tokyo creator

Chapter 21 The Universe in the Popsicle
Hui Yuanchu got rid of his embarrassment, calmed down and said: "Have you found out the situation of the crusaders who were caught yesterday?"

Orukoi nodded: "The community priest is an informant of the Crusaders, and he has been passing on the whereabouts of Yumiko Tamaki to the Crusaders all along. For example, the first hijacking operation of the Crusaders the night before yesterday was based on the information given by him. Developed based on the information.”

Hui Yuanchu said thoughtfully: "But their action happened to be bumped into and stopped by me, and those guys who took action were also killed by you..."

"Yes. Then they decided to change to a more direct method - go directly to the church to arrest people..." Orokui chuckled, "But I still knew about this plan first. So, you stopped them again .”

"But... isn't Tamaki going to church just on the spur of the moment?"

"This proves that the residence of the Crusaders was not far from the church. So as soon as the community priest found Yuzhi, he immediately notified the soldiers of the Crusaders."

"So this priest also told me the secret..." Hui Yuanchu understood, but he was a little puzzled and said, "But—isn't the priest a clergy member of the church? The church still has connections with the Crusaders?"

"This is normal. Although both the Crusaders and the 'Orthodox Church' of the Holy Spirit Church claim to have broken away from each other, at the lower level, their members are often inextricably linked, and many times they are even carried out by the same person. A switch of identities. It’s just that there’s never been any official acknowledgment of that connection.”

"Then what did Tamaki Yumiko's mother do in this matter?"

"It's not even a subordinate, it's just a brainwashed and tricked idiot."

For some reason, Hui Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.At least, the bloody plot of "being betrayed by her biological mother" doesn't have to happen to Yumiko Tamaki.Then he asked a key question: "So why did the Crusaders want to find Yumiko Tamaki..."

"About this..." Zhe Lukui paused for a moment, and when Hui Yuanchu's attention was completely focused, he smiled and said, "——I don't know yet."

Hui Yuanchu curled his lips: "...really don't know or are you just pretending not to know?"

"This kind of doubt is really rude. I really haven't opened the mouths of those people. As we all know, the Crusaders are all die-hard extremists." Zhe Lukui's attitude is still elegant, and she can handle it with ease. "If you don't believe me, I can How about arranging for you to meet them and interrogate them personally?"

"...Okay, I'll believe you first." Hui Yuanchu gave up questioning and shrugged.

Regardless of whether Oroku Aoi really knows something, she is at least well prepared and doesn't seem to be showing any flaws.

But just when he thought the topic was over, Orokui took the initiative and said: "...Although there is no direct evidence from them. But I have a guess. Do you want to listen?"

"of course yes."

"Well, actually, this is not a guess. Because those guys have never concealed their actions. They have been kidnapping victims from all over the world for several months... for human experiments."

"..." Hui Yuan was a little stunned.But then, he went through the existing information in his mind, and vaguely noticed something, "What are you testing?"

"I said before that I asked you to understand the church's teachings." Zhe Lukui did not answer directly.She asked suddenly, with a hint of pressure in her voice, "...You didn't take my words seriously, did you?"

"...Ah, I understand, I understand!" Hui Yuanchu replied hurriedly, and at the same time, he felt sincere gratitude to Mrs. Du in his heart.

However, he also roughly guessed Zhelukui's intentions—since this is a group of religious extremists, their principles of action presumably have something to do with the teachings.So he carefully recalled the teachings taught by Mrs. Yuzhi, and then roughly recounted them.

"...That's right. Because there are many denominations in the Church of the Holy Spirit, and the interpretations of the doctrines are slightly different. I thought I would correct some places for you." Zhe Lukui glanced at him, "But I didn't expect that, what did you find? The version I came here happens to be the version of the Crusade sect.”

——What Mrs. Tamaki preached to him was not the orthodox doctrine, but the Crusade version?Haibara was a little surprised, but after thinking about it carefully, he found it very logical: the source of Mrs. Tamaki's teachings should be the community priest, and the community priest was basically a member of the Crusaders... so what he heard was exactly what he heard from the Crusaders. version.

Just when Hui Yuan was turning these thoughts in his mind, Zhe Lukui had already asked, "Didn't you feel there was anything wrong with this teaching when you listened to it?"

Hui Yuanchu thought for a moment.He did have a question at that time, but the situation at that time did not allow him to continue thinking about it.

So at this moment, he raised the question: "Yes. What I'm wondering about is - which side is the human race?"

Hui Yuanchu was no stranger to the doctrine's content of dividing human beings into three levels, because Oroku Kui had said similar words to him when he introduced information about evil spirits.

Whether it is in the teachings or in Oroku Kui's statement, the structure of the world is the same: and in the three-layer structure, the core of human beings is the "true spirit."In the traditional concept, the "soul", which is the lowest form of existence of human beings, is only the middle layer.

However, this way of thinking will actually lead to a terrible conclusion in the end—since the true spirit is the core, then only the true spirit is the real human being.But human consciousness, human ego, and human soul are nothing.

Hui Yuan strongly resisted such a conclusion.

He couldn't help but think of Kawano Naoki.The poor guy lost his true spirit as his core, and the rest of his soul and body collapsed.

But before Hui Yuanchu killed Kawano, Kawano was indeed conscious and could recognize the friend "Hui Yuanchu" in front of him and asked him for help...

But in the definition of the Crusaders, Naoki Kawano has "left" because the true spirit is Naoki Kawano.Although the parts left behind can think, speak, and have the self-awareness that he is Kawano Naoki... they are just residue.

When Hui Yuan thought of this, he felt difficulty breathing for no reason.

——If the true spirit and the seal are separated, which party will continue to be regarded as a "person"?

The Crusaders' answer to this question is clear.Because of this, Mrs. Tamaki thinks that her husband has been "liberated" and "going to heaven"... because in her definition following the teachings of the Crusades, the true spirit is Mr. Tamaki.The rest... even if he has a familiar appearance, even if he asks her for help with a familiar voice, it is just a false cicada.

Hui Yuan couldn't accept it. ...But, what about Oroku Aoi?Oroku Aoi has not expressed her views on this issue before.

But judging from Lu Kui's current attitude, Hui Yuan had a vague feeling that at least the girl was not on that side.

Hearing Hui Yuanchu's question, Zhe Lukui laughed.

She straightened the arm holding the popsicle away from herself.The popsicle at the end was held by two fingers and hung down. It soon dripped water due to melting and fell to the floor.

After a while, part of the popsicle couldn't bear its own fragility and broke apart. It fell away from the stick and landed on the marble floor.

Zhe Lukui raised her chin, looking down at the broken ice on the ground, and said with contempt and pity: "Look, these are fragile humans.

——But no matter how contemptuous her eyes were, what she was looking at was the ice cubes on the ground, not the stick in her hand. This was the important part in her eyes.

Hui Yuan was convinced.

Sure enough, Zhe Lukui finally added lightly: "But no matter how fragile the popsicle is, no matter how dependent it is on this stick for its existence... it must not confuse the subject. In my eyes, human beings can only be ice cubes, not this stick. .

"But some guys think that humans are just this stick.

"——Ice cubes are just evil spirits. They are the 'seal' of real humans."

Hui Yuanchu let out a long breath.

He finally got the conclusion from Zhe Lukui: "In our view, evil spirits are human beings, but true spirits are not. But in the Crusaders' view, evil spirits are not human beings, but true spirits are."

"Yes, this is the essential difference. The Crusaders believe that in this world, there is not even a single person worthy of being called a 'person'." Zhelu Kui showed an ironic smile, and then quickly continued, "Then, in this world, Under the guidance of such radical ideas, you can probably imagine what these people will do, right?"

It is indeed easy to imagine... Hui Yuanchu sighed silently, and then said: "They want to separate their true soul?"

"In their words, it is to become a 'spiritual man', a 'real man'...and that is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal of the Crusaders is to save everyone."

Hui Yuanchu held his head and felt a little headache.

Since just now, he has never stopped receiving a huge amount of information.This information began to stir naturally in his mind.

While rubbing his forehead, he muttered to himself: "Save...how to save? What can they do? Every living human being today is one, even if you kill them, you can't. ——”

"...Messenger's Disaster." Hui Yuanchu suddenly stopped and spoke four words.

At the same time, what Mrs. Tamaki said before suddenly flashed in his mind - "Because we really think that is the second messenger. That light curtain is the light curtain of salvation."

Zhe Lukui nodded slightly and said: "I said it from the beginning. The Crusade organization was actually established after the Messenger Disaster."

"Regardless of what the cause of that disaster was... but simply speaking of fact: from that moment on, the most radical doctrines ceased to be theory and entered into reality.

"So, the radicals of the church were encouraged, thinking that the disaster was the messenger who recognized them and pointed out the way for them. They no longer need to be confused, just do it. So, the radicals simply split completely and formed the 'crusader'.

At this point, Hui Yuanchu had almost understood: "Are the human experiments they conducted also to separate the true spirit?
"Yes. I don't think their crazy actions in the past few months are aimless. So the only reasonable speculation is that the Crusaders did obtain some kind of separation between humans and seals during the Messenger Disaster... It can also be said that It is a method of artificially creating evil spirits. Or, conversely, it was the emergence of this method that led to the birth of the Crusaders. However, it seems that the Crusaders did not fully master this method, so they still need to conduct some experiments. .”

"Then they are looking for Tamaki, it can only be because..."

"Because Yumiko Tamaki is the experimental subject the Crusaders want."

Hui Yuan was thinking about it and felt that there was still one question that he didn't get the answer to: "...but why did you choose her?"

"Because she has a certain talent." Orokui's answer was ambiguous.

Hui Yuanchu felt that he was about to get the answer.

He closed his eyes and quickly searched for all the information in his mind, and finally an idea came to him at a certain moment: "——The evil spirit that appeared in the school that night."

"I thought it was here to attack Yuzhi, but it doesn't look right now." Hui Yuanchu said to himself, and finally frowned, looking at Zhe Lukui for answers, "...Could it be that evil spirit is Yuzhi Yumiko herself?”

But he quickly shook his head again, and said to himself: "Impossible, right? It should be an instant thing to become an evil spirit. And if the one in the teaching building is an evil spirit, what is the jade around us now?" ?”

"Don't take chances and speculate based on the worst-case scenario." Oriuru Aoi did not avoid his gaze at all, with a stern expression and a decisive answer, "That is - Yumiko Tamaki is turning into an evil spirit. The Crusaders separate the true spirits. The method is different from the Messenger Disaster. What happens to the separated people is a very slow process, so the phenomenon is also different."

Forced into a situation with no way out by Zhe Lukui's words, Hui Yuan initially opened his mouth, but in the end only three words came out: "...Is there any help?"

Zorukui still said without hesitation: "Yes. Defeat the Crusaders, take that method from their hands, and then study the method of reversal."

(End of this chapter)