New Gods of North America.

Chapter 432 "Mentor"

Although everyone suspected that the two letters were coded, it seemed that it would take too much time and effort to decipher them. If a code book was required, it would probably be impossible to decipher them.
However, if we look at it from a more abstract perspective, and speculate from the perspective of "character logic", some things seem to have already taken shape.

Macken Reeve was not a freshman in the college. Although his interpersonal relationships and family situation were not completely known, his classmates had heard of him a little.

The target of the missing person notice and the cover letter sent to other places seemed to have nothing to do with him. Seth, who was pulled over to confirm the situation, was also sure that he had never found any connection between McCann Reeve and South Carolina before.

Because the things were brought here by a follower, Wayne first took the two letters to find Reverend Tyrell.

On the one hand, let the leader of the southern pastors confirm whether these things are the communication codes between their gangs.
On the other hand, it was also a timely notification of progress, indicating that Wayne was now cooperating with him in good faith - that follower would definitely not hide it from Pastor Tyrell. At most, it was inconvenient to contact him directly and the news would be slightly delayed. So Wayne might as well be more self-conscious.

Reverend Tyrell's statement was almost consistent with Wayne's speculation. He couldn't understand the content of the missing person notice. Among the high-ranking clergy in Georgeburg, the one who had relatively close ties with South Carolina was indeed Reverend Pycelle.
Wayne briefly mentioned the name of the "soul-changing ceremony" to test it, and Reverend Tyrell quickly made the connection and thought that Wayne should have found someone who had private contact with Reverend Pycelle.

It seems that this ritual is not a secret to the bigwigs in the Exorcist Association, but it is indeed not common, at least not a "default option".

Perhaps because he thought Wayne looked relatively reliable at the moment, or perhaps because he wanted to "kill with a borrowed knife", Reverend Tyrell also revealed some previous inside information. For example, the reason why he went to the detective agency to rescue the two peripheral members of the Exorcist Association last time was actually because of Reverend Pycelle's request.

But what surprised Wayne a little was that Reverend Pycelle claimed at the time that Luke Matthew was his illegitimate son, so the people from the Exorcist Association went there secretly, originally planning to carry out the mission of "rescuing the deceived and ignorant young master."

Wayne was shocked when he heard this. How old is Reverend Pycelle, and how old is Luke Matthew now?

Even if it is true, Reverend Pycelle is still very strong despite his age.

Fortunately, this kind of thing is not difficult to disprove. The positions of pastors do not change frequently, and their public resumes are clear in the church. Luke Matthew is now a temporary resident of the detective agency.
By comparing the experiences of both sides, we should be able to get a preliminary answer soon.

After coming up with a rough idea, Wayne asked Sanders to go back to the detective agency and then went to look for Tom Hagen.
If we extract keywords, there is another person who is related to "the previous manor" and "South Carolina", and a Reverend Norton.
Priests from other archdioceses do not accept direct management within this diocese, but this does not apply to cases involving heresy. Tom Hagen quickly ordered people to confirm the situation. If the other party is still within Virginia, they will be controlled first.

By this time, many things seemed to have been successfully connected.
The detective agency's last escort mission was inexplicably targeted when passing through South Carolina. It seemed that that old priest Pycelle might have done a lot of secretly.

Let's go back to the case itself. Assuming that the "Soul-Swapping Ceremony" existed and was indeed effective, many of Pastor Pycelle's previous actions can be explained.
First, he screened his targets among the students and waited for his chance to strike, then he tried to rescue Luke Matthew when he was abducted, and finally, perhaps, he temporarily activated the backup plan.

Thinking further, if it was Reverend Pycelle's will that was at work, then the two letters from Mackenreif would only be sent to people that Reverend Pycelle could still trust at this time.

It is understandable to contact blood relatives from other places. Even if they are unwilling to reveal the secrets of the heretical rituals, if they just say that helping Mackenree is his "last wish" before his death, it is estimated that blood relatives will support him.

But posting a missing person notice in the local newspaper is quite interesting.

Since he is a trustworthy person and seems to be local, the most convenient way is definitely to contact him directly.

Unless the other party is not convenient now - the suspicion points to the pastors who are temporarily "staying" in the church.
Or maybe the other party's whereabouts are unknown now - the suspicion points to a heretic of the light like Mr. Weisman, or the murderer who is responsible for silencing people in the manor.

Wayne thought about it and put a question mark next to "Bright Heresy", thinking that the probability was low.

Judging from the situation at the manor, if Reverend Pycelle had successfully completed the ritual and burned down the main house, but deliberately left the statue of the evil god behind, it seemed like he had "achieved his goal and was trying to cut off contact."

Since he himself is not a devout believer of the evil god, and Wayne deliberately had his followers disguise themselves as heretics of the light when "assassinating" Macon Reeve, it would be a bit unreasonable for Macon Reeve or Pastor Pycelle to try to contact the heretics of the light. However, no matter what the situation is, the letter sent to South Carolina must be detained first, and as for the missing person notice, it must be published in the newspaper.
In order to avoid any accidents, after Tom Hagen finished reading the letter, Wayne put it back in the same condition as possible and had someone send it back to the previous mailbox, and then watched it quietly.

Tom Hagen also instructed his staff to avoid any accidents as much as possible and ensure that the letters could be delivered to the newspaper according to normal procedures.

The two of them didn't even dare to ask someone to urge them or help with the delivery, because people can secretly contact each other in many ways. The person the other party wanted to contact might be the postman responsible for picking up the letter, or it could be any link in the delivery process.
Anyway, according to the razor theory, "do not add entities beyond necessity."

Now that the clues have been almost exhausted, the safest approach is to maintain the status quo and watch quietly, and then use static to control dynamics.

……

"Teacher, teacher, are you here now?"

In the college dormitory, Mackenzie Reeve kept calling out to his "mentor" in his heart while carefully opening the textbook at the corner of the desk and secretly flipping through the exorcism book placed under the textbook.

Although Wayne did not consider himself "McCann Reeve", in his own opinion, eliminating those unnecessary guys, such as "York", "Washington", "Georgia" and so on, was actually a process of constantly "perfecting himself".

Although the potion given by the priest Pycelle in the academy tasted bad, it also gave him the opportunity to become complete. If the so-called "master personality" had not been loosened, he would not have had the opportunity to secretly get rid of the extra guys one by one in his dream.

Unfortunately, I had just been reborn, but I didn't know how I was suddenly "possessed".
After waking up outside the dormitory door for unknown reasons, I found myself in a state of panic, when there was someone claiming to be my teacher.

The original "McKen Reeve" was a weak believer, but he did not dare to ask the church for help at this time, fearing that the exorcists would be as suspicious as the nosy Wayne.
Then you can only rely on yourself.

This "mentor" seemed to be an evil spirit. Macon Reeve could feel his daily mental exhaustion significantly increasing and his body seemed to be getting more and more tired, but he couldn't get rid of it.
There were many half-true and half-false theology and exorcism books in the academy's library. He could only quietly borrow the version he thought was the most reliable, and then try to find a solution in secret.

Fortunately, the "mentor" was not always by my side, which gave me the opportunity to save myself.

There was a sudden stinging pain on his scalp, as if something was sucking his brain. Mackenree loosened his grip, and the textbook fell again, covering the exorcism book underneath.
Then he tried to act unaware and pretended he was rummaging around.

An old and weak voice seemed to ring in his heart, "Have you done everything I asked you to do?"

"Yes, teacher." McKen Reeve also responded in his heart.

He currently did not dare to disobey the "mentor", even though he felt that following the "mentor's" wishes might put him in a dangerous situation.
But he chose to continue to obey for the time being.

"That's good……"

The "mentor's" voice seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. Just as Mackenree was about to ask a question, his head seemed to be pierced by countless steel needles at the same time.

When he opened his eyes again and sat up from his desk, his "mentor" seemed to have disappeared again.

Macken Reeve continued to call out "Teacher" in his heart, and slowly reached for the textbook with one hand.
His eyes felt a little blurry, and Mackenreif rubbed them lightly twice, and found that he had smeared a deep red color with a sweet and fishy taste.

(End of this chapter)