The Wailing Wall and Sinners

Watching the two figures, one tall and one short, one black and one white, gradually disappear into the setting sun, three large question marks appeared on Chen Fan's forehead.

For some reason, he always felt that the Black Robe Priest named Isa was a bit slow-witted.

Was it just his imagination?

Someone who could become a Priest shouldn't be that slow, right?

Chen Fan shook his head, pushing the confusion in his heart to the back of his mind.

He took a deep breath and stepped towards the low-rise residential building.

As he went upstairs, he quickly glanced at the open windows.

Under the dim incandescent light, believers were kneeling devoutly before the God Statue, praying – at least, that's how it seemed to Chen Fan.

After only a few steps, Chen Fan arrived at his own door.

The door was tightly shut, with a faint, weak yellow light seeping through the crack.

He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the door of Xu Huai's house next door.

Like his own, the door was tightly shut, and there wasn't even any light.

He took a deep breath, and just as he raised his hand to knock on his door, the door opened.

Behind the door, his mother, whose eyes were a little red and swollen, looked at him with her usual expression: "Xiao Fan, you're back?"

After returning home, Chen Fan followed his mother through the standard procedure of praying to the Goddess again.

After spending a day at the Main Church, Chen Fan was already extremely familiar with this process.

After praying, it was dinner time.

At the dinner table, his mother chatted with him casually, while also asking him some questions about the Third Divine Decree.

It seemed like everything was as usual.

Chen Fan didn't know his mother's state of mind at this moment, but...

Facing the Church, and concealing his identity issue twice in a row, this actually showed his mother's attitude!

Although there was a slight reluctance in his heart, rationality told Chen Fan that maintaining this state was only beneficial to him!

Not only that, he should even use this subtle relationship to gain a greater advantage!

He composed himself and said with his usual expression: "Mom, there's something I want to ask you."

His mother's hand movements paused slightly, and she cast a confused look at her child.

"It's about Varrela City, outside the city..."

Before Chen Fan could finish, his mother's face changed drastically: "Wait!"

His mother turned her head with a pale face and glanced at the Goddess Statue not far away. After seeing that it didn't move, her demeanor recovered slightly.

Her expression changed several times, and finally, as if she had made a decision, she got up and walked towards Chen Fan's room.

"Xiao Fan, this is not the place to talk."

"Come with me."

His mother reached out and closed the door to the room, completely blocking the God Statue in the living room: "If I'm not mistaken, you wanted to ask about the situation outside Varrela City just now, right?"

Seeing Chen Fan nod, his mother sighed softly.

She hesitated for a moment: "I don't know what you encountered in your room in the past few days, but I still believe... you are still my child."

Chen Fan's heart trembled.

Alright, there's no need to doubt now.

One was right, his mother had indeed noticed his abnormality!

She didn't give Chen Fan a chance to speak and continued on her own:

"Xiao Fan, this is a topic strictly forbidden by the Church."

"Remember, absolutely do not discuss this kind of thing in front of the God Statue!"

A trace of fear appeared in his mother's somewhat cloudy eyes: "In this building, someone was once sent to the Church's Execution Platform by the Church because of this matter."

She composed herself and continued:

"As for outside Varrela City..."

"That is the area where Sinners live."

Chen Fan was a little surprised: "Sinners?"

"They are not protected by the Goddess and are eternally isolated outside Varrela City, suffering the torment and erosion of Turbid Qi for generations."

His mother sighed: "Of course, this is also a rumor I've heard."

"As for the real situation... I'm afraid no one knows."

"Can't we go out and take a look?"

"Go out?" His mother shook her head. "With the Wailing Wall blocking the way, no one can go out, and no one can come in."

"Wailing Wall?"

"That was a miracle the Goddess bestowed in the first year of the Varrela Calendar. It surrounded the entire Varrela City and completely blocked the Turbid Qi from the outside."

"..."

"One, can a wall really block nuclear radiation?"

After his mother left the room, Chen Fan, feeling somewhat confused, sought confirmation from One.

[It would be quite difficult.]

One quickly provided the answer.

[Unless this wall completely enveloped the entire Varrela City.]

As the words fell, a brilliant blue holographic image automatically appeared before Chen Fan's eyes.

In the image, a vast city was slowly covered by a massive hemispherical dome.

From a distance, it looked like a small mound lying on flat ground.

Looking at the simulated scene before him, Chen Fan's mouth twitched. "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

He had personally seen a sun hanging in the sky during the day. Could that sun be fake?

Don't be ridiculous!

"But then again,"

"Is this nuclear radiation really that difficult to deal with?"

Chen Fan, who had lived in a peaceful era in his previous life, only knew about nuclear weapons through "hearsay."

[Nuclear radiation is mainly divided into three types of rays: alpha, beta, and gamma.]

[Among them, alpha rays are helium nuclei, and their penetrating power is very weak, basically negligible.]

[Beta rays are electron streams with relatively low penetrating power. The skin can be burned after exposure, which matches the description of that disaster.]

[As for gamma rays...]

[That stuff has extremely strong penetrating power. For low-level civilizations, it can only be blocked by natural materials with the highest possible density, usually substances like lead.]

"What about for high-level civilizations?"

Chen Fan asked curiously.

[With the help of spatial shields or dimensional shields, gamma radiation at the level of gamma-ray bursts can be resisted, let alone the slight radiation caused by nuclear war.]

[But this is not something you should be considering right now.]

"Alright." Chen Fan, who had been subtly shown up, shrugged indifferently. "You continue."

[In addition, there is a crucial piece of information.]

[This unit has carefully analyzed the information in the database and discovered a phenomenon.]

[For low-level civilizations, nuclear radiation is not the greatest hazard of large-scale nuclear war.]

"Hmm?"

This time, Chen Fan was truly startled. "What's the reason for that?"

[Under normal circumstances, the nuclear weapons used in large-scale nuclear war are hydrogen bombs.]

[Compared to atomic bombs, the radiation effects caused by hydrogen bombs are not significant.]

[Their subsequent effects will only last for a few years or even less.]

Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully.

He finally understood what One was implying.

"You mean... this Wailing Wall is just a gimmick?"

"It can't block the nuclear radiation from the outside at all. Its purpose is just to prevent the believers within Varrela City from leaving this city?"

"It's like..."

Chen Fan's brows furrowed slightly, and a flash of inspiration struck him. "Keeping the believers penned up in the city!"

[That is highly likely.]