Church Anomaly

The next day.

Ever since concluding that Varrela City might be a gigantic pigpen, Chen Fan had found it difficult to sleep.

Especially after considering that the owner of this "pigpen" was likely an alien civilization possessing more advanced technology, Chen Fan felt even more tormented.

Why did people raise pigs?

To satisfy their appetites.

Then why would an alien civilization raise humans?

Human experimentation? Cheap labor? Or perhaps... to satisfy their appetites as well?

But none of that had anything to do with religion!

Surely they didn't think the meat of devout believers tasted better?

That would be fucking absurd.

Chen Fan lay on the bed, dark circles beneath his eyes as he sank into thought.

He shook his head and adjusted his train of thought. If the owner of the "pigpen" was the church, what did they want?

To consolidate their rule?

Then why did the church so frequently select God Chosen, and where did those God Chosen ultimately go?

He couldn't see it. He couldn't see anything at all.

Chen Fan only felt that his whole life had been like walking on thin ice, unable to glimpse even the shadow of the far shore.

"Knock, knock, knock."

A burst of knocking interrupted Chen Fan's increasingly scattered thoughts.

Then his mother's voice came from outside the door.

"Xiao Fan?"

"Someone is looking for you."

Then his mother lowered her voice slightly. "God Chosen, please wait a moment..."

Before she could finish, a familiar booming voice rang out from outside again.

"Wait?"

"No, no, I have something urgent!"

"I'll just go in and find him myself!"

Gao Yuan? Why was he here?

Chen Fan frowned instinctively.

After what had happened yesterday, even if they were not sworn enemies, they should at least have become strangers.

Before Chen Fan could figure out why, the tightly shut door was shoved open.

"Fuck!"

"You're Gao Yuan?!"

Seeing the tall man before him, his lips pale, the corners of his eyes darkened, and looking utterly drained, Chen Fan sprang off the bed in fright. "What the hell did you do last night?"

Gao Yuan did not answer Chen Fan's question.

He carefully shut the door, then dropped onto the cold concrete floor with a heavy gasp.

"Chen Fan."

Gao Yuan's lips trembled violently. "I thought about it for a long time."

"Maybe you were right..."

"Hm?"

Chen Fan immediately sat up straight.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

After the original owner of this body, had another God Chosen discovered something unusual?

Well, damn. The ones waking up were all the most devout believers. Was this some kind of backstabbing game against the Goddess?

"Chen Fan." Gao Yuan suddenly raised his head. His bloodshot eyes held a trace of pleading. "We went to the church library yesterday, right?"

"Yes, that happened."

Chen Fan could not help frowning. "Why are you asking?"

Gao Yuan fell silent.

After a long while.

He spoke again, his voice several degrees hoarser. "Last night, I went to the Main Church library again."

"The Main Church isn't open to the public at night."

"Although God Chosen aren't restricted, the Archbishop and bishops usually have God Chosen leave the Main Church around dusk, so..."

Gao Yuan swallowed, intense terror surfacing in his eyes. "So..."

Chen Fan's pupils constricted as a few guesses formed in his mind.

Gao Yuan had probably discovered something in the church last night. That was why he looked like this today.

I think you're right.

Yi, who had remained silent until now, joined in as well. Tsk, tsk. The church's security work doesn't seem very good.

"Don't rush. Take it slow."

He picked up a glass of water from beside him and handed it to Gao Yuan, who was still sitting on the floor. "What did you see in the Main Church?"

Gao Yuan did not reach out for the water.

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, twisted veins bulging along his thick arms.

"You remember those priests guarding the library, right?"

"They forgot that I'd been to the library during the day!"

"What?"

Chen Fan frowned deeply and casually set the glass aside. "What do you mean, forgot?"

"Those priests simply don't remember us going to the library."

Gao Yuan's face was deathly pale. "I specifically confirmed it. The priest leading them was the very one who searched me that afternoon. How could he possibly forget me?"

Their memories had been erased?

Yi's voice sounded in Chen Fan's mind.

Memory erasure? Is that possible?

There are many ways to achieve such an effect.

But precisely erasing a specific memory... that would be quite difficult.

"That's not all."

Gao Yuan's voice continued. "When they saw me, a God Chosen, they were shocked. They were even startled."

"That was understandable. After all, no God Chosen would go to the Main Church library in the middle of the night."

"Using my status as a God Chosen, I successfully entered the library."

"I wanted to search again." Gao Yuan covered his bloodshot eyes with one hand. "I don't believe a library that large could have no history books from before Varrela Year One. That's impossible!"

"I don't believe the church would do something like this!"

Hearing this, Chen Fan could not help shaking his head.

There it was.

Another person whom the church had fooled stupid.

Fully trusting Yi's scan results, he calmly asked, "So, did you find them?"

Gao Yuan shook his head weakly.

"Not only were there no history books from before Varrela Year One, even the Varrela Chronicle had disappeared."

"...What did you say?!"

Chen Fan shot up from the bed. "The Varrela Chronicle disappeared?!!"

Gao Yuan nodded firmly. "Not just the Varrela Chronicle. Some of the books we read that afternoon had disappeared too."

They had all disappeared?!

A scene immediately surfaced in Chen Fan's mind: following Yi's guidance, he had taken the book titled Simple Mechanical Principles off the shelf. After carefully reading it, he had brought it back to the desk.

Fuck!

This was bad!

He had never imagined the church would pull something like this!

Chen Fan's expression changed abruptly, and his earlier calmness vanished.

"Did you see a tattered book with no cover?"

"It was called Simple Mechanical Principles. I put it on the table, right beside the Varrela Chronicle!"

Gao Yuan furrowed his brow and thought carefully.

"I..."

"I didn't see that book."

"There were no books on the table anyway, and I couldn't find books like the Varrela Chronicle on the shelves either."

Chen Fan's face darkened, and he could not help swearing. "Fuck."

"Wh-what is it..."

Gao Yuan looked at Chen Fan in confusion. "Was there something wrong with that book?"

"Something wrong?"

Chen Fan tugged at the corner of his mouth. "There was a huge problem."

"In the entire library, only that book mentioned information from before Varrela Year One."