Chapter 35 Zhou Mingxin needs to inform more than just his voice…
Zhou Mingxin needed to notify more than just Gu Sheng, so he left the invitation and departed.
Then Gu Sheng realized he had encountered a big problem.
P City is a famous tourist destination, attracting many visitors year-round, regardless of the season.
Recently, due to the passing of the Patriarch, many believers spontaneously traveled to P City to pay their respects.
As a result, all train and plane tickets to City P were sold out.
Gu Sheng really wanted to call Zhou Mingxin back and ask him if he shouldn't have taken care of the transportation issue when he invited people. How was he supposed to get there?
Unfortunately, Gu Sheng didn't have Zhou Mingxin's contact information, so he couldn't reach her at all.
Looking at the conspicuous "Sold Out" sign, Gu Sheng struggled to control the urge to hack into the ticketing system.
Then, Gu Sheng stayed up all night by his computer and finally managed to snag a plane ticket, a red-eye flight, arriving in P City at nine o'clock on the morning of the ceremony.
As long as I can make it to the ceremony, nothing else matters.
After Gu Sheng arrived at the airport on time, during check-in, the staff checked back and forth many times to confirm whether Gu Sheng really wanted to take this flight.
Gu Shengxin felt completely bewildered. This was a ticket he had worked so hard to get; if he didn't take this flight, which one should he take?
After passing through security, Gu Sheng successfully boarded the plane bound for P City.
The plane landed on time. After getting off the plane, Gu Sheng checked the time and then hailed a taxi to the city center.
Zhou Ming thought to himself that he needed to arrive an hour early. Gu Sheng got out of the car, looked at the 10:55 displayed on his phone, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had made it.
On the way here, Gu Sheng did a quick look up P City and Patriarch.
He roughly knew that P City was a city with a strong religious atmosphere.
P City has only one religion, "The Religion of God." They believe that there is only one God in the world, and that is the being they worship. Everything else is heresy.
The religion of God is the most widespread belief in the world. Compared to the religion of God, the Holy Lord that Gu Sheng knows is a completely niche belief.
In the eyes of the cult, Gu Sheng, as the chairman of the Blue Moon Council, was a clear heretic. If this had happened four or five hundred years ago, he would have been burned at the stake.
However, in modern times, the management of religious beliefs is not so strict. Although it is not common for a person to believe in multiple religions at the same time, it does happen.
The establishment of City P is also steeped in mythology.
Legend has it that a god once descended to earth to preach, and his place of worship was the current city center of P City, which is now a square named Preaching Square.
God's first believer and first patriarch was named He Tianyou. He established the original P City, centered around God's sacred site. That city is now the old town of P City.
He Tianyou was not only a believer in God, but also a painter, sculptor, and architect. So when he built P City, he built it into a pentagram, with a church at each of the five points of the star and an obelisk courtyard below the church in the due north direction.
The so-called Obelisk Courtyard is a small pentagram array. The houses around the courtyard are built into twelve-story buildings, while the houses in the middle are only six stories high, leaving the space for the Obelisk Courtyard.
Therefore, the Obelisk Courtyard is actually a sky garden.
In modern times, it became a famous tourist attraction in P City, a must-visit place for tourists. However, recently, due to the death of the Patriarch, it has been temporarily closed and outsiders are prohibited from entering.
Gu Sheng got off the bus a long way from the Obelisk Courtyard. He crossed the road and walked a while, arriving at the gate just before 11:00.
Gu Sheng had an invitation. After checking the invitation, the guards asked Gu Sheng to show his identification and then took him to a small hut next door for a full body search.
Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow, somewhat displeased. He was a guest, after all; was this how you treated a guest?
However, Gu Sheng soon stopped being angry because he met Zhou Mingxin, who had just been searched, in the small house.
The two looked at each other but said nothing.
When Gu Sheng came out of the small house, he saw Zhou Mingxin waiting for him outside.
Gu Sheng looked at the closed gate and asked, "Will they not let anyone in after this?"
Zhou Mingxin said, "The guards have a list. Once everyone arrives, this place will be temporarily closed. It will reopen after the ceremony is completed."
Gu Sheng heard the sound of the lock being closed outside. He silently complained, "What a hassle."
But that doesn't mean he's the last one.
Thinking of this, Gu Sheng had something to say. He said, "Shouldn't you have reserved train tickets in advance when you invited someone? He almost couldn't come."
Zhou Mingxin said with some doubt, "P City has cooperation with all airports, and each airport has at least one flight a day specifically for clergy to P City."
He looked at Gu Sheng and said, "You are a serving assistant priest, and your information is in the system. You only need to show your identification to board the relevant flight."
Gu Sheng recalled the staff's repeated inquiries during check-in. Was that the reason?
Gu Sheng silently shut his mouth under Zhou Mingxin's probing gaze.
The less you say, the fewer mistakes you make.
After walking through the corridor, the two took the elevator, and then there was another corridor after exiting the elevator.
The ceiling of this corridor is very high and covered with elaborate and ornate paintings with strong religious connotations.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the corridor, you can see the Mission Square in the city center. In the center of the square stands a statue, which can be described as an abstract statue. However, in the eyes of believers, the statue symbolizes a God who cannot be perceived by mortals.
Twelve angel statues stand in a row around the square; these are the legendary primordial angels, God's first followers.
Looking at the scenery outside the window, Gu Sheng thought to himself that the person who wrote the letter had probably also come to the ceremony. He wondered whether he had found that person first or whether that person had taken the initiative to find him first.
After walking through a long corridor, the two arrived at a heavy door.
Zhou Mingxin pushed the door open with some difficulty.
Looking at Zhou Mingxin, Gu Sheng could only ask, "Can't we replace the door with an electric one? Or can't we just leave it open all year round?"
Does this door have to be opened every time you need to pass through?
Then Gu Sheng realized that it seemed he really had to open the door every time he passed through, and there was more than one door.
After walking through this door, Zhou Mingxin laboriously closed it again, and then they were greeted by another door.
Looking at the second door, Gu Sheng had a bad feeling. He seemed to know why Zhou Mingxin had asked him to arrive an hour early.
During his conversation with Zhou Mingxin, Gu Sheng learned that there were twelve such doors in total.
The death of a patriarch is not seen by believers as death, but as a call from God to heaven.
These twelve gates symbolize the twelve trials that God puts on mortals, and only those who have passed the trials can participate in the ceremony.
These doors are usually open, and are only closed for important ceremonies.
After struggling to open the eleventh door, Gu Sheng had only one thought left: This is so troublesome. He didn't want to accept the trial of that non-existent god at all.
There was only one door left. Gu Sheng and Zhou Mingxin each pushed one side of the door open.
Behind this door lies the Obelisk Courtyard.
However, before Gu Sheng could see the situation in the courtyard clearly, he heard a gunshot.
Gu Sheng looked up in the direction of the gunshot.
In the middle of the courtyard, a small platform was suspended in mid-air.
Two people were sitting on the platform. One of them shot the other through the forehead. The man who was shot twitched and then fell straight off the platform.
Below are two bodies with the same cause of death.
Gu Sheng silently turned his head and glanced behind him. There were eleven doors; it was unrealistic to try to leave quickly from here.
He looked around and couldn't help but admire the wisdom of the ancients.
There were no passages or windows leading to the outside world around the courtyard, only a ring of six-story buildings, but this did not affect the courtyard's lighting at all. The only thing that affected it was Gu Sheng's urgent desire to leave.
While Zhou Mingxin stared in shock at everything that was happening before her eyes, Gu Sheng had already silently retreated to the doorway.
As long as you don't attract other people's attention, you can still escape.
However, to Gu Sheng's surprise, the person who fired the shot spotted him immediately.
He even greeted Gu Sheng warmly, saying, "Gu Sheng, my friend, it's been a long time."
Gu Sheng stopped in his tracks instantly, staring blankly at the person above.
It turns out this was the person who sent the letter.
The man saw that Gu Sheng wanted to leave, and a crazy smile appeared on his lips as he said, "No one can leave here before the play ends."
As he spoke, he picked up a remote control and pressed a button.
A muffled "boom" came from the corner. Looking in the direction of the sound, a hole could be seen blasted into a building on one side of the courtyard.
Last night, the man threw away the remote control, then pulled open his clothes to reveal his chest, where a strange device was embedded.
The man made an exaggerated salute, then raised his gun to his temple and said, "I've planted bombs throughout the entire building. Those bombs are connected to my heart; as soon as my heart stops beating..."
He paused, then stretched out his arms and shouted, "Boom! The whole building will turn into fireworks!" Then he started laughing wildly.
Gu Sheng frowned. How come it's another mentally ill person, and this one is even more serious than the one he interrogated before?
However, since the other side now has guns and bombs, he has no choice but to stay.
The man abruptly stopped laughing, tapped his head with his gun, looked at the people below, and asked coldly, "Next, who's next?"
Gu Sheng had no idea what had happened and could only remain silent for the time being.
From the crowd, a man dressed in a black and gold robe stepped forward. He looked at the person above and said, "Ming Qingyuan, I will be your opponent." He seemed to know the person above.
Standing on the high platform, Ming Qingyuan looked at the man and grinned: "It's been a long time since I've seen Teacher Ye. It's my honor to play against you."
Ming Qingyuan waved his hand, and the platform slowly descended.
Gu Sheng watched silently, then looked around the entire courtyard and saw the ubiquitous surveillance cameras flashing red lights, still working normally.
These surveillance cameras must have been hijacked, which is why no one has discovered what's going on inside. There must be other accomplices outside Ming Qingyuan.
This is even more troublesome.
Gu Sheng watched as Teacher Ye walked onto the platform, and then the platform rose into the air again. After Teacher Ye and Ming Qingyuan sat down, they actually started playing chess.
At this moment, Zhou Mingxin walked over.
He slipped into the crowd while Ming Qingyuan's attention was on Gu Sheng and found someone he knew to find out what was going on.
Zhou Mingxin said in a low voice, "Ming Qingyuan has kidnapped five archbishops."
According to Catholic tradition, after the death of a patriarch, a new patriarch is chosen from among the archbishops.
According to the information Zhou Mingxin obtained.
These five bishops were now hidden in five different locations within the city by the Ming and Qing dynasties.
You can only ask him a question about the position of archbishop if you win a game of chess with him.
To make it easier for them to find the archbishop, Ming Qingyuan also specifically agreed to let them contact the guards, but they could only mobilize the guards for other reasons and could not reveal the situation here.
Ming Qingyuan threatened that if he discovered anyone leaking information through hints, he would blow up the entire obelisk courtyard.
If he loses a game of chess, he will kill the person he played against, as well as an archbishop.
Three people have died here, meaning that three archbishops have also perished.
We must find a way to break this deadlock as soon as possible. If all five archbishops die, it will be a huge blow to the Church.
Gu Sheng had no special feelings for the Divine Cult. He didn't care whether the Divine Cult was attacked or not, but he didn't like to see anyone die in front of him.
Gu Sheng looked up at the two people above, hoping that Teacher Ye could win the game.
However, Gu Sheng didn't want to give up this good opportunity to get close to Ming Qingyuan. If Teacher Ye failed, Gu Sheng decided to try it himself.
Although he doesn't understand chess, he seems to, should, probably understands madmen.
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