Chapter 75: A Scene Full of Symbolism

Chapter Seventy-Five
A Scene Full of Symbolism

Inside the sewer, where no light shone, Klein wiped his neck and turned his attention back to Lanevus’s cracked skull and headless corpse, back to the two tarot cards stuck in the man’s eyes.

Originally, he had wanted to retrieve all the “flying knives” he had thrown and erase the corresponding clues. But he soon discovered a very real, very serious problem:

He had no darkvision.

The reason he had been able to run madly through that pitch-black sewer and fight Lanevus so fiercely was spirit vision!

He could see Lanevus’s aura colors, see the spiritual radiance of different living beings, and faintly grasp the places they “illuminated,” using that to distinguish the path.

Unfortunately, the deck of tarot cards he was using now was not the one that had come from the Nighthawks squad. It did not have spiritual silver patterns. It was ordinary, without any special traits.

In such an environment, Klein could use his own aura colors and spiritual radiance to distinguish the outlines of things within a very small area around him. But across a certain distance, he had no way to see the cards scattered everywhere, stuck into the walls or lying on the ground—during his fierce battle with Lanevus just now, the two of them had not been confined to a single spot.

Of course, he believed that as long as he had enough time, finding every thrown tarot card would not be too difficult. The real problem was that the Nighthawks pursuing Lanevus and the military personnel aboard the airship might arrive in the very next minute!

I cannot be careless here… I wore gloves the whole time… This deck was bought before I came to Backlund, and it is a standardized deck used nationwide… I almost never use it normally… Even when carrying it, most of the time it was kept together with Mr. Azik’s copper whistle… No matter what method they use, it will be very hard to locate me through them. At most, they can reconstruct part of the battle scene. And I had a mask on my face, and my shoes were padded to increase my height…

Thought after thought flashed through Klein’s mind. He quickly made a decision.

He turned toward Lanevus’s headless body, squatted down, extended his right hand in its black glove, and swiftly searched for any items left on the man.

Klein had no intention of performing a spirit-channeling ritual. First, the earlier sensation, as though an evil god had descended, had left far too deep an impression on him. He did not dare blindly channel Lanevus’s spirit unless he took it above the gray fog. Second, with the Nighthawks and military personnel possibly arriving at any time, he did not think he had enough time to lay out the ritual, summon himself, respond to himself, and then go above the gray fog to perform the channeling.

Give up when you must…

Klein silently said that to himself and withdrew his hand from Lanevus’s body.

This mad swindler seemed to have fled in great haste. He had carried no cash, no materials, and no charms. Only one badge the size of an eyeball was kept close to his body, its surface quietly shimmering with light, thin spiritual radiance.

Klein was not worried that the object could be tracked. He planned to throw it above the gray fog shortly and study it slowly there. And so, as he stood, he placed the badge into his pocket.

He gave Lanevus’s corpse one more look, did not wait for the Beyonder characteristic to separate out, and took out the remaining tarot cards with his left hand, also covered in a black glove.

Immediately afterward, he stretched out his left arm, placing his palm directly above Lanevus’s body.

All at once, Klein opened his hand, letting card after card fall with a fluttering sound. Like leaves, they covered that headless corpse. Some landed face up, revealing images and numbers; others landed with their dark-red backs upward, their patterns faintly visible.

After completing all of this, Klein took out Azik’s copper whistle and tossed it several times. Only then did he run toward the depths of the sewer without looking back.

Almost two minutes later, figure after figure finally found the place. Some wore thick black trench coats, while others wore well-designed, sharply tailored military-style uniforms.

The leader was Crestet Cesimir, carrying the pure-white bone sword. His red gloves were stained with dust, and obvious exhaustion and weakness showed on his firm face.

They stopped several meters from the corpse. With the help of darkvision, they saw Lanevus’s body and the head lying near the wall.

Stuck in that head were two tarot cards: one was The Emperor, and the other was The Wheel of Fortune.

The surface of the headless body was covered with even more cards. Among them were The Chariot driven by a victor, The Hermit cloaked in robes and holding a lantern, Death riding a white horse and clad in armor, as well as many number cards from Cups, Wands, and other suits.

On the walls and ground around them, cards such as The Devil, The Sun, and Judgement either lay or were embedded.

All of this looked like the scene of some strange ritual, with Lanevus as the sacrifice destined to be offered up.

Crestet Cesimir silently inhaled. His brows knit tightly together. The Beyonders around him, confronted with this terrifying yet mysterious image in the darkness, failed for a brief moment to return to themselves.

…

After putting distance between himself and Lanevus’s death scene, Klein quickly found an exit and left the sewer. He tore off the clown mask and, under the shadows of the gas streetlamps, hurried toward the East Borough.

Before that, he had already dealt with the stains on the soles of his shoes.

Only after entering the East Borough and arriving on Black Palm Street did he let out a slight breath of relief. Inside the one-room apartment he rented there, he quickly performed the ritual of summoning himself and responding to himself.

In Spirit Body state, Klein carried all the clothes he had worn that night, the remaining charms, herbs, essential oils, and the badge he had taken from Lanevus above the gray fog, then used spiritual flames to burn the corresponding clues.

Hoo…

He exhaled. Only then did he finally have time to look at the badge he had obtained from Lanevus.

The badge was only the size of an eyeball. On its front were carved symbols representing fate and concealment. On the back was a tightly packed ring of tiny ancient Hermes inscriptions:

“Hold this, and you may join.”

What does that mean? Lanevus was also a member of some secret organization?

Klein rubbed his forehead. With his body and mind both exhausted, and with the timing clearly unsuitable, he decisively gave up researching it for now, planning to consider it again after the Tarot Gathering.

He swiftly left the mysterious space above the gray fog, changed into another set of clothes, and removed his earlier disguise.

However, he did not hurry back to Minsk Street. He planned to sleep until the next morning before leaving, because walking on the streets after midnight easily attracted investigation by itself—and an incident like that had just occurred.

Lying on the bed, Klein looked at the night outside the window, where moonlight was gradually withdrawing, and his heart slowly grew calm.

After completing the first stage of his revenge, he felt as though he had set down a heavy burden and cast away much of the repression weighing on him. Compared with the previous stretch of time, his mental state was clearly much better.

“Ince Zangwill and Sealed Artifact 0-08 are not things the current me can handle at all. The gap is far too large. Only by becoming a high-Sequence powerhouse, by becoming a demigod-like existence, will I have the qualifications to get involved in that matter… Before advancing to Sequence 4, I will pretend they do not exist…

“Mm. For a very long time in the future, my goal will be to work hard to improve myself. I have now thoroughly digested the Clown potion. Once the Beyonder materials are gathered, I will be able to advance to Magician.

“After that comes Faceless, Marionettist, and the corresponding Sequence 4, whose name I still do not know.

“And aside from all that, I will be a normal detective.”

Klein’s state of mind was peaceful as his thoughts drifted toward his arrangements for the period ahead. He was no longer so anxious, no longer so oppressed.

As he thought, the corners of his mouth rose slightly. He murmured soundlessly to himself:

“Captain, Benson, Melissa—you would probably prefer seeing me the way I am now…”

…

Just as dawn began to pale, a group of people wearing surgical caps and white masks, dressed like doctors, arrived at the entrance of the dock workers’ union dormitory.

The experienced-looking elderly man leading them said to the confused, bewildered residents, “An infectious disease has been discovered in your building. One person named Kevin has already died from it.

“We will provide free treatment. This infectious disease has a specific medicine. As long as you take it in time, nothing will happen to you.”

“Kevin?”

One resident after another cried out in surprise, turning left and right to look for the colleague named Kevin, but no trace of him could be found.

That was Lanevus’s alias.

Seeing that this charitable medical organization was accompanied by police officers they recognized, the residents no longer doubted them. Anxiously, they began lining up to receive medicine.

The first was a middle-aged man with a thick beard. Extremely nervous, he kept asking question after question, afraid that one bottle of medicine would not be enough to resist such a virulent infectious disease.

Only after the doctors showed impatience did he tilt his head back and drink the bottle of azure-blue medicine.

Then, he was supported to the side and made to aim his mouth at a hole exactly the same size.

Blargh! Blargh! Blargh!

The man suddenly retched and vomited violently, expelling a foul, sour, bloody mass.

He wanted to half prop himself up and move his gaze to see what he had thrown up, but two powerful nurses forcibly carried him away.

The mouth-sized hole sat on an iron-black metal bucket. The bottom of the bucket was gloomy and dark, almost without light.

And there, quietly lying, was a puddle of yellow-green liquid. At the center of the liquid was a small piece of blood-colored flesh covered in dense, fine black hair.

Blargh! Blargh! Blargh!

One resident after another drank the medicine and vomited painfully before different metal buckets.

…

Queen’s Borough, inside Earl Hall’s luxurious villa.

“Why have you come to visit so early all of a sudden?” Audrey looked at the weather outside, then looked at Viscount Glaint before her.

Glaint glanced around. Seeing only a golden retriever sitting nearby, he lowered his voice and said, “I was originally planning to go to the racetrack, but I ran into Cons on the way. He told me something very interesting—truly very interesting. Since I happened to be passing here, I thought I would come share it with you.”

“What is it?” Audrey asked with eager interest.

Glaint answered without paying attention to his wording.

“You should have heard of the Aurora Order, right? The same Aurora Order that assassinated the Intis ambassador. They were caught. Several important members died, and an enormous scheme of theirs failed because of it.”

I thought it was something involving the True Creator’s divinity. Xio and the others reported it yesterday evening, and action happened right during the night… Wait—the Aurora Order worships the True Creator, does it not?

Audrey’s eyes lit slightly. Reservedly, she pressed further.

“What scheme?”

“I do not know. Cons refused to say. He only told me the one responsible for the scheme was a former wanted swindler—a swindler called Lanevus.”

Glaint spread his right palm.

As expected…

Audrey nodded almost imperceptibly. Without concealing her curiosity, she asked, “Was he caught?”

“He died, but not at our people’s hands.”

Glaint paused, then said, “And that is the very interesting part I mentioned. When his corpse was discovered, it was covered in tarot cards, and they were all around him too. Imagine that scene…”

Tarot cards? His body covered in tarot cards?

Audrey first froze, then instantly “understood”:

This was done by our Tarot Club!

This was done by Mr. Fool’s blessed one!