Chapter 244 42: The Priest's Secret

CLANG.

The officer who had just delivered the report hadn't even left yet when another pushed the door open.

"Officer Liu, we found this in the East Sea University boiler room."

He shook the yellowed notebook in his hand.

All eyes turned toward it...

"A diary?"

Officer Liu took it. It was, indeed, a diary. He flipped through it a bit before handing it back.

"Have the special task force take a look and sort through it for any useful information."

Jiang Ran immediately stepped forward.

"Officer Liu, could I take a look at it, too?"

"No."

Officer Liu waved his hand dismissively.

"This is a key piece of evidence from the suspect. I can't just show it to an outsider."

"But I'm not an outsider!"

Jiang Ran insisted.

"I'm one of the people involved in this. I can even be a witness if necessary."

"Mainly, I used to chat with Old Tian a lot. Maybe seeing something written in his diary will help me recall details I couldn't think of just now, and I can fill you in."

'Old Tian actually kept a diary!'

'This was a golden opportunity to learn about the Regrets Mutual Aid Association, the Priest, and the whole story behind it.'

'Perhaps this diary could answer all the questions currently swirling in Jiang Ran's head.'

'How could he possibly let such a rare opportunity slip by?'

'He had to fight for it!'

Hearing Jiang Ran's argument, Officer Liu scratched his head. He was hesitant, but he felt that Jiang Ran did have a point.

"Alright, then."

He called over the officer who had just entered.

"You take Jiang Ran to the records room. Let him look at this diary with our staff."

"But remember, Jiang Ran. No photos, no taking notes, and you can't tell anyone what you see inside once you leave."

"Understood."

After Jiang Ran agreed, he and Officer Liu exchanged contact information, saying it would be convenient if they needed to get in touch later.

Afterward, Jiang Ran went with the officer to the records room.

A staff member first opened the diary page by page, photographing each one with an overhead document scanner for the archives. The original diary was then handed over to a forensics officer for analysis, while Jiang Ran was allowed to view the newly captured digital images on a computer.

Jiang Ran understood this was standard procedure for protecting evidence. As long as he could see what Old Tian had written, he didn't care if it was the original or not.

He clicked the mouse, reading page by page.

The diary was clearly quite old. The earliest entry dated back seven years. Back then, Old Tian was still in the Northeast, not long after his wife had died from drinking pesticide.

The subsequent entries were sporadic, sometimes with gaps as long as a year. He basically just wrote a few lines whenever he thought of it.

Old Tian usually only thought to write in his diary when he was in a bad mood or under great stress, so the journal was brimming with negative energy. It was easy to feel how difficult his life had been.

The turning point came in an entry from two years ago. It was the first time the name "Regrets Mutual Aid Association" appeared in the diary.

At first, Old Tian was very resistant to this Mutual Aid Association, thinking it was a group of scammers or a cult.

But a few entries and several months later, Old Tian's attitude toward the Regrets Mutual Aid Association had done a 180-degree turn. He instantly became a devout believer and, moreover, began to worship the Priest.

After that, he received his mission from the Priest: to lie in wait at East Sea University until the date for the "divine punishment" was confirmed... and then came the final entry, a farewell to the world.

CLICK.

He clicked to the next page, but no new image appeared.

That meant he had read the whole diary.

'It seems Old Tian planned to commit suicide after completing the mission from the very beginning.'

That much was clear from the diary.

Jiang Ran found it hard to categorize his actions. Cowardice? Escapism? Selfishness?

Old Tian clearly knew he was doing something wrong. The two words that appeared most frequently in his later entries were "I'm sorry."

But he was still determined to trade his own life, and Teacher Yan's, for a new, vibrant life for his vegetative daughter.

At this point, Jiang Ran was no longer in the mood to distinguish right from wrong.

Because Teacher Yan was dead and Old Tian was dead, but *certain people* were still alive.

Certain people, like the self-proclaimed benevolent and loving Priest, were still shamelessly alive.

'They must be made to pay the price.'

Jiang Ran clenched his fists.

'He had to uncover the truth. It was the only way to protect himself, and the key to bringing the real mastermind to justice.'

He had more intelligence than the police, and he also had the Assassin from 2045, who would answer all his questions.

No matter where the Priest and the Regrets Mutual Aid Association were hiding...

He would find a way to uproot them completely!

Afterward, Jiang Ran said goodbye to Officer Liu and walked out of the East Sea City Public Security Bureau.

He hadn't rested since the incident the previous night, and his mind was a jumble of chaotic thoughts.

'I should find a place to sit and sort through my thoughts.'

He hailed a cab to a relatively quiet café, found a corner, ordered a cup of black coffee to keep him alert, and closed his eyes to think.

First.

'First, I'll lay out Old Tian's story in chronological order—'

1. Over a decade ago, Old Tian's daughter, Tian Xiaoli, fell from a roof and was left in a vegetative state. This was the turning point in Old Tian's life. His wife, succumbing to depression, committed suicide soon after, leaving father and daughter to rely on each other.

2. Two years ago, Old Tian came into contact with the Regrets Mutual Aid Association. He considered it an untrustworthy group of scammers and even suspected it was a cult.

3. A few months later, Old Tian became a fanatically devout follower of the Priest, with unshakeable faith in the Priest's Divine Power.

4. On July 21, Old Tian received a mission: to go to East Sea University at the start of the new semester and kill a teacher named Yan Chonghan.

5. The day of the "divine punishment" was set for September 16. Old Tian mentioned that the Priest was very particular about rituals and would often select a date far in advance. It's worth noting that two earlier entries also praised the Priest and mentioned that the dates for those divine punishments were April 16 and November 16, respectively.

...

After laying out the sequence of events, Jiang Ran could clearly see two particularly intriguing points.

Points 3 and 5.

'Old Tian went from a skeptic to a fanatical supporter of the Priest in just a few months.'

'This must mean that during those months, Old Tian personally witnessed many believers' regrets being remedied from within the Mutual Aid Association.'

'And these regrets probably weren't simple things like money, power, or love. Because in his diary, Old Tian was practically worshipping the Priest as an omnipotent deity.'

He then recalled how Fang Yang, the well-educated and highly intelligent Assassin, was also fiercely loyal to and convinced by the Priest of the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.

The conclusion was obvious—

'This Priest isn't just making empty promises. He really has the power to grant his followers' wishes!'

Suddenly.

Jiang Ran recalled the doctrine of the Regrets Mutual Aid Association:

To remedy life's regrets, to fulfill any wish.

'How on earth did he do it?'

'Could it be that he also has a way to tamper with history, something like the Positron Cannon or the Time SMS?'

'But Tian Xiaoli waking up from her vegetative state didn't tamper with history at all.'

'If it had been Jiang Ran's method, they would have sent a message to Old Tian more than ten years ago, telling him to rush home to his daughter and not let Tian Xiaoli go onto the roof to move the soybean paste. That would have altered the worldline, changed the course of history, and changed Tian Xiaoli's life.'

'That logic was understandable, acceptable.'

'But what was the Priest's method?'

'It was completely illogical.'

'It was pure brute force!'

'Without making any changes to history, he had somehow, right under everyone's noses... caused a patient in a deep vegetative state, one the entire world agreed would never recover, to wake up in defiance of all reason.'

'That kind of power... it's too terrifying, too frightening.'

Jiang Ran was horrified.

'If this universe is still scientific, real, physical, and orderly...'

'Then how on earth did the Priest do it?'

At this moment.

Jiang Ran was shocked by this reality, but he still didn't believe the Priest was truly omnipotent.

'After all, he'd just been thinking about it.'

'If he were truly omnipotent, why would he need so many followers? He could just use his Superpower to do things himself.'

'Therefore, the Priest must have some secret that conforms to science and common sense; he's just cleverly disguised it as an omnipotent miracle.'

CLACK!

Jiang Ran set his coffee cup back on its saucer.

'Yes!'

'That's it!'

In an instant, his thoughts cleared. It was an epiphany.

'The Priest, in the end, was just a flesh-and-blood human. He had limitations.'

'His omnipotence had to come from a clever disguise. To put it bluntly, it was all just a magic show.'

At the same time, this led to the second suspicious point.

Jiang Ran recalled the fifth point he had just summarized.

'The 16th.'

'The 16th of every month.'

When the Priest granted wishes or remedied regrets for his followers, he mostly set the date in advance for the 16th of the month.

'This probably isn't as simple as some so-called ritual... If the 'divine punishments' or the 'remedying of regrets' are always fixed on the 16th of the month, then there must be something special about that day!'

Jiang Ran wasn't entirely certain of this conclusion.

After all, the day the Assassin ran over and killed Zhou Xiong was July 21, a date with no discernible pattern.

'But the Assassin didn't receive any kind of outrageous, reality-bending reward that day... It was just a large sum of money.'

'So, is it possible that for wishes he can grant and regrets he can remedy on his own, the Priest doesn't need to wait for the 16th of the month?'

'Only for those wishes that defy common sense, or even the laws of reality... does the Priest have to specifically wait for the 16th of the month to fulfill them?'

In an instant.

Jiang Ran felt as if he had pierced through to the Priest's secret.

It's just that he still couldn't understand...

'Why can those outrageous wishes only be fulfilled on the 16th? What's so special about the 16th of every month?'

'I'll have to wait until I get back to the university, start up the Positron Cannon, and ask the Assassin in the 2045 Future Prison.'

'Yes, that was the plan.'

'The Assassin was a veteran member of the Regrets Mutual Aid Association, after all, maybe even a core member.'

'Getting more intelligence from him might give the police more leads, enough to take down this criminal enterprise once and for all!'

Finishing the last of his black coffee, Jiang Ran walked out onto the street.

'Better safe than sorry.'

Jiang Ran muttered to himself as he watched the busy crowd moving through the intersection.

'I wonder...'

'...if the film company that bought his script for an astronomical price has any connection to the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.'

'If it does...'

'...then I've almost certainly been targeted.'

'There was no doubt about it.'

Since the Regrets Mutual Aid Association could target Zhou Xiong because of the phone, Lilith, and the gold coins...

...then they would surely target him for the phone, Lilith, and the script.

The only difference between him and Zhou Xiong was that his involvement was merely theoretical—all talk on paper—with no physical objects. But in every other respect, his script contained every single element that had involved Zhou Xiong.

'Sigh... If I had known, I never would have written that script for the film club.'

But there are no do-overs in life.

Since things had already come to this, Jiang Ran had no intention of cowering in fear or regretting the past.

What's done is done. He had to keep moving forward, to keep looking ahead.

He took out his phone and checked the time.

'It's still too early to go back to the university.'

After thinking for a few seconds, he walked to the curb and pulled open a taxi door.

"Driver, take me to the East Sea University First Affiliated Hospital."

Since Old Tian's daughter, Tian Xiaoli, had miraculously woken up...

...he wanted to see for himself what this "return from the dead" looked like.

'I wonder if it's the same as Xiaoxue's 'return from the dead'...'

Jiang Ran rested his chin in his hand, thinking of his childhood sweetheart who could drink a thousand cups and not get drunk.

Speaking of which.

He still hadn't heard back from Xu Yan about the investigation he'd asked her to conduct in the United States.

But he figured it should be soon.

'After all, Xu Yan's mysterious boyfriend has never been one to disappoint. I'll just wait a bit longer.'

"Xiaoxue..."

Jiang Ran gazed at the scenery rushing past the window.

'What secrets, what answers, are you hiding?'