An Uninvited Guest

Before Wilbur entered Old Whateley's room, Hope used the Uncertainty " to return to his own room.

He put the raincoat and shotgun back in Old Williams ' house—neither of them came in handy, but for an eavesdropper, failing when it comes to using self-defense equipment is a failure in itself.

Meanwhile, Hope was pondering what she had just heard— Wilbur brought a girl home?

The distance and the walls provided some protection, making the sound less clear for Hope, and he couldn't make out the girl's name.

But Hope could hear that Wilbur seemed to want the girl to take him somewhere—

Hope believed Wilbur couldn't possibly be just looking for a free taxi.

Hope confirms that the the Whateley family is actually very wealthy. Lavinia says that Old Whateley has a lot of gold coins hidden away, and Wilbur once inadvertently shows Hope those gold things.

Phew, Wilbur and the others mentioned Sentinel Hill.

Wilbur invited the other person to go to Sentinel Hill with him—and what's on Sentinel Hill—

The girl was clearly unaware of the situation, because Wilbur had obviously used deception—this Goat Head laughed more in those ten minutes than he had laughed for over ten days before.

But why would Wilbur do that?

Did he want a sacrifice?

A red car— Hope had seen a red car.

Hope found Old Williams ' wardrobe, pulled out a reasonably suitable formal suit from his old clothes, and quickly changed into it.

He quickly found a pair of leather gloves in a drawer to cover his bare, pale hands.

May the soul of Old Williams find peace, Hope thought.

Although he is dead and we have never met, he has helped me so much.

Gods truly exist in this world, but unfortunately, those gods can only be described as terrifying rather than benevolent. Therefore Hope does not pray to any god, but only offers blessings.

Hope had found the corrugated cardboard box in Old Williams's storeroom a long time ago.

Now, he moved all the newspapers out of the cardboard box and put the box over his head as a makeshift hood.

The cardboard box was a bit too big for Hope's head, but Hope tried to move around a few times and it didn't hinder much, nor did it easily fall off her head.

Hope made two small holes where the eyes should have been.

The hole was only about half the size of a fingernail, which would further impair Hope's already limited vision. However, if the hole were too large, it would draw the attention of the person Hope was meeting to his distinctive eyes.

Hope initially wanted to crumple several newspapers into two balls and stuff them into her shoes as makeshift height-increasing insoles to alter her height to some extent.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

Since the place he's going to is unlikely to offer him a chance to stand up, there's not much point in disguising his height.

After all this was done, Hope had no skin showing, and even though his albinism was obvious, no one should be able to recognize him by his appearance now.

So Hope closed her eyes.

Uncertainty is triggered.

Hope opened her eyes and found herself sitting in a leather chair.

Inside a moving car, Hope could hear the engine.

This is the first time Hope has used "Uncertainty" in a moving scene.

He did not feel a sudden push-back sensation, which is what physics calls acceleration.

His arrival was smooth and uneventful, without any ups and downs or discomfort, and was no different from the previous Uncertainty.

This means that when Hope appeared in the car seat, she already had the same speed as the car.

A fleeting memory of high school physics, long forgotten, returned to Hope's mind—that after changing position, one remains relatively stationary with respect to the new frame of reference.

It seems there's no problem using "Uncertainty" in a moving vehicle.

While Wilbur went to boil water, Hope temporarily left Old Whateley's room and secretly and lewdly observed the back seat of the red car.

"Extremely sleazy" was the Hope used to describe himself. He felt like a sleazy pervert when he thought about how shameless he had been to sneak into a lady's car.

Fortunately, this observation came in handy.

This allowed him to make an even more insidious move—suddenly appearing in the back seat of the car—or perhaps it could be described as "mysterious and powerful"?

The woman in the driver's seat had her blonde hair flowing freely; when Hope arrived, she was humming an excited song.

Based on the red color of the car, Hope could conclude that this was Elizabeth's friend, Nancy Wagner.

Self-Being: 1.00, Spirit Body: 1.49, Self-Sense: 1.07, Inspiration: 0.02

After speaking with Armitage, Hope has revised the attributes in the Memorandum, replacing the original terms like Agility, Constitution, Vision, and Mana with more official terminology.

The Inspiration for "0.02"----

Hope now speculates about a slight increase in Inspiration.

Both he and Elizabeth experienced moments of Inspiration when they were in the midst of some extraordinary event.

For Hope, it was when the Night Hawk's curse took effect; for Elizabeth, it was Skull No. 1.

Nancy's surge of Inspiration likely stemmed from similar reasons.

Wilbur must have done something.

The difference is that Hope and Elizabeth only increased by 0.01.

Nancy's 0.02—was it because the extraordinary events she encountered were more severe?

Upon learning that Nancy was traveling with Wilbur, another question arose in Hope's mind:

Nancy was working part-time under Professor Armitage, and they were clearly close. If Wilbur really intended to do something that would lead to Nancy's disappearance—

Wasn't Wilbur afraid that Professor Armitage would start an investigation?

Well, Wilbur was trying to trick Nancy into driving him somewhere—maybe somewhere far away that Nancy would have to ask Professor Armitage for leave in advance—

Only in this way will Wilbur have enough time.

Nancy's humming gradually stopped, Hope knew she had been discovered.

Nancy let out a short, surprised cry, but fell silent instantly.

The car continued to drive normally, without the sudden braking sound Hope had imagined.

"You're calmer than I expected," Hope said, deliberately lowering his voice.

Although this makes his voice sound strange, it's a simple and effective way to disguise it.

Nancy had met him before, and now seemed to have a close relationship with Wilbur, so he had to be fully prepared to disguise himself.

"What... what do you want?" Nancy asked.

What do you want?

Why would you ask this?

Hope realized that Nancy had mistaken him for a robber.

The car slowed down a bit.

"I can give you all the money I have," Nancy said. "And if you want, you can have the car too."

Hope shook his head—he quickly realized that, to Nancy, it was just the cardboard box on his head wobbling, so he quickly stopped.

He moved a little further away, to the furthest distance he could maintain from Nancy in the car.

He hoped this would give Nancy some sense of security, and also prevent Nancy from suddenly attacking someone in a panic. Then he said, "You misunderstood, I meant no harm, I just wanted to talk to you about something."

Nancy was skeptical.