Chapter 164: Poor Wretches

Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Four
Poor Wretches

The color of blood reflected in Klein’s eyes, staining his almost frozen gaze crimson.

Just then, a light cough came from inside the house. Old Neil’s hoarse voice followed.

“Dunn, what are all of you doing here?”

Dunn’s gray eyes had grown unfathomably deep. In his mellow voice, calm and unhurried, he answered, “We heard that you were sick, so we came to visit.”

The inside of the house abruptly fell silent. After several seconds, Old Neil shouted in anger and terror.

“No! You are lying!”

Before Klein and the others could speak, his tone suddenly turned weak.

“Yes. I know there is something a little wrong with me.”

Old Neil…

Klein forcefully closed his eyes for a moment, while the bloody water seeping from the door crack did not stop.

Immediately afterward, Old Neil raised his voice and shouted, “But all this time, I have never hurt anyone! I have never even thought of hurting anyone! I have not. I have never betrayed any important secrets of the Nighthawks. At most—at most, I only reimbursed a few expenses that perhaps should not have been reimbursed. I truly never did anything evil!”

“Klein,” he suddenly called, as naturally as he always had. “I told you that the maxim of the Mystery Pryers is ‘Do as you wish, but do no harm.’ I have always held to that sentence. I would rather endure, rather wait, than do anything that would harm others…”

At this point, his voice filled with fear and pleading.

“Dunn, Royale, Klein, go back. Please, go back. Wait until tomorrow—tomorrow, and I will return to normal. I swear it. I swear to the Goddess that I will not harm anyone. Truly!”

Dunn closed his eyes briefly. His tone was extraordinarily gentle as he asked, “What exactly do you want to do? What have you been trying all along?”

“Me?” Old Neil was first at a loss. Then his voice filled with yearning. “I am trying to resurrect Celeste. Dunn, I have already found a way. I am walking the correct path!”

“You must have heard that when I performed ritual magic back then, I made a mistake. I failed to cure her illness. I failed to save her. I know now that it was because my grasp of mysticism was insufficient. But now, I possess enough knowledge and experience to complete all of that! What a pity. I actually failed to draw inspiration from the Mystery Pryer’s maxim and Daly’s case. I missed the best opportunity. If—if I were a high-Sequence powerhouse, things would become very easy.”

As he spoke, tears entered Old Neil’s voice.

“No. I cannot give up again… Dunn, go back. Please go back. I beg you.”

Klein clenched his teeth tightly and heard the Captain ask, with a slight tremor in his voice, “How do you plan to resurrect Celeste?”

Old Neil became excited at once.

“I will use the method of Life Creation to prepare for her a body that will not age. Dunn, perhaps you do not know this, but the Earth Mother Church’s Sequence 4 specializes in Life Creation. The corresponding Sequence of the Savant pathway can barely accomplish it as well. Mm, I will borrow the grace of a deity to complete it.

“Then I will summon her soul from the spirit world and pray for the help of the deity, so that spirit and flesh may become one again.

“Is that not a wonderful idea?”

Dunn forced the corners of his mouth upward.

“Yes. A very wonderful idea. Old Neil, let us in. Perhaps we can help you.”

“…Dunn, you still are not willing to let me go?”

Old Neil pleaded, “Go back. All of you, go back. Tomorrow, I will be able to return to normal. Truly, Dunn. I swear I will not steal your coffee beans anymore. Klein, Royale, I swear I will not make you help me reimburse expenses that should not quite be reimbursed. Truly!”

Through vision that had grown slightly blurred, Klein and Royale saw Dunn lower his head. Then he raised it again.

“Old Neil, you misunderstand. We came to visit you. You are our companion. You are ill, and your condition is not right. Of course we would come see you. Open the door. Let us take a look. Let us feel at ease. As long as you truly have no serious problem, we will leave at once. You know how many missions we have had recently. We are monitoring the asylum on one side, and handling all kinds of sudden incidents on the other.”

Old Neil hesitated.

“I really do not have any serious problem. Really. Tomorrow, I will recover.”

The blood-red liquid seeping from the front door ran down the steps, flowed across the flagstones, and into the soil of the garden.

“Old Neil, we have known each other for fifteen years, have we not? How many missions have we handled together? I care about you. I am worried for you. I must see you with my own eyes before I can feel at ease,” Dunn said in a mellow voice.

“…All right, then,” Old Neil muttered. “I really do not have any problem.”

With a creak, the front door slowly opened. Klein quickly raised a hand and wiped his eyes, clearing his sight.

Then he saw that the carpet in the entrance hall was covered in viscous blood-colored liquid that had grown long hairs.

His gaze moved forward, gradually rising. He discovered that the living room floor, ceiling, round table, piano, and chairs were all covered in disgusting, sticky, blood-colored liquid thick with dense black short hairs.

Old Neil’s grizzled head hung in midair, connected to the ceiling by a thick strand of mucus. On his forehead and cheeks, two pairs of eyes had grown—cold, lashless eyes.

The piano keys were jumping by themselves, playing a beautiful and melodious tune.

“Dunn, look. I really do not have any major problem,” Old Neil said with a radiant smile. “Royale, Klein, you think so too, right?”

When he opened his mouth, Klein saw sticky blood-colored liquid, sprouting black short hairs, flowing inside it.

Dunn’s gray eyes flickered once. As though making ordinary conversation, he asked, “Old Neil, where did you learn Life Creation and the resurrection ritual?”

Old Neil answered excitedly, “I heard them. I tried the first part, and it really is true! This is the grace of a deity. He keeps speaking beside my ears, describing everything. He is, He is…”

Old Neil’s voice suddenly caught. Only after more than ten seconds did he speak again, bewildered and terrified.

“He is the Hidden Sage…”

The Hidden Sage? Is that not the impersonal god worshiped by the Moses Ascetic Order? And later, that god came alive, bringing evil and corruption… The Moses Ascetic Order controls the complete Mystery Pryer Sequence…

Klein’s heart stirred, and many thoughts arose within him.

At the mention of the Hidden Sage, Old Neil seemed finally to regain clarity. He looked blankly around, studying everything.

In a silence beyond description, all six of his eyes turned toward Dunn. With a bitter smile, he spoke.

“So… So I have already become a monster…”

Before Dunn and the others could answer, Old Neil abruptly revealed a panicked, ingratiating, fearful, timid smile.

“Let me leave. I will go into the mountains and never appear again. I will not hurt anyone. I will quietly attempt my ritual. Truly. Let me go. Please, I beg you. I beg you.”

And just then, Klein felt some illusory thing before his eyes shatter.

Immediately afterward, the four cold, lashless eyes on Old Neil’s forehead and cheeks flashed with dark light, locking firmly onto Dunn. Old Neil’s expression turned indifferent.

“You are pulling me into a dream!”

“No. It is useless! My eyes can see through all of this!”

The blood-colored viscous liquid covering ceiling, floor, and walls began to wriggle, like the gaping mouth of a giant trying to swallow Klein and the others whole. Old Neil’s head, meanwhile, became indistinct, like the overlapping of countless phantom images.

Klein did not panic and draw his revolver. Instead, he reached into his pocket, intending to use a Slumber Charm.

Suddenly, he saw everything grow calm again. The sticky blood-colored liquid, thick with dense black short hairs, became as peaceful as a lake untouched by wind.

Old Neil lost all expressions of indifference, coldness, hatred, and craving. He became peaceful and serene.

At some point, Dunn had already thrown Sealed Artifact 3-0611 into the heap of blood-colored mucus.

The four lashless eyes on Old Neil’s forehead and cheeks slowly closed, seemingly lacking even the desire to remain open.

Any living creature that touched Quiet Hair without protection would become quiet, losing all motivation, until the end of life.

Dunn, Klein, and Royale drew their guns together and aimed at Old Neil’s head.

At that moment, extreme fear appeared on Old Neil’s face. He struggled desperately, and his intense desire to live actually overcame a fraction of Sealed Artifact 3-0611’s influence.

The four extra eyes vanished. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth were so deep, his hair so grizzled, his dark-red eyes so faintly clouded—just as he had looked when Klein first saw him.

“Dunn, do you still remember that I once saved you…”

“Royale, do you still remember that I helped you save your family’s lives…”

“Klein, do you still remember me teaching you mysticism every day? Do you still remember us discussing how to reimburse expenses? Do you still remember me getting hand-ground coffee for you? Do you still remember us dealing with the Mandated Punisher who lost control?”

…

One illusory plea after another drilled into Klein’s ears. The right hand holding his revolver began to tremble visibly. He felt the trigger had become so difficult to pull.

Bang! Bang!

Two silver Demon-hunting Bullets flew out, one after the other, piercing Old Neil’s head.

Klein saw that familiar face reveal an expression of despair. He saw the skullcap lifted open. He saw crimson and milky white spatter in every direction.

The surrounding viscous blood-colored liquid began to shrink, quietly flowing backward toward Old Neil’s head, which had fallen to the floor. Dunn and Royale lowered their guns at the same time, sinking into silence.

Klein stared wordlessly at all of it. He watched as Old Neil’s “corpse” finally turned into a mass of rotten flesh and blood. Within that flesh and blood lay a pair of pained, dark-red, crystalline eyeballs.

He felt as though everything were more like a dream. He could not believe that matters had happened like this, and ended like this.

Wooden and silent, he watched Dunn take two steps forward and saw the Captain’s back bend slightly.

Wearing a black windbreaker, Dunn gazed at Old Neil’s “corpse” ahead and spoke in a deep voice, as though talking to himself.

“We are guardians. But we are also a group of poor wretches forever fighting against danger and madness.”