Standing once again on the busy streets of London, Mu Lin felt a strange sensation. He didn’t particularly dislike this country; if it weren’t for the Y government repeatedly causing him trouble, he wouldn’t have had to disguise himself and stand here like this.
Mu Lin had been pondering a question: why would the Y government, which usually followed the U.S. lead, constantly oppose him? Logically, the upper levels of both governments should have exchanged opinions and reached certain agreements regarding his affairs. So why did the Y government unilaterally break the agreement after he arrived in the country? There must be some unknown reasons behind it, and this time Mu Lin was determined to find them out.
July in London wasn’t as cold and foggy as in winter, but it lacked the warmth of midsummer too. The sky was often overcast, with frequent rain showers. However, compared to the winter in London, it was vastly different. Quietly, Mu Lin stood at the entrance of Xianglong Orphanage, gazed at the children from afar for a while, and then left.
Although the main building of the orphanage had been completed, the supporting facilities inside the compound were not yet finished. However, the children had already moved here. Mu Lin thought perhaps Uncle Zhao wanted to save costs for him, or maybe he wanted the children to move into their new home earlier. But in the end, none of that mattered. As long as he saw the bright smiles on the children’s faces, it was enough for Mu Lin.
As for Rocky, Mu Lin didn’t plan to take him away for now. He wanted the child to continue his training here. Perhaps only in an environment like this could one truly be tempered and grow stronger.
Mu Lin continued strolling down the street from the orphanage, temporarily unsure of how to deal with the Y government and the forces behind it. Since this was a suburb, the streets were empty and few pedestrians were around after lunch.
In the distance, three nuns gradually came into Mu Lin’s view. Their completely covered attire made it impossible to judge their figures. They kept their heads lowered while walking, so their appearances couldn’t be seen either. Only their calm eyes seemed to reveal the serenity within their hearts.
As they passed by Mu Lin, he used his mental senses to sense them. Except for one who was somewhat older, the other two were quite young—around twenty years old. However, the life energy of these two girls was truly beautiful. It had been a long time since he had encountered such a beautiful female presence. Mu Lin resisted the urge to connect his life energy with theirs.
As the three passed him, two of the girls gave Mu Lin a curious glance. After they walked by, a sudden thought struck him. The last time someone intercepted him at sea was a priest, and another appeared to be a paladin. The artifacts they used were typical of religious figures. Could it be that these people were hiding within the church?
Seeing the direction they were heading, it seemed to be toward the orphanage. Mu Lin couldn’t help but decide to follow them and see if they were connected to the orphanage. Indeed, the three nuns eventually entered the orphanage. Mu Lin found a spot and began using his mental senses to observe their actions.
After entering, the nuns directly went to Uncle Zhao’s office. Seeing them, Zhao stood up to greet them, indicating that they had met before.
“Welcome, Sister Mary. Are you still planning to stay here for the day? That must be quite tiring for you!” Uncle Zhao said happily.
“Yes, Director Zhao. Just like the sisters who came yesterday, we are here to take care of the children’s meals and hygiene. The Lord will not allow His children to feel lonely! We are the servants of the Lord; this is what we should do!” After speaking, the nuns bid farewell to Uncle Zhao and went to three different classrooms for younger children, beginning to clean the children and play with them. The children also showed happy expressions seeing the nuns.
“Damn it!” Mu Lin silently cursed. Now he remembered these orphans were referred to as the Lord’s children—where had these nuns been all this time? Something was wrong! Mu Lin sighed inwardly. These people were clearly here to promote their religion!
Although the nuns were only helping the children with personal hygiene and playing with them, over time their kind images would root deeply in the children’s hearts. When the children grew older, they would become faithful followers of the nuns’ religion. In effect, he had given these people a religious training base.
Damn it! If a tiger doesn’t show its might, people really think it’s a sick cat! These people clearly knew this was his territory, yet they dared to act so brazenly here. It seemed they really believed he had been eliminated.
Mu Lin didn’t disturb Uncle Zhao or the children inside. Now that he had a clue, things would be easier. Quietly, he left and began his investigation, wanting to uncover the strength of the Y country’s religious forces. He couldn’t entrust this task to the local agencies here because religion was deeply rooted in their bones. Although you couldn’t usually see how devout they were, if he asked them to handle something for him, they would certainly do the job while being paid—but they would also report his investigation to the local church.
Fortunately, most of the information about the church organizations here was public. It only took Mu Lin some time to gather the data. Looking at the compiled information, Mu Lin couldn’t help but be amazed, marveling at the vast power of the church.
In just the 49 districts of London, there were 166 churches of various kinds—an average of more than three per district. The number of clergy reached 2,950. Additionally, the church organizations owned various real estate properties and operated several funds. This was partly due to Y country not having suffered invasions for hundreds of years, but it also reflected the enormous power of the church. Otherwise, just maintaining the livelihoods of several thousand people would already be a headache for these church organizations.
Looking at the data on church organizations and thinking back to the long history of the Chinese nation, Mu Lin couldn’t help but feel deep sorrow for his people. Their own native religions had been squeezed to near extinction by foreign faiths, yet there were still those whose minds had been filled with the dominant Western culture of recent years. At the sight of a Taoist temple bustling with worshippers, they would immediately denounce it as feudal superstition, criticizing it harshly as if they were paragons of scientific knowledge.
One would expect students majoring in traditional Chinese medicine to have a good grasp of traditional Chinese learning. However, if you actually handed them an ancient book in traditional characters without punctuation, they might as well be reading an alien script. If even these people are like that, one can imagine the rest. Perhaps in another hundred years, the cultural heritage of their ancestors would only be familiar to scholars who specialized in studying it.
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