Chapter 98: Infiltration

Chapter 98: Infiltration

The mirror on Klein’s pillow instantly emitted watery, flowing radiance. Silver points of light squirmed and gathered, forming corresponding Loenese words:

“Great and supreme Master, Your loyal and humble servant Arrodes awaits at all times to serve You!”

Klein stood beside the bed, looked at the mirror, and asked with outward calm, “Where behind Chanis Gate in Saint Samuel Cathedral is the Antigonus family notebook?”

He wanted to confirm the location in advance so he could head directly to the target, completing the plan in the shortest possible time and thereby avoiding all kinds of accidents that might occur.

On the mirror surface, the silver words distorted and changed, reforming into a line of text:

“It is a Level 1 Sealed Artifact, in the right-side area of the second level. More specific than that, I cannot see clearly.”

Klein gave an “mm” and said, “It is your turn to ask.”

Arrodes immediately let the silver words on the mirror surface disperse, and amid rippling light, a new question protruded:

“Do You have any other instructions?”

If Klein had been in his normal state, he would certainly have clicked his tongue inwardly. But with his mind so highly strung, he could only nod and say, “Watch my illusion like last time and handle any accidents.”

“Alright, Master!” The Magic Mirror Arrodes gave its response without hesitation. Immediately afterward, it added another line of words. “I will—I will control my instincts. I swear to You, great ruler above the spirit world!”

Klein nodded lightly and took two steps forward, allowing the mirror to reflect Dawn Dantes’s appearance.

The image grew clearer and larger, finally becoming almost real.

After making slight adjustments, Klein made the dummy lie on the bed, looking as if he had already fallen asleep.

At that moment, he discovered that Dawn Dantes had turned his head toward him, smiled ingratiatingly, then reached out with both hands and pulled the blanket upward.

“…”

Klein said nothing. While transforming into the cold-faced mad adventurer Gehrman Sparrow, he caused Creeping Hunger, still worn on his left palm, to abruptly become transparent.

His figure quickly faded. He Traveled to the other end of Phelps Street, where Saint Samuel Cathedral stood. Then he walked to the square where pigeons flew during the day and hid in a shadowed corner.

After some time, a group of believers who had attended the night Mass came out of the cathedral. Not long after, several servants carried various miscellaneous items out, walking toward the trash cans placed in the side alley. Some of them split off to handle the horse dung at the carriage stopping area.

At that moment, one servant’s body suddenly trembled. He immediately lowered his head and began cleaning earnestly, even very dutifully moving toward the square as if to deal with the rubbish there. In this way, he gradually moved farther and farther away, reaching a place with dense shadows.

When the other servants no longer paid attention to him, a hand abruptly outlined itself, as though reaching out from the void. It grabbed his shoulder, making his figure fade and vanish.

Klein directly Traveled to a two-bedroom apartment inside a cheap apartment building in the East Borough. He had rented the place several days in advance, having changed his appearance and Teleported here earlier.

The Traveler ability really is convenient. The only problem is that every time I want to use it, one pirate has to offer up his life…

Klein used internal mockery to ease his tension. At the same time, he made the servant lie down on the bed, then took out a long, thin metal test tube and tossed it to him.

The servant caught it accurately, removed the stopper, and gulped down the sleeping potion inside. In only a few seconds, he fell into deep sleep. Beside him, the Wraith Senor’s figure emerged, wearing his old tricorn hat and dark red coat.

Klein examined the servant on the bed. His own body suddenly softened, as though turning into a mud monster.

However, he did not collapse into a heap. He merely swayed slightly, shrank fifteen centimeters in an instant, darkened in skin tone, and shifted the facial features on his face. Very quickly, he became the servant.

At that moment, Senor had already stripped the servant completely of his clothing.

Not wasting any time, Klein quickly put on those clothes and transferred the iron cigarette case and related items over.

Taking up the broom and inspecting himself once to confirm there was no problem, Klein had Senor return to the gold coin. Then he lowered his left arm, spread his fingers, and watched Creeping Hunger emit that indescribable transparency.

Teleporting back to the shadowed corner of the square, Klein bent his back, earnestly sweeping the ground, and moved step by step toward the servants still working, while keeping a certain distance so as to avoid anyone striking up a conversation and increasing the risk of exposure.

Roughly half an hour later, the servants who had finished working gathered together, entered Saint Samuel Cathedral, and turned toward the side.

“So tiring,” one servant said, stretching both arms once they were away from the pastors.

Klein pretended to be too exhausted to have any interest in chatting. He nodded with a series of “mm-hm” sounds, not joining the conversation.

Very quickly, they returned to the servants’ living quarters. These were two large rooms opposite one another, each containing multiple bunk beds. Beside every bed stood a wooden cabinet and a chest.

Klein instantly felt a little lost. He did not know whether he should enter the left room or the right.

Fortunately, he was a Seer. For this kind of matter that did not involve Beyonders or the mystical domain, he could rely completely on spiritual intuition. Moreover, he was holding a broom. So, pretending that his hand had slipped, he covertly performed “dowsing for the path,” receiving the revelation that he should go right.

Entering the room on the right, Klein deliberately slowed himself by two beats, observing the other servants’ actions. Then he imitated them, placing the broom behind the door before heading outside to the communal washroom to wash his face, rinse his mouth, and wash his feet.

By the time he slowly finished, his bed had already become clear—the one that was not occupied.

Lying down on the bed, Klein finally relaxed a little and silently breathed out.

The servants were all exhausted. Before long, all of them fell asleep, their snores rising and falling one after another.

Klein remained awake. With movements as small as possible, he removed Creeping Hunger, folded it into a tiny piece, and stuffed it into the iron cigarette case together with Azik’s copper whistle and Senor’s gold coin.

Time passed second by second. Because his mind was too tense, he could not fall asleep at all. He could only rely on meditation to force himself into slumber for several hours.

At the predetermined time, he woke and released the Wraith Senor.

The marionette’s cold, indifferent aura rapidly fused with the surrounding environment. The Spirit Body Threads collapsed inward, gradually forming a stretch of deep black with no origin point remaining.

Still controllable…

Klein gave an almost imperceptible nod and had the Wraith use the colorful stained glass windows high above and the smooth stone bricks on the ground to arrive at the staircase through which the internal caretakers headed upward.

He believed that if Senor had not been corroded in advance, recognized by the sealing core behind Chanis Gate as one of its own, he would certainly have triggered a reaction and been cleaned up by now.

How could a Wraith possibly have the ability to move freely inside an orthodox Church cathedral!

And it was precisely because of the sealing core’s “default recognition” and the interference from the Paper Angel that the demigod Archbishop living somewhere in this cathedral had not had his spirituality touched.

Step by step, Senor arrived on the second floor. Relying on his sense of the corroded aura, the hidden Wraith, under Klein’s control, moved left and found the area where the internal caretakers lived.

Tomorrow is Monday… This week’s Monday should be handled by the first internal caretaker I ever saw…

Klein had long since figured out the duty rotation. He had the Wraith in his dark red coat quietly pass through wooden doors, floating into different rooms to identify the target.

Since there were only a few people, he quickly found the old man whose face had loose skin, whose nose was large, and whose sparse hair was the color of frost.

The Wraith Senor immediately took out a metal test tube containing sleeping potion and placed it nearby. Then, before that internal caretaker could sense anything, he directly possessed him!

The sleeping internal caretaker had no time to wake or resist before losing control of his body. He could only barely open his grayish-blue eyes and watch himself clumsily pick up the metal test tube beside him, remove the soft stopper, and gulp down the liquid inside.

His body trembled in an uncoordinated, abnormal manner, as if the interior was engaged in a fierce battle on its own. Only after a full minute did he slowly soften, close his eyes again, and enter a dreamless deep sleep.

After finishing all this, the Wraith Senor left the internal caretaker’s body, once again jumping through various “mirrors” back to the servant living area. Then he directly entered Klein’s body.

Klein immediately emitted a cold, deathly still, indifferent aura. Even making an expression seemed to have become difficult.

He slowly rose, silently left the servants’ room, walked through shadows untouched by moonlight and surrounded by murals, and step by step arrived at the second floor, entering the target room.

Standing by the bed, servant-like Klein’s figure abruptly grew taller. His hair became sparse and white, and his nose enlarged slightly.

It took only a few seconds for him to become identical to the internal caretaker who had taken the sleeping potion. Even his aura showed no difference whatsoever.

Putting on the black clerical coat placed nearby, Klein moved the internal caretaker and the servant’s clothes under the bed, then lay down himself and silently calculated the time.

At 5:30, he rose early, ate the white bread he had prepared the night before, drank a cup of clear water, and quietly looked out the window.

When the sky had just begun to brighten, Klein maintained a completely expressionless state, opened the door, went down to the first floor, and followed the route he had preliminarily grasped, turning toward the left.

After walking for some time, he saw a pastor as expected.

This was experience from being a former Nighthawk, so Klein was not worried about failing to find the passage.

The pastor stood outside the secret door leading to the underground area. He raised his right hand, drew four points clockwise over his chest, and said, “May the Goddess bless you.”

“Praise the Goddess,” Klein replied hoarsely, likewise drawing a crimson moon.

He did not stop. Passing the pastor, illuminated by the lamps on both sides, he walked step by step down the stairs and arrived at a crossroads.

Based on his grasp of the surrounding geography, Klein believed that turning right would take him away from the cathedral. It should lead toward some security company or other organization used as a front by the Nighthawks. Therefore, without hesitation, he turned left.

At that very moment, he saw a man wearing red gloves walking toward him.

This man had black hair, green eyes, an outstanding appearance, and a rather casual style of dress. It was Leonard Mitchell.