Chapter 25: Dream Encounter

Chapter 25: Dream Encounter

Someone has infiltrated the house?

Klein did not immediately turn over and sit up. He merely shifted onto his side, slipped his right hand beneath the pillow, and silently gripped Death Knell. At the same time, he slowly spread the fingers of his left hand, putting Creeping Hunger into a state ready to be activated.

Knowing that it would be difficult to find food for Creeping Hunger after returning to Backlund, he had gone ahead of time to a prison in Conant City, Desi Bay. There, after confirming the crimes of a death-row convict, he had fed the man to the glove.

Have the people from the Rose School of Thought locked onto me? No, that’s impossible. Not so quickly. Besides, if it were them, they definitely wouldn’t rashly come straight to my door. They’d wait for an opportunity, trying to strike in one blow when I passed through some secluded area, so as not to alert Backlund’s official forces…

Was I targeted by criminals because I donated too much at Moon Mass? Mm. A foreign tycoon who has just arrived in Backlund and spends generously would indeed make an easy target… Of course, it might also be the Nighthawks conducting a routine investigation…

As thoughts turned one after another, Klein heard a very faint sound from the large balcony of the semi-open room next door.

Immediately afterward, the lock gave a tiny click, and the French window was pulled open almost without a sound.

Klein listened carefully and noticed footsteps pass through the semi-open room and enter the corridor.

After a brief pause, the footsteps came toward the master bedroom, then passed by it and twisted the door handle of the room belonging to his personal valet.

Did they go to the wrong room? Or are they here precisely for Richardson?

Klein’s heart stirred. He released Death Knell and reached instead for the iron cigarette case nearby.

Once he removed the wall of spirituality, an illusory figure wearing a dark-red coat and an old tricorn hat instantly appeared beside him and walked into the full-length mirror.

When Senor, this Wraith marionette, leaped to the glass window of Richardson’s room, he happened to see a figure with brownish-yellow skin, soft contours, and black hair walking out of the door. Meanwhile, Richardson sat soundlessly at the edge of his bed, leaning forward, his back slightly hunched as if he had merged into the darkness.

His expression shifted from fear to difficulty, then to weakness, before finally settling into silence.

So he really came for Richardson… His appearance is close to that of people from the Southern Continent. Agile, practiced, probably not an ordinary person… Is this someone Richardson knew back at that estate in the Southern Continent? Or a connection from his mother’s side? Richardson is only a personal valet with an annual salary of 35 pounds. What matter could require his help?

Klein observed through Senor’s eyes while silently making guesses.

At that moment, he suddenly understood a little why Richardson was so good at observing things, and why he liked looking at passersby from the balcony.

He was afraid of being found by certain people.

I hope it isn’t a serious problem, and I hope it won’t affect my plans… I’ll divine it later… If Richardson keeps failing to deal with his troubles, then I’ll have to find an excuse to dismiss him…

Seeing that his personal valet had lain down again, Klein withdrew the Wraith marionette.

…

At the same time, at 7 Pinster Street, Leonard Mitchell once again entered sleeping Backlund, shrouded in fog.

He had already questioned Daily Observer reporter Mike Joseph in a dream, concluding that Sherlock Moriarty had not become involved in the Lanevus affair on his own initiative, but only because he had been hired. This had caused the detective’s suspicion to drop sharply.

If this great detective’s figure had not also appeared at the edge of the Capim case, and if he did not have a close relationship with Emlyn White of the Harvest…