Chapter 61

Chapter 61

The local bishop of The Church of the Mother of Blood is a leopardkin who looks to be in her thirties. However, compared to the widely acknowledged youth of Hui Cui Dover, the apparent age of most professionals is generally unreliable.

Moreover, this bishop is one of the few high-level professionals stationed in Spire City.

Thus, her age is even more unreliable.

Originally, for an ordinary city like Spire City, assigning an intermediate-level professional as bishop would have sufficed. However, with the emergence of Hui Cui, the earthly apostle, while the city itself has become safer, the struggle between the Tribunal and the cultists in the fungal forests outside the city or the surrounding tunnels has intensified.

To support the local Tribunal’s actions, The Church of the Mother of Blood assigned this bishop as reinforcement.

Not in terms of combat power, she is a senior flesh healer.

This bishop also serves as the director of Sacred Heart Hospital and holds a weekly clinic. If Lin’s family savings reach thirty thousand yuan, enough to cover the medical expenses, this bishop will perform the genetic repair and body reconstruction for Blue Phosphorite.

Undoubtedly, she is a compassionate healer, saving lives and aiding the injured.

However, she shows no mercy to cultists.

She doesn’t use knives, only her fingers to make cutting motions in the air, and the flesh and blood of the cultists are divided or fused at her command, let alone the bones.

In front of the lizardkin foreman, she removed the scaly scalp of the snakekin, opened the skull to reveal the pinkish-white brain inside, and then deftly extracted the brain along with the cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal nerves.

The lizardkin foreman was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, but the bishop didn’t think she had done anything extraordinary. She raised her hand, and a mass of red water floated from the blood pool surrounding the shrine, like a liquid-filled balloon, allowing her to place the snakekin’s brain and nerves inside.

Hui Cui guarded the lizardkin foreman to prevent the cultist from acting out of extreme fear. However, when the bishop extracted the brain, he subtly glanced at Lin.

The lips exposed under the bandage were just pursed, not seeming nauseated enough to vomit.

No, it was still a bit nauseating, Lin thought, as he is, after all, a normal human being—probably.

But after the nausea, Lin became curious and watched intently as the bishop approached the lizardkin foreman, similarly extracting his brain and spinal nerves and soaking them in a new mass of blood water.

Lin’s gaze shifted between the two brains, unable to discern any difference.

Since they are both reptilian beastkin, the difference isn’t significant?

What would a mammalian beastkin’s brain look like?

Lin was curious, but he guessed that the brains of mammalian and reptilian beastkin might not differ much either.

After all, the two brains in front of him looked identical to the human brain in his biology textbook.

However, reptilian and mammalian beastkin differ greatly in appearance; reptilian beastkin have no hair, with internal ears on the sides of their heads and no auricles, some covered with scales, others bare. The first time Lin saw a reptilian beastkin, he thought it was a reanimated Mexican alien corpse.

On the other hand, mammalian beastkin, like Lin from Earth, mostly differ only in beastly features, though some are said to look strange, but Lin hasn’t seen any.

Lin attempted to analyze.

Lin realized that his junior high school biology knowledge was insufficient to support his analysis.

Lin gave up and watched as the bishop chose to interrogate the snakekin first. She reached out, inserted her hand into the blood water floating like a balloon in front of her, into the brain within the blood water, her fingers sinking into the gray matter, entering the white matter, at least two knuckles deep.

Lin: "..."

So painful, more horrifying than burning at the stake.

Lin strengthened his resolve not to be caught by the Tribunal.

Hui Cui and the bishop did not notice that there was still an "evil" fish that slipped through the cracks. The bishop picked up the information just retrieved from the citizen database with her other hand and asked, "Xiang Ang Catesnek?"

The brain in the blood water grew ears and a mouth, likely crafted by the bishop's flesh and blood magic for the snake person.

The mouth opened and closed twice without speaking.

"Let me feel your tainted nerves... You want to say 'yes,' right?" the bishop said, then asked, "What is your profession? Beastfolk? Shepherd of Flowers? Probably not, I don't sense any plant life on you... So, a demon or a lunatic?"

After feeling for a moment with her hand, the bishop turned to Hui Cui and Lin and said, "Speaking of beastfolk, his nerves have a distinctly different reaction, probably a beastfolk."

Lin put down the secret book, took out a notebook, and began to record.

Although it was not his duty, he had the awareness of a subordinate.

The bishop's method of extracting information from the cultist's brain was essentially similar to the lie detection ritual in the Internal Affairs Inspection Department's interrogation room.

Unlike Lin's mind-reading and emotion-reading, the lie detection ritual syncs with the subject's heartbeat, using the speed of the heartbeat to make judgments. But even without mirror-induced self-hypnosis like Lin, there are innately talented individuals who can control their heartbeat, so the results of the lie detection ritual cannot be considered particularly reliable evidence.

At this moment, the bishop was sensing the cultist's neural activity in close proximity, which seemed like mind-reading but was essentially judging truth or lies based on human physiological reactions.

Like the lie detection ritual, mirror-induced self-hypnosis, or deeper self-hypnosis, can suppress related neural activities, Lin judged.

So this method was useless to him.

Unaware of the thoughts of a certain evil god, the bishop asked in sequence and quickly determined the Aberration Sect's smuggling scheme based on "yes" and "no." This included the new sect leader and his subordinates coming to Spire City, the day they would board the ship on which section of the Ley River, and how they planned to disguise themselves as tourists to enter Spire City.

But when continuing to ask how the Aberration Sect would deceive the riverside tribunal outposts and the river monitoring stations under the Church of the Mother of Blood, the snake person's neural reactions could not provide more detailed information.

"It's also possible that he doesn't know," Lin said, "They are just operating this smuggling route, ensuring that the Aberration Sect has a legitimate submersible available at such times. How passengers avoid inspection before boarding is not within their responsibility."

"That's what I think too," the bishop sighed, "But I really want to know how they pass the inspection."

The river network is clearly a divine miracle bestowed by the Mother of Blood. As a believer, how could she tolerate the cultists' exploitation and defilement?

Is there a more convenient way to extract information? The bishop thought.

Why not catch a smuggled cult member and let me see, Lin thought.

He was quite sure that this snake person named Xiang Ang did not know more.

At least it wasn't included in the retrospective images in his eyes.

These two heretics had been marginalized within the Aberrant Sect for a long time. Even information they should have known as part of their duties would be withheld from them, not shared by their superiors or fellow believers.

Their intelligence value did not lie on the Ley River.

"Compared to how smugglers get past inspections, I'm more curious about something else," Lin said, "Intermediate practitioners are considered pillars wherever they go. To rise to an intermediate level at a young age is even considered genius. So, operating a smuggling route among ordinary people shouldn't require an intermediate practitioner—Your Grace, could you ask what profession and rank the supervisor over there is?"

The bishop raised an eyebrow, withdrew her hand, and inserted it into the lizardman's brain.

She soon got the answer and said, "Flower Shepherd, an intermediate practitioner, also a low-level Beastman."

A practitioner with a part-time job!

It was already difficult for most practitioners to focus on advancing one profession. To reach an intermediate level in one profession while also holding another was a sign that this lizardman supervisor had a bright future within the Aberrant Sect.

If he went to a small city, he could easily become a bishop, but now, this lizardman supervisor was in Spire City, responsible for operating a very small segment of the smuggling route?

Moreover, his colleague who operated the route with him was also an intermediate practitioner?

The bishop also sensed something amiss. Although such matters could be investigated later, she couldn't help but admire Lin's acuity.

"Before I asked, it seems you already had an answer in mind," she asked, "How did you figure it out?"

"When you found out the snake person was an intermediate practitioner, I was a bit surprised," Lin no longer felt his heart race at this level of lying, "Although I haven't worked long, I've read many case files. Spies like them who infiltrate are often ordinary people who believe in the Silver Moon, not practitioners, because practitioners are easier to expose; their attitudes towards ordinary neighbors and colleagues are hard to change.

"As for how I guessed the lizardman was also an intermediate practitioner... The Aberrant Sect is not a loosely managed cult. Their internal hierarchy is clearly defined and strict. But during the ride here, these two heretics were quite equal in attitude, with the supervisor having a bit more say, just a bit."

The bishop widened her eyes slightly.

She sighed, "Impressive, you can see so much. You're far from being 'Blind Book.'"

"My eyes have never been a problem," Lin smiled, "Being blindfolded doesn't affect my vision."

"I think your title might change soon," the bishop also smiled, "What do you think, Chief Judge?"

"Lin makes a lot of sense," Hui Cui said seriously, "But catching Shuye and his guess about these two heretics will likely make him a target for the heretics in field operations."

"That's true," the bishop pondered, "Ritualists are too vulnerable in skirmishes. It's better not to change the title."

After saying this, she continued smiling, "But now, give me a few more guesses, Judge Lin, although I have some of my own.

"These two heretics might have come to Spire City due to some mistake—"

"I haven't seen these two on any wanted lists," Lin interjected, "They didn't operate around the city before, leaving no criminal records, yet they have such high practitioner ranks. They might come from—"

Both the bishop and Lin paused here.

Hui Cui was delighted.

"—the still undiscovered headquarters of the Aberrant Sect," he said, "Moon's Back."

***

Information about Moon's Back was far more important than the Ley River smuggling plan.

Although the Ley River smuggling plan was what the Spire City leadership should focus on right now.

Under targeted questioning, the existence of Snow Claws was quickly exposed. However, before coming to Spire City, Snow Claws wasn't called Snow Claws. The Aberrant Sect referred to her by numerical codes or called her "the survivor" and "quality matrix." Trying to catch someone with such names would be difficult.

And locating her through other characteristics...

Snow Claws looked too much like a werewolf. Gray-blue-haired, green-eyed werewolves were quite common.

What would raise suspicion the most was the time she arrived in Spire City.

Few people knew, Lin calculated.

Besides stealing fish, Snow Claws hadn't broken any other laws.

She was innocent, a model of upward striving favored by the Church of the Light Dragon.

"Poor thing," Lin seemed to ask casually, "Is there a way to purify the bloodline?"

"I can do it, but there might be side effects," the bishop sighed, "Indeed, it's pitiful, such a desecration, this experiment."

While speaking, Lin was helping clean up the bloody interrogation scene.

The bodies were to be taken away by the Frost Crow Church, but the bishop planned to keep the two brains for a while to see if more could be extracted.

Lin went to the washroom behind the church to rinse off the blood. After showering, he went to a small room on the side of the church to pick up the children.

"They actually fell asleep together..."

Lin stopped at the door, looking at the two children sleeping sweetly on the sofa.

It was very late. Should he wake them? Or should he not?

I can't carry both, Lin thought deeply.

Hui Cui, who had also cleaned up, passed by from behind.

He glanced inside the room, stopped, and asked Lin, "Need help?"