In the name of the true god

Chapter 112 Persuasion

I rely on!

Yes, it really exists!!

Jude didn't really have any expectations for Edmund's "distant help in an immediate crisis" approach; he was just trying his best to avoid any regrets.

But Edmund actually did something incredibly helpful, spanning twenty-nine years! He created a chance for life for forty-two imprisoned wizards and resonance sorcerers!

Overwhelmed with excitement, he could only sincerely exclaim in his heart, "Awesome!"

Allen and the two priests watched as Jude knelt before the statue for more than ten seconds, then stood up and suddenly his face was flushed with a rosy glow. They were all slightly surprised.

It was just a little bit of fake prayer, but it actually seems to have some effect.

"call----

"——" Jude, suppressing his excitement and joy, returned to the card table and sat down. "Come on, let's continue playing cards."

"Heh." The bearded priest casually flicked his cigarette ash, not bothering to shuffle the cards. "How did you feel after your prayer?"

"It felt like my soul had been baptized!" Jude exaggerated his feelings with a straight face. "Sure enough, nothing beats believing in God. Tomorrow I'll talk to my brother and ask him to get me into the church as a member, and then try to become a priest!"

The two priests exchanged a playful glance, carefully controlling the upward curve of their lips.

Even when they prayed to the gods, they rarely received a response, and the so-called "soul baptism" was something they had never seen before.

Jude isn't even a believer, yet he wants to attract the attention of the gods?

dream!

Unfortunately, they never imagined that the seemingly unreliable and boisterous young man in front of them would be a sorcerer who, while praying to the gods, secretly confirmed that there was a hidden tunnel beneath the statue.

Allen's gaze was genuinely somewhat bewildered.

According to the plan, Jude was supposed to keep his distance from him. They didn't even keep each other company on duty, so they certainly shouldn't have gotten together to play cards.

But Jude took the initiative to say that he wanted to come to the heresy prison with him, and inexplicably went to pray to the "false god" and claimed that he wanted to join the Holy Church.

What does he want to do?

Is it to gain the priest's trust so that he can better distance himself from the situation afterward?

But there's no need to put on a show in front of these two priests who are doomed to die.

Each of them had their own thoughts and continued playing cards.

Trading suspended.

"Haha! Blackjack! Cash! Cash!"

Allen deliberately lost.

Jude was also very perfunctory, and before he knew it, he had lost more than ten gold coins.

After confirming the existence of the tunnel, he was preoccupied with rehearsing the rescue operation. Under the guise of playing cards, Allen went to the heresy prison alone, poisoned two priests who were unsuspecting of him with coffee, and then opened the iron doors of the cells one by one. Together with the forty-two involved wizards and resonance sorcerers, he moved the idols and escaped through the tunnel.

There's no need to evacuate upwards, so you won't encounter the prison guards on duty at the gates, the armed prison guards on the first floor, or the patrolling prison guards inside and outside the prison.

Without having to confront the prison guards head-on, casualties can be reduced to zero.

If Allen had acted faster, the prison might have taken five or six hours, until the time came to empty the sewage bins, before they could even notice the situation in the heresy ward.

Five or six hours.

With enough divine intervention, everyone was able to escape from the suburbs and the capital without stopping.

Even if the Holy Church, together with the capital's heavy prison, major police stations, and even the capital's garrison, were to search for and blockade the area, it would be to no avail.

However, beyond the perfect plan, there is still one problem to be solved.

How can I logically inform the Divine Sent-down Society about the existence of the underground passage?

Bearing dual laws, able to communicate across time with Edmund from twenty-nine years ago—these are his absolute secrets.

The bottom line, regardless of stance or trust level, is not something that should be shared casually.

Or what?

To exploit information asymmetry?

He told his brother Connor that it was a wizard from the Descent of Gods who sensed the existence of a tunnel in the Heretic's Quarter.

He then told the Descent of the Gods that his brother Connor had accidentally discovered the existence of the tunnel while he was in charge of the Heresy Ward.

Since there is no direct intersection between the two sides, there is no way to verify the suspicion. Moreover, as long as it is confirmed that there is a tunnel, the forty-two involved wizards and resonance sorcerers can be protected. Who would bother to investigate the details of "how the tunnel came about" or "who discovered it"?

That's it!

Midnight.

Fixed times for emptying the sewage bucket.

As usual, Jude went to the north-facing cells, pulling open the partitions below each iron door and asking, "Do you need the sewage buckets emptied?"

When the iron door partition of the last cell was pulled open.

Vincent Monroe, who had been waiting at the door for some time, greeted him in a low voice: "Jude, long time no see!"

"Do you need to empty the sewage bucket?" Jude noticed Vincent Monroe's bright eyes and excellent spirits, and couldn't help but admire him. No wonder he and Edmund had almost turned the world upside down. But beyond admiration, he also asked an important question: "Next time we meet, I need you to tell me the details of Leonard's ambush of Edmund. I want to know how Edmund, a seventh-tier Entanglement Wizard, ended up alone and was so easily captured."

"throat."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jude closed the partition, emptied the sewage bucket, and returned to the temporary rest room for prison guards to rest with his eyes closed.

Late into the night, the two priests were still inviting him and Allen to play cards. Allen, true to his "never refuse" persona, readily went, while Jude declined, citing his empty wallet as the reason.

"Pick, pick, pick this little flower, take it, take it, no, no, don't delay! I, I, I'm afraid it will, will wither, fall, fall into the dust, dust, dust—and, perhaps it doesn't, doesn't, deserve to adorn your wreath, please, please pick it, with your hand, bring it a painful touch of glory, glory, honor—(Note 1)" Poet Anderscher

Read aloud at night.

Everyone had grown accustomed to this sound accompanying them day after day.

Captain Foster and "Big Brother" Killian sat together chatting idly, while "Handsome Guy" Colin fell asleep with a hint of fear.

Jude also regained his composure and sorted through his myriad thoughts.

The rescue operation is now clear.

He is now thinking more about the issues of cause and effect and time.

Based on practical experience...

Those things that were not known, observed, or confirmed beforehand, such as Vincent Munro's waiting and the tunnel in the prayer room of the heretical prison, can be altered.

However, the established facts, such as Edmund's arrest and execution, seem irreversible and can only be accepted.

so----

Is it important whether or not one subjectively knows the outcome?

But how can we confirm whether the final result was due to our own influence or whether it was inherently the case?

So idealistic!

In summary, the patterns that have been summarized so far are roughly as follows.

If, upon their next meeting, he were to reveal the specific details of Edmund's arrest, yet still be unable to reverse the outcome of Edmund's arrest and execution, he would have to try another path.

First, is it about overturning established facts?

From an idealistic perspective, one might assume that Edmund did not die, and then establish a logical causal path for this outcome.

hiss----

Overthrowing it is easier said than done.

Edmund was once a thorn in the side of the four holy churches.

suspended animation?

Who was the one who was interrogated by the church for three months and publicly executed in front of tens of thousands of people?

The Holy Church isn't stupid; the chances of successfully switching things out are extremely slim.

Furthermore.

If Edmund did survive, why did he disappear without a trace for the next twenty-one years, leaving other involved wizards and resonators to avenge him and be hunted down by the church?

Given Edmund's character, he would never stand idly by and watch all of this happen.

"Difficult to handle—" Jude frowned and muttered softly.

There are simply too many things to consider if we want to reverse Edmund's fate.

Fortunately, there were still seven or eight years before Edmund's arrest, so there was still time to try more, and things might not be set in stone.

Seven o'clock in the morning.

Before changing shifts, I entered the heretical prison area one last time to empty the sewage bucket.

"Do we need to empty the sewage bucket?" Jude pulled open the partition of Vincent Monroe's cell, waiting for his answer.

“We were disbanded before Edmund was arrested,” Vincent Monroe recalled. “Even in 426 AD, Edmund disappeared for more than half a year.”

Disband?

Why would you disband a huge organization with thousands of people?

Isn't this just giving the Holy Church a chance to defeat us one by one?

Disappeared—where did they go?

Vincent Monroe said with a sorrowful expression, "I later heard that Leonard had kidnapped many of our kind, and finally, after laying a heavy ambush and making huge sacrifices, he managed to capture Edmund, who came alone to rescue him."

This is an obvious trap!

But Edmund was precisely the kind of person who knowingly did the impossible—

"Why did he want to disband you?" Jude pressed.

"I don't know—some say our collective actions were too conspicuous, making us easy targets for spies from the Holy Church. Others say Edmund decided to defect to the Holy Church, which is why he betrayed us—"

"Edmund wouldn't do such a thing."

"Yes, I believe him."

"I'll come back to ask you again tomorrow." Having waited too long at the cell door, Jude had no choice but to leave for the time being.

New mysteries have emerged.

In the year 426 of the Divine Calendar, Edmund suddenly disappeared for more than half a year during a period of intense struggle.

In the year 427 of the Divine Calendar, Edmund inexplicably disbanded the organization and ventured alone into Leonard's trap, where he was eventually arrested and executed.

What exactly happened back then?

Jude found it increasingly difficult to see through the "predetermined" "outcomes" of the past.

"Sigh, I forgot the most troublesome thing." After get off work, Allen sat in Jude's car, annoyed. "The heretic ward only has one chance to distribute food each day, and that's during the day. We on the night shift have no way to help them recover their strength—"

Jude drove towards the Hearthstone Street apartment, his expression calm: "You spoke to the president yesterday, right? We'll meet at my place today."

"Hmm." Allen sighed. "By the way, what did you mean when you told the priests that you also wanted to join the Holy Church?"

"I'll explain when I see the chairman."

"good----"

On Sunday, November 11, 448 of the Divine Calendar, at 7:46 a.m.

27 Hearthstone Street Apartments.

Upon meeting Chairman Frost at Jude's house, Allen said with shame, "Chairman, I was so stupid. I forgot that the night shift guards could only access them by emptying the sewage bins. I had no chance to provide them with food at all—"

President Frost reassured him expressionlessly, "It's alright. Do what you can; some things can't be forced."

"Chairman," Jude interrupted their conversation, saying in a deep voice, "things have taken a turn for the better."

"Hmm?" Chairman Frost, sitting on the sofa, turned his head. "What do you mean?"

"My brother shared some important information with me yesterday. He said that while he was on duty in the heresy ward, he noticed that there seemed to be a tunnel hidden under the statue of the god in the prayer room!" Jude said, repeating the words he had prepared in advance.

"A tunnel?!" For the first time, Chairman Frost looked surprised and instinctively stood up to ask, "There's a tunnel in the Heretic's Quarter? Are you sure?"

"At first I wasn't sure, after all, there's no such thing as a free lunch—but my brother was very serious, it didn't seem like he was making it up, so today I specifically used the excuse of playing cards with the priest to go to the heresy ward with Allen, and found a pretext to enter the prayer room to verify," Jude said. "Unexpectedly—the bottom of the idol really did seem hollow!"

"You went to the prayer room to pray to check if there was a tunnel?!" Allen pressed on.

"Yes!" Jude's suppressed emotions could finally be released without restraint. He beamed with excitement and said, "Although we don't know who built this tunnel, it seems the priests are unaware of it! If we can escape through the tunnel with the forty-two imprisoned witches and resonance sorcerers, we can avoid fighting the prison guards and priests! With good luck, perhaps none of them will die!"

"How could this be—" Chairman Frost instinctively suspected that something was amiss.

The capital's heavy prison is airtight.

The only two prison breaks were both orchestrated by the Holy Church to put pressure on the monarchists.

If there really was a tunnel, how come only Connor noticed it after all these years?

"Where does the tunnel lead?" he asked.

"I don't know either." Jude really didn't know where the tunnel's exit led.

However, this is obviously not important.

Since Edmund was able to secretly set up a tunnel in advance, he certainly wouldn't place the exit in a dangerous location.

"strangeness--

"————" President Frost paced back and forth, trying to figure out the truth behind it all.

"Could this be another church trap?" Allen became wary.

Jude fully understood their surprise and doubt.

If he were kept in the dark and suddenly learned that there was a tunnel in the heretical section of the Royal Capital's heavy prison, as if divine intervention had solved all his problems with this tunnel, he would also inevitably doubt the authenticity of the information and whether the tunnel had another purpose.

Fortunately, he was in the know and was the one in charge.

Especially at times like these, it's crucial to step forward and point out the pros and cons, urging the chairman to set aside his concerns: "I don't believe this is the church's doing; otherwise, they would have already orchestrated a far more successful prison break using tunnels, forcing Leonard to agree to the transfer of heresy."

"Yeah, right—" Allen scratched his head, "Who built that? Digging a tunnel is no small feat, especially right under the idol in the prayer room—"

"That's not important!" Jude emphasized. "The point is, our rescue plan is already in the works. If the tunnel doesn't work, we'll proceed with the original plan and force our way out. If the tunnel does lead to the outside, then who cares who built it? We'll get out first!"

Note 1: Tagore, Gitanjali, No. 6