Watchdog

"Thank you for your help, Director Anrossi." Karen expressed his gratitude to the director of the teleportation hall, who had used his authority to arrange an ad-hoc teleportation for him; otherwise, he would have had to wait an extra six hours. The teleportation array hall attached to the Church Affairs Building functioned like an airport for the religious community. Regular "flights" operated between key traffic hubs; for instance, there were three scheduled "flights" a day between the York City Region and the Dinge Region, with additional ones added as circumstances required. Naturally, regions with lower passenger volume had fewer "flights"; departures once a week or even once a month were not uncommon. Reservations were sometimes required, and if the number of applicants fell short, a departure might be canceled. Furthermore, the teleportation hall's services were not restricted to Church personnel. They were open to the public; members of other faiths could purchase tickets and travel after filling out an information form. Generally speaking, internal personnel from the Church accounted for only a tenth of normal operational traffic, or even less. Consequently, although setting up and maintaining permanent teleportation arrays was exorbitantly expensive, for an orthodox church, the actual revenue far exceeded the costs. It was not merely a matter of technology and expense, but involved deeper dynamics: the greater a church's influence, the wider its sphere of power, and the closer its ties to other faiths, the better equipped it was to build a comprehensive "transportation network" of its own and reap substantial profits. A church like the Church of Pamires, which specialized in spatial forging techniques, lacked the standing to muscle its way in. If it dared to force such a project forward, the orthodox churches would declare its spatial array technology immature and prone to accidents, or allege the use of prohibited heretical methods, denying it approval. Between the orthodox churches and subordinate churches lay a clear demarcation of vested interests. The former maintained a flexible set of standards to safeguard their advantages, packaged under an elegant veneer. As for the latter, if they wished to rise and claim a share of the pie, the very first prerequisite was possessing enough strength to protect themselves before an orthodox church. "No, no, no trouble at all. You are fully entitled to this level of privilege, Minister." As Karen stepped into the halo of the teleportation array, the blonde girl he had seen earlier while walking in came to mind—the one with a lollipop in her mouth. It was not that he was attracted to her looks, but rather that her gaze as she had surveyed the array hall carried the curiosity and novelty of a tourist. She wore no divine robes of Order, nor had she used the internal church passage, yet she had regarded this Order-styled hall as an equal, perhaps even with the condescending air of a sightseer. Karen didn't think he was overthinking or being overly sensitive. He knew full well the status and influence of the Church of Order in the religious world, so the girl's identity might be somewhat suspicious. However, travelers concealing their identities were common enough, and with pressing business at hand, he couldn't stop to investigate. Heh. Karen shook his head, finding it slightly amusing. *Sigh, I'm really starting to act more and more like a secret police chief.* The teleportation array activated. After a brief jolt, Karen walked out of the array's halo. Back in Wien it was still afternoon, but here in the Dinge Region, it was early morning. Passing through the checkpoint, Karen presented his credentials. The somewhat drowsy clerk glanced at his rank, snapped to attention at once, and swiftly processed his clearance procedures. "Sir, do you need transportation arranged?" Karen glanced toward a corner of the teleportation hall, nodded, and said, "A carriage." The radiant sunlight of Saint Antis poured down with morning impatience, lavishing the city's warmth upon him. The carriage sped along, its built-in isolation array allowing it to bypass the morning traffic congestion. Karen had once marveled at whether anyone riding such carriages had something wrong with their head. Well, now he had fallen ill himself. Upon reaching his destination, Karen didn't need to pay. When the teleportation hall clerk had summoned the carriage for him, the fare had already been billed to his account; an invoice would eventually be mailed to headquarters in York City. "Sir, would you like me to wait for you here?" the driver asked respectfully. "Yes," Karen nodded. Since this trip was on an expense account, there was no need to ask how the waiting fee would be calculated. This had nothing to do with being stingy. The purpose of working hard to earn coupons was so that one could purchase desired goods and services with greater ease, not to waste them deliberately where it wasn't needed. Karen walked toward the detached three-story villa ahead. If he hadn't known beforehand, he truly wouldn't have believed this was the headquarters of the Church of Order's Containment Space division. Because the Dinge Region was home to the Temple of Order, the vast majority of the Church's divisional headquarters were located here. The front gate stood open, unattended. Upon walking in, the first thing visible in the courtyard was a doghouse. Other dog owners might feel an affinity for dogs they met outside, but Karen was the opposite. Because he had a large golden retriever at home, he always felt a certain wariness toward other dogs—especially a dog in an extraordinary place like this. A corgi trotted out of the doghouse. Though its tail hadn't been docked, it still looked fluffy and utterly adorable. Yet Karen's eyes narrowed slightly, because the corgi's four paws weren't touching the grass at all. The corgi turned to look at Karen and spoke: "This is headquarters. Auxiliary business isn't handled here." "This is where I'm headed." "Oh, fine. Hand over your official letter, credentials, and relevant documents. Let me inspect them." "All right." "Why do you look so familiar?" Karen bent down, took out his credentials and the official letter Bern had issued for him, and placed them in front of the corgi. The corgi rested its paw on top of them, then chuckled. "So you're Karen. For a while there, the front page of the newspapers used to wrap my excrement had your face all over them." "Are you still unable to use the toilet yourself?" "Hm? What?" "My apologies. I wasn't aware you lacked the basic ability to care for yourself." "Heh, kid, you've got some backbone. I actually admire that a little. Having character is fine and dandy, but the Dinge Region isn't your York City Region after all. The rules here are completely different." "Thank you for the reminder." "Go on in. Just open the door. Someone will receive you inside." "All right, thank you." Karen gathered his documents, walked up to the front door, turned the handle, and stepped inside. The moment his feet crossed the entryway, the scene before him began to stretch. What had appeared to be a simple three-story villa now felt as cavernous as a vast stadium. "Hello." A young girl in divine robes walked toward Karen. She was quite young, with a smattering of freckles on her face that looked rather cute. "Hello. Here are my credentials and official letter." Karen handed the documents to her. The girl inspected and verified them, then smiled. "Alright. Minister Karen, you arrived so quickly! Our night-shift colleague only received the transmission just before clocking off." "And the progress...?" "No problem at all. He finalized your application paperwork before heading off. But I need to confirm with you once more: you require the power of the Laks copper coin for... experimental probing?" "Yes." The freckled girl stuck out her tongue. Clearly, someone from the Whip of Order coming here to conduct experiments was rather baffling. "Because an upcoming mission requires the use of the Laks copper coin, I need to communicate in advance with the artifact spirit of the coin. As for the mission itself, I apologize, but..." "I understand. That's as much as you need to explain. That's why applying under the premise of experimental probing completes the visitation procedure the fastest, since it doesn't involve taking a divine artifact out of the containment space. Please follow me." Karen followed the girl deeper inside. Doors lined the corridor, each imbued with the dense aura of an array. "By the way, my name is Ruilier. I forgot to introduce myself just now." "Pleased to meet you." "Likewise. You're even more handsome than you look in the newspapers." "Thank you." "Did the one at the gate give you a hard time?" "The one at the gate... the corgi?" "According to my director, he was his director's director's director... In short, he's of very senior seniority. Every time we pass the gate on our way to or from work, we have to salute him. But he has a terrible temper and loves mocking people. He loves making fun of the freckles on my face, claiming they're the handiwork of a woodpecker." "They're a lovely accent." "Thank you." "He must be quite old?" "Yes, very old. Supposedly, back in the day, he was a very promising genius in our department. Quite a few of the regulations and methods I'm studying right now were originally formulated by him." "So why did he turn into a dog?" "Allow me to give a very cliché answer: because of a woman." "Because of love?" "No. Many years ago, a woman played him for a fool. Not only was he humiliated in his dignity, but he also suffered a catastrophic setback in his work. From then on, he gave up all opportunities to advance his cultivation. He even violated regulations by swallowing a divine artifact fragment, leaving him unable to ever turn back into a human." "Was it to extend his lifespan?" "No. Supposedly, the woman who destroyed him liked turning into a cat." "A cat?" "He wanted to turn into a dog so he could bite her to death." Karen couldn't help picturing a certain figure in his mind. Since Pu'er had been able to clash with Temple Elder Xiti back in the day, it proved her ties to the Church of Order were deeply unique. Yet he had never heard Pu'er mention this particular tale—"destroying" a genius researcher of the containment space division into a corgi? "Here we are, Minister Karen. This is the room. Please head inside and wait; the Laks copper coin's artifact spirit will be teleported over shortly. Also, please rest assured: since you are here on official business, we will not monitor your conversation. If any accident occurs, simply strike the wall by any means, and we will handle it immediately." "All right, thank you." "Would you prefer coffee or black tea? Your appointed time is half an hour; I can bring it to you when you come out." "Coffee." "Understood, no problem." Karen opened the door and stepped inside. Once again, space stretched. He now stood beneath an altar, surrounded by primitive rock walls, with only that single doorway remaining behind him, looking somewhat out of place. Before long, energy fluctuated above the altar, and a vortex appeared. Strictly speaking, the Containment Space headquarters itself was an extension of the containment space, which meant the restrictions on divine artifacts entering or leaving here were minimal; in essence, they had not left the place of containment. "How annoying! Who's waking me up so early in the morning? I just learned how to hibernate!" Karen could already hear Luoya's voice. Still, did artifact spirits inside the containment space need sleep and a daily routine? Or was hibernation a method for an artifact spirit to grow? Clad in a nightgown, Luoya rubbed her eyes as she walked out. Then she saw Karen standing below. She froze for a moment, rubbed her eyes again, and confirmed it really was him! "Eek!" Luoya shrieked, her form instantly turning into a streak of golden light that dashed back inside. Karen: "Uh..." Just when Karen thought the meeting would end like this, Luoya emerged once more—only this time, she was dressed in a lolita dress. "Brother Karen!" Luoya tried to leap down from the altar, but a barrier manifested around its perimeter. She slammed into it; the barrier didn't budge, but she went flying backward. The artifact spirit... had already materialized a physical form? Though not flesh and blood, the sound of that impact showed she had materialized to a substantial degree. It seemed Luoya hadn't just been "doing time" inside the containment space; she had been learning and growing continuously. Karen soared up and landed on the altar. The barrier preventing Luoya from leaving didn't impede his entry. "Ouch..." Having tumbled to the floor, Luoya saw Karen step up and threw herself at him immediately. Karen opened his arms and gave the little girl a gentle hug. Yet there was no warmth to her body at all; instead, she felt chilly, exuding a dense presence of a soul entity. In truth, Karen and Luoya hadn't met many times. Much of Luoya's fondness for him stemmed from the fact that he had "saved" her. Originally, she had been on the verge of dissipating, but Karen had used the Chains of Order to reassemble her. From her perspective, Karen felt something akin to a father. After the embrace, Luoya stood up and looked at Karen with excitement. "Whoa, Brother Karen, you got promoted so fast!" She knew full well that stepping in here to see her was not something an ordinary priest could do. "It's alright," Karen replied with a smile. "Then at this rate, if nothing goes wrong, Brother Karen isn't far from redeeming me, right?" *If nothing goes wrong, your Brother Karen's promotions in this lifetime have hit their ceiling right here...* "I'll do my best," Karen said. "Of course! My Brother Karen is the best!" "Luoya, there's something I need to tell you. It's the reason I came to see you today, and it involves one of your avatars." Karen then explained the situation to her in detail. After hearing him out, Luoya clenched her small fists. "You have to get that copper coin, Brother Karen! With it, and paired with your mysterious mask, not only can you summon me whenever you want, but I could even guide you into our containment space to hang out! Did you know, because I talk about you in here all the time, lots of the older sister artifact spirits want to meet you!" "Luoya, let's stick to business first. When the operation begins, we'll apply to have you descend to York City. Are you confident you can take control of that coin?" "Of course! I can sense clearly that out of all the copper coins, I'm the only artifact spirit that ever took form. As long as I can descend there, I'll be able to sense it immediately and then bring it under control." "To what extent can you control it?" "According to what you said, Brother Karen, they're using the coin's power to maintain that angel's vitality. If that angel possesses consciousness, I can manipulate the power of the Source of Sin to plunge it into confusion, turning it into a puppet under my control. I couldn't do that before, but right now, it's definitely no problem at all." "When the time comes, wait for my signal. In the chaos, I need you to conceal that copper coin. Can you do that?" "No problem! Even if you hadn't mentioned it, Brother Karen, I would've done it anyway. That coin has to be yours." "There are a few specific details I'm worried we won't have time to discuss when we officially summon you, so I'll explain them now." "Alright, go ahead, Brother Karen. I'm listening carefully." "First of all..." Once all the necessary precautions were covered, Karen let out a long breath. Then he reached out to pat Luoya's head and asked, "Are you happy in there?" If Richard were here right now, he would probably praise him: *Impressive. Knowing not to just lie back and light a cigarette after finishing, but instead holding her and offering tender comfort.* "At first I felt lonely, but now it's alright. Sometimes I even join in on their prison break plans. Even though they fail every single time, I've managed to find some fun in it." "Heh." "What about you, Brother Karen? Are you doing well out there?" "I'm doing well, don't worry. Our time is almost up. Once the coin is in my hands, I'll summon you out again and introduce you to some other friends." "Okay, Brother Karen! One more hug!" Luoya wrapped her arms around Karen's neck and kissed him on the cheek. When the kiss ended, Karen suddenly felt a profound relief wash over his body and mind, as though all his stress—including the psychological gloom and burden left from suppressing the angel earlier—had vanished without a trace. His whole being felt airy, immensely comfortable and incomparably relaxed, like taking an afternoon nap on riverside grass in the warmth of spring. *Burp...* Luoya let out a little burp, clamped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment, and then put on a concerned expression. "Brother Karen, you have so much stress!" With that, she hugged Karen again and patted his back, offering him comfort. Karen paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you, Luoya." That kiss just now had drawn out all the distracting thoughts and fatigue from his soul. She was the Source of Sin, but precisely because she was so pure, all negative emotions gravitated toward her. "Brother Karen, don't carry so much stress. If work isn't going well, you don't have to push yourself so hard. I think one day I'll break out with them successfully, and then I can come find you." "Heh, I'm fine." "Brother Karen, time's up. I'm heading back now. See you in a couple of days!" "Mm, see you in a couple of days." Glancing back with every three steps, Luoya walked into the vortex, which promptly closed behind her. Karen stood up, climbed down from the altar, and instinctively rolled his shoulders as he opened the door and walked out. "Your coffee." Ruilier handed him a cup. "Thank you." Karen took the cup and took a sip. "As sweet and aromatic as your smile." Ruilier's face flushed crimson on the spot. Karen realized he had been too forward. It was truly because Luoya's "purification" had left him feeling so lighthearted and relaxed; he hadn't intended to be flirtatious, but rather to voice genuine appreciation. It was like waking on an early morning, pushing open the window, taking a deep breath, and feeling an urge to praise the beautiful day. One could only say he had bottled up far too much stress previously; having it released all at once made him feel so buoyant he could barely walk straight. "I really like the taste of this coffee. Is there a recipe?" "The grinder used for these beans is a divine artifact, so..." "Ah, no wonder. I truly envy your department's benefits." "I could mail some to you in the future. Oh, right—according to the records, you have a deep connection with the Laks copper coins, Minister Karen. The acquisition of both coins was tied to you." "Yes. It's precisely because of that connection that I thought of borrowing her power for a special assignment. The official paperwork will be filed shortly, so please keep an eye out for it." "Rest assured, I will." Ruilier led Karen to the exit. As she opened the door for him, she moistened her lips and asked, "Minister Karen, do you have any free time today?" "Pardon?" As if summoning her courage, Ruilier asked, "I mean... may I treat you to lunch?" A man must always pay some price for his "flirtatiousness." "I'm terribly sorry, but the mission is urgent, and I need to return immediately to handle it. Could you give me your card?" "Yes, of course." Ruilier took a business card from her pocket. Across the front was a string of designations Karen didn't understand, but the final title was... Team Leader. A cadre in a departmental headquarters, even just a team leader, was bound to be anything but simple. Well, even if she were simple, her parents certainly wouldn't be. "When I have time, I'll get in touch to express my thanks for your help today." Karen solemnly slipped the card into his pocket. Barring any surprises, she would be receiving thoughtful holiday gifts prepared by Richard from now on. "Alright then. Until next time." Karen stepped out and returned to the courtyard. The corgi was lying outside its doghouse, staring at Karen with its big eyes. As Karen drew near, it couldn't help furrowing its brows and asking: "If I hadn't been guarding this gate for so many years, I'd honestly start suspecting whether this place is the Containment Space headquarters or a brothel. Otherwise, how can you explain coming out looking so relaxed and delighted, like you just experienced the ultimate release?" "Even after turning into a dog, you still can't hide your greasy human nature." "Humph. Brat, remember this: you can get away with bickering with me, but in the Dinge Region, you'd better keep your tail tucked between your legs." Karen smiled and continued walking out. The corgi kept watching him and let out an emotional sigh: "Woof, woof." *(Truth be told, this brat is indeed quite good-looking. Far more handsome than I was back in the day.)* Karen stopped in his tracks. The corgi froze for an instant. *Can he understand me?* Karen resumed walking outward. *Whew, sure enough, I was overthinking.* At that moment, Karen raised a hand and waved behind him. "Thank you. You're quite cute yourself nowadays."