Chapter 179: A Strange Image

Chapter 179: A Strange Image

Klein lowered his head and looked at his palm. Reflected in his eyes was the appearance of the gold coin.

Its obverse faced upward, showing the king’s portrait.

This represented affirmation. It meant that Klein should use his marionette’s eyes to look at himself!

After receiving this revelation, Klein still hesitated, wondering whether he should first hold a ritual and bring marionette Enzo above the gray fog, then attempt it in that relatively safe environment where any damage or corruption suffered by a spirit body could be completely erased.

However, he suspected that doing so would yield no result at all. Beyonders of the Fate pathway noticed the projection cast upon him in reality by that mysterious space itself. Once above the gray fog, that kind of peculiarity would very likely no longer exist. It was like trying to observe an elephant’s outward shape by crawling into its body.

His fingers curled one by one, gripping the gold coin. After a long silence, Klein finally made his decision.

He abruptly stood, took out the ritual silver dagger, and created a “wall of spirituality,” enclosing the room within it.

This was to prevent any possible shrill screams or strange noises from leaking outside!

Immediately afterward, Klein arranged another ritual and sacrificed Creeping Hunger above the gray fog.

He was worried that if something went wrong with his own condition later, the glove might devour its wearer in return!

—This was a property Creeping Hunger had possessed from the beginning. Once it could not eat its fill and could not guarantee devouring one person every day, it would treat its wearer as food. And for Klein, the times he starved it were far more numerous than the times he fed it.

After making every other preparation in clear order and without the slightest disorder, Klein reached out and removed the Blood Flower ring from marionette Enzo’s hand, bringing it close to his own left palm.

This would ensure that even if his body suffered severe damage, he could recover.

Just as he was about to put it on, Klein thought for a moment and stopped. He took out paper and pen and wrote one sentence:

“Remember to remove the ring.”

He was worried that after the experiment ended, he might be affected by Blood Flower’s intelligence-lowering influence and not want to remove it.

When the time comes, perhaps I will need a beautiful princess to wake me with a kiss—no, to help me pull off the ring…

Klein smiled self-mockingly, exhaled, removed his clothes, and put on the ring properly.

Then he turned his gaze toward his new marionette, Winner Enzo.

Hesitation beforehand and inner retreat were always unavoidable, but once Klein made a decision, after everything he had gone through, he could already advance courageously, firm and unyielding.

After making slight adjustments and entering a meditative state, Klein made his marionette slowly turn and look toward him.

Through the Winner’s eyes, he first saw a thin layer of grayish-white fog, faintly spreading outward.

Inside the fog, one could vaguely see a brilliant door of light stained with a touch of blue-black.

That door of light was composed of countless stacked spheres of light. And each sphere’s true body was a pile of twisted worms embracing one another into a clump. Some of those worms were transparent, others semi-transparent, and upon them were either complex and indescribable or far-reaching symbolic signs and patterns.

Before Klein could clearly make out the specific details, his mind suddenly buzzed, and his entire person lost consciousness.

After an unknown length of time, he slowly woke. For a moment, he had actually forgotten what had happened and almost thought he had simply slept normally until dawn.

“What happened? It is still very dark outside…”

Klein propped himself up with both hands and sat up, only then realizing that he was lying on the floor.

At that moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw marionette…