Chapter 104 - Mr. Z
Panda Novel
One pocket, two pockets, three pockets… Klein soon found a bloodstained wallet, a Deweyville Library card, two pairs of brass keys, an unstuffed smoking pipe, a sheathed dagger, and a few letters that were folded neatly.
Laying everything onto the ground except for the letters, he stood up straight and looked at the wallet. He confirmed that there were only ten plus soli and some copper pennies.
The craftsmanship of the wallet is quite exquisite. It’s such a pity… Klein sighed, feeling a little distracted.
If I didn’t spend so much of my private stash of money, buying a wallet would’ve been on my schedule today.
After shaking his head, Klein opened the letters and quickly scanned through them.
“Dear Mr. Z,”
“Please allow me to defend myself. When Hanass and I sold off the Antigonus family’s notebook, it wasn’t stupidity or betrayal. It didn’t appear special in any way when it was in our hands.”
“I suspect that it’s alive and that it’s a wicked item armed with a certain life and wisdom. It was something dangerous that needed to be sealed.”
“At different stages and before different people, it shows different contents!”
“This is a proven fact that I’ve learnt from the lamb in the police station.”
“Although the notebook shows content that is sufficiently true each time with plenty of evidence, I believe that it would only reveal the completed content in the hands of a descendant of the Antigonus family.”
“When Hanass and I received it, we could only see some trivial matters of the Antigonus family, the general situation of the Nation of the Evernight on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range, and also the three Sequence potion formulas we handed in to you previously.”
“As you know, the Secret Order has the Seer pathway in its grasp and possesses powerful tracking abilities, so Hanass and I believed that it would be a risky move to continue keeping the notebook. The value it had presented to us wasn’t sufficient for us to take the risk.”
“Since we couldn’t wait for your reply, we agreed amongst ourselves to sell the notebook to Welch, who was living on the same street . He enjoyed collecting relics and ancient books, and he could afford to pay a high price for it. As for the subsequent developments, you are already aware of it.”
“This is the first thing that I’d like to explain. As I am writing these words, Hanass is dead. He died due to a heart attack during his sleep. That must be a blessing from God, to prevent him from suffering the outcome of falling into the hands of heretics.”
“I had no choice but to move to somewhere safer, more hidden. I didn’t even dare to leave the house. Luckily, the lamb told me that the reason Hanass was being eyed by the heretics wasn’t because of the Antigonus family’s notebook, nor was his identity exposed. It was just that he had taken in a silly female disciple in the hopes of slowly developing her into one of us.”
“His female disciple had stolen a glance at his secret incantation and tried the magic divination while a Nighthawk heretic was watching. I believe you can pretty much guess the rest of the story, so there is no need for me to describe it.”
“It’s a pity that the position of the lamb isn’t high enough, so the actual details cannot be determined.”
“From various feedback, it seems the heretics have yet to suspect me. Their investigations came to a halt due to Hanass’ sudden death.”
“Therefore, I will return to the streets and plan to borrow a few more journal issues from the Deweyville Library to seek out more clues.”
“As a faction that also had the Seer pathway in its grasp, the Antigonus family must have had some divinations regarding its decimation. They must have left behind secret treasures that would allow for the revival of the family!”
“There’s sufficient reason to believe that the treasure is hidden on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range, which is in one of the relics in the Nation of the Evernight!”
Having read that, Klein’s pupils constricted rapidly. He nearly dropped the letter.
The pathway that the Antigonus family had in its grasp was the Seer pathway?
What a coincidence!
…
Thunder seemed to boom in Klein’s head again and again that left him in a daze. He felt as though it was destiny.
The notebook that led to the original Klein’s death and indirectly helped me transmigrate, originated from the Antigonus family that has the Seer pathway in its grasp. The one that eventually made me choose the Seer potion was the Emperor Roselle’s diary, while Emperor Roselle was biased towards the Seer Sequence because of the mysterious Mr. Zaratul who was the leader of the Secret Order, which also has the Seer pathway in its grasp!
… This is like a suffocating net sewn by Fate.
What exactly is lurking behind all of this?
Klein held the letter and paced back and forth. He needed to verify the contents with other sources.
Yes, the Secret Order that the Zaratul family controls is pursuing and searching for the belongings left behind by the Antigonus family. If both parties shared the same Beyonder Sequence, there would be a sufficient reason and motive. Perhaps, it is to bridge any missing Sequences, obtain rare ingredients for a higher Sequence advancement, or covet the other party’s accumulated experiences in avoiding the loss of control…
Going by this line of thought, it is rather reasonable that the Antigonus family has at least part of the Seer Sequence chain.
Yes, when I was divining for clues pertaining to the Clown potion, the images that emerged were mostly related to the Antigonus family. The only exception was the suited clown from the Secret Order… Therefore, the true meaning behind the symbolism is that each scene carries the possibility of obtaining the Clown potion and a clue. However, I didn’t understand the crux of the issue and regrettably missed it.
With the two corroborating evidence, Klein nearly believed the matters that Sirius had brought up in the letter. He also understood why he constantly heard the word ‘Hornacis’ in the murmurs he shouldn’t be hearing.
The earliest occurrence of this happening was when I first consumed the Seer potion!
He wore a serious expression as he thought to himself.
Meanwhile, he guessed that ‘being a survivor of those that made contact with a relic of the Antigonus family’ and ‘becoming a Beyonder of the Seer pathway’ were two necessary conditions to hear the murmurs saying ‘Hornacis.’
Is there really a secret treasure buried within the ancient ruins on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range by the Antigonus family? No, I can’t think about this! Just the notebook alone has killed so many people. Any complete treasure would be even more terrifying! Klein shook his head subconsciously and cast his gaze onto the third piece of paper, which was the last of the letters.
“Honorable Mr. Z, I hope I can gain your assistance. I believe that you should be sufficiently interested in the treasure too.”
“Until then, I will make myself look like a normal person, a normal lover of history.”
“When the end of days arrives, I will offer all of Tingen’s lambs as a sacrifice to God.”
“Humbly, Sirius Arapis.”
When he finished reading Sirius’s letter, Klein had the urge to laugh.
Heh, why do I feel like I saved Tingen? What was this guy trying to do? Heretics are truly unbelievable…
Who is this Mr. Z? He seems like someone in a high position… At the very least, he should be at the same sequence as Captain.
Where was Sirius sending the letter to? He didn’t write down the address… It seems like that’s the cautiousness of a heretic. They wouldn’t put the address on until the moment before they sent it out…
Right, if the Antigonus family had the potion of the Seer pathway in its grasp, then would the Clown potion be among the three formulas inside the Antigonus family’s notebook that Sirius sent?”
Highly likely!
In that instant, Klein seemed to have found clues to the Clown potion.
Although Sirius didn’t bring the formula along with him, it was possible that he had left some form of record at his hideout. He must have also had it in his head, in his memories!
Klein looked at the corpse before him and considered the problem of making a dead person speak.
It required almost zero consideration, as an idea immediately popped into his head.
“Mediumship!”
Spirit Mediums could directly communicate with spirits that had yet to disperse. Seers, Mystery Pryers, and others could roughly accomplish the same thing using ritualistic magic.
Previously, when he was dealing with the corpse of the suited clown, there were three things that had kept Klein from using mediumship. Firstly, he was in a hurry to save the rest. Secondly, he didn’t have the ingredients with him, and lastly, he lacked confidence. Thus, he didn’t consider the option of mediumship and missed his best chance. When they returned to Blackthorn Security Company, the spirit was mostly gone. Even a Spirit Medium could only get superficial information.
But now, Klein happened to have all the ingredients and tools, and he happened to have the experience of communicating with lingering resentment through the help of dream divination.
My only concern about contacting the spirit of a heretic would be being placed in the same situation as Captain’s entry into Hanass’ dream where he saw a horrifying existence… However, Captain only remained frail for two days, and he wasn’t considered severely injured. Yes, I could give it a try! He hesitated for less than twenty seconds before making a decision. He didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity.
He raised his head, turned around, and cast his gaze toward the spot where the window had shattered. There was a crowd gathered there watching.
He took out his identification card and badge before returning to the broken window. He then told the onlookers through the shattered oriel window,
“I am a probationary inspector from the Special Operations Department of the Awwa County Police. I have shot the criminal to death. Please take this badge to the nearest police station and tell them to send backup to deal with the follow-up.”
“The rest are to help me cordon off this area. Do not allow anyone to come close for they might contaminate the scene.”
“Yes, Officer!” The librarian that caused Klein the trouble quickly took the badge.
When the entire scene was cordoned off and no one could enter the grass patch, Klein returned to the corner and stood by the side of the corpse.
He was glad that the innocent crowd couldn’t see the dead body, which looked more like a monster than a human. He put down his cane and revolver, then reached into the inner pocket of his windbreaker to take out a metal bottle.
He was going to use the techniques of a mediumship ritual with dream divination to make the dead man speak!
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