Chapter 28: The Source of All Evil

Chapter 28 The Source of All Evil

A limited-edition, high-spec "Sunderland" glided into the hospital lot, reversing into a parking space with sublime smoothness.

The dutiful night-shift parking attendant walked over, preparing to collect the fee, but as he reached the door and peered inside, he discovered the newly parked vehicle was entirely devoid of life.

The attendant scratched his balding head, a casualty of constant night shifts:

"Good heavens, am I seeing ghosts?"

At the entrance of the inpatient department, Alfred, clad in a sharp blue suit, drew off his gloves as he strode inside.

The ward was located on the first floor, and Alfred soon found himself standing before its door.

He took a deep breath, his right fingers tapping a rapid cadence against the back of his left hand, desperate to master his turbulent emotions as quickly as possible.

Yet, before he could fully compose himself, the heavy door swung open from within.

Standing before Alfred was Karen, his face deathly pale, the greater part of his hospital gown drenched crimson with fresh blood.

Alfred took only a single, sweeping glance,

And immediately dropped to one knee:

"Great Emissary, your loyal servant, Alfred, has come to answer your summons."

"Come in."

With that brief command, Karen turned, retracing his steps to seat himself upon a chair beside the hospital bed.

Alfred noted the chaotic state of the room, particularly the bed, which was marred everywhere by stark stains of blood.

Scattered splatters of crimson also flecked the tiled floor and the walls.

A black cat lay draped listlessly across the window sill; it cast a fleeting glance toward him as he entered.

With a mixture of bewilderment and profound reverence, Alfred inquired:

"Great One, have you been injured and hospitalized?"

Immediately sensing the slight impropriety of his phrasing, he felt compelled to rephrase:

"Great One, have you been hospitalized and injured?"

The moment the second question left his lips, Alfred suddenly felt that his intellect tonight was too dismal to look upon.

Karen tilted his head slightly, gesturing toward the bathroom situated to Alfred's left.

"Yes."

Alfred reached out to remove the mop wedged into the bathroom door handle, pushed aside the cabinet blocking the path below, and then threw the door open.

In front of the toilet, a heavily battered woman dressed in a nurse's uniform rested her forehead against the tiles, one arm extended forward, utterly motionless.

Alfred’s eyes instantly flushed crimson as the Eyes of the Succubus flared to life;

The woman was already dead, temporarily reawakened by the Church of Order's "Spell of Awakening," which had then bound her with a restrictive seal.

Hmm?

No, that was not all.

Deep within this woman's corpse, another distinct consciousness lingered.

Alfred raised his left hand, obscuring his left eye from view;

In the next instant,

Several drops of blood welled from his right eye, tracking down his cheek like tears.

He lowered his hand, withdrew a pristine handkerchief from his sleeve, and gently wiped the blood from his right eye.

Entrapped within the nurse's flesh was an Insidious Demon!

Alfred retreated a few steps, stepping out of the bathroom to look back at Karen.

Perhaps it was the lingering aftereffect of Dis's strike—though his body had yet to fully recover, his courage had truly been forged anew.

Meeting Alfred’s searching gaze, Karen spoke with absolute composure:

"Take her away."

Alfred dropped to one knee before Karen once more, declaring:

"Great One above, permit me to convey the most heartfelt gratitude on behalf of Mistress Molly. I shall deliver her to Mistress Molly's side and pass along the profound grace of your benevolence."

Hmm?

What exactly did that mean?

Though he failed to comprehend the underlying meaning, Karen gave a subtle, approving nod.

Alfred stepped back into the bathroom. By now, the original restrictive seal seemed on the verge of dissolving; the previously motionless nurse suddenly snapped her head up, her eyes completely washed over in stark white.

Alfred closed his eyes. Ten seconds later, he opened them again, and the blinding white within the nurse’s gaze was now overridden by a deep crimson, her entire form enveloped in a faint, shimmering red aura.

A fresh layer of sealing magic, belonging uniquely to Alfred, had been successfully applied.

Subsequently,

Karen watched in silence as Alfred hoisted the nurse onto his shoulder and carried her out of the bathroom.

"Your wounds..."

Karen made no effort to conceal his injuries, nor did he attempt to hide his profound weakness; instead, he replied with serene calm:

"This is my tribulation."

After a brief pause,

Karen dismissed him with a wave of his hand,

"Tend to your task."

"Understood. Please forgive my insolence."

Alfred bore the nurse upon his shoulder and stepped out of the ward.

Once he had departed, Karen turned his head toward the cat beside him, asking:

"What did he mean by those words just now?"

Though weak from her own injuries, Pu'er could not resist her habitual mockery:

"Why should the Great One feel the need to question a mere cat?"

Karen pondered for a moment, recalling the night he had departed from Number 128, when Mistress Molly had desperately implored him for something.

"Pu'er, what is a purified body?"

"Purification is the fundamental process of becoming a divine servant, and divine servants form the bedrock beneath the order of all major churches. Therefore, a purified body refers explicitly to the physical remains of a member of the clergy. To be perfectly safe, a thoroughly purified body should, at the very least, belong to someone above a divine servant—a body of Divine Revelation."

"A body of Divine Revelation? Is that difficult to obtain?"

"Extremely difficult, because every single member of a church's hierarchy is strictly registered. Upon their demise, their remains are invariably reclaimed by the church."

"Did you say, 'reclaimed'?"

"Indeed. Because their remains themselves constitute a form of raw material, and a highly useful one at that."

Therefore, attempting to obtain an inspired corpse out in the world is exceedingly difficult. It is impossible through ordinary channels, and if one resorts to murder to procure it, they will draw the ire of the church to which it belongs, bringing down a terrible vengeance.

However, the one Alfred just carried out can actually be considered a purified body.

Considered so?

Because that nurse's corpse was awakened by your ability, and the spiritual energy within her has already been stimulated. Unless it is an exceptional vessel, this triggering is irreversible. It is much like fuel catching fire; once it burns away, the flame goes out.

Sifting the original spirituality from the flesh and returning it to the soul—this process is called purification, or a partial purification.

In that case, wouldn't the inquisitors of the Church of Order be able to manufacture these purified bodies without limit, provided there are enough corpses?

That is why I called it a partial purification. The bodies of the clergy have not only undergone baptism, but they also use their own divine souls to re-imbue the physical form.

As for that bewitching demon, you sealed it inside that body, so it essentially fulfilled a similar function.

Leaving aside the corpses of the clergy, a purified body requires a vessel that has been awakened to consume the original host's spiritual energy entirely, coupled with a demon that exists primarily as a soul entity to thoroughly saturate it.

It is like when Mary applies funeral makeup to a corpse; she must wash the body before applying the cosmetics. Not a single step can be omitted.

Ah, so that is how it is.

Purr extended a paw and said, You seem to have forgotten one thing. You should have had him clean this ward before he carried that corpse away.

I did not forget. Karen shook his head, explaining, I was just still a bit nervous when I saw him. He mistook me for some great entity. If Dis had not been away from home, and if I had not been terrified that the corpse would suddenly run amok again, I would never have called him.

In truth, you have absolutely no need to worry. I know exactly what is on his mind.

What do you mean?

Have you forgotten what I told you during the day? He either views you as a true god descended upon the world, or as an evil god summoned back from the void. In fact, aside from your own denials, you have long since fulfilled every condition for the descent of an evil god.

No matter how intensely he investigates or observes, he will never find a flaw in you, because you possess no flaw to begin with, Karen.

But right now, I am very weak, am I not?

Whether it is an evil god or a true god, they require a very long time to recover after descending. They are invariably weak at the very beginning; this is common knowledge.

Otherwise, Mr. Hoffen would not have constantly and fiercely demanded that Dis kill you. And that included me.

You?

Yes. I always wished for Dis to kill you, because I know exactly how you descended, as well as the price Dis paid and the taboos he transgressed just to awaken you.

Just as I said before, aside from your own denials, it is not just Alfred and Madam Molly—all of us believe you to be an evil god.

Why are you telling me all this? Are you not just boosting my confidence by saying these things to me?

I do not know either. Perhaps it is out of regard for the fried fish strips and the pudding from this afternoon.

...

At the entrance of the inpatient department;

Beneath the dim yellow lights of the night, Alfred, carrying the corpse, beheld Dis standing before him.

In truth, not long after Karen made the phone call, Dis had returned from the hospital where Mr. Hoffen was staying. Upon receiving Mary's message, Dis had hurried to this hospital at the greatest possible speed.

Dis's gaze fell upon the corpse resting on Alfred's shoulder.

My Lord Inquisitor, I wish to remind you that as the retinue of the Divine Envoy, you are truly somewhat derelict in your duties.

Having spoken, Alfred bypassed Dis and walked down the steps.

Dis hesitated for a moment but did not stop him, choosing instead to enter the inpatient building.

...

Meow...

Upon seeing Dis enter the ward, Purr let out a weak and sorrowful cry, as though a pitiful woman whose days were numbered lay delicately upon her sickbed.

Yet Dis ignored Purr entirely. He walked to Karen, crouched down, reached out to unbutton Karen's blood-stained clothes, and examined his wound.

The wound has torn open again, Dis said.

My life was preserved. Karen could see that Dis was truly worried.

Dis looked around the room, only now seeming to notice Purr, who was also grievously injured, and asked:

What happened?

Meow~

Speak.

You may ask Karen, Purr said.

He is injured. It is inconvenient for him to speak much right now; he needs rest.

... Purr.

After listening to Purr's account, Dis nodded.

I will go down to the basement level to check.

With that, he stepped out of the ward and went straight down the stairs to the basement floor.

Inside the morgue, there were quite a few corpses. Some were tied up in legal disputes, while others were temporarily stored there, unclaimed for the time being.

Just as there are always people who ignore traffic laws and run red lights, not every deceased soul can swiftly find their way to a peaceful rest in the earth.

There was the shriveled corpse of an old woman sitting up on a gurney, her mouth wide open.

But she was nothing more than an empty shell now, without a single trace of spirituality left in her body.

Leaving the basement floor, Dis went to the nurse's station and awoke the unconscious nurse.

Did I... fall asleep? The young nurse murmured, clutching the back of her head.

The patient in Ward 3 has had his wound tear open, and he has lost a lot of blood.

Ah! Yes, I understand. I will contact the doctor immediately.

Just as the sky was beginning to turn gray with dawn, the doctor arrived at the ward with the nurse. Though they were startled by the blood splattered all over the bed and the floor, they assumed it had simply burst from the reopening of the wound. They immediately wheeled Karen back into the operating room to restitch the torn incision.

Because he had been anesthetized, Karen did not wake up until the afternoon.

When he awoke, he found himself moved to a different ward, and Mina was sitting beside his bed. Seeing him open his eyes, Mina asked with deep concern:

Are you feeling better, Karen?

Much better.

Originally, being stabbed was a terrifying ordeal, but after experiencing last night, everything became a matter of comparison. The wound on his chest no longer felt like much of anything.

It was all because the nurse on duty last night fell asleep. But that was also because Nas, who was supposed to relieve her for the latter half of the night shift, never showed up for work. This morning, the director sent someone to her house, only for her family to say she never came home yesterday. They are currently considering whether to report it to the police.

Karen had a premonition that Nas must have been the unfortunate nurse who died last night.

The sound of murder he had heard on the basement floor during the day must have been her. The reason the hospital staff check showed everyone present at the time was likely because she was supposed to be off duty at that particular hour.

She was already dead. According to Purr, after her corpse was awakened by him, even the final reserves of spirituality stored in her body had dissipated. Therefore, her being carried back by Alfred could be treated as an organ donation for Madam Molly.

Karen thought this to himself in the depths of his heart; only by thinking this way could he alleviate some of his inner guilt.

By the way, your grandfather arranged the paperwork for you to return home for treatment today, Mina said with a smile.

"Mm."

It seemed Dis was no longer comfortable with him living out on his own, even with Puer's company.

By the way, where was Puer?

Karen looked around but saw no sign of Puer; it had probably gone home, as it also needed to nurse its wounds.

"So, every afternoon from now on, I'll accompany the doctor to your house to help you with your IV and change your dressings."

Karen understood the reason behind Mina's happiness.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"It's nothing, really. This actually makes things easier for me, since I can slack off a bit."

Of course, the premise was that this kind of service required higher medical expenses, such as travel fees and extra allowances for the medical staff.

"My little Karen, I've come to take you home."

Uncle Mason walked into the ward. Following his father Dis's instructions, he was to take his nephew home today.

"Young Master Karen."

"Young Master, we've come to pick you up from the hospital."

Paul wheeled a stretcher cart inside, and upon entering the ward, lowered its four wheels.

Then,

Paul and Lore each took a side, one reaching for Karen's neck and the other for his legs.

Seeing this, Uncle Mason immediately barked:

"Damn it, you're moving my nephew, not a client! His wound is on his chest, do you want his newly re-stitched wound to rip open again?!"

Paul and Ron looked at each other, then laughed together.

"Sorry, Young Master, we're used to moving dead people, we really haven't moved many living ones."

Next, under Mina's direction, Ron and Paul used an arm-cradling method to carefully and gently lift Karen up, placing him onto the stretcher cart.

Subsequently,

Karen lay upon the stretcher cart where an unknown number of clients had lain, and was wheeled out of the inpatient building, experiencing the perspective of an Inmeles family guest.

Well,

the vehicle used to pick him up was also a hearse.

Just then, a mother and daughter happened to pass by in the parking lot;

"What a pity, passing away at such a young age."

"Yes, he looks so handsome, what a shame."

"..." Karen.

Paul and Ron once again lifted him up just as they had done in the ward, carrying him into the hearse;

then, a scene that made even Karen feel quite astonished occurred—he was actually lifted into a coffin.

"This is..."

Uncle Mason, who had taken the driver's seat and was starting the car, smiled and said, "A new coffin ordered for another client just this morning. We purposely didn't unload it when we came to get you. The ride is bumpy, you'll be much steadier inside the coffin."

Karen remembered how Mr. Mosang and Jeff had embraced each other inside the bumpy hearse;

after a thought, he accepted the reality of lying in a coffin for shock absorption.

In truth, the inside of the coffin was lined with soft cushions, making it quite comfortable to lie in. Moreover, you could directly and profoundly experience a sense of 'inner peace.'

Furthermore, there was even a pillow inside the coffin, and even a recess to the side containing cigarettes, a lighter, and a deck of playing cards.

The hearse drove toward the direction of home.

Ron leaned against the edge of the coffin, looking down at Karen with a smile. While playing with a copper coin, he asked:

"Young Master, is it comfortable? I purposely added an extra layer of padding."

"Thank you." Karen noticed the copper coin Ron was tossing and playing with in his hand, and asked, "Ron, what is that in your hand?"

"Oh, picked it up. It's copper, not worth anything, but it feels nice in the hand."

Sitting beside him, Paul scoffed, "What do you mean picked it up? Yesterday in the hospital mortuary while transporting our own client, he stole it from a corpse next to him."

"Hey, how is that stealing? The person is gone, aren't things meant for the living to use? I just hate to see waste.

Besides, don't you find it strange? Ever since I carried this thing on me, I feel so full of energy. Last night I drank for half the night, and today I don't feel sleepy at all. I just can't bear to put it down, so I keep it in my pocket."

"Ron, can I have a look at that copper coin?"

"Huh?" Ron hesitated for a moment, showing a look of reluctance, but he still held his hand with the copper coin before Karen. Karen reached out and took the copper coin.

There was no unusual sensation; the material was indeed copper, engraved with the portrait of an empress. However, it was impossible to tell if she belonged to the history of the Kingdom of Rhine; after all, it could also be an ancient copper coin circulated from another country, or even a mass-produced children's commemorative coin from an amusement park.

But just as Karen continued to scrutinize the copper coin,

he suddenly felt a liquid dripping onto himself.

Looking up, he discovered it was Ron's saliva;

Originally, Ron had been leaning over the edge of the coffin,

but at this moment, his gaze was vacant, his eyes devoid of life, and saliva kept drooling down from the corner of his mouth as he began to mutter:

"My money... my money... my money..."