You're my wife, don't doubt it!

The car was the same one that Yu's parents had used to pick them up for dinner last time, and the people who came to pick them up were still the same two bald men in black clothes and sunglasses.

As soon as Xiao Yao got on the bus, the bald man took out black blindfolds and handed them to them, indicating that they should cover their eyes. With the black cloths covering his and his friends' faces, the whole world was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Should we do this, Brother Bo?" Xiao Yao said.

“Father Yu isn’t in the car right now,” Xiao Yao heard the bald man’s voice. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen. It’s just a matter of protocol.”

Yu Luying didn't say anything, but Shen Jie also had some complaints and grumbled a few times. Since no one paid any attention to her, she stopped talking.

The goggles were very tight around his eyes, and Xiao Yao felt considerable pressure on his eyeballs, which wasn't very comfortable. The car swerved and twisted, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, as if it were intentionally going in circles.

And so it drove on... well, I don't know how long it took, but the car finally slowly turned off and came to a stop.

It seems like we've driven quite a distance downhill? Xiao Yao wondered.

“That’s right,” Yu Luying replied.

Sure enough, after the two bald men politely helped the three little ones remove their blindfolds, Xiao Yao found himself in... a private underground parking lot?

"Please!" "Please!" The two bald men respectfully opened the car door for the three children, helped them out of the car, and led them to the elevator in the corner of the parking lot.

The parking lot wasn't very big. As the three children walked, they curiously turned their necks and looked around.

“I always feel like I came here when I was a child, when I was very young…” Yu Luying’s voice rang out from the bottom of Xiao Yao’s heart.

"Really? This isn't your Yu family's old house or something, is it?" Xiao Yao thought to himself.

"...I'm not talking to you."

"Hmph, I wasn't talking to you either."

"..."

The five of them took the elevator to the third floor, and the three little ones, led by the two bald men, entered a large, antique-style room.

It wouldn't be quite right to call it antique; the room doesn't actually have any luxurious decorations, and could even be described as quite simple and plain.

When Xiao Yao was a child, when he visited distant relatives at the "township" or "village" level, their homes were mostly in this style, which could be described as "old-fashioned" in a sense.

When they saw Yu Bo standing with his hands at his sides on one side of the room, the three children all breathed a sigh of relief and felt much more relaxed.

At the far end of the rectangular room, a tall man who had been standing with his hands behind his back in front of the bookshelves turned around.

“Welcome,” the man said in broken Chinese. “I am Karl Schödering, and you must be Mr. Xiao Yao, right?”

"It's me, it's me, hello." Xiao Yao nodded and greeted him politely.

This tall foreigner appeared to be nearly 1.9 meters tall, with a broad forehead, high cheekbones, and a well-defined jawline, making his face look as resolute as steel. He wore glasses, had pale skin with almost no wrinkles, and looked to be in his forties.

The man's eyes were a deep blue, like two gemstones. Thick, black hair covered his head, slightly curly, making it appear neat and substantial. He had a high nose bridge, well-defined lips, and a subtle, enigmatic smile.

“Miss Yu Luying, I held you when you were a little baby, you probably don’t remember.” Karlschderlin winked at Yu Luying: “You’ve grown so much, time flies.”

“Uh…” Yu Luying blushed deeply, feeling a little embarrassed and unsure how to respond.

“You must be Miss Shen Jie.” Karl Schderin turned to Shen Jie.

"Father Karl...Father Karl, hello." Shen Jie bowed slightly.

“Father? No, no, no, I’m not a priest.” Karlschderin was taken aback, then clapped his hands and burst into laughter.

No wonder Shen Jie mistook him for a priest—the foreigner was dressed in a pure black outfit that accentuated his tall stature, with wide sleeves that flowed like a black waterfall, and a beautiful cross pendant hanging around his neck.

“Mr. Shi is a single member of our Guangye Association and also my superior contact person,” Yu Bo introduced from the side. “He just came all the way from Ma’anshan.”

“Guangye Association…” Xiao Yao murmured the name.

A little weird.

“I still prefer the translation ‘Mingye Watcher’,” Karlschdellin laughed. “It has a special, Eastern rhythmic beauty—however, a name is just a name, a symbol, and it doesn’t matter at all.”

Shen Jie nodded and said, "Mr. Karlsch... you are German, right?"

“Karlschderling, as I said, the name doesn’t matter, just call me Mr. Schersch.” Karlschderling laughed loudly, “Ah yes, my ancestors came from Austria, but I was born in Portugal and have worked in Macedonia for many years—why are we still standing? Please sit down, please sit down.”

Yu Bo and the two bald men remained standing, while the three little ones hesitantly sat down with Karl Schdelerin.

Shen Jie spoke a string of Spanish to Karlschdellin, who found it amusing and replied in Portuguese. The two had an encrypted conversation for a short while.

"What are you talking about?" Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie in a low voice.

“As I just said,” Karl Schering ended his encrypted call with Shen Jie, switched back to Chinese, crossed his legs, and the smile slowly disappeared from his face: “Names are not important. To me, whether it is a person’s name, an organization’s name, or a country’s or nation’s name, these are not very important, because we should be like light, naturally and silently blending into the crowd.”

When Karlschderin spoke, he would glance upwards, his voice deep and powerful, exuding an aura of authority without anger.

"Like light, silently?" Xiao Yao didn't quite understand.

“Many people think that only shadows can hide themselves, which is an obvious mistake,” Karlschderling explained. “Often, light is like air, lurking around us, yet we take it for granted, take it for granted, and ignore it. Just like the light in this room, you don’t pay attention to where it comes from; you only look for it when you lose it.”

"It gives off a feeling of a great hermit living in the city?" Xiao Yao said, looking at Shen Jie and then at Yu Luying.

“The Gospels say, ‘You are the light of the world; a city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light shine before men—this is the purpose of us, the Watchers of Brightness, to be the light among men,’” Karlschdellin said.

"So this is a Catholic organization?" Xiao Yao asked. "I thought you would even accept monks."

“Monk?” Karlschderin didn’t understand the word and glanced at Yu Bo.

“A monk,” Yu Bo explained, “one of my offline assistants.”

“In fact, it is indeed a Catholic organization,” Karl Schering nodded, “but our assistants can be anyone from any religious background, anyone who is willing to become our assistant in order to fight against the threat of the shadow and the influence of Freemasonry.”

"Shadows, Freemasonry...?" Xiao Yao felt increasingly confused as he listened.

“Mr. Shi,” Yu Bo said, “why don’t we start from the beginning and tell them slowly?”

“I’ve always had a question,” Xiao Yao raised his hand to ask, “The Shadow World and the Shadow, are they naturally existing, or are they products of some kind of human intervention, magic? ...witchcraft, manifested?”

“You asked a very good question, which hits the nail on the head,” Karlschderin said happily. “Where there is light, there is shadow. As a reflection of our human mind, shadow and its world naturally exist.”

“But they’ve formed such a close, intimate connection with our world, opening channels—that must be some kind of unnatural interference, right?” Xiao Yao guessed. “For example, what you mentioned…the Freemasons?”

Chapter 332 Sleepless Watch

2023-09-23

“But they’ve formed such a close, intimate connection with our world, opening channels—that must be some kind of unnatural interference, right?” Xiao Yao guessed. “For example, what you mentioned…the Freemasons?”

Karlschderin was slightly surprised and glanced at Yu Bo, who shook his head, indicating that he had not said anything.

"You are very intelligent," Karl Schdelerin said sincerely.

Shen Jie and Yu Luying glanced at Xiao Yao simultaneously, both thinking to themselves, "Well, so the teacher wasn't just being polite when she praised you for being smart."

"What is the Freemasons' purpose?" Xiao Yao shook his head and said, "To destroy the world?"

“That’s not necessarily true,” Karlschdellin shook his head. “Perhaps it’s just a vain ideal of a world where any means are justified.”

Xiao Yao, Shen Jie, and Yu Luying looked at each other, their eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

“Blunt evil cannot unite such forces,” Karlschderin spread his hands, shrugged, and shook his head in a series of gestures. “So whatever their true purpose may be, they must give their actions a high-sounding name, and even in their own hearts, they truly believe that what they are doing is the right thing, for a noble purpose. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Xiao Yao nodded, “I understand this very well.”

"Isn't it just that everyone has different stances and beliefs?" Shen Jie interjected.

“Of course, of course,” Karlschdellin nodded, “but if their actions threaten the world and risk the loss of life, we cannot stand idly by.”

“Of course, that’s right,” Xiao Yao nodded politely in agreement.

A pedantic thought suddenly popped into his mind: Could it be that the people who think they are doing the right thing, for a noble purpose, are actually you... or even us?

Just as Xiao Yao was trapping himself in the snare of moral nihilism, there was a gentle knock on the door. Yu Bo quickly went to open the door, and Xiao Yao looked back to see him take a tray filled with a sumptuous feast from outside the door, turn around and hand it to a bald man, and then take another tray of food from outside the door.

"Now that things have come to this, let's eat!" Karlschderin clapped his hands, stood up, and said boldly.

After reciting the pre-meal prayer, Karlschdellin personally poured red wine for the three children and the others: "This is a wine made in Portugal. Although I wouldn't dare say it's the best in the world, you're all welcome to try it—ah, wait, are you all adults yet?"

“It’s alright,” Yu Bo said, taking a sip of his wine. “The Chinese don’t really care about this.”

“Oh!” Karl Schdellin made a very surprised expression.

“But we have other forms of political correctness,” Yu Bo explained.

“Oh!” Karl Schärlin continued, shrugging and spreading his hands in a row: “Every place has its own right.”

Lunch was held in a relaxed atmosphere. Karlschdellin was very talkative and good at enlivening the atmosphere, making everyone at the table laugh.

“Working in Mackay is good,” Karlschdellin said. “With my pass, I can travel more freely inland, unlike other priests and celibate members who often have to use the 72-hour layover to visit our friends.”

Xiao Yao thought that Karl Schderin's Chinese was fairly fluent, but it had too much of a formal, written feel to it, and he still hadn't quite mastered the four tones.

"It's already pretty good, isn't it?" Yu Luying silently replied to him in her heart.

“Unfortunately, I might be transferred to the Philippines later,” Karlschdellin said. “My work here will be taken over by someone else—that would be troublesome.”

"No, no, no, celibate members are not monks. We are lay people. We also participate in social labor. We live in the secular world just like everyone else."

After some casual conversation, the topic turned to the real issue of the Freemasons' threat.

From Karl Schdellin's words, Xiao Yao learned that the Vatican had long regarded Freemasonry as its mortal enemy.

“In 1738, Pope Clement XII issued an order prohibiting Catholics from joining Freemasonry, and violators would be expelled from the Church,” Karlschdellin said. “The first Freemasonry was established in England in 1717, and Freemasonry is the church of the devil.”

Xiao Yao secretly stuck out his tongue.

“During the French Revolution, Freemasons learned in secret places to cut off the heads of the dead, put the heads on swords, and parade them in their secret places,” Karl Schöderling said. “When the French Revolution had begun, then Freemasons cut off the heads of the dead in the public streets, put the heads on swords, and parade them in the public streets!”