The gathering place for the believers of the Messenger God was chosen in a "blank church" near the suburbs.
The "Blank Church" is a gathering place specially prepared by the Holy Palace for various legitimate minority beliefs. In the empty church on weekdays, no items related to faith can be found, and only before specific faith gatherings, corresponding religious symbols will be hung.
It was already evening, and Sean arrived outside the church. From outside the door, he could see that many people had already arrived. The service didn't seem to have started yet and people were chatting.
Sean was not in a hurry to go in. He stood outside the door and put his invisible spiritual tentacles in...
“…I heard the voice of the Lord. Just a few nights ago, I heard the Lord speaking right into my ear!
"He told me that a murder would occur near Fifteenth Avenue. After I woke up, I went directly there and kept watch... not long after, I heard screams...
"I followed the sound and saw a man with a sack on his head stabbing a woman with a sharp knife..."
"When I passed by, the man ran away - I was at the scene and saw the whole process, so I was able to get first-hand news!"
Sean frowned: "This person seems to be narrating the process of a divine revelation. Could it be that belief in [Molinas] can get some ominous omens? For journalists, it can rush to the incident as soon as possible. Discovery scene?
"If it is such a belief gain, then it is really suitable for reporters..."
"However, the speaker's spirit is somewhat unusually high. If, as he said, he has received 'divine enlightenment', his soul should be blessed and should not be in such a morbid state..."
Sean walked into the church while listening.
A wooden silver-painted double snake staff sign hangs above the pulpit in front of you. Almost all people in casual clothes are chatting, and there is some noise in the church.
As soon as Sean entered the door, he felt a little inconsistent. But I couldn't tell what exactly was wrong.
As he walked through the chatting crowd, he saw a face covered with freckles. The owner of that face also saw him and suddenly blushed. Jim came over: "Mr. Dickinson, you are here!"
Sean temporarily put aside his inexplicable worry and smiled: "It's so lively here."
Jim led Sean through the crowd and came to his companion: "Yes, the service hasn't started yet. During this time we usually talk about recent events..."
Sean heard the overly excited voice again, and that person seemed to be one of Jim's companions.
Sean observed the somewhat excited speaker. His hair is relatively long, and if he hadn't tried his best to comb it to the side, his bangs would have covered his eyes. There are deep marks between the eyebrows, and it seems that he often frowns hard. When he spoke, there was a bit of fanaticism in his eyes, and he continued the topic of the news about the street murderer: "At that time, I looked at the woman who was stabbed. She was wearing white clothes, and the blood was stained in several places. Her eyes were open, as if she hadn't woken up. Her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to talk to me...
“It’s a pity that I didn’t bring a camera with me at the time. If I had, I would have taken photos of that scene!
“Believe me, if I could provide Steve with that photo, the price of my manuscript would be doubled!”
Sean felt obvious discomfort in his heart. But the people listening around him, including Jim, didn't notice anything was wrong, and instead made some regretful sounds.
Sean shook his head in disbelief and thought: “We are talking about a man who was stabbed to death, and everyone is paying attention and not taking pictures?
"Am I the abnormal one?"
Sean didn't believe it, so he raised his hand and interrupted the excited man's narration: "I'm sorry for interrupting you - but at that time, why were you thinking about taking pictures? Shouldn't you call an ambulance quickly? And call the police?”
The man who narrated did not show any embarrassment. He paused and seemed to be lost in thought. It seemed that it was not Sean who suggested it, and he did not think of this option at all.
People around began to discuss: "So... we should consider calling an ambulance. But in our industry, if you have a camera at hand, you should take photos as soon as possible..."
Sean felt a little surprised. He didn't know whether this was the trend in the New Testament media world, or whether the conversation going on here was completely ridiculous. He turned to look at Jim: "Do you think so too?"
Jim blushed and shrugged, as if he didn't dare to go against the opinions of most people: "Mr. Dickinson, you are right, you should indeed call an ambulance. However, if there are other people nearby, they should be allowed to go." Make a phone call, after all our job is to record what is going on, if..."
The man with wild eyes took over as if he had figured it out: "If we delay recording the news because of other things, that would be dereliction of duty, and that would be the real sin!"
He seemed to have found a flaw, looked directly at Sean and said: "God has assigned different responsibilities to everyone. Reporters should record the news, and other things should be left to others..."
Sean also wanted to clear his mind, so he asked: "This friend, what should I call you?"
"Just call me Mark."
"Mark, let's change our hypothesis." Sean said, "If you knew in advance that a tragedy would happen to this woman, you wouldn't just witness the tragedy, but you would have the opportunity to warn her in advance and let her Will you do this to avoid death?
"It's an obvious dilemma. If you warn her, you save a life but lose a breaking story."
Mark thought for a moment and replied, "I don't think I would - I'm just an observer. Observers are not supposed to influence events."
The others thought for a while and nodded approvingly.
Amidst the noisy background of the conversations around him, Sean suddenly felt alienated, as if he had been taken out of the group alone by some force.
It is a feeling of being unable to integrate into this group due to a huge conflict of ideas.
This feeling of alienation made him understand why he felt so inconsistent when he first entered the church.
It's too noisy here. This is not a cocktail party. There is no alcohol as a catalyst, but everyone is expressing their feelings endlessly.
Faces were red, eyes were shining, saliva was flying... everyone was extremely excited.
And some of what was said sounded reasonable, but was actually extremely cruel.
Sean frowned in confusion: What's going on with this feeling?
