Chapter 50
When Wen Xin realized that he was seen, he stopped where he was, holding the little fox and touched his nose to cover up.
But before he could calm down and speak, he saw the red-robed man sitting on the chair change his expression drastically.
The old man stood up, and his aged body burst out with the speed of a twenty-year-old running champion. In the blink of an eye, he even fastened the lid of the teapot.
This is preparing to run away with the tea!
Immediately, Wen Xin didn't care whether it was awkward or not, he rushed over in two steps and pressed down the red-robed man's tea pot first.
When the others saw him, they ran away without caring about anything else, but the red-robed man's first reaction was to take away the tea.
This proves that in the heart of Red Robe Man, tea is more important than himself!
As expected.
Seeing that he couldn't take the teapot away, the man in red robe turned pale and almost got angry.
"Take your hands off me!"
Wen Xinhan became tough and said, "Then you have to promise that you won't run away after I let go of your hand."
The red-robed man said without thinking, "I promise."
No guarantee, just take it and run.
Unfortunately, Wen Xin did not believe his assurance.
"By your pope or your gods."
Red robed man: “…”
The life pulse is in control.
This guy is such a scoundrel.
The red-robed man clicked his tongue, glanced at the little fox who was blinking innocently in Wen Xin's arms, and felt so sad and chill in his heart.
But he has calmed down now: "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Wen Xin was sure that the man in red robe would not run away again, so he withdrew his hand from the teapot that was on his mind.
"I want to learn about Idealism."
In fact, Wen Xin wanted to know more about the divisions of other power organizations, but just now, his thoughts changed a little.
The man in red robe picked up the fallen chair from the ground and brushed off the dust on it.
"You don't look like you want to join Idealism."
The red-robed man sat down again and met Wen Xin's gaze: "You just pry into other people's secrets, do you think I will tell you?"
The accumulation of years has made the old man's eyes reveal a deep power. Under the gaze of these eyes, Wen Xin has a feeling that he is seen through.
Wen Xin showed no fear.
But he had to think about one thing.
That means that I don't have anything in my hands to exchange information with at the moment.
Exchanging information for information might be the most appropriate method, but Wen Xin couldn't do it.
Because he focused on training while in the base and rarely went out, most of the things he knew were related to the training camp and the army.
He would not reveal those things, whether they were confidential or not.
The atmosphere was tense before, and the two sides had different positions. Wen Xin could take out his gun and point it at the red-robed man's head without any burden, listing various conditions.
But not now.
To put it bluntly, his situation is like being dependent on others. He can't say he has to keep a low profile, but at least he can't be too arrogant.
What's more, the attitude of Idealism towards him can be considered friendly.
Seeing Wen Xin's silence, the red-robed man laughed, not surprisingly: "You can't tell."
The little fox was about to look up.
But then I heard the young man clear his throat.
"I thought of one, but I don't know if it counts."
Wen Xin looked at the tea jar in the red-robed man's hand and said, "There probably aren't many people growing tea outside right now, but there is some in the base in City A, and the production is relatively stable."
"If you need it, I can introduce you to the tea merchant when I get back."
The red-robed man's expression did not change, but his eyebrows twitched suddenly.
"Are you serious?"
Wen Xin nodded seriously.
In fact, he didn't know any tea merchants, but he had seen fresh tea in Li Yongming's ancestral home before.
After asking, I found out that there are actually people growing tea in the base.
City A as a whole is not well-off, and many people still go hungry.
Wen Xin himself has never experienced hunger, but he knows that the cultivation of various vegetables, fruits and melons is competing for farmland and greenhouses.
In that case, we should put tea and other things aside and focus on high-yield and filling crops.
Wen Xin has always been puzzled by this.
It was only later that he found out that Wen Jinfeng had allowed the cultivation of those tea leaves.
But they were not sold to their own people, but to wealthy businessmen from other bases.
Since he is a wealthy businessman, he must have a lot of resources in his hands.
They have long been tired of potato pancake instant noodles that ordinary people cannot eat, so of course they will pursue better things that others cannot easily get to improve their quality of life.
Facts have also proved that the decision to sell tea to the outside world has indeed solved the hunger problem of many people in the base.
The warmth and hardship are still fresh in my memory.
It can be said that it was the first time that he filled the seemingly blank image of Wen Jinfeng in his mind.
Instead of just vaguely remembering a serious high school boy who sat at the dining table with his back to him and pushed open the door without looking back.
From then on, apart from a phone call to express condolences every few months, we have never seen him again.
For Wen Xin, the current situation is just right.
The man in red robe likes to drink tea and has a high status in Idealism, so he should have a lot of resources.
It completely meets the target customers for tea sales.
Wen Xin's two sentences touched the heart of the red-robed man.
He likes drinking tea, but has been struggling to find a stable way to do it.
A high bounty was commissioned to hire mercenaries to search for the tea in the tea shop, but unfortunately, the tea had either been looted in advance or destroyed by zombies.
Even if it's not rotten, it's completely undrinkable if the packaging is damaged and stained with blood.
Only a few cans were recovered.
It's all aged tea.
For some tea leaves, the longer they are stored, the mellower their flavor becomes.
But some teas taste best only when they are young and tender in early spring.
The man in red robe missed the feeling of the latter and would certainly not reject Wen Xin's proposal.
He thought about it, touched his chin, and looked at Wen Xin as if he was a new acquaintance: "I can't believe you also know the tea merchant?"
In terms of property rights, the largest tea merchant in City A is Wen Jinfeng.
So Wen Xin was confident when he said, "I know him."
The red-robed man smiled broadly, his attitude much better than before: "Okay, okay, then come sit here, there are chairs over there."
Wen Xin brought the folding chair over, held the little fox in his arms and sat opposite the man in red robe.
The red-robed man asked, "What do you want to know about Idealism?"
Wen Xin put on an attentive look and said, "I don't know much about Idealism. I'm very curious about why Idealism exists, what's going on in it, and who's involved."
The red-robed man understood Wen Xin's hidden meaning.
The other party wanted to know the origin, personnel distribution and event information of Idealism, and would accept all offers.
Although he was trying to gather information in a roundabout way, the young man's attitude was still sincere and genuine, so he was not unpleasant to look at.
The red-robed man looked at the little fox and talked about some things that did not involve the secrets of Idealism and were not a big deal.
From the words of the red-robed man, Wen Xin learned the origin of Idealism.
In fact, not all idealists believe in idealism. What they say "idealism is supreme, idealism is best" is just a verbal oath.
To be honest, the man in red is a realist.
In his opinion, love and happiness only exist in imagination, and pie in the sky falling from the sky is even more impossible.
The word "Weixin" in Idealism was changed when the sect was founded, but only the Pope knows the real name.
Why it was not adopted is also an unsolved mystery.
When the red-robed man said this, the little fox raised his head silently, looked at Wen Xin steadily, hiding the complicated emotions in his eyes.
Wen Xin asked: "Did the pope of the Noble Church receive any revelation when he founded the church?"
Most people outside may not be able to explain this clearly.
They only knew that Idealism had arisen suddenly, and that the number of members in the sect had expanded at an incredible speed, establishing a survivor base in just a few days.
But apart from that, it seems that he hasn't done anything earth-shattering or awe-inspiring.
The red-robed man took a sip of hot tea and said slowly, "Because people at that time were in so much pain, many almost died."
When talking about the doctrines and dogmas of Idealism, the old man remained very calm, unlike the pockmarked man who was full of obsession and fanaticism.
Seeing that he didn't mind, Wen Xin made a bold guess.
"You mean, at that time, everyone was looking for a spiritual support, and idealism just happened to appear?"
The red-robed man shook his head: "Yes, but also no."
"If you tell a person who is running out of food that tomorrow will be better, he may be able to listen to you because his worry is about tomorrow, not now."
"But if you tell a starving person that things will get better in the future, he will just spit in your face and tell you to get out as far away as possible."
When the end of the world came, the man in red robe saw with his own eyes a child who was not even as tall as his thigh die in the mouth of a zombie.
He knew the child; she was the precious granddaughter of his next-door neighbor.
He is still a baby, speaks with a soft and tender voice, and his eyes are crescent-shaped when he smiles. If you give him a sweet orange slice or a lollipop, he will become very happy and say thank you with joyful gestures.
When he heard the child crying, the man in red robe's eyes turned red and he picked up a stick to hit the child.
But when the zombie heard the noise and turned around, he saw the familiar face and almost dropped the stick in his hand.
Because the zombie biting the child was none other than the grandfather who loved the child the most.
That is such a sad thing.
But such tragedies have been happening frequently on this land without interruption since the end of the world.
No matter what kind of spiritual sustenance one has, it cannot eliminate such pain.
Wen Xin was silent.
He thought of the aphrodisiac that Pockmarked Face had used.
If the brain is too clear, it will remember all the pain clearly, destroying one's spirit and will day by day.
Then perhaps the only way left is to resort to drugs to help yourself get rid of it.
但溫辛很快就排除了這個猜測。
不管是他所見到的紅袍人，還是其他的黑袍和普通教衆，氣色都比較健康紅潤，走起路來虎虎生風，不像長期服用了大量違禁藥/物的樣子。
溫辛摸了摸小狐貍的毛發。
他冷不丁地問道：“教皇是否有特殊的能力，可以幫人們緩解精神上的痛苦？”
話都說到這份上了，紅袍人并不奇怪溫辛能夠猜出來：“沒錯。”
除了在酒店房間門口出場時，老人對溫辛表現出了充足的氣勢。
其他大多數時間，他都像個花園裏四處可見的遛彎老大爺，手裏拿着保溫杯，時不時輕呷一口。
只有這個時候，紅袍人的眼中才算是浮現出了一抹宗教信徒的虔誠。
不似麻子臉那般瘋狂，卻飽含着發自內心的感激與順從。
他認真地說道：“等你到了基地，就會知道教皇陛下的存在有多麽不可思議，又有多麽的讓人慶幸。”
小狐貍動了動耳朵，被溫辛掌在手裏，輕輕地揉了兩下。
似乎想起什麽來，紅袍人別有深意地看了青年一眼。
“所以別說我沒提醒你，等你抵達B市基地之後最好是收收心，不要想着去打一些歪主意。”
紅袍人有一句沒有說出來的潛臺詞，相信溫辛一定能夠理解到。
——我知道你的主要目的是張泉勇，但不要想着把人帶走了，他現在是我們基地的人，你就安分守己點待着吧。
聽到溫辛被警告威脅，小狐貍不虞地瞥向紅袍人。
“嘤。”
紅袍人嘴角一抽：“這只是善意的提醒，提醒罷了。”
溫辛沉吟片刻，見狀淡定地說道：“您放心，我怎麽可能會有什麽歪心思？”
紅袍人懷疑地看着他：“那就好。”
唯心教現在的成員簡要分為四類。
普通教衆、神父、十二主教、三位紅衣主教以及權利最大的教皇。
衣服是區別身份最簡單的方法。
普通教衆一般穿着什麽花紋都沒有的素麻袍子，胸口沒有任何徽記。
神父則是穿着紋路簡單一點的黑袍，胸口有三瓣花徽記。
十二主教顧名思義，一共有十二個人，類比的話相當于A市基地裏的管理層，統轄管理着不同版塊的事務，黑袍上的樣式紋路也更精致一點，徽記為四瓣花。
再往上，就是紅衣主教，穿紅袍，五瓣花标記。
溫辛以此類推：“那教皇衣服上的徽記是不是一朵六瓣的花？”
“怎麽會？”紅袍人理所當然地說道，“教皇殿下當然是想穿什麽就穿什麽，有需要的話，直接告訴我們不就行了。”
溫辛：“……”
可以，這很教皇。
說完了唯心教的起源、教內人員身份的劃分，就只剩下基地裏發生的大小事件。
也就不可避免地提到了基地裏現在的運作模式。
如今的錢幣已經變成了廢紙一張，只有黃金還算保值，畢竟是不可再生資源，還能用于一些超高精度的電子元件制作。
在這樣的前提下，以物易物是基地裏最常見的交易方式。
如果暫時想不到需要的東西，可以兌換成貢獻值或者積分登記在賬目上，随取随換。
而基地裏涉及到的紛争，大多都是一些貢獻值分配上的異議。
溫辛等着紅袍人繼續往下說。
可是人沒有開口。
他順着紅袍人的态度，得出了個不可思議的結論。
“大家只對貢獻值的分配有異議，不會為其他事情吵起來？”
一個基地最少都有幾萬人，幾萬人生活在一起，資源分配就是個大問題。
總會有人吃不飽穿不暖，也總會有人吃得太飽。
溫辛加入訓練營之前，李永明曾經派人帶他熟悉了一遍基地。
私人交易市場是吵鬧聲最大的地方。
有人在稱上做手腳，有人借着信息差暗自提價，有人拉團體搞私人壟斷，還有請演員哄擡高價，在自己的貨物裏摻假。
一旦被發現了，就開始混不吝打架，打到頭破血流，慘叫連連。
私人市場的負責人忍不住叫來了護衛隊，拉走兩邊人才作罷。
這還只是冰山下的其中一角。
面對溫辛的不敢置信，紅袍人神秘地重複了那句話。
“等你到了我們的地方，就清楚了。”
大概花了七天，溫辛跟随着唯心教抵達了B市的基地。
大約是和溫辛相處得不錯，路上青年問的其他問題，紅袍人也不吝解答。
他告訴溫辛，現在的勢力組織大概以方向劃分。
第一基地位于正北方，當初只用了不到一個月的時間，就将周圍兩座城市一并納入麾下，成立了當前世界上規模最大的幸存者基地。
無數幸存者被第一基地解救收容，感激涕零。
不過第一基地也流傳着一些不好的傳聞。
傳聞喪屍病毒和變異體，就是他們搞出來的。
畢竟第一基地的前身就是病毒起源地H市，對喪屍和變異體的研究也深刻得不像才研究了短短幾個月。
但無奈，第一基地權勢滔天，沒有人可以證實這件事。
北部偏西，基本上就是A市溫勁風的地盤。
由于和第一基地的位置比較遠，又有着地形上的優勢，在後者籠絡權利和擴張地盤的時候，A市剛巧避開，沒有被強行收服。
南海一帶，則是被一只巨大的鯨魚變異體稱霸着。
這只鯨魚對人類格外看不順眼，經常會卷起一場小海嘯，将周圍地區的居民折磨得苦不堪言。
雖說一般都不會死，但誰也遭不住家裏時不時被水給淹沒。
居民們也只好舉家搬離，基本上沒有漁民和雇傭兵敢靠近那一帶地區。
至于東西兩邊，都很混亂。
東邊曾經出現過大量的蛇群，以及其他危險無比的變異體，這些變異體對人飽含仇恨，只要遇見了，就一定會發起攻擊。
去過之後僥幸活下來的雇傭兵，這麽膽戰心驚地形容。
——每一步都像走在懸崖邊的鋼絲線上，從未感覺過死亡如此接近。
再東一點的地方，是衆所周知的禁地。
因為那裏正發生着令人膽寒的非自然天災現象，比如逆氣候的龍吸水、長達幾公裏的雷暴。
沒人敢往深處走，也無法窺見那裏到底發生了什麽事，引起了這樣的異常。
“如果你有什麽想要的東西，或者想知道的事情，可以往西邊去，那裏的暗市盛名在外，有着規模最大的交易行，但我勸你最好遠離一個叫薔薇城的地方。”
紅袍人冷幽默了一句。
“他的主人上位不久，氣焰正盛，非常熱衷于把忤逆自己的人填進土裏。”
.
眨眼時間，B市基地已經近在咫尺。
溫辛記得唐啓的父母就在B市。
喪屍出現時，唐啓擔心父母，也來了B市。
溫辛生出了一絲慶幸。
既然唯心教在B市建立起了幸存者基地，那麽這裏的人應該有很大的可能性活下去。
不知道人現在過得怎麽樣，還有布偶貓歡歡，是否還健康。
車停下，唯心教的成員陸續下了車。
守衛們在城牆上看見了他們的影子，很早就跑到門口排成一列，恭敬地等候。
溫辛跟在紅袍人的身邊，走過去時，震耳欲聾的吶喊響起。
“恭迎教——”
話還沒說完，被突然醒悟過來的紅袍人重重打斷：“叫什麽叫！皇帝都死幾百年了，少學那些封建的思想，都回去做自己的事。”
請安的教衆頓時卡殼：“……”
他們彼此對看，茫然地應是。
紅袍人和小狐貍同時看了眼溫辛。
見人臉色如常，似乎什麽也沒發現，不由自主地松了一口氣。
一進城裏，溫辛就明顯産生了一股不同尋常的感覺。
這種感覺虛無缥缈，卻讓他下意識地放松了身體。
對兄長溫勁風、隊員林南、還有許久未見的好友唐啓的擔心；
對是否能夠成功接見張泉勇的憂慮；
對逝去軍人們的傷感；
還有連日來無法言喻的疲累。
都像被人拿了一塊橡皮擦，擦得幹幹淨淨。
溫辛忍不住看向走在街上的人們。
這些人明顯和他受到了同一種魔力，個個臉上都帶着燦爛無憂的笑容。
仿佛世界是美好的，生活是可以期盼的，再也沒有煩心的事情可以打垮自己。
哪怕是面黃肌瘦的人，也不會像外面逃難的那些幸存者一樣麻木和呆滞。
溫辛越看越出神。
他見多了那些絕望的面容，聽足了歇斯底裏嘶吼着的聲音，竟然都快忘了，人們的眼中也可以像這樣充滿了希望。
堪稱奢侈的希望。
溫辛無法不為之動容。
紅袍人将他的輕松看在眼裏，笑着說：“現在知道了吧，這就是教皇殿下的偉大之處。”
唯心教雖然和傳統的宗教有着本質上的區別，但他們還是遵循禮節，建造了一座教堂。
瓷白沉重的大門推開，溫辛抱着小狐貍踏上了锃亮的地板。
沒走幾步，他就被挂在牆壁上的畫給吸引了。
“那是……你們的教皇？”
小狐貍瞳孔一縮，飛快地順着溫辛的目光看了過去！
【Author’s words】
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution during 2023-04-28 23:58:41~2023-04-29 23:58:50~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: 2 pieces of taro paste Sijichun;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Lavender's Voice 11 bottles; Sunbathing Bear, Yehuang 5 bottles; 50472109, Charlie Su 3 bottles; Wei Lan, Look at What I Do, Fei, Hahahaha, Shuying 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!