Unspeakable bubbles

Seeing Bubble's carefree demeanor, Haidou couldn't help but ask, "Bubble, haven't you ever thought I might be lying to you?"

"what?"

The little girl looked at him strangely: "Why did Haidou lie to Bubble?"

"...No, I was just saying."

Haidou looked at her with envy, wishing he could be like Bubble, never doubting anything and only believing in other people's good intentions.

"Is Haidou from town?" Bubble asked as they walked.

"Ah."

"What are schools like outside?" Haidou asked, asking something he had always been curious about.

"The school is huge, there are many more students than here, and there are even dormitories," Bubble said happily, recounting some little things from her old school days.

Haidou nodded repeatedly: "That sounds really good. No wonder Caixiang has always wanted to live in the city."

"Does Haidou also want to go to the city?"

"No, I don't want to leave."

Haidou said expressionlessly, "I'm a coward, I'll never get out of here."

"coward?"

Bubble asked, puzzled, "Is Haidou very timid?"

"Well, that makes sense."

He let out a sigh and said with a nostalgic tone, "My parents passed away in an accident when I was young, and I have been raised by Aunt Xiaotian and Uncle ever since."

"uncle?"

"Yes, Uncle Xiaotian's health had always been poor, and he passed away three years ago."

Haidou stretched out his hands, making a hugging gesture.

“I was born and raised here, this town is my everything. No matter how good it is outside, it can’t compare to here.”

“I never thought about leaving before, and I will never leave this town.”

"Haidou is lying!" Bubble pointed at the boy and shouted.

"No, no, how could that be? I would never lie!"

Haidou said excitedly that he deeply abhorred 'deception'.

"Haido just said he was a coward, but that's a lie. Haidou is not a coward at all!"

"Generally speaking, those who don't have the courage to go out are cowards."

Haidou gave a wry smile: "All the capable young people in the town have gone out to work, leaving behind only the elderly and the weak. Even if there are young people who stay, they have special reasons why they can't leave."

"I'm still in school now, but when I grow up, everyone will look down on me."

"Oh, I see."

The little girl was silent for a moment, then said, "It doesn't matter if you're a coward."

"what?"

"Because, Haidou is a good person."

Bubble tried to look serious: "As long as you're not a bad person, you can go to heaven and live a good life. Being timid is okay."

"..."

Haidou smiled. "Let's go home for dinner!"

Chapter 86, Section 086: The Days Before

The rampant killings, the distraught followers, the father's pale face...

"what!"

Locke sprang from the bed, his back soaked in cold sweat, his face contorted with unspeakable terror.

He turned on the light and sat on the bed for a while before his mood gradually calmed down.

"I had another nightmare."

Locke dared not close his eyes, for fear that if he did, that desperate scene would reappear before his eyes.

The man got out of bed, rummaged in his pocket, found a cigarette, and lit it.

Amidst the swirling smoke, Locke stood lost in thought.

A long time ago, probably more than ten years ago. At that time, Locke was still very young, and he had not yet settled in this dilapidated town.

With his father still alive and the Great Eye Church thriving, he was full of pride, thinking that the world was no bigger than this.

"I really want to go back to the way things were," Locke sighed.

The Church of the Great Eye once used its possession of mystical knowledge to rapidly expand its membership in a certain city.

Under the leadership of a powerful cult leader, they overcame one obstacle after another, constantly annexing other forces and absorbing black organizations as their vassals.

Finally, one day, they stood at the top of the entire city.

At that time, the Church of the Great Eye was not only the king in the darkness, but also had infiltrated the local government.

The church spends lavishly to promote its own members to high positions.

The believers who benefited from the church reciprocated by providing support in various ways.

"We will never stop here!"

At that time, his own father—the leader of the Great Eye—issued a confident declaration to all his followers.

However, they soon ran into trouble.

The crisis did not come from the outside, but from a problem with the church's faith.

The Great Eye believes in a supreme being in the unseen realm, who knows the past and the future and is omnipotent.

At first, things were fine. The cult leader, with his immense power, kept creating 'miracles' through mystery.

However, as the church grew and expanded, problems arose.

Because the entire church cannot be supported by one person, the leader, after careful consideration, selected gifted believers to teach systematic occult knowledge.

At first, those people were extremely grateful, but as their strength steadily increased, their doubts grew.

What I used to think were incredible 'miracles', I can now completely replicate myself.

So, does the Great Eye, the all-knowing and all-powerful ruler... exist?

Undercurrents were brewing, but the cult leader was powerless to stop them.

The wise leader had long ago discovered the problem, and the solution was simple: he only needed to demonstrate a true miracle as the embodiment of the all-knowing Lord.

However, where does this omniscient ruler come from?

That was just something the leader made up at the beginning of the religion to unite people's hearts. He never expected that he would come this far, let alone that so many people would actually be fooled by him.

How to do?

Some people have already begun to suspect that if he cannot dispel everyone's doubts, then everything he is doing now is just a mirage.

The leader, of course, did not want the church to split, and he wondered if he could appropriately seek external help.

One day, he called his son over and said, "Come with me to meet some friends today."

When Locke met his 'friends' that evening, he was truly astonished.

Several suspicious-looking men in black, holding ominous religious texts, were clearly not 'friends' but heretics!

Locke opened his mouth to call for the guards, but his father stopped him.

"The child is ignorant and has offended us." The cult leader bowed his head.

“It’s alright,” a man in black robes waved his hand. “The gifts we received are more than enough to dispel any unpleasantness from the offense.”

"That's fine, that's fine."

The leader breathed a sigh of relief. "Gentlemen, I invited you all here today to discuss cooperation between our two religions."

"cooperate?"

A man in black robes let out a low laugh: "The Apocalypse Secret Sect never cooperates."

“…I think that at our level, we don’t need to be bound by things that only vulgar people are bound by.” The cult leader didn’t want to give up, so he tried to persuade the person in front of him.

You mean, rigid?

"That's right, dogma is just something to fool believers. We're all in high positions; wouldn't it be a shame to let such trivial things affect our cooperation?"

The leader looked at them sincerely: "The potential power of the Apocalypse Secret Cult is great, but as far as I know, it does not completely control even a small, remote city."

"We're different. The Church of the Great Eye has the entire city as its foundation..."

Soon, the cult leader couldn't continue speaking.

He noticed that those despicable fellows were looking at him with pity. The cult leader suppressed his anger and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"Ignorant lambs."

The man in black robes fumbled with the religious text in his hand, muttering to himself, "Great Chaos, Supreme Savior, please guide this foolish mortal."

What are you doing?!

Locke roared in anger; such humiliation of his great father was intolerable.

"...You're saying that dogma is just a way to fool people?" He ignored Locke and instead stared at the master of the place with his murky eyes.

Is there anything wrong with that?

The cult leader was utterly baffled: "Don't tell me you really believe that the 'god' you worship exists."

"God, savior, do you exist? Do you not exist? If you don't exist now, you will surely come in the future. Just wait, we only need to wait."

Several men in black robes suddenly prostrated themselves on the ground, letting out painful roars: "Alas, savior, why do you still not descend?"