A priest in North America, what the hell is the Demon Gate system?

"Father, I'm guilty... I've wronged my brother... not just once, but eleven times, she's too charming..."

In the town of Odum, at St. Michael's Church, the old oak benches are scorching hot from the sun.

"It's not that my brother is inhuman, it's just that my sister-in-law is too charming. It's alright, child, the Lord forgives you, Amen."

Behind the screen in the confessional, candlelight flickered, casting shadows on Li Ang's face.

"No, this time it's not my sister-in-law, it's my brother's horse..."

"!?...?!"

As the door opposite the confessional closed gently, the footsteps faded into the distance and eventually disappeared.

Li Ang leaned back in the chair in the confessional and let out a long breath.

"Eleven times... is this the Tracey Academy I've been constructed for? It's truly the free America... I'm always deeply moved."

[Ding! Listen to the daily report of the Demonic Sect follower. Reward: Contribution Point +1]

Li Ang rubbed his forehead, looking at his priest's uniform and the cross hanging on his chest, and gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Here we go again! Can't you be a little more rational, system? This is America! Shouldn't you give me a super-rich system? Giving me a cultivation system is one thing, but a demonic system at that!"

Li Ang was just an ordinary college student who loved reading online novels. That day, he finally had a day off from class and went out for a stroll, but he was stopped by a large extended-range electric SUV, the Chuangfei, which was breaking traffic rules.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself transmigrated into the body of a Chinese priest in a small town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA.

He grew up in an orphanage and graduated from a seminary.

There was no extraordinary background to him, nor was there an uncle named Don Quixote.

But what woke him up along with the misplaced Demonic Gate System was this very system.

It identified the church as the Demonic Sect and saw its own church as a stronghold of the Demonic Sect among mortals.

Li Ang himself was given the identity of a steward at the Demonic Sect's stronghold.

When you perform Mass or listen to confessions on a daily basis, the system will consider it as engaging in sect activities, thus rewarding you with contribution points.

But so far, Li Ang has not yet discovered what this contribution point can do.

Thinking of this, Li Ang had a sudden thought and summoned the system: "System, open the status panel."

【Li Ang】

[Sect Status: Outer Sect Outpost Steward]

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Level 1]

[Mana: 1]

[Physical Fitness: 1]

[Divine Sense: 2]

[Material implements: None]

[Contribution Points: 30]

[Sect Assessment Countdown: 85 days]

[Current Outpost Incense Offerings: 400]

[Current Outstanding Debt: 6000]

Looking at the pitiful data on the panel, Li Ang sighed inwardly.

"When I first awakened the system, I thought I could have Deep Blue max it out for me, but it only gave me one point! What happened to the supposedly enjoyable urban cultivation novels?"

Of course, as a loyal fan of Elder Han, Li Ang knew the importance of divine sense to cultivators, and without thinking, he added this precious attribute to his divine sense.

Holding his breath and concentrating, an invisible ripple spread from between his brows outwards, revealing every detail of the church within a ten-meter radius.

This incredibly wonderful experience is reminiscent of the eagle-eye vision in Assassin's Creed.

When Li Ang first opened his divine sense, he excitedly used it for half a day, but then a sudden feeling of powerlessness came over him, and he realized that this thing really consumed a lot of energy.

"If that were all, it would be a standard wish-fulfillment novel start, but..."

Li Ang's gaze fell on the bottom of the system panel, on the countdown timer for the sect assessment.

In the magical land of America, you can't do anything without money.

The so-called sect assessment is actually the monthly donation that the church has to pay.

The St. Michael Church, where Li Ang lives, is a small parish under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and its monthly contribution rate is 15%.

In other words, if the parish receives $10000 in donations this month, then $1500 must be turned over to the diocese.

Of course, even if no one donates, the minimum is $1000 per month; that's the bottom line.

This might not be a big problem for larger parishes, but Odome is a small town with a diverse immigrant population, and a town of over three thousand people may only have a couple hundred Catholics.

This is a big problem. Not many people are donating. We've only received $400 in incense money since May.

Most importantly, the parish is already six months behind on its monthly payments, and the former priest, Andrew, disappeared last month, reportedly absconding with the money. The parish is sending people to investigate.

Li Ang's predecessor was also someone who had just been consecrated as a priest from a parish deacon and was responsible for taking over this mess.

"Father Li, even the Lord needs money to operate. If we don't make up the difference soon, we'll have to start the parish restructuring process in 90 days."

The visiting priest from the Philadelphia diocese said this in a friendly manner.

The reorganization naturally refers to merging Leon's parish with other parishes. For a normal priest, this is nothing special; it simply means taking his talents elsewhere...

But for Li Ang, this was the countdown to his death.

[If the sect fails the assessment, the stronghold will be considered destroyed, and the stronghold leader will be directly added to the talent pool.]

"Directly included in the talent pool... to put it bluntly, if you can't pay the fees, you'll be eliminated by the system."

As a seasoned online novel reader, Li Ang naturally understands that "talent" is not a good word.

"This Fumomen system is truly in its infancy, though of course the churches in America aren't much better."

"The United States has its own national conditions, and we really need to make some money. If the system hadn't failed to provide magic, I would have gone to buy things for free. Anyway, the church doesn't care where the money comes from."

Li Ang tugged at the collar of the priest's uniform. Pennsylvania in May was already hot, and the confessional was even more stuffy.

"The parish pays me $3000 a month. I was planning to save money and maybe I could cover the shortfall with my salary."

"But now I understand why I can't save money here in America."

Li Ang sighed and silently made a list in his mind.

"My monthly income is $3000, and my total annual income is $36000. I live in church accommodation, which is valued at $12000. So, I would be subject to self-employment tax based on an annual income of $48000. The tax rate is 15.3%, which is equivalent to $612 per month."

"The federal income tax is a bit better; it allows you to deduct the value of the dorm room, so it's only $178 per month for me."

"After the federal government collects its taxes, Pennsylvania will collect state taxes, which are $92 a month. After that, Lancaster County will collect local taxes, which are $30 a month."

"I didn't do anything, but I spent nearly $1000. Then, I spent several hundred dollars more on food and other things. The original owner's own 2008 RAV4 also had more than $200 a month for insurance and gas."

"And with phone bills of over $100 a month and a whole host of other expenses, I still have nearly $1000 left after all."

"Fortunately, the original owner grew up in a seminary; otherwise, the student loans would have been a nightmare, and the medical insurance was fully covered by the parish..."

"Welcome to America... I need to learn about tax avoidance when I have time. It really affects my $3000 monthly salary. I don't want to get physically killed."

Rubbing his temples, Li Ang got up, pushed open the door to the confessional, and entered the church hall.

The air smelled of old wooden furniture mixed with incense.

The mirror next to the hall, used for grooming, reflected Li Ang's handsome face with its sharp features. His dark hair was neatly styled with hair clay, and his tall and upright figure, combined with his well-tailored priest's suit, exuded a sharp aura.

He bears a slight resemblance to Daniel Wu, but Li Ang doesn't really care about that, since it's just the standard look for readers of Qidian.com.

The large window on the side wall of the church is stained, and the midday sun shines directly in, illuminating the floor in various colors, with specks of dust floating in the beams of light.

The two rows of benches are made of oak, some parts of which are polished to a shine. Looking down the benches towards the altar, the huge cross on which Jesus suffered appears to be whitened by the sunlight, with light flowing down like blood.

Between the first two rows of benches stood a nun.

She was holding a thin book and reading. Her face was flushed, perhaps because of the high temperature. Her headscarf revealed half of her golden bangs, which covered her right eye.

Although she was dressed in a black robe, the light reflected from the crucifix still outlined her rather admirable features.

Church, cross, nuns reading devotional texts—what a sacred scene! Amen.

Of course, if Li Ang hadn't possessed extraordinary spiritual insight and immediately noticed that the book she was holding had "C96" written on it, along with some string of words like "saintess...fallen..." or something like that, he probably would have really thought that way.

"That Nia, what era is this, still reading C96 doujinshi..." Li Ang muttered to himself.

Sister Nia was transferred here shortly after Li Ang arrived. She was only eighteen years old and a novice nun who had just made her first vow.

This wasn't the first time he'd secretly read banned books while Li Ang was away.

However, Li Ang is not some kind of doctrine defender. He has hundreds of favorites on his own e-site. What can I say?

Normally, Li Ang wouldn't bother with this girl who looked and acted so much like Asuna from Blue Files.

But today's confession was really a bit embarrassing, so Li Ang smiled slightly and decided to tease the girl.

"Sister Nia, what spiritual book are you reading?"

Li Ang's full, powerful, and magnetic voice instantly resounded in the church.

"Ah! Father Li!"

Nia, who was hiding between two rows of benches, was as if struck by lightning. She tried to hide the book behind her back immediately, but she lost her grip and the book slipped from her hand behind the chair.

Nia instinctively turned around to grab it, but forgot that she was between two rows of chairs. She tripped over the back of a chair and fell face down on the chair in front of her, with her back to Li Ang.

Her black nun's gown billowed in the wind, and one of her simple leather shoes flew off.

"Big Eye Technique! Activate!"

Instantly, Li Ang activated his full divine sense! Not missing a single detail!

"Big peach, 80D black panties, white briefs, Greek feet, ahh, even Yege would shed tears of blood if he saw this! Thank you, Virgin Mary..."

Withdrawing his divine sense, Li Ang didn't look any further; there wasn't much to see anyway, really.

It's just a subconscious exercise of spiritual awareness.

Nia finally managed to stand up, her face flushed, and she subconsciously pulled her nun's dress down even further.

The toes of her black nylon-wrapped feet hooked onto the leather shoes that had fallen to the side, she slipped the ball of her foot inside, twisted her ankle, and then slipped the heel on.

"Um... Father Li, your confessional work is finished..."

Li Ang stopped teasing her and resumed his solemn priestly demeanor.

"Hmm, there are no more scheduled confessions today. By the way, what's this? A new donation check?"

Li Ang turned his gaze to a letter on the bench next to the nun. Occasionally, donations would be sent in this form, which, although not much, could alleviate some of the pressure.

"No, it's an assessment report sent by the parish priest who is inspecting the area. It points out that the roof of St. Michael's Church is damaged and leaking, and he wants us to repair it as soon as possible."

"Moreover, the restoration must be carried out by a restoration team designated by the parish to ensure that the original structure of the church is not damaged, and the quote is $3."

"Eek—!"

Li Ang wanted to yell, "Why don't you just rob me?! 3 for a roof repair?! Am I repairing cultural relics in America?!"

"The parish doesn't have the money to repair it right now, let's just put it off for now."

Sister Nia nodded upon hearing this and added:

"Yes, Father Cha understands this point. He said that if we don't repair it ourselves within a month, the parish will advance the funds to help us repair it, and the advanced funds will be added to the monthly payment account owed to the parish."

"How bitter! Why must I speak of debts again!"

Li Ang felt bitter inside. He had originally hoped to get through the difficult times on his salary, but now this had happened. Was this some kind of death trap?!

The church is even darker than the demonic sect!

[Ding! Daily sect quest triggered: Repair the stronghold]

[Task Description: Deacon, please complete the repair of the main hall's roof within 30 days.]

[Task Reward: One low-grade cultivation technique, +100 contribution points]

"Hiss—" Li Ang gasped inwardly. The cultivation technique has arrived! I've finally found the door to the path of immortal cultivation!

"I have to make money, both to survive and to pursue my path to immortality, but where am I going to get so much money... I don't know if taking out a loan is against the rules, but I'll get the cultivation technique first."

"Ring ring—"

Just as Li Ang was pondering, a phone rang urgently from the office on the other side of the church's main hall.

"A call from a landline? Looks like someone wants to schedule Mass or confession."

Li Ang pushed open the creaking wooden door and casually picked up the white landline phone, which was covered in patina, from the old desk.

"Hello, St. Michael's Church, I am Father Leon."

However, what came from the other end of the phone was a shrill scream that was not human, and a woman's heart-wrenching cries:

"Father! Quick...quick, save my son! He! He's possessed by a demon!"