Chapter 109: Deduction

Chapter One Hundred Nine
Deduction

The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps entered Klein’s ears from afar, making him, who stood at the duty-room entrance, feel considerably more settled.

“What happened?”

Leonard was the first to arrive, revolver in hand, his voice low and grave.

Seeing that he nearly could not stop himself in time, Klein immediately remembered something Rozanne had once mentioned: three years ago, when Leonard had first become a Sleepless and had not yet adapted to the potion’s power, he had attempted to sprint down the stairs and ended up turning into a wheel.

Coughing softly, Klein pointed toward Chanis Gate.

“Just now, violent knocking came from inside. Later it became pounding. After that, the door was pushed open a little.”

“Chanis Gate was pushed open?”

The short Kenley asked back in astonishment.

“Yes. A crack opened.”

Klein was about to continue describing it, but then he saw Leonard, Kenley, and Royale had not approached the duty room. They had stopped several steps away, spreading out into an arc, as though guarding against him.

He paused, then said, “You suspect me?”

“No. Not suspecting. This is normal procedure,” Kenley denied, shaking his head.

Even in such a tense atmosphere, Leonard was still not entirely serious. He added with a smile, “In another diocese, there was once a case like this: a Beyonder guarding Chanis Gate lost control, rang the bell, and then, while the teammates who came to help were unprepared, killed two of them in succession.”

“All right.”

Klein no longer felt wronged or angry at being targeted. Instead, he asked, “Then how should I prove that I have not lost control?”

Leonard withdrew his joking expression. He tapped his chest four times and recited in a low voice:

“They are naked and without clothing;

“They have no covering in the cold.

“They are wet with the showers of the mountains;

“They cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

“They are mothers whose children have been taken;

“They are orphans who have lost hope;

“They are the poor who were forced away from the righteous path.

“The night has not abandoned them;

“It has granted them favor…”

…

The sacred, merciful prayer echoed through the underground, giving every person’s body, mind, and spirit a release-like peace.

Seeing that Klein showed no abnormal reaction, Leonard stopped reciting. A smile formed at the corners of his mouth.

“No problems. You remain our trustworthy companion.”

The cold and silent lady Royale, who had remained quiet all this time, glanced at Chanis Gate and proactively asked, “After the door opened slightly, what did you see?”

“I saw the Misfortune Puppet—the one in the black classical court gown. 3-0625.”

A trace of lingering fear remained as Klein answered.

“But in less than three seconds, it was dragged back by an invisible force. Then Chanis Gate closed again. What exactly happened?”

Leonard exchanged glances with Kenley and Royale before saying, “Heh. We are just like you. We do not know the reason behind all this. Since Chanis Gate has already closed again and no abnormality remains, we should not enter now. We must wait until daybreak, and wait for the Captain.”

At that moment, Royale added in her cool voice, “I will stay here and guard with you.”

“All right.”

Leonard spread his hands and smiled teasingly. “As the strongest person here, I will stay too. Kenley, you go back to the second floor, in case the police department has an urgent case and no one opens the door.”

Kenley did not say more. He nodded and turned away.

Then Leonard looked at Klein and Royale separately.

“Perhaps we can continue playing cards? Under these circumstances, we need a little entertainment to keep ourselves from being too tense.”

“No problem.”

Klein adjusted his revolver and returned it to the holster beneath his arm. Royale said neither yes nor no, but, with her smooth black hair draped behind her, followed them into the duty room.

Amid the battle against evil—that is, against the “landlord”—Klein spoke as though casually.

“The Misfortune Puppet, I mean 3-0625. According to the information, it should not possess living characteristics…”

“Haha. Three aces.”

Leonard pressed down a hand of cards and said as if chatting idly, “For the past forty years, 3-0625 has never displayed living characteristics. We can first assume that the information’s description is correct, and use that as the premise for deduction and inference.”

“Pass. Do you have an idea?”

Royale asked concisely.

Klein hesitated over whether to throw out three twos all at once. Meanwhile, Leonard drank a mouthful of freshly brewed coffee and said, “Yes. Since 3-0625 itself does not possess living characteristics, its performance today must be because it was influenced by some other factor. And that factor must have appeared only recently. Otherwise, it would have shown us this side of itself long ago.

“So, what has been different behind Chanis Gate during the past month?”

Royale looked at Klein as he threw out three twos. After several seconds of thought, she said, “Only one thing was different from usual: the Antigonus family notebook and Sealed Artifact 2-049 once stayed behind Chanis Gate for one night.”

Leonard looked at the cards in his hand, lightly tapped the table, and smiled.

“If 2-049 could make the Misfortune Puppet abnormal, then it would have caused similar incidents behind Backlund’s Chanis Gate long ago. Therefore, I suspect the problem lies with the Antigonus family notebook.”

Klein considered this carefully and could not help nodding again and again.

“That is the most likely possibility… Leonard, I did not expect you to be someone skilled at deduction.”

Generally speaking, romantic poets and people skilled at deduction are incompatible…

“That is only because he has recently grown fond of detective novels,” Royale said flatly from the side. “Two kings. Straight from eight to king. No one wants it? Three sixes. I am out.”

Seeing this, Klein and Leonard fell into silence at the same time.

Neither of them, distracted from the card game, had remembered one crucial matter:

In this hand, Royale was the “evil”!

Watching Royale cut the deck, Klein seized another opportunity and asked, “What power dragged 3-0625 back?”

Leonard glanced at him and laughed softly.

“You cannot possibly think the defensive measures behind Chanis Gate consist only of deeply buried sealing chambers and several elderly guards, can you?”

“In truth, after the sun fully sets, the guards already leave Chanis Gate and return to Saint Selena Cathedral.

“The power inside reaches its peak at night. It is no longer suitable for living things. Only after the sun rises does that power weaken. This is also why the Captain told us that no matter what sound we hear, we must not enter Chanis Gate.”

In other words, the Captain forgot to tell me the reason…

Klein thought for a moment and asked, “Protective measures similar to a formation?”

Like a magnified version of charms and amulets?

“Mm,” Royale nodded while drawing cards. “The reason Chanis Gate is placed beneath every city’s central cathedral is to rely on the believers who come each day to maintain it. Their devout prayers allow a portion of spirituality to enter the formation. Small amounts accumulate into a great whole.”

“So that is how it works…”

Klein nodded in realization and saw that he had drawn a terrible hand.

At that moment, Leonard smiled and said, “The protective measures behind Chanis Gate are not limited to that. Saint Selena’s ashes are interred inside. In life, she was a high-sequence powerhouse.”

Saint Selena’s ashes? The ashes of a high-sequence powerhouse? Holy ashes? What could that do?

Klein was both puzzled and curious.

Saint Selena was a saint active during the ancient Third Epoch, around the time the Church of the Evernight Goddess was founded. She was recorded in various sacred texts. Therefore, among believers of the Evernight Goddess, Selena was a common name.

Leonard seemed to hear Klein’s inner voice and continued speaking on his own.

“There are rumors that the remains or ashes left behind by high-sequence powerhouses still possess inconceivable strength after death. Of course, that is only a rumor.”

Klein nodded slightly and turned his attention back to the cards in his hand.

During the next few hours, no more abnormalities occurred behind Chanis Gate. But Klein lost a full two soli, which pained him deeply. Leonard, whose card-playing was also full of the temperament of a romantic poet, lost four soli and five pence. Only quiet Royale emerged the winner.

“The sun has just risen. Next, it is my turn.”

The calm “writer,” Miss Siga Teon, entered the duty room around six o’clock.

Klein wrote the previous night’s encounter into the logbook, then returned to Blackthorn Security Company together with Leonard and Royale.

At that moment, his expression was exceptionally weary, while beside him, the Midnight Poet and the Sleepless were still energetic.

“This is the difference between different Sequences…”

Klein was just about to pass through the partition and go home to catch up on sleep when he suddenly saw the Captain open the door and come in.

“Good morning, Captain.”

He could not help yawning as he greeted him.

Dunn, wearing a black windbreaker, removed his hat and swept his gray eyes over him.

“Good morning. You should go home and rest. Did anything happen last night?”

Klein immediately gave a brief account of the Misfortune Puppet incident and Leonard’s deduction.

“Mm.”

Dunn did not express an opinion. Deep in thought, he walked toward his office.

“I will send a telegram and ask the Sanctuary.”

Klein lingered no longer. He slowly walked out of Number 36, Zouteland Street and breathed in the cool morning air.

His spirit lifted. Suddenly, he remembered something he had forgotten all along.

“I forgot to tell the Captain and Leonard that the Misfortune Puppet was holding a piece of paper!

“How could I forget that?

“It seems that some subtle power influenced me, preventing me from telling the other Nighthawks about this matter…

“…The Antigonus family notebook was kept behind Tingen’s Chanis Gate many days ago. 3-0625, the Misfortune Puppet, should have been influenced long ago. Why did it only show abnormality last night?

“Because last night was my first time rotating to guard Chanis Gate?

“Did it use all its strength just to let me see the pattern on that paper?

“Was that the goal the Antigonus family notebook wanted to accomplish?

“Because I came into contact with it, survived, and became a Seer?”

…

Question after question flashed through Klein’s mind, leaving him frozen in place, unsure whether he should pretend he had thought of nothing and continue home to sleep, or go back upstairs and report to the Captain.