The dim room was covered with a thin layer of red moonlight. Everything was blurry and indistinct.
Three men in black coats were sleeping soundly in different spots. And on the small sofa, Klein's eyes were half-closed as though he was in a deep sleep.
His dream was a gray and distorted World that occasionally flashed with brilliance.
Finally, the brilliance froze into a scene.
It was a gloomy corner with dirty water flowing on the ground. A man with short tawny hair, a white shirt, and a brown vest was leaning against the wall, surrounded by gray rats.
Half of the man's lips had been bitten off, revealing yellowish teeth and rotten gums. His nose was only left with bloodstains mixed with some short hairs. The flesh on his face had disappeared bit by bit, revealing the ghastly white bones. White, fat maggots were crawling in and out of his body, constantly wriggling. His throat seemed to have been bitten by a wild beast, losing at least half of it.
Klein could barely make out that it was Zreal Victor Lee. He was no longer the mature and handsome man in the black-and-white photo Ian had given him.
Zreal is already dead. In a few days, he'll probably be gnawed to the point where only his bones are left, or maybe not even his bones are complete … Klein left the dream and recalled the scene he had just seen.
His past experiences had allowed him to calmly witness similar corpses.
Looking at the crimson moon outside the window, Klein thought for about ten seconds and decided to try channeling the spirit of the man in black beside the sofa.
He had already concocted a bottle of the corresponding Amantha extract and Eye of the Spirit potion in the past few days of preparation. As for the Tranquility Potion, Klein didn't need it. He could maintain his calm and reason when others invaded his dream and forcefully channeled the spirit.
After setting up a simple altar and letting the serene fragrance spread out, creating a half-awake state, Klein prayed to himself, to The Fool that doesn't belong to this era.
Then, he entered the world above the gray fog and used more than two-thirds of his spirituality to respond.
When I advance to Sequence 7, a similar prayer should be able to slightly stir the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, just like the summoning and sacrificial rituals … Looking around, Klein made a rough judgment and quickly returned to the real World.
He passed through the starry sky and chaotic and noisy thought storms, entering the mind of the target man, and saw his illusory figure floating in midair.
"Who sent you to Zreal's house?" Klein glanced over and asked in a deep voice.
The man's illusory eyes were lifeless as he replied, "Meursault.
"Meursault, Meursault sent me to wait for a boy named Ian."
The light in his mind world changed, revealing a thin, capable, dark-skinned man. He was none other than the leader of the group of people who had chased after Ian on the steam subway.
It really is him … Klein had expended too much of his spirituality while responding to the prayer. He was beginning to feel exhausted and hurriedly asked,
He hurriedly asked, "Who ordered Meursault?"
"I don't know … He's our Zmanger Gang's Executioner. No one can order him, except for our boss," the man said blankly.
Zmanger … The word for "warrior" in the language of the highlands … Klein, a pseudo-historian and true mysticism expert, suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his head, and his body involuntarily flew out of the thought storm.
It didn't take long for him to leave his spirit channeling state, and he felt his head convulse emptily.
He wasn't in a hurry to leave. He methodically packed up the materials and his short, tawny hair, and opened the oriel window, allowing the cold night wind to blow in, dispersing the smell of Amantha extract and Eye of the Spirit medicine.
During this process, Klein returned to the balcony, locked the door from the inside, and wiped off all the places he had touched.
When Zreal's bedroom returned to its previous state, he pressed his chest and bowed to the three men who were still sleeping soundly.
Straightening his back, Klein put on his gloves and, with a leap, nimbly flipped to the oriel window. He tiptoed and used the abnormally narrow space to stand steadily.
He lifted the vertical latch up and used the tarot card to block the bottom. Using his Clown powers, he felt the details and adjusted his balance.
After a few seconds, Klein slowly pulled out the tarot card. The vertical latch stabilized in place and didn't fall down.
Whoosh!
He first closed the half of the window that didn't have a latch. Then, he dashed over and pushed inwards with his right hand, closing the other half of the window.
This action was so fast that the latch didn't fall until it vibrated, accurately inserting itself into the matching metal hole.
Clang! A sound that couldn't be eliminated sounded, like a strong gust of wind hitting the surface of the glass.
Klein knew that the three men in the bedroom would slowly wake up, so he didn't delay any further and jumped onto the street.
The height of the second floor wasn't dangerous to him at all. However, he couldn't maintain his silence when he landed, so he also created an inconspicuous commotion.
Klein quickly left the vicinity and left Rose Street, but he didn't directly take a rental carriage back to Cherwood Borough's Minsk Street.
He took a few turns and headed for the neighboring East Borough.
In the cold night, the wind was biting into his bones. Klein shivered and decided that he needed to wear a sweater for his future operations. He decided to buy charcoal in the next few days so that the fireplace could be used to its fullest potential.
After an unknown period of time, he entered East Baekeland based on his intuition, without a map.
There were very few gas street lamps here, and only one or two could be seen from afar. If it wasn't for the fact that the dark clouds didn't cover the crimson moon tonight, Klein believed that many sections of the road would be so dark that he couldn't see them clearly.
As he walked, he suddenly saw pairs of eyes appear in the deep darkness in front of him. Stooped figures appeared one after another.
They swayed over from a blurry distance in silence.
Zombies? Klein suddenly stopped, reached out to grab the Requiem Charm and tarot cards, and quickly activated his Spirit Vision.
He saw the colors of the unhealthy and weak auras, as well as the appearances of the figures.
These were all living people, normal living people. However, their expressions were numb, their eyes hollow, and their movements weak. There were both men and women.
It's almost past midnight. Why are they still walking on the streets … Puzzled and wary, Klein leaned to the side and walked past the group of people. But soon, he encountered a second and third wave. It was the same numbness and pain.
He frowned slightly and was about to ask when he suddenly heard a series of curses in front of him.
"Get up! All of you, get up! "
"You sons of b * tches!"
"The streets and parks aren't for you fellows to sleep in!"
"…" Klein was taken aback as the corresponding words of the Poor Law surfaced in his mind. He understood what was going on.
He had experienced the same thing before.
Phew … Klein exhaled, quickened his pace, and walked towards his one-bedroom house on Black Palm Street in East Borough.
There, he slept for two hours and regained some of his spirituality. Then, he went out again and broke off a withered tree branch to use as a dowsing rod.
"The location of Zreal's corpse."
"The location of Zreal's corpse."
…
After repeated divinations with the help of his short tawny hair, Klein walked for a long time before he arrived at a corner of East Borough. There was a sewer entrance.
After the great plague twelve years ago, the Rouen Kingdom had gradually established an advanced sewer system in the capital, surpassing the Rosell Legacy of the Republic of Intis in one fell swoop.
Removing the lid, Klein held his breath and climbed down the vertical metal stairs.
As it wasn't a custom-made suit, it didn't have many pockets, so he couldn't carry too many items. He had abandoned the Quelaag's Oil he had learned from Frye. The Quelaag's Oil that refreshed his mind and eliminated odors was extremely regretful.
Ten seconds later, Klein's feet landed on the ground and he felt the stickiness of the ground.
The feeling of filth caused goosebumps to appear on his arms and body, but he could only endure it and continue walking forward in the empty and quiet sewers.
There was a fork in the road ahead. One of them was relatively hidden, and there was a thick stench that was more disgusting than the others.
Klein turned around and walked all the way to the end, where he saw dense spots of spirituality and aura colors.
Without the use of candles, his eyes, which had activated his Spirit Vision, directly reflected the gloomy corner, as well as the rotting corpse that had been gnawed to pieces.
This was identical to the scene he had seen in his dream divination.
Squeak!
The gray rats scattered in all directions, but some of them stayed in place, unwilling to leave and unwilling to part with their food.
After confirming that it was Zreal, Klein only hesitated for a moment before quickly setting up a mediumship ritual.
Hmm … If there's nothing wrong with Ian's description, Zreal has only been dead for a few days. I should be able to obtain some superficial information through mediumship … he thought confidently.
Whoosh!
As the wind swirled and the wall of spirituality was established, the rats all fled. Klein carried out the ritual step by step, just like before.
"Zreal's cause of death."
"Zreal's cause of death."
…
As he recited it over and over again, Klein's eyes turned black. His pupils and the whites of his eyes disappeared, and he quickly entered a dream with the help of Cogitation.
However, nothing appeared in the foggy, illusory World.
Klein opened his eyes, frowned slightly, and made a judgment.
"The mediumship failed …"
"Someone has' dealt 'with Zreal's spirit …"
"There's a Beyonder involved in this matter."
"He disguised himself as Zreal, and none of the detectives were able to see through him. This also proves this point."
After some thought, Klein made a decision. He would stop here and not get involved any further. After all, he had overfulfilled his mission.
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