Comrades

Time trickled by, and Chen Fan continued refining the plan in his mind.

Beside him, Gao Yuan still sat on the cold concrete floor with his head tightly clutched in both hands, his gaze vacant.

His bloodshot, unfocused eyes stared at the slowly shifting shadow of the window on the concrete floor.

The church's deception of its believers had deeply shaken the worldview of this God Chosen, whose faith had once been so pure.

"Ah."

Chen Fan sighed softly. Considering the intelligence Gao Yuan had provided earlier, he decided to comfort the pitiful God Chosen. "The church merely concealed a few truths. You don't need to be so upset."

"The church's clergy are people too. And people have selfish desires. That's perfectly normal."

"You know about those statues of the Goddess, right?"

"To put it bluntly, those statues are merely tools the church uses to monitor and control its believers."

Gao Yuan's eyes shifted slightly. "They... aren't they afraid the Goddess will punish them?"

Chen Fan's expression turned a little strange.

The Goddess?

Whether a Goddess even existed in this world was still unknown!

Of course, he definitely could not say that directly to Gao Yuan. Otherwise, he would probably witness a second God Chosen's faith collapsing.

Ahem. The first one was himself.

"Think about it."

Chen Fan began spouting nonsense against his conscience. "The Goddess is far away in the God Kingdom, so naturally she cannot concern herself with trivial worldly affairs."

"Then... then why would the church do this?"

Gao Yuan asked blankly.

"Naturally, to strengthen its own ruling position."

From theology to enlightenment about human nature, from religion to the Renaissance, Chen Fan racked his brains and mashed together every idea he knew about religious faith and the glory of humanity, pouring all of it into Gao Yuan before him.

The key was that one dared to speak, and the other dared to listen.

As for Gao Yuan...

Because the fragrance in the library had caused considerable damage to his brain, he could no longer quite keep up with Chen Fan's train of thought. He could only stand there blankly and passively receive Chen Fan's torrent of knowledge.

"That is the fundamental concept of putting people first." Chen Fan cleared his throat and concluded. "Do you understand?"

"...I think I understand a little."

Gao Yuan looked at Chen Fan, who was lifting a cup to drink water. He nodded, then shook his head, his thick brows twisting tightly together.

"You're right. We really should overthrow the church's rule."

"Pfft!"

"Cough, cough, cough!!!"

Chen Fan sprayed out the water he had not yet swallowed and began coughing violently.

Heaven was his witness—he had never instilled that kind of knowledge in Gao Yuan!

While Chen Fan coughed, Gao Yuan seemed to think of something. He nodded with a solemn expression. "The church deceives those above and below, heedlessly takes lives in the Lord's name, and we, as the God Chosen, should set things right and lead the church in the proper direction!"

Chen Fan had gone numb.

He had only wanted to brainwash Gao Yuan a little, so that he would not be unable to accept the truth about the false god like the original owner of this body.

Yet it had turned into this.

What the hell was this supposed to be?

In another world, with survival as my only goal, I had somehow become the leader of a rebellion?

Seeing the sudden resolve in Gao Yuan's eyes, Chen Fan hesitated for a moment before ultimately abandoning the thought of explaining.

Though Gao Yuan's thinking had gone a little off course, at least... it could help him temporarily escape the crisis of his crumbling faith.

Besides, Chen Fan really did need a capable assistant to carry out some of his plans—and Gao Yuan, as a fellow God Chosen, was naturally the best possible choice.

Thus.

Meeting Gao Yuan's resolute gaze, Chen Fan silently nodded, an incomparably complicated smile appearing on his face.

"Now, we are comrades."

East Main Church.

The work of the clergy was not easy.

Especially for priests, whose status was neither high nor low.

They had to complete every task assigned by the bishops, handle all manner of trivial affairs reported by deacons, and even address the various demands of the God Chosen.

It was arguably the most thankless clerical position.

Isa, who had only recently been promoted to priest, wore a loose black robe as she cautiously followed a group of similarly black-robed priests through an arched metal door and into the spacious Church Main Hall.

Looking at the Holographic Goddess statue in sacred robes within the main hall, she followed the other priests in completing the daily prayer.

By the Archbishop's order, that morning she was to lead several deacons to the East District of Varrela to complete the final publicity work.

In the afternoon, she was to follow the other priests to the Land of Divine Descent and complete the preliminary setup for the Divine Descent Ceremony.

Before that, she needed to go to the East Main Church Side Hall and report to the Archbishop on the progress of the Divine Descent Ceremony announcement work.

She walked with restrained steps, keeping as close to the sides of the church's internal corridors as possible.

Like the other priests and deacons, in order to avoid trouble, the moment she saw a God Chosen clad in a white-and-gold robe, she followed the other priests in taking a detour.

Gradually, there were fewer and fewer priests and deacons around her, and she successfully arrived at her destination—the East Main Church Side Hall.

Looking at the side hall's half-closed doors, Isa took a deep breath. After fully preparing herself mentally, she stepped forward and extended her Mechanical Prosthetic from beneath her loose black robe, ready to push open the doors.

Suddenly.

A familiar, stiff synthetic voice came from inside. "Last night, prohibited books were discovered in the library."

It was the Archbishop's voice!

Isa hurriedly withdrew her hand.

Prohibited books?

Isa clicked her tongue inwardly, and a thought swiftly crossed her mind: the priests responsible for managing the library were probably in trouble.

Come to think of it, did she know any of those priests?

Isa's thoughts began to wander uncontrollably.

"The prohibited books have already been dealt with."

The Archbishop's distinctive voice continued. "But there is another issue."

"One of the prohibited books, titled 'Simple Mechanical Principles,' was viewed by a God Chosen named Chen Fan."

The Archbishop paused. "More precisely, the God Chosen named Chen Fan personally took the book down from the shelf and examined it in detail."

Chen Fan!

Upon hearing that familiar name, an image of a figure dressed in a short white-and-gold robe immediately surfaced in Isa's mind—the God Chosen mainly wore two types of clothing. One was a relatively formal white-and-gold long robe, similar in style to the robes worn by the clergy. The other was a more casual everyday outfit, also primarily white and gold, in the form of a short robe.

Then she recalled how that God Chosen had helped her out of difficult situations twice in succession.

Though it was somewhat cliché, Isa, who had served as clergy in the church for so long, still remembered this unusual God Chosen because of it.

Ever since she had joined the church as clergy, she had never encountered such an easygoing God Chosen!