Chapter 186: The Dashing Captain

Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Six
The Dashing Captain

Countless glimmers of light rushed toward him. The chaos of a million people all uttering different ravings at once poured into his ears, yet Klein paid none of it any attention. The Clown’s ability told him that his Spirit Body was being covered, little by little, by a rapidly swelling, spreading shadow.

That shadow was an enormous cross. Upon it, someone seemed to be hanging upside down.

Crack!

The chaotic, terrifying storm of thoughts all turned outward at once, becoming unified. Hood Eugen’s “mind world” collapsed inch by inch.

Klein discovered that he was flying faster than the highest speed he had reached during his earlier experiment. After his Spirit Body had briefly fused with a little power from the mysterious space above the gray fog, it had gained a certain, obvious strengthening.

Just as the shadow of the cross was about to completely engulf him, he burst out of that hazy “world” and sensed his own physical body.

Falling rapidly downward with practiced ease, Klein’s vision was instantly filled with Hood Eugen’s long, thin face and messy yellow hair, and with the three candles quietly burning on the windowsill.

He had broken free of the spirit-channeling state in time.

In that instant, he saw black scales grow one after another across Hood Eugen’s face. The man’s blank pupils stood upright, becoming abnormally cold and abnormally emotionless.

Damn it! He is about to lose control!

Klein’s pupils had only just contracted, and before he could react, he saw a figure in a knee-length black windbreaker and matching silk hat take two steps to arrive before Hood Eugen, raise the special revolver in his hand, and press it against the other man’s head.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dunn Smith pulled the trigger five times in succession. Hood Eugen’s head expanded violently, like a watermelon falling from a high place and smashing against the ground. Red and white splattered like a rainstorm into every corner of the room.

He had dealt with Hood Eugen before the man could lose control completely.

Standing only half a meter away, Klein’s face and body were covered with specks of blood and filth. He stared blankly at Dunn Smith, only feeling that in this moment, the Captain was incredibly dashing.

As long as we are not talking about memory, the Captain is still extremely reliable…

He sincerely praised inwardly.

“What accident happened?” Dunn put away his revolver, watching Hood Eugen’s nearly headless body slowly collapse.

Klein had just begun organizing his words when he saw that corpse turn, in the span of several breaths, into a puddle of blood-colored sludge with an asylum patient’s uniform lying over it, as though even its most basic structure had been destroyed.

Very soon, only a few complete things remained from Hood Eugen’s corpse. The first was dozens of scales shimmering with black light. The second was his heart, now stained pale blue and made crystalline.

Dreamlike colors flowed over that heart, as if a diamond were catching lamplight.

It could make one quiet, then manic; tense, then confused. Aside from that, it showed no special manifestation.

“This should be a controllable item.”

Dunn put away his revolver, took out a black glove, wore it on his right hand, then half crouched and picked up the crystalline heart.

A controllable item… Then according to what the Captain said before, this can be used as the main ingredient for the Sequence 7 Psychiatrist potion… But would that make a Beyonder who advanced using it even more prone to losing control?

Klein took out a handkerchief and wiped the bloodstains and filth from his face and body. Then he retrieved the special tarot deck and cleaned their surfaces.

Looking at the ground, he asked curiously, “What kind of item are these black scales?”

“These are materials contaminated with a certain degree of extraordinary power. They can be used to create items with long-lasting effects. For example, our Demon-hunting Bullets: once more than three months pass, their ability to harm undead creatures and similar monsters declines significantly. Only a little of the demon-hunting property that belongs to the material itself remains. But if similar black scales were used as materials, the effect could last for a year, or even more than two years, and the effect itself would be better. Of course, due to the nature of their characteristics, these black scales clearly are not suitable for making Demon-hunting Bullets.”

As Dunn explained, he accepted a sheet of paper from Klein and wrapped up the pale-blue heart, then wrapped up the black scales.

“Like the parts of extraordinary species that can be used for things other than the main ingredients of potions?” Klein gave an example and asked.

Dunn straightened, nodding lightly.

“Yes.”

Once one loses control, one really does become a monster…

Klein sighed. While the room was still sealed by the wall of spirituality, he hurriedly recounted what had happened earlier.

“While I was communicating with Hood Eugen’s spirit, from his mental level I saw a shadow similar to the True Creator’s. But it was different from the mainstream image. It was not the chained, inverted giant, nor the eyes behind the shadowy curtain. It was more similar to what you saw in Hynas Vincent’s dream, Captain.”

Hynas Vincent had been a member of the Aurora Order. Because Selena had secretly read his incantation and performed a complete “magic mirror divination,” he had ended up investigated by the Nighthawks.

In his dream, Dunn Smith had once seen a scene close to the True Creator, yet different from the widely circulated image. As a result, one person had been injured, and another had died bizarrely.

As for what had just happened, Klein had actually been somewhat prepared when Hood Eugen flipped over the Hanged Man tarot card. But he had not expected it to appear in that form. Of course, this had still been indirect contact. It could not compare to him directly “peeking” at the Eternal Blazing Sun. The worst possible outcome would merely have been some injury or slight contamination.

Hearing Klein’s description, Dunn’s expression instantly became grave.

His brows creased slightly as he said in a low voice, “An enormous cross, black iron nails, a naked, bloodstained man hanging upside down?”

“I did not see it clearly. That is also why I was not harmed. I only noticed the enormous cross and a figure that seemed to be hanging upside down,” Klein answered tactfully.

At the time, he had been busy “running for his life.”

Dunn nodded, as though thinking.

“Lanevus visiting Hood Eugen is connected to the True Creator? Connected to the Aurora Order?”

Klein hurriedly described the conversation during spirit channeling and the scene he had witnessed, leaving nothing out. At the end, he said, “…The things Lanevus used to tempt Hood Eugen were the acting method and what he called a little immortal divinity. But I cannot understand why he said this is the worst age and also the best age. Mm, perhaps that is the unique speaking style of a Swindler?”

“…The help Hood Eugen provided involved a gloomy, dark altar… I suspect Lanevus is plotting something terrifying…”

As he spoke, a thought stirred inside him.

“Captain, do you still remember that letter written to Mr. Z? The letter found on the Aurora Order member I shot dead!

“In that letter, he said that when the time was right, or when something like the day of destruction arrived, he would offer all the lambs of Tingen City to the so-called Lord. Could this be connected to what Lanevus is plotting?”

“Could Lanevus be Mr. Z of the Aurora Order?”

Dunn Smith thought carefully for a while, then said, “I do not think so. Lanevus would not be Mr. Z. Otherwise, while carrying out the Aurora Order’s serious business, he would not have founded a fake steel company and defrauded people of money. That would fill his primary mission with variables. Mm. If anything unexpected happened to the steel company’s operation, he would be exposed to the police and to us, forced to flee Tingen and interrupt his plot.

“Of course, if he is truly and completely mad, then doing anything illogical would be normal.

“But judging from the calmness and cunning with which he arranged the scam and leisurely rolled away the money, he is not truly insane.

“So I believe he is not Mr. Z of the Aurora Order. Of course, he very likely is involved in the matter mentioned in that letter—the matter of offering all of Tingen City’s lambs to the so-called Lord.”

At this point, Dunn paused, paced back and forth twice, and said, “This matter may be extremely serious. We must investigate Lanevus again and strive to find some clues. Mm, we will clean up the scene and conceal traces here, letting everyone know that Hood Eugen is dead while making it impossible to determine who killed him. That may force the Psychology Alchemists, or other Beyonders watching the asylum, to jump out. Perhaps they know something.

“As for Lanevus’s fraud case, it is either still with the police department or already transferred to the Mandated Punishers. We will use the excuse that we obtained clues while investigating the Aurora Order, then intervene in the case, cooperate with the Mandated Punishers, cooperate with the Machinery Hivemind, and concentrate Tingen City’s strength to thoroughly investigate the people and objects connected to Lanevus. If necessary, we will request assistance from the Backlund diocese, or even from the Sanctuary!”

After speaking, Dunn turned his head toward Klein. After considering for a moment, he asked, “Do you have anything to add?”

Captain, you have already said everything…

Klein solemnly shook his head.

“No!”

Seizing the time, and using the simple altar that had not yet been cleaned up, he used ritual magic to remove certain necessary traces, ensuring that under normal circumstances, no one could discover that he and the Captain had killed Hood Eugen.

Then he collected the materials, extinguished the candles, removed the wall of spirituality, and silently left the sickroom with Dunn Smith, climbing out of the asylum.

“You go back and rest,” Dunn said, standing in the unlit corner by the perimeter wall. He pressed his black silk hat down slightly. “Many things can only begin tomorrow.”

“All right.”

Klein was not a Sleepless who needed only two or three hours of sleep a day. He immediately said farewell and left, boarding the Nighthawk team’s exclusive carriage waiting not far away and heading back toward Daffodil Street.

Before entering the carriage, he looked back and saw the Captain still standing in that darkness where even the moonlight was blocked, as though quietly thinking about something.

The street at dawn was cold, empty, and deserted. The carriage sped along swiftly, sometimes going straight, sometimes turning.

Klein was considering the matter of Lanevus when his mind suddenly blurred.

He saw the colors before his eyes instantly turn thick. Red became redder. Black became blacker. It was like an abstract oil painting.

Everything around him slowed, and the carriage seemed to have entered some strange world.

Klein gripped the Sunflame Charm and drew his revolver with a swish.

Just then, a gigantic white-bone hand passed through the carriage window and reached inside, dropping a folded sheet of paper.

As that palm withdrew and vanished, the oil-painting-like scene abruptly returned to normal. The carriage was still traveling steadily along the street.

“…That really is a concealed method,” Klein murmured, staring blankly at the letter paper by his feet. The corner of his mouth twitched.