Chapter 16 first quarter

The next day, Father Samson was still missing.Hiraga left Roberto, who was sleeping, to go to the chapel. Julian was already preparing at the altar. He should leave the village where the dengue fever outbreak broke out early in the morning.But Kidd hasn't come back yet.Julian smiled as soon as he saw Hiraga, and he motioned Hiraga to sit in front of him, which was Samson's seat. The other priests breathed a sigh of relief when Julian returned to church. Julian presided over morning prayers.The long-lost voice is clearer than before, as if calling for an angel to descend from the zenith to the chapel, and even the bronze statue of Jesus, the protagonist, has become nothingness. Here, the bishop is a holy object more sacred than everything else.After the end, Bishop Julian, who stepped down from the altar, spoke to Hiraga.

"Is Father Roberto's condition very serious?" Julian must know that Roberto is not a common cold. He said this out of consideration for others' eyes. He continued to say politely, "If you need my help, please feel free to ask." "Okay, I'll trouble you again." In an emergency, Hiraga could only ask him for help, so he answered honestly. "Is the dengue-endemic village okay?" "Most of the villagers are sick. I can only vaccinate those who are healthy, and give prescriptions for antipyretics to those who are sick. But I am worried about children and the elderly, and I don't know about Samson's condition..." Julian lowered his eyes, his face grave.

"That's right, and everyone seems to be very afraid of the spirit sacrifice. May I ask what is the spirit sacrifice?" Julian said with a shallow smile, "The origin of the god sacrifice is actually that people hope to get plenty of rainfall before the rainy season, and pray to the water elf army Keba." "I've heard Jun Keba's name, what kind of elf is he?" "He is a golden serpent, and the Yellow Umbrella Festival may be its prototype. It is said that Junkeba is the first son of the earth, with seven heads, ruling the sky, the earth and the water. One of his heads often spits out a very poisonous , No one in the world can match him. Jun Keba was arrogant by nature and tried to seize the throne of the Emperor of Heaven, but he was struck by lightning and fell to the ground. They all gathered here, begging Junkeba to drop the first drop of water of the year-this is a local myth, and the original ritual culture has been abolished now... It seems to be banned by the government, but when the San Carmelite Church was founded , the records show that god sacrifices were still held in various places, and the ritual process was not the same, but one of them was particularly controversial, that is, offering tribute to the gods. -"

"Using humans as tribute?" Hiraga felt terrified.Satan can take the form of a snake, and if the snake in the local mythology refers to Satan, and Roberto is attacked by the yellow umbrella festival of Jun Keba's incarnation, this coincides with John's prophetic poem. There seems to be ominous omens faintly flowing behind these events. "Mostly babies are sacrificed, but Catholic missionaries who come to the local mission sometimes die because of this. Because believers in the Faith Army Keba believe that sacrificing pagan believers will make their gods happy, so the missionaries avoid going out on the night of the god sacrifice. .”

"That's why Father Eleanor said that the elves will parade on the ground today and tomorrow, and we will be killed as soon as we go out. It turns out that this is the reason why we have not left the church for a long time." "Exactly, their words may be grotesque, but there is a reason behind them." Julian defends them. "I see..." At this moment, Hiraga coughed loudly and turned back to the topic, "About John Jordan..." "What's wrong?" "So far we have not found the reason why the body did not decompose." "yes?"

"Can the body be removed from the coffin for further examination?" Julian showed a embarrassed expression, "May I ask what inspection is required to remove the coffin?" "I wish I could undress the corpse and check the whole body, and then check the condition of the large intestine." After hearing Hiraga's explanation, Julian was taken aback. He pressed his eyebrows and closed his eyes, and whispered in Sem, "Please teach my Lord..." It seemed that he was talking to the Lord and listening to the instructions of the robe.After all, Julian has the appearance of an angel and beautiful divinity, so it is not surprising that he can talk directly to gods or angels.Soon, Julian sighed deeply, drew the sign of the cross on his chest, and looked directly at Hiraga with emerald green eyes:

"Okay. I didn't want Mr. John's holy corpse to be naked, but you are the one who asked, and the Lord will surely accept it. But can I be present? This is the only condition." "Of course." Pinghe replied without hesitation. "Moving the body out of the coffin and taking off the clothes, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for just the two of us, so we can find a few priests to help. Samuel and Joshua are young and strong, can we ask them to help?" "Okay, I would very much like them to come to assist as well." "When will it be done?"

Hiraga looked at his watch and counted the time when Roberto finished his drip. "It will be ready in thirty minutes..." "Okay, I'll get ready now. Meet me at the tomb in thirty minutes." Julian nodded and left. When Hiraga returned to his room, Roberto was still resting.After confirming that there was only one-third of the drip left, Hiraga immediately packed up the tools for examining the body.He took out a 30-centimeter-long, flexible cotton swab from his luggage, and then took out a new petri dish and placed it on the table with the culture solution.Twenty-five minutes passed, and Roberto's drip ran out. Hiraga put on a new drip and went to the grave.When they got to the tomb, Julian, Samuel, Joshua, and Peter were already there.Peter turned the censer filled with rich frankincense, and chanted prayers.That was a unique tune never heard in the Vatican.

Pinghe walked up to Julian puzzled, and the other party whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry, when he said that John was going to be carried out of the coffin, Peter said that doing such a thing during the spirit sacrifice might bring bad luck, so be firm." Watch and pray." "So that's how it is." A large piece of kenaf cloth is spread in front of it, sprinkled with colorful flower petals. "Now take the body out of the coffin and put it on the cloth." Julian gestured to Samuel and Joshua with his eyes.He was the first to open the door of the tomb, and he went in with He He and the others.The tomb was very hot. "I, Father Hehe, are responsible for moving John's head, and Samuel and Joshua will be troubled by the feet. Please be careful not to hurt the body."

Following Julia's reminder, the four carefully lifted the body.John's body was still flexible, and it was easier to carry than the stiff and cold body, but the body was heavy and heavy, and it took a lot of work to lift it up, which was really hard.They carried the body out of the coffin and out of the grave, as was customary. Some time ago, Pinghe could only observe John's body in the dark. Now, in daylight, the other party should look more like a corpse buried in the ground, but the picture in front of him was beyond his imagination. Bathed in the sun, John He didn't look like a dead person at all, his limbs were soft, as if he had just stepped into the hall of death not long ago, no, it should be said that he just quietly closed his eyes and slept peacefully.

"Please take off John's clothes." Following Julian's instructions, Samuel and Joshua carefully undressed the corpse.Peter continued to spin the censer and sing prayers.These preparations took nearly an hour.Then, the corpse was finally naked. The skin from the neck to the wrists of the deceased was sunburned, but the area covered by the clothes was whiter, and the black and curly chest hair showed vitality.According to John's hair color, skin color, and the prophecy poems left behind are almost all written in Italian, he may have been born in Italy. Hiraga took photos of the body from various angles, observed the details, and was surprised to find that there was a cross-shaped granulation on the bottom of John's feet.Because the body had been wearing shoes before, he only discovered it now.The mark on it was exactly the same as the stigmata on John's palm. "Bishop Julian, what is this?" Julian sat next to Hiraga to observe the pattern. "It's a stigmata. The phenomenon of stigmata occurred on John's palms and soles, and there were cross cracks oozing blood on them. After stopping, you will see a clear cross shape like this." "Yes," said Samuel, "we've all seen Mr. John bleed." Joshua nodded vigorously. It's an incredible phenomenon of stigmata.Normally, the wound would be sunken after healed, but John's skin was obviously swollen, and the skin around it turned white.Like a bas-relief of the cross—what caused this?Hiraga thought while rubbing the swollen skin, the skin of the cross was harder than other parts and had residual elasticity.But he couldn't think of a reason for a while, so he could only continue the next inspection.He told Samuel and Joshua to turn John on his side, then took a cotton swab and inserted it through the anus of the corpse into the large intestine.The priest was taken aback, and couldn't help but draw the sign of the cross, his eyes wandering.Hiraga collected the fungus in the large intestine with a cotton swab, took it out and put it in a plastic bag. "It's over." Hiraga announced. Julian took out the sesame oil pot and opened the lid.The sweet jasmine fragrance spreads immediately.He approached John, prayed to the Lord and anointed the whole body with the oil.This is to separate John from the world and not to be polluted by the world.Samuel and Joshua also helped to apply the oil. After that, everyone dressed John.First the jacket, then the pants, and finally the shoes.At this time, Hiraga noticed footsteps approaching from behind, and saw Roberto as soon as he turned his head. The friend finally woke up.He walked over slowly, with a gloomy expression. "Roberto, you should stay in the room and rest for a while." "No, I'm fine." Roberto turned his head to look at John's body, his pupils sparkled with strange flames.He walked towards John step by step, staring intently at his face, as if confirming something, then he lowered his voice: "John, Jordan was by no means a great seer or a saint, and I will prove it." He walked out of the grave after speaking.Hearing this, Peter looked displeased. "I know it's offensive to say this, but people who are traveling with you will definitely be punished for saying such things." "Please don't talk nonsense, Father Peter." Julian scolded Peter. "Don't worry about it, just carry the body back to the coffin." According to the cooperation mode just now, Hiraga and Julian raised the head, Samuel and Joshua were in charge of the feet, so that John's body lay back in the coffin safely.After it was over, the priest sighed in relief.Julian looked up at the clock. "It's past ten o'clock, please go back to work. It's lunch time." After disbanding on the spot, Pinghe prepared to return to his room.He left the crypt and walked into the grassy walkway. After leaving the walkway, he saw that in the building where the bedroom was located, the door of Kidd's room was ajar, and then closed again.Is Kidd back?still…… Hiraga returned to the dormitory with suspicion, but as expected, Roberto was nowhere to be seen, and he sneaked into Kidd's room.Hiraga sighed and sat in front of the table. He took out a cotton swab from the bag, and there was something like black mold attached to it.Hiraga dipped the cotton swab into the culture solution and poured it into a Petri dish. Thirty minutes passed.He stained the cultured bacteria with a cover glass and observed it under a microscope. He saw glucose and mannitol molecules that have not yet been decomposed, but could not find coliform bacteria, and coliform bacteria cannot reproduce and survive in nature outside the intestinal tract. Therefore, it can be said that John's current intestinal tract is different from the general human body environment, or it is in his body. There was no such mundane thing as coliform bacteria?Hiraga shook his head vigorously.There can be no such thing.All in all, the coliform bacteria that contributed to the decay of the body were all dead.He used the microscope's camera to capture such results. The wall in front of the desk was covered with photos and notes of inspection results. Hiraga chased the information from above and was completely confused by the illogical current situation.Stigmata on John's hands and feet and a shiver ran across his chest. A perfect corpse without decay...John, who was smeared with sesame oil to isolate himself from the world...could it be a miracle this time... While he was pondering this idea silently, the lunch bell rang.Hiraga left the room, quietly went to Kidd's door, and listened carefully.He heard some murmurs, and Roberto didn't seem to come out yet. Hiraga knocked on the door, "Roberto, is it Roberto? What are you doing?" After a while, the other party answered in a low voice, "I'm investigating John's prophecy poem. It takes a little more time, so leave me alone." "Aren't you going to eat lunch?" "I still feel a little uncomfortable, please help me convey that I can't eat." "I see." Hiraga reluctantly went to the church.

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