Lu Yuanming followed Father Edward and his group to the bank.
The entire bank still looked dilapidated from the outside, but it was evident that it had indeed been transformed and reinforced.
Many metal plates were embedded into the damaged outer walls of the bank, and even now, a few people were working on the walls, trying to fit more metal plates into some of the breaches.
It had to be said that this bank really was an excellent base. Although not perfect, it had a vault that could serve as the last refuge, and the structure of the building itself was solid. As long as it was reinforced, with enough guns and ammunition, even the giant spiders and humanoid hounds would probably not be able to breach the outer walls of this bank.
At this moment, the personnel monitoring the surroundings outside the bank had already spotted Father Edward and his group, shouting loudly. Some ran into the bank, while others ran towards where the group was.
Soon, nearly a hundred people came running out from inside the bank. They ran excitedly towards Lu Yuanming and his group, with Keson, Peter, Ang, and others who considered themselves disciples of Lu Yuanming in the lead. Following them were a few burly men, particularly a man with a grim face, and then the rest of the people who had been rescued.
As soon as Peter, Ang, Marsha, and the other disciples reached Lu Yuanming, they immediately half-knelt, loudly reciting the Lord's mercy and words that He had not forsaken them. Although Keson did not kneel, he still spoke with excitement and respect, "Sir, have you returned from the mortal world?"
Lu Yuanming immediately helped Peter and the others to their feet, nodding with a smile at Keson, "Yes, I have returned."
At this, the grim-faced man stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Lu, have you obtained the Power of Faith?"
Lu Yuanming looked towards Father Edward, who said, "This is Charlie Luci, one of the bosses of the New York mafia. He's thinking about joining our Messiah Rescue... the Earthly Heaven team after death, but he insists on confirming the Lord's identity first."
Ignoring Father Edward's vexed expression, Lu Yuanming straightforwardly said to Charlie, "I am not a deity, nor do I have any connection with any deity. I am just an ordinary human being who happened to end up in this post-mortem world. My motives are: first, to protect myself, and second, to save some people who can be saved and to do what I can. So, I stood up. You shouldn't heed these fanatics; I am definitely not a deity!"
Charlie's mouth twitched slightly. In fact, in the eighteen days that Lu Yuanming had been absent, he had learned many things about him, including his incredible speech on the Tao and his forceful modification of the Messiah Rescue organization's name, from Father Edward and others, as well as from quietly questioning a few female disciples.
All these things were beyond Charlie's cognition. As a boss in the New York mafia, he had seen too much of humanity's struggles, the darkness at the bottom of secular world as well as the darkness among the upper echelons he dealt with as a boss... It wasn't that there was no light or justice, but compared to the overall darkness of humanity, that light and justice were insignificant.
It was precisely because of this that Charlie knew all too well how tempting power and desire were to humans. He wouldn't let go of his position in the mafia himself if he had it, and if there was a chance to climb higher, even through lies and bloodshed, he would do it without hesitation. This was why Lu Yuanming's choices were incomprehensible to him.
Even if he wasn't the real Messiah, anyone with the ability to obtain and use the Power of Faith, and to travel between the world of the living and the post-mortem world as a living person, would be subconsciously regarded as the Messiah. Lu Yuanming really could do whatever he wanted, but he chose to be honest and to abandon religious power in favor of things like communal production, which was truly beyond Charlie's understanding.
At that moment, Lu Yuanming continued, "With my return to the world of the living, my Soul Body has grown stronger. Using this strength, I tried to move my finger a bit, which made my parents and the doctors and nurses think I might soon awaken from my vegetative state. This action brought me thirty-one portions of the Power of Faith. It seems that the Power of Faith doesn't necessarily come from burning paper money or worshiping the dead, but rather from intense emotions and wishes, which certainly fits with the term 'faith.' Everyone, we now have thirty-one portions of the Power of Faith, and we need to make a plan for how to use it."
Father Edward immediately began reciting chapters from the Bible honoring the Deity, and the other disciples did the same, praising the Lord and Jesus. The rest of the people, though they didn't know what had happened, naturally began to kneel and praise as the most prominent leaders in the group began their adoration of the Lord and Jesus.
Lu Yuanming, both irritated and anxious, kept helping these people up, loudly stating that he was just an ordinary person and that kneeling to him could shorten his lifespan, among other things. Charlie and his men watched with cold eyes, each bearing a bizarre expression.
Then Charlie suddenly said, "Mr. Lu, can you use the Power of Faith to create something right now? I want to verify something… Actually, Mr. Lu, you don't have to be so annoyed. This faith, this religion is part of our culture. I've learned about your China, where you abandoned religion and faith thousands of years ago. Though there were sacrifices and so-called righteous gods, you believed more in your clan leaders, oh, you called them Emperors, but that's your culture. God, Jesus Christ, these are part of our culture, deeply ingrained in our flesh and souls. You really don't have to mock us."
Having heard Charlie's words, Lu Yuanming looked at him in astonishment for a long while, then he had to admit that what Charlie said was indeed true.
This was a cultural difference, just like when Lu Yuanming was still in college, he had seen debates on some online platforms where some argued that every other country except Country Z was terrible, stuck in religious thought despite it being the 21st century. Whenever they faced difficulties, they would only pray to God. Didn't they have the determination and perseverance to solve problems with their own hands and strength?
While another group thought Country Z was the worst because it lacked faith, and without faith, there was no moral baseline, and so on. These were debates where nobody could convince anyone else; they pertained to cultural differences.
Lu Yuanming immediately and sincerely apologized to everyone, "Yes, this is a cultural difference, sorry, it was presumptuous of me."
At this moment, Keson smiled and said, "There's no need to apologize. We all understand that you want us to control our own destinies and not to waste our energies on the elusive deities. Such thinking and practice is for our own good and is the best way to survive in this apocalypse. But you might not realize, if there's a faith that can be seen and verified, it will give us a hundredfold more courage, fearlessness in the face of sacrifice. It allows us to let go of all grudges and past issues and loyally unite around the existence we believe in, and this... is what you're bringing us now. Whether the organization is called Messiah Rescue or you name it the Ground Heaven Afterlife World Team, the names differ, but the essence is about saving all of us."
Father Edward also said at the same time, "It is precisely because of the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, because you walk among the world of the dead and the living, that I firmly believe you are the Son of God, the Son among the Holy Trinity, the Messiah who saves us in the apocalypse. This cannot be swayed by your will, as it is the only core that can unite us; otherwise... no one here truly respects another. Without using violence to integrate everyone and then accompanied by murder and ugliness, we have no other choice but this, and this is our apocalypse."
(...Indeed, they have worked too little; they all need to go through intense labor reformation.)
Lu Yuanming sighed and didn't persist in this matter. He looked at Charlie and asked, "I can use the Power of Faith right now, but it cannot be used carelessly. What do we need in the base? What are we short on? Food? Fresh water? Or ammunition?"
"Ammunition, of course!" Charlie immediately spoke before anyone else could, "We only have eleven pistol bullets left. Over these eighteen days, we have found six more weapons, but we are distressed by the lack of bullets. Those who murdered John are part of the MXG gang, threatening us time and again with the power of their rifles. So what we urgently lack isn't food or fresh water, but weapons that can protect all of us."
Lu Yuanming looked toward Edward, Keson, Peter, and others; they all nodded slightly. Lu Yuanming then said to Charlie, "I understand. Bring me the other six firearms so I can confirm the type of ammunition they use. I will use the Power of Faith to create the bullets immediately."
Soon, six weapons were brought out from the bank. The first five weapons included two pistols, two semi-automatic rifles, and one short-range shotgun, which were all fairly normal. However, Lu Yuanming's eyes kept darting back and forth among the others when he saw the last weapon, as if his expression was saying, "Are you guys kidding me?"
The last weapon turned out to be a shoulder-fired rocket launcher, but Lu Yuanming's limited military knowledge could not determine exactly what type of weapon the rocket launcher was.
A follower next to Charlie, seeing Lu Yuanming staring thoughtfully at the rocket launcher, immediately said excitedly, "Sir, this is the FGM-148 anti-tank missile, the famous Javelin anti-tank missile, with tremendous power. We are very lucky to have found this weapon. Of course, it would be even better if you could create the ammunition for this weapon."
Lu Yuanming didn't hesitate, immediately grabbing six Colorless Light Particles and, referencing the ammunition in the magazines of these weapons, began to imagine bullets that matched their original power and created as many as he could.
He made fifty-six bullets for the two pistols and forty-one for the other two, twenty-nine bullets for each of the semi-automatic rifles which were the same model, seventeen for the shotgun, and finally, only one piece of ammunition for the FGM-148 anti-tank missile.
The people around looked at the semi-transparent white bullets appearing out of thin air on the ground. At first they were astonished; then they all cheered together. Some were shouting to God, others were calling out to Jesus Christ. Only Charlie gazed deeply at Lu Yuanming, and amidst the cheers of the crowd, he also slowly knelt down.
Lu Yuanming, however, wasn't aware of these reactions. He looked at the FGM-148 anti-tank missile, the solitary missile ammunition, and then he pinched five more Colorless Light Particles, creating five more pieces of ammunition for the missile.
After all this was done, Lu Yuanming said earnestly to the others, "I've heard it said that all fear comes from lack of firepower. Now... Our firepower is sufficient. Let's go, we're going to settle the score with those MXG people, we're going to avenge John!"