American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Otherwise, given the extravagant and reckless spending practices of many cults, the taxes alone would bankrupt the cults!

　This is also why many desperate Americans suddenly experience a collective epiphany and convert to cults. This isn't just due to brainwashing and deception, but also driven by practical benefits: if a cult can establish connections with higher-ups and obtain legal status as a religious organization, it will immediately enjoy a host of privileges, which can then be converted into welfare benefits for every grassroots believer to share.

　For example, if you become partially incapable of working due to illness or aging, and gradually become unable to pay the exorbitant property taxes, and are on the verge of being evicted from your home, you suddenly have an idea and choose to donate your home to the cult. Then, if the cult is respectable, your property taxes and fees will be waived, and you can continue to live in your familiar old house as a believer with the cult leader's permission.

　If you are lucky, you might even be able to use the water and electricity for free, and the only cost is to convert the living room into a religious meeting place and hold regular gatherings.

　Well, of course, other church members would move in—but you couldn't afford the house anyway, so at least the church members wouldn't kick you out.

　For a poor, poor person like you, isn’t the sect your great benefactor and savior who saved your life and prevented you from being displaced?

　Otherwise, heavily armed police will come and kick you out of your home, and your house will be auctioned off by the court and sold to someone with connections at a ridiculously low price. You will either be shot by the police at home or set up a tent on the street.

　Peng and his fellow homeless people are struggling to survive...

　You should know that the vast majority of American homeless people do not survive more than six years on the streets! They live no longer than stray cats on the same street!

　Then, having received such a life-saving grace, in order to repay them, shouldn't you help the kind and great leader, the friendly and generous missionaries to carry out some religious activities, and spread the doctrine and promote the faith to your relatives and friends?

　Thus, a passionate fanatic was gradually born under the persecution of capitalism.

　In addition, many doctrines of American cults do not seem to be evil on the surface. At least compared to the cruelty of capitalism, they can even be called kind. The masters of cults are indeed mysterious and full of hypocrisy under their kind faces. But do the capitalist masters who exploit people’s bones and blood sucking have any humanity at all?

　Look at what they've done. During the Great Depression, they sprayed excess grain with poison and refused to give it to the poor. In the 21st century, they've legislated and forced the destruction of expired grain, causing the price of American corn in the US to be several times cheaper than when exported to China. So much so that Americans living near cornfields are complaining on Xiaohongshu that they can't afford American sweet corn, which costs $7 per kilogram.

　Look at those high-performing executives and CEOs of medical insurance companies who are "widely praised" for raising drug prices and refusing to provide coverage, "reasonably and legally" causing the deaths of countless patients. Who do you think is more hateful: these vicious and bloodthirsty businessmen or the cult leaders who defraud money and sex?

　In the American capitalist society where people eat each other all the time, you always have to choose between the control of cults and the exploitation of capitalists.

　Unfortunately, when it comes to the way cults eat people, they are often a little more elegant.

　The evil cult charlatans can still provide you with emotional value with just their words; the capitalists will squeeze you dry and then scold and despise you!

　If it were some relatively "healthy" moderate cults that didn't engage in such perverted things as murder and blood sacrifice, and simply stayed in remote places, chanted scriptures and prayed, and lived a pure and ascetic life - then, for the believers, they probably wouldn't necessarily miss the days when they had to carry loans that couldn't be repaid for decades, had to work two or three jobs every day, had to sell blood from time to time, and had to worry about how to pay the water, electricity and rent when they opened their eyes in the morning.

　What appeal can a life as dull and exhausting as a cow carrying a heavy load hold? It would be better to let go of everything in exchange for a relaxed and peaceful mind.

　As for group sex? Do you think non-religious American women are self-disciplined in this regard? They don't take it seriously anymore!

　In short, regarding the matter of selling the house to the Dark Sun Order (the Church of Cyric), Patrick, the father, and Bernard, the eldest brother of the Jin family, both said that there was no problem. As long as it could be sold, everything would be OK - at least the real estate tax would not have to be paid, and the price could be as low as possible.

　At the moment, perhaps only religious groups that are exempt from property taxes are willing to buy such an expensive and high-tax reinforced concrete residential area.

　So, the next day, Fili called the witch Zoe, who is now the president of the "Lexu Sect" in the Dark Sun Cult. With the University of Southern California as its core base, she has recruited many handsome men and beautiful women who want to practice to become "Tantric Masters" and become immune to all diseases and can cure all diseases. She has established many "Dark Sun Great Bodhisattva Joyful Zen Practice Mutual Aid Associations" to chant scriptures, exercise, practice sex skills, seek pleasure, etc. together.

　Thanks to the covert support of Firi, a Cyric's favored disciple, Zoe's disciples have a particularly high success rate. Currently, over 1,500 "Tantric Masters" have emerged from her fold. This tireless teaching has earned this sorceress a reputation within the American "paranormal education community," her status comparable to that of Principal Tissaia of Aretuza's School of Magic in "The Witcher."

　Well, it's still a long way from Harry Potter's Dumbledore. After all, there aren't any dedicated magic schools in the United States. Furthermore, Ms. Zoe, who teaches apprentices how to grow magical hemp and psychedelic mushrooms and throws open-air parties, certainly doesn't have a very upstanding reputation.

　However, Goddess Zoe wasn't the Pope of the American Church of Cyric, and His Majesty the Dark Sun's Church had never needed one. Even in the world of D&D, the Church of Cyric was fragmented into independent, competing sects. While some leaders might be influential, they weren't enough to command the entire church—after all, at that time, Cyric, the Prince of Lies, was still a chaotic evil deity, inherently averse to hierarchy and order.

　Therefore, the power of Zoe and her "Lexu Sect" is not enough to push the government to approve an application to turn the entire or most of the town of Eden into a religious site - designating a house as a religious building is one thing, and listing a town as a religious holy place is another.

　In this case, in order to achieve the goal, it is necessary to gather other Dark Sun sects and work together.

　A week later, at Zoe's initiative, the seventeen independent orders of the Dark Sun Order in California held a religious conference in Los Angeles.

　During the meeting, the delegates and leaders of various religious orders received "oracles" in their dreams: a hazy purple figure emerged from the void, pointed at the San Fernando Valley on the sand table map, and planted a flag: this was obviously a hint to build a sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley!

　So, the day after the "oracle" was issued, the religious conference quickly and unanimously passed Zoe's resolution: all religious orders would unite to raise funds and prepare to raise $1.8 billion to buy the town of Eden in the San Fernando Valley.

　Serves as a gathering place for believers and a sanctuary for the church.

　Among them, Zoe's family invested $1.5 billion, and was therefore elected as the Dark Sun Archbishop of the San Fernando Valley.

　Of course, Zoe didn't have that much money herself, and her cult couldn't muster that much liquidity. So, it was actually Fili who advanced the funds behind the scenes, disguised as small donations from a large number of believers. Fili actually had plenty of money, both in cash and gold, and if he really needed it, he could take it from any bank vault or any wealthy person's safe, and no one would notice.

　The money came from shady sources, so while it's fine for personal consumption, it's a problem for large investments, as it could easily attract the attention of the IRS.

　Now that there are religious groups laundering money, and the purpose is to buy land and build temples, there is basically no problem - even the IRS does not dare to focus on religious organizations and collect taxes unless it is absolutely necessary: ​​collecting taxes from individual charlatans is one thing, and collecting taxes from religious groups is another difficulty.

　Capitalist countries usually treat religious organizations by bribing and appeasing them, and rarely target churches and plunder them under various pretexts.

　The so-called religious tax is a tax collected by the state from ordinary people and then distributed to religious organizations; it is not the government collecting money from churches and closing them down if they don’t have money.

　There's no way around it. Religious groups, naturally highly organized and capable of mobilization, are not as easily exploited as the atomized, fragmented middle class. Furthermore, their resistance is far stronger. If exploited too harshly, armed conflict is a real possibility.

　In modern times, every major operation by the American police to crack down on cult strongholds has been like a war, with bullets flying everywhere and corpses strewn everywhere.

　In view of this, the IRS generally turns a blind eye to the religious groups' massive money-making: You can't risk your life to collect money for the country, right?

　The tax cost is too high. With that little salary, it’s really not worth it!

　Besides, if they confiscate villas and houses, they can sell them to the next wave of leeks; if they confiscate churches and temples, who should they sell them to? A new wave of cults?

　Either they don’t have money to buy a house and can only rely on believers to donate property; or even if they have money, they would probably prefer to build a new sanctuary themselves!

　In short, it wasn't until the illegal income of even American criminal organizations was taxed that the protective umbrella of religious groups began to gradually fade. However, even when gangsters had to pay taxes while robbing, there were still many powerful local churches that prevented the IRS from collecting taxes at all.

　Religious groups are even more powerful in the United States today. However, registering a new religious group in the United States is much more difficult than it would have been in later generations. It's not as easy as registering an NGO by simply concocting a bunch of doctrines.

　However, the Dark Sun Cult, backed by a "true God," is far from a makeshift group relying solely on rhetoric. Relying on supernatural powers and the chaotic situation within the United States, it has now been legally registered in more than 20 states.

　Then, with the Dark Sun Cult and tens of thousands of extraordinary people across California, it would be much easier to push the government to implement a policy.

　In short, after the religious conference reached a final resolution and decided to pool the power of the church to build a holy land of deception in the San Fernando Valley, the witch Zoe immediately brought a group of people to the old house of the Kim family in Hollywood and signed the real estate transfer agreement for the town of Eden.

　Next, these religious figures (cult charlatans) split into two groups. One group went to lobby the government and parliament to obtain tax exemptions and other preferential treatment for the new holy land. The other group, led by Zoe, the future archbishop, followed Ferry to the small town of Eden in the San Fernando Valley to acquire the remaining properties.

　Father Patrick, who had previously bought up the bargain, had only acquired approximately 60% of the real estate in Eden Town. The remaining 40% was still occupied or held by its owners. This created an obstacle to the Dark Sun Cult's large-scale construction plans in the town.

　To do this, Zoe had to go to the town and find a way to buy the properties of the stubborn residents at a reasonable price. Just like any other demolition operation, she had to use both coercion and inducement on the original residents, so that they would not be ignorant and ask for an outrageously high price.

　Of course, the Dark Sun Cult didn't necessarily want the remaining 40% of residents to leave. As long as they could move slightly within the town, relocating their homes to the outskirts, so as not to affect the Cult's construction of religious buildings and the arrangement of cult members in the community center, then if they wanted to continue living here, that was also possible—perhaps after being influenced by His Highness Xirik's purple face for a long time, they would be impressed and converted to the Cult.

　If they were devout believers of other religions and could not accept the teachings of His Highness the Dark Sun, that was fine. As long as a while passed, when the town was filled with Dark Sun believers wearing the purple skull emblem, they would voluntarily move away if they felt excluded.

　Just like the historical changes that often occur in American cities, such as white neighborhoods being replaced by Indians, Chinatowns becoming black areas, etc.

　However, when Fili and his cult arrived in town, before they could even begin the demolition work, they first encountered the funeral of an acquaintance:

　——Funeral of Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe's husband, the infatuated legendary baseball player and "the most affectionate man on the West Coast."

　The way this big licker died was also very speechless - he died on Monroe's belly.

　Be careful, it's so cool...

　Author's words: PS: If African Americans in the United States are lucky enough to make a fortune and become wealthy, they will usually move out of the poor black streets where they originally lived very quickly.

　This is not entirely ungrateful. In fact, it is also because the black rich people understand that their fellow villagers love their homeland and cannot bear to see them displaced.

　——If he really built a luxury house in a black neighborhood, the IRS would immediately assess that the housing prices in the entire neighborhood would soar, and the real estate tax would also skyrocket. In the end, his black neighbors would be forced to move out of their hometown and leave their hometown because they could not pay the taxes.

　But now that they have become rich, they can't continue to live in a shabby doghouse, so the rich black people should move to the white area.

　In China, the poor are trying to reap the benefits of the rich, while in the US, the poor are fleeing from the rich. Because the rich have arrived, but before they can share in the benefits, taxes have skyrocketed. When the native Hawaiians saw a billionaire coming to their hometown to invest in luxury homes, their immediate reaction was that disaster had arrived!

　Even if the rich don't mind having a group of poor people living in their sight, the tax system will still quickly drive the poor away.

　This is the clever use of the tax system to create class segregation, making it impossible for rich and poor to stay in the same place.

　If a community becomes wealthy, the poor who cannot pay taxes will not be able to stay; if a community becomes poor, the rich will also be driven away by the stupid high taxes.

　Chapter 577: I Didn’t Kill Boren, But Boren Died Because of Me

　San Fernando Valley, on the outskirts of Eden

　Under the bright and scorching sun, a simple funeral was being held in a desert landscape cemetery shaded by cacti and drought-resistant shrubs.

　Although the total number of guests and onlookers attending the funeral was less than fifty, when the coffin containing the deceased was brought out and the farewell ceremony was held, everyone bowed their heads in silence, creating a faint atmosphere of sadness.

　Looking at Joe DiMaggio lying in the coffin, Philly, who came to the funeral in military uniform, couldn't help but feel depressed and emotional.

　Speaking of which, Joe DiMaggio and he were old friends, and Ferry had absolutely nothing but good intentions towards DiMaggio, without a single bad intention.

　Otherwise, he wouldn't have secretly brought DiMaggio and Monroe together, allowing this infatuated man, who had been lonely all his life, to finally marry Marilyn Monroe (who later changed her name to Norma DiMaggio) and have twin daughters...

　Even when he saw that DiMaggio looked a little haggard and thin due to excessive indulgence, Ferry secretly let DiMaggio, who was born in 1914 and was recently over 50 years old, go on to satisfy Monroe's strong desires in bed and avoid being cuckolded again. He made it easy for DiMaggio and Monroe to become "Tantric Masters" and turned into an enviable couple of extraordinary people.

　However, according to the original timeline, this infatuated legendary baseball player and affectionate Monroe bootlicker should have lived until 1999!

　My changes to history, and my secret help in helping DiMaggio become an extraordinary person, ended up shortening his life by twenty-eight years?

　Ferry walked forward a little confused, looked at the body of Joe DiMaggio lying in the coffin, and quietly cast a (divination)

　Then he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, and a very strange and conflicted expression appeared on his face.

　Alas, this is really the case of "I didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me"!

　The reason why DiMaggio died twenty-eight years early and did not live to the end of the 20th century was really thanks to Ferry who made him an extraordinary person.

　Well, to be precise, it was because Fili secretly cheated, promoting the already over-aged DiMaggio to become a "Tantric Master", but he did not allow his extraordinary abilities to be maintained. As a result, the current disaster of killing people occurred...

　——As the saying goes, "Since ancient times, heroes are like beauties, and they are not allowed to grow old in the world." The "Tantric Masters" recorded in the "Pink Book" are like the male and female public relations in nightclubs. It is not a lifelong career, but has very high physical requirements and charm value thresholds. Only handsome men and beautiful women can practice to become one.

　Normally, it is rare for people in their thirties to become "Tantric Masters." Those over forty have almost no hope of becoming one.

　Although Joe DiMaggio was a strong, athletic, and handsome young man in his youth, time was not forgiving. By the time the "Tantra fever" began to take hold in the United States in the mid-1960s, he was already 50 years old and could not be considered a prodigy in bed.

　At this age, he is still able to join Marilyn Monroe in becoming an extraordinary person and a "Tantric Master", obtaining a perfect body that is immune to all diseases and H-therapy that can cure all illnesses, all thanks to the help of his old friend Ferry behind the scenes.

　However, Firi was not his babysitter after all. After helping him become extraordinary, he no longer paid attention to him.

　In the days that followed, as DiMaggio grew older and weaker, his appearance and physique gradually declined to a certain level, and he completely fell out of the charm value requirement of a "Tantric Master", his extraordinary power would instantly disappear, causing him to exit the state of a Tantric Master.

　In addition, the legendary baseball player was an old-fashioned person who was not open enough in sexual matters and had some resistance to the professional attributes of a Tantric master.

　As for the power of idealism, the more you resist it, the faster it will leave you.

　In this way, DiMaggio, who was forced to grow up, eventually

　Or turned back into a mortal.

　Under normal circumstances, DiMaggio, who had lost his extraordinary powers, would have felt like a drug addict whose anesthetic effects had worn off. He would suddenly feel extremely exhausted both physically and spiritually, and completely lose all his strength. Of course, this was not fatal. It usually only caused a serious illness and he would be bedridden for a few days to weeks.

　But the problem is that when DiMaggio lost his job as a "Tantric Master" and his extraordinary powers faded, it happened to be the time when he was riding on Monroe's body, sweating and galloping, and was just getting into the extreme joy!

　What's even more terrible is that when DiMaggio suddenly lost his extraordinary power, Marilyn Monroe was still a "Tantric Master" and was maintaining a negative distance connection with her husband, and was "doing" it with great enthusiasm!

　This blonde bombshell and peerless porn star was already in her thirties, the horniest years of her forties. After becoming a "Tantric Master," her lust intensified to the point where even sitting on the ground and sucking up dirt was easy. DiMaggio's previous success in bed with Monroe was entirely due to his enhanced supernatural powers. But now, the slut suddenly lost his strength, and before he could react, Monroe immediately sucked his soul out!

　——When DiMaggio died of pleasure on Monroe's belly, Monroe also fainted from the pleasure.

　By the time Marilyn Monroe regained consciousness, it was too late! DiMaggio's body, lying on her belly, had already begun to cool.

　If Monroe could have woken up earlier, perhaps she could have performed the H treatment on DiMaggio, but unfortunately, there is no if...

　In this way, the big bootlicker DiMaggio died on the belly of his beloved Marilyn Monroe with excitement, joy and astonishment.

　Next, DiMaggio was hurriedly taken to a nearby remote cemetery for burial, accompanied by Monroe and her two children.

　——When Ferry brought the Dark Sun Cult members to the town to discuss the demolition, they happened to see a coffin-carrying team walking out of DiMaggio and Monroe's residence.

　So, he didn't care about anything else, just dropped his mission and followed him, and finally saw DiMaggio for the last time.

　Walking away from Mr. DiMaggio's coffin, Fili went to Marilyn Monroe, who was wearing a black veil, and whispered comfortingly, "Please accept my condolences, Ms. Monroe. For the sake of you and Mr. DiMaggio's children, I hope you can be strong and everything will be fine."

　Forty-five-year-old Marilyn Monroe, holding her twin daughters, stood barefoot on the dry gravel of a desert cemetery. The passage of time and years seemed to have left few traces on the face of this stunning beauty, who looked just as she had when they first met ten years ago.

　Her face was covered with a black silk veil, a symbol of mourning, but she was wearing only a black bikini and shiny sunscreen.

　This bold outfit, which exposed more than 80% of her skin, was certainly a bit revealing and indecent for a funeral, but no one questioned it - now everyone knows that as a "Tantric master" who needs to abstain from clothes and shoes and socks, Marilyn Monroe really couldn't wear more to avoid breaking the rules.

　Does she have to use body paint dye to paint her entire body black to express her mourning?

　"Thank you, but it's better not to call me by my stage name in this situation. Please call me Mrs. DiMaggio." She looked up at Ferry and said.

　"Well, Mrs. DiMaggio, if you need any help, please don't hesitate to tell me..."

　At this time, the priest who was invited to preside over the funeral had already walked to the side of the coffin. He looked at the members of the Dark Sun Order wearing purple skull badges on the road in the distance with a little displeasure, and then looked at the widow Marilyn Monroe in a bikini, with a rather subtle expression.

　But then the pastor coughed twice, cleared his throat, and read the eulogy in his hand: "For a long time, this man has been engaged in the profession of athlete and loved his hometown so much. The glory he achieved in baseball career made the whole of California cheer for him. His sudden passing makes it almost impossible for me to express my feelings.

　This man has lived his life by remembering and adhering to ancient moral principles, winning glory for his country on the field and being a good person in his daily life. He is not only a good athlete who makes the audience cheer, but also a polite neighbor, a loyal husband and a good father who loves his children.

　He has lofty ideals and a sense of pride, yet remains humble... This is particularly valuable in today's impetuous times..."

　——Like most eulogies, its content, apart from reminiscing about DiMaggio's legendary baseball achievements, is a long series of empty moral sermons.

　After all, we can't sing praises of his "great love" at his funeral, right?

　"This is Joe DiMaggio, our dearest friend, our most reliable partner, and a family member we will never forget!"

　After hastily reading the eulogy, the priest who presided over the funeral fled in a hurry before even waiting for the coffin containing DiMaggio to be put into the grave and buried again. Both the dusty and hot weather and the evil pagans around him wearing purple skull badges made him extremely uncomfortable.

　After the coffin was buried, the few mourners quickly dispersed.

　Ferry observed that most of them were fans of Monroe's movies and DiMaggio's baseball. Monroe's relatives did not show up at all, and only a few distant relatives of DiMaggio came. Their attitude towards Monroe was very cold, and they retreated after a few perfunctory greetings.