Chapter 210: The Story

Chapter Two Hundred Ten
The Story

In the outskirts of Tingen stood a house with a lawn of deep green.

It had a garden that had begun to wither at the very start of September. It had a dark-red chimney.

Behind one of the bedroom windows in that house was a desk, upon which lay an utterly ordinary notebook, spread open.

A slightly pale hand turned the notebook back to its first page, then swiftly flipped through it page after page.

Amid the rustling of paper, lines of text emerged faintly:

“Because of the combined influence of exhaustion and hallucination, a member of the Secret Order named Riggins mistakenly sold the Antigonus family notebook as an ordinary ancient book. This was a logical coincidence.”

“Summoned by the bloodline of the Antigonus family, the notebook quietly influenced each of its owners, changing hands again and again until it reached Tingen and fell into the possession of Sirius Arapis and Hynas Vincent, members of the Aurora Order.”

“After reading the contents the notebook temporarily revealed and copying down the corresponding potion formulas, Sirius and Hynas both feared being tracked by the Secret Order, who excel at divination. After discussion, they decided not to bear that risk and resold the notebook to someone else.”

“They did not wait for Mr. Z’s reply. Perhaps this was because he lived in Enmat Harbor.”

“Through Sirius’s introduction, Hynas met Welch McGovern, a history student at Hoy University, and sold the Antigonus family notebook to him as an ordinary ancient book.”

“Afterward, drawn by the possible treasure hidden at the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range, Sirius began going in and out of Deweyville Library to read related materials. He thought nothing of leaving behind his real address and name. This accorded perfectly with his personality.”

“It was during this process that he met Lanevus, who was reading materials about iron mines in order to carry out a swindling scheme.”

“Lanevus’s concealed madness and cunning greatly pleased Sirius. He decided to develop him into a member of the Aurora Order. Of course, before that, examination was unavoidable.”

“Sirius secretly revealed to Lanevus the evil ritual for praying to the True Creator to descend an offspring. But he knew the chances of success were extremely low, because the ritual’s difficulty was very high and the conditions required were extremely harsh. Yet the latter displayed intense interest and was exceptionally tempted by the divine reward he might receive from it. While preparing his steel company, he planned to complete the ritual.”

“The cunning Lanevus saw that something was wrong with Sirius Arapis, but for his own purposes, he did not expose him.”

“He visited Hood Eugen in the asylum once again. They had known each other for a long time and understood certain circumstances about one another.”

“After a black divination, the power of the Antigonus family notebook was completely awakened. Welch and his classmate died. The survivor, Klein Moretti, driven by the notebook, sent it to Ray Bieber’s house. This was the destined conclusion.”

Here, many lines had been scribbled out. Afterward, new content appeared:

“What is difficult to understand, what lacks sufficient reason, is that Klein did not commit suicide afterward. He successfully survived.”

“Through Welch’s case, he came to know Dunn Smith and joined the Nighthawk team.”

“Although this exceeded Ince Zangwill’s description, it did not seem to affect the development of the story.”

“Bacchus and his brothers’ luck worsened. At the gambling table, they lost their last chips and owed a very large debt. They decided to obtain a sum of money by kidnapping and extorting a certain wealthy merchant.”

“When choosing their final hiding place, they happened, by coincidence, to select the room opposite Ray Bieber’s home.”

“At that time, Ray Bieber had already been attracted by the power of the Antigonus family notebook and wished to digest the gift left by his ancestors.”

“However, his mind clouded, and with him in a half-mad state, he failed to make the best and safest choice. He abandoned his dead mother, yet still remained in Tingen. He merely found a more hidden place to conduct the digestion ritual. Truly lamentable. If he had been slightly smarter, this story would have become far more complicated. But his choice likewise fit his condition at the time and the implicit logic.”

“Bacchus and the others purchased weapons and targeted Elliot, the youngest son of the tobacco merchant Vickroll.”

“In the end, they successfully carried out the kidnapping and brought Elliot back to the room opposite Ray Bieber’s home. Vickroll’s old butler, Klee, accepted his master’s commission and began seeking help from security companies.”

“Because of the effect of Welch’s death case, both the security company and private detective industries were short-handed. Klee happened by chance to meet a delivery waiter, and by coincidence learned of the existence of Blackthorn Security Company.”

“Leonard Mitchell and Klein accepted the commission. Relying on Beyonder powers, they quickly rescued Elliot. Regrettably, Klein did not immediately discover the clue hidden opposite—the clue pointing to the Antigonus family notebook.”

“However, his spirituality warned him in a dream, and Tingen City’s Nighthawk team obtained the corresponding clue.”

…

“Sealed Artifact 2-049 arrived in Tingen. With the help of this puppet from the Antigonus family, Dunn Smith led the Nighthawks to find Ray Bieber, interrupting his digestion process.”

“Ray Bieber became a monster, and the situation once spun out of control.”

“In the end, the well-coordinated Nighthawks resolved the monster Bieber. Yet immediately afterward, they had to face an attack from a member of the Secret Order.”

Again, many lines had been blacked out, making the original content difficult to read:

“Leonard, who hid a secret within himself, was about to let the matter end without suspicion. But Klein, who should have died, once again inexplicably killed the Sequence 7 member of the Secret Order.”

“This did not affect the development of the story. Dunn Smith came into contact with the Antigonus family notebook, read its contents, and was secretly contaminated a little.”

…

“Lanevus, having completed every aspect of preparation, tempted Hood Eugen into helping him hold the ritual, using his deceived fiancée Megose as the vessel to gestate the True Creator’s offspring.”

“Lanevus had almost no chance of success. The most serious problem was this: even with the ritual’s protection, Megose could not endure union with a deity’s illusory projection. She would die upon the altar.”

“At this time, the kind-hearted Ince Zangwill secretly helped Lanevus. He took half of the Death descendant characteristics he had collected and implanted them into Megose’s body ahead of time.”

“Hood Eugen brought Megose into a half-unconscious state, causing her to mistake the True Creator’s illusory projection for Lanevus. Under the nourishment of the grievances accumulated day and night in the factory district, under the catalysis of that almost tangible gloom and oppression, the ritual succeeded. Megose became pregnant with the True Creator’s offspring. This deity saw through the coincidence of the matter, but hoping to break through the blockade of the seven gods, He did not refuse.”

“Hood Eugen was infected.”

“After the ritual succeeded, the mad Lanevus regained his reason. He knew very clearly that if the deity’s offspring were truly born into the real world, he would become one of the sacrifices. How could a mortal possibly become the father of a deity’s offspring? That would be the greatest blasphemy!”

“Lanevus decided to leave Tingen in advance and tell the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind about this ‘bomb,’ allowing them to solve the hidden danger for him. Madness always demands a price.”

“However, Lanevus did not directly write to those Beyonder teams. He believed that would make him look like an idiot.”

“He decided to leave the letter in one of the houses he had rented, pretending he was playing a game with the official Beyonders. For this, he did not remind Hood Eugen to be careful of infection. At the same time, he took away all the gains.”

“For insurance, he also told Sirius Arapis the situation in a safe way. The latter did not quite believe it, yet sensed the possibility of success.”

…

“Selena Wood, by accident and coincidence, saw the true incantation for the ‘magic mirror divination’ from her mysticism teacher, Hynas Vincent.”

“Her bold attempt happened to encounter Klein Moretti, who successfully resolved this supernatural case that might have caused heavy casualties.”

“Through this, the Nighthawk team found Hynas Vincent. But this Aurora Order member had just received a reward, and so, by coincidence, Dunn Smith saw the True Creator’s clear image in his dream and suffered severe harm.”

“However, he was not infected by it. That would have been noticed by the higher-ups of the Nighthawks.”

“This injury caused the contamination Dunn Smith had secretly received from the Antigonus family notebook to worsen further. His symptoms of absent-mindedness and omission strengthened. Step by step, he would satisfy Ince Zangwill’s requirements.”

…

Many more lines were crossed out.

“Truly unbelievable! Klein Moretti detected Ince Zangwill’s hidden influence and saw that dark-red chimney.”

“This—this was because of the reminder given by Azik, a history instructor at Hoy University. That man hides many secrets.”

“But even so, that Klein could discover concrete clues was astonishing enough—something impossible to explain.”

“Regardless of the reason, Ince Zangwill did not stop his own actions. The story continued.”

“Klein encountered Sirius in the library and, unable to hold back, killed him. As a result, half the clue to Lanevus’s matter was cut off. The discovery of the problem was delayed, pushed backward.”

…

“Klein encountered Megose, but his spirituality stopped him from observing her. Afterward, he did not notice that subtle abnormality. This fits logic well. Our story is not nonsense.”

“He collected information on the red-chimney houses, but he always chose routes that did not include the target. Perhaps after two or three months, perhaps in the very last batch, he would discover the true ‘red-chimney house.’”

…

Line after line of text was crossed out—more than all the earlier sections combined.

“Dunn Smith’s problem eased! His condition was visibly improving! He had actually grasped the acting method!”

“And this was taught to him by Klein Moretti, who found inspiration in the examples of Daly Simone and Old Neil. No, Ince Zangwill does not believe this. But he can only slightly alter the original plan.”

“The story has gained new ripples.”

“To search for his past memories, Azik decided to go to Backlund.”

“Before long, Klein and Dunn obtained the clue from Hood Eugen.”

…

“In order to make Tingen City’s Conservative Party and New Party stand completely opposed, and in order to vent the madness she had accumulated bit by bit after changing her body, Madam Sharon decided to risk killing Councilman John Maynard.”

“Her reason was insufficient. Her motive was not strong enough. Yet she still acted. Everyone has moments of insufficient clarity. She happened to be in such a phase. Moreover, she had ample confidence that she would not be discovered.”

“Councilman Maynard’s wife found Blackthorn Security Company through the tobacco merchant Vickroll. They did not fail the commission and very quickly discovered Madam Sharon’s abnormality.”

“Dunn, possessing strength close to Sequence 6, decided to take the initiative and handed Sealed Artifact 3-0217 to Kernli for use.”

“The two of them, together with Klein, returned to Madam Sharon’s home. Dunn attempted to control the target through long-distance dream induction.”

“There was no problem with this. Unfortunately, Madam Sharon happened to place the divine statue of the Primordial Demoness beside her.”

“And so, the Nighthawks’ plan failed. Kernli, nervous, reflected himself and saw himself.”

“Madam Sharon was resolved, and Kernli died as well. Dunn blamed himself greatly, and according to the usual practice, consumed the Beyonder characteristics the other left behind. His digestion process was interrupted because of this, fell into stagnation, and his mental state became considerably unstable.”

“Under such circumstances, Leonard and Klein found the letter Lanevus had left behind.”

“Megose, meanwhile, was summoned by some unknown force to Zouteland Street and entered Blackthorn Security Company. The infant in her belly had reached a critical period and could not stop her impulse.”

“Dunn made detailed arrangements—correct arrangements. But he made one mistake. If he had resolved to immediately deal with Megose, then the best choice would have been to lure her behind Chanis Gate and use the advantage of the environment and items there to fight. If he intended to wait for help, then he absolutely should not have taken Saint Selena’s ashes out.”

“Regrettably, Dunn, whose condition was poor and whose mind was unfocused because of recent events, failed in his urgency to think of this crucial point. A deity’s offspring can sense the threat posed by a saint’s ashes. Thus, the latter was stimulated and began recklessly absorbing the mother’s power, attempting to be born early—even though it was not truly mature.”

“Azik was in Backlund. Since he was not a Traveler, it was very difficult for him to hurry back in such a short time.”

Several lines had been crossed out.

“Megose became a monster. The battle began. With the help of the saint’s ashes, Vascular Thief, and a strangely appearing high-level charm, Megose died. The deity’s offspring was driven away. Dunn Smith died because of it, and the power of Saint Selena’s ashes also suffered severe injury. This perfectly accords with Ince Zangwill’s idea.”

“Ince Zangwill failed to obtain an opportunity to perform, but that did not prevent him from completing his goal.”

“He killed Klein Moretti, that fellow who always caused problems in his plans, and took Saint Selena’s ashes.”

“Ince Zangwill used the remaining Death descendant characteristics to arrange the ritual. After consuming Saint Selena’s ashes, he successfully advanced from Sequence 5 Gatekeeper of the Death pathway to Sequence 4 Nightwatcher of the Evernight pathway, thereby obtaining divinity and becoming a demigod—half-human, half-divine.”

“The sun still shines upon the earth. Nearly everyone in Tingen City has failed to realize that they were fortunate enough to avoid a great disaster. The ‘Monster’ Ademisaul will be extremely puzzled by this.”

The notebook was flipped to its final page.

A middle-aged man with dark-gold hair, one blind eye, deep-blue pupils nearly black, a high nose bridge, tightly pressed lips, and features as sharply carved as a sculpture—without even the faintest wrinkle—solemnly took up a classical quill pen with his slightly pale hand. Without dipping it in ink, he clearly wrote words.

He simply set down one sentence:

“The story of Tingen City ends here.”

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

The pages flipped rapidly. With a pap, the manuscript closed, leaving only the brown cover facing outward.