Chapter 200: Visitors

Chapter 200: Visitors

Inside the Leith Police Station, which was responsible for Minsk Street and the surrounding blocks.

Klein shook hands with the officer who was seeing him out and said, “This threatening-letter incident is definitely connected to the earlier serial murder case. The organizer back then, the great detective Mr. Isengard Stanton, was attacked this very afternoon!

“Please make certain you take this seriously.”

The officer withdrew his hand and said, “Rest assured, Mr. Moriarty. We definitely will not ignore the possibility you have raised, and we will immediately report it upward.”

“I truly appreciate your help.” Klein put on his hat and walked out the door.

After seeing the two threatening letters and the provocation from the suspected owner of the demon dog, he had taken the evidence to the nearest police station and reported the matter without hesitation. In secret, he hoped the case would quickly be handed over to a team from the Mandated Punishers or the Machinery Hivemind, placing him under the protection of official powerhouses.

Although he now had no particular reason to preserve his identity as a detective and could completely abandon the residence at 15 Minsk Street, move somewhere else, and assume a different identity, he suspected that this might be exactly what the writer of the threatening letters wanted.

They might be exploiting a wild Beyonder’s fear of exposure, forcing him to transfer locations at night. Then, during the process, they would seize the opportunity to attack.

Actually, the trip to report the case was also very suitable for an attack… It was the same when I was at home earlier… That fellow has some other scheme… Both puzzled and cautious, Klein returned to Minsk Street.

He had just stepped down from the carriage when, with the help of the gas street lamps glistening with faint traces of rain, he saw a figure pacing outside his front door.

Klein’s heart first tightened, then relaxed, because he recognized the visitor.

It was Stuart, the medium-thin private detective with whiskers—his admirer.

Still, I can’t be careless… What if a Demon’s later Sequences have abilities similar to a Faceless? Klein tightened his grip on his cane, slowly approached, and called out experimentally.

Detective Stuart abruptly turned his head and said, carrying both nervousness and panic, “Mr. Moriarty, I received a threatening letter. The words on it were: ‘All of you will die!’”

“You received one too?” Klein blurted, both surprised and feeling that it made sense.

The other party had been one of the detectives Isengard Stanton had gathered during the serial murder case.

Stuart’s eyes instantly widened.

“You received one as well?”

“Yes.” Klein nodded solemnly.

And not only one… he silently added.

“What should we do? I first went to find Mr. Stanton, only to hear that he had been attacked. I hurried here to look for you. Oh, thank the gods for their blessing—I nearly left ahead of time!” Stuart blurted.

Klein pointed toward the front door.

“Let’s talk inside first.”

After entering the living room, he used the excuse of going to the washroom and quickly went above the gray fog to perform two divinations. One was to confirm whether Stuart was truly himself, and the other was to “ask” whether there was significant danger tonight. He received affirmative revelations for both.

In other words, Stuart was not transformed by an enemy, and there was indeed considerable danger tonight.

Of course, that danger might not erupt in front of Klein. It could very well be secretly eliminated by someone, and that was the limitation of divination: it could only provide certain revelations, not cover everything or give precise answers.

And such limitations in the mysterious domain could not be resolved through technical methods like elimination or binary division.

Returning to the real world, Klein pressed the mechanical button on the flush toilet. Amid the rush of water, he washed his hands and opened the door.

“Stuart, would you like coffee or black tea?” Klein asked, showing not the slightest panic on the surface.

Stuart stood and shook his head.

“No. We should discuss the problem first. Although I’ve received quite a few threatening letters in the past, none of them can compare to today’s. It was definitely written in blood! My intuition tells me he will definitely act on it, and that he has the ability to do so!

“Right. Was he also the one who attacked Mr. Stanton?”

“I believe so.” Klein spoke steadily, then sat down. “This should be connected to the earlier serial murder case. You, I, and Mr. Stanton share only one common intersection: that case.”

Stuart’s reaction is a little excessive… Was he frightened by Mr. Stanton’s attack? At the same time, Klein carefully observed the other party.

Infected by his attitude, Stuart calmed down quite a bit. He sat again, thinking as he said, “It does seem like that…”

Before he could finish speaking, a jingling sound suddenly echoed through the room.

Someone had rung the doorbell.

Stuart immediately shuddered, like a bird startled by the twang of a bow.

Klein frowned slightly and glanced at him, then rose and walked toward the door.

Just as he grasped the handle, the scene outside already surfaced in his mind.

The visitors were Detective Kaslana in a gray tweed coat, her assistant Lydia with red hair, and several other men who looked rather familiar.

They were all private detectives summoned by Mr. Stanton that time… As expected… Klein recalled briefly and recognized the visitors.

He pulled the door open with force while retreating two steps.

Kaslana, with thick eyebrows and slightly sagging cheek muscles, looked at Klein and Stuart behind him. Without any small talk, she said directly, “We all received the same threatening letter. You should have as well, correct?”

“Mm.” Klein responded solemnly.

Kaslana exhaled a puff of white mist without concealing it.

“We were all gathered by Mr. Stanton to participate in the investigation of that serial murder case. That is the only common point.”

“I think so as well.” Klein gestured inside. “Let’s talk after you come in.”

Watching six private detectives enter one after another, Klein swiftly analyzed the intentions of the demon dog’s owner.

By making such a big fuss, he’ll soon attract close attention from official Beyonder organizations. It’s even possible that demigod-level powerhouses will lie in wait nearby. How is he supposed to take revenge?

Is he purely provoking them, forcing the military and the Beyonders of the three Churches to send people to protect so many private detectives, thus dispersing their strength and exhausting them, while not daring to be negligent, thereby taking revenge on the main targets who acted at that time?

And during this process, perhaps he’ll have a chance to kill a few official Beyonders…

As for action against the private detectives, that may only come much later, after everyone’s guard has dropped…

Of course, if an opportunity appears during this probing, he definitely won’t let it go…

For Demons who can foresee danger, this is quite favorable to the use of their own traits.

But the three Churches, along with the military and royal family, possess many powerhouses and many Sealed Artifacts. There are even demigod-level existences, as well as Grade 0 and Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts. Can the owner of the demon dog really be sure that none of them has an ability or item capable of restraining that particular trait?

No. He definitely wouldn’t dare be certain.

The official Beyonder forces—especially the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind—are all organizations that have fought Demons for who knows how many years. In the Fourth Epoch, or even the even older Third Epoch, there would certainly be no lack of similar cases.

The owner of the demon dog is at most Sequence 5. If anything goes wrong—or even if nothing goes wrong—he could be torn apart by a demigod or a terrifying Sealed Artifact. Why would he still dare make such an attempt?

Or perhaps he is simply toying with the official organizations, taking no actual action, again and again…

Mm. There’s another possibility. By using the threatening letters, he made more than half of the targets gather together, then used the formal organizations’ tendency to mutually restrain one another, proceed according to procedure, and lapse into bureaucracy to create a time difference…

The attack on Mr. Isengard Stanton must already have been transferred to the Machinery Hivemind responsible for supernatural affairs in Hillston Borough, but the ones who mainly killed the demon dog last time were the Nighthawks. The two sides definitely won’t exchange every detail so thoroughly…

Mm, it might also be assigned based on Mr. Stanton’s faith… Which deity does he believe in? I don’t think I’ve ever known, nor have I been able to tell…

In any case, with so many private detectives living in different districts and holding different faiths, jurisdictional division is a headache, and joint operations are not easy to achieve.

At this moment, the ones taking over and secretly protecting us should only be two or three groups of official Beyonders, at most reaching deacon level, and they won’t have brought out anything too powerful or too dangerous among their terrifying Sealed Artifacts. A high-Sequence demigod will not turn their eyes here so quickly either.

This would give the owner of the demon dog an opportunity.

Although three or four groups of official Beyonders could absolutely surround and kill one Sequence 5, or even more than one, as long as he grasps the timing, there is still a decent possibility of him escaping smoothly afterward.

In only twenty or thirty seconds, Klein had deduced two or three possibilities and made preliminary judgments on each.

Thinking of the divination result that there was considerable danger tonight, Klein nodded thoughtfully, closed the door, entered the living room, and said to the detectives, whether seated or standing,

“Have you reported this to the police?”

Almost half of the people from that discussion are gathered here… he silently thought, sweeping his gaze around the room.

Kaslana answered on behalf of the others, “Some reported it to the police. Some tried to find Mr. Stanton or friends they knew. In the end, we gathered together like this and decided to visit you, the great detective.”

Klein nodded gently and deliberately said, “Everyone, there is no need to be too nervous. The person who sent the threatening letters should want to avenge that serial killer, but he is only one person, perhaps with at most one or two companions. Meanwhile, we have a full eight detectives, all of whom are skilled at fighting and shooting. Why should we be afraid of him?

“Besides, the people gathered by Mr. Stanton at the time were far more than just us. The ones who received threatening letters must also be far more than this. We simply haven’t encountered them, and they haven’t come to visit me.”

Hearing his words, Kaslana and her assistant Lydia showed doubtful expressions, as if there was something they could not quite determine.

Another detective drew a breath and said, “Mr. Moriarty, perhaps it is exactly as you say. We need not fear him.

“But he is a sinister serpent in the darkness. No one knows when he will attack. There is no way to guard against him in advance. And he might also harm our families.”

“Families?”

“Oh, my wife!”

“No, my little angel!”

The detectives immediately showed violent emotional fluctuations, their reactions faintly exaggerated.

Stuart, standing behind Klein, trembled even more, both afraid and furious.

“No, I don’t want that…” he murmured, his emotions close to losing control.

Just as Klein and Kaslana were about to try to calm them, Stuart suddenly drew his gun and aimed at the back of Klein’s head!

His eyes were unfocused, and his emotions seemed to have utterly exploded.