Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Pope's Uncontrollable Temptation

"Wei Yanwu, I'm waiting for an explanation from you."

The Rat King angrily raised his cane to smash Wei Yanwu, but unfortunately Wei Yanwu was faster. The door slammed shut, and the Rat King's cane could only make a thud against the door.

Now that things have come to this, no matter how angry he was, the Rat King was powerless to do anything. He hadn't managed to find out Wei Yanwu's purpose on this trip, but at least he had a guess. Fortunately, it wasn't a complete loss; it was better than knowing nothing and being kept in the dark.

He went home to prepare. If Wei Yanwu really wanted to drag them into doing something dangerous, he had to leave himself a way out in advance.

Fortunately, Wayne did not reveal that he had reached an agreement with Edward. Once Edward's belongings are handed over to Wayne tomorrow, his daughter will have some security.

Wei Yanwu stood behind the door, waiting until the tapping of his cane on the door gradually subsided, and the guards at the door bowed to bid farewell to the Rat King. Only then did he reluctantly turn to Wayne and say:

"You've really pushed me to the limit, Your Highness Wayne."

Wayne shrugged:

"Don't make false accusations, Mr. Wei. I never forced you."

He reached out and tapped Wei Yanwu's chest, saying:

"You've been pushing yourself too hard. You've pushed yourself too far."

Wei Yanwu, you could say he's bad, and he truly is bad to the core. But does he have any good side? Probably he does. Longmen's rapid development to its current state is inseparable from his efforts. The city's current stability, at least superficially, is also largely due to him.

Although many of his methods were wrong, Wei Yanwu was still considered an excellent leader by most people in Longmen.

Wayne may not approve of him, but he cannot look down on him. Wayne, with his precognitive abilities, already knew what Wei Yanwu was planning, and this was the only warning he could offer:

"Haste makes waste; this is a proverb from your country."

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war," Wei Yanwu replied calmly.

Wayne shook his head. He had said everything he needed to say; whether Wei Yanwu accepted it or how to change things was no longer his concern.

As a transmigrator, although he naturally harbored some goodwill towards the Yan Kingdom, this country under the rule of a feudal imperial family was ultimately different from the memories in Wayne's mind. Expecting him to emulate the Gallic king's act of selling his country to aid Colombia, only to have his own nation wiped out by the Nightmare Khan's army, was absolutely impossible.

"Well then, let me see what's in your box?"

Wayne sat down leisurely on the sofa. Madam Wenyue was in the kitchen trying to make a cup of tea for the two of them, but Wei Yanwu went over and asked Madam Wenyue to return to her room for the time being.

Is it a secret that even Fumizuki can't reveal?

Wayne appeared relaxed, but inwardly he was already tense.

To be honest, there was a risk in what he was doing. Just like Wei Yanwu said, if Wayne pushed him too far, even a cornered dog will jump over the wall. Since he dared to draw his sword against the Great Yan True Dragon, why wasn't there a slight possibility that he might simply cut down Wayne as well?

To prevent any accidents, Wayne chose to remain silent and instead silently activated [Heavenly Mandate]. As his pupils gradually turned gold, Wayne felt more confident.

No matter how fast you launch a sneak attack, can you outrun the speed of sound?

Fortunately, Wei Yanwu did not do anything so irrational.

For him, dealing with Yan alone was already a challenge. Let alone adding Victoria to the mix. Even if Victoria didn't want to get involved, he absolutely couldn't afford to offend them, otherwise...

No country in the world has the ability to offend both the Great Yan and Victoria simultaneously and still survive unscathed. Let alone a mere city like his. Even with his powerful backers, it wouldn't be enough.

Wei Yanwu took the briefcase from the room, placed it in front of Wayne, and said:

The password is: 2325520.

Wayne raised an eyebrow: "You want me to open it myself?"

Wei Yanwu glanced at him and asked in an annoyed tone, "You're planning to make me explain it to you?"

Entrusting the contents of the box to you was already an extremely risky business. The Victorian and his backer had always been at odds, and if Wayne came up with some wicked idea after looking at it, Wei Yanwu wouldn't be able to prevent it even if he wanted to. Not to mention having to explain what was inside to Wayne.

If you want to see, I'll show you. But I didn't say I was going to tell you what's inside or what it's for.

Wayne's lips twitched; he hadn't expected Wei Yanwu to have such a trick up his sleeve.

This is troublesome. As everyone knows, I, Wayne, am a transmigrator, and my understanding of this world is only superficial. At most, due to my identity, I know some secrets of Victoria. But I may not be familiar with things from other countries.

Terra is a world of riddles, with a whole bunch of riddles inside a single rogue, not to mention the real world. If Wei Yanwu puts something he doesn't recognize inside, how will Wayne identify it?

He couldn't even tell whether the item inside was the original or if Wei Yanwu had switched it and put something that looked legitimate in there. Anyway, Wayne didn't recognize it and couldn't confirm it.

Wayne suddenly regretted not bringing Theresa along. The Demon King's abilities were truly useful; he could easily discern whether someone was lying, and Wei Yanwu's little schemes had nowhere to hide.

Should we ask directly using the Mandate of Heaven and imperial authority?

Wayne thought of it subconsciously, but immediately dismissed the idea.

The Mandate of Heaven has a major flaw: those controlled by it lose all memory of the time they were controlled upon regaining consciousness. This feature seems convenient, saving Wayne the trouble of issuing a specific order to make the affected person forget what happened. However, it's also a huge burden. Since this feature is forced, the affected person will inevitably find themselves with a period of memory loss upon regaining consciousness.

This defect might not be a big deal under normal circumstances, but Wei Yanwu is currently in a state of high tension. If Wayne rashly uses the power of destiny to ask, what will happen when Wei Yanwu wakes up and finds that he has lost the most crucial part of his memory?

This is the other side's territory. Once Wei Yanwu realizes it, Wayne will have no chance of leaving the city unless he uses his ultimate move and takes control of the entire Lungmen.

Controlling the entire Lungmen is no small matter. It means that before Wayne leaves Lungmen, the entire city will be shut down, from city cleaners and vehicle drivers to the mobile city power plant management unit – everything will be paralyzed.

Wayne doesn't have that much expertise, nor the energy to split into millions of people and assign them individual tasks. This isn't a simulation game where you can complete tasks with a few clicks. If he did, it wouldn't be Jingzhe who goes crazy, but him. And the entire Lungmen could potentially experience hundreds of traffic accidents, power and water system malfunctions, and reactor control imbalances in an instant, followed by "Bang!"

If it cannot be controlled, the Mandate of Heaven and imperial power can only be used as a last resort.

There's no other way, I'll just have to take a look first. If all else fails, I can always check some information when I get back and ask the amazing Theresa or the even more amazing Kal'tsit.

Enter the password 2325520 on the combination lock panel. The combination lock made a click, and Wayne opened the lock.

Inside the box was a beautiful red mat, its exquisite patterns clearly indicating it was no ordinary item. At the center of the mat was a cross carved with a lifelike human figure.

Wayne's eyes lit up.

The cross...

How could I have forgotten about this?

In the original storyline, the one who came to Lungmen to find Wei Yanwu and offer him help was none other than Mostima, along with the Pope behind her who always asked, "Have you eaten?"

It's been four or five months, almost half a year. Ever since Victoria was ruthlessly outmaneuvered by Wayne, her conspiracy thwarted, and she suffered a defeat in the sweeping wave of religious reformation, has His Holiness the Pope finally become restless again?

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Long Live His Holiness the Pope

Laterano, the largest religious state in Terra. It is also the only one whose influence extends beyond its own borders, radiating across the entire landmass.

In some ways, on an ideological level, his influence on the nations of the land far surpassed that of Victoria. Using this influence, Lateran once ran rampant across the entire land. They established churches in Ursus, wreaked havoc in the city-states of Syracuse, attempted to interfere with the succession to the throne in Victoria, and even completely seized supreme power in Iberia—the lost empire.

Their power was once at its zenith, even nearly completing a cultural invasion of Victoria, but as the saying goes, extremes beget their opposites, and prosperity inevitably leads to decline. The turning point in Laterano's fate occurred precisely during their interference in Victoria.

Driven by Wayne, a religious reform movement that advocated for direct communication between God and believers, without going through the church, and that the church was merely God's instrument rather than the master of the people, and that justification by faith should be established, and which advocated abolishing the authority of the church, began in Victoria and spread across the land.

In a short time, the leaders of the various nations, who had long been dissatisfied with Lateran's overstepping of authority and its actions, responded one after another, and Lateran's sphere of influence shrank by nearly 80 percent.

Wayne's brilliance lies in the fact that he didn't deny the importance of faith. It's widely known that a god truly exists on Terra, and Wayne himself wasn't certain whether the god worshipped by the Sarkaz people actually existed. Demanding that people abandon the faith they'd been taught since childhood and completely shatter their worldview for a complete reconstruction was unrealistic. Therefore, he opted for a less demanding approach, indirectly thwarting Laterano's attempt to manipulate people's thoughts and influence national policy through religious authority, by opposing the church but not the god.

Most casual believers, upon hearing this, thought, "Oh, we don't have to pay taxes to the church anymore, that's great!" and followed suit.

Upon hearing this, most devout believers thought, "Ah, believers can actually communicate directly with the gods! We're getting closer to the gods! That's a good thing!" and followed suit.

Most non-religious people, upon hearing this, would think, "What? Religious reformation? What does that have to do with me?" Or, "What? This is exciting! You're making me wide awake now, I'm joining in the fun!"

As a result, Lateran lost almost all of its sphere of influence, except for its core followers and a small number of fanatics. It suffered a devastating blow. His Holiness the Pope was extremely resentful of Victoria for this.

Although Mostima solemnly swore on his life that his ally Wayne Bruce had not betrayed him, and that it was all a ruse by the newly enthroned, shrewd Queen Victoria to establish her authority, the Pope still halted his missionary funding for Wayne.

The missionary work has stopped; Victoria has completely converted to that Anglican Church and is no longer providing missionary funding!

Wayne wasn't annoyed. Every month, he would secretly send a letter to His Holiness the Pope through a messenger. The letter detailed Wayne's helplessness in "wanting to kill the enemy but being powerless to reverse the situation, and the Church's orthodoxy collapsing completely." He also included a bank card number for a payment request, implying that if His Holiness the Pope didn't send the money soon, he would starve to death.

Although His Holiness the Pope had not replied to him, Wayne persisted in his work, believing that he could annoy him with each letter he wrote.

However, he did not expect that the Pope, who had been lying low for almost half a year, would actually appear outside the Dragon Gate and in Wei Yanwu's coded box.

A valuable cross can symbolize many things. Wayne also has one, and he would politely hang it up whenever he met the Laterans, symbolizing, "Ah, I am on your side, we are all believers in the Lord."

But Wayne was an actor, what about Wei Yanwu? Is he really him?

Wayne didn't think Wei Yanwu was the kind of person who would believe in gods; his purpose was probably the same as Wayne's.

Get things done by leveraging Lateran's resources.

Wayne used Laterano's money to buy shares in Rhine Life and orchestrated the Columbia affair. The result was unexpected. So what about Wei Yanwu? What kind of assistance did he receive from Laterano? And what did he plan to do with that assistance?

These questions remain unanswered, but seeing this cross means Wayne's mission is already complete.

He smiled and looked up at Wei Yanwu, saying:

"I didn't expect Mr. Wei to be religious?"

"Believe in religion, of course, in order to get something from God. I also have things I want to get, so why can't I believe?"

Wei Yanwu replied with a smile as well.

"Since it's free, why not believe it a little?"

"It's better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't."

Wayne nodded and closed the box. Wei Yanwu's attitude was already very clear.

Regardless of whether the contents of the box have been switched or not, if not, then the person behind Wei Yanwu should be that old friend of Wayne, His Holiness the Pope who generously donated money.

"Alright, I've finished reading what I wanted to see, so I'll be going now. Don't bother seeing me out."

Wayne stood up, straightened his clothes, said goodbye to Wei Yanwu, and turned to walk towards the entrance.

Wei Yanwu, sitting on the sofa, suddenly spoke:

"Your Highness Wayne, the Reformation began in Victoria, didn't it?"

While putting on his shoes, Wayne replied, "Yes."

"What does this have to do with you?" Wei Yanwu asked bluntly.

Wayne gave a sly smile and shrugged:

“Look, look, Mr. Wei Yanwu, how can you ask such a question? The idea of ​​the Reformation originated in Victoria, and as the Prince of Victoria, I naturally have an inescapable responsibility. But if you say that I planned it, that’s not right.”

“Mr. Wei Yanwu, in a way, you, me, and Lateran are actually on the same side, do you understand?”

Wayne reached into his inner pocket, and a gold cross necklace, seemingly even more valuable than Wei Yanwu's, appeared and dangled from his hand. He had originally planned to use it to try and build a relationship with Exusiai, since Exusiai was really cute.

Unfortunately, some unexpected things happened today. Although I did meet Exusiai and even got her business card and invitation to drink, I missed the chance to use the necklace to build a relationship.

However, unexpectedly, it came in handy at a time like this. Wayne, on a sudden impulse, quickly walked to Wei Yanwu's side, amidst Wei Yanwu's astonished gaze, and whispered in his ear: