Chapter 150: Collaboration

Chapter 150: Collaboration

A little past six in the morning, all of Backlund was still dark, very quiet, with most places illuminated only by the glow of gas streetlamps.

Wearing pajamas, Klein sat on his bed and looked at Miss Messenger, who stood to the side carrying four heads. Rubbing his forehead, he asked with considerable helplessness, “Who sent the letter?”

Is a man not allowed to sleep properly anymore?

Three of Reinette Tinekerr’s blond-haired, red-eyed heads answered in order:

“You…” “that…” “brainless…”

“servant…” “of…” “yours…”

Danitz, then… It used to be prayers in the middle of the night, and now it’s letters at dawn… Klein inhaled, slowly exhaled, and then received the letter from Miss Messenger.

He unfolded it and read it. His expression gradually turned solemn, because the timing of Danitz and Anderson finding traces of Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy was truly rather inconvenient.

According to Klein’s deductions, it would not be long before that pirate admiral and the White Witch Katarina regained their “freedom” and no longer needed to hide so thoroughly. At that point, they would be comparatively easier to find. Now, dealing with the information broker Buzz and obtaining from him the item used to contact Tracy would most likely only startle the target, causing her to keep hiding.

Of course, Klein could ask the Queen of Mysteries Bernadette for help and obtain some method of locking onto Vice Admiral Ailment through the mirror. The problem was that he suspected the target’s hiding place was an important stronghold of the Demoness Sect—perhaps even its headquarters, where a Grade 0 sealed artifact was stored. In that case, even if he confirmed Tracy’s location, he would not dare Teleport there to capture her. Thus, making contact would only alert the pirate admiral.

And if he did not use this chance to contact her, then whether Buzz lived or died, by daybreak, news of the matter would spread, and Tracy would be alerted all the same.

Seriously… But that’s also because Anderson and Danitz don’t know the truth, nor the changes in the situation within the Loen Kingdom… After thinking for a while, Klein said to Miss Messenger, who was waiting beside him, “Wait for me a moment. I’ll write a reply.”

Originally, he had planned to Teleport over directly and settle what should be done next. After considering things, however, he chose to write a letter.

Although he believed Zaratul would not waste time on Danitz, such an obvious “bait,” he still felt he had to be cautious. Just because Zaratul Himself would not act that way did not mean the members of the Secret Order under Him would be the same. For such a large hidden organization, there must certainly be several saint-level demigods. If Klein were entangled by them, things would become very troublesome.

“All right.” The head of Reinette Tinekerr that had not had the chance to speak earlier answered first.

Klein got out of bed, left the bedroom, and entered the outer room. He pulled out paper and pen, writing smoothly:

“Find a way to keep Buzz unconscious until morning.

“Then immediately leave his room. Get far away. A great danger is hidden there.

“After daybreak, monitor Buzz again, but do not alert him.”

This so-called great danger was both truth and falsehood. Klein’s main purpose was to have Anderson and Danitz leave the scene, drawing away any hidden watchers who might exist.

He put down the fountain pen. After reading through the letter once more, he folded the paper and handed it to Miss Messenger Reinette Tinekerr, who had followed him out.

…

3:10 a.m., Berserk Sea, Celos Island, inside Buzz’s room.

Danitz had just finished putting away the altar and cleaning up the traces when he saw the terrifying messenger carrying four heads return to the scene.

Gehrman Sparrow actually didn’t come… Danitz felt rather surprised as he reached out, took the reply, and then gave the messenger a gold coin.

After the figure in the gloomy, complicated dress and carrying four heads vanished, he unfolded the paper and quickly scanned it.

There—there’s danger! Danitz’s pupils abruptly widened. As if his backside had caught fire, he sprinted toward the door.

After leaving the room, he said to Anderson, who was leaning against the corridor wall with an unlit cigarette between his lips, “Quick! Get out! There’s great danger here!”

“…Gehrman Sparrow said that?” Anderson froze for a moment, then asked thoughtfully.

“Yes. How did you know? Couldn’t it have been that I discovered something?” Danitz replied by instinct.

“You?” Anderson laughed. “Heh.”

Quite relaxed, he then asked, “What else did he say?”

“Aren’t you nervous? Gehrman Sparrow is very reliable when it comes to things like this.” Danitz’s focus was completely wrong.

Anderson was silent for a moment before saying, “His messenger is even more reliable. At the very least, during the few minutes it took his messenger to come and go, there won’t be any danger here.”

If any real “danger” were hidden here, after seeing that messenger, it would silently shrink back.

“…” Danitz had wanted to say that, judging by her appearance, that made sense. Yet for some reason, he instinctively gave up on the sentence.

Instead, he said, “Gehrman Sparrow also told us to keep Buzz unconscious until morning, then wait until sunrise before returning to monitor him. But we mustn’t expose ourselves.”

“…” Anderson’s brows slowly furrowed. “What is he trying to do? Once the sun rises, the danger hidden here will no longer exist?”

Before Danitz could answer, the strongest Hunter of the Fog Sea turned back into the room, took out a metal vial he carried with him, removed the stopper, placed it near Buzz’s nose, and moved it back and forth once.

“It’s taken care of. Let’s go.” Anderson made no effort to conceal his curiosity as he looked around, then led Danitz out of Buzz’s room and away into the distance.

…

Backlund, Queen Borough, inside the luxurious villa of the Hall family.

At 7:25, Audrey suddenly woke from her dream.

She had dreamed of boundless gray fog. She had dreamed that The World Gehrman Sparrow asked her to help hypnotize a person, making the target forget everything that had happened in the previous six hours, as well as all the people who had asked about a certain hidden island.

This is something that can accumulate contribution toward the Manipulator potion formula and Beyonder characteristic… Also, Mr. World said he would donate another 7,000 pounds for wartime medical relief… Audrey rose from bed lightly and put a blue-green cloak over her white nightgown.

Following Gehrman Sparrow’s instructions, she set up a ritual and prayed for Mr. Fool’s bestowment.

An illusory door quickly took shape and opened. Three objects flew out and landed upon the altar.

The first was a thin human-skin glove. The second was an “instruction manual” written on white paper. The third was a neat stack of banknotes that had not been tied together.

So this is Creeping Hunger? Audrey examined the altar for a few seconds, then thanked Mr. Fool.

Afterward, she put on the glove and followed the “instructions,” commanding the soul of the Traveler.

When the glove turned transparent, Audrey suddenly saw the holy angel with twelve pairs of flaming wings appear before her eyes.

Is this the Angel’s Embrace that Mr. World prayed for? Its effect is to interfere with divination and prophecy targeting the scene, ensuring my identity won’t be exposed? Audrey’s eyes moved slightly. She turned Lie, which she had prepared in advance, into a silvery-white mask and put it over her face.

Immediately after, following the spirit world coordinates given by The World Gehrman Sparrow, she began Teleporting.

During the process, the strange, magnificent scenery of the spirit world and all manner of bizarre creatures left a deep impression on Audrey. Yet before she could carefully observe anything, she had already arrived at her destination. The colorful, block-like layers of the scene swiftly faded and became normal again, while the world outside remained deep in night.

It feels a little like I’ve found the mood and sensation I had when I first entered the world of mysticism… Audrey analyzed her own mental state, then shifted her attention to the target lying on the floor of the room.

It was an unconscious man. The door to his mind was rather weak, the type who would be easily charmed even if no Beyonder powers were involved.

To Audrey, hypnotizing such a target posed no difficulty whatsoever. Therefore, for the sake of digesting her potion, she decided to use a dream to cooperate with the hypnosis.

The unconscious Buzz had a dream. In that dream, he saw a blurred female figure. He believed she was the most beautiful woman in the world, the perfected state that Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy could reach.

Buzz chased madly after her, running through wilderness, hills, and peaks, but he could never catch anything. It was as though he had lost something extremely important.

After an unknown amount of time, he woke in exhaustion and slowly remembered what had happened last night: because losing money had put him in a bad mood, he had drunk only half a bottle of Lelang Qi before becoming completely drunk. Even now, his temples were still somewhat swollen and painful.

I also hit the back of my head… Buzz rubbed the swollen, aching spot, slowly moved back to the bed, collapsed onto it, and continued sleeping.

Audrey, who had used her Dreamwalker ability to complete a gentler hypnosis, had long since followed The World Gehrman Sparrow’s instructions and fully restored the scene, leaving behind nothing suspicious.

That was the ability of a seasoned Spectator.

Afterward, she Teleported back to Backlund and sacrificed Creeping Hunger to Mr. Fool.

The entire process caused almost no disturbance, and the Evernight Church Beyonders responsible for protecting the Hall family noticed nothing.

After dealing with all traces, Audrey pulled the bell rope and let the waiting maids outside enter.

“My lady, a message came from the Charity Bursary Foundation,” her personal maid Annie said while signaling for the other maids to start their work.

“What message?” From Annie’s tone, Audrey read surprise, confusion, disbelief, and considerable joy and curiosity.

Annie answered rather quickly, “Miss Eudora, the young lady who was said to need an amputation, has completely recovered, as if she was never injured at all. This—this is simply a medical miracle!”

Audrey was equally astonished. She vaguely had some guesses, yet did not dare to be certain, lacking enough clues and evidence.

“And all the critically ill patients in that ward have recovered too!” At this point, Annie could not control herself and lowered her voice. “I heard—I heard that at night there’s a ghostly figure wandering there, half its face covered in mushrooms and the other half covered in weeds. It feeds on illness, wounds, and sorrow. I don’t know if it’s true, but it sounds terrifying.”

“Mushrooms… weeds…” Audrey repeated the two words, momentarily at a loss for ideas.