Eileen walked down the side path connected by candle holders in a very low-key manner, eventually turning into the right corridor and arriving at the door of a room. She reached out and knocked gently.
"Come in."
Hearing the warm voice of her bishop, Eileen smiled slightly, then turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
What entered her view was a room that had everything one could need.
It was set up like a typical office.
Behind the desk, her own bishop sat in a chair, facing the window behind him, flipping through a book.
The book was titled "Particles and Nuclei, Sixth Edition."
When the bishop had asked her to purchase this book, she had specifically looked it up.
This book was divided into two parts; the first part primarily dealt with the substructures of matter, and the second part mainly introduced how elementary particles are combined into hadrons and nuclei.
In the bishop's words, this was a standard textbook on nuclear and particle physics, a classic.
"I wonder why the bishop has recently started studying physics."
Eileen recalled the books her bishop had asked her to buy.
Not just "Particles and Nuclei," but there were many other books on physics such as "Introduction to Particle Physics," "Quantum Cosmos," "Principles of Quantum Mechanics," "Lattice Gauge Theory," and others.
Eileen glanced at her bishop, who she had followed all her life.
She actually liked the scene at the moment, liking to see the bishop as he was now.
In her eyes, the light passing through the glass shone on the bishop, as if draping him in a transparent and radiant veil.
This made her feel the merciless flow of time over the bishop, yet leaving no trace...
"Eileen, what is it?"
York withdrew his gaze from "Particles and Nuclei, Sixth Edition" and looked at Eileen.
"Bishop, I've delivered the note you wrote to Mr. Chris."
York raised his eyebrows slightly, recalling a very familiar movie.
"Understood."
"Bishop, why are you so concerned about Sharon?" Eileen asked curiously.
Having been with the bishop for so long, she had a certain understanding of his character.
If unnecessary, the bishop generally maintained an observer's stance, uninvolved and detached.
This situation was similar to the previous incident with Lucy.
Hearing Eileen's question, York's mind flashed with memories, and he smiled.
"In your eyes, what do you think Sharon is like?"
Eileen thought carefully, recalling her interactions with Sharon, then frowned slightly.
"Somewhat incomplete, as if something is missing."
"It seems you have noticed as well," York said calmly.
"That child is indeed incomplete, missing half of her soul. That's why I'm concerned about her."
Eileen's expression became tense, seemingly puzzled about why Sharon had become like this.
Seeing her like this, York couldn't help but chuckle.
"No worries, they will come to us soon, and then we will understand the reason."
Hearing this, Eileen thought of the earlier note and bowed her head slightly.
"Yes, Bishop."
York did not elaborate further, simply waving his hand.
"Go now, come to me if there's anything else."
With that, Eileen retreated and left, not forgetting to gently close the door behind her.
York shifted his gaze back to the book in his hands.
Actually, the matters of Silent Hill were merely a chance to trigger a mission for him, so he valued what he was currently doing even more.
That was to learn and absorb knowledge about the macroscopic and microscopic world, and about particles.
This was what he was doing now.
Looking at the experiments in the book, York habitually squinted his eyes.
This book added many experiments and their results, giving him some preliminary ideas.
This was important.
Ensuring he could manipulate microscopic particles in the future, he had become interested in these matters.
Although somewhat basic, this knowledge was actually quite lacking.
Having Eileen buy back those physics books would help when he next encountered microscopic particles, allowing his brain to relax and automatically filter the influx of information.
Also, it would allow him to understand more about various particles.
Facilitating future operations to avoid accidentally rearranging particles and causing some massive disaster or unnecessary effects.
Like now, his thoughts on antimatter.
In his view, if properly controlled, antimatter could be more powerful, more formidable, and more terrifying than a nuclear bomb.
What is antimatter? It's the opposite of normal matter.
For example, normal matter's atoms are composed of positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons on the outside.
Antimatter, on the other hand, is rebellious; its nuclei carry negative charges, while the electrons on the outside carry positive charges.
So, whenever it encounters normal matter, it annihilates instantly, releasing immense energy.
The energy conversion rate reaches a hundred percent.
Thinking this, York couldn't help but exhale lightly.
Such an energy conversion
rate was indeed terrifying.
For instance, a hydrogen bomb explosion, where hydrogen fuses into helium, only loses 0.7% of its mass in the process.
0.7% of the mass converted into energy results in the explosion of a hydrogen bomb, meaning an energy conversion rate of only 0.7%.
And the energy conversion rate of a nuclear bomb's fission is even lower, just about 0.1%.
Like the little boy that made Hiroshima endure a wonderful summer festival, where only about 0.6 grams of uranium was completely converted into energy.
So, to put it in more concrete terms, if one gram of antimatter and one gram of matter completely annihilate each other, the energy released is equivalent to 50 million kilowatts of electricity, 43,000 tons of TNT explosive power, enough to hold three Hiroshima summer festivals, with some to spare.
How could York not be a little concerned?
Although he now had the power to reach this stage, microscopic particles included everything, offering many more possibilities.
He would be able to achieve absolute defense, hand-craft nuclear bombs, black holes, and so forth.
By then, he really could go anywhere, even existing world rifts wouldn't be an issue, and he could even visit the worlds of decay and chaos, and travel to many more worlds.
Perhaps by then, he wouldn't even fear Lucifer, because he would not only possess particle manipulation but also spiritual, telekinetic, divine powers, magic, and more...
York exhaled lightly and turned the page to further bolster his future foundations.
"However," York paused.
"It seems that through that child from Silent Hill, I might gain some insights on how to use the spirit to create a world space similar to the netherworld."
The details of Silent Hill flowed through York's mind as he watched, with an almost god-like perspective, the slowly departing car on Church Street, a warm smile on his face.
"She's a good child."
—
In the back seat of the car, Sharon was holding a paintbrush, doodling on a piece of paper on her lap.
She tilted her head slightly, as if puzzled by something, and glanced outside at the church that had just left her field of vision.
She saw two girls standing in front of a burly man, chatting and laughing.
As John Wick casually dealt with Lucy's entanglement, he seemed to sense something and looked forward just in time to meet Sharon's gaze. He nodded slightly.
Sharon grinned and resumed her doodling.
In the front seat, Chris and Ross were silent.
"Look at the note the priest gave us."
As Chris drove to an intersection and saw the red light, he slowed the car to a stop, then glanced at the rear-view mirror to see Sharon doodling. He casually said,
"Hmm."
Ross also turned back to look at Sharon immersed in her doodling, then pulled out the note she had just received from Sister Eileen.
"Chris, let me be clear, I don't think the priest has medical skills that can treat Sharon's sleepwalking."
As Ross unfolded the note, it seemed she wanted to establish an understanding with Chris, a devout believer.
As so-called elites in societal life, they had their own interpretations of many things and were not easily influenced.
"I think the same," Chris said.
"I'm not an ignorant person; I know what to do."
Ross glanced at Chris and did not respond, but began to read the note.
But this look made her freeze for a moment, her eyes widening, her breath halting.
Chris did not wait for an answer, instinctively looking at Ross.
Ross's expression made him frown, feeling that something was amiss.
"What's wrong?"
Ross took a deep breath, trying to calm her shock, and held up the note for Chris to see.
However, Chris's reaction wasn't much better when he saw the words on the note, mirroring Ross's reaction.
Because the note only had three words on it.
"Silent Hill."
The reason for their shock, enough to suppress their expressions, was that this word often mingled in their daughter's sleep talk.
The two looked at each other.
"Did you tell the priest about this?" Chris asked.
"No," Ross shook her head, "You?"
"I've never told anyone about Sharon's condition," Chris shook his head in response, his brows furrowed, his confusion deepening.
"So why would the priest know this?"
Ross pursed her lips, wanting to say something.
Beep beep beep beep! But then, the honking of horns suddenly sounded from behind them.
It turned out that the red light had changed to green.
Chris looked at Ross, who seemed troubled, knowing as a longtime spouse what Ross wanted to say.
"Let's talk when we get home."
Chris gestured towards the rear-view mirror, then shifted gears, pressing down on the accelerator.
"Okay."
Ross looked at the rear-view mirror where Sharon, now looking
up at them, responded.
—
In a mid-range community area.
In a detached villa with its own front yard lawn.
Chris sat on the sofa, tapping away at his laptop, searching for something.
Since coming back from the church, due to Bishop York's note, he had been concerned about the word "Silent Hill."
Originally, this word appeared in Sharon's sleep talk, but they hadn't really paid much attention to it.
After all, it was just sleep talk and didn't mean much. Their main concern was Sharon's increasingly severe sleepwalking.
But this time, "Silent Hill" reappeared in Bishop York's note, making him feel that it might be a significant piece of information.
So, upon returning, he started to search.
However.
Chris looked at the webpage, shook his head, stretched out, and massaged his neck.
"Nothing at all, is Silent Hill really just a place name?"
Chris spoke aloud to himself as he looked at the webpage on his laptop.
There was very little information about Silent Hill online.
Only a few snippets.
Like now, what he had gathered was just that Silent Hill used to be a remote small town with many people living there.
And a rather vague location.
"Why would Sharon dream about this place? And why would the priest know this place name?"
Chris was puzzled, unable to comprehend the connection.
Or rather, he couldn't find a link between the two.
As he pondered, Chris began to feel a headache.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps, and a warm touch on his temple.
"Find anything?"
Ross's voice also sounded at this moment.
Chris turned to look and let Ross sit on the armrest of the sofa, helping him massage his temples to relieve the headache.
"Nothing, is Sharon asleep?"
"Yeah." Ross looked at the laptop screen, nodding.
"She hasn't been asleep for long."
Saying this, Ross fell silent for a moment, then said.
"Instead of worrying here, maybe we could try asking Bishop York?"
She had thought about it for a long time; rather than not figuring anything out, it might be better to just ask directly, saving time and effort.
Importantly, since it was somehow related to Sharon, the situation was different.
Hearing this, Chris sighed, thinking of the impression the priest had left on him, mysterious and special, and reached out to touch his wife's hand.
"That's all we can do."
Ross "hmm"ed, stopped massaging, and sat down in Chris's lap.
The couple said nothing, just silently comforting each other.
Sharon's sleepwalking was getting worse, to the point where doctors were suggesting she undergo psychiatric custody treatment.
This was definitely something they couldn't accept, but apart from that, they had no other options.
The couple sat there quietly, comforting each other, when suddenly a noise from upstairs startled them.
"Sharon!"
Ross called out, quickly getting out of Chris's embrace and heading upstairs.
Due to their position, Chris was a step slower but also followed right behind Ross.
They ran upstairs to the room where the noise had come from.
Ross deftly took out a key and started to unlock the door.
Her actions suggested this wasn't the first time.
The door opened, and a small figure appeared.
It turned out that Sharon had started sleepwalking again shortly after falling asleep, wanting to go out, only to bump into the locked door.
And now, she bumped into Ross, who had just opened the door.
Ross could only instinctively embrace Sharon, holding her in her arms.
"Mommy's here, mommy's here."
Seeing Sharon's blank gaze and rigid expression, Ross held her and tenderly repeated,
"Mommy's here..."
Chris stood by, watching the scene, only able to take a deep breath to suppress his emotions, standing beside his wife and daughter.
___________________
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