321 A Living Person Appears (2/2)

One, two, three… Black rifts opened successively, and one by one, the bizarre eyeballs were exposed in midair. They stared at Klein in a cold and merciless manner.

As they appeared, everything around them froze in place. Even the illusory spirits were unable to penetrate through them.

It even became hard for Klein to sense the existence of the spirit world. He found it difficult to see the translucent figures that were located infinitely high. He found it hard to see the different colors, the lustrous splendors which contained various types of knowledge.

”Why did you only take the bookmarks?” A soft but unemotional female voice entered Klein's ear.

He froze on the spot and saw a tall bookcase, divided into two levels. The top level almost reached the ceiling, with a staircase and a passage surrounding countless books.

At the top of the stairs sat a figure shrouded by the darkness.

The figure's feet, which wore black leather boots, hung from the wooden stairs as they were suspended in midair.

I actually didn't sense her existence at all… Is she some powerhouse from the Machinery Hivemind? No, she might be a High-Sequence Beyonder! Klein didn't answer; instead, he narrowed his eyes.

”Why did you only take the bookmarks? Where did you learn to only take the bookmarks?”

The figure asked once more. The gentleness had a hint of sternness, and the bloodshot eyeballs surrounding him rapidly widened, as though they wanted to occupy the entire space.

Before she could finish her sentence, Klein revealed a wide smile on his face.

His illusory, nearly translucent figure instantly disappeared, leaving his whereabouts unknown!

Even Azik's copper whistle and the two bookmarks which were wrapped in his spirit body had vanished!

…

Above the gray fog, within the majestic ancient palace.

Klein's figure suddenly appeared at the top of the long, mottled table.

He leaned back into his chair and said with a chuckle, ”Fortunately, I was prepared.”

The state of his spirit body wasn't part of his Beyonder powers. It didn't originate from the transformation between his physical body and spirit body. This was the result of him summoning himself and responding to his ritual.

And the power of this ritual came from the mysterious space above the gray fog. It stemmed from its special nature!

Hence, as long as Klein succeeded, he wouldn't even need to try to escape. By just ending the summoning directly, he would be able to return to the gray fog and, from here, instantly return to his physical body in the real world!

As the space above the gray fog could block the power of deities like the Eternal Blazing Sun and the True Creator, Klein believed that, without the interference of deities, the summoning wouldn't be interrupted!

As long as the enemy didn't kill his spirit body or instantly knock him unconscious, Klein had the confidence to escape!

This was also the reason why he didn't want to become a spirit body and still make a ”long trek” over to the museum. The more time spent, added even more variables.

…

As the faint and dark crimson moonlight shone in from the window, the woman sitting at the top of the stairs between the bookshelves looked at the desk in silence. She looked at the spot where Klein had been. The surrounding cries of the baby and the eyeballs had disappeared one after another.

After an unknown period of time, the top of the stairs suddenly became empty, as if no one had ever been there before.

In the exhibition hall which housed Roselle's diary, Max Livermore said to his two team members, ”Watch this place well. I'll go find the infiltrator.

”He must still be trapped somewhere on the first floor by the power of the Sealed Artifact!”

As he spoke, he looked at the Sealed Artifact, the ”model” of the first floor of the museum in a bid to find the red dot which represented the infiltrator and lock onto that person's location.

However, no matter how he looked and counted, something didn't seem right.

The number of people hadn't increased!

”This…” Max Livermore froze where he was.

…

18 King's Avenue, in a certain wealthy merchant's storage room.

Klein's eyes lit up again, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

He left the bookmarks and Azik's copper whistle above the gray fog, and he didn't waste time returning to his body.

After extinguishing the candles and ending the ritual, Klein cleaned up the scene. He used a specially concocted medication to neutralize the smell of the Holy Night Powder and the essential oils from the ritual.

After doing all of this, he dispelled the wall of spirituality, allowing the wind to blow away the remaining traces.

Next, he took out his Master Key, planning to go through buildings before taking a rental carriage a distance away.

Using his cane to determine his direction to prevent himself from getting lost and heading back to the Royal Museum or to a particular cathedral, Klein headed off at a brisk pace, opening the walls and doors that stood in his way with the Master Key.

After walking in a straight line for a while, he suddenly felt like he was unable to determine his position.

Hmm… Two more buildings and I'll be out. If I'm no longer on King's Avenue, I'll get a rental carriage, or I'll make another divination? I'll immediately study the Card of Blasphemy once I'm home! Klein quickly made up his mind. He placed the brass key which was simply shaped against the wall and gently twisted it.

As the formless ripples spread out, he arrived at a neighboring building of the terraces.

At this moment, his nose twitched as he smelled a strong stench of blood.

The strong smell of blood! Klein frowned. He looked up and saw a lady laid out in the living room ahead of him.

The woman's expression was filled with pain. There was a large wound at her abdomen, and her internal organs seemed to have disappeared.

At the same time, Klein heard grunting noises.