"I didn't know then that I would never see Sister Hind again."
Sister Zoe lay prostrate on the ground, her face buried in the back of her hands, crying bitterly.
Luo Sheng stepped down from the preaching platform and came to her. Looking at the old woman crying like this, he felt a mix of emotions. He just couldn't bear to see kind people cry.
If evil people weep like that, he would only think they are crocodile tears; they are not repenting, but simply knowing they are about to die.
Sister Zoe's life was coming to an end. These words had been accumulating in her heart for who knows how long, but no one could listen to her. They finally erupted uncontrollably at the end of her life.
“I wanted to visit her in prison and find Sister Hind, but the bishop said I was too deeply seduced, so he sent me and a priest to a small town in South America to preach.”
“I am surrounded by regret every day, and I even think about ending it all.”
Five months passed, and just when I was about to end my life, I received a letter from Sister Hind.
“She’s out of prison and told me to live a good life. She said that after being kicked out of the church, she can finally call me her daughter.”
"I wept uncontrollably as I looked at Sister Hind's handwriting, my tears soaking the letter."
"I was hoping to finish my missionary work in South America as soon as possible and return to France to see her."
“Since then, I have received two letters from Sister Hind every year, and we greet each other and learn about each other’s lives.”
“I receive it every Christmas and on my birthday, which is the day I met Sister Hind.”
"But the missionary work was delayed again and again, and ten years had already passed in South America."
“I thought I would finally be able to see her, but when I found the address, I was told that Sister Hind had left many years ago.”
"It took me a year to find out that Sister Hind had passed away several years ago."
"After she was released from prison, she tried to work, but every time she found a job, she would be fired after only a few months because people found out that she was an evil woman who liked to incite people to commit crimes."
"In the end, she could only end up on the streets and become homeless, but even so, she still spends so much money every year to send letters across half the world."
"In the end, she died in a corner of the park because she was sick and had no money to go to the hospital." Sister Zoe was too sobbing to continue.
When grief and regret reach their limit, one is unable to utter a sound.
She shakily took a plastic-sealed envelope from the pocket of her nun's habit. Opening the box, she found crumpled sheets of paper with frayed edges, indicating that they were the only ones she had left to read.
“I can’t imagine how much love Sister Hind must have had for me when she wrote her last letter. Lord, I regret it so much. I wish I hadn’t been so frightened that I couldn’t speak and had confessed my sins aloud.”
As she spoke, she carefully opened the letter.
The writing on it was broken and the characters were particularly distorted.
[Zoe, my daughter, happy birthday! Did you have a good time? Live happily forever, your loving mom.]
Artoria and Jeanne d'Arc possess powerful senses; they can see the words on the letter even without getting close.
'Such profound love, I feel like crying.' As a Catholic saint, Joan of Arc could feel the deep emotions expressed in that letter, and her eyes welled up with tears.
From the emotions expressed in the letter, she saw a thin, bony middle-aged woman with dry, dusty hair, hunched over a park bench, trembling as she wrote with a leaky ballpoint pen, only to lick the pen tip in her mouth halfway through because she couldn't write anymore.
Artoria gazed at the letter from afar, feeling emotions she had never experienced before, even as a queen who had fought on battlefields and built a kingdom.
Can the love of ordinary people really be so profound?
Is this the standard by which the Master selects heroes? It's completely different from the standards of her time.
'Only heroes who understand love and pass it down through generations can truly love everyone.' Los Saint glanced at Artoria and communicated with her telepathically through Command Seals.
Los Saint asked gently, "Sister Zoe, is it over?"
Zoe looked up, her aged face already wet with tears: "No, no, Father, my sins are not over yet."
Chapter Twenty-Seven: This is the Holy Light of a Miracle!
"When I learned of this outcome, I felt like I had lost my soul. I even considered suicide, but Sister Hind wanted me to live."
“A year later, I returned to the small town in South America and was sent to a monastery to serve as a guardian for abandoned children for the first time. I was 27 years old at the time.”
“Every day is still like being a walking corpse, just mechanically fulfilling the obligation of baking bread and preparing hot water for the children.”
"There weren't many children, only about twenty, but I didn't even remember their names."
"Until one day, a boy tugged at my sleeve and timidly asked me, 'Can I call you Mom?'"
At this point, Sister Zoe's eyes, filled with tears, revealed compassion.
"He was timid and afraid, afraid that my cold rejection would pierce his empty soul with something unseen."
“Memories from long, long ago flooded back. When Sister Hind brought me to the church, I also tugged at her sleeve and asked her the same question.”
"At that moment, I understood what Sister Hind felt for me back then. I couldn't hold back my tears and hugged the boy, crying very sadly."
"I went back to my room and read Sister Hind's letters one by one. Each letter was filled with her deep love for me and her high expectations for me."
"She didn't want me to be sad and in pain because of her; she wanted me to live happily."
“In the days that followed, I carefully wrote down the name of each child. They were all abandoned children, just like I had been. I wanted to love them as Sister Hind loved me.”
"However, the number of children in the church is increasing, and although the money allocated by the main church has not decreased, it is no longer enough."
“Watching the children’s bread dwindle every day, I’m so anxious I can hardly breathe. It’s not just here; it’s the same in other churches. The main church has run out of money to distribute.”
"In the end, I had another evil thought." She lowered her head deeply as she said this.
Los Saint sighed, knelt down, and gently placed the Bible on her head. This signified that God was listening to the believer's confession; do not be afraid, He will forgive you.
In South America, and even back then, two or three decades ago, gangs, rebels, and local armed forces were in complete chaos, and countless children lost their parents or were abandoned.
No matter how much money the Vatican provides, it's not enough.
Since the end of World War I, Catholicism has undergone changes. Although various problems still exist internally, it has generally become more like a public welfare organization.
The funding mostly comes from voluntary donations from two billion believers worldwide and government spending in European countries. After all, churches bear the responsibility of adopting abandoned children, and national parliaments have to contribute to the cause.
The remaining funding source is the ticket revenue from opening the Vatican to tourists.
“Looking at the children who were growing, I broke my vow of poverty for the second time and started learning to knit sweaters, which I then secretly took out to sell for money.”
"Lord...please forgive me, every time I see the children's hunger, it feels like countless knives are cutting into my flesh." Sister Zoe wept bitterly. If it were Sister Hind, she would have done the same.
"Even if I do my best, I can only add one more egg for the children each week. I feel sorry for the children."
Los Saint's eyes shone with a golden light, and his intense emotions caused Sister Zoe's brainwaves to become very active, allowing him to see a large number of memories.
In a small, simple room in the monastery, a nun was clumsily knitting a sweater by candlelight. Her hands were already marked with many pricks from the wooden knitting needles. By the time she had finished knitting a little, it was already bright outside the window.
She carefully put down the ball of yarn and came to the statue of the Virgin Mary, clutching the cross necklace and repenting painfully, but when she saw her sleeping children, she was filled with maternal love.
"Zoe's mom..." a little girl murmured in her sleep.
"Mommy's here," the nun said softly, gently stroking the little girl's head.
"Six years later, the cathedral finally discovered that I was knitting sweaters to sell for money and ordered me to leave the cathedral and return to the Vatican to face divine judgment."
“I can’t bear to leave the children. I know that this parting may be forever, and I will be stripped of my nunhood and may end up on the streets like Sister Hind.”
"So I lied. I told them that I was fed up with them, that I hated children, and that I was going to leave them behind and go home."
“It hurts my heart to say those words to them; it feels like I’m going to faint from the pain.”
“When I returned to the Vatican, I thought I would be put on trial, but the Pope pardoned me and only allowed me to repent daily in the monastery.”
“During the seven years I spent in the monastery in penance, I missed them constantly, wanted to write to them, and wanted to know if they were doing well.”
"At that time I understood how much Sister Hind missed me after we were separated."
"Because I had two stains on my record, I was sent here by the church as an unclean nun to cleanse myself of these stains."
“I thought I would spend the rest of my life alone in this church, but ten years ago the Anglican Church (the British Religious Authority) sent a child to me and asked me to raise him.”
“She is Eleanor, who guided you, Father. I have once again taken on the responsibility of adopting children.”
"Her appearance brought light into my dark world."
"Later, more and more children joined the church, and now there are eleven children."
"It seems to be a test from God. The number of children is increasing. Although the church is providing more money and food, as the children grow up, bread and milk alone are no longer enough to provide them with adequate nutrition."
"In order to add meat to my children's diet, I broke my vow of poverty once again and started weaving clothes to sell for money."
"Lord, I am truly unforgivable, but if I had to do it again, I would do it even if it meant going straight to hell."
Sister Zoe straightened up, holding the crucifix in her hands, and pleaded.
"Young priest, I am terminally ill and about to face God's judgment."
“But I still can’t let go of the children, especially Eleanor.”
“She is an adult, and according to the Vatican’s doctrine, adult children should leave the church.”
“But Eleanor cannot survive properly in this world on her own. If she leaves the church and loses her job, she will definitely end up on the streets.”
"I beg you, young priest, please allow her to stay in the church."
Looking at the pleading old woman, Luo Sheng said gently, "But they still can't live without you."
“I don’t want to leave them either, but my life has come to an end and I can no longer love them.” Sister Zoe’s face was full of love and reluctance.
“You can still continue to love them. Great love should not end in tragedy, Sister Zoe. If there is a God in this world, He will never let this love leave so easily.”
Looking at the old nun before him, Luo Sheng stretched out his hand, his eyes already radiating golden light as he activated his source potential. The Eye of God at his waist emitted a blue light, and the symbolic pattern of the water element appeared.
A golden and aquamarine light appeared in his hand; this was the special energy light emitted by the fusion of his bioelectricity and water element.
The body uses bioelectricity to stimulate cell regeneration and eliminate abnormal cells, and then uses water elements to heal and relieve pain.
Sister Zoe's expression was blank, her moist eyes reflecting the miraculous figure radiating holy light; those golden eyes were filled with divinity.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The First Signs of the Monster in Britain
Sister Zoe stared blankly at the priest holding the holy light before her.
Under the holy light, it felt like returning to a mother's embrace, and the body, which was in constant pain from the torment of cancer, was enveloped in warmth.
The body no longer hurts, and the soul, which was already scarred but still full of kindness, seems to be healed by the warmth coming from the body.
“Lord…” Sister Zoe looked at the young priest before her, who was full of divinity, and couldn’t help but speak.
The soul, which had been curled up in the darkness and covered in wounds, was pulled out by a hand radiating warm holy light.
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