The Church

"While you were telling me that little story about the great scientist, I felt the rules of gravity open up to me."

Li Wei began washing the dye out of Feng Zi's hair, speaking as casually as if it were nothing.

Feng Zi reclined in the chair, her hair soaking in a basin of water. Her deep blue eyes stared unblinkingly at Li Wei as he focused on washing her hair.

"Do you know how long it took me to truly interact with the rules of gravity after I was given a Key?"

Li Wei shrugged, holding the showerhead.

"One or two lessons?"

"I started learning natural sciences at six, settled on physics as my field of study at eight, officially joined the Universal Gravitation Division at twelve, received a Key at fifteen, and didn't qualify to truly interact with the rules of gravity until the third month after my seventeenth birthday!"

She looked agitated and wronged, as if she had suffered a tremendous blow to something she had always been proud of.

"Counting from when I was six, it took me eleven years to reach the level you're at now!"

Li Wei clicked his tongue.

"Then you're not very talented."

"I'm a genius! That's what everyone says! They've called me that for as long as I can remember! You're the one with the problem!"

Feng Zi was angry and flustered, but she had always kept a good hold on her emotions. Soon, reason led her to consider more.

"Right! You're the one with the problem, 626!"

She suddenly met Li Wei's gaze with utmost seriousness.

"No ordinary person could interact with the rules of natural science this quickly. It doesn't fit the system! Even a biological person couldn't do it. Tian'en Company kept you under control and isolated you from society with a false identity for so long. There must be something wrong!"

"Before I was placed under house arrest, I investigated your background. But even with the access I had at the time, I couldn't find out who in the organization was in charge of planning this experiment. The current head of the Sun Branch is just an executor!"

Li Wei didn't think much of it.

He knew his own identity well enough. Since the game company had designed this identity for players, it was no surprise that it came with all sorts of bizarre background details.

"Maybe I wasn't made by humans. Maybe I just sprang out of a rock."

He said it offhandedly, then picked up a towel and supported the back of Feng Zi's head, helping her sit up so he could dry her wet hair.

Feng Zi ignored his nonsense and thought of something else.

She turned to Li Wei, her expression grave, solemn, and serious, and warned him.

"Promise me, 626. In the future, never, ever let anyone know that you're a biological person and that you've mastered the power of natural science!"

"Being given a Key is one thing, but truly using it to become part of a rule is another! That's an absolute taboo in the scientific community!"

Li Wei turned her head back around.

"I understand. But now you need to use the hair dryer and dry your hair yourself."

"Why can't you dry it for me?"

"I have more to do. We need to change your hairstyle and hair color, and our faces too. And your leg is too distinctive. If it comes down to it, I've been thinking I might have to go register alone."

Feng Zi pressed her lips together. She suddenly fell silent, quietly picking up the hair dryer and sitting on the swivel chair in front of the mirror to dry her hair.

Li Wei was searching the back room of the barbershop for some of the shopkeeper's hidden supplies. Before coming, he'd heard that the shop secretly took on shady jobs for people who wanted to change their appearance. He didn't notice that something had changed in Feng Zi's mood.

"I'm going to register with you. We're going into that White Tower together," she said suddenly.

Li Wei emerged from an inconspicuous box in the corner with a stack of skin masks, assorted prosthetics, and all sorts of makeup tools. He smiled as if he'd expected this.

"What about your leg?" he asked, carrying a box of loot out with him.

"Don't worry. I have a way to make sure I won't be a burden to us." Feng Zi touched the lining of her close-fitting clothes and spoke in a low voice.

The next day at noon.

No. 18, Labor District 2.

Li Wei looked up at the dilapidated church. From the outside, there was no sign of the solemnity or holiness of faith.

It was one of the few brick buildings among the surrounding wooden shacks, but it was only two stories tall. Its outer paint had long since cracked and peeled away. If not for the enormous Starlight Cross standing on its roof, Li Wei would have wondered at first whether he'd come to the wrong place.

Today was a day off for some of the laborers, one of the few days of rest they got each month. As a result, the community was livelier during the day than usual.

Besides, the 2nd District was one of the labor districts closest to the Radiance District. There was still some commerce here, and the laborers who lived in the area looked a little healthier than those on the outskirts.

People came and went outside the Twilight Church. Beyond their religious duties, every Twilight Church pastor was also a free doctor. The bishop of the Sun Branch District was especially known for his compassion toward laborers and for supporting their legal rights. He was a prominent advocate for the lower classes.

From what Li Wei had learned, the bishop was no hypocrite putting on a show.

He was indeed an ascetic. He enjoyed great prestige not only among the laborers of the Afterglow District, but even among the rich in the Radiance District. At one point, people had even nominated him for a seat on the Council.

But he insisted on keeping the Church's main presence in the Afterglow District, and lived an extremely simple life.

Some wealthy factory owners and councilors who worshiped Twilight couldn't bear to see the church in such poor condition. They pooled their money to build the bishop a luxurious new church, but the current bishop took it upon himself to use the funds to help the laborers' orphans and repair a cemetery, giving elderly people who couldn't afford burials a place to rest after death.

The factory owners and councilors could do nothing about it, and were unwilling to lower themselves by praying in a shabby church in the Afterglow District. So they raised funds again and built a gleaming new church of their own in the Radiance District.

The bishop saved face for them and sent some pastors to serve at that church, but he himself stayed in the rundown church in the Afterglow District, treating the poor, taking in orphans, and arranging funerals for the elderly. He enjoyed a lofty reputation among the laborers.

So every year, when he organized the Choir for the Festival of Radiance, the laborers eagerly brought their children, hoping they might be chosen. Even without any benefits, they considered it a way to support and repay the bishop and the Twilight Church.

Li Wei and Feng Zi looked toward the long registration line and exchanged glances. They both understood: even getting through this first step and being selected wouldn't be easy.