suspect that some key figures in the high echelons of the Italy government have been persuaded and controlled by [Black Spartacus]."

Or rather, "persuaded" through sleep?

Qi Xing remembered the congressman he had thrown to the tentacle monster yesterday and frowned: "This Black guy has truly made a lot of preparations in advance."

Inside the [Black Spartacus] organization, apart from the leader himself, everyone else seems to be an ignorant, incompetent lot. Only the leader himself is not only clearly more knowledgeable, but his conspiracy plans are also interconnected, one link after another.

Not to mention the silver coin part—the silver coin might have just happened to fall into his hands by chance, just like with Professor Van Stra—but the silver coin is ultimately just power. A loser like the professor would still be a loser even with a silver coin.

"This [Black Spartacus]… what was his name again? Romani? Where on earth did such a troublemaker crawl out from?"

So Qi Xing asked,

"I need a way to break his divine power. And I suspect that his silver coin's mythological prototype is not some African creation deity at all."

He decided to use the invincible power of the Holy See to doxx his opponent and find a way to win! How despicable!

Elaine, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up and asked: "Father, did you know long ago that this voodoo cult [Black Spartacus] was secretly active in Rome?"

With unconcealable shame, Father Amos nodded: "It has been about three years."

Three years.

Why three years?

Because the country of Haiti is truly very unfortunate.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and one of the least developed countries in the world. Yet, its population is incredibly high (by the standards of a small country).

In 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing over 300,000 people.

In July 2021, the President of Haiti was assassinated, the parliament was dissolved, and there was no effective government agency that could maintain order; the whole country was in chaos.

On August 14 of the same year, 11 years later, Haiti experienced another 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Many developed countries around the world poured in aid, and some European and American countries opened refugee corridors as a result.

The Republic of Haiti is the first country in the world established by a Black revolution. But it is also one of the poorest and most miserable countries.

Most people living in normal modern society cannot even imagine its poverty and suffering. Because its situation is no longer [poor] in the ordinary sense, but rather mired in violence, disease, and inescapable despair.

It is a country where even a common cold or diarrhea can cause you to die of dehydration; everyone can only drink sewage; 90% of the people have no electricity; on the way to buy groceries, you might be kidnapped, raped, and then killed; gang power has already surpassed the government, and the capital is currently completely controlled by gangs—the common people have no food, no water, and they can't even dispose of corpses, which just have to be piled up to rot.

Including Italy, many developed European and American countries opened corridors, allowing a portion of Haitian refugees to flee into their territories.

And [Black Spartacus] was clearly a voodoo cult composed of Haitian refugees who had fled to Italy three years ago.

I fear that in their eyes, the aid corridors of developed countries were nothing more than hypocritical, fake compassion.

"Romani Domingo, the leader of [Black Spartacus]—[Association] intelligence started monitoring him two years ago."

Father Amos said dryly,

"He used to be considered a social activist in Haiti… No, I have the order of my story wrong. I should start from another aspect."

He shook his head and then got straight to the point: "Romani Domingo is actually not… a Black person in the pure sense."

"He is a mixed-race child born to an Italian white woman and a Haitian Black father."

Magic is magic, and power is power.

The doxxing power of a large organization is terrifying in a whole other way!

042: A Believing Heart Is Your Magic

Romani Domingo, thirty years old this year, mixed-race Black.

Italian mother, Haitian father.

"He was born in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. His mother was an Italian white woman who went there to travel, and then… uh, probably due to some physiological needs, she met Domingo's father."

Father Amos said somewhat helplessly; having to tell this story was indeed quite embarrassing.

Qi Xing didn't understand Haiti's history, but he had some common sense, and hearing this, he was a bit puzzled: "According to what you're saying, hasn't Haiti been in turmoil all along? How could any fool go to such a place to travel?"

Elaine, beside him, shifted somewhat awkwardly.

"The few years after 1994 were actually slightly better. Because it was during the UN's international intervention." Father Amos explained with a frown, "However, this is indeed a bad habit. Just like during the Colombian civil war, there were still Americans who went there for tourism."

Why do wealthy people from Europe and America actually like to travel to extremely underdeveloped countries that are in turmoil?

The answer is… because it feels great!

The wealthy directly hire local gangs or even government armed forces—that's right, you can even hire government armed forces! Isn't it much easier to rent out a beach in Haiti than in a proper country? You just need to take an AK and drive the other residents away.

Having an entire community all to herself, how high is that? And there's a group of gang members and even local soldiers bowing and scraping to her; it's better than being an emperor.

Why are some people willing to travel to Rwanda, or to countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have been in civil war for years? That sense of superiority is something you can't enjoy in proper tourist countries.

Medellín is the den of Colombia's most notorious drug cartel. Yet now, it has become a must-visit destination for American wealthy tourists.

Truly rich and powerful people never worry about public security issues.

With Qi Xing's current power and influence, if he just said the word, he could naturally enjoy even more transcendent, terrifying luxury at any time. This is the power that a supreme master, and a [Silver Coin Messenger], can naturally possess.

But he had never thought that way; he hadn't even considered it. It can only be said that one's values and upbringing do indeed limit a person's imagination.

For a moment, just listening to Father Amos explain, he was left somewhat speechless.

In any case, Father Amos continued: "Romani Domingo's father was actually originally a small gang leader, a rather formidable thug and bodyguard, who was then taken a fancy to by the wealthy white woman traveling there."

"It is easy to imagine that this kind of relationship couldn't last long. Not long after giving birth to him, his mother paid his father some hush money and returned to her own country. She left both Romani and his father in Haiti."

"Although Romani's father wasn't someone who made a living through honest means, he was at least somewhat attentive to his son. He used that hush money to send Romani to private schools for elementary and junior high."

In the country of Haiti, over 80% of schools nationwide are expensive private schools, meaning the poor are basically unable to receive an education. The few free public elementary and junior high schools are not only of terrible quality but are also few in number.

If one wants to receive a good education, only a few rich people can attend private schools. However—

"But most of the private schools in Haiti cater to the local Black elite, and Romani's mixed-race identity made him not quite… um, popular at school. Plus, Port-au-Prince itself is a fairly international port, so he inevitably got involved with some low-life things… such as drugs, hippies, death metal, and the like."

When Father Amos said this, there was a clear tone of disdain in his voice.

Qi Xing didn't know, but Elaine, as his apprentice, knew clearly that Father Amos didn't like modern culture very much.

It is no joke to say that he once urged the Pope to use the Church's influence to put "Harry Potter" on the EU's list of banned books—this matter caused quite a stir a few years ago, and those interested can search for it with keywords—fortunately, other reformists within the Holy See quickly jumped out to suppress him, pulling his arms and legs, so that Father Amos didn't actually manage to make a big deal out of it.

So, this centenarian old man, on one hand, is indeed a true combat hero who fights both Nazis and demons and genuinely wants to carry out internal reforms; but on the other hand, he is indeed an old fogey who finds many things about modern young people unpleasing to the eye.

Therefore, not only the conservatives within the Church but actually even the reformists within the Church don't really like him. The last inquiry meeting where they grilled him—one can only say that his personality was destined for such a trial.

"During high school, Romani also participated in anti-corruption and pro-LGBTQ social movements, but… you should understand, that is Haiti, not a place where social movements can easily succeed. Moreover, his status as a white mixed-race person was also a problem for the pan-left, so he was forced to quit not long after."