13 Minke Street

Karen got out of bed and walked to the door of the ward. Then, he stopped, lowered his head, and looked at Pu’er tugging at his leg.

Pu’er spoke: “Are you sure you want to go check on the situation?”

“Huh?”

“What I mean is, Diss isn’t here. You don’t have to rush to demonstrate your kindness.”

“Me?”

“Yes, also, Diss isn’t really a kind person either. He’s only kind to his family. This is a friendly reminder.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Good boy.”

“However, I didn’t say I was going down to check on the situation either.” As he spoke, Karen closed the wardroom door, then dragged a cabinet over and propped it against the door. “I’m just afraid that thing will kill someone, go crazy, and charge in here.”

Pu’er moved back a few steps, saying, “As expected of the cold-blooded demon.”

“If I remember correctly, the stairs leading to the basement are right next door. It’s too close.”

“Yes.”

Karen walked back to the bed and sat down. “Pu’er.”

“I don’t really like the name you changed me to, that strange pronunciation.” (TL: initially, she was called Poer, but Karen changed the pronunciation to Pu’er, chinese-sounding)

“I think the name is very poetic.”

“Artistic vibe, huh?” Pu’er jumped back onto the bed. “By the way, there’s one thing I’ve always been curious about, which is your language.”

“Language?”

“Yes, for example, what does ‘ma lei gebi’ mean?”

“It means about the same as locking you in the bathroom with a male stray cat.”

“I see.” Pu’er lay down on her side and began grooming her fur.

“I’m also curious about one thing,” Karen asked.

“Say it.”

“Can you fight?”

“Fight?” Pu’er sighed resignedly. “I used to be able to.”

“Used to, as in how long ago?”

“Over a hundred years ago.”

“You’ve actually lived that long?”

“If you were turned into a cat and lived for two hundred years, you wouldn’t envy me anymore. When I first came to the Inmerales family, Diss was still just a child, and now, Diss’s granddaughter Mina has started using sanitary pads. Oh, the passing of time.”

“Could you give an example other than Mina?”

“Okay, then last month Trent learned to use his hands to please himself.”

“Why is it still so calm outside?” Karen wondered.

“It seems she didn’t come charging up here like a madwoman?” Pu’er wondered. “Or maybe you just heard wrong?”

“It was too clear, I even heard their conversation.”

“Heh, that’s really amazing, even a fully purified servant of God shouldn’t have such an exaggerated level of perception.”

“Servant of God? Is that an occupation?”

“In the Church of Order, it’s the lowest level in ranking. Of course, it’s still better than the priests in ordinary churches who like to eavesdrop on women’s affairs.”

“Which kind is Diss? What level is a Judge?” Karen remembered Alfred calling Diss ‘Judge’.

“Purifiers – Servants of God; 

“Inquisitors – Enlightened Ones;

“Reflectors – Shepherds.

“The fourth level is Judge, he is the arbiter of the Church of Order in Roja City. Any demon that violates the Order Church’s teachings is his target for elimination.

“And Diss isn’t just an ordinary Judge. I’ve watched him grow up since he was little. His talent is something that even I find astonishing. Of course, he’s not without flaws, like his lack of respect for his elders.”

“Servants of God, Enlightened Ones, and Shepherds….are those official titles or do they correspond to realms?”

“They correspond to levels.”

“Levels?”

“Yes, three different stages, the degree to which they grasp the divine essence.”

“Divine essence?”

“Actually there’s no such thing as divine essence, it’s just another way of putting it. Essentially, the essence on Alfred, Mrs. Hughes when she was possessed, and Diss, it’s all the same.”

“So…”

“So all those orthodox church’s people shouting to beat and kill demons, every single one of them has the same essence same as a demon. The difference is that they stand in the light and hold the power of speech.

“Also, some demons are really brainless, you know what I mean?”

“Brainless?” Karen asked, confused.

“Brainy demons, if their fists are strong enough, can gain a certain status and position, and even go to the church as guests, like me a long time ago.

“And if some members of the orthodox church go astray, they will walk from light to darkness, from revered clergymen to demons that everyone shouts to kill.”

“I kind of…understand.”

“You really didn’t know all this?” Pu’er asked curiously.

Karen shook his head. In his previous life, going to the temple was really just for sight-seeing. He didn’t even bow his head once, except in the martyrs’ shrine where he would bow.

“Truly amazing.” Pu’er licked the fur on her front paw. “But I’ve seen you ‘awaken’ Mr. Mauson before.”

“I don’t know how I did it.”

“Do you know what kind of existence the Church of Order is?”

“Maintaining the Order of God, guarding the Light of Order.”

“No, no, no, those are just slogans for the outside world. In reality, the God of Order himself is likely not a living person.”

“Not a living person?”

Pu’er explained, “The Order Church’s teachings describe him this way: The God of Order awoke from the underworld, or there is a view that the Ruler of Light awakened the God of Order.

“Do you know under what guise the lower-level organization of the Church of Order presents itself to the world?”

“A church?” Karen made a guess.

“No, a mortuary.”

Hearing this, Karen had a bit of an epiphany. “I originally thought the mortuary was an Inmerales family business, but it turns out it’s a church business.”

“That’s because a large part of the Order Church’s abilities act on corpses, or rather, cannot be separated from corpses.

“In the eyes of ordinary people, when someone dies and becomes a corpse, they have simply become a lifeless object. But in reality, it’s not like that – even a corpse, and not just human corpses, but also pig, dog, chicken and duck corpses…”

Pu’er didn’t mention cats.

“Corpses themselves have a spiritual existence stored within the body, but it’s not as active as when the person was alive. By awakening these spirits, the corpse can be ‘resurrected’ to a certain degree.

“However, the degree of ‘resurrection’ is highly dependent on the completeness of the corpse’s preservation, the person’s strength before death, and the corpse’s lingering attachments.”

“So a resurrected corpse, is it the same as before?” Karen asked.

“Of course not, it’s just a shell retaining some of its memories. It’s not really you anymore. But it may feel like it’s still you.”

Karen tried to translate and understand what Pu’er was saying. Conventionally, a person is a combination of soul and body, but in fact, the body also stores a part of the soul, like a cellular memory.

After a person dies, you can ‘awaken’ the cellular memories to make the person ‘revive’ again.

“Karen, did you know that making a dead corpse ‘resurrect’ is an ability that only Judges possess? Without this ability, they wouldn’t even be qualified to be appointed as a Judge.”

Karen shuddered. “What about me…?”

“So, you still say you’re not a demon?” Pu’er got up and moved closer to Karen’s face. “I suspect that when you were summoned, your soul memory might have been deficient, causing you to forget some things. But your instincts are so strong that they come through unintentionally.”

“You’re thinking too much, my memory is very well preserved,” Karen crossed his arms and denied it.

“That’s true, you even remember a whole unfamiliar language, there’s no way you’d have memory deficits. Then there’s only one other possibility left.”

“What possibility?”

“Are you perhaps like the legendary God of Order, someone who has died and been resurrected?”

“I…”

Before Karen could answer, Pu’er burst out laughing. “Because half of the Order Church’s abilities involve dealing with corpses. Although there have been other branches developed over the years, in the most ancient and orthodox system, they’ve always worked with corpses.

“If the God of Order is a being that died and was resurrected, then wouldn’t the system he passed down be most suitable for someone who has also died and been resurrected?

“For example, the perception of a corpse’s spirit – because someone who died and was resurrected wouldn’t even need to be purified, they could resonate with the spirits just by virtue of being both among the living and having the status of the dead.

“Hahaha, what am I thinking, how could there possibly be such a person in this world? If you were that kind of person, wouldn’t that mean you are the reincarnation of the God of Order?

“So, tell me, Karen, are you the great and supreme God of Order?”

“I…am not.” I’m just a psychologist with a decent income from my private practice.

“Tsk tsk, then how to explain this damned ability of yours? It’s a necessary ability for a Judge. Though you can’t control it yet, the fact is you have it. It’s like Trent being a virgin, but he does have the ability for sex.”

“That analogy is a bit too…”

“I’ve lived so long, what’s there to be shy about?”

“You were the shy one just now.”

“I’m just not used to that position, damn it!”

After a period of silence, Karen spoke: “Pu’er.”

“Hm?”

“Do you think Diss would let me join the church too?” If he really had this kind of talent, joining the church and becoming a member of the Church of Order, having this system to practice, wouldn’t that be a huge advantage?

“So you’ve finally revealed your ambition and intentions?” Pu’er laughed. “But I still advise you to give up on this idea. Diss would never allow his descendants to join the church again, because your parents’ deaths were a huge blow to him.

“Also, Diss has grown weary of the Church of Order’s branch inherited by the Inmerales family. He plans to end it with his generation.”

“I see,” Karen muttered, somewhat deflated.

“So forget about joining the church. It’s simply impossible. Because even as I’m talking to you now, I don’t even know if I’m chatting with a demon god. Perhaps, in your eyes, I’m just a naive, cute and innocent little kitten.”

“That is true.” Karen stood up and looked outside the ward. Everything seemed normal.

He went up to the door again and looked out through the glass, seeing that the doctors, nurses and patients outside were also going about normally.

“Did I hear wrong? Or was I hallucinating?”

“Do you hear any sounds now?” Pu’er asked.

“No more.”

“Then maybe you just heard wrong?”

Karen looked at Pu’er and suggested, “Why don’t you go check the basement?”

Pu’er’s two ears perked up, then flattened, perked up again, then flattened, finally saying, “Are you kidding me?”

“You don’t dare?”

“I’m very weak now, oh no, I’ve been weak for over a hundred years.”

“Then why did Diss have you come protect me?” Karen couldn’t understand. “You mean, you actually can’t fight?”

“I can see demons. If you had taken me to get barbecue that night, I could have seen her abnormality in advance, and that would have been enough. Diss’ intention was for me to be able to warn you in advance so you could escape, not for me to stay and fight to the end. Comparatively, Alfred and Ms. Molly are more suitable for that kind of thing. Of course, if those demon auras are harmless to you, I can pretend not to see them.”

“Then you really are quite useless.”

“Although I don’t understand that word, I know it probably doesn’t mean much different from ‘waste’, right?”

“It sounds a bit better.” Karen pushed the cabinet back, then walked to the bedside and rang the bell.

Soon, Mina came in. “What’s the matter, brother? Would you like to order lunch?”

“I just thought I heard sounds from downstairs,” Karen pointed down.

Mina looked at the tile floor, then immediately realized what was downstairs and laughed. “How could that be possible?”

“It’s true, and I heard screaming. It sounded like a female doctor or nurse screaming. I hope you can send someone to check the basement level.”

Mina nodded, “Okay, I’ll take a look.”

Karen reached out and grabbed Mina’s hand, instructing her, “It may be dangerous downstairs, it’s better to have the security guards or male doctors go check. You don’t go, I’m worried it might be dangerous for you.”

If others got into trouble, Karen wouldn’t care. But it’s a different case when it comes to Mina. She was family, after all. As for those strangers whose names he didn’t even know…if something happened to them, so be it.

Although Mina felt Karen was acting a bit neurotic, she was still touched that he was concerned for her safety, so she nodded. “Okay, I’ll go call the security guard on duty to go check.”

“Okay.”

Mina left. Karen closed the wardroom’s door again, hesitated for a moment, but in the end decided to not drag the cabinet back over.

After about twenty minutes, Mina knocked and came back in.

“Did you find anything?” Karen asked.

“No, the basement level is completely normal.”

“No bloodstains or bodies?”

“There were bodies, because the morgue is downstairs, but no bloodstains. And earlier the Dean led a team down to check and account for all the medical staff on duty. No one was found missing.”

“Then…I must have had a nightmare.”

“Mm, your body is recovering, so you may have nightmares sometimes, it’s normal.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“For lunch, what would you like to eat?”

Karen was staying in the VIP sickroom, so he could order from a menu for the hospital kitchen to prepare, of course no special dishes would be available.

“Meow.” A nosy cat suddenly made a sound.

Karen sighed and said, “Fried fish.”

“Um, okay.” Mina took notes.

“Meow.”

“Pudding.”

“Okay.”

“Meow.”

“Sheep’s milk.”

“Got it, anything else?”

“Curry rice, no fruit needed.”

“Fruit is a must,” Mina said seriously.

“Okay, okay.”

“I’ll bring it to you once it’s ready.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

After Mina left, Pu’er lay very comfortably on the bed, swishing her tail, saying: “Karen, if you can help me order food every day instead of letting me keep eating that damn cat food, I’ll change my view of you a little bit.”

“But you can talk, right? Why don’t you ask for food by yourself?”

“You’re the exception, if I talk to other people in the family and Diss finds out, he will definitely kill me.”

“Heh, a bit of food is all it takes to bribe you?”

“You try eating cat food for a hundred years and see what that feels like. As long as I don’t have to keep eating cat food, even if you really are a demon god, in my eyes you’re a benevolent demon god.”

Karen rubbed his ears and said, “I really did hear the conversation and screaming.”

“You’d better pray it was just an auditory hallucination. If not, it could be the prelude to you going crazy – that’s how some clergymen start to stray.”

“But I’m not a clergyman.”

“You’re more sensitive than them, the line between genius and madness is sometimes just a small fish skin away.”

An hour later, lunch was delivered.

Pu’er ate very contently, and at Mina’s insistence, Karen also ate the fruit.

In the afternoon, all was peaceful.

In the late afternoon, all was peaceful.

At dusk, all was peaceful.

When night fell, it was still peaceful.

“Aren’t you going to sleep? Sufficient sleep will aid your recovery,” Pu’er advised.

“Okay, I know.”

“Do you hear any sounds?”

“No more. From noon until now, I haven’t heard anything else.”

“That’s good then, don’t worry about it anymore, just sleep.”

Karen got out of bed and walked to the door.

Through the glass, he could see that aside from the nurses’ station which still had its lights on, there were no other signs of activity.

However, Karen still dragged the cabinet over and propped it against the door. He also wedged a mop from the bathroom against the door handle.

After doing all this, Karen lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes. Because he didn’t take an afternoon nap, plus considering what Pu’er said about sleep aiding physical recovery was true, Karen fell asleep soon after closing his eyes.

As he slept, in his dream, he seemed to hear the ‘rustle rustle’ sound again.

Was it just another auditory hallucination?

The overwhelming sleepiness made Karen start to reject these sounds.

“My money…my money…my money…“

Damn it! Karen cursed inwardly and continued to sleep.

The voice disappeared.

But what followed was a rubbing sound, like someone using their fingers to dig at something, and the sounds of dust and particles constantly falling and scattering.

Karen paid it no mind, as long as it wasn’t speaking he could accept it – in his previous life when he was an entrepreneur, he had rented a high-rise apartment next to an elevated road, falling asleep every night to the rumble of heavy trucks.

Rustle rustle…Rustle rustle…Rustle rustle…

The sound seemed to be getting closer and clearer.

Karen couldn’t help but open his eyes in exasperation.

He first reached out to push Pu’er, who was crouched by his pillow with her butt facing Karen, but this black cat seemed utterly unrousable no matter how much he pushed, as if she wasn’t alive, just a plush toy cat.

“Pu’er, Pu’er, do you hear this sound, it seems to be getting closer and closer,” Karen whispered hurriedly.

Pu’er still didn’t move.

Can cats really sleep that deeply?

Karen propped himself up and patted Pu’er in the back, but she still didn’t respond at all.

Rustle rustle…

The sound was coming from under the bed.

Karen leaned over, moving his upper body past Pu’er and off the side of the bed, but didn’t see any abnormalities.

He turned his head to look at the sickroom door – the cabinet was still propped behind it, the mop wedged in place, everything seemed secure.

Rustle rustle…

But the sound kept getting closer and closer.

At this point, Karen turned his attention back to the tile floor under the bed. He leaned further forward, using one hand to support himself on the tiles to avoid putting pressure on his chest wound, his face now very close to the tiles, about a meter away.

Then….

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE…

It was like something had become loose, or like something had finally been dug through.

And right in front of where Karen’s face was, that tile suddenly cracked open into a hole, showing rebar and concrete.

On an impulse, Karen brought his face right up to this hole to peer down inside. He saw rows of gurneys down below, some with bodies lying on them covered in white sheets.

Suddenly, the wrinkled face of an old woman filled the hole, looking at Karen and asking:

“Hey, were you the one who stole my money?”