Chapter 176: Nighthawk

Chapter 176: Nighthawk

Outside the window, the crimson moon was veiled by clouds. The moonlight that penetrated the curtains could barely outline the contours of the bedroom’s larger objects. Dimness and gloom had become the room’s main theme.

Klein sat in such surroundings and did not hurry to leave.

He looked at Dr. Allen, who was asleep on the bed, and quietly analyzed the scenes he had just seen in the dream.

“The card Will Auceptin held in his hand at the end was the Wheel of Fortune. In a dream like this, everything carries symbolic meaning. Everything is revelation obtained by one’s astral body… In other words, the matter of Will Auceptin is related to fate. Added to that silver-white serpent, which very likely represents the Mercury Snake, this child may be connected to a high-sequence powerhouse of the Monster pathway, or perhaps to some strange Sealed Artifact…

“Is his crisis caused by the Mercury Snake coveting him, or coveting the strange Sealed Artifact involving him?

“But the Mercury Snake is Sequence 1. It belongs among those existences closest to deities. The name alone reflects an exceedingly high level. There’s no way it would be helpless against a child like Will Auceptin. Amon, whose exact level remains unknown—whether Sequence 1, Sequence 2, or Sequence 3—nearly invaded above the gray fog with just one avatar…

“This matter doesn’t seem so simple. There must be an enormous secret hidden within it.”

Thinking to this point, Klein had already decided to retreat.

“This sounds extremely dangerous. And that deck of tarot cards might not necessarily be a mystical item. The special thing is very likely Will Auceptin himself. Hmm. Aside from having nightmares, Dr. Allen has already shaken off his earlier troubles. I have absolutely no reason to get involved in this matter. To proactively perform here and challenge the impossible would be practically the same as suicide… Mm, yes. I have to obey my heart!” Klein supported himself against the dressing table with his gloved right hand and slowly stood up.

After entering the dream just now, he was entirely certain that Dr. Allen’s nightmare originated from revelation obtained by his own astral body from the spirit world. And that revelation had been deliberately created and provided by some high-level, high-status existence. The paper crane was a positioning tool.

According to a certain chapter in The Book of Secrets, Klein could also try using that paper crane to find Dr. Allen’s astral body as it wandered the spirit world, then secretly observe where those revelations were coming from. But he had already decided not to get involved.

After stretching his body, Klein, with one final bit of curiosity, found Dr. Allen’s leather wallet and removed the paper crane inside.

He placed the paper crane on the head of his cane, held both together, then let his eyes darken as he murmured softly:

“Will Auceptin’s current location.”

After repeating the divination statement seven times, a slight breeze suddenly swirled through the room, carrying a chill that seemed to brush against the soul.

Klein loosened his right hand. First, the cane stood steadily. Then, carrying the paper crane, it fell, slanting toward the bed.

“There…” Klein frowned slightly, changed his position, and repeated the divination. Once again, he smoothly received feedback.

The point at which the two divinations intersected was Dr. Allen!

Will Auceptin’s location overlaps with Dr. Allen’s… That’s rather interesting… Klein muttered to himself, both amused and astonished.

His curiosity immediately climbed to its peak.

Although he did not plan to get involved in this matter, he still wanted to understand why such an overlap had appeared.

Hmm… If I bring the paper crane above the gray fog and divine it there, the gray fog will block things off. Nothing unexpected should happen… Klein quickly formed a new idea.

And because it was inconvenient to perform the ritual to summon himself in Dr. Allen’s bedroom, he decided to bring the paper crane home first.

He had in fact prepared for this long ago. Before coming here, Klein had not been certain how serious the matter was. He had held the possibility of searching for Will Auceptin to see whether he could obtain that deck of tarot cards. Therefore, he had prepared another paper crane in advance, planning to substitute it for the real one so that he could perform all kinds of divinations. Once the problem was solved, he would swap it back.

Thinking things through carefully and in detail beforehand really does make matters much simpler… Klein praised himself.

He reached into his pocket and took out the paper crane he had prepared.

This one had been deliberately folded above the gray fog. It was a precaution against Dr. Allen suddenly deciding to hand over the items related to Will Auceptin to the Church of the Evernight Goddess, thereby allowing the forger—Klein—to be divined.

Using the thin moonlight, he carefully compared Will Auceptin’s paper crane with the one he had folded himself, checking whether there were any obvious differences.

After one look, Klein fell silent.

His handicraft skills were inferior to a child’s…

They’re both paper cranes, really. There isn’t that much difference. Mine is at most a little rough. As long as Allen hasn’t repeatedly studied the original, he definitely won’t notice that it has been switched… Klein muttered silently. He took out a coin and used divination to make a final confirmation.

After receiving an affirmative revelation, he placed the paper crane he had folded inside Allen’s leather wallet, returned the wallet to its original position, cleaned up the scene, and left 3 Birmingham Road carrying Will Auceptin’s paper crane.

Using the dowsing rod method, Klein successfully returned home. Then, while taking a bath, he used the method of summoning himself to send the paper crane and the Master Key above the gray fog.

Sitting in the silent, deserted palace, he picked up the paper crane and examined it closely for several seconds, yet found nothing abnormal.

Then Klein conjured paper and pen and wrote the same divination statement as before:

“Will Auceptin’s current location.”

This time, he used dream divination. In that gray, fragmented world, he was delighted to see an image appear:

It was a pitch-black room. With a sturdy, childlike face and jet-black eyes, Will Auceptin was using a chair to lean over a desk by the window, gazing outside.

In each hand he held a stack of tarot cards. Beside him lay a pile of building blocks.

Those blocks had been assembled into an ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail.

The scene outside the window was equally dark. Only the faint sound of flowing water could be heard.

The dream ended silently there. Klein opened his eyes, tapped the edge of the long bronze table with his finger, and muttered soundlessly to himself:

“A snake biting its tail. As expected, is it the Mercury Snake? The Mercury Snake that represents fate…

“There is the sound of flowing water outside the window. That means Will Auceptin’s present location is near the Tussock River?

“Did the divination that placed his location as overlapping with Dr. Allen’s suffer interference from fate?”

Seeing that even divination above the gray fog could only offer a revelation to this extent, Klein was no longer troubled by his curiosity. He barely made an interpretation and decided that the following night he would switch the paper crane back. He would also find an opportunity to give Dr. Allen a little guidance, so that the doctor would go to a church of the Evernight Goddess and tell the bishop about this matter.

For things like this, it’s better to leave it to the regular army… Klein chuckled softly and returned to the real world.

After leisurely finishing his bath, he did not busy himself further. He slipped under the blankets.

After an unknown amount of time, Klein suddenly woke with a start. Clear-headed and rational, he knew he was dreaming—dreaming that he was in the living room, flipping through The Book of Secrets.

This, this familiar feeling… He instinctively put on a bewildered expression and tilted his head toward the doorway.

With a creak, the front door opened, and a figure in a gray coat walked in.

He was around thirty years old. His cheeks were thin and long, his forehead broad, and he had a pair of dark-blue eyes that looked rather wise.

Not the Captain… Klein suddenly gave a self-deprecating smile, silently exhaled, and made The Book of Secrets in his hands turn into an issue of Ladies’ Aesthetic.

As he flipped through the magazine, he casually greeted the visitor.

The man in the gray windbreaker removed his hat and sat opposite him, asking as though chatting idly, “Allen came to see you this morning?”

As expected, a Nighthawk—a Nightmare… Klein restrained the urge to sigh and answered with a smile.

“Yes.”

He had already figured out why the Nighthawks had suddenly entered his dream.

The Nightmare before him should be a Nighthawk team captain responsible for the Will Auceptin case, but they had never been able to find any useful clues.

Under these circumstances, the fact that Dr. Allen and Detective Sherlock Moriarty had gone to Will Auceptin’s home to ask about the child’s whereabouts should have been learned by them either last night or this morning. At the same time, they had discovered that Dr. Allen had hurried to Minsk Street right after breakfast to visit Detective Sherlock Moriarty.

Out of professional habit, entering someone’s dream at night was the most normal and natural development. And because Dr. Allen’s side was comparatively sensitive, rashly entering his dream might cause the clue to break off. Thus, a certain detective became the obvious first choice.

“What happened to him?” the Nighthawk team captain asked “casually.”

Klein answered truthfully, “He had a nightmare…”

Klein described the pitch-black tower, the silver serpent, Will Auceptin hidden behind layer after layer of protection, and the rest of the scenes. At the end, he said, “Before having this nightmare, Allen had gone to Will Auceptin’s home to look for the child, because he was worried about his recovery, and because he was troubled by his earlier bad luck. Unfortunately, Will Auceptin’s family had already moved away. However, Allen remembered that the child had given him a paper crane he had folded himself and wished him good luck.

“Perhaps he had the nightmare because he was stimulated by these two things.”

The man in the gray coat revealed a pleasantly surprised expression.

“A paper crane?”

“Yes.” Klein nodded lightly. “The child gave it to Allen before being discharged. Allen casually tossed it into the drawer in his office, then forgot about it until last night.”

“I understand. Thank you for your explanation.” The Nighthawk team captain stood up and very politely pressed a hand to his chest in greeting.

The dream suddenly rippled like water. He vanished directly from the room.

Looking at the spot where the man had sat, Klein leisurely speculated about what would happen next.

The Nighthawks might go to Dr. Allen’s place tonight, enter his dream for an examination, and take away the paper crane. Then the problem would be this: that paper crane had been folded by Klein. The real one was above the gray fog.

Forget it. No matter which paper crane they use, there’s no way they can divine the answer. Whether I switch it back or not doesn’t really matter… Klein muttered to himself.

Drawing in his thoughts, he continued sitting there. He did not hurry to leave the dream. He remained lost in thought for a long time.

After a while, the corners of his mouth lifted, and he sighed softly.

“How nostalgic…”