Chapter 323: Only My Unique Method Chapter 323: The Pope's Price (2)

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The Japanese girls' obedience and clinging possess a warmth that makes one melt.

The girls of Orange G Group clustered around Chen Yi, like three layers of heat waves, fiercely assailing him. Only this time, Liu Xinyu would not let him have his way.

She sat reservedly in her seat, seriously reading a French novel, probably by Maupassant or Flaubert — the only two names Chen Yi could recall.

When Liu Xinyu occasionally shot a sharp glance at the girls, even the elite yujie Fujiena Rena dared not move a muscle.

Compared to men, they seemed more restrained by beautiful women. Once the physical advantage they prided themselves on was defeated, they found it hard, for the moment, to find anything to use against Liu Xinyu.

Chen Yi pretended not to see this little struggle; he had not yet reached the point of desperation — since he couldn't eat on the plane, he would just wait until the hotel.

After 13 hours of flight, the party of six arrived in Rome and continued staying at the Bologna Queen Hotel.

Rome in October is full of sensory stimulation — or rather, Rome at any time exerts a powerful attraction on strangers. This is a city that has prospered to this day. Its most glorious era was undoubtedly the Roman Empire era of "all roads lead to Rome." It was once the world center that brutally persecuted Christians, later becoming the golden center of Christianity's development...

Today, Rome still enjoys the joy and regret gifted by Mussolini's signing of the "Lateran Treaty," which granted the Papal State.

In Chen Yi's view, Catholicism may have conscience and morality, but the Catholic institution and its upper-class figures corrupted and fell into political animals hundreds of years ago. Like the leaders of state-owned enterprises and charitable organizations, all their actions are to earn more capital for themselves, thereby gaining the opportunity and qualification to embezzle more resources... The only difference is that the corruption of SOEs and charities is none of Chen Yi's business, while the corruption of the Vatican's upper echelons aids the smooth progress of this trip.

Fifth-cohort student Hou Wei breathed the turbid air of the Bologna Queen Hotel lobby with an expression of enjoyment, saying excitedly: "I really want to stay in this kind of fresh-air place for the rest of my life."

He was a new disciple of Chen Yi who, at the Body Technique Level 6 stage, rose unexpectedly, reaching Level 6 after Xie Wuyang and the others. However, his subsequent cultivation progress was weak, so he was brought to Rome to handle safety and miscellaneous affairs during the stay.

Hearing his words, Chen Yi laughed and scolded: "If you like it so much, you can be stationed in Mexico City later. Hurry up and do the formalities."

Hou Wei hurriedly agreed, taking out his documents for the Italian at the front desk.

Chen Yi rested his chin on his hand, starting to fantasize about when he could sneak into Orange G's room, when Liu Xinyu interrupted Hou Wei's terrible English: "Just open three rooms."

"Three?"

No matter how you allocate them, three rooms don't seem quite suitable.

Liu Xinyu smiled and explained: "Give Orange G a large suite, Hou Wei you take a single room, and I'll share a room with Chen Yi."

Hou Wei felt immense envy toward the Hall Master in his heart, and couldn't help but reply: "Yes, Shimu."

Maeda Misaki translated this once for Ono Ayaka and Fujiena Rena, and then the three bowed simultaneously in salute, as if acknowledging Liu Xinyu's current status — like peacocks paying homage to the Peacock Queen.

In a situation where neither figure, looks, nor intimacy could compare, their submission seemed only natural.

Aside from feeling they should submit to himself, Chen Yi had no dissatisfaction with Liu Xinyu's room policy. After a day of arduous travel, choosing one stunning super-beauty seemed more rational than choosing three beautiful women. It was still the previous theory: the delicacies in the fridge won't run away, what's the rush.

In fact, Liu Xinyu was wilder than imagined; she made Chen Yi happy for a night, and also exhausted him for a night. The originally planned meeting with Stanik the next morning was forced to cancel, replaced by Hou Wei going to receive him, and then they shared lunch at the restaurant.

Needless to say, unless Chen Yi used the power of Pocket Qi, he shouldn't even think about sneaking into any woman's room tonight.

Liu Xinyu was exhausted to near collapse — accurately, she fell into a half-faint sleep, but slept very soundly.

At this meeting, the simple yet expensive ornaments on Stanik had increased again. Needless to say, the former Church's handsome foreigner had become a true Church handsome priest...

"How is life in Central Asia?" Chen Yi asked straight away.

"Besides not being used to the clothing, food, and language communication, it's okay." Stanik smiled bitterly. For the Eurocentric Catholic Curia, missionary work in Central Asia is absolutely a hardship posting — even 100 years ago, those idealists among the losers of power struggles rarely chose Central Asia as the endpoint of their lives.

Stanik was even more unwilling.

He hoped to return to the Vatican, but this wish is very difficult without the help of powerful figures and the injection of large sums of money.

Especially the economic difficulty, after losing his former status as a Church star, appeared particularly prominent. His special trip from Central Asia back to the Vatican this time included no small gratitude for the million dollars Chen Yi sponsored. Stanik didn't believe that merely organizing manpower to search historical books required that much funding.

However, this also made him understand Chen Yi's intention. After a few casual pleasantries, when the main course arrived, Stanik asked in a low voice: "Who do you hope will preside over the ceremony?"

"Naturally the Pope." Chen Yi said without hesitation: "The ceremony presided over by the Pope, only at the final step will I silently recite the words of faith, the Pope assents, and then the ceremony ends."

Stanik found this unsurprising, continuing to cut his food as he asked: "What is your budget?"

"100 million US dollars."

Stanik's hand trembled, nearly cutting himself.

He widened his eyes and snapped: "You really know how to spend money."

Chen Yi pursed his lips and asked: "Then how much do you say?"

"10 million should be enough." Stanik said disgruntled. Historically, the Pope has not only held wedding ceremonies for princes and princesses, coronation ceremonies for emperors, and important religious rites like Mass; modern Popes also come out weekly to meet the public. It's not hard to understand — if an individual's bid "proves" they have the value of a prince or princess, then secretly conducting a ceremony is also possible.

It was Chen Yi's turn to hesitate: "I hope for a restored medieval ceremony. Most importantly, it needs over 100,000 faithful. Is that enough too?"

This was a requirement beyond the ritual Stanik had looked up. In the West Continent's records, any temple with fewer than 100,000 faithful is absolutely impossible to produce a Divine Art Knight; even 100,000 is a risky number. During wartime when Divine Art Knights were desperately needed, large-scale temple ceremonies mobilizing millions of faithful occurred several times. With the West Continent's transportation and communication capabilities, that was practically cross-regional mobilization of dozens of city-states.

"100,000 faithful is easy, but in the Vatican?" Stanik put down his knife and fork, sipping red wine: "Perhaps hold the ceremony in Rome? The Vatican can get that many tourists, but faithful..."

"I can wait here for a period of time. How much budget is needed?"

"30 million then. If not through the Pope, perhaps cheaper."

"Oh?"

"You know the College of Cardinals, right?" Stanik lowered his voice.

Chen Yi nodded. He had seen it when researching materials: the Holy See's central governing body is the College of Cardinals, divided into three ranks — Cardinal Bishops, Cardinal Priests, and Cardinal Deacons. Among them, Cardinal Bishops are the highest of the three ranks and the fewest in number, bearing the mission of assisting and electing the Pope, and handling major Holy See affairs. In terms of a political structure Chinese people understand, the Pope is like the Secretary, Cardinal Bishops equal Deputy Secretaries, Cardinal Priests equal Standing Committee members, and Cardinal Deacons are ordinary Standing Committee members. Together they form the Holy See's upper power structure and manage the lower power structures. The Pope also executes his will through the College of Cardinals.

Stanik carefully looked left and right, saying: "The Pope is old. The current Cardinal Bishop Group's head, Dean, takes bribes heavily. I'll try to find him and have him move the Pope."

"Wouldn't that cost two shares of money?"

Stanik looked at him like an idiot: "Aren't you a corrupt Chinese? Could a ceremony with Cardinal Bishop Group participation possibly not pay the Cardinal Bishops?"

"Fine." Chen Yi shrugged: "30 million US dollars... must get it done properly. After completion, your cut is 3 million."

He originally wanted to give Stanik half the savings, but feared saving money would ruin the ceremony.

Even on the West Continent, temple ceremonies are extremely exacting. Whether it can be replicated on Earth, Chen Yi had no confidence in his heart.

Stanik smiled reassuringly: "The Curia may not do other things well, but ceremonies will absolutely have no problems. Even a hundred-year-old ceremony, as long as there are written records, they'll do it perfectly."

Chen Yi could only believe him.

Stanik asked one last question: "Are you prepared to believe in Catholicism?"

Chen Yi let out a hehe laugh twice and said, "My dad is a Party Member."

Stanik left without saying anything.

……

The power of money is infinite. 10 million USD can feed half of Pyongyang, and it can also make the Cardinal Group Knight Captain ecstatic. Corruption also has a cost; if there were 10 million USD entering the accounts every year, the Cardinal would have long gone to Thailand to enjoy life.

Stanik spent a total of 23 million USD: 10 million to the Cardinal, 10 million to the Pope, 2 million to other Cardinal Group members, and the final 1 million donated to the Church.

The Cardinal De'an, with a head of silver hair resembling an Italian football Coach, warmly received the faithful Chen Yi from China, comforting him: "Don't worry, we will use a pure medieval religious ritual to satisfy your reverence for Jesus Christ."

This sentence itself is meaningless, but to both parties it is meaningful. Chen Yi once again respectfully presented 1 million USD, laughing: "In China, this is called a Red Envelope, it has an auspicious meaning, please definitely accept it."

De'an smiled faintly and accepted it, casually placing it on the Table.

After Chen Yi left, Bishop De'an opened the red envelope and saw the folded 1 million USD bearer Bonds inside. The Bishop immediately panicked — how could it be folded, what if it gets damaged!

……(Unfinished, if you want to know what happens after this, please log in to www. qidian. com, Chapter more, Support author, Support Genuine Reading!)