The sound of fast-paced footsteps approached Klein's ears, calming him down as he stood at the door of the guardhouse.
"What happened?" Leonard, who arrived first, asked in a deep voice, gripping his revolver.
Seeing that he was having trouble stopping, Klein immediately thought of something Rozanne had mentioned. Three years ago, Leonard, who had just become a " Sleepless," tried to run up the stairs at sprint speed without adapting to the Potion's power, and ended up turning into a wheel.
Clearing his throat, Klein pointed to Chanis Gate:
"There was a loud knocking sound coming from inside, which then turned into banging, and then the door was pushed open a little."
" The Chanis Gate was pushed open?" the short Kenley asked in surprise.
"Yes, a crack was pushed open." Klein was about to continue describing when he saw Leonard, Kenley, and Loyao not approaching the guard room, but stopping a few steps away, forming an arc, as if they were on guard against him.
He paused for a moment and then said:
"Are you doubting me?"
"No, it's not a doubt, it's just standard procedure," Kenley said, shaking his head in denial.
In this tense atmosphere, Leonard, still smiling rather irreverently, added:
"In other parishes, there have been similar cases where the Beyonder guarding the Chanis Gate lost control, rang the bell, and then, taking advantage of their teammates' inattention, killed two of them."
"Okay." Klein, no longer feeling aggrieved or angry about being targeted, asked instead, "Then how can I prove that I haven't lost control?"
Leonard suppressed his playful expression, tapped his chest four times, and recited in a low voice:
They were naked, without clothes or food, and completely exposed to the cold.
They were soaked by the heavy rain, and having nowhere to take shelter, they clung tightly to the rock.
"They are mothers whose children have been taken away, orphans who have lost all hope, and poor people who have been forced off the right path."
" The Evernight did not abandon them; it showed them favor."
Holy and merciful prayers echoed through the earth, bringing a sense of liberation and tranquility to everyone's body, mind, and spirit.
Seeing that Klein did not react abnormally, Leonard stopped chanting and smiled, saying:
"There are no problems now. You are still a trustworthy partner."
The aloof lady, who had remained silent all along Loyao, glanced at Chanis Gate and asked proactively:
"What did you see after the door was pushed open a little?"
"I saw the Misfortune Cloth Doll, the one in the black classical court dress, 3-0625," Klein replied, still somewhat shaken. "But in less than three seconds, it was pulled back by an invisible force, and the Chanis Gate closed again. What happened?"
Leonard, Kenley, and Loyao exchanged glances and said:
"Heh, we're just like you, we don't know the reason for all this. Since the Chanis Gate has been closed again and there's nothing unusual, we shouldn't go in now. We must wait for dawn, wait for the captain."
At this moment, Loyao added coldly:
"I'll stay here and keep watch with you."
"Alright." Leonard shrugged and chuckled, "As the strongest person here, I'll stay too. Kenley, you go back upstairs, lest the police have an emergency and can't get Door Opening."
Kenley said nothing more, nodded immediately, and turned to leave.
At this moment, Leonard glanced at Klein and Loyao respectively and said:
"Maybe we can keep playing cards? In this situation, we need some entertainment to keep us from getting too tense."
"No problem." Klein adjusted the revolver and put it back in the armpit holster. Loyao neither agreed nor disagreed, and with his smooth, black hair flowing down his back, he followed him into the guard room.
"Fighting the Landlord, no, fighting evil," Klein said casually.
" The Misfortune Cloth Doll, I mean 3-0625, according to the information, it shouldn't possess any living characteristics..."
"Haha, three As." Leonard said casually, "In the previous forty years, 3-0625 didn't show any signs of being alive. We can assume the data is accurate and use that as a premise for reasoning and deduction."
"So... you have an idea?" Loyao asked succinctly.
As Klein hesitated about whether to throw down three "2s" at once, Leonard took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee and said:
"Yes, since 3-0625 itself does not possess the characteristics of being alive, its behavior today must be due to the influence of other factors, and these factors must have only recently emerged. Otherwise, it should have shown us this side of itself long ago."
"And what's changed behind the Chanis Gate in the last month?"
Loyao looked at the three "2"s that Klein had thrown down, pondered for a few seconds, and said:
"Only one thing is different from before: the Antigonus Family's notes and Sealed Artifact '2-049' stayed behind the Chanis Gate for one night."
Leonard looked at the cards in his hand, tapped the table lightly, and chuckled:
"If the Misfortune Cloth Doll could be made to act abnormally, '2-049' would have already caused a similar incident behind the Chanis Gate in Backlund. Therefore, I suspect the problem originates from that Antigonus Family notebook."
Klein thought about it carefully and couldn't help but nod repeatedly:
"That's the most likely... Leonard, I didn't expect you to be such a good reasoner."
Generally speaking, romantic poets and those skilled in reasoning are incompatible...
"That's just because he's been reading Detective novels lately," Loyao stated calmly from the side. "Two kings, a straight from 8 to K, nobody wants it? Three sixes, that's all."
Upon seeing this, both Klein and Leonard fell silent.
In their distraction from the card game, they forgot something crucial:
In this round, Loyao is truly "evil"!
Watching Loyao cut the cards, Klein seized the opportunity once again to ask:
"What force pulled 3-0625 back?"
Leonard glanced at him and chuckled:
"You don't think the only security measures behind the Chanis Gate are a sealed chamber buried deep underground and a few elderly guards, do you?"
"In fact, the keeper had already left Chanis Gate and returned to Saint Selena Cathedral after the Sun had completely set."
"The power inside reaches its peak at night, becoming unsuitable for living beings. It only weakens when the Sun rises, which is why the captain told us not to enter Chanis Gate, no matter what sounds we hear."
In other words, the captain forgot to tell me this reason... Klein pondered and asked:
"A protective measure similar to a magic circle?"
Like an enlarged version of talismans and amulets?
"Hmm." Loyao nodded as he drew a card. "The reason why the Chanis Gate is placed under the central church in each city is to rely on the worshippers who come every day to maintain it. Their devout prayers will allow some of their Spirituality to enter the magic circle, accumulating little by little."
"I see..." Klein nodded in realization, seeing a bad hand of cards.
At this moment, Leonard smiled and said:
"The security measures behind the Chanis Gate don't stop there; Saint Selena's ashes are buried there. She was a High-Sequence powerhouse in life."
Saint Selena's ashes? The ashes of High-Sequence powerhouse? Holy ashes? What use could they possibly have? Klein was both puzzled and curious.
Saint Selena was a saint who was active during the founding of the Church of the Evernight Goddess. She was active in the ancient Tertiary period and is recorded in various holy books. Therefore, Selena is a common name among people who believe in the Evernight Goddess.
Leonard seemed to hear Klein's thoughts and said to himself:
"There are rumors that the remains or ashes of High-Sequence powerhouses still possess incredible power after death; of course, this is just a rumor."
Klein nodded slightly, turning his attention back to the cards in his hand.
For the next few hours, nothing unusual happened behind Chanis Gate, but Klein lost a full two Soli, a loss that pained him greatly. Leonard, who played cards with the flair of a romantic poet, lost four Soli and five pence. Only the quiet Loyao was the Winner.
" The Sun has just risen, and it's my turn next." The quiet " Author " Ms. Siga Tron entered the duty room around six o'clock.
Klein wrote down what happened last night in his Record and returned to Blackthorn Security Company with Leonard and Loyao.
At this moment, he looked extremely tired, while the " Midnight Poet " and the " Sleepless " beside him were still full of energy.
"This is the difference between different Sequence..." Klein was about to go home to catch up on sleep through the partition when he suddenly saw the captain Door Opening and come in.
"Good morning, Captain." He couldn't help but yawn as he greeted him.
Wearing a black trench coat, Dunn took off his hat, glanced at him with his gray eyes, and said:
"Good morning, you should go back and rest. Did anything happen last night?"
Klein then briefly recounted the story of the Misfortune Cloth Doll and Leonard's reasoning.
"Hmm." Dunn offered no comment, and walked thoughtfully towards his office. "I'll send a telegram to inquire with the Holy Cathedral."
Klein didn't linger. He slowly walked out of 36 Zouteland Street and breathed in the cool morning air.
His spirits lifted, and he suddenly remembered something he had completely forgotten:
"I forgot to tell Captain and Leonard that the Misfortune Cloth Doll had paper in its hand!"
How could I forget?
"There seems to be a subtle force influencing me, preventing me from telling the other Nighthawks about this..."
"... The Antigonus Family's notes were stored behind the Chanis Gate in Tingen City many days ago. The Misfortune Cloth Doll, 3-0625, should have been affected long ago. Why did the anomaly only appear last night?"
"Because last night was my first time on duty at Chanis Gate?"
"It exerted all its strength just so I could see the pattern on that paper?"
"Is this what the Antigonus Family Notebook wanted to achieve?"
"Because I survived by coming into contact with it, and even became Seer?"
A series of questions flashed through Klein's mind, leaving him stunned on the spot, unsure whether to pretend he hadn't remembered anything and go home to sleep, or to go upstairs and report to the captain.
PS: Update complete for today, please vote!