"My boss, Liu Chengzhe, gave it to me; he’s a high-ranking member of the Spirit Sect," Song Canhui said with flickering eyes.
Due to the turbulent recent history, South Korea practices religious freedom. On its narrow land of 100,000 square kilometers, various underground religions proliferate like hairs on a cow—like the Global Selection Spirit Sect, the suicide pact of the Rescue Sect, and the Baby Garden Sect whose leader claims to be a 3-year-old infant...
Weird and varied, they have become a part of South Korean society.
Business communities provide funding to religions; religions provide votes to politicians; politicians provide policies and protection to businesses and religions. All parties are entangled in mutual interests.
Jiang Wanyong’s search engine history on his phone included information about the Spirit Sect—a Japanese underground church that had risen abruptly in recent years, growing swiftly, and spreading to South Korea.
"Unlike other underground churches that mainly recruit ordinary people, many followers of the Spirit Sect are well-known entrepreneurs, scholars, and politicians from Japan and South Korea. These people billions or tens of billions of Korean Won to the church."
"Liu Chengzhe believed in the Spirit Sect and forced us, his subordinates, to follow. He mandated that we drink Talisman Water and carry papercut talismans on us every month," Song Canhui said.
Even in the Extraordinary World, the law of conservation of energy applies. Many Shikigami papercuts imply a substantial amount of Extraordinary Energy.
Li Cheng asked, "The reason Liu Chengzhe had you transport the body, the location, and the whereabouts of the original owner of the body."
"The original owner of the body?"
Song Canhui looked astonished; he genuinely seemed unaware that Jiang Shaoxi’s "body" was actually a human model. "I, I don’t know. At that time, Liu Chengzhe called me to the Chengzhe Group headquarters building, saying that this woman was a Goddess descended from heaven, and I needed to be extremely careful while transporting her."
Goddess? From the sound of it, it seemed Jiang Shaoxi might not actually be dead but imprisoned somewhere.
Seeing Li Cheng’s silence and thoughtful expression, Song Canhui realized something and pleaded, "I’ve told you everything I know, please don’t kill me."
Li Cheng slightly shifted aside, giving way, "but she might."
The door slowly opened, and Grey Rain entered with blood-stained hands and a sinister smile. Rather than daily writing elementary school assignments, she indeed preferred straightforward brutality.
Amidst screaming background noise, Li Cheng opened the map on his phone; the Chengzhe building was only a twenty-minute drive from their current location.
"Mr. Liu, I’ll entrust the matters of the Seoul Peace Forum to you. It might cost a bit this time, but I assure you it’s all worth it."
"You are too kind, Hierarch. We all serve the Goddess."
In the luxurious reception room on the upper floors of the Chengzhe Building, three men—one elderly, one middle-aged, and one young—were drinking.
The elder was the Sect Hierarch of the Spirit Sect, the middle-aged man was the owner of this building and the Chengzhe Consortium, Liu Chengzhe, and the young man was a promising Seoul Prosecutor.
"Up to now, confirmed to give speeches via video at the peace talks are a former UK Prime Minister, a former Japanese Prime Minister,"
Liu Chengzhe said proudly, "and a former President of the United States."
The Spirit Sect Hierarch, originally an ordinary Japanese farmer, exclaimed in surprise, "You managed to invite a former President of the United States?"
"Of course." Liu Chengzhe smiled, "As long as there’s money, nothing is impossible."
Underground religions in South Korea that reached a certain scale liked to take the upper route. By paying inspection fees and holding paid conferences among other methods, they would infiltrate the political circles of Europe and America, pull in authoritative figures to endorse them, expand their influence, and ultimately attract more lower-level believers to accumulate wealth.
For instance, the famous underground religion Unified Church d tens of millions of US Dollars to activities like the World Peace Women’s Federation and the National Architecture Museum World Congress, pulling in former US Presidents like Bush senior, Ford, and even Gorbachev to endorse them.
"By the way, Prosecutor Kim,"
Liu Chengzhe thought of something and turned to the young prosecutor, "The day after tomorrow is the peace forum; nothing can go wrong. Please delay the investigation of the shipwreck incident."
The young prosecutor’s expression stilled as he nodded. The accident Liu Chengzhe spoke of was the shocking SEWOL ferry disaster from a few months ago.
A 6,800-ton ferry sank about 3 kilometers southwest of Guanmei Island in Jindo County, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. Only 172 people on board were rescued, 296 died, 142 were injured, and another 8 were missing. Many victims were high school students on a graduation trip.
Throughout the accident, the South Korean officials displayed shocking incompetence, inaction, and cruelty.
The captain, while the ship was tilting, broadcasted for all passengers to remain in place waiting for rescue, then snuck away himself. The Korean coast guard dallied around and refused to enter the vessel to rescue people, letting the passengers inside fend for themselves. The coast guard even ate ramen while preventing civilian boats from approaching under the excuse of "do not obstruct rescue," effectively watching those trapped inside sink into the sea. Updates are released by novᴇlfire.net
Prosecutor Kim was ordered to investigate this accident, but the more he delved into it, the more anomalies arose—such as the sudden replacement of the ship’s captain before sailing, the mysterious death of Yu Bingyan, president of the Cheonghaejin Marine Company which owned the ship, two months after the disaster, and a large amount of animal remains found inside the vessel. Even the then-president Park Geun-hye mysteriously disappeared for seven hours on the day of the accident without trace.
’Evidence is still insufficient...’
Prosecutor Kim clenched his fists, his fingertips digging into his flesh. He wanted to take these people down in one fell swoop, but involving the Blue House, he needed solid evidence to turn the tables.