Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 201 Counterattack
One hour later, on the third floor of the Great Library.

Jincheng paced back and forth in the dim basement, his face full of anxiety.

"It's chaos. The whole city is in chaos."

"Those brainless followers are all spreading things about 'strange signs'. No matter how hard we try to suppress them, they can no longer be suppressed."

"Zhang Tao has already rebelled. How could he rebel?"

"He was once one of the most loyal commanders of the Guards Brigade and even had the chance to be promoted to bishop!"

"But now, he has turned to the Chinese Army."

"How dare he refuse my edict!"

"He actually dared to use the power of the Chinese Army to reject my edict!"

"This is unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable"

Seeing that Jin Cheng's expression was close to madness, the black-robed archbishop beside him quickly stepped forward to hold him back, and after taking him to a chair and sitting him down, he spoke to comfort him:

"Perhaps, Zhang Tao is not a betrayer."

"He may just be coerced by those heretics. In fact, even he himself seems to be extremely panicked."

"This should not be something they planned in advance, but those heretics chose him."

"But this doesn't change the fact that he has betrayed me!"

Jin Cheng said sternly:
"The moment the heretic battle machine stood behind him, he had already betrayed me!"

"We must react and the betrayers must be punished!"

"But what can we do?"

The Archbishop sighed solemnly and then said:
"We are not strong enough to fight them. Even if we know they want to force you to give up your position, we have no way to do anything."

"No!"

Jin Cheng interrupted the Archbishop and his expression suddenly became calm.

"We have a solution."

"I know what they want."

"What they want is a stable Jinling City. Otherwise, they wouldn't have put so much effort into helping Zhang Tao take the top position."

"They won't attack us directly because they are worried that once the Mechanicus loses control, the entire Jinling City will fall into chaos."

“That’s their weak spot.”

“That is why it is impossible for them to take the path of armed subversion.”

"Their tricks may fool the common people, but they cannot fool the Guards Brigade or the most loyal believers in the temple."

"As long as we insist on not giving up our position, their plan will not be able to go forward."

"What we need to do is to unite the core believers to deal with their impact."

Having said this, Jincheng paused.

After thinking carefully for a moment, he said:
"We must find ways to win over everyone we can - at any cost."

"In addition, we have to prove that we are not the 'sinners' they claim we are. On the contrary, Zhang Tao is the sinner."

"Also, my safety must be guaranteed. I have a feeling they have arranged a trial for me."

"But I absolutely cannot accept this kind of trial from heresy."

"From today on, I will never leave the Great Library again."

"This is the safest place in the entire Jinling City. Find a way to seal it off and not allow anyone to enter or leave."

"This is not enough. We must find a way to bind my status to the entire Jinling City."

When Jin Cheng finished speaking, the Archbishop's eyes changed slightly.

He didn't know what "bind up" meant, but he could see that Jincheng's intention was obviously that once he was pulled down from the throne, the entire Jinling City would be buried with him.

This is a good choice.

But the question is, how can this be done? ?

Bury the entire Jinling with gunpowder?
What a joke, how can the church have so much gunpowder?
Even if there were, there would be no time to deploy them.

The opponent's plan is already set in motion, and they will definitely not leave the saint too much time to react.

Any "physical" binding will not work, but if it is bound by faith, the other party is already ahead.

"I can't think of any good solution."

"Originally, the binding of faith is our biggest trump card, but if the other party does not want to shake the foundation of faith, but only wants to 'replace' it."

"Then we must prove the injustice of those who were replaced."

Jin Cheng slowly said:

"It is impossible for believers of the Holy Trinity to accept an unrighteous person ascending the throne of saints. No matter how rare the 'miracle' is, as long as the miracle is directed at the unrighteous, then the so-called miracle can only become a heretical trick."

“This is the core binding.”

"They accused me of being a sinner, but they had no evidence."

"Failure and mistakes are never evidence of 'unrighteousness'; apostasy and blasphemy are."

"I need to know now. Do we have any evidence of Zhang Tao's blasphemy?"

"Maybe not."

The Archbishop shook his head, but soon turned around and asked:

"But does it matter?"

"Yeah, does it matter?"

A smile finally appeared on Jincheng's lips.

He took a long breath and then said:
"These Chinese soldiers may understand machinery, but they know absolutely nothing about faith."

“This is our winning card.”

“Many years have passed, and countless people have wanted to dismember and bury this great church, but faith has connected us together time and again, helping us through crises.”

"This time, it's the same."

"We must make them understand that the most powerful weapon in the world is not their unmanned machines, nor cannons or bullets, but our faith."

"Go ahead and list the evidence of the traitor's crimes."

"I think you should know what to do."

"I know."

The archbishop bowed slightly, and when he stood up, he asked again:
“But I want to confirm one more thing.”

"Sir, do the evidence we need include those Chinese soldiers?"

"Do not."

Jin Cheng said firmly:
"On the contrary, we need to let all the people of Jinling City know that those 'Supreme Saints' are also victims."

"They were equally deceived by the traitors, and they were equally ignorant of the truth."

"This is not only for our own safety, but more importantly, I want to let those Chinese soldiers know who is the real power."

“I want to let them know that only I can give them what they need.”

"Want stability? I can give it to them."

"But when I'm not willing to give alms, they must not come and rob me!"

"Otherwise, even if we both perish, I will make sure they get nothing!"

After Jincheng's plan was formulated, the archbishop quickly summoned the most core church members and conveyed instructions to them.

Soon, the Mechanicus' counterattack also came quickly. The Archbishop's strategy was exactly the same as the one formulated by He Shao.

They also did not happen through any "official channels" of the church, but instead spread rumors about the "unrighteous" in secret.

Perhaps they also know that in this world, among ignorant civilians, rumors are often much more credible than "testimonies" from top to bottom.

Thus, a piece of news quietly spread in Jinling City.

When the sun rose the next day, merchants, civilians, mercenaries, and even prostitutes were all discussing the same topic.

"Have you heard? The sinner has been found."

"He is an unrighteous man who betrayed the Adeptus Mechanicus."

"What kind of unjust person? How should I know?"

"I heard that the blood flowing in his body is no longer pure."

"No, I heard that he blasphemed the Machine Soul, causing it to leave us."

"Now, the Holy One has returned with the Machine Soul, and the returning Machine Soul has also pointed out the sins of the unrighteous."

"Who is it? Who is the unjust one?"

"I don't know, but perhaps the commander of the 15th Guards Brigade is the chosen judge."

"He? Why should he?"

True and false news are intertwined, but none of the news has a clear direction.

And this is exactly where Jincheng’s brilliance lies.

From the very beginning, he did not make a big fuss to oppose the "visions" created by He Shuo. Instead, he used the force to his advantage and used it as a judgment on the "unrighteous."

Obviously, the people who have long been brainwashed by religious ideas will fall for this.

But this alone is not enough.

Their motivation is still far from enough.

The church must give them more reasons.

More reasons to “keep exploring.”

Then, news about the disaster caused by the unjust people gradually spread.

Those secret records that had never left the Great Library seemed to have become bedtime stories circulated publicly on this day.

It only took one morning for many people in Jinling City to memorize the story of "the unjust brought punishment from heaven, leading to the destruction of Chuansha City."

Of course, there are also stories such as "The unjust Zhang He was killed by the saint with the sacred spear of destiny" and "The unjust betrayed the saint and was buried by the most loyal Knight of the Holy Trinity."

Some of these stories come from doctrines and scriptures, while others appear out of thin air.

However, no one has ever doubted the authenticity of these stories.

Even the most devout believers only doubt that they do not understand the doctrine well enough and that there are omissions in the complex historical research.

After all, how could anything related to the church be fake?

Besides, everything that has been circulated so far is completely in line with the doctrine.
So, within a very short time, everyone firmly believed that the evildoer had indeed appeared.

He just hasn't been found yet, hasn't been punished yet.

But who is he?

All eyes were focused on Zhang Tao again.

He became the legendary "Judge", and everyone placed their hopes on his quick action. Everyone was eagerly waiting for him to identify the unjust and put an end to them before the Holy Trinity, thus avoiding the possible "divine punishment".

However, the more eyes focused on him, the more about him was revealed.

His resume, his identity, his childhood experiences, the battles he organized
Gradually, different voices began to emerge.

No one knows where the first question came from, but someone did ask the crucial first sentence:

"Is he really worthy of being the Judge?"

Maybe, not worthy.

Some people said that he once lost hundreds of elite soldiers of the Guards Brigade in Jinghai due to command errors, but that did not seem to be a mistake, but a sacrifice to heresy.

Some people say that his blood has been contaminated by monsters and even his mind has become abnormal.

Some people also said that the crisis of the siege of Huadu was related to him, otherwise how could he arrive at that "coincidental" time?
More and more people began to doubt Zhang Tao, but no one doubted the source of these rumors.

Unconsciously, public opinion about Zhang Tao had reversed.

Compared with previous speculations about him, the "truth" after the reversal seems to become more credible.

He has already established himself as an "unjust person".

He has become a sinner who has deceived the Holy Trinity, deceived the Church, deceived the saints and the God of all things.

No one knows why.

Fanatical believers simply blamed all the suffering on him and demanded that he give an explanation and prove his innocence.

And when such voices become more and more, it seems that no explanation is necessary.

The believers put down their work, gathered in front of the church and shouted slogans, as if the end of the world would come immediately if their voices were lowered.

"Judge the unjust! Calm the wrath of the God of All Things!"

"The unjust must be punished! Please, Most Holy Trinity, listen to the wishes of the faithful!"

"Saint! Pray to the God of All Things!"

"Please, Most Holy Trinity and Most Holy Eighty-one, bring justice to the loyal subjects of the God of All Things!"

"Stand up, you unjust ones! Accept your fate!"

The noisy sounds echoed throughout the city of Jinling, and a riot had already occurred.

But at this moment, the Mechanical Temple did not respond.

The saint simply sent out his most loyal guards and praetorian guards to the streets to maintain order and suppress the angry residents.

However, faced with the gradually gathering of more than a thousand believers, the crusaders who were unable to use weapons finally began to feel overwhelmed.

The situation is about to get out of control, like a building about to collapse.

At this point, the church finally "had to" respond.

The archbishop dressed in black walked out of the hall of the Mechanical Temple with a solemn expression, raised his hands high, and stood in front of the crowd.

Then, his voice was amplified countless times through a magical mechanical device that the public could not understand.

“The Most Holy Trinity teaches that believers should not slander good people, nor forgive sinners.”

"No lynching shall be resorted to without trial in a tribunal."

"Regarding the fact that the commander of the 15th Guards Brigade is suspected of being an unjust person, the Inquisition is still investigating."

"Before the court makes its decision, please pray and wait for the news."

"The Inquisition follows the Holy Trinity and will fight against all heretics, aliens and evil spirits until they return to the Kingdom of God."

"At this point, although the investigation has encountered obstacles that are difficult to describe, the Tribunal will continue its efforts."

"In addition, all soldiers of the Guards Brigade are people favored by God with devout faith and good character."

"I think they will not hesitate to show up and prove their firm belief and clean family background."

Having finished speaking, the archbishop turned and returned to the church.

The next moment, a tsunami-like shout surged towards the headquarters of the 15th Brigade of the Guards Brigade where Zhang Tao was stationed.

"Self-proven faith!"

"Prove your innocence!"

(End of this chapter)