Chapter 270

Chapter 257: Application

Northern Tivyán, Church District.

At noon, the sun illuminated the spires of the buildings in the Church District. In the work hall of the Historical Records Office, the clerics and nuns had just finished their morning tasks and were heading to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Vania, let’s go to the cafeteria together,” Sister Aurora greeted Vania as she passed by her workstation. Vania shook her head and replied,

“You go ahead; I still have a bit more to record here. I’ll come right after.”

Smiling at Aurora, Vania said, and Aurora nodded in response.

“I see. Then I’ll go first. Let’s eat some roasted meat.”

With that, Aurora left with the others, leaving Vania alone in the now empty hall.

Seeing this, Vania sat down at her workstation, closed her eyes, and concentrated on her current mental state. Afterward, she began silently praying to Aka, seeking divine grace to cleanse her of poison recognition.

After finishing her prayer, Vania slowly opened her eyes and carefully observed any changes before and after her prayer.

‘It seems there really was a change. I must have been infected by poison recognition from the secret transmission I read this morning…’ Looking at her hands, Vania thought seriously, then shifted her gaze to the large instrument beside her.

‘According to Miss Dorothy, this should be an issue with my instrument. It wasn’t fully protected, so the poison recognition leaked out… But it was inspected just the day before. Could it have been damaged during the inspection? After all, there were no issues before.’

Frowning, Vania thought, and decided to inform Dorothy about the situation first.

Then, Vania took out her sacred text, flipped through to her communication with Dorothy, and wrote down the results and speculations she had from the morning.

After a short wait, Dorothy’s handwriting appeared before Vania.

“There is indeed a possibility that the instrument was damaged during the inspection. However, if that’s the case, your instrument should be an exception. Can you confirm whether your colleagues’ instruments also show similar problems?”

‘I remember that Aurora seemed a bit strange yesterday when we had dinner. She suddenly pulled out a locket to reminisce about her mother. She usually wouldn’t do that; it’s somewhat odd.’

Reading Dorothy’s response, Vania recalled the strange behavior of Aurora the previous night. Vania continued writing in the sacred text,

“One of my colleagues might have a problem. I can’t confirm the rest yet.” Not long after, Dorothy’s response reappeared on the page.

“You can try to probe your other colleagues to see if they have similar issues. You could use topics related to the secret transmission to test them. Do you know what themes these secret transmissions cover and where they came from?”

“We are interpreting several secret transmissions from a series. Our research tasks are arranged by our department head. As for the origins of the secret transmissions, they are said to be collected from the hidden market.”

“All from the same series… If that’s the case, you could try to ask your colleagues about the content of these secret transmissions.”

‘Testing questions… About the series of secret transmissions… I could start with topics like mothers, the Holy Mother, or even meat…’

Considering Dorothy’s words, Vania thought and then wrote further,

“Alright, I will try to talk to them during lunch and after work.”

Then, Vania closed her sacred text, stood up, and headed to the cafeteria.

…

Time flew by quickly, and soon another day passed. When the sun set and night fell, ending her workday, Vania hurried back to her dormitory from the cafeteria. After closing the door, she sat down at her desk, opened her sacred text, and urgently wrote down her thoughts.

“Miss Dorothyia, you might be right. Today, I questioned three colleagues, and their responses seemed problematic. They’ve all been thinking about their mothers recently, and they seem to be more interested in meat. One of my colleagues even said he felt the statue of the Holy Mother looked more like his own mother. They may have all been infected with the same poison recognition as me.”

With a hint of worry, Vania finished writing on the paper. Shortly afterward, Dorothy’s response appeared again.

“This means the problem with the instruments isn’t just yours. Your colleagues’ instruments might also be damaged, and multiple people might have been infected with the poison recognition. The maintenance the day before might not have been an accident.”

Seeing Dorothy’s response, Vania became anxious. She immediately wrote back to Dorothy,

“This is serious, Miss Dorothyia. Thank you for the warning. I will report this situation to the department head immediately, asking them to repair the instruments and help others cleanse the poison recognition.”

Vania’s words sank into the pages. Soon, Dorothy’s handwriting reappeared, slightly messy as if written in haste.

“Don’t rush! The situation you encountered might not be accidental but deliberate. Reporting to the Church now would only alert them and make them more cautious. You might also expose yourself.

Dorothy’s words echoed in Vania’s mind as she read them. Realizing her initial thought had been hasty, Vania wrote back,

“I apologize, Miss Dorothyia. I was too hasty… It’s not the right time to report to the Church.”

Vania’s new message was quickly answered by Dorothy,

“For now, don’t take any rash actions. Wait patiently. If someone deliberately damaged the instruments to infect you with poison recognition, they must have a purpose. They might contact you in various ways to guide you toward something. So, act as if you’re already infected and wait. The mastermind behind this will eventually reveal themselves. If no one does, you can contact the Church later.”

‘Waiting… ‘ Reading Dorothy’s words, Vania nodded thoughtfully and wrote back,

“I understand.”

…

For the next two days, Vania followed Dorothy’s instructions and continued her life as usual, praying and working on the secret transmissions every day without any noticeable differences.

The only change was that Vania noticed the atmosphere around her workplace becoming increasingly peculiar. Her colleagues occasionally stared at the Holy Mother’s statue and mixed their mothers’ names into their prayers. When they gathered, their conversations revolved around the Holy Mother, gradually turning more bizarre.

In this subtly changing environment, Vania grew increasingly worried but maintained her composure in conversations, nodding along with others.

Following Dorothy’s advice, Vania waited quietly. On the third morning, her patience finally bore fruit.

Like every other day, Vania woke up early, attended the morning prayer at the church, had a quick breakfast at the cafeteria, and then went straight to her workplace.

Entering the Historical Records Office work hall as usual, Vania noticed the hall was bustling with activity. Her colleagues were gathered together, discussing something anxiously.

‘What’s going on?’

Confused, Vania approached them to listen closely.

…

“Where did they go? We haven’t finished studying them…”

“Yes, yes, they suddenly disappeared this morning.”

“Could someone have stolen them? This is really frustrating. We need to report this to Deputy Kock…”

…

Before Vania, the clerics and nuns were constantly talking, their expressions nervous and panicked. Seeing this, Vania frowned and walked forward, tapping on the nun Aurora she knew.

“What’s going on with everyone? Did something get lost?”

Aurora turned and said anxiously,

“They’re gone, gone… Vania, the documents we were studying about the Holy Mother have disappeared. We haven’t finished studying them…”

‘The secret transmissions are missing?’

Hearing Aurora, Vania was surprised. These secret transmissions were the source of their poison recognition. She had always been cautious, but now they were suddenly gone.

‘The secret transmissions are missing… That explains why everyone seems so anxious.’ Vania thought, knowing that once infected, people became dependent on the unread parts of the secret transmissions, which the poison recognition would lure them into reading.

As Vania pondered who might have taken the secret transmissions, the hall door opened again, and Deputy Kock, wearing a cleric’s robe, entered. The clerics and nuns who had been intensely discussing immediately rushed towards him.

“Hmm? What’s going on here?”

Looking at the gathered subordinates, Kock showed a hint of confusion. He asked the crowd, and one of the clerics stepped forward respectfully.

“Deputy Kock, the documents we were studying this morning have all disappeared. Do you know where they went?”

“You’ve been studying those documents for the past few days? Last night, I instructed the library staff to seal them. I reviewed your records; the categorization of the secret transmissions is almost complete.”

Kock said calmly. Hearing this, the crowd became agitated.

“Deputy Kock, we haven’t finished studying those documents! We need to continue…”

“Yes, yes… There are many parts we haven’t read yet, Deputy Kock. Why didn’t you discuss this with us before sealing them?”

“Our work isn’t done, Deputy Kock. It’s not time to seal them yet.”

The crowd spoke loudly, almost everyone expressing dissatisfaction with the sealing of the secret transmissions. Faced with this scene, Kock’s face showed a hint of difficulty.

“Everyone, our job isn’t to study the entire secret transmission but to determine its general content to facilitate classification and tagging. Regarding this point, the work on these documents has been completed.”

Spreading his hands, Kock said with a helpless tone. The crowd, already affected by the poison recognition, were clearly unsatisfied with this answer. They wanted the incomplete secret transmissions returned.

“Deputy Kock! We believe these documents have significant research value. Many of their contents have important reference value, allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of the current Holy Mother scriptures and fill in gaps. Therefore, we strongly suggest retrieving and continuing the study of these documents.”

“Yes… It’s not time to seal them. These aren’t heretical documents; it’s quite normal…”

“These secret transmissions about the Holy Mother are the most valuable I’ve seen in recent years. After studying and decontaminating them, they might be directly added to the current Holy Mother scriptures. Sealing them away is a great loss.”

In front of Kock, the clerics and nuns passionately argued, seemingly all supporting the retrieval of the sealed documents. Watching the chaotic scene, Kock sighed helplessly.

“Sigh… Alright, since everyone values these documents so much, I’ll try to retrieve them. Getting books from the underground library isn’t easy; I’ll need sufficient reason to enter. How about this: I’ll draft an application here to request access to the library to search for and borrow the corresponding secret transmissions. Everyone will sign it. This application represents the collective will of our department. With this, I’ll have a solid reason to go to the library and find the books. What do you think?”