Chapter 114: A Chance Encounter

Chapter One Hundred Fourteen
A Chance Encounter

Inside the small theater of Rice Circus.

Once something felt familiar, there was no such thing as being unable to recall it for a Diviner. Klein pushed at the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, leaned slightly backward, and murmured a few nearly soundless lines.

Immediately afterward, he pretended to be resting and closed his eyes for more than ten seconds. In truth, through meditation, he had swiftly succeeded in falling asleep and had obtained dream revelation.

It was a rather dim room. Only one candle stood on the coffee table, its faint yellow flame swaying. The people seated around it all wore black hooded robes and iron masks that covered only the upper half of their faces.

Klein deliberately rubbed his brow, opened his eyes, and continued watching the animal performance.

He had already interpreted the revelation and understood the source of that familiarity.

The scene in the dream was the Beyonder gathering held by old Mr. Eye of Wisdom.

In that gathering, there had also been an Apothecary with a chubby face, someone who liked reminding others through sarcastic remarks. He was clearly a kindhearted fellow, yet always gave people the urge to punch him.

Could it be that Apothecary? It does not quite seem like him. Since when did he know how to tame beasts… According to the Nighthawks’ internal files, an Apothecary’s spirit vision, unlike the Diviner pathway, cannot precisely distinguish emotional colors. Mm. When it comes to aura colors, they do have their own strengths…

Klein’s thoughts slowly spread, yet they did not affect his appreciation of the performance onstage.

In his spirit vision, the emotional colors of the black bear, tiger, and curly-haired baboon were indeed all unstable. With a certain degree of additional stimulation, they might very well erupt on the spot. This indirectly confirmed that the chubby man who had spoken earlier was not merely causing trouble. He seemed able to read the thoughts of those three animals and understand their impulses.

Because of his reminder, although the animal trainer’s anger had grown intense and his expression had turned gloomy, he ultimately instinctively softened his movements and became much more careful. The performance ended smoothly.

Afterward came a crude but very amusing play. Only when it ended did the magician come up to perform.

The magician wore a tailcoat, a bow tie of the same color, and an extremely tall hat. The moment he came on, he performed a trick in which fire sprayed from his mouth, immediately drawing cheers and applause from the spectators in the venue.

Such a simple trick…

Klein, whose eyesight was already quite extraordinary and who had watched many magic-teaching programs before, needed only a glance to understand the key.

Next, the magician performed classic acts such as escaping from a locked box, making doves fly from a removed hat, pulling out fresh flowers, and card magic. Klein had originally thought he could easily see through every technique, yet he was stunned to discover that at certain moments, he gained nothing at all. His attention had been drawn to where the other party wanted it to go, causing him to overlook the key details.

He clearly has no Beyonder abilities, yet his technique can still fool my eyes. Mm, the key lies in controlling attention… The Magician’s second rule: fully direct the target’s attention, thereby achieving the desired effect?

Klein made a guess in his heart, uncertain whether it was right or wrong.

That still had to be verified through “acting” and feedback.

Just then, the magician’s performance ended. The audience did not stint in offering enthusiastic applause and cheers, lifting the venue’s atmosphere to its highest point that afternoon.

“Heh. Third rule: a Magician’s performance needs the audience’s applause?”

Klein murmured soundlessly, half teasing and half guessing.

A little after three, he tugged at the collar of his black double-breasted frock coat, rose, and left the small theater. He did not attempt to contact that chubby man suspected of being the Apothecary. He merely quietly memorized the other man’s appearance—reckless “chatting up” might provoke an overreaction.

Riding a trackless public carriage, Klein returned toward Minsk Street.

The carriage had two levels, with passengers sitting on each. As usual, Klein chose a window seat on the lower level.

After the carriage stopped and moved for a while, Klein, who had been half closing his eyes while reviewing the inspirations from earlier, suddenly felt his heart tighten. He became clear-headed and rational, like when someone forcefully invaded a dream or when he was directly subjected to spirit channeling.

At that moment, he clearly knew he was no longer in the real world!

Having rich experience, he pretended nothing was wrong and swept his gaze halfway around him. On the left, a gentleman in a tailcoat and top hat was still reading the newspaper. A woman in a light-blue dress, leading two children, was scolding the disobedient little troublemakers with a headache; beside her, someone gnawed on bread and drank tea he had brought himself… Everything was exactly the same as before.

Yet in Klein’s quietly activated spirit vision, those passengers did not radiate corresponding aura colors or emotional colors!

They had no Ether Bodies!

They were clearly speaking, eating bread, and reading newspapers, yet they had no trace of being alive!

Is this an illusory falsehood, or have they suddenly died and are merely acting according to the inertia of life? Klein did his utmost to remain calm. Turning his head, he looked out the window and saw carriages and pedestrians moving back and forth on the street, the same afternoon scene as before.

But they have no aura colors either… As the carriage slowly advanced, Klein became increasingly grave, unable to understand what exactly had happened.

He lowered his head and examined himself, seeing the unmistakable radiance of spirituality, utterly different from everyone around him.

Just then, he suddenly heard a roar—a roar that did not seem to come from a human.

Klein hurriedly lifted his head again and discovered that a large black dog had appeared on the street.

Its sharp, white teeth, one after another, were stained with blood-rust traces. It was precisely that demonic giant hound—the demonic giant hound that had committed one bloody case after another!

That black vicious hound rapidly swelled into a tall demon. Bat-like wings unfolded from its back, while goat horns full of mysterious patterns grew from its head. It looked up at the sky and spoke a demon-language word filled with filth:

“Depravity!”

Almost the instant it opened its mouth, Klein had already confirmed that it was real, because it possessed aura colors and emotional colors, and intense spiritual radiance emanated from it.

Following the demonic giant hound’s cry, several illusory pedestrians nearby abruptly exploded, transforming into black mist that spread into the air and obscured the view.

But Klein could vaguely see that in midair and around the area, many “real people” possessing aura colors had appeared. They were using Beyonder abilities that radiated spiritual brilliance.

What is going on? Ordinary people are illusory, but Beyonders are real… Have the Nighthawks and Mandated Punishers found that demonic giant hound and used some special Sealed Artifact to create a battle environment that does not disturb the real world? Does that Sealed Artifact target only Beyonders and not affect ordinary people? And because I happened to pass by, I was unfortunately pulled in?

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Klein’s mind. He roughly guessed what had happened to him.

This really is a baffling disaster…

He had just sighed inwardly when he suddenly heard a scream—a mournful scream, an enormous scream.

The black aura obscuring his sight abruptly scattered. That demonic giant hound fell heavily to the ground, its body split vertically into two halves. In midair, all the light gathered upon a certain object, making it resemble a pure moon illuminating a deeply dark environment.

The demonic giant hound, its vitality terrifyingly stubborn, roared once more. Its body suddenly exploded. Using soul and flesh as fuel, it ignited a towering flame woven from pale blue and crimson.

Yet the moment the flame reached midair, it lost all brightness, absorbed by the object resembling a bright, pure moon.

It vanished soundlessly, and the demonic giant hound was simply and thoroughly annihilated, leaving not even a speck of residue behind.

So strong…

Klein had only just sighed when he suddenly thought of one thing:

Would those official powerhouses discover that inside the carriage he sat in, there was still a wild Beyonder—one different from the illusory people around him?

His heart tightened. His scalp tingled as he took out a paper figurine and, with a casual flick, shook it into himself—a version of himself with no aura colors or emotional colors.

As for his true body, he used the special nature of the Substitute spell to hide inside the paper figurine’s “shadow.”

At that moment, Klein heard someone on the other side of the carriage give a light snort.

That snort carried obvious anger and unwillingness.

Who? It does not sound like an official Beyonder…

Klein felt puzzled, yet did not dare dismiss the substitute and peek out.

Immediately afterward, several gazes swept across one after another, lingering no longer than a moment.

When all of it faded, Klein saw cracks appear in the surrounding void. Like glass, it shattered.

Then a sense of reality rushed back. He clearly knew he had returned to the real world.

Silently withdrawing the substitute, he sat again in his original seat. Inside the carriage, passengers continued reading newspapers, gnawing on bread, and scolding children. There was no difference from before.

But in Klein’s eyes, they had once again regained their aura colors and emotional colors.

In addition, compared with earlier, the trackless public carriage had clearly advanced some distance.

“It seems that inside that special battle environment, time and scenery remain synchronized with reality. If that battle had continued longer, the carriage might have left the range of influence, leaving only me there—only me there… That would have exposed me immediately… Fortunately, Backlund is the Capital of Capitals, the Land of Hope. All three great Churches have high-Sequence powerhouses here…”

Klein reflected with a certain lingering fear.

He had originally believed that even if the target had been locked onto, the Nighthawks and Mandated Punishers would still need several days to find that demonic black hound. And even that required one prerequisite: that the target had not left Backlund.

That point was certain. Leaving Backlund meant leaving the ritual’s range, which would cause the advancement to fail. And for a Demon, the negative effects of a failed ritual would very likely directly push it, already struggling on the edge of bloodlust, into losing control.

Who could have known that in only one night and half a day, that demonic giant hound had been discovered, executed, and purified?

Simply terrifying! This is Backlund… This is the true strength of the three great Churches! A Sequence 6 about to advance merely exposed its identity and left a few insignificant traces, and it was found so quickly, then killed so simply… This was a Demon that could sense danger ahead of time! It seems certain Sealed Artifacts happen to counter that point… In the future, I have to be even more prudent and careful!

Klein felt he had learned a profound lesson.

At that moment, he remembered the strange light snort he had heard earlier.

“Perhaps it was the demonic giant hound’s companion? Its master? He was actually not discovered. Perhaps the demonic giant hound’s final self-detonation was secretly controlled by him… Of course, it might also have been some hidden organization member dissatisfied with official Beyonders…”

Klein abruptly looked through the carriage window opposite him. Outside, the passing pedestrians all seemed perfectly ordinary. Some wore woolen coats, some wore half top hats, and some wore brightly colored long dresses. No problem could be seen.