blueteamnovel Chapter 4384 Sean's Past
Chapter 4384 Sean's Past
Chapter 4384 Sean's Past
Sean was conflicted.
He stared at the corpse before him, a tightness in his chest, unsure of what to do.
The corpse was his landlady, Mrs. Maru.
In Sean's memory, Mrs. Maru was always a kind old lady who took good care of him. Sometimes, when Sean couldn't pay the rent, Mrs. Maru wouldn't urge him, but would just tell him to pay when he had more money.
As a law enforcement priest, Sean earned a weekly salary of eighty silver li, so paying forty silver li in rent each month wasn't a huge burden for him.
just.
Sean always has a soft spot when it comes to enforcing the law.
When he sees pitiful people who are driven to despair by life, and children who are forced to suffer because of their parents' crimes, he often can't help but use his own salary to help them.
This resulted in Sean's life being difficult despite being able to live well on his weekly salary.
Therefore, the landlady's kindness was not only a gesture of goodwill, but also helped him alleviate a large part of the pressure in his life.
He remained grateful to his landlady.
In his eyes, the landlady was a great philanthropist.
Then one day, a colleague who had been working in the confessional for many years secretly told him that every weekend night, the landlady would walk into the confessional of the Radiant Church and whisper about her past sins.
The colleague, bound by duty, did not elaborate on the specific crimes, but told him that her current kindness might be an act of atonement for her past sins.
So, the landlady committed a grave sin in the past, and her current mercy is merely a compensatory act of atonement?
Sean didn't know, but he didn't care too much.
The landlady he knew was already a "kind" landlady; her past was not something he considered.
until today.
Father Sean finally understood what "crime" the landlady had committed in the past.
He received his weekly paycheck today and intended to go to his landlady to pay the rent he owed for the past two months. However, no matter how much he knocked on the door, his landlady did not open it, as if she was not home.
The landlady is elderly and lives alone. She rarely goes out, and no one knows where she goes.
He asked other neighbors nearby, and they also said they hadn't seen the landlady for a long time.
That evening, Sean asked his fellow priest in the confessional, who told him that the landlady hadn't come to confess her sins for at least two weeks.
Sean sensed something was wrong and was worried that something might have happened to his landlady. That night, he went to her house immediately. This time, Sean didn't knock but broke down the door.
No one was home; the landlady was indeed not there.
Sean thought he had misjudged the situation, so he prepared to repair the gate and apologize to the landlady when she returned.
However, as Sean passed by a wardrobe, he smelled a faint stench of decay.
Sean, who was on duty enforcing the law most of the time, immediately recognized the stench of a decomposing corpse.
Sean opened the wardrobe without hesitation.
Then, he found the landlady's highly decomposed body in the closet...
Half an hour later.
After a brief investigation, it was determined that the landlady's death was not a murder, but a suicide.
The reason is speculated to be that he joined a cult.
Because at the spot where the landlady committed suicide, there was a strange pattern drawn in blood. The pattern was a strange stick figure with countless lines drawn out of its body, and those lines converged on another small stick figure.
Every line is engraved with unfamiliar patterns.
He couldn't understand these symbols; he just found them inexplicably strange.
I reckon it's a product of some cult.
In his compassion, Sean remembered that his landlady had a habit of keeping a diary. After searching for a while, he finally found the diary.
After reading the diary, Sean finally learned the truth.
It turns out that the landlady had a child when she was young, but the child died very early, seemingly due to the landlady's negligence. However, the landlady did not write down exactly what she had neglected in her diary, but the fact that she frequently mentioned the child's name in her diary suggests that she felt she owed the child a great deal.
Then one day, the landlady seemed to have received something. She didn't write down what it was, but her diary entry for that day was filled with: "I can go see my children now."
The next day, there was no more diary.
If nothing unexpected happens, the landlady will commit suicide that day.
Sean sensed something was off. Could this be a case of "incitement to death"? And the root of it all was what the landlady had received.
We need to find out exactly what it is before we can make a judgment.
So Sean conducted a thorough search of the landlady's house.
Finally, he found a piece of parchment in a hidden corner.
The parchment had a large number of stick figure patterns, which were strikingly similar to the pattern that the landlady had drawn in blood.
He immediately realized that this must be the "thing" mentioned in the landlady's diary.
Sean carefully read the parchment and discovered that it contained a peculiar inscription called "The Method of Seeking Oneself".
What is the inscription? The parchment doesn't say, only that: "Humanity's greatest treasure is itself. In times of desperation, humanity will unleash tremendous power, a power hidden in your subconscious, connected to the shadows of the heavens."
"So why bother asking others for help?"
"When you have no powerful backing, you can always turn to yourself for help, to the hidden power within yourself."
"To articulate one's needs, to seek answers from the shadows of the heavens, from the subconscious self..."
Sean glanced at it.
This seems to be something created by some heretic, comparing themselves to gods and seeking help from themselves when they are confused.
The stick figures on the parchment are inscriptions and symbols used to ask for help, as well as symbols that indicate one's identity.
When Sean saw the parchment, he just found it funny.
He never imagined that his landlady would ultimately be deceived by such a bizarre thing and then commit suicide...
By comparing the patterns she drew with those on the parchment, Sean also learned that the landlady's ultimate request seemed to be to sacrifice her own soul in order to reunite with her child in the afterlife.
The big stick figure is the landlady, and the little stick figure is her child. The string on the stick figure is the soul that was taken from her, and it is also the price she paid.
Upon learning the truth, Sean found it absurd. He sighed and decided to report the matter to the church to find the heretic who spread the "Self-Seeking Method" and prevent it from causing greater panic.
Prior to this, Sean was preparing to collect the landlady's body.
She had no relatives left, so as a tenant who had once received her kindness, Sean felt it was his responsibility to take care of the landlady's affairs after her death.
But just as Sean dragged the landlady's body out of the "Seeking Self Inscription" area, something strange happened.
The inscription suddenly flashed with a barely perceptible light.
The next second, a scene appeared before Sean's eyes.
The deceased landlady squatted down on the sun-drenched grass, her face full of gentle smiles, her gaze quietly fixed on a child not far away.
It was a little boy wearing overalls. He seemed unfamiliar with walking and toddled toward the landlady.
The two embraced tightly in the sunlight.
The next second, the image slowly faded away.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Sean froze on the spot... What was this? Was it the landlady and her deceased child?
They really...reunited?
So, this "Self-Seeking Method" isn't fake; it really works? Is it a supernatural technique?
At this moment, Sean was conflicted.
He didn't know what to do next.
He yearned for extraordinary abilities, or rather, who doesn't crave the extraordinary?
So should we report this to the church now? What should we do with this book, "The Method of Self-Seeking"?
He was somewhat confused for a moment.
……
Ultimately, Sean decided to report the case to the church, but not based on the landlady's case... He feared the church would eventually desecrate the landlady's body.
He planned to report it in a different way, saying that he had obtained it by accident.
However, before submitting the report, he planned to learn the "Method of Seeking Self".
After all, the situation that night was too bizarre and definitely involved something supernatural.
He truly yearns for the extraordinary.
Even though he suspected there might be problems with this "Self-Seeking Method," he thought to himself: I should learn it first. I may not use it, but at least I should be able to do it.
Although Sean's idea was good, humans are extremely complex beings. They can be driven to murder even when they have a weapon in their hearts, let alone something that seems to involve the supernatural. How could they possibly not use it after learning it?
Like Chekhov's gun, the moment "The Method of Seeking Oneself" appeared before Sean, it meant that its bullet would inevitably be fired at some point.
And that opportune moment arrived very soon.
Half a month later.
Sean had roughly mastered the "Self-Seeking Method," even drawing stick figures and various symbols with remarkable realism. However, since he usually used charcoal, these inscriptions were ineffective. According to the "Self-Seeking Method," to activate them, one must draw them with their own blood.
After learning it, Sean thought about finding an opportunity to hand over this "heretical art" to the church.
On that day, he arrived at the church in Port Eden and hesitated about how to hand it over when the church leader gave him a task in advance.
—Execute the fire boots punishment for a criminal who is a “heretic interpreter”.
After thinking for a moment, Sean decided to complete the leader's task first before considering submitting the "Self-Seeking Method".
Afterwards, he obtained the information on the criminal who committed the "heretic interpretation" and was stunned.
It was Rigota?
Sean knew Rigota, or rather, he knew Rigota unilaterally.
When he was enforcing the law in Dawn City, he brought an "orphan" who was born out of a bloodbath to an orphanage.
In that orphanage, he saw many children gathered together singing happily. The sun was shining brightly that day, and this beautiful scene made him feel that there was hope again in this bloody and cruel world.
Because he had brought that "orphan" there himself, Sean always felt a sense of responsibility and would occasionally take some time to visit him at the orphanage.
Through long-term contact, Sean learned that the reason why the children in this orphanage seemed so happy, and even had "spiritual entertainment," was due to the long-term support from two artists.
The two artists were named Rigota and Uriel.
Curious about these two artists, Sean consciously gathered some relevant information and learned that they were celebrities throughout the Great Sman Empire, and even more famous artistic partners in Dawn City, often performing and frequently giving benefit performances.
After each charity performance, all proceeds are donated to an orphanage.
It can be said that the reason why the Dawn City Orphanage is so wonderful is all due to their generosity.
Therefore, when Sean saw that the criminal of "heresy interpretation" was actually Rigota, he was extremely shocked and disbelieving.
He immediately conducted a detailed investigation.
After the investigation, Sean was basically able to confirm that Rigota was completely implicated.
Or rather, the reason these people were arrested this time was essentially a threatening act to demonstrate religious authority.
Without a doubt, this is a religious conspiracy.
Sean actually knew a lot about the dark side of the church. He was just an ordinary priest and had no way to resist. Besides, having religious governance was better than having none at all.
Therefore, Sean usually turned a blind eye to it.
Unexpectedly, this time it involved Rigota.
She came here specifically to perform as a "charity performer," but she became a victim of a behind-the-scenes power struggle.
Even though it was just "fire boots" and wouldn't kill her, it was absolutely devastating for an artist.
After hesitating for a long time, Sean made a decision...
He told the leader that the burning boots would be carried out near the forest.
The head of the church did not care about this.
The "fire boot torture" required the victim to step into red-hot iron boots and walk one kilometer to survive the punishment.
As for where to walk, that's up to the executioner.
Some believe that walking around the city can intimidate ordinary people; others believe that as long as these prisoners have not committed any fundamental errors and will continue to live among people in the future, there is no need to embarrass them in this way.
Sean's image in the church has always been that of a gentle and kind person, and his choice to carry out the execution in a deserted forest was entirely within the leader's expectations.
Even the cult leader himself had this idea. He was well aware that Rigota was implicated, but some things had to be done, so he sentenced her to the lightest punishment of being put in the boots of fire and assigned the usually mild-mannered Sean to carry out the execution.
Afterwards, Sean drove the carriage, carrying the iron boots that were stored in the furnace and Rigota, who was chained up, to the wilderness of Evening Light Harbor.
Upon arriving at their destination, Sean did not carry out the execution but instead spared Rigota.
He hunted a rabbit in the forest, killed it, dripped its blood into his iron boots, and then used gel to create the illusion of solidified flesh.
Then, he settled Rigota in a hunter's hut in the forest and told her that he would help her and let her stay there for the night, and that he would find a way to send her back to Dawn City the next day.
Sean returned to the church and reported that he had been executed.
After that, he accepted a mission, which was to escort a bandit informant to Dawn City for a handover.