Chapter 143: Mummy

Chapter 143: Mummy

At 7 Pinster Street, Leonard Mitchell walked to his desk and spread out a sheet of letter paper.

He immediately picked up the round-bellied fountain pen, lowered his wrist, and prepared to write.

However, just as he left a dark-blue dot on the paper, the fountain pen paused. His wrist tried to move several times, yet each attempt returned to stillness.

He raised his wrist, lowered the pen, then repeated the same motion again and again. Finally, his wrist froze in midair.

Pa!

Leonard threw down the fountain pen, crumpled the letter paper into a ball, and accurately tossed it into the wastebasket beside the desk.

…

At 160 Böklund Street, Klein took the thin letter from the mouth of one of Miss Messenger Reinette Tinekerr’s heads.

He weighed it briefly and only opened the envelope after his spiritual intuition gave no warning, taking out the sheet inside.

There was only one page. On it, two lines of words were written in a delicate hand:

“I have something I hope you can help with. I will explain the details in person.”

“Sharron.”

So it is a letter from Miss Sharron… Klein resolved his confusion. He casually took out a gold coin and, in front of Reinette Tinekerr, performed a simple divination. Only then did he draw out another sheet of letter paper and write a single word:

“Tonight.”

After folding the paper, he handed it to Miss Messenger and asked, “Can you still locate the sender?”

If not, he would provide Sharron’s receiving address:

126 Gard Street, Hillston Borough, Madam Maria.

“Yes…” One of Reinette Tinekerr’s blond-haired, red-eyed heads gave the answer.

She then opened her mouth and bit down on the folded letter.

After Miss Messenger vanished from the room, Klein immediately set up a ritual, preparing to bring Creeping Hunger down from above the gray fog back into the real world, then “Travel” to the various archipelagoes in search of a fortunate pirate.

—Creeping Hunger had not yet been sealed. It still had to eat one person every day. Klein could only use it grudgingly: take it out and feed it whenever he needed it, then toss it back above the gray fog when the time was nearly up. In any case, it would not make up the “difference” in between.

“If Creeping Hunger dares act up, I will feed it mushrooms!”

After ending the ritual and tidying the scene, Klein put on the thin human-skin glove. His figure swiftly faded and turned transparent, vanishing from where he stood.

…

After dinner, and after Creeping Hunger had finished “dry howling” above the gray fog, Klein used an excuse of stomach discomfort to enter the washroom. He took it out again and, through it, Teleported to the outside of the Bravehearts Bar in the Backlund Bridge area.

During this process, he had naturally altered his appearance, becoming the great detective Sherlock Moriarty, who had black hair, brown eyes, a beard, and spectacles.

Bending his back, rolling up his trouser cuffs, Klein smiled self-mockingly, lowered the brim of his hat, pushed open the heavy wooden door, and entered the bar.

After asking the bartender, he took a glass of Southville beer and came outside billiard room number three. He bent his finger and lightly knocked on the locked door.

Knock, knock, knock…

Amid the rhythmic sounds, the door creaked and opened a narrow crack.

Ian, whose eyes were bright red, poked his head out. He immediately revealed a smile.

“Sir, please come in.”

Because the weather had grown hotter, he was no longer wearing that old overcoat. He simply had on a linen shirt.

Klein nodded with a smile, slipped into the billiard room, and quickly took in the scene inside:

Maric, whose hair was rather messy, wore a white shirt, black vest, and black trousers. He held a long cue, leaning over there to play billiards.

Perhaps because Sherlock Moriarty had left too deep an impression as a source of chaos, he had not gathered his living corpses to play cards this time.

“Long time no see.” Klein took the initiative to…