Kidnapping Audrey Hall

Backlund, Townsend Street.

Raphael Collins, disguised as the driver of a hired carriage resting by the roadside, quietly waited for his target.

Today, he intended to carry out an audacious plan: kidnap Miss Audrey Hall!

Townsend Street connected Queen's Road to the south and Phelps Street to the north.

Saint Samuel Cathedral, belonging to the Church of the Evernight Goddess, stood on Phelps Street. It was the largest Evernight Church in Backlund, and many nobles passed through Townsend Street on their way there to pray.

To prepare for today's plan, Raphael had scouted the area many times, confirming that Miss Hall passed through this street every Wednesday afternoon to pray at Saint Samuel Cathedral.

Sometimes she went with her mother, but most of the time she went alone.

This street was relatively quiet, with fewer police officers than Queen's Road and less bustle than Phelps Street. It was an ideal place to commit a crime.

Over an hour ago, Raphael's subordinate had reported that Miss Hall had gone to Saint Samuel Cathedral. Judging by her usual schedule, she should be returning soon.

He had also conducted extensive investigations, which indicated that Miss Hall was not a Beyonder herself.

Moreover, she enjoyed attending gatherings devoted to mysticism, so she disliked having Beyonder bodyguards accompany her when she went out.

Raphael kept casting seemingly casual glances toward the northern end of Townsend Street. At last, Miss Audrey Hall's carriage appeared.

"Why do you want to kidnap her?" an exceptionally pleasant female voice asked beside Raphael's ear.

Raphael looked around. "Who?"

At the same time, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes.

There were few people on the street just then. A man stood beneath the streetlamp beside the carriage: Raphael's subordinate, Carter.

But that voice had certainly not come from Carter.

Besides, Carter was still watching Miss Hall's carriage intently. Clearly, he had not heard those words.

The pleasant voice spoke again. "Stop looking, and don't bother thinking about calling for help. No one else can hear our conversation, and no one will notice you."

She paused before adding, "Answer my question."

Raphael's panic passed in an instant, and he quickly regained his composure. This was the most basic quality of a Criminal. Still, he found it strange: why did that woman's voice sound a little like Miss Hall's?

Then he shook his head slightly, deciding that was unlikely. Miss Hall was in the carriage in the distance.

Rather than answer her question immediately, he used his special ability and at once detected a mid-sequence Beyonder nearby.

However, that Beyonder seemed to be in some sort of invisible state.

Raphael's special ability came from a wondrous item he had obtained after transmigrating.

Yes, he was a transmigrator. He had transmigrated into the body of a Prisoner, Sequence 9 of the Chained pathway.

Immediately after transmigrating, Raphael had acquired a vast amount of Beyonder knowledge and basic information about this world!

He was certain that the body's original owner had possessed none of this knowledge.

The original owner had been a minor leader in the Gang. To Raphael, the most valuable information in his memories was the current date.

It was August 1350. Tensions ran high among the nations of the Northern Continent, and more than half a year had passed since the horrifying Backlund Great Smog Incident.

It was only through the additional knowledge and information he had gained after transmigrating that Raphael had figured out his current situation.

The bad news was that the Prisoner pathway seemed to be a major trap, and its adjacent pathway, Criminal, seemed just as bad.

The good news was that, besides the information he had acquired, a White Jade Bead had appeared in his mind world. The bead looked naturally formed, with a profound sense of age about it.

After Raphael became a Lunatic, whenever the potion's influence caused a sense of chaos and distortion in his body and mind, he only had to picture the bead, and the discomfort would immediately disappear.

The bead also seemed to possess intelligence, and he could communicate with it at certain times. It told Raphael that his constitution was unusual: he could take potions from adjacent pathways together and gain the abilities of both.

Raphael pondered this for a long time before deciding to give it a try. Since the bead could absorb the chaos and distortion within him, he probably would not die. Besides, doing something like that was crazy, wasn't it?

Just as he had expected, after drinking the Criminal potion, he digested a substantial portion of the Lunatic potion.

Thus, he was now a dual pathway Beyonder, both a Lunatic and a Criminal.

The ability to detect whether someone was a Beyonder and roughly what level they were was another skill granted to him by the White Jade Bead. So far, it had never failed.

Even now, after learning the other party's level, Raphael remained perfectly calm. As mentioned before, this was a basic quality of a Criminal.

He knew very well that lying to a Beyonder of this level was not a wise choice.

So Raphael answered, "I'm kidnapping Miss Hall to digest my potion."

At this answer, the pleasant voice distinctly paused before asking, "Digest your potion? Aren't you a Lunatic? Why would you use kidnapping to digest your potion?"

Raphael's lips curled into a somewhat crazed smile. "Kidnapping 'Backlund's most dazzling gem'-isn't that crazy enough?"

He could switch freely between the states of a Criminal and a Lunatic, but in essence, he was a calm madman.

The pleasant voice said, "A Lunatic's thoughts really are hard to fathom with normal reasoning."

The voice, of course, belonged to Audrey herself. She had received a task from Mr. Fool: keep a close eye on the young man named Raphael Collins.

But what exactly was she supposed to observe? Mr. Fool had not specified.

Still, Audrey could tell from His tone that Mr. Fool attached great importance to this task.

The reason Raphael's special ability had failed to identify Audrey as a Beyonder during his preparations for the kidnapping was that she was under Mr. Fool's protection. She was now a Sequence 5 Dreamwalker!

Even Susie, the large golden retriever at her side, was now a Sequence 6 Hypnotist and knew how to use Psychological Invisibility.

The presence of the mid-sequence Beyonder Raphael had sensed just now was actually Susie.

When he had observed Audrey earlier, it had never occurred to him that this large golden retriever might be a Beyonder... a Beyonder dog.

Precisely because Earl Hall knew that his daughter was a Beyonder and enjoyed attending gatherings devoted to mysticism, he had not assigned her any Beyonder bodyguards.

At this point, Raphael asked, "Are you going to kill me?"

"No."

"Are you a Beyonder bodyguard for the Hall Family?"

"No."

"Are you going to stop me from kidnapping Miss Hall?"

The silvery voice laughed. "I'm curious how long you can keep being crazy after you kidnap her."

She paused before adding, "My companion Susie will stay by your side. If you have any ill intentions toward Audrey, she'll stop you immediately."

And if Raphael was discovered by the official Beyonders, Susie could also prevent him from being killed.

Then the silvery voice fell silent. However, Raphael could still sense a mid-sequence Beyonder beside him. Presumably, that was Miss Susie.

He truly could not understand what the woman had been trying to do.

But now was not the time to ponder that, because Miss Hall's carriage was already approaching.