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Chapter.85 Traces (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Klein felt like he was in a terrible nightmare.

    But if the absurdity he experienced was just a false story drawn up in a dream, how good it would be.

    If he could have appeared a few years earlier... a dozen years earlier and told Old Neil the trick of playing the name of the potion... If the church could popularize the "playing method" to ordinary night watchers at the bottom...

    Would this senseless tragedy and sacrifice be avoided?

    No, if he had not been eager to rationalize his promotion and hinted at the role of playing to many night watchers including Old Neil, would Old Neil not have fallen into despair of wasting his years? Would he not have listened to the corrupt words of the impersonal god, the "Hidden Sage", and would he not have tried the unknown true and false life alchemy ritual?

    Klein felt at a loss, but more of it was heavy, depressed and helpless.

    He completed the subsequent search work in a daze, and returned to the company with Luo Yao, who also had red eyes, leaving only the captain who had remained silent after shooting Old Neil to deal with the aftermath on the scene.

    He didn't know how he got home, how he pretended to be calm and enjoyed dinner with his family, or how he fell on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

    But when he woke up again, looked at the curtains blown by the morning breeze, and looked at the bright light shining into the room through the gap, Klein knew that he should cheer up.

    He got up and washed as usual, changed into a decent tuxedo, picked up the half-high silk hat, and walked down the stairs quietly.

    When he saw Melissa sitting at the dining table in the living room eating breakfast and Benson flipping through the morning paper beside her, Klein was stunned for a moment and his steps stopped instantly.

    Something... is not right.

    It seems that something is missing?

    Who is missing?

    Why do I feel that there should be another person sitting at the dining table...

    Who is that?

    ... Strange, including myself, there are exactly three brothers and sisters in the family, that's right.

    "Klein, are you okay?" Hiding her worries, Melissa put down the bread and looked up at her brother who was standing still on the stairs.

    She and Benson were both vaguely aware of Klein's strange behavior last night, but out of consideration for Klein's mood, they tacitly said nothing and did not ask any further questions. They cooperated with his poor acting skills and pretended not to know.

    After calming himself down, Klein hung the silk hat in his hand on the coat rack by the door, then walked to the dining table, pulled out a chair and sat down. He smiled at Melissa and Benson with some energy:

    "I'm fine. Maybe something that happened yesterday made me feel a little tired... But there's nothing that can't be overcome after a good night's sleep. You see, my only thought now is when can we stop eating oatmeal bread for breakfast and switch to a combination of white bread, toast and bacon? That would obviously be much more delicious."

    Before Benson, who was smiling as if to agree, could speak, Melissa emphasized:

    "But white bread is more expensive and less durable. It should be eaten within a few days of purchase, otherwise it will go bad... Klein, I think it's better for us to live frugally. You can't think about improving your living conditions immediately just because you got a raise. You and Benson need to save money, so that if you want to get engaged or married in the future, you can make plans early."

    "Melissa, don't discuss such profound topics at breakfast time."

    Benson smiled as he turned a page of the morning newspaper while drinking tea.

    "If we calculate by age, I have much more pressure than Klein, so now I should focus on studying and try hard to pass the public examination. Although we haven't met the right person yet, having a brother who works in a government agency can add a lot of points to our family conditions. Just like what Emperor Roselle said, 'Be prepared, be safe.'"

    We...haven't met the right person?

    Why do I always feel like I have someone I like...No, not my first love and secret crush whose face I almost forgot, but...

    but the one I met as "Klein Moretti"...

    Klein took a bite of oatmeal bread and swallowed it. He felt a little tasteless and asked subconsciously:

    "Don't you think something is missing?"

    Hearing this, Melissa looked at him helplessly, then lowered her head to look at the plate with oatmeal bread. After hesitating for a long time, she said:

    "Okay, when I come back tonight, I will remember to go to Mrs. Slin's bakery and buy some of her newly launched homemade jam...I know you like the taste, but no more than three spoonfuls per meal per day, no more...eating too much sweets is not good for your teeth."

    Indeed, oatmeal bread with jam does not need to be mixed with tea...

    Thinking of this, Klein picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of hot tea to dilute the dry taste in his mouth.

    But it was still strange, a sense of disharmony that something was overlooked.

    After breakfast, Klein stood up suddenly and walked towards the door, taking out a coin from his pocket to tell fortunes.

    But when his fingers touched the uneven surface of the hard metal, his movements and steps stopped, and a creepy shudder ran through his back as if he had been electrocuted.

    He slowly and gently grasped the coin and took it out of his pocket. He looked down at his palm stiffly and woodenly.

    In the middle of his palm, a coin shining with a beautiful golden luster lay quietly. The front was printed with a fantastic pattern of a flying dragon and a lion. It was obviously not the gold pound currency issued by the Kingdom of Loen.

    Klein could imagine the unknown runes on the back with the denomination of the gold coin without turning it over.

    But he could not remember certain details.

    He could not remember when he got it, nor how he got it.

    He seemed to be missing a part of his very important memory.

    After silently reciting the divination sentence seven times, Klein threw the gold coin up and caught it steadily. He was shocked to find that the flying dragon and lion on the front of the gold coin were facing upwards, confirming his previous divination sentence!

    But the sentence he silently recited was, "I have not forgotten anyone or anything"!

    This was obviously contrary to the facts! At least he was sure that he had no memory of the origin of this gold coin!

    There was only one explanation - a supernatural power interfered with his divination.

    Klein took a deep breath, and his footsteps, which had already approached the door and were ready to take off his hat and cane and go out at any time, suddenly turned around and went upstairs. Even Melissa, who was packing her textbooks, could not help but be attracted by the sound of him going upstairs.

    "I forgot some company information upstairs, I need to find it!"

    After finding an excuse to prevaricate his sister, Klein returned to his room without hesitation. While using meditation techniques to quickly regain his composure, he closed the door and silently looked around every piece of furnishings in the room, trying to find the sense of disharmony that touched his spiritual intuition.

    The bed... is no problem.

    Desk -

    he walked over, feeling a little uneasy, and with a bit of trepidation, he pulled out a few textbooks and notes from the bookshelf and flipped through them quickly as if he was looking for something.

Chapter.85 Traces (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Soon, Klein found the thing that gave him a vague premonition.

    A small note was sandwiched between the last few pages of his notes on Hermetic language when he was in college. On it was a short thank you in beautiful handwriting.

    There was no signature.

    His mood was like a roller coaster, rising and falling.

    But there was definitely more. The person who disappeared in his memory definitely left more than just this small note.

    He opened the drawer and searched, and soon he found two more things in the piled-up storage room.

    A note with the ancient Hermetic name "The Fool" written on it, and an empty potion bottle, with obscure and mysterious rune patterns on the bottle.

    Almost at the moment he saw the empty bottle, Klein felt as if he had an illusory headache.

    He gritted his teeth to drive away these illusions, and carefully searched for a while in the place where he might hide valuables, and indeed found more containers similar to the empty bottle.

    The difference was that the transparent bottles he found later were filled with various strange solvents, and he had taped "medicine labels" on the bottles to explain their uses. Among them were healing potions, antidotes, and invisibility potions, and there were also "full recovery potions" with exclamation marks to emphasize their functions.

    ... But he had no idea how he got these potions, when he taped them, or why he trusted their efficacy so much.

    Klein continued to shift his gaze and came to the closet. As he opened the door, he saw a set of formal dresses that were hung with special care. The sky-high price of "1,200 pounds" popped up in his mind.

    With a strong sense of disharmony that did not require divination to determine, he finally looked at the dressing mirror covered by an old bed sheet in the corner of the room.

    He walked over, pulled down the old bed sheet that had become a dust cover, and looked at himself in the dressing mirror head-on.

    His eyes suddenly stopped at the silver-white leaf-shaped ornament on his ear and the tie clip between the fourth and fifth buttons of his formal suit.

    He reached out and touched the slightly cold earring. This action gave Klein a sense of familiarity, as if he often did this.

    And the tie clip that he wore subconsciously...

    Klein picked up the tie clip inlaid with gemstones and stared deeply at the shiny blue-green color. He almost blurted out a familiar name.

    However, no matter how he recalled, no matter how he tried to dig out the answer he wanted from the corner of his memory, the appearance of that person and the forgotten name seemed to be covered with several layers of thick fog, making him unable to touch or recall. Without hesitating

    for too long, Klein made a decision.

    Suppressing the uneasiness and panic in his heart, as well as the hesitation caused by the obvious abnormality of his memory, he pretended to find a paper bag, put a notebook in it, smoothed the wrinkles on his coat, and left the room.

    When he came to the corridor on the second floor, he suddenly had an inexplicable spiritual intuition. He wanted to go to the guest room at the end of the corridor. He wanted to see the empty room that had never had a guest since his family moved into the new house.

    No miracle happened.

    Klein kept pushing the door open and stared blankly at the white sheets in the room, the neatly folded summer quilts, and the desk and chairs were arranged in a way that completely matched his impression of this guest room.

    But for some reason, the window buckle of the guest room was not closed properly. Whenever there was wind outside, the half-open glass window would be blown left and right, and it would occasionally knock against the window frame and make a banging sound.

    He walked into the empty and cold guest room, silently closed the half-open window, turned around and went downstairs, calmly bathing in his sister's eyes that seemed to be suspicious and worried, and picked up his cane and top hat.

    "Melissa, if you don't leave, you'll be late for school."

    After forcing a smile to remind his sister, Klein saw that the girl's tender face suddenly became a little more panicked. He didn't bother to secretly observe him anymore. He picked up his schoolbag and rushed to the door to change his shoes.

    At this moment, Klein noticed a pair of women's home slippers on the shoe rack. He stared at it unconsciously for more than ten seconds before he slowly looked away.

    He was sure that he must have forgotten something very important.

    But for the time being, he couldn't use the divination on the gray fog to clarify this part of his forgotten memory.

    Because he couldn't be sure whether the initiator of his forgetfulness was capable of doing something more terrible than this, such as manipulating other people's thoughts and weaving false memories...

    Would he walk into a deeper maze and fall into a more terrifying trap if he acted rashly without reason?

    What's more, this morning was Old Neil's funeral.

    Thinking of this, Klein's mood became heavy again.

    No longer considering the inconsistency and loss of memory, he left the house silently and boarded the carriage to the cemetery outside the North District.

    As the soil gradually buried the black coffin and the remains of a living being inside it, Klein clenched the deep sleeping flower in his hand and truly felt the weight of the farewell.

    Amid Roshan's indistinct sobs, he drew a crimson moon on his chest.

    "May the goddess bless you."

    The solemn bunch of deep sleeping flowers was placed in front of the tombstone, becoming the only gift Klein gave to his mystic enlightenment teacher.

    ...

    After a physically and mentally exhausting day, Klein returned to his room, holding an ordinary copper penny in his hand. He threw it high and caught it as if he was playing.

    After repeating it for an unknown number of times, he cleverly caught the falling coin, opened his palm and looked at the head of King George III facing up.

    There is no risk in going to the palace above the gray fog to perform divination now...

    Klein nodded lightly, carefully took out the pure silver knife from the drawer, and let the spirituality gushing out of the blade form an invisible wall of blockade, and then he relaxed a little.

    After putting the silver knife back, he quickly completed the steps and spells of the luck-changing ritual. The spirit wrapped in the spirit became lighter and higher amidst the constant crazy screams and mutterings, and finally arrived at a mysterious space filled with gray and white mist.

    Klein's figure appeared at the top of the bronze long table.

    He was very skilled in displaying those objects in the real world that made him feel strange and inconsistent in this palace.

    Tie clips, expensive formal dresses, potion bottles, silver-white leaf-shaped earrings, notes with thank-you notes, and so on.

    After writing down the divination sentence, Klein leaned back against the back of his chair and fell into the hazy vision of dream divination.

    Almost not long after, Klein took the initiative to exit the dream in shock.

    Alice...

    How could he forget her? !

    No, it's not just him, Benson, Melissa... They, they no longer remember the seemingly pure witch, as if she had never appeared...

    Then what about Leonard? What about the colleagues who worked with Alice? What about Mr. Azik who had seen her?

    Will they also forget her?

    Referring to his family's reaction today, Klein felt cold sweat on his body.

    The answers to the above questions are likely to lead to the same terrifying conclusion.

    What happened... that made a living person suddenly disappear, and even the memories of those involved could no longer find her figure?

    Klein forced himself to calm down and analyzed several possibilities.

    One, Alice found a way to return to her own world, so she cast a spell of astral travel and erased the memories of all those related to herself.

    ... No, this situation is logical, but not reasonable.

    Alice clearly promised to fulfill a wish for him and promised to help him find the house with the dark red chimney. If she just ran away without paying, then he...

    then he actually couldn't do anything to this witch.

    But perhaps it was intuition, or perhaps it was the understanding and resonance that he had cultivated with her so far. Klein would rather consider other possibilities than guess whether she had left.

    Of course, he also wondered if the witch was tired of staying in Tingen and couldn't wait to get rid of the past and experience a brand new life...

    But September was coming soon, and in another week, Alice could ride the steam train and go to Backlund to enjoy her new life...

    Based on her past performance and personality, this witch would never do anything impulsive, let alone erase other people's memories.

    To be honest, Klein hoped that this was just a prank by the witch, a prank that was not so interesting and too bad.

    But this was impossible.

    Reason told him that the changes that had occurred now could only be caused by the last situation.

    What had Alice encountered and experienced, and... I'm afraid she was still suppressed and at a disadvantage.

    At this moment, Klein suddenly realized a fact.

    His work of "repaying" his debt with his body and being a human guinea pig for the witch happened to end on Monday night.

    If Alice was fulfilling her promise and helping him find the mastermind behind the dark red chimney house, she would encounter danger and misfortune...

    Does that mean that the mastermind behind the dark red chimney house is more terrifying and more difficult to deal with than he originally expected?

    - Of course, ideally, as long as Alice answers in person, all doubts and problems will be solved.

    Klein thought about it and re-drafted several divination sentences.

    "I can use the telepathic communication function of the earring in this gray fog space."

    "It is dangerous to contact Alice in the real world."

    ...

Chapter.86 Hope of Breaking the Situation (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    The result of the divination was not very ideal.

    No matter how Klein modified and corrected his divination statements, the answer given to him by the spiritually-driven citrine pendulum did not change at all.

    Any attempt to contact or find Alice is dangerous.

    The risk factor is not high, but it is not small either.

    After carefully weighing the pros and cons of various methods, Klein came to a conclusion.

    If he gave up when he encountered a little difficulty and was defeated by the bad fate he had seen, he would never be able to face it squarely.

    Since he would encounter danger in the process of searching for Alice if he relied on his own strength, he would seek help from others; since he might face risks as a Sequence 9 "Fortune Teller", he would wait until he was promoted to "Joker" and had stronger personal strength before acting cautiously.

    He submitted a special application for promotion last week, and it was about time. The person who examined him should arrive in Tingen in the next few days to conduct a comprehensive review of him.

    At least before the end of the examination, Klein did not intend to act rashly to avoid any unnecessary incidents.

    Moreover, if Alice really got into trouble… If that witch who was obviously many times stronger than him was defeated by the mastermind, he would still dare to rush forward without thinking. He must either think his life is too long or he is tired of living.

    Klein asked himself that he absolutely had no such plan. He still wanted to live well, work hard to improve himself, and find a way to return to Earth. He must not waste this time waking up from the "original owner".

    He knew the preciousness of life, and he dared not bet everything on the "unknown ability" of traveling to the beginning and automatically healing fatal wounds.

    So when he returned to the real world from the mysterious space above the gray fog, the first thing Klein did was to classify the potions he got from Alice according to their functions and put them into several interlayer pockets of his windbreaker to ensure that when they were needed, he could react quickly and find the most suitable potion for the current use at the first time.

    After putting away the potion bottles, he removed the blockade of the spiritual wall, pulled open the chair in front of the desk and sat down. He opened the notebook in a posture of reviewing mysticism notes and began to write and draw on a blank page with a pen.

    While writing and drawing, he would stop from time to time and use the copper penny to divine and make corresponding corrections.

    He planned to use abstract pictures that only he could understand and short phrases in simplified Chinese to organize and plan the future course of action - find allies who might provide help, investigate the truth behind Alice's disappearance, and investigate the mastermind behind the dark red chimney house.

    Every time he finished writing or drawing a piece of white paper, he would carefully read it silently several times until he was sure that he had memorized the content on the paper, then tear off the paper and burn all the evidence for analysis.

    That night, the gas lamp in Klein's room was on until almost midnight before it went out.

    ...

    The next morning, Klein walked out of the Blackthorn Security Company with a calm and peaceful expression, looking no different from when he entered the company in the morning.

    But there was no doubt that he could feel the changes in his body, and felt that his strength, dexterity, and coordination had greatly improved.

    He had been promoted to "Joker" and became a Sequence 8 Beyonder.

    The church's test came in line with expectations, and the degree of success was completely beyond Klein's expectations. Even the negative effects after taking the "Joker" potion were extremely minor, and the extraordinary power that overflowed from the potion itself was also very limited. He was able to successfully control it with just a short meditation.

    He vaguely felt that this was the benefit of his promotion after completely digesting the Sequence 9 potion, but he felt that the reason was not just this one point, there were other reasons.

    It can't be because I played the "clown" in advance without knowing it, right? I haven't been a temporary worker in a circus... Klein laughed bitterly and complained to himself with some confusion.

    But thinking about it, he knew what he should do now.

    While rehearsing various situations that might be encountered in his mind, Klein walked to the public transportation station and got on the carriage to the police station.

    In his windbreaker pocket, there was a legally binding official seal permit. As long as he took out this permit approved by Dunn Smith, the "senior inspector", Klein could enter the police station's archives and look through most of the ordinary archived cases in the past two years.

    ——Since he planned to investigate someone who suddenly disappeared, it might be a good idea to find a few other missing cases that were not related to Alice as a cover.

    But Klein knew that his intentions could not be too direct and obvious, and he needed a tactful way to turn.

    For example, he wanted to find out the role-playing rules of the "Joker" potion, so he thought of the member of the Secret Society that he had killed with his own hands, and thought that the clown camouflage on his face might be a role-playing behavior - although Klein could already be sure that the other party was a Sequence 7 Beyonder.

    So he proposed a bold hypothesis to the captain: Some Beyonders similar to the member of the Secret Society, that is, unofficial Beyonders hidden among the ordinary people, would they commit some seemingly ordinary but illogical cases for the purpose of role-playing?

    Based on this hypothesis, Klein's motivation for applying to view those archived cases was reasonable, and this request was quickly recognized by the captain with a thoughtful nod.

    The most difficult step had been taken. Klein did not dare to relax and got off the carriage. He spent a few pennies to buy toast at the bakery on the street, then walked around the corner and headed straight for the main entrance of the Tingen City Police Department.

    After taking out the nominal trainee inspector certificate, everything unfolded smoothly as Klein expected.

    Inspectors are considered middle-level cadres in the police station, and what's more, this young trainee inspector was holding a permit approved by a senior inspector. After confirming the identity of the person, the police on duty asked someone to take him to the archives room and assigned the trainee police officer who was on duty in the archives room that day to help the young inspector who wanted to check the information.

    In this way, Klein spent the rest of the morning and several hours in the afternoon looking through various case materials. During this time, he felt hungry, so he took out the toast he had bought from the paper bag and made do with it.

    ——The trainee police officer, who was hungry but very dedicated, held on until about two o'clock in the afternoon, and was persuaded by Klein, who couldn't stand his rumbling stomach, to eat and rest, and left with a grateful look on his face.

    In fact, Klein felt that he might be more efficient in looking for information by himself...

    The reason was that the police station system in the Kingdom of Loen had only been established for fifteen or sixteen years, and there were many imperfections in management, including the management of case materials.

    Yes, that's right. These police officers never seemed to have thought of numbering the archived cases, sorting them by time, and placing them in categories...

    If Klein didn't have cheating-level divination to help him find them, he felt that he might faint the moment he saw the huge amount of files on the bookshelf.

    "If I become a powerful figure one day, I must make sure that grassroots police officers pay attention to cultivating the concept of classification and organization..."

Chapter.86 Hope of Breaking the Situation (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Muttering in a joking way, Klein put down the several file bags in his hands and sat back at the table in the archive room, trying to find the case materials that met the requirements.

    Time passed quietly with the boring sound of turning papers.

    Klein opened the cover of his pocket watch, glanced at the time indicated on the dial, and suddenly stood up to sort out the materials he had borrowed.

    The trainee police officer who was secretly reading a book was awakened by the movement here. He quickly hid the mystery novel on hand and took the initiative to run over to help.

    After saying goodbye to the duty police officer in the archive room, Klein walked out of the police station while silently reciting the sentence and casually completed the divination with a copper penny.

    It is not suitable to visit Teacher Azik at his home now... Then what about in the evening?

    He quickly performed another divination and got a positive answer.

    "Okay, then go back to buy vegetables and make dinner, and go out to visit Mr. Azik in the evening."

    Klein nodded gently, forcing himself to suppress the anxiety and uneasiness in his heart, turned around and got on the public carriage back to Daffodil Street.

    ...

    At about seven in the evening, Klein used the excuse that he needed to work overtime tonight, changed into clothes for going out, said goodbye to Benson and Melissa, and walked out of the house in the slightly cool evening breeze.

    He took a carriage to Azik's house. He went forward and rang the doorbell. In less than half a minute, Azik, dressed in a shirt and vest, opened the door.

    For some reason, Klein could read a kind of "Why are you here again" subtext from the other party's expression.

    Counting that the last time he came to see Teacher Azik, it seemed to be only two or three days ago... Klein suppressed his blushing and hurriedly told the other party the purpose of his visit before he opened his mouth:

    "Mr. Azik, I came to visit this time in the hope of getting your guidance... Mainly for some problems with my own memory."

    Azik looked at him with a sense of awareness, put away the joking expression on his face, and motioned him to come in to talk.

    "Is there something wrong with your memory?" After sitting down on the sofa in the living room, Azik asked directly.

    Klein did not answer immediately, but looked around cautiously, with a little panic in his expression.

    "Mr. Azik, can you be sure that our conversation will not be heard by some...someone like the mastermind who influenced my fate?" After hearing this

    , Azik replied after a few seconds:

    "If there is that inharmonious power here, then I should be able to sense it, and now I can be sure that there is no residual power of the other party here."

    In other words, our current conversation is still safe and unlikely to be eavesdropped...

    Klein breathed a sigh of relief, straightened his back and began to explain the situation to Azik - of course, he did not intend to rashly mention the name "Alice" in front of Azik.

    In this way, if the other party said "I don't have any impression of the name you mentioned", it means that this history teacher who is suspected to be a powerful extraordinary person has also unknowingly forgotten Alice and has fallen into the trap of the mastermind.

    While explaining his intention to find someone, he handed Azik a piece of paper with the results of his several hours of reading the police files today.

    In the past two years, there have been cases of missing girls in Tingen City, as well as the names and characteristics of the missing girls.

    Among the seven or eight names of missing girls, there was an alien "Alice" without a surname.

    "I know I want to find someone who is missing, but now I suddenly find that there is a problem with my memory, so I can't remember who I am looking for..." Klein said slowly with his head down. Azik

    quickly finished reading the words on the paper and thought:

    "I haven't heard of these names much, at least they are unlikely to be students of Hoy University."

    ... Swallowing the horror that made him sweat vaguely, Klein changed his words:

    "Mr. Azik, maybe you still remember that I came to see you on Tuesday, and you told me that you have a doctor friend who runs a clinic... Can you tell me the address of that clinic?"

    "The specific address... I don't remember it very clearly. I just know that he rented a shop on Vlad Street in the East District." Azik didn't delve into the reason why Klein asked this, and replied gently, "You can look along the street. My doctor friend's name is Mikhail, and his clinic's sign has his own name written on it, called Mikhail Clinic."

    Good, now I have information about Alice's workplace. Maybe when I start the investigation later, I can get some clues from her colleagues!

    Klein was cheered up and thanked Azik for his help. After thinking for a while, he spoke again:

    "Mr. Azik, a few days ago I asked you to create supernatural events in the small towns around Tingen... Well, in addition to the restrictions mentioned before, can I add a small, insignificant request?"

    Looking down at the piece of paper placed on the coffee table, Azik nodded slightly, as if he guessed what he would say:

    "What is the specific request?"

    Klein said carefully:

    "I hope that the supernatural events you create can have some connection with these missing cases, preferably in a way that can directly remind people of the names of the missing girls..."

    In this way, he can intervene in these missing cases that have long been archived as a night watchman, investigate these missing cases that have long been archived, and by the way, "use public power for personal gain" to find the truth behind Alice's disappearance...

    "No problem, but it will take some time, and you will need to provide me with the addresses of the relatives of the missing person." Azik still did not ask him why he did this, and agreed after just a little thought.

    Klein was worrying about how to cross Alice's name off the "missing persons list" to avoid being discovered by his teammates on night watch. In this way, he only needed to collect the address information of several of the missing persons and then hand it over to Azik.

    Hearing this, he immediately showed joy and said,

    "Okay, then tomorrow..."

    He was about to arrange a time for a visit with Azik, but he suddenly stopped talking halfway: Tomorrow is Saturday, and he should go to the church basement to take his turn at Chanis Gate!

    Azik could obviously guess the second half of the sentence from his performance. He thought calmly for a while, took out an exquisite ornament that looked like an old copper whistle, and explained that he could blow this token to summon a messenger and contact him in time.

    When Klein put the copper whistle in his pocket and stepped out of the entrance door of Azik's house, he finally felt that he seemed to see a glimmer of hope at dawn.

    ...

    The last Wednesday at the end of August, the Blackthorn Security Company in Tingen City.

    The two young night watchmen who had just handled the paranormal incident in Morse Town yesterday met outside the company. They looked at each other in the formal inspector uniforms and were speechless for a moment.

    "I knew that every simple task with you would become complicated."

    After putting on the serious police uniform, Leonard Mitchell, who had the temperament of a poet, seemed to have restrained some of his unruly romantic feelings. His green eyes swept deeply over his new colleague who had become a Sequence 8 Beyonder in just one month.

    "I don't want this either."

    Klein smiled helplessly, thinking that this was something he really couldn't be more sincere about.

    "But who could have expected that the supernatural events in the small town would involve several highly similar cases of missing girls. Moreover, these disappearances all occurred within a year, and without exception, they all bore obvious signs of being committed by Extraordinary Persons..."

    "Okay, there's no need to repeat what the captain said. My memory is not that bad." Leonard glanced at him, put his hands in the pockets of his uniform trousers, and said casually, "Let's start working early. To be honest, the most recent disappearance case was a full two months ago, and I don't think we can find much useful information."

    "...We should at least try hard once."

    Klein took the lead and insisted without looking back.Chapter.87 Multiple Visits (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    After going around in circles for a while and crossing out the first few lines of text recorded in the portable notebook one by one, Klein pretended to be calm and tapped the next location with the tip of his pen. He looked up at his colleague Leonard.

    "The next place we should go is Henry Private Detective Agency on Beswick Street. The girl who lives in the North District, her parents went to this agency on the third day of her disappearance and commissioned a private detective to find their daughter's whereabouts... I hope we can get some clues from the detective."

    "Private detective..." Leonard pressed down a few tufts of hair that were messed up by the wind with his hands, and chuckled meaninglessly, "Don't expect private detectives to have high moral qualities. As long as you pay enough, they can dig up all the bad habits and scandals of a person from inside to outside for you, even if the target may be their last commissioned employer..."

    His poorly groomed black hair looked much longer than before, but paired with that pretty face, there was no sense of slovenliness at all, which made him more messy and beautiful.

    After silently complaining about the man's appearance, Klein pressed down his police hat and said,

    "It sounds like you have some opinions about the profession of private detective. Then you will ask Detective Henry later?"

    Seeing the green eyes floating with silent doubts of "What are you doing, are you lazy?", Klein explained righteously,

    "I am responsible for asking other employees of the firm."

    - Because he was worried that close contact with Detective Henry would expose his identity, Klein decided to play it safe and only inquire about the situation from the employees of the firm who had worked with Alice for some time.

    Leonard nodded without doubt, and the corners of his mouth slightly raised: "That's about right."

    The two who reached a consensus got on the carriage dispatched from the police station. As the carriage swayed and turned, they came to the stairs with the firm's sign.

    With the police system logo of "crossed swords and crowns", the investigation process of going upstairs to question people went very smoothly. The only thing that discouraged Klein was that almost all the employees of the firm said that they had never heard of the name "Alice" and had never seen a young girl with light blonde hair and turquoise eyes.

    Even if they used divination to confirm, the conclusion was the same - these people did not lie. They firmly believed in their memories and claimed that they had never seen the girl described by the young police officer.

    It was as if there was an eraser with magical powers that erased Alice from everyone's memory...

    No, this guess should perhaps be prefixed with a restricted area - only the people in Tingen City forgot "Alice" and everything related to this name.

    Klein did not forget the internal wanted order for "Mirror Witch" issued by the Church of the Night when Miss Witch arrived, nor did he forget Miss "Justice" who was suspected of having seen Alice at the Tarot Club.

    He mentioned the wanted order last month to several colleagues, including Leonard, indirectly, and found that the Night Watchmen still had the impression of the "Mirror Witch" as a member of the witch sect who was sealed and captured by the church's high-level officials, and they did not lose any relevant memories.

    As for Miss Justice, he only mentioned the examination of new members as a "fool" at the Tarot Club, and the noble lady who seemed to have a good family background was so excited that she almost left the "audience" state. The emotional color of the astral body changed drastically and dyed it with an obvious orange-yellow color...

    Well, anyway, let's assume that the "audience path strongman" that Miss Justice met was Alice, then her performance is undoubtedly one of the evidences to prove the above speculation.

    Unfortunately -

    thinking of this, Klein couldn't help but cast a glance at Leonard who was walking down the stairs in front of him, with a little unspeakable pity in his eyes.

    This guy used to share his "love experience" occasionally, and often boasted to me about how gentle and considerate she was. He thought that being given the nice guy card was proof that their relationship had taken a step closer...

    But now, he has forgotten Alice, completely and thoroughly, and it seems that he has never been suspicious of inconsistent things like I did before.

    If it is because Alice never gave Leonard anything... then, he is really pitiful.

    Klein followed Leonard into the carriage and took out the portable notebook that recorded the places he visited again. He crossed out the line of Henry Private Detective Agency and looked at the next paragraph:

    "Hauls Street, Deville Cafe."

    "Huh? Deville Cafe?" Leonard, who was leaning against the carriage with his eyes closed, opened his green eyes and said with a slight smile, "I often went there to buy coffee last month... But I have to say that the coffee making skills of the waiters there are really average, and the price is very expensive. It's not worth it."

    ... You didn't say that last month, did you? You had praised Alice's coffee before, as if it was some kind of top-grade drink with special seasoning magic.

    Klein looked at him with a complicated expression:

    "You bought it even though it's not worth it?"

    After telling the trainee police officer outside the carriage the destination, Leonard sat back in his seat, barely suppressing the urge to cross his legs and said:

    "So haven't you noticed that I haven't been to that cafe for a long time?"

    Yes, yes, I know you haven't been to maid cafes since Alice resigned, but you don't know it yourself...

    Klein was worried that the other party would see something, so he simply perfunctorily dealt with the topic and stopped talking. He turned his head and looked at the street scene passing by outside the carriage in silence.

    Not long after, the carriage stopped by the street, and the two got off one after another, and walked into the door of the cafe under the slightly awed eyes of passers-by.

    Including today, this was the second time Klein had walked into this maid-themed cafe. Before, he had mostly just waited for Alice to finish her day's work under the street lights across the street.

    With a strange feeling that he couldn't explain, Klein looked around, but suddenly heard Leonard's slight smack.

    "Why is that annoying cafe owner here today..." The young inspector with a poetic and romantic temperament stopped and turned to discuss with his colleagues, "Klein, why don't you ask the female boss... Yes, the one sitting in the third row, wearing a men's suit, and served by a maid."

    Klein looked in the direction of the voice and saw the beautiful woman in men's clothing he described. He also saw her dark golden hair tied into a low ponytail, her blue eyes, and her facial features that were slightly similar to Sir Deville.

    He recalled the topic that Benson and Melissa had argued about, and remembered that the center of their argument was Sir Deville's only daughter, the investor and owner of Deville Cafe, Ms. Danitaly Deville.

    It turns out that the real person looks like this, this is the first time I've seen it... Well, no wonder Melissa thinks that this lady has a problem with her behavior. After all, that face... is still quite deceptive.

    He silently glanced at the blushing young maid next to her, then retracted his gaze and turned to Leonard with a smile,

    "Why, do you have a grudge against that lady?"

    "A grudge..." Leonard's expression seemed to be at a loss for a moment, and he paused for a few seconds before answering vaguely, "Anyway, her attitude is pretty bad, she is arrogant and complacent, and she doesn't look at people in the eye. I don't want to deal with such a person."

Chapter.87 Multiple Visits (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    "Then I will be responsible for questioning her." Klein pretended to be reluctant to accept the difficult task he pushed to him, and walked towards the seat where Danitali was.

    The beautiful woman in men's clothing who was smiling and talking to the maid beside her seemed to have noticed something. She raised her eyes and paid attention to the young inspector-level police officer who was walking towards them. She whispered to comfort the somewhat shy and flustered maid and asked her to go to the lounge to take a rest.

    "This officer, do you have something to ask me?" Danitali acted generously and invited him to sit down without any restraint.

    In order to show the persuasiveness and authority of his police uniform, Klein did not accept her goodwill. He deliberately frowned and said politely but firmly:

    "We are investigating a case and need your cooperation to answer a few simple questions... Can we go over there to talk?" As he said that, he turned his head and pointed in the direction away from the front desk.

    The female boss who Leonard described as "arrogant, complacent, and not looking at people in the right eye" put down the half-drunk mellow coffee and stood up with a smile.

    "Of course, cooperating with the police officer's investigation is the duty of every Tingen citizen. I certainly don't mind you interrupting my leisure time enjoying coffee, nor do I mind you scaring the girls working here..."

    ... This Danitali is really a veteran and annoying person.

    As a keyboard expert, Klein has seen many netizens' comments in the era of big data, and has long been immune to such insignificant complaints. He calmly walked to a corner where no one was around and began his own questioning.

    According to the planned content, Klein tried his best to keep his tone unhurried, asking for clues related to the missing girl case one by one, and "inadvertently" mentioned the name of another missing person.

    To his surprise, the beautiful woman in men's clothing, who was much taller than him, reacted in a way that almost made his heart stop.

    "Alice? This name seems familiar..." Danitali tapped her temple twice, and then said, "But unfortunately, I don't know the lady you are talking about."

    This was the first time Klein encountered a witness who said he felt familiar!

    Suppressing his anxiety and impatience, Klein asked in a deep voice:

    "Are you sure? Are you sure you really feel familiar? Or you can think about it again, where does the familiarity you mentioned come from?"

    "Who knows when I heard this name? But I really don't know anyone named 'Alice', so I can't provide you with more information."

    Danitali's statement did not seem false, so Klein had to give up for the time being. He asked a few more questions and returned to the front desk to find Leonard. He used his body to block the view of the surrounding waiters and did a quick and hidden divination. The

    divination results showed that the owner of the cafe named Danitali was not lying.

    Slightly discouraged, Klein put away the copper penny coin and winked at Leonard. The two of them walked out of the door of the maid cafe in tacit understanding and returned to the carriage with the symbol of a double sword intertwined and a crown.

    "Still nothing?" Seeing his colleague nod silently, Leonard smiled and shook his head, raised his hand and pointed at the carriage, "It's almost noon, let's go back to have lunch and rest before continuing the investigation. Anyway, we still have an afternoon."

    Because those missing cases have happened so long ago, even if clues related to extraordinary crimes are found, the Nighthawks will only give Klein one day to visit today. If no evidence is found, the case will be filed and no more personnel will be assigned to focus on the investigation.

    Of course, Klein himself knows the result of today's visit best - this was originally something he asked Teacher Azik to do, so it is naturally impossible to find any clues and evidence that are fictitious.

    So he shook his head and emphasized:

    "There is only one afternoon."

    Hearing the meaning behind Klein's words, Leonard looked at him up and down with green eyes as if he had met him for the first time:

    "...You don't even eat lunch?"

    "I'll go eat after I finish the next trip." Klein took out his pocket watch and checked the time. He roughly estimated, "We'll meet in front of the Tingen branch of Backlund Bank at 1:30 p.m."

    If he were to go with Leonard, Klein couldn't explain why he was going to Mikhail Clinic on Vlad Street, because this new clinic, which had only been open for half a month, obviously couldn't be related to any of the missing girls' cases...

    So even though it would be a bit hard, he still decided to squeeze out time and go to the clinic on his own to look for any clues that might exist.

    "You're really dedicated..." The poet-like Nightwatchman seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just sighed and patted Klein's shoulder, then turned and got into the carriage. It

    wasn't until the police station's carriage passed the corner that Klein looked up at the sun rising above his head, and was almost blinded by the bright and brilliant sunlight.

    "When I find you, I'll make you compensate for all my losses..."

    Rubbing his uncomfortable eyes, Klein muttered and turned to walk to the next street.

    On the other side, the "Midnight Poet" returned to Zouteland Street and jumped off the carriage and walked to the Old Weir Restaurant near the company.

    After sitting down in a relatively secluded corner, Leonard ordered a single meal, put down the menu, propped up his hands and looked at the sky and clouds outside the window, and spoke in a low voice as if talking to himself:

    "Old man, do you think Klein has discovered my extraordinary secret in the past two days of testing?" "

    ..." The vicissitudes of life in his mind were silent for a long time before responding, "How many times have you emphasized in front of your friend that you have a secret? Do you think he still needs to be tested?"

    "But I think he's been weird these days... And, old man, don't you think it's strange? Every time an event related to him becomes complicated, it's too coincidental." Leonard hummed his doubts in a nasal voice.

    The old voice seemed to sigh:

    "Maybe it's not just a coincidence. Boy, don't forget that your new colleague mentioned to you that he felt that the recent events in Tingen seemed to be caused by someone behind the scenes."

    When the waiter who served him the food walked away, Leonard picked up his knife and fork and continued to "talk to himself" softly:

    "I haven't forgotten, but that's just speculation. There is no evidence to prove that what he said is definitely correct."

    "Heh." The vicissitudes of life voice snorted and laughed in the mind of the young Night Watcher, "That's why he was able to advance from Sequence 9 to Sequence 8 within a month, and dared to submit a special application to the Church of Evernight and accept the examination of the Holy Church; and you..." "

    I, I was acting cautiously at that time! And I'm also trying to speed up the digestion of the potion now! You can't deny that I have been reciting the poetry collection well recently..."

    Leonard defended himself with his fork, but he was obviously a little dazed at the end, as if he had forgotten the motivation and reason for his decision to recite poetry seriously.

    "Don't let your new colleague surpass you in digesting the potion." The old voice provoked him again, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

    After chewing and swallowing the food without tasting it, Leonard put down his knife and fork, took out his wallet from his pocket, and opened it with a little confusion.

    "By the way, old man, I always forget to confirm one thing with you..."

    As he said that, Leonard pulled out a thin "piece of paper" from the transparent interlayer of the wallet and asked in confusion:

    "Do you remember when I put this completely blank photo into my wallet? Why don't I remember it?"

    After waiting for a long time without getting an answer, Leonard quickly asked again: "...Old man? Did you hear what I asked just now?"

    "You are really rude, kid! How can you call an old man to beg for help like you!"

    The old voice scolded him angrily, and then sighed.

    "I don't know, don't ask, I don't know anything."Chapter.88 Futile (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Ding-ling, ding-ling—

    pushing open the shiny new door, the bell hanging behind the door made a crisp sound.

    Klein, dressed in a neat police uniform, walked into the newly opened clinic and cast his eyes into the spacious and bright reception room.

    His luck was neither good nor bad. There seemed to be no other patients coming to the clinic for consultation. There was only a teenager who seemed to be an assistant sitting behind the reception desk, yawning a little bored.

    Seeing the police coming, the teenager with messy black hair calmly put down the newspaper he had read halfway, stood up and greeted him:

    "Good afternoon, officer, is there anything I can help you with? If you are here to see a surgeon, you may need to wait a while. Doctor Mikhail is going to have lunch now. If it is an internal medicine disease, I can diagnose it for you, and our clinic has launched a preferential plan for public officials. You can enjoy a certain percentage of the consultation fee discount with a police officer certificate—"

    ...Huh? Police can get discounts when they come here for treatment? Is the business strategy of this clinic so humane?

    Klein was almost distracted by this interruption, but fortunately he reacted in time, cleared his throat, and showed his ID to the handsome boy in a white coat:

    "I'm not here to see a doctor. I hope you can cooperate with my questions and answer a few simple questions."

    "...Ah, of course, no problem." The boy reacted instantly and quit his business state. The mature and steady expression on his face was replaced by nervousness and panic in the blink of an eye. "But, but, this sir, I have never done anything bad. What do you mean by questions...? If I can answer..."

    Seeing that the other party was about to raise his hands to prove his innocence, Klein shook his head in his heart, but on the surface he still asked about the details of the missing cases without any ambiguity. However, Leonard was not present at this time, so he omitted the correct time of the case, and mixed Alice's information between the names of the missing girls, asking the boy to focus on recalling his experiences in the past half month.

    "No, sir, I am sure that I have never seen the girls you described." The boy who called himself Xie Ermin promised solemnly.

    Although he had already vaguely guessed the answer, Klein still repeated the question with some reluctance to believe it. Seeing that the boy looked anxious and about to cry, he gave up and raised a somewhat forced smile to comfort him.

    "By the way, when will Dr. Mikhail, the doctor in your clinic, be back? I also need to confirm the situation with him."

    Klein looked sideways at the clock placed in the reception room and estimated the time from here to the meeting place.

    "It should be soon. The doctor should be back around 12:30..." Xie Ermin breathed a sigh of relief, and moved a chair a little stiffly, indicating that the young inspector could sit down and wait. "Would you like some water?"

    Just as Klein was about to finish the water in the glass, the door of the clinic finally rang a refreshing bell.

    Dingling, dingling -

    he stood up suddenly, straightened his police hat, and slightly lowered the brim of his hat, and walked towards the doctor in a white coat wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

    ...

    "Okay, thank you for your cooperation."

    Klein didn't know how he managed to put on a smiling expression and say these words. But when he reacted, his facial muscles had already made the most reasonable response automatically, showing the normal attitude of a police officer in front of these people who had forgotten Alice.

    "This is the duty of a citizen." Doctor Mikhail in front of him said gently, and even took out a business card box from his chest pocket and handed the business card with his name and clinic address to the young police officer in front of him. "Officer, perhaps you have heard about the preferential plan launched by our clinic from my assistant Shermin. If you need anything in the future, Mikhail Clinic will serve you wholeheartedly."

    After taking the business card and taking a look at it, Klein nodded slightly and put it away as if it was nothing.

    "...I understand."

    Without staying in this clinic for long, he opened the door of the clinic with a brand new paint job and walked into the warm and bright afternoon sun. For a moment, he just wanted to empty his mind and stop controlling all kinds of complicated thoughts.

    The clues were broken.

    How to investigate an unsolved case where only the identity of the victim is known?

    There are no witnesses, the location of the crime cannot be determined, and there is no way to know the many doubts.

    Klein's eyes turned darker, and his sight was no longer fixed on the tiles on the street. His right hand flicked up the copper coin, and he silently and quickly recited the divination sentence that had become a routine in his mind:

    "Dr. Mikhail Adams did not lie."

    The copper penny coin spun and rolled down, and he caught it easily.

    In the middle of his palm, the two small mustaches on the portrait of King George III seemed to be curled up as if mocking him, laughing at his fantasy, laughing at his stubborn resistance.

    The slim hope that had supported him for many days just dissipated.

    It was so casual and calm. There was no turning point he expected, nor any sign of miracle. After

    silently collecting the coins, Klein stopped and wiped his face.

    He even felt a little confused now.

    If she disappeared and could never be found again...

    Of course, his life would not change much because of the departure of a witch, not at all.

    Benson and Melissa had forgotten her, so he no longer had any sorrow of parting. His work had little intersection with her. Just the various arrangements after becoming an official night watchman and the plan to investigate the sexual problems of the dark red chimney house occupied most of his energy...

    Without her, he would still live his life.

    In reality, there is no fairy tale of love that cannot move forward without someone, not to mention that they have not reached that point.

    He has tried his best to find her trace, and he knows that this is the limit of what he can do, the limit of his identity as "Klein".

    But even if he stepped into the mysterious palace in the gray fog space and sat on the high-backed chair belonging to the "Fool", he would still be helpless.

    At least before he mastered the "sacrifice" ritual, the earring with the telepathic communication function was just a mere decoration in the gray fog, and could not serve the purpose of contacting Alice.

    This would be his last resort to find her.

    As early as the night he became the "Joker", Klein had performed divination in the gray fog, comparing the risk of using the "Breath of Mind" earrings in the gray fog space and in the real world.

    It was in line with his intuition that using the "Breath of Mind" earrings in the gray fog space would be relatively safer, but the yellow crystal pendulum still indicated a slight possibility of danger.

    ...But.

    Alice had promised that as long as she was still in this world, she would definitely hear and respond to his voice...but what if she couldn't respond to his call?

    Before being forced into cowardice by the truth he imagined, Klein decided to clarify the process of the "sacrifice" ceremony as soon as possible, sacrifice the "Breath of Mind" earrings to himself in the gray fog, and then try it at the slightest risk.

    "What a pity that I just got 300 pounds not long ago. The 'sacrifice' ceremony may require spiritual materials, which is a considerable expense..."Chapter.88 Futile (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    After forcing himself to focus on the calculation of the property, Klein felt that the confusion and anxiety in his heart were significantly reduced.

    He shook his head, as if doing so could shake off the worries that lingered around him.

    In the bright sunlight at 1:30 in the afternoon, Klein walked towards his colleague Leonard, who seemed to have been waiting at the intersection early, and raised his smile.

    ...

    Late at night, in a high-end house in the Golden Sycamore District of Tingen City.

    After finishing a day's work, Danitali called the maid away, took off her clothes, and walked into the bathroom wearing only a few pieces of close-fitting fabrics. The

    bathtub, which was spacious enough to accommodate two or three people, was filled with steaming water, and the entire bathroom was filled with steam.

    The beautiful lady with dark gold medium-length hair threw the last few pieces of underwear into the laundry basket by the door. She was in a good mood and slightly curved her lips. At the same time, she did not forget to push her hair to her chest, revealing a large area of ​​snow-white skin

    on her back. In this bathroom without a mirror, no one could see the snow-white back. Hideous and terrifying lines gradually emerged. These dark red lines close to black twisted like living things and combined into a pattern that looked like a human face.

    With a sticky sound like the eyeballs were crushed by the soles of shoes, the flesh and blood that grew a human face was torn into two gaps by an unknown thing, and two turbid and dark black eyes emerged from each of them. The spine near the tailbone was also pulled up and down to form a crack involving blood and bones, and a hole shaped like a mouth opened.

    Danitali, who looked slightly pale but still had a smile on her face, spoke first, as if she was talking to the face behind her:

    "Quitna, I encountered something interesting today. Do you want to know what it was?"

    The face did not respond, only a pair of turbid and strange eyes moved silently and quickly.

    "The witch 'Alice' you mentioned to me before, today the police came to ask questions about her... If it is true as you said, I have forgotten all my memories related to the witch, but the police remember her name, isn't it interesting?"

    This time, the crack that was twisted to be not as big as the lips moved, and a hoarse voice that could not be distinguished from age and gender:

    "...Not if, you really forgot the witch."

    Danitali raised her long legs, stepped into the hot water that just covered her hips, and sat on the built-in seat of the bathtub.

    "I know, I don't mean to question your statement. After all, I must admit that I do have many doubts about my memory of being promoted to Sequence 7 'Fire Mage'..."

    "Because your potion formula and the main and auxiliary materials were all obtained through trading with that witch." The nearly completely black pupils and whites of the eyes kept squirming, as if a certain evil spirit that chose to devour people was living in them. "In order to test her, you even drew spiritual power from me. You fought a battle with her the night you just completed your promotion... and lost."

    "What does it matter? What's yours is mine. What's wrong with borrowing a little?" Danitali answered nonchalantly, picked up the bath ball soaked in bath gel, and began to scrub her upper body. "But according to your description, that was a witch who was originally a female. It's a pity that she disappeared so suddenly..." The

    evil face naturally knew what she meant by "pity".

    So after a few seconds of silence, it decided to warn Danitali a few more times.

    "You'd better give up. It's not a good idea to choose her as your target... Her strength is definitely not limited to Sequence 6 'Pleasure'. It's very likely that she has reached Sequence 5 'Pain'. She just didn't use her disease ability on you out of some concerns. And... and she is very likely to be cooperating with the forces of the 'Moon' path behind the scenes, otherwise she wouldn't let you test the effects of those bottles of potions made by the 'Potion Professor', nor would she let you teach the extraordinary creature partners of the 'Tamer'..." "

    Pain Witch?" Unexpectedly, Danitali just smiled and said, "Isn't that better, Quitna? Before you turned into this ghost, weren't you a senior 'Pain' Witch? With her body as a carrier, you should be able to recover slowly."

    The evil face paused for a long time before pulling the deep crack where blood and bones were intertwined:

    "...Don't be so idealistic all the time, Danetali. You don't understand. A witch whose original body was female could not have reached the 'pain' of Sequence 5. There are very few cases like me, and it is this little bit of uniqueness that distinguishes me from other sisters that has made me arrogant and lost myself in blindness..."

    "But you said before that her strength is more than Sequence 6, and now you say that a witch whose original body was female cannot reach Sequence 5 - which one should I believe?" Danetali asked, interrupting the hoarse voice of the person behind her who was gradually getting lower and lower.

    "...Listen to me." The evil face closed its pure black eyes, then opened them again, and there were earthworm-like objects that looked like blood vessels moving inside. "If witches like us want to advance, we must avoid the gaze of the 'Original Witch' and must dedicate all our faith, including body, mind and soul, to a certain hidden existence... Only in this way, only in this way, can we have a chance to get a little bit of His mercy..."

    "...It's not easy to be a witch." Even without the reflection of a mirror, Danitali knew that the face behind her was absolutely insulated from the description of beauty and purity. It was an evil face that would cause great panic when seen by others.

    "And this is why I recommend the 'Hunter' path to you. At least... at least the Extraordinaries on the 'Hunter' path will not be specifically targeted because of their birth gender during the promotion process... and, ahem, the 'Iron Knight's'... ahem, the materials and formulas that I couldn't use, you can make good use of them..."

    "Sequence 4 is still too far away for me now." Danita Li shook her head, rejecting the proposal of the evil face in disguise. "And you're going off topic - as long as you believe in that secret existence and get His help, you can hide it from your 'Original Witch'? Then, the witch named Alice is also a believer of that secret existence?"

    "...That's hard to say. But as far as I know, the 'God of Nothingness' hasn't responded to the prayers of the members of the cult for a long time. The last time there was a clear record of the blessing of God's words was about five or six hundred years ago... the era of the 'War of Oathbreaking'."

    The hoarse and harsh voice spoke slowly, pausing for a while after each short sentence, gasping for breath as if all his strength had been drained.

    "But it's also possible that during the time when I left the cult and barely managed to survive, some lucky younger witches got His attention..."

    But that couldn't explain why the witch named Alice was interested in the gatherings of the cult's subordinate organizations... The purpose of holding those gatherings was to discover and guide all witches who were originally female, and guide them to join the cult.

    ——Different from the "Witch Cult", a more hidden witch organization.

    "You witches have so many troubles." Danitali had no way of knowing what the evil face was thinking. She just sighed and turned on the shower head to wet her dark golden hair that she had pushed in front of her. "So the witch who might be the younger generation of your cult suddenly disappeared, and you didn't seem to care at all."

    The two dark eyes near her shoulder blades gradually closed, slightly smoothing the hideous feeling presented by the human face.

    "It's no use caring about it. If I hadn't fallen asleep for a long time and avoided the cleansing of collective memory, you wouldn't have had the chance to hear me mention these things... Remember, Danitali, if you have thought it over, put aside those naive and playful mindsets, and ask less about things you shouldn't know, so that you can... live longer, instead of being like me..."

    "Quitna, don't sleep yet."

    Danitali suddenly called out to the evil face that was about to fall asleep.

    "What's the matter?" A hoarse, unpleasant voice that didn't sound like a witch came from behind her, bringing deep pain that tore through bones and blood.

    "Don't forget, I promised to 'resurrect' you." Danitali closed her eyes and whispered, "Before you find a suitable carrier, at least you can't give up, understand?"

    "...Okay."

    The hideous face fell silent, and quietly closed its eyes and mouth that were as terrifying as an evil spirit.

    ...

    The successful completion of the "sacrifice" ceremony did not bring Klein even a trace of joy.

    Alice...didn't respond to him.

    No matter what he shouted in his heart, even if he tried to make a wish, she didn't send back any response.

    Back in the real world, Klein raised his usual smile and devoted himself to life and work day after day.

    Day and night went back and forth, day and night alternated.

    The cry of the baby came and went.

    *"The sun still shines on the earth. Almost everyone in Tingen City didn't realize that they were lucky enough to escape a huge disaster. The 'monster' Admisol would be very puzzled about this."

    "The story of Tingen City ends here."* (Original Part 1, Chapter 210)

    On a sunny day, two coffins were buried in the Raphael Cemetery on the outskirts of Tingen North District.