A huge Divine Emblem hung from the church ceiling.
Six Southeast Asian men stood at the entrance, holding long whips, their faces stern.
The crowd filed inside one after another.
Before long, it was Chen Shouyi and Luo Jingwen's turn.
The soldiers carefully checked their emblems, and they passed through without trouble.
At the front of the church hall stood a towering Divine Statue with its arms spread wide and wings growing from its back. Its fierce, imposing face radiated an air of holiness and oppression.
Chen Shouyi glanced at it, then quickly lowered his head.
They had only just entered when a small incident occurred outside. Two cultists whose Divine Emblems Chen Shouyi had swiped were stopped by the soldiers.
The middle-aged couple looked panicked and terrified, desperately trying to explain themselves.
One soldier impatiently pulled out his whip and lashed them several times across the head and body. The two rolled about, begging for mercy and wailing as bloody welts covered them. Then the soldiers dragged them away, apparently to interrogate them.
To ordinary people, losing an emblem or forgetting to bring one was a minor matter, at worst a breach of regulations.
But in this society controlled by a cult, it was no small matter.
These emblems, or Divine Emblems, represented the gods.
Losing or forgetting to bring a Divine Emblem could be called a lack of devotion at best. At worst, it could be called blasphemy, or a sign that one held the gods in contempt. That was most definitely a political issue.
The fate awaiting them was likely to be quite grim.
Everyone watched. Some were so frightened they scarcely dared breathe; some were indifferent, and others looked disgusted. Not one person tried to stop the soldiers or plead for the couple.
The little incident