Chapter 121: Leonard’s “Guess”

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One
Leonard’s “Guess”

Hearing Klein and Frye’s conjecture, Leonard tugged at the collar of his shirt and paced back and forth several times.

“Then we would have to investigate everyone Sols came into contact with inside the workhouse, as well as every person he met after going bankrupt and being driven from his home. That will be very troublesome… For now, let us hurry and do a quick check here separately, then head straight to the third death incident in the West Borough. We can leave the remaining portion to the police.”

“All right.”

Klein agreed without hesitation.

Frye had no objections either. He turned and walked toward the few poor people who had slept near Sols the night before.

Klein was just about to find another target when he suddenly saw Leonard make a look at him, indicating the workhouse’s side hall with his chin.

What does that mean?

Confused, Klein pretended nothing had happened. He circled halfway around the Mass hall, then, while Frye was not paying attention, followed Leonard’s footsteps into the side hall. Passing through a partition, he arrived in a secluded, empty corner.

“I have a guess.”

Leonard stopped before a window with broken glass and spoke abruptly, getting straight to the point.

Klein looked left and right in puzzlement.

“What guess?”

Leonard’s green eyes turned deep as he asked in return, “If there were no extraordinary factors involved, what outcome do you think Mrs. Lorris would have faced?”

Klein thought for a moment, then said with some heaviness, “The same outcome, only delayed by a week, two weeks, or perhaps a month. For a family like theirs, unless they could no longer endure, they would certainly not seek a doctor. And once a heart disease becomes serious, death can come at any moment, leaving no room for rescue.”

“And Sols? If no one had instigated him, what outcome would he have had?” Leonard asked again.

Klein considered his answer.

“Judging from the information, Sols had long been filled with resentment over his bankruptcy and had extreme anger toward not being saved. I think sooner or later, he would have taken revenge, but his targets would not have been the people receiving aid. Instead, they would have been the company owner who caused his bankruptcy, or the bank employee who took away his house.”

“And after taking revenge, what would the result have been?” Leonard pursued.

“Without question, he had already planned to end his own life. Whether his revenge succeeded or not, he would die,” Klein answered affirmatively.

Leonard nodded slightly. His signature frivolous smile appeared.

“Then can I say that Mrs. Lorris and Sols were both people destined to die in the near future?”

Klein was a keyboard expert who had “seen much and known much.” Hearing that question, he immediately formed a guess.

“You mean their deaths were artificially brought forward by extraordinary factors? But why?”

“To describe it more accurately, the ‘life’ they should have possessed was artificially shortened by extraordinary factors. It was stolen. And ‘life’ has always been the finest material for summoning evil gods, demons, or carrying out terrible curses.”

Leonard’s lips curled slightly as he corrected Klein’s guess.

“Summoning evil gods or demons, or carrying out terrible curses…”

Klein stared into the other man’s emerald eyes and spoke half in doubt, half in speculation.

“You sound very certain. But for now, our investigation sample consists of only two cases…”

Leonard smiled in a carefree manner.

“Klein, there is no need for us to pretend in front of each other. I witnessed you break free of Sealed Artifact 2-049’s control. I know you are special. And you should also be able to vaguely sense that I am different from ordinary Beyonders.”

He withdrew his smile and met Klein’s gaze.

“I once told you that in this world, many special people exist. They can always do things others cannot. People like you, and people like me.

“This world possesses a long history, and all sorts of miraculous objects exist. Someone will always obtain them, master them, and become the protagonists of different dramas. There will not be many such people, but there certainly cannot be only one or two.

“I do not believe that a Beyonder who hides secrets is necessarily a villain or scoundrel. I do not believe we must uncover the source of their special nature, or how it manifests. As long as your actions do not endanger me, the Nighthawks, or the entire city of Tingen, then you remain my teammate. Likewise, I hope you view me with a similar attitude. Of course, matters like this are best not reported to the people above. Those fellows are all stiff and conservative. They always think special people like us will inevitably lose control, or inevitably be tempted by evil gods and demons into depravity.”

But my secrets are probably much more numerous than you imagine…

Klein said silently to himself. Then he answered frankly, “That is indeed my attitude. I look only at your actions and purpose. I do not care about your special nature, and I will not try to pry into your secrets.”

After saying those words, he silently added in his heart:

No. Actually, I do care. I am extremely curious. I can only forcibly endure it. Mm, Leonard thinks he is the protagonist of a drama? What fortuitous encounter did he obtain? What miraculous object does he possess?

Leonard undid the button at his shirt collar and nodded with a soft laugh.

“I am very glad we have reached a consensus.

“In those adventure novels, this is called the meeting of two protagonists. The wheel of history begins rolling forward.”

Shameless!

Klein smiled perfunctorily.

He clearly knew that “the wheel of history begins rolling forward” came from Emperor Roselle…

At that moment, Leonard paced quickly twice, his green eyes bright, the corners of his mouth curving upward.

“All right. To speak frankly, I am fairly confident in suspecting that the main figures in these death incidents were all supposed to die one after another within three months, but someone used various methods to move their deaths forward into these last two weeks. The other party’s purpose is to summon an evil god, a demon, or carry out a terrifying, large-scale curse.”

“Causing people who already show signs of death to die early makes it easy to conceal the matter. It will not quickly attract the police department’s attention. It will not be disrupted by the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, or the Machinery Hivemind during the preparation stage…”

Klein murmured softly, analyzing the thoughts of the one behind the scenes.

Leonard agreed with a smile.

“Yes. If healthy, normal people suddenly died for no clear reason, then as long as more than three cases occurred, the matter would certainly draw attention and undergo a routine investigation.”

“Then how are we supposed to find the altar where the ritual is being held? Whether one is summoning an evil god, a demon, or creating a terrible curse, an altar and ritual are necessary. And the ‘lives’ harvested in advance must be stored somewhere similar.”

Klein believed the other man for the time being. After all, he had found no other clues and could make no other judgment.

There is no harm in trying.

Leonard chuckled twice.

“Klein, should that not be your professional domain? Can you not imagine what the surroundings of an altar for such a ritual would look like?”

Without waiting for Klein to answer, he described it first.

“The aura of death would be extremely dense. Taking the altar as the center of the sphere, within a radius of ten meters, aside from the ritual’s host, there would be no living creatures… The surrounding temperature would be at least five degrees Celsius lower than normal, and cold winds would constantly blow past… Inside the altar sealed by a wall of spirituality would be the ‘lives’ stolen from people like Mrs. Lorris…”

At this point, he looked at Klein and spoke teasingly.

“I trust you can certainly divine the approximate location of an altar possessing these characteristics.”

Klein frowned faintly and answered in a deep voice, “So long as it does not exceed Tingen City. In addition, I need an absolutely quiet environment where no one can disturb me. For example, my home. Mm, I also need personal objects belonging to Mrs. Lorris and the others.”

At the same time, he murmured inwardly, feeling that Leonard understood this sort of black magic and dark sorcery far too well.

“No problem.”

Leonard laughed once, then abruptly stepped forward, passed Klein, and walked back toward the Mass hall, saying nothing more.

This fellow’s way of doing things is really distinctive…

Klein inwardly grumbled and followed him back the way they came.

After finding Frye, who was seriously questioning people and taking notes, Leonard put on a solemn, upright expression and said, “I have a guess. I intend to let Klein try it.”

“What guess?” Frye asked, seeming cold as ever.

“I will tell you after we have results. I do not want to become a target for Rozanne and the others to mock.”

Leonard casually found an excuse and brushed the matter aside.

Frye asked nothing more. Following the instructions, he went to the nearby police station and borrowed the personal objects of Sols and Mrs. Lorris. Then he and his teammates met again at Klein’s home.

“You wait in the living room. Do not let anyone disturb me.”

Klein took out his pocket watch, snapped it open, and looked at the time.

It was already approaching six. Melissa could return at any moment.

“You can trust us.”

Leonard put both hands in his pockets, pacing back and forth through the small living room. Frye quietly sat down on the sofa.

Does this fellow have ADHD?

Klein curled his lips, then returned to the bedroom on the second floor, locked the wooden door, and sealed the room with a wall of spirituality.

Immediately afterward, he arranged an altar and prayed for the Goddess’s assistance in order to preliminarily exclude interference.

Then Klein wrote the corresponding divination statement upon paper:

“The location of the altar.”

The limitation he gave was broad to avoid missing something.

Taking that sheet of paper and the dead people’s personal objects, Klein half-lay on the bed. First, he recalled the scene Leonard had described. Then he silently recited the divination statement seven times.

He did not attempt to rely on the special world above the gray fog to complete this. For one, that strange and mysterious fellow Leonard was downstairs, and no one knew whether this time he might notice some hint of abnormality. For another, Klein himself was a Seer whose potion was about to be fully digested. With ritual assistance added in, it should be enough.

If there truly was no result, only then would Klein consider finding another opportunity to go above the gray fog. After all, summoning an evil god or demon was something that threatened Benson, Melissa, and himself!

With the help of meditation, he swiftly entered a dream and “saw” one blurry, hazy, illusory, fragmented scene after another.

Very quickly, an image surfaced before his eyes.

It was a two-story grayish-blue house bathed in the light of dusk. The windows on the first floor were tightly shut. Dark curtains revealed not the slightest gap, yet they occasionally swelled and contracted.

The soil near the house was dark brown. Not a single blade of grass grew there, not a single flower had been planted. The surrounding garden seemed shrouded in shadow, dilapidated and dim.

Not far from that house, a river flowed quietly onward.

…

After a while, seeing no further images, Klein left the dream.

“Leonard’s guess is true… But where would that house be? There are too many places in Tingen City with rivers. For example, southwest of the West Borough, the docks district, the university district…”

He opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, and considered the matter with an extremely solemn expression.