Chapter 044 Cult Simulator
As night fell, the pedestrians on the road gradually dispersed, leaving only the condensed dew falling to the ground and the croaking of frogs and cicadas. Lin Muching returned to the management bureau. As soon as he entered the room, he heard a bustling noise. He squeezed in sideways. The members who were working late on both sides tried to make way for him and greeted him one after another.
"Chief!" "Are you going to church tomorrow?" "How long is left before the one-month surveillance period?"
"Good evening. Maybe I will go. There are still eight days left." Lin Muching answered every question patiently. He came to the long conference table, and someone immediately turned to the signature that Ji Xu had left in the restaurant. He was attracted by the fluent handwriting at first sight.
He would never forget this familiar cursive writing.
The members of the Administration were confused. They didn't know Ji Xu or Bai Zhao, and they were just following orders. "Director, what's wrong with this guy? Is he a high-ranking official in the church?"
"I heard that the church has two deputies, but we only know Wang Gu..." Someone whispered delicately, "So Ji Xu is another high-ranking member of the Hundred Prayers Church?"
The colleague next to him replied: "He will come to write a statement tomorrow, you can just ask him what he said."
The man who spoke first said sincerely, "I dare not. You don't know how crazy those believers are. Just like the one who just came here, Nie Zhuang, he suddenly preached to me yesterday and told me that there is no future in the Administration Bureau. It's better to come to the Baizhu Church, where you can get five insurances, one housing fund, a half-year bonus, and a single dormitory. It's hard for a social animal not to be tempted..."
There was constant whispering and discussion, and no one thought of Ji Xu as Bai Dao. Lin Muching felt increasingly depressed. If a person was unknown to both his supporters and opponents, then what did he really care about?
What does the order of seasons really matter?
The people who were discussing noticed that Lin Muqing looked very unhappy, and came over to ask in confusion: "Director, what's wrong with you? Is Ji Xu difficult to deal with? If it doesn't work, let's think of a countermeasure and ask him questions."
"Need not."
Lin Muqing had a strong intuition that made his heart feel like a huge rock was weighing on him. His good mood after returning to the Administration disappeared. He rejected the proposal in a deep voice: "I will ask the questions. You don't have to worry about Ji Xu not cooperating. If the faith does not disappear, the believers will never be able to integrate into the crowd. Ji Xu will not tolerate this happening."
The subordinate, who had no idea what the connection was, scratched his head and said, "Uh, what does this have to do with the order of seasons?"
Lin Muqing opened his mouth, and many scenes flashed through his mind, including the twenty days in the church, Nie Zhuang and Wang Gu. He swallowed his long speech and summed up all his feelings in one sentence, saying slowly, "Because the order of seasons is a hundred prayers."
"Bang!"
The next second, there were continuous sounds of water cups and documents falling to the ground. Papers were scattered on the floor and were blown up by the fan and air conditioner. Some of them were soaked by the tea. Everyone stared at Lin Muqing in shock and fear. In front of the sensational news, they could not control their expressions and voices: "What did you say? Baizhao is——?!!"
Their last chorus reached a point where they could hardly control it, and in the end it was completely muted, but the incredible emotion was clearly conveyed.
Lin Muching unconsciously lit another cigarette and took a deep breath, as if only this could relieve his tense nerves. He nodded in the smoke, picked up the wet white paper on the ground and spread it on the table to dry.
"Don't get in touch with him." Lin Muqing repeated again, recalling his own mentality in the church, and murmured, "He is too normal, so normal that people around him mistakenly think that he can be corrected."
——
In a kind of depressing silence, the lights of the administration were on all night long. Early the next morning, when the sun gradually rose, many people had dark circles under their eyes. The atmosphere in the administration, which had been busy all night, became much more languid.
A small incident happened in the middle. They retrieved the information of the Church of a Hundred Prayers and found that the information that was flipped through by the thief when the archives room was robbed actually overlapped with the information of the Church of a Hundred Prayers many times. When they subconsciously turned to look at the director, Lin Muching waved his hand to indicate that he didn't care.
Everyone had to skip this topic and write it down for record.
Lin Muching, who had been busy all night, bit the butt of a cigarette, using nicotine to relieve his tense nerves. He stared at the computer screen. The eight o'clock bell rang on time. Lin Muching subconsciously stood up and looked towards the door. The more than 20 days of living in the church day and night allowed him to successfully memorize the Hundred Prayers, a life routine that was too regular and incompatible with modern society.
Lin Muching stood up too much and the chair made a scratching sound on the tiles. The other members of the management bureau who were still waiting suddenly stood up, turned to look at the clock, and looked in the direction the director was looking in confusion.
A gloved left hand fell on the outside handle of the transparent door.
When the others thought that this was Bai Zhao, they couldn't help but become nervous. They tensed their bodies, and under the gaze of everyone, a young man with black hair and black eyes pushed the door and walked in.
He was about 24 years old, with his coat unbuttoned, and his hair a little messy today, casually revealing his thin sweater underneath. He was holding a glass of watermelon juice bought on the road, and walked in leisurely as if he was shopping. When he entered the door, he put down the drink and took off his gloves, folded them a few times, and put them in the side pocket of his coat.
"Good morning, it seems everyone welcomes me."
As the man spoke this, he looked up and his eyes suddenly locked on Lin Muching. He smiled politely, and the pure black pupils behind his lenses reminded people of Bai Dao's dark cloak that looked like the god of death.
Behind the season was the bright, rising sun, but Lin Muching saw the silhouette of a crescent moon in the night.
“…”
In the silence where one could hear a pin drop, Ji Xu seemed unaware of the anxious feeling in the air that others were about to jump up and handcuff him. He walked calmly to the table and sat down.
No one came over, Ji Xu knocked on the table and couldn't help sighing: "Hey, I know everyone is obsessed with studying their opponents' every move, but can you pay attention to me? I still have work to do today. I hope everyone can hurry up and finish recording early. I have to go back as soon as possible."
The members of the management bureau who were awakened by the knocking on the table were startled and ran to find paper and ink, but they still couldn't help looking back frequently.
How should I put it? It’s completely different from what I imagined, just like an ordinary person.
The first time Lin Muching saw Bai Dao in person under the mask, he was different from what he had imagined. When Ji Xu pursed his lips and didn't smile, his expression was bookish and very approachable. He took notes very quickly and didn't need to think about answering questions. He could describe the scene without thinking.
Lin Muqing was not interested in this, and soon urged to speed up the process, raised his hand to indicate the ink pad beside him, "Please sign your name here and put your fingerprints."
Ji Xu smiled at him again, and stood up to press his fingerprints as he wished.
Things developed as expected, and Lin Muqing should have been relieved, but he couldn't help but doubt himself. After thinking about it, he thought that Ji Xu was too cooperative, which always made him feel a sense of unreality, frivolity and illusion.
I barely suppressed this feeling. The Huzhong City news on the TV above my head was still being broadcast daily. This morning, it showed yesterday's interview footage. Ji Xu came out of the crime scene and asked the reporter about his opinion on the church.
The reporter, who didn't know his true identity, answered casually, blurting out, "It's quite joyful, uh... no, I mean it brings a lot of joy to the citizens."
"In that case, I hope everyone can come talk to me anytime if they are hurt." Ji Xu seemed not to have heard the reporter's timely euphemism and took over the conversation. He stood in the crowd wearing a mask that didn't fit in and told a cold joke, "After all, everyone knows that our customer service is an artificial idiot."
The reporter coughed to cover up the upturned corner of his mouth, thinking that it was worthy of being the Church of a Hundred Prayers, devoting itself to bringing happiness to others as always. Only certain audiences could hear his meaningful unfinished words.
——Citizens who have been hurt are welcome to come and talk to us. We will help you get rid of the pest by yourself, little by little.
Everyone in the Administration suddenly felt a chill, and their filter for seasonal changes was broken at once. The nightmares of the red moon that had appeared more and more frequently in the city in the past few months once again loomed over their minds, and they finally understood the director's solemn advice last night.
Even if the seasons were normal, he would still pray.
Ji Xu glanced at their fearful expressions and suddenly stood up with boredom. Lin Muqing, who caught a glimpse of his expression, finally caught the blind spot.
The reason why he felt so heavy-hearted was that he had vaguely sensed that all the actions of the Administration were following Ji Xu's pace. Even if they succeeded, it was because Ji Xu tacitly agreed to their success. But the Administration could not stop, they had to do what Ji Xu wanted.
"Wait," Lin Muqing stopped him, "I'll go back with you."
Ji Xu, who didn't want to attend church with others, refused. He wiped the red ink on his fingertips with a tissue, hooked his fingers and picked up the watermelon juice, "Director, I didn't tell you where I live." Ji Xu emphasized, hoping that Lin Muqing would get down to business, "and I'm currently an ordinary citizen with no tainted record."
Lin Muqing asked back: "Then how do you know who I am?"
Ji Xu said perfunctorily: "Oh, maybe I just like the atmosphere of the Administration by nature, and I really want to be one of you, so I searched for the director's photo."
“……”How scary.
Even though I knew it was a lie, it still gave me goosebumps just hearing it.
Lin Muqing, who was terrified, finally calmed down and took a step back. He waited for Ji Xu to leave for two or three hours before the person who had taken the records to extract fingerprints came back. It shouldn't have taken so long, but it took some time to prepare another thing.
The fingerprints on the plastic film were clearly visible. The staff sighed with concern: "Now we have the fingerprints, but the door locks of the Hundred Prayers Church must have more than one level of verification. What about the others?"
Lin Muqing collected his fingerprints in a sealed bag and picked up the door lock tester. He turned on his mobile phone and found that Yu Xi had told him that the deal was done half an hour ago, but he was busy with other things at the time and didn't see it at all.
He replied on his phone, saying he understood, and explained, "It's enough to pass one level of verification. I can come into the office anytime I want. The important thing is to use irrefutable evidence to prove that Ji Xu is not a simple person. This way, when he appears next to the victim, the Administration can intervene in the investigation on the grounds that he has a criminal record."
Now, it's time to go back to church.
The months-long confrontation between the Administration and the Church of a Hundred Prayers should come to an end, even with Ji Xu's acquiescence.
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