Chapter 122: Exploring Wildey Street

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Two
Exploring Wildey Street

Pleasure was Sequence 6 of the Demoness pathway. Klein had obtained its complete formula while channeling Madam Sharon’s spirit. Although normally it was difficult for him to recall the specific contents, and he needed dream divination to reproduce them, hearing one of the main ingredients mentioned was still enough to trigger familiarity and association.

Unable to help himself, he turned his head slightly and examined the buyer. Judging from skin color, build, voice, and the outline of the face not covered by the mask, he confirmed that the other party was male.

The prerequisite to Demoness of Pleasure is Witch. No matter the original sex, after passing that stage, one is uniformly transformed into a woman. But this person obviously is not… He has not yet become a Witch, so why would he be buying the main ingredient for Demoness of Pleasure? Mm… Could he be buying it for someone else? Is he the collaborator of some Witch, or a loyal subordinate?

But the Demoness Sect is a very ancient hidden organization that has survived to the present day. It should not lack corresponding materials too severely. Given their character, using Beyonder characteristics left behind by previous members to concoct potions should be normal… Has the Witch behind this buyer lost contact with her organization?

With all sorts of thoughts rising, Klein felt a strong impulse to follow the buyer.

But after careful consideration, he rationally abandoned that plan. Setting aside whether he could bypass Eye of Wisdom’s precautions and lock onto the other person’s trail, factors such as not knowing the situation on the other side and not having time to perform divination were more than enough for him to choose to obey the will of his heart.

What if there is more than one Witch over there, or other comparatively powerful Beyonders?

Besides, a Witch advancing to Demoness of Pleasure is a good thing. The former spreads disaster and harms many innocents, while once she becomes the latter, her goal shifts to “pleasure.” Put simply, her social danger decreases…

Klein muttered inwardly.

The silk gland of an adult Widow Giant Spider was already a rather valuable and rare Beyonder ingredient, just like the mutated pituitary gland of a Thousand-faced Hunter and the Human-skinned Shadow characteristic needed for Klein to advance to Sequence 6. It was almost equivalent to half a house in a fairly good area of the capital. Therefore, the buyer did not receive a satisfactory answer.

To be precise, no one answered him at all.

The atmosphere of the gathering fell into silence, until the chubby Apothecary began selling the potions he had brought.

After earlier trials, he had quite a few repeat customers. In less than three minutes, he sold every item he could sell and received more than fifty pounds in cash.

As old Mr. Eye of Wisdom announced the gathering’s end, the participants left one after another through different passages, in different orders and at different intervals.

Klein was in the middle group. After detouring to another quiet street and removing his disguise, he immediately hurried toward the East Borough. Through a night in which cold mingled with all kinds of stenches, he reached Black Palm Street and entered the one-bedroom apartment he rented. On the way, he bought an underarm holster.

Without resting, he took out the revolver, opened the iron box containing the Beyonder bullets, removed two Purifying Bullets, two Demon-Hunting Bullets, and one Exorcism Bullet, and loaded them one by one into the chambers, leaving the firing position on an empty chamber.

After adopting a pose and testing the feel and whether the trigger worked normally, Klein placed the revolver inside the underarm holster and busied himself with other preparations.

For example, he checked whether there was anything abnormal about the All-Black Eye inside the iron cigarette case. He also placed Azik’s copper whistle into the bullet box and, with the help of Night Sanctifying Powder, created a sealed wall of spirituality tightly against the box’s surface, completing the shielding of that ancient and exquisite copper whistle.

After confirming the shapes and positions of the three types of charms, Klein also went above the gray fog to perform divination. Then he put on a flat cap and went out again.

His target was 32 Wildey Street in the South Borough of the Bridge—the place where the thief had found the Master Key!

There might be clues to Apprentice follow-up formulas or related items there. Klein had long wanted to explore it, but he had suspected that the man who died a terrible death might have transformed into a resentful-spirit-type creature. Only after buying Purifying Bullets did he dare act.

A Magician does not perform unprepared!

Before the steam metro stopped operating, Klein used that most money-saving method to arrive in the South Borough of the Bridge, then transferred to a public carriage and reached the vicinity of Wildey Street.

At that hour, the night was deep. A fine rain carrying bone-biting cold fell over Backlund. Pedestrians on the streets were almost nonexistent. The glow of the gas streetlamps was made hazy and blurred by liquid staining their glass surfaces, making everything look like it was inside a dream.

Klein circled once, observed the situation of the house at No. 32, then arrived at its side. He climbed to the second floor and easily entered the target building through the balcony door that the earlier thief had opened but clearly could not close again.

He had not brought the Master Key, afraid that the item might trigger some abnormal chain reaction here.

The house’s layout was the same as normal. A corridor connecting the balconies on either side ran through the entire second floor. On both sides of it were bedrooms, washrooms, sunrooms, sitting rooms, and other rooms.

By the crimson moonlight spilling in from the balcony, Klein saw that every door here had been opened. All kinds of items inside had been thrown across the floor in a complete mess.

That should have been done by the earlier thief. He could not take away everything, so he could only search for the most valuable things… But he had the Master Key. He should not have needed to open doors…

Klein checked the rooms one by one, searching for items that might involve the mystical domain.

After an unknown length of time, he reached the stairway empty-handed, still wearing black gloves.

He had only taken two steps down when a figure suddenly appeared in his eyes!

That figure clung to the wall at the turn of the stairs, back facing Klein. The black hair at the back of its head was thick, almost covering its neck.

Before Klein, who had already activated spirit vision, could observe it, the figure suddenly moved.

Amid creaking and cracking sounds from its neck, its head twisted around just like that, while its body still faced away from the second floor!

Within the dim, faint, illusory crimson glow, that figure’s eyeballs had completely bulged out, filled with terror.

Plop. Plop.

The two eyeballs fell to the ground.

Thud!

The figure’s head separated from its neck and crashed onto the wooden stairs.

Already dead. No spiritual radiance…

Klein looked on calmly, judging the scene as though everything that had just happened were merely a farce.

From details such as the other party’s old black clothes and the many rooms opened on the second floor, he made a guess. This was another thief, a thief who had visited the house after the earlier one.

Unfortunately, this one had not been as lucky.

Could it be that the Master Key was actually binding the “danger” here, and once it was taken away, everything erupted?

Klein drew his revolver, adjusted the firing position and trigger, then walked step by step down the stairs until he reached the corpse.

He crouched and briefly examined it, failing to find any cause of death other than the twisted neck.

After mulling it over for several seconds, Klein straightened and descended cautiously. Even though beneath his feet were wooden stairs, he did not make the slightest creaking sound.

One step. Two steps. Three steps. He finished the stairs and stepped onto the ground.

Before him was a corridor connected on both ends. Crimson moonlight shone in from outside, faintly sketching the outline of a balcony. On both sides of the corridor, door after door stood wide open, revealing messy scenes of objects strewn about. There was no living room, no dining room, and no kitchen.

This was the second floor!

Klein had walked downward from the second floor, finished the stairs, yet returned to the second floor!

And during the entire process, he had not noticed the slightest abnormality!

Klein did not panic. He slowly turned around and saw that the stairs behind him led downward!

In other words, my special trait can only resist Beyonder abilities that directly invade my Mind Body or my mental world, such as dream invasion or spirit channeling, or help me detect when the environment I am in does not belong to the real world… I can still be affected by illusions…

Klein took out a matchbox and, with the hand holding the gun, pinched out several matches.

He continued descending. Every few steps, he dropped one match.

Klein arrived again at the turning of the stairs and again saw the corpse whose head had separated from its body.

At that moment, a cold wind capable of making one’s hair stand on end suddenly blew against the back of his neck.

Snap!

Klein snapped his fingers, and a crimson flame rose from behind him, rushing toward the roof.

The flame burned like a monster baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, yet it touched nothing.

Klein had just prepared to turn his head and observe with spirit vision when his body suddenly stiffened, as though he had fallen into an icy lake in winter.

He could not help trembling. His left hand slowly reached toward his own throat, only to be forcefully “pressed” back by him.

At that moment, Klein suddenly sighed.

He pushed his forcibly controlled left hand into his pocket, removed the wall of spirituality, and opened the iron box containing the bullets.

Immediately afterward, he gripped Azik’s copper whistle, took it out, shook it hard, and threw it into the air above the stairway below!

Almost instantly, he felt the cold and stiffness inside his body disappear.

Within his spiritual perception, a sinister, eerie, frigid thing shot out like a dog playing fetch, pouncing toward Azik’s copper whistle!

The corners of Klein’s mouth lifted. He raised his right hand, aimed toward the copper whistle’s direction, pulled the trigger, and spoke softly.

“Bye-bye.”

Bang!

The pale-gold Purifying Bullet flew out and accurately struck that faintly visible, frigid thing.

A scream rang out. Golden flames outlined a human shape in midair!

Within the warm, bright radiance, all the cold, all the eeriness, rapidly vanished.

Clang!

Azik’s copper whistle fell to the ground, bounced a few times, and rolled into the first-floor sitting room.

Klein looked around again and discovered that the scene had changed in certain ways. For example, the corpse’s head had not separated from its body; he had strangled himself to death with his own hands.

Heh. Being prepared really does make things easy…

Klein laughed softly. He descended the stairs once more, smoothly reaching the first floor. He picked up Azik’s copper whistle and casually shook it twice, using that to judge whether there were any other resentful spirits or shadows here.

After confirming there were no more problems, he identified the direction and went straight to the basement.

After finishing the stairs and passing through the door, he saw the scene from his dream divination—the brown notebook placed upon the long table.