Chapter 99: Red Chimney

Chapter Ninety-Nine
Red Chimney

That afternoon, after returning home, Klein pulled the curtains closed and left his bedroom in dim light.

He searched out paper and pen, thought for a long time, and finally wrote a statement:

“Extraordinary factors guided the Elliott kidnapping case.”

As a Seer, Klein had actually previously performed divinations on whether those seemingly coincidental matters contained unnatural development. The results had proven that he was overthinking things.

This time, influenced by Instructor Azik, he began taking the question seriously again. Drawing lessons from the tailcoat clown, he carefully designed the “divination statement,” excluding ambiguous and easily confused descriptions from the beginning.

“Mm. Break the three coincidences apart and divine them separately…”

Klein nodded thoughtfully and slowly unwound the citrine pendant from his sleeve.

With his left hand holding the pendulum, he let the pendant hang above the “divination statement” on the page, nearly touching it.

Gathering his mind and entering meditation, Klein closed his eyes and began repeating silently:

“Extraordinary factors guided the Elliott kidnapping case.”

…

Again and again. When he opened his eyes and looked toward the pendulum, he saw the citrine pendant making small counterclockwise rotations.

“Still negative…”

Klein whispered. He redesigned the “divination statement” several more times, yet the results still indicated that no coincidence had existed in that matter.

He then separately divined “the event of Ray Bieber remaining in Tingen” and “Selena’s magic mirror divination incident.” The answers he received were all “normal.”

Heh. As a real Seer, I was actually tricked by Mr. Azik, that fake charlatan? Besides, the Captain and the others did not sense anything strange either…

Klein shook his head in amusement. But with cautiousness in mind, he prepared to use dream divination for a final confirmation.

After thinking for a moment, he changed the divination statement to fit a different method.

“The true cause of the Elliott kidnapping case.”

His fountain pen scratched across the page. From time to time, Klein paused, weighing his wording.

After reading it several times, he tore off the sheet of paper, rose, went to the bedside, and lay down in a relaxed posture.

Holding the divination statement, Klein relied on meditation and swiftly fell asleep.

Within a hazy, distorted, fragmented world, he recovered a portion of awareness and wandered there in a blur.

Gradually, he saw those kidnappers. He saw them lose their final chips at the gambling table. He saw them obtain firearms through underground channels. He saw them scout locations several times and temporarily rent the house opposite Ray Bieber’s residence as a hiding place.

The sequence was not continuous. It belonged to flashes of images. Yet Klein could find not the slightest incongruity.

Moreover, it basically matched the kidnappers’ confession as he knew it.

After leaving the dream, Klein separately performed divination on the other two matters. The result was the same: their development conformed to logic. The coincidences were truly only coincidences.

“It is indeed that I thought too much. Mr. Azik is merely a divination enthusiast…”

Klein wound the pendulum securely around his wrist and smiled bitterly, shaking his head.

He was just about to pull open the curtains and let the afternoon sunlight into the bedroom when his fingertips suddenly stopped.

“From the original Klein’s impression, Instructor Azik is a calm, reliable, trustworthy gentleman. He almost never says things without foundation. Even when he often argues with my mentor, that is limited to academic matters where both sides have their own reasoning… If he were merely a simple divination enthusiast, he would not communicate with me in this way… And the original Klein does not remember him loving divination at all… Of course, it is also possible that the corresponding memory fragments are missing…”

Klein frowned. He still felt uneasy and wanted to find another method to confirm the matter.

He suspected that Mr. Azik had accidentally learned some inside information and was using divination as an excuse to remind him.

“What method can I use to confirm it further?”

In the dim bedroom, where the words in a book would only barely be visible, Klein paced back and forth, recalling the other divination methods he had mastered.

One step. Two steps. Three steps. He suddenly stopped, having found an idea.

“First assume the coincidences truly have problems. If I cannot divine it because my Sequence is too low or because external interference exists, then I can change the environment. Change to an environment even more mysterious and difficult to comprehend than these matters!”

Klein’s spirit rose. He pulled open a drawer and took out a small silver knife.

Then he gathered his mind, letting spirituality flow from the tip of the silver dagger and connect as one with the surrounding nature.

As he walked, a wall of spirituality gradually sealed the entire bedroom.

Klein intended to perform divination above the gray fog—in that mysterious world!

…

Above the boundless, hazy gray-white fog, inside the towering, magnificent ancient temple.

Klein’s figure sat at the seat of honor of the bronze long table. Before him lay a sheet of parchment he had just “manifested.”

He lifted the round-bellied fountain pen and, according to his previous experiments, wrote down the divination statement:

“Extraordinary factors guided the Elliott kidnapping case.”

Holding the pendulum and lowering the pendant, Klein let his mind rapidly settle, becoming quiet and ethereal.

He half-closed his eyes and silently recited the divination statement seven times, allowing spirituality to resonate with the spirit world towering above everything.

Sensing the faint tug of the silver chain, Klein opened his eyes and looked at the pendulum.

One glance, and he froze.

The citrine pendant was rotating clockwise.

This meant that extraordinary factors had indeed guided the Elliott kidnapping case!

And this was completely opposite the divination result Klein had obtained in the outside world.

Guidance without leaving the slightest trace… such a power—or method—is simply terrifying… What exactly is the mastermind’s goal? The Antigonus family notebook and its destined entanglement with me?

Klein’s heart filled with shock. He lost his tranquility, and the pendulum’s rotation immediately turned chaotic.

He put away the citrine pendant and pinched the space between his brows. His expression became exceptionally grave.

After considering for a few seconds, he did not try divining the other two matters yet. Instead, he wrote a new divination statement:

“The true cause of the Elliott kidnapping case.”

Holding the sheet of paper and reciting the statement silently seven times, Klein leaned back against the chair and entered sleep above the gray fog.

Very soon, he saw a boundless, illusory, gray-white fog.

The fog slowly parted, revealing brilliant flowers and a green lawn.

Behind the flowers and lawn, space twisted and overlapped, as though it had become a living monster.

Klein strained to look and barely saw a dark-red chimney hidden there.

Just then, everything before his eyes collapsed and shattered. The dream abruptly disintegrated.

Inside the magnificent temple, Klein suddenly straightened his back, feeling his heart thump wildly for no reason.

“Hoo… It feels like I peeked at something terrifying…”

He took two deep breaths, calming his disordered emotions.

Tap. Tap. Tap. After a moment, Klein lightly knocked on the edge of the long table and sank into thought once more.

“A red chimney… flowers… a lawn… Is this a place connected to the mastermind? But from those coincidences, I still cannot discern his purpose. It can even be said that no malice exists…”

As thoughts flooded his mind, Klein felt a chill of fear—for himself, and also for companions like Captain Dunn and Frye.

He and the others were like marionettes with strings attached, manipulated into performing. What was even more terrifying was that they still felt good about themselves…

“Sigh… I still do not know how to mention this to the Captain. Old Neil’s divination result is exactly the same as mine in the outside world… If he asks me to confirm it on the spot… there is no way I can confirm it…”

Klein rubbed his temples with a headache.

After calming for more than ten seconds, he began divining “the event of Ray Bieber remaining in Tingen,” similarly starting with the pendulum method.

This time, Klein stared in astonishment as his citrine pendant hung there, motionless, neither affirming nor denying.

“There is something strange…”

He murmured, thoughts spreading as he guessed at the reason.

“The person behind the scenes noticed my divination and responded to it?”

Next, he tried dream divination, but he could see only discontinuous, shattered, hazy gray fog. There were no further discoveries.

The result for “Selena’s magic mirror incident” was exactly the same.

Klein had almost confirmed his earlier idea. With no good opportunity to remind Captain Dunn Smith for the time being, he felt an unprecedented urgency to improve himself.

“Later I will continue going to the Divination Club, strive to complete the ‘acting’ as soon as possible, and digest the Seer potion… Also, confirm whether the Clown potion is truly the subsequent potion after Seer and find clues to it… In addition, spend more time with Mr. Azik and see whether I can dig out the inside information he knows…”

Klein pressed his right hand to his forehead and swiftly drew up his next plan, clarifying his priorities.

After thinking, he manifested another sheet of parchment before him and wrote:

“Sequence 8 corresponding to Sequence 9 Seer is Clown.”

After what he had just experienced, Klein now completely believed that his divination ability received enhancement and sublimation above the gray fog.

“It is like always rolling a great success in tabletop games… Is this what it means to control good luck?”

He whispered soundlessly and picked up the pendulum again.

Before long, Klein obtained an affirmative answer:

Sequence 8 corresponding to Sequence 9 Seer was Clown.

Immediately after, he wrote:

“Sequence 8, Sequence 7, Sequence 6, and Sequence 5 corresponding to Seer will each grant at least one brand-new ability, independent of and not subordinate to the others.”

Breathing out stale air, Klein once again attempted the pendulum method.

Yet once more he saw the citrine pendant remain suspended in place, making no rotation at all.

“Not enough prerequisite information, so the divination cannot be completed and revelation cannot be obtained?”

As though thinking aloud, Klein set down the silver chain and began considering what wording he needed for dream divination.

After more than ten seconds, he lifted the fountain pen and solemnly wrote:

“Clues to the Clown potion.”