Chapter 241: Who Am I

Chapter 241: Who Am I

After circling the area and finding nothing else, Klein returned to the ancient palace supported by stone pillars.

He sat at the head of the long bronze table, half closing his eyes as he examined the growth of his spirituality and compared it with the number of members he could pull in.

“Counting what had not yet been used before, I can probably pull in four more new members. But for now, there are no targets…” Klein shook his head and muttered to himself. He stayed no longer and returned to the real world, throwing himself into the work of preparing a fine dinner.

He cut potatoes, blanched beef, added onions, stir-fried for a while, and after sprinkling in sugar, peppercorns, and other seasonings, poured the prepared hot water into the stewpot, put on the lid, and lowered the flame.

I have to say, the Magician’s ability to control flames is practically a kitchen assistant… Ever since gaining it, my cooking skills have clearly improved… If there were no losing control, no monsters, no investigations, no evil gods, and everyone devoted their powers to harmless applications like this, the world would be peaceful and beautiful… Klein sighed, left the kitchen, and entered the living room.

The glow of the gas wall lamp spread outward. Klein had intended to flip through a magazine while waiting for the right time to add the potatoes, carrot chunks, and an appropriate amount of salt, but he found himself involuntarily thinking about how he should act as a Faceless:

“This morning, just after I woke and my spirituality had completely stabilized, I discovered that although the Faceless potion inside me had shown no signs of digestion, it had reached a certain degree of compatibility with me. This is something that never happened after I consumed the Seer, Clown, and Magician potions…”

Thinking up to this point, Klein lifted his head and looked toward the bow window. Because the outside sky had already darkened, it had become like a mirror, faithfully reflecting the image of Sherlock Moriarty, with black hair, brown eyes, a beard around his mouth, and gold-rimmed glasses.

Klein nodded thoughtfully.

“Perhaps this is because I have always been acting as Klein Moretti. Mm… In a certain sense, Sherlock Moriarty is merely Klein’s disguise, not another person.

“Although I received many memory fragments and possess some of the original body’s feelings, in essence, I remain a visitor from another world, a keyboard warrior from Earth—Zhou Mingrui.

“Over these nearly five months, too many things have happened. Sometimes, even I think I am Klein Moretti.”

In silence, thought after thought flashed through Klein’s mind, giving him considerable understanding.

However, I am still Zhou Mingrui wearing Klein Moretti’s skin… I have still never given up on the plan of returning home… He slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the figure reflected in the bow window had already changed.

It was a young man with dark-brown eyes and comparatively short black hair. His features were unremarkable, though he appeared reasonably refined. The bags under his eyes were obvious, and his chin already showed signs of developing a second layer.

This was Zhou Mingrui from Earth.

Long time no see… Klein sighed inwardly, lifted both hands, and rubbed his face.

By the time he lowered his arms, he had already returned to Sherlock Moriarty’s appearance.

After that period of thought and adjustment, he inexplicably felt that the barrier between his spirituality and the potion had lessened considerably, showing signs of slowly blending together.

“No wonder Rosago the Secret Puppet Master’s teacher—perhaps it was his teacher—said that you can disguise yourself as anyone, but you can only be yourself… This should be the core rule of the Faceless acting method. Once you forget this point, it becomes very easy to lose yourself amid constant change and eventually become a monster.” Recalling the gains he had obtained from spirit channeling, Klein felt suddenly enlightened.

He crossed his right leg over his left, leaned back, and swiftly made arrangements for the near future:

“Explore and summarize the concrete acting rules of the Faceless…

“Collect intelligence related to mermaids in Backlund’s Beyonder circles and at the Tarot Club, and prepare to go out to sea and complete the ritual…

“Directly or indirectly obtain the Sun Priest potion formula and help Little Sun advance to Sequence 7, making him qualified to obtain a method for removing the mental corruption of a losing-control Beyonder from a Beyonder characteristic.

“But I can’t place all my hopes on Little Sun. I need to try gathering such methods myself as well.”

His mood gradually settled. Klein snapped his fingers, making the stove flame in the kitchen shrink further. The fragrance of beef began to spread.

At that very moment, he heard the doorbell ring.

The visitor was Lawyer Jurgen.

Even though a fine drizzle fell outside and the ground was damp with pooled water, Jurgen remained dressed with complete precision. He even wore a stiff upright collar.

“What is it?” Klein was already quite familiar with him, so he skipped the pleasantries and asked directly.

Jurgen put away his black umbrella, patted a few water droplets off his double-breasted long formal coat, and said, “Sherlock, next Monday I will be leaving Backlund with my grandmother for a vacation in the south. The warmer environment and cleaner air there suit her very well.”

“That is an excellent thing.” Klein took the initiative to make a deduction and asked with a smile, “You want me to temporarily adopt Brody?”

Jurgen shook his head seriously.

“My grandmother cannot bear to be apart from Brody and insists on taking him along. I asked around. As long as he is placed in a cage and a full-price ticket is purchased, he can board the steam train too. But one must pay attention to cleaning the cage at all times and avoid polluting the air aboard.”

In truth, the smell inside the third-class carriages is probably strong enough to overwhelm cat droppings… Klein gave a soft laugh.

“Brody probably won’t be happy about going out, will he?”

“But he is even less willing to leave my grandmother,” Jurgen replied.

He pressed his hat, then changed the subject.

“I came to inform you. If you need bail or legal disputes handled during this period, you can look for my colleague. This is his business card. I have already spoken with him. He will not leave Backlund this year.”

Truly professional. He actually considered this matter specifically… However, I probably won’t need it for now. I’m currently an informant for the Machinery Hivemind, so under normal circumstances, I won’t be hauled into the police station… Klein smiled and thanked him, accepting the business card and slipping it into his pocket.

Jurgen had no intention of chatting or entering the house. He immediately lifted a hand and said, “I still need to visit other clients. Sherlock, see you tomorrow—no, next year.”

“In that case, I must say it in advance: Happy New Year to your family.” Klein waved with a smile.

Watching Lawyer Jurgen leave with his umbrella raised, Klein shut the front door and sat back down in the living room.

At that moment, other than the stove flame in the kitchen licking the bottom of the pot with a faint sizzling sound, there was no other noise inside the room. It was so quiet that Klein could hear carriages passing in the distance.

He slowly looked around. He saw the coffee table, contracts, cabinet, fountain pen, porcelain cup, dining table, chairs, and walls.

Withdrawing his gaze, Klein leaned back against the sofa and looked toward the night outside the window, and at the gas street lamps spreading hazy light in the darkness. Amid the deep cold and silence, he sighed.

“New Year…”

…

The lightning gradually calmed, and darkness became lord of the earth.

After a journey that was neither short nor long, and after sporadic battles along the way, the City of Silver’s exploration team finally arrived at their destination.

With the faint light of the hide lanterns unable to reach far, Derrick Berg saw an almost completely collapsed city wall, as well as streets that were ruined yet did not contain even a single blade of wild grass.

On both sides of the street, most of the houses had collapsed. Only a few barely remained standing, but their surfaces were all mottled, covered in the dust of time.

The white-and-blue coating that had served as the main color theme, and the pointed-roof architectural structure different from that of the City of Silver, had all dimmed, making it difficult to imagine what they had originally looked like.

Even so, Derrick could glimpse what this city had once been. It had certainly passed through long years, possessed a great many residents, and developed a civilization of its own in that era of deep darkness.

The humans here had consumed potions, repaired buildings, defended city walls, and formed teams of five or six—or even more—to explore outward, hunt monsters, and seek the resources necessary for survival.

In brief periods of stability, they would celebrate. They would worship deities, yearning for responses. They would give birth to the next generation, allowing hope to continue.

And yet, in the end, they had been extinguished within the darkness, losing all their voices and leaving behind only ruins.

These ruins were like an enormous tomb, burying a civilization that had struggled to survive yet vanished in gloom.

Demon Hunter Colin looked around, his expression somewhat grave, as though he had seen the City of Silver’s future.

He pointed ahead and said, “The other areas have already been cleared.

“That temple is at the very center of the city.”

The exploration team spread out slightly, yet still maintained sufficient order, never lowering their guard toward their surroundings.

Passing through ruin after ruin whose destruction date could no longer be known, walking along street after street so silent it made one restless, Derrick finally saw a wide platform piled up purely by human hands.

On that platform stood a half-collapsed building. It closely resembled the temples of the City of Silver: stone pillars supported a dome, and arches formed the entrance.

Its style is completely different from the other buildings here. As expected, it was converted later to worship the Fallen Creator… The thought had just flashed through Derrick’s mind when the team’s four lanterns went out at the same time!

In an instant, the entire exploration team fell into pure darkness. There was no lightning in the sky, no candlelight on the ground, and even the breathing of the humans around him seemed to vanish all at once.

Derrick’s body immediately tensed. He felt as though some monster in the darkness had extended its tongue and was tentatively licking his scalp. Yet his inspiration told him that no physical thing had appeared.

At that moment, a childish, helpless, terrified, and dry voice sounded beside his ear.

It was a child whispering:

“Save me… Save me…”

Derrick froze for a moment, unsure how to react. But in that instant, tiny particles of dust shining with faint light appeared before his eyes.

Those particles exploded one after another, igniting strands of silver-white radiance and illuminating the surrounding area.

Colin stared at Derrick and asked in a deep voice, “What were you thinking?”

Derrick immediately woke from his daze. Ashamed, he clasped his hands together and pressed them before his mouth and nose, as though praying.

Clear, bright rays immediately rippled out from his body, silently pushing back the surrounding darkness.

The other team members seized the time to relight the candles.

Because the Demon Hunter had reacted in time, no team member disappeared this time, nor had any new member appeared.

Colin withdrew his gaze from Derrick and looked toward the half-collapsed temple atop the platform. Solemnly, he said, “From now on, there can be no negligence. Raise your guard to the highest level.”