"Your paths lead to the same destination, intertwined with each other... No, perhaps, your path is longer and more difficult than hers. After all, you are so lovable and favored by Him."
"I know from him and the priest about your past. Maybe you think you are stained with the blood of sin, or you are a born evil person, but... I know you are a good kid, always have been."
"That is why you are watched by Him and favored by Him... and because of this, you will experience even longer suffering, but... please do not worry, She will stay by your side, and Her eyes will be on you and will never leave."
"Go on with strength and determination, push aside the thorns, and move forward towards the glory that has already shone. On the way, you will gain love and trust, memories and companions, and she will follow you and walk towards the [end] together."
Mammy spoke softly, but there was something difficult to express in her words.
"...Mammy, do you know anything?"
Although the main meaning of the words was to express to himself that [Aponia will be his partner and future companion], the [Him] mentioned in Nanny's words still made Xiwang realize something.
"Haha... not really. I... just saw our past selves in you..."
The nanny was stunned for a moment, then smiled, loosened her hand, patted Xiwang's chest gently, and spoke softly.
"Go back quickly, don't make those people wait too long. Hunger is always unbearable, and only food can make people feel at ease."
"...I understand. Thank you, Mammy."
Xiwang nodded and walked away slowly. When passing the front yard, he happened to run into Abonya who was playing with the children.
"Are you leaving now, Father?"
Gently nudged the children around her, Aponiya walked up to Xiwang, looked at the basket of food in his hand, and spoke softly.
"Well, and...thank you for your gifts and help."
"If you need help in the future, please come back. It is our responsibility to provide people with a place of peace of mind. Only by helping each other can we last long."
Abonnia raised her eyes slightly and looked at Xiwang's face. She noticed that his gaze stayed on her. There was a bit of trouble in her eyes that she didn't know how to express. She shifted her gaze slightly and looked at the nanny who was standing at the door and watching all this with a smile. She understood something and showed an equally troubled expression.
"Ah... I'm sorry, Mammy told you those things again. I'm sorry to bother you, Father, but... no matter how much I explained to Mammy, she didn't believe me..."
"It's okay, she just cares about us, and...Father Yan Zheng is the same..."
Xi Wang shook his head and comforted softly.
"...Alas." x2
Finally, the two of them sighed together… It was a very helpless emotion. Obviously, neither party involved had such intention, but the existence of the parents' generation arbitrarily poured their emotions and regrets onto the two of them, constantly trying to bring them together… and they didn't do anything excessive in the process, they just brought it up occasionally, which didn't make people feel annoyed, but only helpless.
"But she was not wrong."
After a moment of silence, Xi Wang shook his head again and said.
"……Eh?"
“We are surely companions on the road, under the watchful eye and care of… [Him].”
Xi Wang placed his hand on his chest and clenched his cross pendant slightly.
“Indeed… that’s the case.”
Aponia was stunned for a moment, then understood something, raised her hand and placed it lightly on her chest.
The two men smiled at each other, bowed slightly to each other as a sign of courtesy, and then parted ways.
…………
………………
clatter--
Walking slowly on the way back to the church, Xiwang's mood was as good as usual... Although the church has taken in too many people recently, resulting in a shortage of food and supplies, and the gangs have provided less supplies, which has caused the church, which has gathered many refugees, to have an increasingly difficult time in recent days. But with the help of Aponiya and Mammy's "sanatorium", as well as the efforts of everyone, everyone is still living a good life.
Although life was difficult, at least we had a place to sleep at night and food to eat when we were hungry... The smiles on everyone's faces were real.
"...Hmm? Is it going to rain?"
Xiwang looked up at the sky and found that rain clouds were gathering. At the same time, he keenly caught the smell of moisture, and probably it would rain when night fell... He seemed to have a special sense for water, and could accurately sense the coming of rain almost every time, causing many people to tease him that this priest was a "human weather forecaster."
However, since it's going to rain tonight, we have to go back quickly... I remember there are still a few places where the awnings haven't been put up yet, so we have to go back to help... huh? !
Xi Wang was startled for a moment, then quickly quickened his pace... He saw the overturned awning in the front yard of the church, food scattered all over the ground, bright red blood and light white porridge mixed together and flowing on the ground, and several people... collapsed on the ground, not moving.
He quickly walked into the front yard, put down the food, and came to the fallen person, but the moment he touched their skin, a cold touch mixed with the warmth of the porridge came from his hands.
They...are already dead.
Bang!
There was a sound of things being thrown and smashed in the church, followed by the sound of glass breaking.
He saw that it was the remains of wooden furniture mixed with broken glass that flew out of the church windows and fell to the ground, breaking into even greater pieces.
He heard the screams and wails of frightened people, but the screams were quickly suppressed by the threatening gunshots and roars, leaving only the incessant sounds of destruction and smashing.
Xi Wang hurriedly ran into the church, but could only see those people, those people who suddenly broke in with weapons and malicious intent, pushing down the already broken statue of [Him] and smashing it to pieces.
What came into view next was the bruised and battered Father Yan Zheng who was forced to sit on a chair, and the people huddled in the corner.
Fear and malice mixed together, filling the entire church.
boom!
A dull gunshot rang out, and a bloody hole appeared on Xiwang's leg. A huge pain followed, forcing him to kneel down on one knee.
"Look, look, who's back?"
The leader swung the gun in his hand, with a sarcastic and playful smile on his face, and spoke in a frivolous voice.
"Isn't this your junior, Father?"
He leaned close to Father Yan Zheng's ear and chuckled.
"If I remember correctly, he wanted to renovate this place, right? And you didn't stop him~ Hmm... As expected, you support him in your heart, right? Haha... To be honest, your behavior is quite funny~ Trying to use a junior to hide your thoughts... It's a bit childish."
"You used to be quite smart. You just lived in this dilapidated church, being a casual [negotiation table] and being a dispensable [witness]. But now... you want to change? No, no, no... you can't hide your thoughts anymore, right? You want to... take a piece of the pie from us, right?"
As he spoke, he shot Xi Wang again. This time the shot hit the arm, causing Xi Wang, who had just made a move, to stop. At the same time, he signaled and asked one of his men to step forward and step on Xi Wang's body and head to prevent him from moving any further.
Then, he picked up Father Yan Zheng's head and pulled it in front of him.
"Look at that poor kid, the poor junior you used as a shield. How miserable he is now. As long as I give the order, my men will shoot him in the head. He will die instantly. Because you didn't stop him, because of your little thoughts that you didn't explain to him, he will lose his life because of this."
Then, he seemed to remember something, and then he smiled even more viciously and said.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot that someone has already died because of your little thoughts, and their bodies are still outside."
"We just...want to help people in need...that's all..."
Father Yan Zheng's breath was very weak, but his tone was extremely firm.
“…Ha…hahahahahaha!!!”
The man was stunned for a moment, and then laughed out loud.
"Did you hear that? This guy... this guy is actually talking about helping people in need... it's hilarious!"
The man seemed to think that such words were really ridiculous and asked his companion. Then another burst of laughter rang out, and anyone could hear the sarcasm contained in it.
"Father...are you confused because of your age? Or...wasn't the lesson I taught you enough?"
He knocked Father Yan Zheng on the head with the gun in his hand.
"Don't forget that the church became so dilapidated... but you were partly responsible for it~"
"If you hadn't been so obsessed with changing this place and giving those people a "stable life"... we wouldn't have come to trouble you, right?"
"You've clearly already suffered a loss once, and we've clearly been kind enough to keep you here, but why don't you learn your lesson?"
Boom!
He hit Father Yan Zheng's head hard with the butt of his gun.
"Your kindheartedness is not applicable here, and it cannot be used. Everyone who comes here... is a resource. They are all our resources!"
"That's right! I'm talking about you!"
He picked up the gun again and pointed it at the people huddled in the corner. Looking at their frightened expressions, he smiled with satisfaction.
No one would oppose him, no one would resist him, because those who dared to resist were already dead, lying in the yard.
"As long as you come here, as long as you enter here, you will never be able to leave! If you want to survive here, you can only become like us, so that you can live in this chaotic and twisted place!"
"So... come! Join us!"
"Of course, this is the only choice you have."
He chuckled.
“Otherwise, your end will be the same as those guys lying on the ground outside.”
"........."
No one responded, but everyone knew that he was right. When they arrived, there was only one path they could choose.
"Ah, of course, we are still merciful and will not really force you. After all... you are all our precious [resources]."
At this time, he smiled and put on a hypocritical mask, with sarcasm and ridicule.
"It doesn't matter if you want to stay here~ But I have to tell you, here... there will be no supplies in the future. There will be no food or anything like that. Don't even think about clothes. If you are willing to accept that kind of life like savages, I don't mind, hahahahaha..."
"Okay, then, I'll wait outside. Come out when you've thought it through. Of course, I'll only wait for one minute. I won't wait for you later."
After saying that, he called out to his men, who destroyed everything that could be destroyed around them, and then walked out of the church in a bustling crowd.
Before leaving, he even hit Father Yan Zheng's legs again. After hearing the sound of broken bones, he nodded with satisfaction, walked to the door and began to wait, and even began to count down seriously.
And his voice turned into tangible pressure, oppressing everyone present.
"........."
The people huddled in the corner didn't dare to move or speak. Their eyes kept moving back and forth between the wounded Xi Wang and Father Yan Zheng, with conflicted expressions on their faces.
"...Please leave now."
Father Yan Zheng spoke to them softly.
"I'm sorry... for giving you... a false hope. I'm sorry..."
"Let's go with them. Even though... life will be difficult, at least... we can survive."
"May [He] bless you to survive here..."
"Pfft-"
He sneered, but said nothing, just continued counting down.
Soon, after people looked at each other, someone stood up and left tremblingly.
With someone taking the lead, everyone quickly stood up together and ran and crawled out of the church... His countdown was almost over, and he could no longer stay in the church. It was obvious that he had no intention of letting these two priests go.
Although they feel very sorry for the two priests who have bestowed grace on them, but...but didn’t Father Yan Zheng say that they could leave, and they just wanted to survive, so there was nothing wrong with that, right?
Just to survive... We are not wrong - this is how they comforted themselves.
Until the last person left, no one looked back at the two priests. Perhaps it was because they felt guilty, or they were worried that their looking back would make him unhappy, or they were simply worried that their looking back would slow them down and prevent them from leaving before the countdown ended... But no matter what, no one looked back before the last person left.
This situation undoubtedly attracted his ridicule again.
"Look! Look! These are the people you have taken in! Such heartless and ungrateful people! They treat your charity and kindness as nothing! They don't even think of your kindness!"
"........."
There was another round of mocking laughter, but everyone lowered their heads and did not dare to refute.
"Alright, alright, take our important [resources] away, but don't let the boss wait anxiously... You, you, and you, stay with me."
He waved his hand and ordered his other men to take the people away first, and then he randomly selected three people and asked them to stay with him.
They need… “aftercare.”
"Okay, Father, now...it's our time."
After watching his men send the [resources] away, he led his men back to the church, closed the door, and spoke with a smile.
"Don't worry, I won't let you die easily. I'm not that kind. After all, I'm an [evil guy]~"
He waved his hand, signaling his men to make way, then walked forward with a gun, lifted up Xi Wang's head, and signaled to Father Yan Zheng.
"Come to think of it, you seem to like this junior quite a bit, why don't we start with him, um... let me see..."
He put the muzzle of the gun against the center of Xiwang's neck, thought for a moment, and then moved it to the side of the neck.
"No, no, if I shoot you straight through the neck, you'll die instantly. I can't let you have it too easy... How about knocking off half of it... Okay?"
