Chapter 87: Spirit Dance

Chapter Eighty-Seven
Spirit Dance

“What exactly happened to you?”

Adol murmured the question under his breath, only to discover that he could not remember what he had done over the past few days.

Like a sleepwalker, he looked around. Fear, panic, and confusion mingled as he asked, “Who are you?”

“Where is this?”

“This is the washroom in your own house. Do you not recognize it? I am the private detective responsible for protecting you.”

Klein looked at the large boy before him, who clearly still had not grasped the situation, and gave a low chuckle.

“My house… the detective protecting me… What exactly happened…”

Adol stared around in shock, muttering to himself.

Then he abruptly froze. His already pale face was stained with unconcealable terror.

“Maybe—maybe ghosts really exist in this world! They really do!”

His voice trembled considerably, yet Klein heard within it two entirely different emotions: fear and excitement. That matched perfectly with the emotional colors he saw.

Excitement? Is this a boy who deliberately provoked a resentful spirit for the sake of thrills? Truly young, brave, and unafraid of death…

Klein made an initial guess. Outwardly, however, he asked back in confusion, “Ghosts?”

After becoming a Magician, his spirit vision had improved slightly, but not by much. He still could not see the surface of the Astral Body deep within the Ether Body, and thus could not use it to judge whether a target was a Beyonder.

A hint of red suddenly appeared on Adol’s pale face.

“Yes, ghosts!”

He waved his arms and added, “Beyond our senses, there is an even broader world! Truly, death is not the end of everything!”

Those lines… As expected of an adolescent boy… But I seem to have seen similar words somewhere before…

Klein smiled lightly.

“I believe in another phrase more: before time older than ancient, even death itself shall pass away.”

Without waiting for Adol to continue, he took out his gold-cased pocket watch, flipped it open, glanced at it, and said, “So how exactly did you make yourself become what you were earlier? You looked like a patient who had suffered a mental collapse.”

“I…”

Adol tilted his head and thought for a few seconds.

“I joined a society. It is not an ordinary society! We all believe death is not the end, that by using secret contracts, one can directly comprehend death and understand that everything can be reversed. Yes. We believe the dead can be resurrected!”

Klein, who had only crawled out of a grave a little more than a month ago, let out two dry laughs.

“You are trying to resurrect the dead?”

Death is not the end… a world beyond the senses… everything can be reversed… comprehension through secret contracts… Is this not the doctrine of the Numinous Episcopate? These ideas were all created for the resurrection of Death…

He came to a sudden realization and muttered several sentences inwardly.

“Mm!” Adol nodded, eyes shining yet fear still hard to hide.

“Where did you get the corpses?” Klein pressed.

“We… we would secretly dig up graves. Ones that had not been buried for long. Or we would buy them from hospitals…”

As expected, a crime that would send him to prison… No wonder Logo Caroman did not want to call the police… They really played boldly…

Klein maintained a gentle smile and turned to ask, “Then did you succeed?”

“Not yet… At that gathering, the way they looked at me was like—like they were looking at a corpse, as though thinking where corresponding secret contracts could be placed… Then we danced the spirit dance, communicating with the world beyond the senses. After that—after that, I have no memory…”

Adol’s body trembled uncontrollably.

Spirit dance? It truly is the Numinous Episcopate… Did this fellow become his companions’ experimental subject?

Klein frowned faintly and asked, “From then until now, you remember nothing?”

According to records in the Nighthawks’ internal files, the “spirit dance” originated from ancient sacrificial dances and was popular in the Southern Continent. It was a ritual method beloved by Death.

A spirit dance used rhythm, cadence, and movement to harmonize spirituality, causing it to interact in certain ways with the natural environment and with the target of prayer. When paired with a simple altar arrangement and the corresponding honorific name, it could achieve the effects of comparatively complex ritual magic.

“Mm,” Adol answered quietly. Then he abruptly lifted his head. “What day is it today? What time is it?”

“Friday. One twelve in the morning,” Klein answered from memory.

Adol instinctively drew in a breath.

“I missed the next gathering…”

“Every Friday at three in the morning, they hold a resurrection ritual outside Green Cemetery.”

Green Cemetery was named so because it was not far from Green Park Street.

“You still want to go? Have you forgotten what happened to you during this period? Oh, right. You really do not remember. But you should ask your father, mother, and servants.”

Klein reminded the boy before him.

And I may not necessarily be able to help you again…

He silently added.

From this incident, he discovered another shortcoming of a Magician: a lack of ability to deal with resentful spirits and shadow-type creatures. Only manipulating flames could barely count. Once the other party possessed a human, exorcism and purification became even more difficult—unless he intended to kill both person and ghost together.

Of course, Klein was not completely without methods. He could arrange ritual magic to accomplish something similar, but that would be very troublesome, would easily expose himself, and was not suited for real combat.

After some thought, he ultimately chose to use Azik’s copper whistle to lure the resentful spirit out, then manipulate flames to complete the purification.

But the level of damage was not high. If he encountered a stronger resentful spirit, he might not be able to resolve it.

I still lack items or charms for dealing with dead spirits. If only I had Sealed Artifact 3-0782, that Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem…

Klein’s thoughts scattered briefly.

Adol suddenly remembered the gap in his memory. His face turned pale once more as he trembled and answered, “No. I do not want to go! I never want to go again!”

“Very good.”

Klein praised him with a smile.

Adol looked at his face, which contained not the slightest fear, and subconsciously asked, “After hearing so much, are you not afraid?”

Klein no longer leaned against the wall. Slowly straightening, he answered in a relaxed tone, “For a detective, unless there is definite evidence, one would rather not believe.”

After saying that, he opened the door and walked outside, thinking about whether he should make contact with the Numinous Episcopate. After all, this might involve the mystery of Mr. Azik’s past.

Adol stared blankly at the private detective’s back. Only after a while did he discover that the washroom, apart from himself, was already empty. Outside, the moonlight was dim, casting layered shadows into the inner room, as if invisible things were hiding and watching.

He shuddered violently and hurriedly called out, “Wait for me!”

As he spoke, Adol quickened his pace, rushed out of the washroom, and followed close behind Klein.

He knows fear after the fact. He knows awe. He can still be saved…

Klein muttered, slipping both hands into his trouser pockets.

After they returned to the bedroom, Stuart did not notice that Adol had already improved. He was still frightened by the ghost stories in his own imagination, his face grave as he did not dare wander around.

Once Adol fell asleep again, Klein took out a copper penny and let it spin and wander between his fingers.

When the time neared two fifty, he tossed the coin upward and caught it steadily. Then he stood and said quietly to Stuart, “I am going to the balcony to smoke.”

“Be quick,” Stuart said in a tense voice.

Klein put on his long formal coat, leisurely left the room, came to the balcony at the end of the corridor, and hid himself in the shadows.

Then he took out a relatively crudely cut paper figurine.

Pa!

Klein flicked his wrist sharply, making the paper snap crisply. It swiftly expanded and transformed into a human figure.

The fake person was as tall as Klein, with identical facial features and indistinguishable clothes. From far away, it looked like a lifelike wax figure carved with exquisite skill.

This was one application of the Paper Figurine Substitute spell.

Immediately afterward, Klein focused his mind, clenched his right hand into a fist, and lightly knocked it against himself.

Soundlessly, the fake person gained a feeling of life. There was even a roll of cigarette in its mouth with a glowing red tip, the aroma of tobacco spreading outward.

“Using a fake person as an anchor, this illusion can last half an hour… Truly a Magician!”

Klein put on gloves, pressed down, and pushed off, stealthily sliding down from the balcony and avoiding the patrolling security personnel.

…

Outside Green Cemetery, in a secluded patch of forest.

Klein stood within the tree canopy, gazing toward the relatively open, flat ground not far away.

Evergreen leaves and brown branches surrounded him, but all their surfaces were stained with gray-white dust.

Within his line of sight, seven or eight young men and women dressed in black robes were gathered around a corpse, dancing a strange dance that looked somewhat twitching and somewhat frenzied.

The dance carried a strong sense of rhythm, as though imbued with some mysterious flavor.

A girl flung her long hair; a boy knelt and extended his hands. Scene after scene seemed to form a faint, subtle connection with the surrounding environment.

That was the rhythm of nature.

After they danced for three or four minutes, everything within a dozen meters around them was dyed with a wild, chaotic quality. The atmosphere gradually turned evil, with a few traces of holiness mingled in.

It really is the spirit dance… Ritual magic that even ordinary people can participate in…

Klein shifted his gaze away, looking toward the black-robed man kneeling beside the corpse and reciting an incantation.

He was the person who had guided those boys and girls earlier in how to dance the spirit dance.

He should be a member of the Numinous Episcopate, and is most likely a Beyonder…

Klein nodded almost imperceptibly, planning to first observe how the other party conducted the resurrection ritual.

At that moment, the dance reached its climax. The adult man in black robes raised his head, removed his wig, and revealed several strange tattoos carved on his bald scalp.

Raising both hands, he cried loudly, “Death!”

“Honorable Death!”

“Will soon return!”

After he finished shouting, the dance stopped. The seven or eight young men and women each stood in a different position, their expressions dazed yet expectant, excited yet afraid.

Immediately afterward, the black-robed man bent down and opened the iron cage by his feet, taking out a black creature from within.

Klein focused his gaze and discovered that it was a black cat with emerald eyes.

This… This works too?

He was visibly stunned for a moment, then suddenly thought of various folk legends concerning black cats. For instance, when a black cat—symbolizing evil and the messenger of hell—jumped over a corpse, the dead body would be awakened.

This was the first time Klein had seen someone use a similar method inside a ritual.

The black-robed man stepped forward, stopped the black cat in his arms from struggling desperately, and threw it toward the corpse.

Meow!

The pitch-black cat puffed up its fur, cried loudly, and leapt over the corpse.

At that moment, Klein felt that he understood the cat’s language. He believed the cat was definitely saying three letters:

“MMP!”