novelraw Chapter 148 The Priest’s Secret
Chapter 148 The Priest’s Secret
Clack.
The officer who had just come to report hadn’t even left when another officer pushed the door open. “Officer Liu, we found this in the boiler room at Donghai University.”
He shook a yellowed notebook in his hand.
Everyone turned to look—
“A diary?”
Officer Liu took it, flipped through it briefly, then handed it back. “Give it to the task force. Have them sort out any useful information.”
Jiang Ran immediately stepped forward. “Officer Liu, can I take a look?”
“That’s not possible.”
Officer Liu waved his hand. “This is key evidence from the suspect. We can’t just let outsiders see it.”
“But I’m not an outsider!”Jiang Ran pressed on. “I’m one of the parties involved. If necessary, I can even serve as a witness.”
“I talk with Old Tian all the time. If I see something in the diary, it might remind me of details I didn’t think of earlier—I could help supplement your investigation.”
Old Tian… had kept a diary.
This was a perfect opportunity—to understand the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets, to understand the Priest, to understand everything behind this.
Maybe all the questions filling Jiang Ran’s mind right now… could be answered in that diary.
Such a rare chance—how could he let it go?
He had to push for it.
Officer Liu scratched his head, hesitating for a moment, but Jiang Ran’s reasoning made sense. “Alright.”
He turned to the officer who had just come in. “Take Jiang Ran to the archives room. Let him review the diary together with our staff.”
“But remember, Jiang Ran—no photos, no recording. And once you leave, you cannot disclose anything you saw.”
“Understood.”
After exchanging contact information with Officer Liu for future communication, Jiang Ran followed the officer to the archives room.
The staff first opened the diary page by page, photographing it under a document scanner for archival purposes. Then the original was handed over to professional officers for analysis, while Jiang Ran viewed the scanned images on a computer.
It was standard evidence protection procedure. Jiang Ran understood—he didn’t care whether it was the original. As long as he could read what Old Tian had written, that was enough.
Clicking the mouse, page after page.
The diary was clearly old. The earliest entry dated back seven years—when Old Tian was still in the northeast, not long after his wife had died from drinking pesticide.
The entries that followed were intermittent—sometimes a whole year would pass without a single line. He wrote only when he felt like it, a few sentences at a time.
Old Tian only seemed to write when he was in a bad mood, under pressure. So the diary was filled with negativity—but it also made his hardships painfully tangible.
The turning point came two years ago.
That was the first time the words “Mutual Aid Society of Regrets” appeared in the diary.
At first, Old Tian was extremely resistant to it, calling it a scam—even suspecting it was a cult.
But after several entries, over the span of a few months, his attitude underwent a complete reversal. He became a devout believer—deeply reverent toward the “Priest.”
After that came the assignment from the Priest—his infiltration into Donghai University—until the date of the “Divine Punishment” was set—
And finally, the last entry.
A farewell to the world.
Click.
The mouse advanced to the next page.
Nothing appeared.
That meant—
he had reached the end.
“It seems… Old Tian had planned to take his own life from the very beginning.”
That much was clear from the diary.
Jiang Ran couldn’t even judge what kind of behavior it was. Cowardice? Escape? Selfishness?
Old Tian had known he was doing something wrong. The most frequent words in the later entries were: “I’m sorry.”
And yet—
he still chose, resolutely, to trade his own life—and Qingjie Han’s life—for a brand new life for his vegetative daughter.
At this point—
Jiang Ran had no interest in judging right or wrong.
Because Qingjie Han was already dead.
Old Tian was already dead.
But—
[…] some people were still alive.
Some people—those so-called benevolent, loving “Priests”—were still shamelessly alive.
“They must be made to pay.”
Jiang Ran clenched his fist.
[He had to uncover the truth. That was the prerequisite for protecting himself—and the key to bringing the real mastermind to justice.]
He had more information than the police.
And he still had the Killer from 2045, who had told him everything.
No matter where the Priest and the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets were hiding—
he would find a way to uproot them completely.
Afterward, Jiang Ran said goodbye to Officer Liu and left the Donghai City Public Security Bureau.
From last night’s incident until now, he hadn’t rested. His thoughts were a mess.
“Find somewhere to sit… and sort this out.”
He took a taxi to a quiet café, chose a corner seat, ordered a cup of strong black coffee, and closed his eyes to think.
First—
reconstruct Old Tian’s story in chronological order—
1. More than ten years ago, Old Tian’s daughter, Tian Xiaoli, fell from a rooftop and became vegetative. This was the turning point of his life. Soon after, his wife committed suicide from depression, leaving just the father and daughter.
2. Two years ago, Old Tian came into contact with the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets. At the time, he believed it to be unreliable—a scam, even a cult.
3. A few months later, Old Tian became a devout believer of the Priest—fanatical, utterly convinced of his power.
4. On July 21, Old Tian received a mission: after the new semester began, go to Donghai University and kill a teacher named Chonghan.
5. The date of “Divine Punishment” was set for September 16. Old Tian mentioned that the Priest valued ritual—often choosing dates in advance. Notably, earlier entries also mentioned April 16 and November 16.
After laying it all out—
two things stood out immediately.
Point 3.
And point 5.
“Old Tian went from skeptic to fanatic… in just a few months.”
Jiang Ran analyzed, “Which means that during that time, he must have personally witnessed other believers’ regrets being fulfilled.”
“And those regrets weren’t simple things like money, power, or relationships. Because by the end, he worshipped the Priest as an omnipotent being.”
And then—
there was Fang Yang.
Highly intelligent, highly educated—
yet equally loyal, equally convinced.
Which led to an unavoidable conclusion—
[The Priest doesn’t just make empty promises. He really can fulfill wishes.]
A chill ran through Jiang Ran.
He recalled the doctrine of the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets:
To compensate life’s regrets. To fulfill any wish.
Until today—
he had doubted it.
He had refused to believe that, on a physical level, anyone could truly achieve that.
But—
when he had just heard, in the police station, that Tian Xiaoli had awakened—
in that instant—
his worldview had shaken.
How was that even possible?
Did the Priest possess something like the Positron Cannon—something that could alter history through time reversal?
No.
Tian Xiaoli’s awakening involved no change to history.
If it had been Jiang Ran’s method—
they would have sent a text message to the past, warning Old Tian to go home, preventing the fall—
changing the worldline.
That made sense.
That was logical.
But what about the Priest’s method?
There was no logic.
No explanation.
It was brute force.
Without altering history at all—
he had, right before everyone’s eyes—
made someone the entire world believed would never wake up—
wake up.
“This kind of power… is terrifying.”
Jiang Ran felt a rare sense of disorientation.
If the universe was still scientific—
still governed by physics, order, and reality—
then how had the Priest done it?
And yet—
even now—
Jiang Ran did not believe the Priest was truly omnipotent.
Because he had already realized—
If the Priest were truly omnipotent, why would he need followers?
He could do everything himself.
“Which means—there must be a secret. Something scientific, something rational… cleverly disguised as a miracle.”
Clack!
Jiang Ran set his coffee cup down.
Yes.
That’s it.
In that instant, everything clicked.
The Priest—
was still just a human being.
Limited.
His so-called omnipotence—
must be the result of an elaborate illusion.
In other words—
a trick.
And that led to the second anomaly.
Jiang Ran thought back to point 5.
The 16th.
[The 16th of every month.]
When fulfilling wishes, compensating regrets—
the Priest almost always chose the 16th.
“This… can’t just be about ritual.”
“If it happens every month on the 16th… then that day must be special.”
Jiang Ran wasn’t completely certain.
Because the day Fang Yang poisoned Zhou Xiong—July 21—followed no pattern.
“But on that day, the reward wasn’t extraordinary. Just money.”
“So maybe… when the Priest uses normal methods, he doesn’t need to wait.”
“But when the wish exceeds logic—exceeds reality itself—he schedules it for the 16th?”
In that instant—
Jiang Ran felt like he had glimpsed the truth.
And yet—
one question remained.
“Why the 16th?”
“What is so special about that day?”
That was the only unresolved contradiction.
“I’ll ask the Killer in 2045.”
Once he returned to school—
he would activate the device—
and go back to the prison.
The Killer had been a long-time member—possibly even core.
More information from him—
might be enough to help the police dismantle the entire organization.
After finishing his coffee, Jiang Ran stepped onto the street.
“Better safe than sorry.”
He watched the crowd moving through the intersection, murmuring to himself.
That film company—
the one that had paid a sky-high price for his script—
could it be connected to the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets?
If it was—
then he had likely already been targeted.
No doubt about it.
If they had targeted Zhou Xiong for his phone, Lilith, and the coin—
then they would certainly target him—
for his phone, Lilith, and the script.
The only difference—
was that Jiang Ran had no physical object.
But everything else—
matched perfectly.
“Sigh… if I’d known, I wouldn’t have written that script for the film club.”
But regret was meaningless.
He had come this far.
There was no point hesitating or looking back.
He took out his phone, checked the time.
“Too early to go back to school.”
After thinking for a few seconds, he stepped to the roadside and opened a taxi door.
“To Donghai University First Affiliated Hospital.”
If Tian Xiaoli—
had truly awakened—
then he had to see it himself.
Just how—
did this “return from death” happen?
“And is it… the same as Xiaoxue’s ‘return from death’?”
Jiang Ran rested his chin on his hand, thinking of his childhood friend.
Xu Yan still hadn’t replied about the investigation in the United States.
But it should be soon.
Her mysterious boyfriend—
never disappointed.
He could wait a little longer.
“Xiaoxue—”
Jiang Ran looked out at the passing scenery.
“What secrets… what answers… are you hiding?”