Side view of Viscount Stratford House, Queens Borough.
Dressed in black, Fors and Hugh hid together in a dark corner, staring at the tightly closed iron gate, patiently waiting for their target to appear.
It didn't rain tonight, so they didn't have to face overly difficult circumstances. And the carriage parked at the edge of the streetlight's glow reminded them that the harvest would surely come, it was just a matter of sooner or later.
After an unknown amount of time, the iron gate slowly opened, making a metallic scraping sound.
A figure draped in a dark cloak emerged from within, head bowed, walked to the rental carriage, and gracefully climbed aboard.
"Is it her?" Fors asked in a low voice, addressing Hugh beside her.
She lacked the extraordinary ability to recreate the other person's image and characteristics through description, and having never met the other person before, she could not make a judgment based on Spirituality intuition or " Astrology ".
Hugh nodded firmly and said:
"Right!"
As they spoke in hushed tones, the taxi gradually accelerated and drove away from the side gate area.
Hugh immediately left the hiding corner, preparing to rely on the extraordinary abilities of the " Sheriff " and the physical enhancement brought by the " Interrogator " to jog and keep up with his target at a distance.
"What do you want to do?" Just then, Fors grabbed her shoulder, ruining her plans.
"Following him!" Hugh turned to look at his friend, puzzled.
Fors glanced at the taxi that hadn't yet completely pulled away, and asked thoughtfully:
What are you doing following me?
"Also, didn't you say that once the target enters the Backlund Bridge Area, there will be a fairly powerful Beyonder protecting them?"
"Yes," Hugh answered the second question first, then added, "Your question is strange. Tracking is, of course, to confirm the target's appearance, identity, origin, and purpose."
Fors withdrew her left hand from Hugh's shoulder, revealing a slight smile, and said:
"Since the target is protected by a formidable Beyonder, it will be difficult for us to track her down in the Backlund Bridge Area, find her residence, and ascertain her true identity. Do you intend to directly confront that Protector? Even with my help, have you confirmed the protector's strength? How confident are you? Wouldn't it be very dangerous?"
"Moreover, once a battle breaks out, it will inevitably alert the target. This is the same as stopping the carriage on the way and questioning it face to face. Both will disrupt your most fundamental intentions, alert Viscount Stratford, prevent you from getting into a predicament, and give you an opportunity to make your move."
"If you do it, there's a possibility of failure; if you don't do it, failure is inevitable." Hugh emphasized that he was aware of the predicament, but simply wanted to try again and look for opportunities along the way.
Just then, the taxi turned at the end of the road and entered the main street. Fors watched its silhouette gradually disappear, shook his head, and smiled:
"No, no, no, what we need to do is change our approach!"
"We should first try to figure out what the target looks like. Then, at daybreak, we can use her appearance to conduct a routine investigation in the Backlund Bridge Area and gather intelligence from other sources."
"Your word choice is very professional..." Hugh said while pondering.
"Of course, I've written Detective stories!" Fors replied without a hint of modesty.
"But how can we figure out what the target looks like without alerting her?" Hugh asked the most crucial question.
Fors, as if he had been prepared, pulled out " Lemano's Travel Notes " and said with a smile:
"It's simple, just use the ' Psychological Invisibility ' Record by Miss ' Justice '!"
Although Audrey " Justice " didn't have many opportunities to use " Lemano's Travel Notes," she still rented it two or three times out of curiosity to study the functions and characteristics of the extraordinary abilities, and Record some of her own extraordinary abilities in it, including the quite practical " Psychological Invisibility."
As for her true identity, Hugh and Fors were increasingly certain, but they did not ask her in person or conduct any further investigation, which was the most basic respect for the members of the Tarot Club.
Hearing his friend's answer, Hugh's mind cleared up, and he instantly had several Spirit Intuition.
Fors continued speaking to himself:
"By using this extraordinary ability, you will be in the blind spot of the senses of the creatures around you, and they will not see you even if you are moving around in front of them. In this way, you can directly board the carriage, walk up to your target, openly and frankly look at her face, and remember all her features."
"Hehe, sometimes I think that if someone uses ' Psychological Invisibility ' and is unlucky, they might get trampled to death by a large creature that happens to pass by."
"Uh, don't make too much noise later, and don't talk to any of the creatures around you, otherwise you'll attract attention and cause ' Psychological Invisibility ' to dissipate automatically."
"Hmm!" Hugh nodded, then raised another challenge, "How do we prevent the target from noticing that the carriage door suddenly opens while the carriage is in motion?"
Before Fors could answer, she immediately pressed on:
Do you have Record of this extraordinary ability to ' Door Opening '?
"What do you think?" Fors smiled and handed the " Lemano's Travel Notes " to her friend, explaining which two pages contained the sections on " Psychological Invisibility " and " Door Opening."
After remembering it well, Hugh immediately ran quickly along the shadows on both sides of the road, chasing after the taxi from before.
Before long, she spotted her target, and with a slight flick of her right hand, she revealed a page of yellowish-brown parchment beneath the patina of the notebook.
As his fingers gently glided across the surface, Xiu seemed to see countless ripples of light emerging on the deep lake, spreading outwards.
Once her vision returned to normal, she quickened her pace and swiftly reached the moving carriage.
To confirm, Hugh didn't act immediately; he took a few large strides and overtook the horse.
She immediately turned around as if to cross the road, but the coachman was completely unaware, neither shouting a warning nor reining in the horse.
After confirming the effectiveness of " Psychological Invisibility," Hugh accelerated, dodging the horses' impact, and reached the side of the carriage.
After a brief observation, she flipped through " Lemano's Travel Notes," revealing a white sheet of paper covered with strange patterns and symbols, and then extended her right hand, pressing it against the wall of the compartment.
Her figure suddenly became transparent and appeared inside the carriage.
The woman in the dark cloak sat diagonally opposite, gazing at Hugh's side of the glass window as if deep in thought, completely ignoring the bounty Hunter had suddenly intruded.
At such close range, even with her cloak pulled low, Hugh could still make out her face clearly. Moreover, she wasn't as cautious as when she was out; her every move seemed quite casual, to the point that her cloak was pulled down to her eyes.
In an instant, her appearance came into Hugh's view, overlapping with a face that retained masculine features.
This is the extraordinary ability of the " Sheriff ".
Hugh's eyes widened suddenly, and he blurted out, unable to contain himself:
" Shermane?"
She could foresee that the woman who frequently visited Viscount Stratford's mansion during this period was quite beautiful, but she never imagined that the woman would be her friend Shermane, a young man!
A man who was never even remotely androgynous has now become so beautiful and so charming!
At that moment, Hugh couldn't help but look Shermane up and down a few times, completely unable to reconcile the man's physique with that of the young man he knew.
If it weren't for the Sheriff's extraordinary ability to confirm from the face that the person opposite her was Shermane, Hugh would definitely have thought she had mistaken someone for someone else. Even so, she now suspects that the person opposite her is not Shermane, but Shermane's sister who was born on the same day as her father and mother.
Hearing the surprised question, Shermane noticed that there was someone else in the carriage at some point, a familiar person.
Bounty Hunter Xio Derecha!
Having changed her name to Shermane, she was initially terrified, but then instinctively uttered some phrases that Trissy often mentioned:
You can no longer run into acquaintances from the past.
Do you want your husband, the one you love, to know what you used to be like?
Only by completely severing ties with the past can you be reborn and saved!
Similar arguments flashed through Shermane's mind, and a thought that even she found frightening suddenly arose in her heart:
"Kill her!"
This idea, like a Demon from the Abyss, kept whispering in Shermane's ear and echoing in her heart:
Kill her!
Kill the person who recognized you!
Only in this way can you truly break free from the past and not lose the present!
"Kill her!"
Shermane did not answer Hugh's question. Instead, she slowly and tremblingly clenched her left hand at her side.
Hugh noticed the strong emotional fluctuations in the other person, confirmed that it was Shermane, and immediately asked with concern:
How did you become like this?
Where have you been all this time? Did something happen to you? Were you hurt?
Shermane's lips moved a few times, her left fist relaxed slightly, and she spoke with a sob in her voice:
"I've started a new life, please don't bother me anymore, okay?"
"I don't want to lose everything I have now, and I don't want to see anyone I used to know!"
She spoke faster and faster, her pleading becoming increasingly obvious.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Hugh glanced at Shermane, pursed his lips, and said:
"Good..."
Without lingering, she reached out and opened the carriage window, leaping out in a lunge-like motion.
Shermane watched the whole thing in silence, then finally let out a long sigh and slumped back in her seat as if all her strength had been drained.
She barely managed to control the Demon within her.
Just then, she saw a figure rapidly appear out of thin air on the other side.
The figure was dressed in a somber, dark, and conservative long dress, yet it did not detract from her sweet and gentle appearance and temperament. She simply sat there without saying a word, yet she was captivating.
Trissy the Witch!
"Why didn't you kill her?" Trissy asked with a smile that showed no trace of malice, as if casually discussing what kind of wine she had last night.
"She... she was one of the few people who didn't discriminate against me and even helped me..." Shermane replied, quite startled, then frowned and asked, "Why are you here?"
Trissy smiled and said:
"I'm protecting you."
Before Shermane could respond, she turned and said:
You seemed to be in a good mood when you came out.
Shermane recalled what had happened before and said with a hint of shyness:
"Maybe, just maybe, I'll have the chance to be a mother..."
As she spoke, she touched her stomach with her right hand, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily twitched to the sides.
"I felt him kicking me, kicking me..." Shermane suddenly froze, exclaiming in shock, "How could it be so fast?"
She's still not sure if she'll get pregnant today!
Seeing her reaction, Trissy smiled even more charmingly.
P. S.: Requesting monthly votes and recommendation votes on Monday!