Chapter 72: Unexpected

Chapter 72: Unexpected

Queen Borough, beside Viscount Stratford’s residence.

Fors and Xio, both wearing black dresses, hid together in a dark corner, watching the tightly shut iron-barred gate and patiently waiting for their target to appear.

There was no rain tonight, so they did not have to face an especially difficult environment. And the carriage stopped at the edge of the streetlamp’s glow told them that they would definitely gain something. It was only a matter of sooner or later.

After an unknown amount of time, the iron-barred gate made the sound of metal scraping against metal and slowly opened backward.

A figure draped in a deep-black cloak slipped out from within, head lowered, walked beside the hired carriage, and climbed inside with light movements.

“Is that her?” Fors lowered her voice and asked Xio beside her.

She neither possessed a Beyonder ability that could restore someone’s appearance traits through description, nor had she seen the target before, making it impossible for her to rely on spiritual intuition or Astrology to make a judgment.

Xio nodded firmly.

“Yes!”

While they spoke in low voices, the hired carriage accelerated bit by bit and left the area around the side gate.

Xio immediately left the corner where she had been hiding, preparing to rely on a Sheriff’s Beyonder abilities and the physical improvement brought by Interrogator to jog behind the target from a distance.

“What are you planning to do?” Just then, Fors pressed a hand to her shoulder, ruining her plan.

“Follow her!” Xio turned her head and looked at her friend in confusion.

Fors glanced at the hired carriage that had not yet fully pulled away and asked thoughtfully,

“Why are you following her?

“And didn’t you say that after the target enters the Backlund Bridge area, there will be a rather powerful Beyonder protecting her?”

“Yes,” Xio first answered the second question, then said, “Your question is strange. Of course following her is to confirm the target’s appearance, identity, background, and purpose.”

Fors withdrew the left hand pressing on Xio’s shoulder and showed a slight smile.

“Since the target has a rather powerful Beyonder protecting her, it will be very difficult for us to complete the tracking in the Backlund Bridge area. We will not be able to find her residence or clarify her real identity. Do you intend to clash directly with that protector? Even with me helping you, have you confirmed the other party’s strength? How confident are you? Could it be dangerous?

“Furthermore, once a fight breaks out, the target will inevitably be alerted. That would be the same as stopping the carriage halfway and questioning her face-to-face. Both would destroy your most fundamental intention and make Viscount Stratford become vigilant, preventing him from falling into difficulty and giving you a chance to act.”

“Doing it may fail. Not doing it means certain failure.” Xio emphasized that she understood the difficulty, but merely wanted to try again and search for an opportunity along the route.

By then, the hired carriage had already turned at the end of the road and entered the main street. Watching its silhouette gradually disappear, Fors shook her head with a smile.

“No, no, no. What we need to do is change our line of thought!

“We should first try to determine the target’s appearance. Once daylight comes, we can use her looks to conduct an ordinary investigation in the Backlund Bridge area and gather intelligence through other channels.”

“Your terminology sounds very professional…” Xio said as she thought.

“Of course. I have written detective novels!” Fors replied without the slightest modesty.

“But how can we determine the target’s appearance without alerting her?” Xio raised the most important question.

Fors took out Leymano’s Travels as though she had prepared it long ago and said with a smile,

“Very simple. We use the Psychological Invisibility recorded by Miss Justice!”

Although Justice Audrey had not had many opportunities to use Leymano’s Travels, she had rented it two or three times out of curiosity in order to study the functions and traits of the different Beyonder powers within and record some of her own powers onto it. These included the very practical Psychological Invisibility.

As for the matter of her true identity, Xio and Fors were more and more certain, but they had not asked face-to-face and had not conducted any further investigation. This was the most basic respect due to fellow members of the Tarot Club.

Hearing her friend’s answer, Xio’s thinking immediately opened up, and several inspirations appeared in an instant.

Fors then continued on her own:

“After using the Beyonder power on this page, you will stand in the sensory blind spot of nearby living beings. Even if you wander in front of their eyes, they will not see you. In that way, you can directly board the carriage, walk before the target, and openly look at her face, memorizing every trait.

“Heh. Sometimes I wonder whether someone using Psychological Invisibility who has particularly bad luck might be trampled to death by some large creature passing by by chance.

“Uh, later, don’t make too much noise, and don’t speak to the surrounding living beings. That will attract attention and automatically remove Psychological Invisibility.”

“Mm!” Xio nodded, then raised another difficulty. “How do I make the target fail to discover the carriage door suddenly opening while the carriage is moving?”

Without waiting for Fors to answer, she immediately asked,

“Did you record the Beyonder power Open Door?”

“What do you think?” Fors smiled and handed Leymano’s Travels to her friend, explaining which pages contained Psychological Invisibility and Open Door.

After memorizing them firmly, Xio immediately ran quickly through the shadows on both sides of the road, chasing after the hired carriage.

Before long, she saw her target. Her right hand immediately trembled lightly, revealing a page of bronze-green notebook paper and brownish-yellow parchment.

As her fingers slid gently across the page, Xio seemed to see countless ripples emerge on the surface of a deep lake, spreading outward in every direction.

When her vision returned to normal, she quickened her pace and rapidly caught up to the moving carriage.

For confirmation, Xio did not act immediately. With several large steps, she passed the horse.

She then turned as though crossing the road, yet the driver noticed nothing. He neither shouted a reminder nor reined in the horse.

After confirming that Psychological Invisibility was effective, Xio accelerated, dodged the horse’s impact, and came to the side of the carriage compartment.

After briefly observing, she flipped Leymano’s Travels open to reveal a sheet of white paper covered in strange patterns and symbols. Then she extended her right hand and pressed it against the carriage wall.

Her figure instantly turned transparent and appeared inside the carriage.

The woman draped in a deep-black cloak was seated diagonally opposite, seemingly thinking about something as she looked at the glass window on Xio’s side, yet she ignored the bounty hunter who had abruptly intruded.

At such a close distance, even with the cloak pulled low, Xio could initially make out her face. What was more, she was not as cautious as when walking outside. Her every movement was comparatively casual, causing the cloak to slip back to around eye level.

In that instant, her appearance entered Xio’s eyes and overlapped with a face that still preserved masculine traits.

This was a Sheriff’s Beyonder ability.

Xio’s eyes widened all at once. Unable to restrain herself, she blurted out,

“Sherman?”

She had expected that the woman frequently entering and leaving Viscount Stratford’s residence during this period would be quite beautiful, but no matter what, she had never imagined that the other party would be her friend Sherman, a young man!

A man whose appearance could not even be called androgynously beautiful had now actually become this pretty, this full of feminine charm!

At that moment, Xio could not help looking Sherman up and down several times, completely unable to associate the other party’s figure with the young man she had originally known.

If not for the Sheriff’s Beyonder ability confirming from the essence of the facial features that the person opposite was Sherman, Xio would certainly have thought she had mistaken the person. Even so, she now suspected that the person across from her was not Sherman, but Sherman’s sister born of the same father, same mother, and same day.

Only after hearing that astonished question did Sherman notice that, at some unknown time, another person had appeared inside the carriage—someone familiar.

The bounty hunter, Xio Derecha!

Having already changed her name to Shermane, she was first terrified. Then, instinctively, certain words Trissy often mentioned surfaced inside her mind:

“You cannot let former acquaintances meet the current you.

“Do you want your husband, the person you love, to know what you were like before?

“Only by completely cutting ties with the past can you obtain new life and salvation!”

Similar words flashed quickly through Shermane’s mind, causing a thought that even frightened herself to suddenly arise deep in her heart:

“Kill her!”

This idea was like a devil from the abyss, constantly whispering beside Shermane’s ear and echoing in her heart:

“Kill her!

“Kill the person who recognized you!

“Only this way can you truly cast off the past and not lose the present!

“Kill her!”

Shermane did not answer Xio’s question. Her left hand at her side clenched little by little, very slowly, trembling somewhat as it clenched.

Xio sensed that the other party had an intense emotional fluctuation and confirmed that this was Sherman. She then asked with concern,

“How did you become like this?

“Where have you been during this time? Did you encounter something? Have you been hurt?”

Shermane’s lips moved a few times. Her left fist loosened slightly, and with a sobbing tone, she said,

“I have already begun a new life. Please do not disturb me again, all right?

“I—I do not want to lose everything I have now. I do not want to see people I knew in the past!”

The more she spoke, the faster she became, and the pleading in her words grew increasingly obvious.

Xio froze for several seconds and looked intently at Shermane. Then she pressed her lips tightly together and said,

“All right…”

She did not stay any longer. Reaching out, she opened the carriage window and leaped out in a forward dive.

Shermane silently watched the entire process. Finally, she let out a long breath and collapsed weakly into her seat.

She had barely managed to control the devil inside her heart.

At that moment, she saw a figure rapidly outline itself on the other side opposite her and appear out of thin air.

That figure wore a dark, gloomy, old-fashioned black dress, yet this did not diminish her sweet and gentle appearance and bearing in the slightest. Merely sitting there without speaking, she was enough to make one unable to look away.

The Demoness Trissy!

“Why did you not kill her?” Trissy asked without the slightest shadow in her smile, as though casually chatting about what wine they had drunk last night.

“She—she was one of the few people in the past who did not discriminate against me and even helped me…” Shermane answered with considerable fright. Then she frowned and asked back, “Why are you here?”

Trissy smiled.

“I am protecting you.”

Without waiting for Shermane’s reply, she changed the subject.

“You seemed to be in quite a good mood when you came out.”

Shermane recalled what had happened before. A trace of shyness appeared on her face.

“Maybe, perhaps, I have a chance to become a mother…”

As she spoke, her right hand reached toward her stomach, and the corners of her mouth could not help drawing outward.

“I feel him kicking me, kicking me…” Shermane suddenly froze and blurted out in shock, “How can it be so fast?”

She was not even certain whether she had become pregnant today!

Seeing her reaction, Trissy smiled even more enchantingly.