At the entrance of the tent, a staff member wearing a Vought uniform used a scanner to verify the card in Wade's hand.
Another staff member then pulled back the railing and cleared the passage: "You're good to go, miss, please come in."
In the very center of the tent stood a confession booth, ornately decorated with carved railings and painted pillars.
Wade noticed that everyone coming out of the booth was in an abnormal state: some were covered in tears, needing support as if they were about to collapse; some were flushed and panting heavily; and others had blank stares and unsteady steps.
She pricked up her ears, her brows twitching: 'There's no sound inside. It can't possibly be some broad-daylight debauchery, can it?'
Half an hour later, a nun nearby called out softly: "Next, Miss Vivian. You have ten minutes."
"Understood." Wade nodded, pushed open the side door of the confession booth, and sat inside.
In the cramped space, he looked up and could vaguely see a dignified figure with a curvaceous body sitting high behind the grille opposite him.
"Welcome, lost lamb," a soft female voice came out. "Please put your hand through the hole by the grille and open your heart; the Lord will forgive you for everything."
Wade did as instructed. The humanoid shadow opposite lifted a leg, and a cold toe tapped onto her hand.
Buzz——!!
A blast of blazing white light surged into her mind. Wade did not resist, allowing it to pull her into a mental space.
When she regained her senses, the scene had suddenly changed.
Beneath her feet were soft clouds emitting a faint glow. Golden floating temples stood all around, and face reliefs appearing on the walls drifted within an ethereal hymn.
Above her head, an angel with twelve pure white wings of light hovered in the air. Each slight flap of the wings scattered specks of light dust.
"Oh?" The angel looked down, her voice carrying multiple echoes. "It's you, that little girl Annie's little girlfriend."
"What is it? Is she unable to satisfy your inner cravings, or... have you done something shameful that requires confession to me?"
Before the words even finished, countless white feathers shot out from the void, gathering toward Wade's body.
"Open your heart, child. Give me your trauma, your desires, and all your shame. In the name of the Lord, I shall cleanse your soul and eliminate the filth of your body and mind..."
"Stop playing god." Wade raised her hand to wave away the white light feathers, and her long-restrained mental power suddenly erupted. "I don't have any faith, and I certainly don't like looking up at people!"
Before her voice faded, the clouds beneath her feet began to churn and expand violently, instantly turning into a solid, boundless black earth.
Her body expanded rapidly; her legs turned into mountain ranges, her torso became a landmass, and her head surpassed the so-called heavens in an instant.
The temples that had seemed grand just a moment ago were now like toy blocks at her feet.
That twelve-winged angel, in front of her now, was as tiny as a moth emitting a faint glow.
The angel let out a terrified shriek: "Wh-what... your mental power?! This is impossible..."
She flapped her six pairs of light wings, releasing a powerful white mental shockwave.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the majestic mental field manifested beneath the giant's feet, it only caused a few ripples.
Wade slowly raised one palm and lightly clenched it toward that "moth."
Crack——
The mental heaven constructed by the Holy Mother was crushed by an invisible force, instantly becoming covered in cracks.
The hymn stopped abruptly. The temples collapsed into basic mental particles, and the clouds dissipated, revealing the endless dark void outside.
Only the angel remained completely imprisoned in place. Her twelve light wings were twisted and broken by invisible forces, letting out a piercing mental wail.
Countless physical golden chains pierced out from the void, wrapping around her layer by layer.
The Holy Mother began to cry out from within the constantly vibrating golden sphere: "Hehe... as expected, I knew Annie had finally wised up."
Ignoring her completely, Wade tried to use the mental chains to assimilate her white mental light and forcibly read her memories.
After trying for a long time, she found that the white light was filled with countless chaotic and twisted desires, greatly increasing the difficulty of assimilation.
The Holy Mother resisted with all her might, roaring: "Are you here to vent for her? For those old, trivial matters?"
"Don't be so childish. How many years ago was that? Besides, I didn't go looking for trouble with your Annie."
"It's just convenient." Wade tightened the golden sphere and said coldly, "Tell me everything you know about the collusion between the Church and Vought."
"Hmph, so it's you clowns who want to cause trouble! Do you dare to do anything? Homelander is outside. If anything happens to me, you'll be the first to die!"
Wade swallowed the golden sphere whole into her abyssal maw and muttered: "Why would I kill you? Isn't it better to just imprison your consciousness? Who would fight to the death for a vegetable suspected of having a seizure?"
"Argh——!" The Holy Mother let out a painful wail. "Stop, stop biting! I was only following the orders of the Church and Vought. I was forced into this too!"
"Do you think I want to sit here all day, satisfying the disgusting desires in these people's heads? I..."
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Just then, a series of urgent knocks pierced through the barrier of the mental world, and a nun's voice came through: "Your Excellency, there is 1 minute left. The next believer is already waiting."
Time waits for no one.
Wade could not read the vast amount of hidden memories from the Holy Mother. Making a quick decision, she directly erased this short segment regarding the interrogation.
She followed up by filling in a segment of "Vivian's" sincere confession of a shameful past experience, then severed the connection.
Wade withdrew her hand, forced an abnormal flush to her cheeks, and with sweat pouring off her, walked out of the confession booth.
From inside the booth, the Holy Mother's raspy voice came out, "I'm a little tired. Inform those behind... today's consolation ceremony is... suspended for now."
Meanwhile, under the concerned gaze of the staff, Wade left the tent with staggering steps.
She found a deserted corner, leaned against a tree trunk, and immediately calmed her abnormal physical signs.
Although the mental exchange had been forcibly interrupted, in that final brief collision of memories, she had captured three key images:
A dark room, the Holy Mother enveloping a group of young boys in white light, while several old men in red clerical robes handed over boxes of items.
At a mysterious ceremony, a group of monks in purple robes stood in a circle, injecting a blue drug into several women with slightly bulging bellies.
The "Paragon" Wade Whitman stood on a pulpit talking grandly, while the believers before him bowed their heads like lambs; the Holy Mother stood behind her wearing a mask, a smile on her lips.
Wade rubbed her forehead and whispered: "These filthy things really are in cahoots... It's time to go to the Gospel Church and get some more concrete evidence from those old men."
Suddenly, someone pulled her over and chuckled: "I've been looking for you for ages! Come on, follow me to the sharing seminar."
Wade followed closely behind. Looking at Annie in her white and gold hero suit, she hurriedly asked: "Seminar? I haven't prepared anything! What do you want me to say?"
A middle-aged woman in a colorful blazer and skirt walked beside them, saying with a smile: "Vivian, you can't just say anything, right?"
Wade recognized the newcomer as Annie's mother, Donna January, and could only nod: "Okay, okay, I understand."
Annie pulled her to the other side and complained with a frown: "She's my friend! Why do you care so much? Do I care about you finding male companions?"
Donna caught up, lightly patted her face, and said in a low voice: "Have you forgotten? Image is everything. It won't just be you losing face... When word gets out, what will the neighbors and everyone else think of me?"
Wade's eyes darted back and forth. Caught between the two, she felt both awkward and uncomfortable.
"Why do you always care about that? It's so annoying!" Annie replied gloomily, leading the person beside her straight into the tent.
She turned to straighten Wade's clothes, intimately smoothing her hair, and whispered instructions: "Just find a seat. Say whatever you want, don't be afraid."
Wade looked at the priest in black and the cameras opposite. She found a seat in the furthest corner of the circle of folding chairs: 'A Vought program will definitely have plants. It probably won't be my turn anyway.'
A few minutes later, young men and women entered the room one after another.
Wade sat upright, her eyes peeking around. She noticed a red-haired girl holding a Starlight plush doll who looked very familiar.
She looked closer, her brow furrowing slightly: 'Isn't that the one who was being shaken down for debts that night? Was she invited to praise Annie's heroism? Or...'
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