New Gods of North America

For Wayne, who once loved reading detective stories and had experience as a sheriff, he didn't mind admitting he was "dark-hearted."

However, he wasn't too willing to always assume the worst of people, only stating the simplest facts: the contaminated holy symbol was previously in Georgeburg's church and hadn't been found to be problematic.

And tonight, Anton Chigurh, even with his injuries, was still staying "near" the public hospital. Suspicion here certainly couldn't be easily dismissed.

In the words of Sherlock Holmes, eliminate the "impossible," and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

So, according to Wayne's conjecture, before the seal arranged by the Church of Light was "unsealed," it might have been "impossible to detect any problems."

And the "key" to unsealing it might be related to extraordinary individuals in the "holy" domain.

Thinking deeper, if important items concealed their true value and were placed in crowded places without anyone watching, they might be easily taken away by irrelevant people.

From a cautious perspective, the on-site management personnel were either deceived or suspected accomplices; the probability of them being completely unaware was too small.

Ms. Dorothy's answer was acceptable, barely avoiding a "few days' tour of the old police station."

When the exorcist priest returned, he had an incredulous expression on his face:

"She was initially unwilling to speak, saying she needed to keep her promise. However, the problematic item is likely in the prayer room. Pastor Pasil had been there, claiming it was to pray to the Holy Spirit for blessings for the mothers."

"Ms. Dorothy herself is a believer and felt that Pastor Pasil was old and wouldn't have direct interactions with the mothers, believing he was acting out of kindness and love, so she helped him keep it a secret. She didn't tell the truth when we asked her just now."

Wayne didn't have much to say about this and directly asked the exorcist priest to lead the way. The group then went to the prayer room again.

Anyway, even the church's exorcists hadn't received a warm welcome earlier. Wayne felt that the management here might be strict in some aspects. If nothing was found in the prayer room and the woman couldn't provide another explanation, she would probably have to go back with everyone.

...

The so-called "prayer room" was actually a mini, single-person version of a prayer hall.

It wasn't surprising that public hospitals in this era had such facilities for mothers to seek comfort before childbirth, whether they were truly devout or temporarily "believing a little."

However, this place was indeed simple, basically just a small empty room. One wall had a holy symbol, below which was a small stand with an old holy book nailed to it, and next to it was a fixed candlestick.

Believers who came to pray could only kneel on the cushion in front of the small stand.

Because no problems had been found before, the exorcists from the original group seemed to be working even harder now.

The holy symbol and decorative paintings on the wall were pried off, the contents of the cushion were emptied, the small stand was disassembled again, and even the hard cover of the old holy book was scraped open on the side to prevent any hidden compartments.

Considering Pastor Pasil's age and the fact that he hadn't been suspected, the item shouldn't be too big.

Finally, after a bunch of people pondered for a while, the exorcist priests tried their methods one by one.

Damn it,

In the end, the problem was actually with the holy book itself.

The yellowed, worn-out pages inside looked like they were too filthy to even be thrown in the trash, but when an exorcist priest's blood dripped on them, it was completely absorbed.

It felt like the problematic part was pasted inside the original cover, and it was indeed impossible to detect any extraordinary power reactions.

After finding the item, Wayne didn't bother to investigate what it was for. He had the exorcist priests pack it up and prepared to return first.

Several people with weapons continued to stay behind. Wayne also had Sanders leave a few bottles of kerosene behind. If anyone else came, they would burn the prayer room down rather than let the other party succeed.

Back at the church hospital,

Lina had already brought "Willie" and Emma over. The seemingly unremarkable carriage was also ready. The horse's belly looked bulging, as if it had just been fed. At first glance, it seemed quite sincere.

Tom Hagen, on the other hand, was silent and composed in the distance, not questioning why "Willie" had one arm swollen like a fiddler crab.

Wayne felt that this style was indeed strange and wanted to advise Damon McReady to consider giving up. If not, then perhaps cutting off his left arm was a solution.

Fortunately, Lina was still reliable. The real Willie had also been brought over at this time, but he wasn't qualified to show his face yet and was stuffed into the carriage, only waving slightly in the carriage when Wayne passed by as a greeting.

Wayne took the old holy book wrapped like a dumpling and walked directly to Tom Hagen, trying to be concise, "The item on my side has been found. It is said that Pastor Pasil personally placed it."

Tom Hagen took it casually and weighed it slightly: "The Holy Book? First the holy symbol, now this thing. The Light Heretics seem more devout than us."

Wayne took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was half an hour before midnight. He didn't know if the other teams had any gains.

So he directly asked for the answer, "What are you planning to do now? Are you going to pretend to continue the transaction or throw the thing in his face directly?"

Tom Hagen waved his hand back, signaling his followers not to follow too closely, and then led Wayne towards the small building surrounded by the crowd:

"Now this guy can be confirmed as a Light Heretic. No matter who is inside his body, the existing evidence is enough to define him.

"But what is the purpose of our investigation? To catch a few more criminals who haven't been caught, confiscate some sealed items secretly placed by the Church of Light, and then the matter is over? Do you think Bishop will be satisfied?"

What a life-threatening question...

Wayne recalled the real news he had seen in modern society, and combined it with reality to try to figure out the thoughts of Tom Hagen and Bishop Corleone:

"If we only talk about handling the case, if we can confiscate a batch of sealed items and control the situation before it happens, I think that's enough.

"By the way, we can spread the news to provoke that escaped Mr. Weisman to retaliate. Whether he takes the bait or not, at least Pastor Pasil's line and the hidden dangers caused by the Light Heretics have been preliminarily eliminated, and the case can be closed."

Tom Hagen's tone didn't change, "You don't think there are any problems with Pastor Tyrrell and Pastor Bazzini?"

Wayne told the truth, "If you want to dig into the details, then they probably can't prove that they have absolutely no connection with the Light Heretics. But if you say they are deeply colluding with the Light Heretics, then I don't think it's very likely."

"If you were to choose, whose details can you provide?" Tom Hagen asked casually.

Wayne didn't hide anything, "Pastor Tyrrell is showing more flaws now, but unfortunately there's no value in digging deeper. I actually want to find clues about Pastor Bazzini, but I haven't found them yet."

Tom Hagen shook his head slightly, "That's not a good answer. Bishop might not like to hear that."

Wayne was actually quite serious:

"From my perspective, it's not good for the church's overall reputation if higher-ranking pastors are involved with heretics. If things can stay with Pastor Pasil and that Mr. Weisman, maybe that's the best."

Tom Hagen raised his eyebrows, "Aren't you worried that they will find a chance to retaliate against you later?"

Wayne felt that the "they" in Tom Hagen's words referred to "pastors" rather than "heretics,"

So he silently complained in his heart, who am I? Even if they want to retaliate, they will definitely find you first.

So Wayne started talking about something else:

"Do you know? I previously looked through the old records left by my ancestors. When the people on the April Grass first spent the winter in the New World, they actually thought turkeys were quite delicious."

Tom Hagen rarely showed a confused look, "So what?"

Wayne didn't keep him in suspense, "So if the other party has made up their mind, any explanation will become meaningless. Either prepare the carriage and run away quickly, or load the bullets and prepare to fight."

Senior can only help you here. Next is the time for official infighting in your church. I'll just eat melons on the side then.

Tom Hagen's footsteps suddenly stopped. Wayne turned his head and looked at him, "What's wrong?"

Then he continued forward, "It's nothing. I just suddenly think you and Bishop are quite similar in some ways."

Wayne felt that it should be his words just now that had awakened him, silently sighed "Benefactor has realized," and then continued to give Tom Hagen advice:

"The one who brought the turkey first became friends with the ancestors, at least they once became 'friends.' I think Bishop may not necessarily be targeting anyone, maybe he just wants to eat 'turkey.'"

As everyone knows, provoking princes to fight each other and making them compete to show loyalty is almost a required course for every old emperor who has been in his position for a long time.

Wayne also hoped that Tom Hagen would know when to stop, so as not to end up like He Shen, whose house was raided a few days after the new emperor came to power. It's better to learn from Guo Ziyi, even if the princes beat each other's brains out, whoever comes to power will have to ask him to come and stabilize the situation in the end.

Tom Hagen seemed to understand, "Then let's solve tonight's heretic first."