In Terra, she is a hunter and a bad woman.

Maria could also see that at the city gate, groups of people were pouring in, and some people who were found to be infected were not allowed to enter.

These people seemed to have been prepared. They silently pushed the children they had protected all the way into the city. Like everyone else, they came to the edge of the outer road and knelt down silently.

Not many people chose to argue, nor did they express injustice at the treatment they had endured. They simply allowed their children to enter the city and join the kneeling pilgrims...

This made Maria frown.

To be fair, under normal circumstances, Lateran is considered to be quite good to the infected... They don't particularly discriminate against them, and they will still guarantee their civil rights to a certain extent, but they will not allow them to enter the city...

There is no way around it... Even if we keep repeating that the infected are not much different mentally from ordinary people, no one can ignore that the infected are walking pathogens.

The Laterans simply expelled them instead of executing them, which was actually better than many other countries.

Logically speaking, after sending their children here, these people should be able to leave and find ways to survive, right?

Why...are you still kneeling here?

"It's amazing, isn't it..."

Just as Maria was thinking, a voice came slowly from her side, with a somewhat bored smile.

Maria turned her head and looked.

She was dressed as a nun... but she looked different from the nun Maria remembered dressed in black.

She was wearing a long, slender dress with no drawstrings, only a long white skirt that almost dragged on the ground.

She has a gentle posture, with her hands clasped together. Her pure white hair and golden eyes make her look sacred and majestic.

There is also a unique trumpet-shaped opening at the wrist.

"These people... after sending the children here, they kneel here as if they are waiting to die."

"..."

"Don't you think this is scary?"

As the woman spoke, she tilted her head slightly and squinted at Maria.

"What these people are doing... is simply like those bastards who have no sense of responsibility and pin their hopes entirely on others..."

"They are all from the vicinity of the Lateran. They have been taught the Lateran doctrine since childhood..."

"They believed that the Lateran Church saved every believer. It was based on this idea that, after their hearts erupted with fear, they abandoned everything and led their hopes here, sending their children into the city without a care..."

"It seems that as long as this is done, their lives are complete and they have accomplished everything they can."

The woman's words were full of helplessness and confusion. After a moment of silence, she spoke again.

"They regard their faith as their life, even to the point that the faith in their hearts transcends their own lives...but this is not the true meaning of the Lateran Church."

The woman's words were quiet, even with a hint of helplessness and annoyance.

She didn't really mean to come and mock the pilgrims with Maria, she just simply felt it wasn't worth it.

Many of these people are not infected with Originium disease, and their lives are actually quite good.

Even if they were worried about their safety after the outbreak of war, most people would actually have the opportunity to seek a living in other cities... The journey to those cities was shorter, and perhaps they wouldn't be infected with Originium disease on the way.

Even more, will the war they imagine really break out?

The Laterans have a thousand-year-old blood feud with the Sarkaz, but this does not mean that a major war will break out between the two sides... In fact, although the Laterans are fighting against the Sarkaz everywhere, there are not many real, full-scale wars that break out.

It’s just that the scale of each outbreak is somewhat horrifying.

But the paranoid belief in their hearts made them make such a choice.

What upset her even more was that she couldn't say whether what these people were doing was right.

Maria was not actually interested in discussing these religious issues. She was silent for a few moments and then asked a question.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Judging from her dress, the woman should be an important figure in the Lateran sect... Even if she wanted to say such words, she should say them to someone she trusts, not to herself.

Especially the idea it just proposed.

She questioned whether these people's actions were consistent with Lateran teachings... In a sense, her words completely used the church as a tool...

To those extreme religious elements, this is simply blasphemy!

This might cause her a lot of trouble.

"Because I heard your conversation with those kids."

The woman smiled and turned her head again.

"Because I heard it, I believe you might be someone I can discuss this with..."

The woman had just arrived here not long ago and had just learned about these people who came here to kneel down and worship.

But it was precisely because she knew that she didn't understand.

The Lateran teachings themselves are meant to allow everyone to regulate their actions... As long as everyone complies, everyone can live a happy life.

At its core, the Lateran teaching is about keeping people alive.

But what these people are doing is seeking their own death!

This made her particularly depressed and angry.

"Then you may be disappointed. I am not interested in these questions..."

Maria expressed her attitude in a calm tone.

The woman was also a little curious.

"Are you... an atheist?"

There are actually quite a lot of people without faith in Terra, but... the woman doesn't quite understand why Maria, if she has no faith, would come to a place like Lateran.

"It just happened."

Maria didn't explain much, just shook her head and looked at the woman.

"Ok."

The woman knew she might have found the wrong person and shook her head helplessly, but after a moment, she still asked Maria a final question.

"Then, as a person without faith, what kind of doctrine do you think can truly guide people?"

"What kind of doctrine..."

Maria paused for a few moments, her eyes lowered slightly.

And the woman on the side also cast a curious look.

After a moment of contemplation, Maria shook her head slightly.

"In my eyes, there is only one doctrine that can truly be called a guiding principle..."

"What is it?"

“…become a human.”

Maria opened her mouth and uttered what was in her heart.

This answer obviously surprised the woman.

She thought Maria would say something about truth, goodness, and beauty, or something like, "Keep living."

but……

"Become a human?"

The woman murmured, her eyes a little confused.

"Face everything with a human attitude..."

"Whether it's disaster or happiness, we were born into this world as human beings, and we should face everything as human beings..."

"Don't think about changing yourself into something else... A person is a person, not a tree or a beast..."

"To live, to die, should be done with human identity and thinking..."

"Everything... should be as it should be."

Maria said this, her eyes still looking at the crowd in the distance.

But after listening to Maria's speech, the woman smiled.

"Your definition of human beings seems a bit too broad..."

"maybe."

Maria also admitted that what she called becoming a human being was indeed too vague... If she had to say it, what is a human being, what is being a human being... There is actually no accurate definition of all this.

But Maria still gave this answer.

Maria has seen many people abandon their original attitudes and try to make their lives more tactile, but the end results all seem particularly ridiculous and funny.

In the face of hideous monsters again and again, Maria felt that the best thing a person can do is to be a human being.

Do what you want to do and be responsible for everything you do. Whether it is life or death, you should make the choice yourself and accept it calmly.

Its core meaning lies in being a human being, rather than turning yourself into something that does not belong to you.

"If we follow your request... to make this world a better place, everyone needs to be a saint..."

The woman sighed softly and did not comment on Maria's idea.

But Maria slowly turned around at this time.

“Civilization will make the world a better place, but before civilization, at least everyone should become a human being…”

"Wild beasts cannot have civilization..."

410

Chapter 410 The Lord and His Mother.

This strange woman's name is Rayna...

At the end of their separation, she still told Maria her name...

Her original intention was just to find someone to talk about her troubles with...but after communicating with Maria for a few times, she suddenly realized that Maria was a completely different person from them.

She is not a dogmatist, and her words are not filled with rigorous logic and repeatedly crafted rhetoric. Instead, they are simply the sharp conclusions that Maria has drawn from her own experience.

This made her even more interested.

After all, compared to the bunch of things she had learned from doctrine that she had not really understood thoroughly, she really wanted to talk to Maria, who obviously had many stories.

In response, Maria was ready to tell him her name.

But in the end, Rayna refused.

"Let's keep this relationship..."

She smiled and told Maria her thoughts, and Maria accepted this relationship in silence.

Of course, Maria is not quite sure what this relationship is specifically.

A state of knowing and not knowing...

About a week later, Maria was suddenly summoned by someone from the Lateran Notary Office.

"It's right inside, ma'am."

Two figures dressed as guards stood beside Maria.

After opening the giant-like gate for Maria, they stood at the door with weapons in hand.

After Maria walked in completely, the door was slowly closed.

The light gradually disappeared.

Compared to Agor's cold interrogation, the Lateran Notary Office has a different style.

The space inside the church is not large. A huge statue, more than ten meters tall, stands in it, with its arms open to everyone in front of it. Behind it, the glass is not the usual colored glass. There is only warm light pouring out from the simple circle.

Behind it, a light emerged like a miracle...

"Are you a member of the Lateran Order?"

Three people walked up to Maria.