New Gods of North America

There's a saying in the martial world:

If someone is familiar with one or a few crime methods, they might be a criminal who has committed crimes.

Knowing a dozen or so methods might just mean they are a fan of detective stories.

But if they understand dozens or even more methods of committing crimes, the most reliable guess would be—they are likely an experienced police detective.

After roughly inquiring with Tom Hagen,

Wayne learned that when the Church of Light attempted to infiltrate the Holy Spirit Church during the colonial period, they had studied forbidden arts similar to "soul replacement" in some depth.

It's said that the initial research began on the Old Continent, but obviously, the environment there wasn't "as good" as the New World at the time.

The Church of Light's development in the New World was quite good at the time, so the Holy Spirit Church also gained a lot.

In addition to confiscating related items, they also obtained a pile of researchers' notes.

"So, soul replacement is actually possible?!" Wayne was a little shocked.

Tom Hagen seemed to think Wayne's reaction was a bit dangerous, and his gaze was somewhat direct as he stared over:

"The Church of Light had cases that could barely be called 'successful.' But it used very strict conditions, with requirements for the 'transferrer' and the 'transferee's' domains. Perhaps because of their faith, they researched the 'holy' domain of extraordinaires the most, and also believed that the 'holy' domain might best meet the conditions.

"However, according to the researchers' experimental records, even in the very few 'successful' cases, the survivors were no longer the 'same person' as before, but a stranger with most of the 'transferee's' memories.

"Moreover, they all quickly lost their minds, with the longest time being no more than three months—back then, the church used that madman to reverse-engineer the Church of Light's hideout.

"They believe that the main difficulties are two: one is to completely erase the original will in the transferred body, and the other is to maintain the 'transferee's' soul intact. It seems that as long as there is a slight mistake in these two points, it will eventually lead to the collapse of the soul. Theoretically, it is indeed feasible."

Wayne thought about the current development of the Church of Light,

If there was such a useful method, they probably would have successfully parasitized a long time ago, "but in reality, it's simply impossible?"

Tom Hagen nodded. "Free will is a gift given to humanity by the Holy Spirit. To fundamentally shake it through external force requires the participation of a being with a very high position, and it will obviously consume a lot of extraordinary power. The Church of Light couldn't do it back then, and the remaining remnants are even less likely to do it now."

Wayne said "oh," and didn't continue to ask for details.

He didn't expect that old man, Pastor Peschel, was so bold that he dared to try such a thing, and judging from the details of this "high-end technical exchange," he even seemed to have "colluded with the enemy."

"You don't want to continue to understand it?" Tom Hagen asked.

Wayne shook his head, not to mention the meaning behind the words "very few" and "survivors."

Just looking at the fact that neither the Holy See nor the Holy Spirit Church has used this method to extend the lives of their top leaders, one can guess that at least this plan is not reliable—there are no records of directly changing from an "old man" to a "young man."

...

Tom Hagen left the office with Wayne's guess, saying he was going to report to the Bishop.

Wayne waited inside for about half an hour, thinking that he might get some contribution or reward for this discovery.

Unexpectedly, after Tom Hagen returned, Bishop Corleone assigned the "whole thing" to him.

"The Bishop's meaning is to let your detective agency continue to investigate this matter and strive to find substantive evidence as soon as possible.

"I will also have someone reverse-identify those potions you sent to the Cathedral to confirm whether they can erase souls—I remember you seemed to have said that Pastor Peschel had some students in the academy taking potions regularly?"

Let us, a private detective agency,

Investigate a proper pastor of the church?

Wayne felt that something was wrong, "Shouldn't internal investigations like this be specifically handled by the Cathedral or the parish church in Georgeberg?"

"If it were under normal circumstances, that would be correct."

Tom Hagen did not deny it. "However, this involves the Church of Light. The Bishop believes that since you discovered the clues, the corresponding gains should naturally be obtained by you. If others were to intervene instead, it might not be fair to you."

You're kidding me. Even Inessa said that extraordinaires outside the church who absorb extraordinary materials from the "holy" domain would be ostracized.

A Church of Light, a Pastor Peschel, no matter how you look at it, the detective agency has no way to directly detain their extraordinary materials...

Wayne tentatively asked, "If we harvest extraordinary materials from the 'holy' domain, can we exchange them for materials from other domains?"

"If it's in this matter, I don't think there should be any problems," Tom Hagen replied.

That's a little better...

Wayne roughly understood some of the church's routine practices and prohibitions during internal investigations from Tom Hagen, trying to get some kind of investigation warrant from the Cathedral.

But Tom Hagen said that this kind of thing couldn't be issued, and only asked Wayne to investigate as secretly as possible, saying that if a conflict occurred, the people from the detective agency didn't need to worry, and the Cathedral would intervene in time.

Hmm...

It always feels like something is wrong.

...

Back at the detective agency, the three partners gathered together for a small meeting.

Inessa seems to have basically recovered now,

At least when Wayne came back, he saw her "sunbathing" in the shade of the yard, instead of still hiding in the small wooden house "soaking in the bath."

As soon as Lina heard about something that could openly deal with a pastor of the Holy Spirit Church, she seemed very enthusiastic,

Volunteering to say that she could take people to try to find evidence in the academy church.

Wayne didn't doubt Lina's professional level, but because he had already sneaked in once before,

He felt that he had probably already "alerted the snake," and didn't have too much hope for it. He could only remind Lina to pay attention to safety and not get caught.

Inessa and Lina had been to the academy so many times before, and had also attended several dances locally,

If they were caught this time and didn't have a suitable reason, then saying they weren't from the detective agency wouldn't be a good excuse...

Inessa was still worried about the situation at Cohen Pharmaceuticals, and felt that from a cautious point of view, they still couldn't relax their vigilance too much for the time being.

The "secret investigation" of the main force should still be carried out during the day as much as possible, and at night, they should still try to ensure that the basic manpower of the detective agency is in place.

So the three of them discussed it a little,

Wayne would spend the next few days taking Seth to re-examine the students in the academy,

Inessa and Lina would each investigate according to their own methods.