Empire of Shadows

“May God bless you, amen!”

The priest closed the Bible. Today was Sunday, and there were still quite a few people in the church. These people were all residents living in the vicinity.

Although some of the believers had some minor complaints about the priest wearing brown sunglasses while presiding over the Sunday service, there was no passage in the Bible that told people that wearing glasses was a blasphemy against God and was not allowed.

Moreover, priests who wore glasses for myopia were not unheard of among the entire clergy, and there were quite a few.

In the past, many clergy members had read the scriptures under the dim candlelight, which had caused many of them to have poor eyesight.

Could it be that it was okay for them to wear glasses for myopia, but it was not okay for this priest to just change the color of his lenses?

He picked up the Bible and was about to leave, but a couple came over. “Father…”

The priest stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at the young couple in front of him. “Can I help you with anything?”

The young couple said in a low voice, “I don’t know how to say it.”

The priest’s gaze lingered on the two of them for a moment. “Come with me. We’ll talk in the back.”The three of them came to a room behind the church. The priest had the two sit down. “Here, besides me, only God can hear your voice. Now tell me, what do you want to say?”

The husband glanced at his wife. “Actually, we found a bar in the town.”

“There are a few believers whom we thought were devout, and they were drinking in the bar,” the man said with a look of pity on his face.

The Prohibition, coupled with the religious opposition to drinking, also made him very repulsed by those who drank.

If it were just strangers, perhaps he wouldn’t have cared so much.

Every day in this world, there are people who are tempted by the devil and fall into hell. A few more wouldn’t make a difference.

But when he found out that the people who were going in and out of the bar were actually fellow church members who usually participated in activities together, he felt very uncomfortable.

The power of the devil was too strong. Even a devout church member could not resist and had fallen into the abyss.

The eyes behind the brown sunglasses squinted slightly. The colored glass concealed the dangerous look in his eyes.

“That’s a heartbreaking piece of news. I didn’t expect their will to be so weak. I will have a talk with them.”

“Thank you for telling me this, so that these lost souls will not fall deeper and deeper!”

He paused for a moment. “I hear your child can be baptized?”

“If you need it, please contact me.”

The father and the two of them nodded. He then asked, “So… is there anything else?”

The two indicated that there was nothing else, and the priest saw them out.

After he had returned to the room and closed the door, he frowned and cursed!

In the Holy Bell Party, a priest was often already a gang member of the cadre level.

Usually, they would appear in the image of a priest, but they managed their own area.

In other words, this Potato Town under his feet was his territory, and there was no invasion by any gangs here.

The Holy Bell Party was exclusive. They refused to have other gangs exist on their turf. In addition, the population of this town was actually not large. With the Holy Bell Party, it also could not attract other gangs, so they were the only gang.

And this also made the people of the town believe that all of this was a miracle!

Because they believed in God, God had blessed them and prevented them from being harassed by the gangs. This also made the faith of some of them more devout.

The daily task of the priest was to check the accounts of the bar and see if those smelly boys had been too excessive.

He knew that those people would deduct a portion from the business revenue, maybe a few dollars, a dozen dollars, or even thirty or fifty dollars.

As long as it was not too excessive, he would not say anything. The bar brought him and the gang a lot of profit, and it was not impossible for the people below to get a small share.

Just like in the account he gave to the gang every month, he would also deduct a little.

It was just that these bastards were getting bolder and bolder, so much so that even ordinary people knew about it.

The towns of the Federation were indeed a closed world. For those who had lived in a town since they were young, leaving the town to go to the city was as incredible and uneasy as going to another world!

So much so that there was a special mental illness in the Federation, which said that some people could not leave the town where they lived.

When they set foot on the road leaving the town and were about to leave the scope of the town, they would feel flustered, uncomfortable, and might even faint.

But this was not a reason for them to be so reckless!

He sat in his chair. It was still morning. The sunlight from the window behind him cast his shadow on the desk in front of him.

He opened the drawer. Inside was a carved ivory-handled revolver, some scattered bullets, a pack of cigarettes, and a silver lighter.

He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then slowly exhaled.

The column of smoke he exhaled had a more concrete shape in the sunlight and shot out for a long distance.

He leaned back in his chair, with his back to the sun, giving a strong contrast. He was the darkness in that ball of sunlight!

After taking two puffs of his cigarette, he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

The moment the number was connected, he began to curse. After cursing for a long while, he finally said, “I told you, it must be hidden. Why does a farmer from the countryside now know where our bar is?”

“Are you planning to tell everyone that we have fucking opened a bar in the town, and then have those fools call the police to arrest us?”

“Fuck!”

“Now, just for me, clean it up, change to another place, and then strictly abide by our regulations. You can only open for business after nightfall.”

“If I find out again that someone has discovered you are not following the rules,”

“I will apply for your purification.”

The young man on the other end of the line was so scared that his voice was trembling. “I see. I won’t dare to do it again.”

The purification ceremony of the Holy Bell Party was their honor killing ceremony. They would cut off a person’s tongue, gouge out their eyes, and deafen their ears.

Then, with a needle and a hemp rope, they would sew up the mouth and eyes, and also the ears.

Finally, they would be tied to a wooden cross, with firewood piled around him, and then it would be lit.

This was not a quick process. On the contrary, it would be very long. The problem with the flame was that it would constantly rise, and people would feel intense pain.

This pain would last for a long time, and with their violent breathing, the ignited air would also be inhaled into their bodies, burning their mucous membranes and lungs.

It would take at least a dozen minutes for a person to die completely. This was also one of the terrifying means used by the Holy Bell Party to warn its gang members.

They would tell the gang members that if they violated the rules of the gang, then they might be purified!

So when the priest said this, the guy on the other end of the line was so scared that his voice was trembling.

“Move immediately.”

He shook his head and put down the phone.

The sales of liquor in the town were very stable. Every day, there were a few hundred dollars, and sometimes a little more, for example, before and after the Holy Farmer Festival, or when some cash crop was harvested.

When people have money in their hands, they will promote consumption.

Overall, it was around 20,000 a month. Although compared to the bars in the big cities, for example, those in Golden Port City that could have an income of several thousand or tens of thousands a night, it was indeed a lot worse.

But this was just a town!

The Federation had the most towns, not cities.

Likalai State had about seven hundred towns. These towns were mainly distributed in the central and northern regions of Likalai State, because the south was almost all coastal areas.

Those places were dominated by the urban economy, not the rural economy dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry.

On the territory of the Holy Bell Party, there were more than four hundred towns. If each town could hand over 10,000 to them every month, then the profit they obtained from the town level would be more than four million every month.

In addition to the profits brought by the cities under their control, it was almost seven or eight million, or even more.

This sum of money was really not small.

For this era, but for Joshua, who wanted to obtain a higher social status and greater influence, it was still not enough. This was also why when he heard that there was a chance to infiltrate Golden Port City, he had agreed.

A market of 200 million!

He wanted it even in his dreams!

The priest had no other hobbies. No matter what the Holy Bell Party was “condensed” for, at least when they chose to use religion as an outer garment, they would more or less restrain some of the members’… thoughts.

Of course, the dark-skinned people were not within their gospel.

In the areas controlled by the Holy Bell Party, besides the farms, there were basically no dark-skinned people.

The schools in many towns even prohibit the enrollment of dark-skinned children, let alone the enterprises or small shops here, which also refuse to hire dark-skinned people.

The only place in this area where they could find a job was the farm.

Doing the most tiring and dirtiest work, just like their ancestors, while doing farm work, while singing.

The only few differences between now and the past were that their ancestors were provided with food and lodging. Father dies and son inherits, an iron rice bowl that is guaranteed in both drought and flood.

When they reached a suitable age for marriage, the farmer would also get them some girls so that they could start a family and continue to have offspring.

And now, they could get some salary, but they had to solve their own food problems, and even housing problems. Being hungry because they couldn’t find a job had become the norm.

Some dark-skinned people were even confused about their ancestors’ mental state. Under some extreme thoughts, they would even think that the abolition of slavery was a conspiracy of the federal people against them!

There were some dark-skinned farmers outside Potato Town. It had always been peaceful, as long as they worked honestly.

The priest read some of the letters from the believers, answered some of their questions, and then had the nun mail these letters.

Some were in the town. The post office in the town would immediately arrange for someone to deliver them.

Some were on the farms outside the town, which would have to be a little later.

After finishing all the work for the day, the priest changed his clothes and left the church.

He was a priest, but also a gang member, and even more so, an ordinary man. He also needed to have his own life.

He returned to his house next to the church. The house looked very ordinary, very simple. Inside were many religious ritual utensils, which highlighted a style of hardship and simplicity.

But there was also a basement here. The truly luxurious things, the things to enjoy, were all in the basement.

He walked around the house for a while, did what he should do, locked the door, and then from behind the stairs leading to the second floor, he came to the basement.

He leaned back on the extremely comfortable large soft leather sofa, picked up the remaining half of a cigar on the table, lit it and took a puff, and poured himself a glass of whiskey. His whole person relaxed at this moment.

Vaguely, he seemed to hear the gospel of God, and also the heavy, soul-penetrating sound of the bell.

“Oh, God…”

He exclaimed. The smoke in his mouth diffused as he spoke. A beautiful life.

He looked at today’s newspaper for a while, then read two passages from the scriptures, and then cleaned his body and came to the room further inside.

The girl curled up by the side of the bed looked at the priest numbly, and then slowly lay down on the bed.

The priest was very satisfied. He walked to the side of the bed and sat down, stroking the girl’s hair lovingly. “These are actually not as difficult to accept as you imagined, are they?”

The girl was a tourist who had come to the town from another place. She was discovered by the priest, then kidnapped and imprisoned in the basement, becoming the object of his venting.

He had to maintain his image, but at the same time, in the doctrine, masturbation was a sin, unclean, and a blasphemy against the faith.

No matter what kind of sexual behavior it was, it should happen within the relationship of marriage, not through one’s own means.

If he solved it himself, then he would have to be whipped. He didn’t like to be whipped, and he didn’t want the people of the town to know that he was actually not as holy as people imagined. He needed a way to vent.

He would sometimes kidnap passing girls and lock them up, because he was also a person of high moral standing locally. Even if someone called the police, the police would basically not search his residence, and even if they did, they might not be able to find anything.

Who could suspect a priest who had no problems besides liking to wear sunglasses?

But he was a man after all. He needed to solve this matter, without violating the doctrine, without blaspheming the gods.

So he presided over his own wedding with this girl, so that everything he did was reasonable, legal, and in line with the doctrine.

The girl would still resist at first, but after being beaten severely a few times and starved a few times, she compromised.

People who have never experienced hunger will never know how painful hunger is. If it were an ordinary person, they would not be able to stand that feeling at all.

The priest treated the girl like a treasure. The girl also closed her eyes. She knew that if she endured it, it would pass.

Everything had to be based on being alive.

When she was locked in, she had found that there were actually traces of other women having lived here for a long time, but for some reason, she had not seen that person.

She had an uneasy guess, “the predecessor,” had been replaced by her.

Disappeared.

So that’s why she was so cooperative. Everything was just to live.

More than ten minutes later, when the priest’s mind was full of the gospel of God, the doorbell suddenly rang.

He turned his head and glanced, cursed a couple of times in his heart, and then no longer restrained his yearning for the sacred. He tightly grasped the reins in his hand and pulled hard.

The pain of the carriage brought him more enjoyment. He let out a heavy sigh of relief, and then simply cleaned himself and put on his clothes.

Looking at the priest’s departing back, the girl quickly began to clean herself. She was very worried. If she got pregnant, would something happen?

She didn’t know, so she had to ensure that she could live.

The doorbell of the main door was connected to the basement. If he was in the basement, he could also hear if someone came to visit. This was a good way to prevent the basement from being exposed.

He quickly closed the two doors to ensure that the basement would not be discovered, and then, while shouting “I’m coming…” he walked towards the main door.

He did not observe who was outside the door. He knew almost everyone in this town. If there was any danger, he would have dealt with it long ago.

The door opened. Outside were a few young men. Looking at their well-dressed appearance, they didn’t seem to be locals.

At this time, the priest’s mind quickly began to turn. Were they here to find that girl?

A trace of unease rose in his heart. He looked at these people with a puzzled and wary look. “You are…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a look of disgust and dissatisfaction appeared on his face. The guy in front of him had stuck the booger he had picked out on the door.

Fuck!

He was no longer interested in saying anything to these few people. “It’s too late. If there’s anything, we’ll talk about it tomorrow during the day.”

As long as he closed the door, he would call the people from the gang over. But it was clear that the people outside did not intend to let him do that.

“There’s something we want to talk to you about,” Hiram pushed open the door and walked inside.

He seemed to have smelled something and looked back at the priest with some confusion.

“Are you alone?”

The priest was stunned for a moment. He thought he had guessed right and quickly said, “I’m alone!”

“Everyone knows that I have dedicated myself to the Lord…”

Hiram glanced at Alan. Alan and two others began to explore the house. The priest, seeing them rummaging through his house, immediately became very unhappy.

“Who on earth are you?”

“If you don’t say it, I’ll call the sheriff!”

He walked to the side of the phone and picked it up. Just as his hand touched the dial, he slowly put the receiver down and then raised his hands.

His expression became uncertain. In the end, he decided to tell the truth. “I am a member of the Holy Bell Party. Do you know what you are doing?”

Alan came out from upstairs. He shook his head. “There is no one else in the room.”

Hiram, with the hand holding the gun, pointed at the sofa opposite him and pressed down, signaling for the priest to sit down.

The priest had no choice but to walk to the opposite of Hiram and sit down. “If you leave now, I promise you can safely return to where you came from!”

Hiram asked, “Where is the other person hiding?”

“Don’t lie to me, or you’ll regret it!”

(End of a Chapter)