13 Mink Street

Inside the collection room, that single sentence brought about a long stretch of silence. Nio sat in his chair with his eyes closed. His breathing had grown deeper and more measured than before. His hands rested in front of him, sometimes opening, sometimes tightening into fists.

Karon continued to lean against the wall, his gaze sweeping over the various objects in the room one by one, as though he were seriously taking in the exhibits.

At last, the captain opened his eyes again and looked over at Karon. “I don’t know what kind of reaction I should have right now, or what kind of expression I should show. If I gasp in shock or jump up, it feels inappropriate, but if I act too calm, that also doesn’t seem right. In any case, both right when you spoke and even now, my heart is in a state of turmoil. You understand, don’t you?”

Karon nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“Good. Then I won’t force any particular reaction.” Nio placed both of his hands onto the armrests of his chair, not to stand, but to adjust his posture. He let out a long breath in the process. That secret had landed like a hammer. Even for the captain, it was difficult to bear.

“Immers... is that your family name?”

“Yes. An Inquisitor family.”

Nio blinked, then repeated, “An Inquisitor family?”

“Yes.”

Nio raised a hand and rubbed his brow. “It seems that I need to reassess what being from an Inquisitor family means...”

“My ancestors were all Inquisitors of the church. As far as I know, my grandfather’s position is also only that of an Inquisitor.”

“What is your grandfather’s name?”

“Tiz.”

“Tiz?” Nio shook his head. “I’ve never heard that name, or the person.”

“That’s normal.”

“Oh? Is that supposed to comfort me?”

“Yes.”

“Yet to my ears, it sounds rather mocking.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So the massive explosion at the Temple of Order... was your grandfather’s doing?”

“Yes.”

“How did he do it?”

“Captain, you should know the level of a Temple Elder, right?”

“One must condense a godhead shard and be summoned by the Temple of Order, entering the Temple, they arrive at the place closest to the great God of Order. By doing this, they become an existence even more transcendent than the ecclesiastical authority.”

“Do you know how the gates of the Temple of Order open?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Karon, but I’ll have to disappoint you. I’m still very far from condensing a godhead shard.”

“Well... even if you succeed in condensing one in the future, Captain, you probably wouldn’t be going to the Temple of Order anyway. I’m not even sure if the Temple of Light still exists.”

“Oh, I caught that one; That was mockery.”

“In any case, once a godhead shard of Order is condensed, the gates of the Temple of Order will appear before you and invite you inside. It should be due to some kind of self-activating ritual array, a teleportation array that is anchored to the Temple itself, and a newly formed godhead shard is the summoned entity.

“With that kind of medium, no matter how many Knight Regiments are stationed around the Temple of Order for protection, it becomes meaningless.”

“Your grandfather entered that way?”

“Yes.”

“And after he went in?”

“He detonated the godhead shard.”

“Was your grandfather corrupted?”

“No. He... simply had some disagreements and misunderstandings with the God of Order. And as you know, since the Absence of the Gods in this epoch, there is no way to resolve misunderstandings face to face, so the misunderstandings accumulated. In the end, my grandfather could only choose the most extreme way to resolve them.”

At this point, Nio rubbed his face and asked Karon, “Do you have a cigarette?”

“Yes.” Karon handed over the cigarette case and lighter.

Nio took the cigarette but did not take the lighter. Instead, he bit into the cigarette like it was a chocolate stick, chewing the tobacco in his mouth.

“I’m sorry...” It was the habitual expression one used when conversation touched on someone’s deceased relative.

But...

“My grandfather isn’t dead. He’s still alive.”

Nio spat out the tobacco from his mouth, stared at Karon, and said slowly, word by word, “Your grandfather detonated a godhead shard inside the Temple of Order, and you’re telling me he’s still alive?”

“Yes.”

“How is that possible? Does your grandfather have two godhead shards?”

“No.”

“Heh. That makes more sense. Something like that shouldn’t be possible.”

“Three.”

“...” Nio stood up from his chair. He could no longer sit still. He walked over to the display shelves and began dismantling the arms and heads of the figurines one by one. After a long while, he spoke again. “Three godhead shards?”

“Yes. They correspond to his youth, his middle age, and his old age.”

“How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.” Karon shrugged. “I only know that, for a very long time, my grandfather was troubled by his inability to suppress his own level.”

“Troubled?” Nio closed his eyes, then opened them again. “I’m sorry. I just tried to imagine it, only to realize that I cannot put myself into that kind of emotional state.”

“I can’t either,” Karon admitted honestly.

“And now, where is your grandfather?”

“At home.”

“At home... doing what?”

“Sleeping.”

“Sleeping?” Nio raised both hands. “After blowing up the Temple of Order, he went home and went to sleep?”

He could not help finding the entire thing absurd, yet at the same time, he continued swapping the heads and arms of the figurines in front of him. Karon could easily imagine how furious Mr. Lemar would be when he returned and saw his beloved collection treated this way.

“My grandfather detonated one godhead shard to destroy the Temple of Order, handed another one over to the Temple Elders, and then took the third into his slumber. His condition was that the Church of Order could not interfere with the lives of the Immers family.”

Nio immediately grasped the implication and asked, “So that’s why you needed to use Pavaro’s mask to enter the Church of Order?”

“Yes.”

“If your identity were exposed...” Nio suddenly laughed. “Then you’d be on equal footing with people like Leon and Larry... no, actually, you’d be sitting while they stand.”

Karon gave no further response.

“No wonder you can get along with them. I said it long ago, you should be the same kind of people.”

“I don’t think we’re the same kind of people; I just don’t feel that I’m inferior to them.”

“Alright, alright. Then what is the purpose of you hiding your identity?”

“My grandfather believes that his path was wrong, so he has placed his hopes on me, hoping that I can walk a different path.”

Nio sharply caught the deeper meaning behind those words. “Was it only your grandfather who walked the wrong path, or is it that all of us... have been walking the wrong path?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

“Then no need to explain anything. I’ll stop there.” Nio turned and walked back, sitting down again, crossing his hands. “The awkward thing is, I can’t match your chips anymore.”

“That’s alright, Captain. The consultation fee—”

“So I’ve decided to tell you one more thing, as a bit of compensation. You don’t need to match any further, even though my intuition tells me you still have plenty of chips left.”

“Alright, Captain.”

“He... the one I ate, although he tried very hard to conceal his identity, during that year, our relationship was so close that I still managed to glimpse some of his secrets. The greatest of which is that when I successfully ‘killed’ him, he shouted out a family name.”

“A family name?”

Nio raised both hands. “Something like: ‘Is this the curse and punishment our family deserves for its sins?’”

“I understand.” Karon nodded, indicating that he could already picture the scene.

“That is also why I am now trying to read through him again. Even though I know this choice might lead me to destruction and undo everything I fought so hard to achieve, I am still willing to do it, because the surname he shouted was... Phileas.”

“Phileas?”

“Do you know that name?”

“Yes.” Karon nodded. “If the Simons family is the royal bloodline of the Church of Reincarnation, then roughly put, the Phileas family is the royal bloodline of the Church of Light.”

There had been a time when Karon had grown curious about the history of the fall of the Church of Light, and he had deliberately searched for information, especially within Mr. Hoffen’s notes.

The Phileas family had produced multiple Popes throughout history. The final Pope of Light, the mad Pope who had stood atop the Tower of Light and declared that he did not believe in the existence of god, had carried the surname Phileas.

While it could not be said that the mad Pope had directly caused the collapse of the Church of Light, his actions had certainly delivered the final blow to an already crumbling institution. So the man the captain ate... was a descendant of that mad Pope?

Nio seemed to guess what Karon was thinking. “That’s what I suspect as well. I have a feeling that through him, through his bloodline, I may be able to trace the reason why that mad Pope went mad.

“You know how it is. The records of the final period of the Church of Light are extremely incomplete, even within the orthodox churches. It’s as though all the churches deliberately tried to erase something from that period. This secret excites me. This truth fascinates me.

“After losing Elisa, I need something new to focus my gaze upon. This is it.”

“Captain, I’m very interested in this secret as well.”

“Of course, I knew you would say that. But this is only my conjecture. In reality, I’ve only just begun investigating him, and yet I can already feel some of his influence on me. It’s like being drunk. Sometimes, I naturally begin to blur the distinction between him and myself. Things he did, I begin to assume were done by me. But I do not resist this feeling, because I do not sense pain in it.”

“But eventually, it will cause problems.”

“That is something for my future self to worry about. For now, I simply want to enjoy the present.” Nio stood up and patted Karon on the shoulder. “Dawn is approaching. Do you need to go home? I can drive you back.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Nio and Karon left Lemar’s collection room. When they walked out of the shop, they did not greet the owner.

After getting into the car, Nio asked, “Back to the funeral home?”

“Yes.”

Nio started the car. The sky was in that moment between night and dawn. “To a certain extent, our goals are the same. We both want to explore the true scenery along the path of faith.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Karon, thank you for your honesty. Tonight, I gained the advantage.”

“Captain, the consultation fee...”

“I will take better care of you in the team from now on.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“However, I have one more request. My secret is known only to you, so if you one day realize that I am no longer myself...”

“What should I do?”

“You decide.”

“Understood, Captain.”

“Do you know what I think about every time I stand before Elisa’s gravestone?”

“The meaning of life?”

“In truth, I think of nothing, because only when I stand before Elisa’s grave can I stop moving forward.”

“I think I understand that feeling, Captain. Emptying yourself, isn’t it?”

“Yes. One day, I will find the one who drove Elisa to her death, and the one who still whispers in my mind from time to time. I will erase him completely.”

At this point, Nio looked at Karon and smiled. “Walking aimlessly can feel relaxing, but once that relaxation becomes the norm instead of something you steal between busy moments, it loses its appeal. I need to set a goal for myself, and it would be best if that goal is high and difficult to achieve.”

“That makes sense.”

“And you? Have you ever thought about setting a goal for yourself?”

“I want to meet Him.”

The car jerked slightly. Nio let out a chuckle, then burst into laughter. Karon laughed as well, because Nio understood exactly who “him” referred to. It was... the God of Order.

“Karon, before Order declared war on Reincarnation, almost the entire ecclesiastical world was talking about the catastrophic explosion at the Temple of Order, and yet I think that, in the future, you will do something even more shocking than your grandfather.”

“I don’t care whether they are shocked or not. I just want to continue walking the path I have chosen.”

They arrived at the funeral home. Nio stopped the car. “The next time we meet, you will still be you, and I will still be me.”

“Of course, Captain. We both have our masks.”

“Yes, we both have our own masks.” Nio raised his hand, indicating for Karon to look at his ring finger. “Remember this ring. Among all my rings, it is the only one that is not made of plastic.”

“I’ll remember.”

“I won’t say anything more. Just like when we stood on the balcony earlier and prayed that the Church Affairs Building would remain safe tonight, some things are better left unsaid.”

Karon nodded in agreement. At the same time, he confirmed that the captain had indeed been deliberately jinxing things earlier, even if he did not know the term.

“Alright. Try to get some sleep. If things go smoothly, we may need to regroup by noon to continue the security assignment. If things go even more smoothly, the Church of Reincarnation’s request for surrender may arrive before our Church of Order formally announces the declaration of war.”

“Understood, Captain. You should rest as well.”

“I’ll try.”

Karon opened the door and stepped out. Nio rolled down the window and pointed to his own face, adding, “There’s one more thing I need to remind you.”

“Please go ahead, Captain.”

“If you have a choice, try not to get too close to your mask, even if it is something worn on your face.”

“That won’t be an issue. Mr. Pavaro is currently out on assignment and may not return for a month. I have no reason to wear his mask casually, especially since his wife is living in the same house as me.”

“Mm.” Nio drove off. Karon turned and walked into the funeral home. Just as he reached the entrance, he heard a car behind him. Turning around, he saw that Alfred was returning as well.

“Young Master, I just went to the café to settle the bill,” Alfred reported with a smile.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“I’m fine, but that manager had a heart attack from the fright. I performed emergency treatment on him, and he recovered.”

“Bless him.” The café manager had first received a call from the funeral home, and then discovered that the two men who had been in the room had vanished without a trace. That kind of experience was more than enough to spark all sorts of terrifying associations and send someone into shock.

“Young Master, please get some rest.”

“Alright. Keep an eye on the phone for me. I may need to regroup during the day.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Karon returned to his bedroom. Kevin wagged his tail as he approached. Karon reached out and rubbed the dog’s bald head. The patch of fur that Pu’er had burned off still had not grown back.

Pu’er also climbed off of the bed and walked over. “Oh, my dear Little Karon has dragged his exhausted body home. Earning money to support the household really isn’t easy.”

“It’s alright.”

“So, after completing your mission, you and your companions went to a café together to relax? That really does sound like a traditional male social routine.”

Clearly, a certain cat had been eavesdropping on the phone call. “You’re annoying.”

“Me? I’m watching over you on behalf of my great-great-great-great grandniece!”

“Then what about Miss Ophelia?”

“Hah! You are still thinking about her! I knew it. There’s no way it was just simple support for a fellow clansman.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“My fault?” Pu’er swished her tail angrily. “Send Kevin to recite poetry with her and see if she even pays attention! You’re the one who was flirting with her so properly, and now you’re blaming me? Hmph!”

“I’m tired. I want to sleep for a while.” Karon took off his clothes and lay down on the bed.

Seeing this, Pu’er immediately shut her mouth. After Karon lay down, she even moved closer to him, placing a paw on his chest and gently patting him, murmuring, “Looks like you really are exhausted. It’s rare to see you skip a bath.”

Hearing that, Karon immediately sat back up and walked towards the washroom.

“Uh... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have reminded you,” Pu’er immediately apologized. For someone with a compulsion about bathing, once reminded that they hadn’t washed, there was no way they could fall asleep.

Standing in the washroom, hot water poured down from above. Karon closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of relaxation.

By his ear, the captain’s words from earlier echoed again: try not to get too close to your mask, even if it is something worn on your face. Karon raised his hand and touched his own face.

He shook his head. “Captain, my mask... is one that cannot be removed.”