Chapter 84 Chapter 83

A few flashlights are far from able to illuminate the boundless darkness in St. Peter's Basilica.The space above her head was suppressed like a starless night, and Victoria felt as empty as the uninhabited sea.She hurried on, following the Pope's chamberlain and the Swiss guards.High in the sky, a pigeon cooed a few times, and Pu Lala flew away. The Pope's servant seemed to sense Victoria's uneasiness, so he stepped back and put his hand on her shoulder.Victoria suddenly felt a real force. The man seemed to have some kind of magic power to calm her down, which she needed now to finish what they were about to do.

What do we want?She was thinking, Tong Zhi was crazy. However, Victoria knew that even if it was blasphemous and terrifying, this task must be completed.The Pope's chamberlain needs to know something to make a big decision, and that information is buried in a sarcophagus in a Vatican crypt.She didn't know what they might find.Did the Illuminati really murder the Pope?Is their influence so powerful?Am I really going to perform the first-ever papal autopsy?Victoria found it surprising that being in this dark church frightened her more than swimming with stickfish in the dark.Nature is her refuge because she understands nature.But the things about those people and gods baffled her.The media out there are like those piranhas playing tricks in the dark and eating people.Those two branded bodies on TV always reminded her of her father's dead body...and the killer's piercing laugh.The killer is out there somewhere.Victoria felt her anger overshadow her fear.

They walked around a post—a pillar thicker than any mahogany she could have imagined. Victoria saw an orange light ahead.The light seems to be coming from under the floor in the center of the church.They got closer and she realized what it was.That is the famous underground sanctuary under the main altar-the luxurious basement where the holiest relics of the Holy See are stored.They came slowly to the gate that surrounded the opening, and Victoria stared down at the golden box below, surrounded by glowing oil lamps. "The bones of St. Peter?" she asked, though she knew very well.Everyone who comes to St. Peter's knows what's in that golden casket.

"Actually, no," replied the pope's chamberlain. "Everyone has misunderstood. It is not a reliquary. It contains some white wool shawls - the pope gave to the newly elected cardinals." Woven sash." "I thought--" "Everyone thinks so. The tourist brochures say it's St. Peter's Tomb, but his real tomb is two stories below us in the dirt. The Holy See excavated it in the forties. No one Don't go down." Victoria was stunned.They stepped out of the bright alcove into the darkness again.She thought of the pilgrims who had come all the way to see the golden casket, imagining in their hearts that they were with St. Peter. "Shouldn't the Holy See tell people the truth?"

"We all got a sense of being in communion with the gods and benefited greatly from it...although it's all illusory." Victoria, as a scientist, would not argue about this.She had read countless research articles on placebo therapy—aspirin for cancer, and patients who believed they were taking a miraculous drug.What exactly is faith? "It's not wise to make some changes in Vatican City," the pope's chamberlain said. "Acknowledge the mistakes we made in the past and modernize. This is something we've avoided throughout history. The pope has been trying to change that," he said. After a pause, he continued, "I hope to cross over into the modern world and seek new ways to know God."

Victoria nodded in the dark. "Like science?" "Honestly, science has nothing to do with it." "Irrelevant?" Victoria immediately thought of many words to describe science. In the modern world, there is nothing irrelevant to science. "Science can save or kill, it depends on the soul of the person who uses science, and it is this soul that calls me deeply and attracts me," "Then when did you hear this call?" "Long before I was born." Victoria looked at him. "Sorry, that seems like a weird question. What I'm trying to say is that from the moment I started thinking about it, I knew I was going to dedicate my life to God. Even though I was a hairy guy in the military at the time, I never That’s when I really knew what my life’s ambition was.”

Victoria asked in amazement, "Have you ever been in the army?" "After two years, because I didn't want to use a weapon, they made me learn to fly, to fly an emergency helicopter. I actually fly occasionally now." Victoria tried to picture in her mind the scene of the young priest piloting the plane, and she felt strangely his perfect handling and excellent flight, and the Ventersk pope's chamberlain had a gritty, courageous air about him. highlights his beliefs. "Have you ever flown for the Pope?" "Never, we leave this distinguished guest to a professional pilot, but in the past the Pope sometimes let me fly the plane to Gandolfo's palace." He paused and said, "Ms. Wittler, thank you very much for today Help here, I do feel very sorry for what happened to your father."

"thanks." "I never knew who my father was, he died before I was born, and I lost my mother when I was ten." Victoria looked up. "Are you an orphan?" A feeling of sympathy arises spontaneously. "I narrowly escaped death in an accident and my mother's life was taken away." "Then who raised you?" "It is God," continued the pope's chamberlain. "God has indeed sent me another father. A bishop from Palermo appeared at my bedside and took me in. At that moment, I was not at all Surprised. When I was a child, I felt that God was paying attention to me, and the appearance of this bishop just confirmed my previous guess, that God chose me inexplicably."

"Do you believe God has chosen you?" "I believed in the past, and I still believe in it now." There was no trace of boasting in the Pope's servant's tone, only infinite gratitude. "I worked under the guardianship of the bishop for many years. Later he became a cardinal, but he still hasn't forgotten me. He is the father in my memory." A beam of flashlight hit the face of the pope's servant, Victoria I noticed a trace of loneliness in his eyes. The group of them came under a tall pillar, and the light gathered in an underground entrance.Victoria looked down at the staircase leading to the empty cavern, and suddenly wanted to go back, but the guards had already escorted the Pope's chamberlain down the stairs, and then they came to help her.

"What happened to him?" she asked as she descended the stairs, trying to keep her voice calm. "What happened to the cardinal who took you in?" "He left the College of Cardinals and took another role." Victoria was surprised. "And then he passed away, which was really sad." "May his soul rest in peace," Victoria asked again. "Is it a recent death?" The Pope's chamberlain turned, the anguish on his face becoming more pronounced in the shadows. "Exactly fifteen days ago. We're going to see him now."