Servant's Bell

It took about ten minutes for the police to arrive at the Asylum at a leisurely pace. Then, they saw the horrific sacrificial scene and the massive amount of cash. These policemen were shocked beyond measure, their eyes practically glowing with greed. If not for the eerie nature of the scene and Luther standing nearby, covered in blood and holding a revolver, these guys might have crowded in to "conduct a thorough inspection."

If that had actually happened, it would be hard to say how much cash would be left in the end; after all, even if the money went missing, they could simply claim it was "inadvertently lost during the investigation."

--The reputation of the Roosevelt police was mediocre at best, and Luther felt they were truly capable of such a thing.

Another six or seven minutes later, Dunn arrived in a carriage, accompanied by Leonard and Frye.

"Captain."

Luther, guarding the large sum of cash while bathed in countless greedy and fearful gazes, had his nerves stretched tight the entire time, only relaxing when he saw Dunn's calm face.

"Two Beyonders wanted to use a Ritual to pray to an Evil God to bring forth offspring in a lady. I killed one, and one escaped. The one who ran is named Lanerius; he's a con artist who has been in the newspapers, so his portrait should be easy to find." He stepped quickly toward Dunn to share the vital information concisely. "Lanerius carries the aura of an Evil God and is extremely dangerous. I suggest we pursue him immediately."

After hearing his description and carefully examining the scene, Dunn stood up to negotiate with the police chief in the distance. After a few words, the inspector nodded, signaled his subordinates to form up, and left.

Once the police were dismissed, Dunn began to handle the scene.

"Luther, go talk to the Asylum staff and have them stay away. Frye and Leonard, you two get the body bags off the carriage."

"Yes."

The three responded in unison.

Before leaving, Leonard specifically winked at Luther and said with a smile, "That's the third one, impressive, truly impressive!"

He was likely referring to the fact that Luther had already killed three people.

You think I want to...

Luther rolled his eyes at him and walked over to Wilder.

"Mr. Rondal, I didn't expect you to actually have connections with the police! But, what exactly is going on here?"

"I'm very sorry, Dr. Wilder, I cannot answer that. Please make sure not to spread word of today's events. Someone will come to find you later to ask for details and take a statement," Luther replied. "Also, we need you to stay away from the scene... oh, and if you could provide another bag, that would be great; we need it to carry the money."

After persuading the Asylum staff to leave, Leonard and the others didn't rush to put the body of Hood Eugen into a body bag. Instead, they stood guard by the corpse, quietly waiting for something. In the middle of the night, a few people standing silently watching a corpse made for a truly eerie scene.

It was like some kind of evil gathering.

Luther complained in his heart.

So, he followed their lead, folded his arms, and stared at the corpse of Hood Eugen.

Not long after, golden specks appeared on the surface of Hood Eugen's body. These small light spots detached from the corpse and floated up, then converged to form a scene like a vortex at the center of a storm. Soon, all the golden light spots were extracted from the body and gathered together. The light grew stronger, followed by a soul-shaking low murmur. Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and then the radiance dissipated. Something resembling an eyeball floated in mid-air for a moment before dropping to the ground with a thud.

No, looking closely, it really was an eyeball. This eyeball had golden vertical pupils, appearing as majestic and imposing as the eyes of a legendary dragon. Only, for some reason, the color of the eyeball wasn't pure; there was a hint of a familiar blood-red mixed into the gold.

"It has a scent of the Degenerate."

Luther sensed it and frowned. "It should have been eroded by the True Creator."

He had seen such a scene for the third time now, and he more or less understood that deceased Beyonders would precipitate Characteristics.

"Mm."

Dunn agreed. "For there to be such a commotion just from the precipitation of a Characteristic, this person was likely at least a Sequence 7 Beyonder."

"Sequence 7? Isn't that the same as you, Captain?"

Luther couldn't help but be startled. Fortunately, he had fired his gun without hesitation, or the consequences would have been unimaginable. However, it was truly stupid for Hood Eugen, a Sequence 7 powerhouse, to be played around by Lanerius and himself; he didn't die unjustly at all.

"The Captain isn't that weak."

Leonard laughed, turning his head to ask Dunn, "Right, Captain?"

Dunn ignored him, instead taking an iron cigarette case from his pocket, bending down to carefully place the eyeball inside, and sealing it with a Spiritual Wall.

"We can collect the body now, Frye, it's up to you."

He said.

Because they had to cover up the secret of the Beyonder's corpse, they didn't ask the police for help this time and had to handle the scene themselves. The expressionless Frye looked more like a dead person than the corpse itself, calmly lifting the terrifying-looking Hood Eugen and placing him into the body bag with skilled and professional movements.

Seeing that he couldn't help, Luther picked up the bag given by Wilder and turned to collect the cash.

"So much money... Lanerius really deserves to die."

He sighed while packing. Aside from stacks of 10-pound notes, this pile also included many bearer account deposit slips, drafts, and bank notes. A rough estimate suggested the total value exceeded 8,000 to 9,000 pounds.

After clearing the scene, Frye returned to the Blackthorn Security Company with a corpse and the unconscious Meigao'ous. As for the others, they began to pursue Lanerius under Dunn's leadership.

It wasn't just them; because of the danger Lanerius posed, Dunn had already entrusted the police to notify the other two official Beyonder groups in Tingen—the Machinery Heart and the Mandated Punishers. Coupled with the mobilized police, the entire city of Tingen could be said to be exceptionally lively that night.

But even with so many people practically turning Tingen upside down and trying every occult method, Lanerius was still not caught. Finally, after forty-eight hours of city-wide searching without results, the Tingen City Police Department publicly issued a wanted poster, seeking Lanerius for fraud and murder. This man, who had been in the newspapers just three days prior as a "representative of young entrepreneurs," quickly appeared in the papers again as a wanted criminal, displaying a boomerang-like sense of humor.

As for Luther, his biggest gain in this process was likely the Magical Item he had kept for himself—the bell that could hypnotize others.

Based on his private research, he had fully figured out the function of this Extraordinary Item. As long as he poured in spirituality and shook the bell at a target, the sound produced by the bell could hypnotize the target, making them obey orders. The hypnotic effect was very strong on ordinary people and could last for a long time, but if the target was a Beyonder, the effect would only last a few minutes, and the higher the target's sequence, the worse the effect.

In the end, Luther named this bell the "Servant's Bell."