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

Urbino cursed inwardly, but his face showed trepidation. He dared not recount the hour-long, ninety-five-article speech and the final, awe-inspiring verdict. So, he quietly pulled out the phone that a Colombian church priest had recently given him and opened the video that was now trending online.

—[Utterly shameless! The sacred Lateran Catholic Church is actually doing this behind the scenes...]

The uploader is named "Joseph Pulitzer," who claims to be the greatest journalist in Terra's history, but in reality, his account currently only has this one news item.

But that was enough, Urbino thought. What could be more sensational than the Catholic Pope being excommunicated and branded a criminal?

Lateran Catholic Church attempted to search for the account holder, but could only find the IP address located in Colombia; there was no further information.

They naturally had no idea that the mysterious "Pulitzer reporter" was actually Wayne, who was far away in Victoria. They also had no idea that the reason why Laterano could not find Wayne was because Wayne had spent a full 500 million Laterano coins to invest in the emerging technology company "Rhine Life" in Colombia, and was using what could be said to be the most advanced core server of Rhine Life's data department in all of Terra.

The 500 million yuan in Lateran gold coins stored at Citibank in Colombia was actually a "funding" gift from His Holiness the Pope to Wayne!

But Urbino knew that it didn't matter whether he found this damned Mr. Pulitzer or not; what was done was done. If not Pulitzer, then Van Lizzie, or Golitzer. All he could do now was try every possible way to save his head and his red robe.

"Your Majesty, please."

Urbino bowed and respectfully placed his phone in front of Peter X. In the picture, thanks to the photographer's superb skills, Broca's petite figure appeared incredibly tall, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun as if plated with a golden wheel, radiating dazzling light.

She spoke slowly:

"Therefore, based on the above ninety-five theses, I, Broca Rosserwyn, Patriarch of the Anglican Church of Victoria, hereby declare that, in the name of the Father, that is, the Son, that is, the Holy Spirit, the sinner Peter X is excommunicated! This is what all desire."

"Hoo-hoo—hoo-hoo—"

After taking four or five deep breaths, even the cardinal beside him was worried and wanted to go forward to check on his physical condition. Suddenly, Peter X opened his eyes wide, raised his hand, and shakily took off his glasses, placing them on the Terra map on his desk.

Peter X’s tone was more somber than ever before, like the sweltering heat of a night before a storm.

"It's alright, it's alright, we still have Wayne. As long as Wayne launches a rebellion, everything will be fine."

Seemingly to comfort everyone, or perhaps to hypnotize himself, Peter X muttered to himself, his outstretched hand tapping repeatedly on the location of Lentinium, the capital of Victoria, on the Terra map on the table.

Urbino swallowed hard again, then forced a smile and reported:

“Your Majesty, Wayne…”

"Wayne said he doesn't have enough funds to start a rebellion now!"

silence.

A terrifying silence, the silence of an impending storm.

Peter X lowered his hand, raised his head, looked at the group of cardinals before him, and slowly said:

"Urbino, Raymond, Frederick, stay here. The rest of you, get out."

The cardinals who hadn't been called exchanged glances, their eyes filled with relieved joy. They looked sympathetically at the three who remained, then filed out of the main gate as if fleeing.

Urbino glanced at the somewhat overweight Bishop Raymond beside him, who was trying to straighten up and constantly wiping sweat from his face with a handkerchief.

After another brief silence, Peter X raised his head, looked at the three people in front of him one by one, and finally took a deep breath.

coming soon!

Urbino took a deep breath!

"That's why I'm so grief-stricken!"

With a roar, the Pope slammed his fist on the table and stood up, pointing at his three trusted confidants and shouting angrily:

"Is this how you do things for me?! Is this how you treat my trust?! You bastards, I gave you money when I asked for money, I gave you people when I asked for people, and this is how you stop this damn Broca???"

Bishop Raymond, sweating profusely, interjected:

"Suppressing Broca's ideas is our task in Victoria, which is the task of our pawn, Wayne; we are not directly involved."

"you shut up!"

It would have been better if he hadn't said anything, because the Pope was even more furious and slammed his scepter on the table with a loud bang.

"Don't you know what kind of person Wayne is? He's an idiot, an idiot! You expect an idiot to help you deal with this kind of troublesome enemy? You expect an idiot to take the blame for you? You're incredibly stupid, Raymond. I should just arrest all of you trash and chop you all up, just like Fyodor of Ursus!"

Seemingly having shouted too much in one breath, Peter X slumped down, slightly out of breath.

“Wayne? Wayne has done a good job. We gave him so much money, and he helped us keep Vina calm and reported Broca’s information to us immediately. Except for not directly arranging for an assassin to kill that heretic, he did everything. Do you know how I found out about this afternoon?”

The group looked at each other and shook their heads.

The Pope pulled out a letter from his person; it was an urgent telegram from Wayne through Mostima, sent this morning by airship. The message was to remind the Pope to watch Victoria News Channel this afternoon, but it was too late.

"He realized Queen Victoria's purpose and notified us immediately. If we had been any faster, we might have had a chance to stop Broca."

The Pope's face softened, and he seemed on the verge of tears, but he immediately turned hostile and glared at Raymond, cursing:

"This is a friend who is loyal to me, Laterano, and you're slandering him here! If we had ranked him higher and paid more attention to him back then, Broca's whole ordeal would never have happened. I should have given all the money I've spent supporting a good-for-nothing like you to Wayne!"

Bishop Raymond was momentarily stunned, but after realizing what had happened, he lowered his head in shame.

But Frederick, who was standing to the side, couldn't stand it and retorted:

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but Wayne is an outsider after all. You shouldn’t have reprimanded your bishop like that.”

"roll!"

In short, it doesn't cause much harm, but it's extremely insulting.

Frederick's face turned pale, then red, and finally he forced himself to swallow and bowed his head to admit his mistake.

The Pope took a deep breath. He had already vented his anger. Next, Lateran would undoubtedly face a major upheaval, the worst in a century. The Church was entering a winter of hardship. What should be done?

He turned his head and looked at Urbino by the window. This man had introduced Laterano's eternal friend, Wayne, to Laterano, and was currently the only person the Pope could trust.

Noticing the Pope's gaze, Urbino pursed his lips and said:

"Your Majesty, there are only two options left."

"explain."

"First, we must increase our support for Wayne and stir up trouble in Victoria as quickly as possible, so that such dangerous heretical ideas have no stable breeding ground."

"Second, create something big enough to divert people's attention from the earth."

The Pope raised an eyebrow: "For example? Expel a few demon diplomats?"

Urbino shook his head: "No, no, no, that's still too small! Bigger! War!"

The Pope narrowed his eyes and asked, "Where?"

Urbino stretched out his hand and pointed to the map:

“Here. Kazdel Theresis has always been dissatisfied with the impending rule of his sister, who inherited the Demon King’s bloodline. Perhaps we can make some moves here.”

He gave a fawning smile and said:

"This will not only divert the attention of troublemakers but also eliminate the threat of the Demon King—killing two birds with one stone!"

The Pope nodded, but then asked with some doubt:

"Cooperate with the Sarkaz? Would those barbarians agree to that?"

Urbino answered affirmatively:

"There are no permanent enemies, nor permanent friends, only permanent interests!"

The Pope paused, seemingly pondering the words, and after a long while, he asked:

"You said that?"

Urbino scratched his head:

“Wayne gave it to me when I left Victoria. He shouldn’t have said something like that; it was probably the will of the King of the North.”

The Pope nodded and reiterated his instructions:

"Increase funding for Wayne, and not just financially. We absolutely cannot allow him to be unable to stop this damn farce, just like we did this time. Understand?"

"I understand!" Urbino nodded, then suddenly remembered something and continued:

"Then on behalf of our loyal friend Wayne, I thank His Holiness the Pope for his generosity."

The Pope waved his hand dismissively, smiled, and dismissed everyone. He turned around and stared at the Kazdel emblem on the table, lost in thought.

Chapter Forty You really gave me a big scare

Regardless of what storm is brewing in Laterano, at least for now, Victoria remains peaceful.

It was already 6:30 pm. Wayne had finished watching the entire Reformation ceremony with satisfaction and was now chatting happily with his classmates who were already in an uproar.

Swire: "@BruceBruce, you're amazing! If you hadn't reminded me, I really wouldn't have noticed that the news channel was broadcasting such a big event live."

Swire wasn't a big television viewer; with the internet so prevalent, surfing the web was far more interesting than waiting in front of a TV channel overflowing with commercials. However, it was undeniable that television remained the most widespread and official means of information dissemination in Terra. While Swire didn't watch TV regularly, her elders frequently observed the country's activities through television broadcasts.

Swire's grandfather had taught her more than once: "Don't underestimate this news channel. Smart people can find business opportunities in everything that's on the news about the country!"

And sure enough, she found it!

Although Swire didn't know much about the religious reformation ceremony, the sheer scale of the nationwide broadcast and the entire Terran coverage made it clear that this was a major event worthy of being recorded in textbooks. Knowing this, as a member of the SWIRE family, she immediately called her grandfather and told the wealthy businessman about it.

For this, after many years, he once again received heartfelt praise from that serious old sick tiger!

The fact that Swire's usually composed grandfather could smile speaks volumes about the ripples that Wayne's selfless revelation will cause in the business world. And the SWIRE family, being the first to receive the news, will undoubtedly be the ones to carve up this pie!

This made Swire, who was always considered a bit extravagant, very happy. But she also knew that the person she really had to thank was Wayne, who had informed the classmates in the group about it in advance!

Although she had never met this classmate at school, at this moment, Swire truly regarded Wayne, whom she had never met before, as her true friend!

Not many people have earned this title. Not long ago, only her childhood friend, Lao Chen, who always bickered with her but actually had a good relationship with her, was one of them. But now, there are two!

She thought for a moment, then sent a message in the group chat:

Swire: "@Chenfenchanglong, where did you go? Are you going to pick up Bruce? If you're not going, I'll have the butler drive you there."

Swire: "@ChenFenChangLong, FenChangLong? Where are you? Are you there?"

Swire: "@Chen@Chen@Chen@Chen!"

Because she was going out for a dinner party, Chen, who had just taken a shower, came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Her bare shoulders still had a slightly sexy blush, and her face, flushed from the steam, showed a calm demeanor. She sighed as she listened to her phone beeping, pulled her hand out of the towel, and turned off the eye-catching ceremony rerun broadcast on the news channel, which she didn't really find interesting.

Most people in Yan don't believe in gods. Even if they do, they believe in practical deities like the Earth God, the God of Wealth, the Wind God, and the Rain God. Let alone expecting them to pray morning and night and pay taxes every day, it's considered a great act of mercy from the people of Yan if the gods remember to offer incense, set out fruit platters, and pile up a couple of steamed buns during festivals. And even then, the gods have to be obedient and show their power. If they don't, the statue might be carried out of the temple one day and replaced with a more obedient one.

Therefore, Chen has never been particularly interested in the so-called God who leads people to good and the Lateran Catholic Church. What she cares about now is whether the big incident at the church this afternoon will lead to an extra question on the graduation exam in a few months that is related to the current situation. That would really be a real pain for Pelosi.

She dried her wet hair with a hairdryer, tied it into a neat single ponytail, untied the bath towel, changed into a simple light blue tube top, and put on her favorite white striped shirt and denim shorts. She picked out a dark blue denim vest from the closet and put it on. Chen straightened her body, stretched her back, and her flawless S-shaped figure was on full display. Combined with the smart and capable style of her outfit, she exuded the aura of a cold and powerful woman.

After doing all this, she checked the clock, then climbed to the head of the bed, took her phone, which was charging, from the cabinet, opened the chat app, and sent an emoji to Swire, who kept tagging her in the group chat.