Darkness filled Klein's vision, and his mind felt as though it had been washed clean, light and at ease.
He listened to the bishop's sermon with his eyes closed until the sermon ended and Mass concluded. The bishop left the arched sanctuary and opened the door to the confessional beside it.
He opened his eyes, put on his top hat, picked up his cane and newspaper, and rose with the other gentlemen and ladies to form an orderly queue.
Before rising, Klein glanced at Lin Chuan. He seemed still immersed in the atmosphere of Mass, sitting quietly in the darkness of the last row and savoring it.
At the end of the queue, he took off his top hat and tipped it toward the last row in farewell. Though he could not see Lin Chuan, he knew perfectly well that his message had reached him.
Klein hesitated no longer and stepped inside as the last worshipper from this Mass to enter the confessional.
"Someone is following me. I need to report the situation to Captain Dunn Smith."
He passed the "Special Operations Department 7th Squad" badge he had prepared behind the partition of wooden slats, his voice as soft as the night.
"I'll watch him," Grisha replied solemnly after a moment of silence. "But Klein must prove himself worthy before I choose him over Amon."
"Naturally."
Lin Chuan had no objection to Grisha's decision. After all, no matter how one looked at it, Klein should never have been among the candidates for Lord of the Mysteries.
Who could have imagined that an ordinary person would achieve the feat of becoming "a true god in three years, a Great Old One in five"?
...Though that had never been what he wanted.
Lin Chuan had nothing else to bring up, but