Chapter 108: A Vanishing Act

Chapter One Hundred Eight
A Vanishing Act

Inside the exhibition hall where Roselle’s diary was stored, the two Machinery Hivemind team members suddenly heard a soft clatter.

At the same time, they turned their heads and looked toward the Sealed Artifact made from building blocks on top of the glass display case.

Inside the scaled-down model of the museum’s first floor, a gray dot was flashing continuously.

“An inanimate object has appeared in the nearest washroom,” one team member judged clearly.

The other relaxed slightly, frowned, and said in a speculative tone, “A withered leaf blown in by the wind?”

“Possible,” the first team member nodded. “We will have a passing guard check it later and confirm the situation. The captain told us to stay here. No matter what happens, we must not leave—especially not alone.”

If they encountered the most urgent circumstances, they could carry Roselle’s notebook and evacuate together.

“Good.”

His companion had no objection.

…

In the second-floor office area of the museum, Klein floated like a wandering ghost, passing through wall after wall as he flew toward the position directly above the reconstructed study.

However, he did not fly too quickly. He continuously sensed the fire seed below and calculated the distance.

When the straight-line distance between the two points neared thirty meters, he lifted his illusory, transparent right hand and snapped his fingers soundlessly.

In the first-floor washroom, that box of matches suddenly exploded, producing a small boom.

Immediately afterward, crimson flames surged up, igniting paper towels, potted plants, and the wooden partition door.

For the moment, the raging fire did not spread outward, but the commotion was sufficiently astonishing.

Security personnel nearby heard the sound and instantly hurried toward that location. Inside the exhibition hall monitoring the entire first floor, the two Machinery Hivemind team members also simultaneously saw flames appear in the “model.” Instinctively, they began rushing there, intending both to put out the fire and to capture whoever had created the disturbance.

But after running only a few steps, they stopped.

At the same time, they remembered the captain’s instruction:

No matter what happens, do not leave this exhibition hall. Do not leave Roselle’s notebook!

They exchanged a look, then turned cautiously toward the two entrances to the exhibition hall and silently drew their own Beyonder weapons.

As Beyonders of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, they were never short on equipment.

…

At that same time, Max Livermore, who was carrying a lantern while patrolling different first-floor exhibition halls, also noticed the disturbance. Without thinking, he ran in the direction of the exhibition hall where Roselle’s diary was stored.

Ensuring the safety of the items was a higher priority than catching the infiltrator!

Moreover, Max believed that no matter what the other party’s goal was, once they entered the building’s first floor—affected by that Sealed Artifact—and entered the exhibition halls, it would not be so easy to leave!

If they lacked helpers outside, the intruder might even be trapped to death here.

And even with helpers, breaking the effect would take a considerable amount of time.

“The moment they come in, they are prey that has stepped into the trap!”

Max Livermore ran swiftly, passing through exhibition hall after exhibition hall. At last, he saw his two companions.

By then, Klein, on the museum’s second floor, had already followed the layout map in his memory, passed through doors and walls, and arrived directly above the reconstructed study.

He did not hurry to begin the next step. Instead, he first looked down.

Because the stone slabs were comparatively thick, Klein could not vaguely confirm whether any auras or emotional colors existed below. He could only spread his arms, topple forward, and silently lie flat upon the floor.

His illusory, transparent figure swiftly blurred and merged into the flooring.

…

On the ceiling of the first floor, where a huge crystal chandelier hung, a nearly invisible, indistinct human face suddenly emerged.

That eerie face looked down upon the exhibition hall. Its eyes constantly shifted, taking in every corner of the area.

No Beyonders. No security personnel…

Klein muttered once. His entire figure instantly penetrated the ceiling, half flying and half plunging down before Roselle’s desk, which was enclosed in glass.

He glanced over it once and, without hesitation, extended both hands at the same time. One grabbed for the bookmark inside the “creative manuscripts,” while the other reached for the bookmark that looked like a child’s scribble.

He did this to guard against the possibility that a powerful Beyonder might use some strange method to retroactively view the scene. He wanted to demonstrate that he did not know which bookmark was abnormal, making it impossible for investigators to suspect Miss Justice, who had only touched one of them.

With Azik’s copper whistle empowering him, his Spirit Body passed slightly sluggishly through the glass cover and steadily grasped the two bookmarks, wrapping them inside his Spirit Body.

After completing that step, Klein’s heart relaxed greatly. His obvious nervousness and tension subsided.

He reached out again, aiming for the other bookmarks.

Wah! Wah! Wah!

Loud, shrill cries of a baby suddenly echoed through the exhibition hall.

They sounded extremely illusory, as though coming from somewhere very, very far away.

Klein’s body abruptly stiffened, like lake water suddenly struck by an extreme chill and frozen solid.

Even in Spirit Body form, he seemed to be frozen!

Wah! Wah! Wah!

Accompanying the waves of infant cries were black fissures, one after another. They encircled Klein as though they were disconnected iron bars.

In the blink of an eye, one of those black fissures split open. Within it was an eyeball covered in blood vessels. At the center of the eyeball was a deep, dark pupil, where white worms the size of short strands of hair squirmed and crawled continuously.

One. Two. Three…

Those black fissures opened one after another. Strange eyeballs appeared in midair, one after another. Densely packed, cold, and merciless, they watched Klein.

As they appeared, everything around him froze. Even an illusory Spirit Body could not pass through.

Klein found it difficult even to sense the existence of the spirit world. He could hardly see the different transparent figures in the infinite heights, nor the bright radiance of different colors that contained all kinds of knowledge.

“Why did you take only the bookmarks?”

A gentle yet emotionless female voice entered Klein’s ears.

He stood stiffly in place and saw, ahead of him, an enormous two-story bookshelf that nearly reached the ceiling, with stairs and walkways surrounding book after book.

On the stairway at the very top sat a figure shrouded in darkness.

That figure’s feet, clad in black leather boots, hung downward, leaning against the wooden stairs and suspended in midair.

I actually did not sense her existence at all… Is she a powerhouse from the Machinery Hivemind? No—perhaps even a high-Sequence powerhouse!

As the thought flashed, Klein did not answer. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Why did you take only the bookmarks? From where did you learn you should take bookmarks?”

That figure asked again. Her gentleness now carried a little sternness, and all around them the bloodshot eyeballs rapidly enlarged, seemingly about to occupy the entire space.

Before her voice had fully faded, the greasepaint-covered face of Klein abruptly revealed a huge smile.

His illusory, nearly transparent figure disappeared instantly. No one knew where he had gone.

Even Azik’s copper whistle and the two bookmarks wrapped inside his Spirit Body vanished along with him.

…

Above the gray fog, inside the majestic ancient palace.

Klein’s figure suddenly appeared at the uppermost seat of the mottled long table.

He leaned back against the chair and chuckled softly.

“Good thing I was prepared long ago.”

His Spirit Body state was not a Beyonder ability belonging to himself, nor did it arise from a mutual transformation between his flesh and Spirit Body. It was the product of the ritual in which he summoned himself and answered himself.

And the power of that ritual came from the mysterious space above the gray fog. It came from its special nature!

Therefore, once Klein succeeded, he did not need to attempt escape at all. By directly ending the summoning, he could return above the gray fog, and from there, instantly return to his body in the real world!

Because the space above the gray fog could cut off the powers of deities such as the Eternal Blazing Sun and the True Creator, Klein believed that without a deity interfering, the termination of the summoning could not be interrupted.

As long as the other party did not kill his Spirit Body immediately or directly make him faint, Klein was confident he could escape.

This was also why he had not wanted to “travel long distances” after transforming into a Spirit Body. The interval would be too long, and variables too numerous.

…

Dim crimson moonlight seeped in through the window.

The woman seated at the top of the stairway between the bookshelves silently watched the space in front of the desk, watched the position where Klein had originally been. Around her, the cries of infants and the countless eyeballs had already vanished.

No one knew how much time passed before the top of the stairway suddenly became empty, as though no one had ever been there.

Inside the exhibition hall where Roselle’s diary was stored, Max Livermore said to his two team members, “Keep watch here. I will go find the fellow who infiltrated.

“He is definitely still trapped somewhere on the first floor by the Sealed Artifact’s power!”

As he spoke, he looked toward the Sealed Artifact, toward the “model” of the museum’s first floor. He wanted to find the red dot corresponding to the infiltrator and swiftly lock onto the other party’s position.

But he looked and looked, counted and counted, only to feel that something was wrong.

The number of people had not increased at all!

“This…”

Max Livermore froze stiffly in place.

…

18 King’s Avenue, inside the storage room of a certain wealthy merchant.

Light returned to Klein’s eyes, and the corners of his mouth gradually lifted.

In order to save time, he had left the bookmarks and Azik’s copper whistle above the gray fog and returned directly to his body.

He extinguished the candle, ended the ritual, and handled the scene. Using a specially mixed potion, he neutralized the scents of the Night Sanctifying Powder and the essential oils and hydrosols used in the ritual.

After finishing all of that, he removed the wall of spirituality, allowing the sudden gust of wind to scatter the remaining traces.

Then he took out the Master Key, intending to pass through building after building until he reached a distant place where he could take a rental carriage.

Using his cane to determine direction and avoid getting lost back to the Kingdom Museum—or heading into some church—Klein began advancing quickly, repeatedly using the Master Key to open doors and walls.

After walking in a straight line for a while, he suddenly found himself unable to grasp his exact position.

Mm… I will pass through two more buildings, then go out. If I am already off King’s Avenue, I will find a rental carriage—or perhaps perform another divination. Once home, I will immediately study the Card of Blasphemy!

Klein swiftly made his decision, pressed the ancient brass key against the wall, and lightly twisted it.

Invisible ripples spread outward, and he arrived in the neighboring unit of a row house.

At that moment, his nose twitched.

He smelled a strong stench of blood.

A strong stench of blood!

Klein’s brows furrowed. He lifted his eyes and saw a woman collapsed in the sitting room ahead.

Her expression was filled with pain. There was a large wound in her abdomen, and all the internal organs inside seemed to be gone.

At the same time, Klein heard a “huff, huff, huff” sound.