Chapter 154: A Nation's Faith, Seeking God's Protection

Tokyo, Japan, Arakawa Ward, an apartment.

Kamikawa Mitsu glanced at the friend request from Likui on his phone. Adding him out of the blue like that surely had some ulterior motive—there was no way it was to flirt with him.

But no matter what, Likui's unexpected friend request did not hinder his next plan.

To make the world believe in myths and supernatural beings, he had planned far more than Abe Omitaramaru and Tochigi Prefecture—those two plans were only part of a grander scheme.

Now he only needed to wait for the supernatural incident in Tochigi Prefecture to spread and ferment to a certain degree, then it would be time to proceed to the next step.

This step was crucial—the most important part of the grand plan.

"I have a fairly good grasp of Shinto now. Just need to wait for time to ferment it." Kamikawa Mitsu murmured.

His deep-set eyes shimmered with a starlike gleam; a flash of something eerie passed through them, and then his palm opened flat.

Pitch-black yokai energy coiled and rose from his palm like ghostly willows; the surrounding temperature plummeted, and frost formed on the window.

"The yokai energy is far stronger than before."

Kamikawa Mitsu discovered that after redeeming the Sacrificial Lord's strength and skills, the yokai-race talent 'Yokai Energy' he had previously obtained from redeeming the Great Enraptured Monk had not been overwritten.

"Redeeming a virtual character doesn't overwrite, nor does it stack—it strengthens."

He could sense that the yokai energy was no longer at the Great Enraptured Monk's level; it had reached the Sacrificial Lord's tier.

Clearly, as long as the redeemed character's strength was higher, then the previously redeemed skills, talents, and strength would all improve along with the rise in the redeemed character's power—they complemented each other.

When he had previously redeemed the Sacrificial Lord's strength, since only a wisp of aura had leaked out, Kamikawa Mitsu hadn't noticed any change in the yokai energy and had taken it as a result of the Sacrificial Lord's strength.

But today, while traveling, Kamikawa Mitsu noticed the difference—the yokai energy was still there, and it had grown stronger.

He closed his fist, and the yokai energy dispersed.

Having finished studying the change in yokai energy, Kamikawa Mitsu picked up his phone and began browsing the news online…

……

The United States, the White House.

"The golden skeleton has already been transported into Area 51." Achuan's assistant, holding a document, reported.

"What about the funding? How has it been arranged?" Achuan leaned back, scrolling through Twitter on his phone, and asked leisurely.

"Finance has already arranged everything. The funding for researching the golden skeleton is the same as the funding for researching the supernatural saliva—both are in Area 51 with dedicated researchers, and a large number of personnel have been deployed to guard against information leaks."

"What about the jade bone? Can we get it over here?"

A week had already passed since the supernatural incident in Tochigi Prefecture.

During that week, Achuan had sent people to Tokyo every day, with a clear purpose: to obtain a golden skeleton and a jade-bone corpse for research. To seal the deal, he had offered generous conditions more than once.

At first, Japan's side did not agree. Even though thousands of golden skeletons had been unearthed, they did not want to give up a single one—they wanted to keep them all for themselves, monopolize the supernatural secrets, and were unwilling to give Achuan's side any chance to grow stronger.

After a week of negotiations, Japan's side agreed.

It wasn't that Japan had backed down, because this time Achuan had employed a carrot-and-stick approach.

Achuan's side proposed that, under the pretext of helping out, they would research the golden skeleton and jade-bone corpse, share all the results with the Prime Minister and his people, and the Prime Minister could personally send researchers to Area 51 to study alongside them—so that the Prime Minister's side could truly obtain first-hand research data.

With the previous generous conditions, plus these new ones, how could the Prime Minister and his people not be tempted?

The United States can be called the world's sole superpower for a reason—its technological strength is absolutely ahead of Japan, ahead of the world, and the sophistication of its scientific equipment far surpasses that of other nations.

Researching the supernatural cannot do without the support of such equipment.

Therefore, Japan's side finally agreed: for the purpose of joint research, they would provide one golden skeleton to the United States and send Japanese researchers over.

On the surface, this negotiation looked like Japan got the better deal and Achuan's side got the short end of the stick.

But was that really the case?

It was a win-win situation—one in which both sides felt they had gotten the better end of the deal.

Japan felt they could obtain the golden skeleton research from Area 51, but they didn't need to hand over their own research reports—that was getting the better deal.

Yet wasn't Achuan's side doing the same? Japan sent researchers over to help with the research, and the golden skeleton research results would be shared with Japan—but hadn't they also obtained the golden skeleton research results? Besides, they still had the supernatural saliva.

Once there was a breakthrough in the golden skeleton research, it could certainly be applied to the supernatural saliva research.

The supernatural saliva research results, however, did not need to be given to Japan.

Both sides were using each other, both felt they were getting the better deal, both knew the other was getting the better deal, and both were perfectly clear about it—a win-win situation.

As for who actually got the biggest bargain, it would depend on how much each side could uncover about the supernatural secrets.

Watching this, Kamikawa Mitsu felt like laughing.

Sorry, but none of you are the winners—because… as long as I live one more day, you are all merely crown princes.

"The jade-bone corpse can't be obtained for now. They say they'll give it after the golden skeleton research yields results." Achuan's assistant replied.

Achuan snorted: "Old fox."

Then he waved his hand, signaling the assistant to leave, but before the assistant had taken a few steps, he called him back.

"The materials on the mythologies of various countries I had you compile—are they ready?"

"They're ready. I'll go get them for you right away."

Regarding 'The Return of the Gods, the Reckoning Approaches,' from the moment Achuan learned the news, he had paid special attention to it and immediately ordered personnel to collect the mythologies of various countries—after all, his United States had thoroughly offended the Native American gods.

If the Native American gods were also among those returning, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Think about it: a person who hasn't been home for many years returns in high spirits after all those years, only to find that his home has been torn down and occupied, and the servants in the house (the Native Americans) have been killed—who wouldn't be furious? Absolutely livid.

Even ordinary people would be furious, let alone gods.

The higher one's position, the more one cares about face—this is a principle everyone understands.

Achuan and these high-ranking officials were also panicking. Once the Native American gods returned, the first to be implicated would be these very high-ranking officials.

So Achuan and the others decided to find a divine backer.

If mortals cannot defeat gods, then surely gods can fight gods.

"God bless, amen~"

While waiting for the assistant to bring the materials, Achuan took out the cross necklace he wore hidden under his collar against his chest, and devoutly prayed to the heavens.

Obviously, the backer A-Chuan chose was God.

The reason was none other than that Christianity is currently one of the largest religions in the world, and the most popular religion in the U. S., with a huge audience. Therefore, promoting Christianity on a large scale would not provoke a backlash from the American public and would be very easy to accept.

A-Chuan's idea was very simple: damn it, I'll make the whole country believe in Christianity. If the Indian gods come over, God, you've got to come save your massive flock of believers.

Because of this, over the past week, besides sending people to negotiate with the Golden Skeleton, A-Chuan also held a high-level U. S. meeting to discuss promoting Christianity, and they ultimately unanimously decided to promote Christianity with full force.

In just one short week.

Many Christian churches were built across the U. S., and the Christian Association received enormous donations. On top of that, the Christian Association sent a message to every priest in the country: as long as you bring one person into the faith, you get a bonus, and the more people you bring, the higher the bonus.

At the same time, including A-Chuan himself, every high-level official had to wear a cross necklace, keep a Bible in their briefcase, and read the Bible before bed. Some went even further and got a cross tattooed on themselves.

……

(PS: There are some words I want to say to all the readers who have supported me. Thank you for your support. I will finish this book properly. Thank you for your support! I'm bowing to you all here. Thank you!)