Chapter 174: The Long Easter (Part 9)

In the cold night of Cat Getan without wind, the air around the cathedral seemed to be condensed into a piece of transparent ice. The cold moonlight projected from the window at the top onto the statue of Jesus, dragging a long cross shape on the cold-colored floor tiles.

In the middle of the cross was a huge crack in the floor of the old church. That crack was like an abyss, splitting the shadow of the suffering Jesus.

A faint light leaked from the crack, as if something was floating faintly underneath. And in the two directions pointed by the cross on the ground, there were two different human figures.

Batman on the left had a serious face and tense muscles. Although he still stood very straight, he could be seen in a state of readiness.

Standing opposite him was Yin Wensi, who was kneeling on the ground with his head down. Under the hidden moonlight, his expression could not be seen.

In mid-air, a cloud like thin gauze drifted past the moon. The moonlight projected by the window was like plucked strings, becoming flickering.

A shadow covered Batman's body. The blue pupils in the gaps of his mask turned into pointers of different lengths. With the moonlight dimming again, the hour hand moved backward for more than half a circle, and everything returned to ten hours ago.

Kebote stood in front of the cabinet in the old house, watching his mother turn out a pile of old things covered in dust. Kebote walked to his mother's side, wanting to grab her arm and help her stand up.

Mrs. Kebote waved her arm and pushed her son away. Kebote was a bit helpless. He asked: "Mom, what exactly are you looking for? We have already turned over all the cabinets in the house."

Behind Kebote was a pile of broken things on the ground, not only in the center of the living room but also at the door of the bedroom, all piled up with various junk.

"I want to find an umbrella, find an umbrella! It's raining, I need an umbrella…"

Kebote took the umbrella from the chair beside him and handed it to his mother, but Mrs. Kebote acted as if she didn't see it, still digging into the bottom cabinet to turn things over.

From dark to dawn, from dawn to dark, until Mrs. Kebote was exhausted and went back to rest, Kebote had time to clean up these old things.

In recent days, Mrs. Kebote's condition had improved, and she was no longer so aggressive, but relatively, she began to become more and more strange. Every day she had to turn out the junk in the house. Kebote couldn't stop her and could only follow her to clean up.

He knelt on the ground with one knee supporting his body, and then picked up the surrounding junk and put it back into the cabinet.

Most of the things in this cabinet under the bookshelf were old Kebote's collections, such as picture frames and candlesticks. These things were not valuable, but when Mrs. Kebote was sober, she would take these things out to wipe them to cherish Kebote's father.

Kebote wanted to put the last picture frame back on the upper layer of the cabinet, but when putting it in, he found that something was blocking it, making the picture frame unable to be completely put in, and the cabinet door couldn't be closed.

Kebote thought it was something put in before that wasn't aligned, so he reached in, wanting to straighten it, but found that deep in the cabinet, there was something like an envelope.

Kebote took out the envelope and found that there was a lot of dust on the back. Borrowing the faint light in the living room, he wiped the dust off with his fingers and found a line of beautiful floral text: "To Kebote, open personally…"

Kebote frowned. He was sure he had never received such a letter, and no one would send such a solemn letter to a poor

This envelope was made of very delicate Daolin paper; the English handwriting on it was clear, without the slightest trace of ink smudging.

Cobblepot flipped the letter to the front and discovered that the wax seal had already been broken; the stamp pressed into that wax seal looked somewhat familiar to Cobblepot.

When he opened the envelope and took out the letter inside, he saw a familiar signature: "Carmine Falcone."

This was an invitation from the old Godfather.

The text on it was very brief; it was simply inviting Cobblepot to attend a funeral. The person who wrote the letter was Carmine Falcone, and the location where the funeral was to be held was the Cat Getan Cathedral.

Cobblepot scanned the invitation up and down. He discovered that it was indeed the old Godfather's handwriting, but what was somewhat peculiar was that below the main body of the funeral invitation, there was another line of small text: "Please be sure to attend, otherwise I will come to greet you personally."

Cobblepot narrowed his eyes. He had not forgotten that his father had died precisely from attending the Godfather's eldest son's funeral in the rain.

But this invitation made him feel very strange.

Generally, very few people would write such a formal invitation for a funeral, let alone when the person writing the letter was the deceased's own father.

Cobblepot had seen the old Godfather's handwriting before, and he could tell that on this invitation, Falcone's handwriting was very steady and the brushwork was fluid, not at all like that of an old man who had just lost his eldest son.

Moreover, that line of small text was even more puzzling; this was a complete threat. Who would force others to attend a funeral?

Cobblepot vaguely remembered that the day after his father returned from the funeral, he developed a high fever. He was burning up, delirious, lying in bed, and could not even say a complete sentence.

The doctor said it was pneumonia, but before he could be sent to the hospital, he died. Cobblepot did not receive any final words from his father, and naturally, he did not know the circumstances of the funeral he had attended.

But this invitation filled Cobblepot with suspicion.

He recalled his interactions with Yin Wensi again. Cobblepot was someone very skilled at using words to move people's hearts and then obtaining information. During his exchanges with Yin Wensi, he had also tried to fish for information about the Godfather's mysterious eldest son, but he hadn't obtained any useful information from Yin Wensi.

Cobblepot squatted in front of the cabinet and began to calculate. Based on the existing information, Yin Wensi should have already been born before Alberto died. Although the age gap between the two was not yet clear, Alberto and Yin Wensi should have lived together for a period of time.

But what made Cobblepot feel puzzled was that Yin Wensi's description of his own older brother was always very abstract, and there were contradictions in many places. For example, he had mentioned that Alberto was a very hardworking and ambitious person, and also a genius with exceptional talent, practically a natural candidate for an heir. Yet, he also always said that Alberto felt frustrated because he could not complete the Godfather's tasks. In Yin Wensi's description, what was mentioned most often was the arguing between Alberto and the Godfather.

The invitation discovered by chance at home caused Cobblepot's suspicions about his father's death to rise again. Harboring this suspicion, when he returned to the ward at Arkham Asylum, he began to guide Yin Wensi to recall more information during their daily casual chats.

"Last time you said you wanted to join the university basketball team; you must have known how to play basketball since you were a child, right? Honestly..."

Cobblepot lay on the hospital bed, changed his posture, and said in a tone full of longing: "I really envy you people from families with multiple children. Brothers are natural playmates. The pair of brothers who live at the corner of my street are like that; I can often see them playing soccer in the alley. Your brother must have played basketball with you too, right?"

"He..." Yin Wensi subconsciously wanted to answer, but it seemed that as the words reached his lips, he stopped again. Yin Wensi sat by the bed, stunned there. Cobblepot asked him: "What's wrong with you?"

"No, nothing..." Yin Wensi shook his head and said: "It's just that I can't remember clearly. I clearly remember that my relationship with my brother was very good, and we should have played together, but when I think about it carefully, I can't remember anything."

"I'm very sorry, I'm being a bit presumptuous. Yesterday I found an invitation at home; it was the Godfather inviting my father to attend your brother's funeral. You must have attended your brother's funeral too, right?"

"Funeral?" Yin Wensi muttered this word, then sat by the bed as if in a daze, not answering. After a long while, he said: "I seem to... sorry, but my childhood memories are not clear. I don't remember at all what it was like at the time."

Yin Wensi sighed and said: "My mood has been very bad lately, and I often have dreams. Perhaps this has also affected my memory."

"The Cat Getan Cathedral is temporarily inaccessible, and I can't go to pray, which makes me feel irritable. I also haven't seen that old priest for a long time; usually, I really like to confide in him."

Yin Wensi looked very sad. Cobblepot said to him: "Do you want to try writing him a letter?"

Yin Wensi shook his head and said: "Cat Getan's cathedral is damaged very badly; the ground cracked open a large hole, and repairs will take a long time. Moreover, construction is a bit dangerous, so the old priest moved away from there, and I don't know his current residence either."

"But you are the Godfather's son; if you had someone go and ask around, you should be able to find out, right?"

Yin Wensi thought for a moment and said: "Actually, I don't really want to disturb that priest; after all, it's rare for him to have a vacation."

"But for such an important holiday as Easter, if he can't preach to the believers in the church, he should also feel very lonely, right? If the relationship between you two was good before, you might as well go and keep him company."

Yin Wensi thought about it and said: "What you said also makes sense. I'll have someone go find him. If I can find him, I can also invite him to the Falcone estate to spend Easter."

"Your relationship with the Godfather..."

"Actually, it's not as bad as you imagine." Yin Wensi sighed slightly again and said: "The Godfather isn't worried about my ambition; he's more worried that I don't have any ambition."

"But I don't know why, when I face him, especially when I'm seriously discussing problems with him, I always have a feeling of impatience. I seem to be urgently wanting to say something to him, but I can't say it."

"When facing him, I always behave very extremely, even though I'm not like this when I'm getting along with classmates and teachers."

"Before I was hospitalized, this situation became more and more serious. Several times, we almost started arguing. I suspect that I might have psychological problems, so I went to find Professor Schiller."

"So, that's how you ended up here?"

Yin Wensi nodded and then said: "Now it seems that I might not be sick, just thinking too much and having poor emotional control."

"If medical means can't resolve your emotions, you can also try seeking help from faith." Cobblepot said to Yin Wensi: "Although I don't believe in God, if you are a devout believer, then perhaps everything will get better on Easter?"

"I hope so."

As the moonlight outside the window became deep, Cobblepot heard Yin Wensi praying in a low voice. That sound echoed continuously in the empty ward, making one feel drowsy.