Hearing Klein and Frye's guesses, Leonard tugged at his shirt collar, paced back and forth a few times, and said:
"Then we'll have to investigate everyone Sols came into contact with in the workhouse, and everyone he met after he went bankrupt and was evicted. That's going to be very troublesome... Let's hurry and split up to do a search here, then head straight to the third death in the West Borough and hand the rest over to the police."
"Okay," Klein replied without hesitation.
Frye had no objection and turned to walk towards the few poor people who had slept near Sols the night before.
Just as Klein was about to look for another target, he suddenly saw Leonard wink at him and point with his chin toward the side hall of the workhouse.
What does that mean? He was confused for a moment, pretended nothing had happened, walked halfway around the Mass Hall, and then, taking advantage of Frye's inattention, followed Leonard's footsteps into the side hall, passed through the partition, and came to a quiet, deserted corner.
"I have a guess," Leonard said suddenly and directly, stopping in front of the shattered window.
Klein looked around in confusion and asked, "What guess?"
Leonard's deep green eyes countered with a question:
"If no extraordinary factors had intervened, what do you think Mrs. Louwise's fate would have been?"
Klein thought for a moment, then said with a heavy heart, "It's still the same outcome, only it will be delayed by a week, two weeks, or a month. For families like theirs, they certainly won't go to the Doctor until they can't bear it anymore. And once heart disease gets serious, death can come at any time, leaving no room for rescue."
"And what about Sols? If he hadn't been instigated, what would have become of him?" Leonard asked again.
Klein carefully considered his words before speaking:
"Judging from the information provided, Sols has long harbored resentment towards bankruptcy and is extremely bitter about not being rescued. I believe he will retaliate sooner or later, but his target will not be the person who was rescued, but the company owner who caused his bankruptcy and the bank employee who seized his house."
"What will happen after he takes revenge?" Leonard pressed.
"Without a doubt, he has already decided to end his own life. Whether his revenge succeeds or not, he will die," Klein replied affirmatively.
Leonard nodded slightly, revealing his signature flippant smile:
"Then may I say that Mrs. Louwise and Sols are both destined to die in the near future?"
Klein, a well-informed keyboard expert, immediately guessed the answer upon hearing the question:
"You mean, their deaths were artificially brought forward by supernatural factors? And why would that be?"
"To be more precise, their 'life' was artificially shortened or Stealing by supernatural factors, and 'life' has always been the best material for summoning evil gods and Devil and casting terrible curses." Leonard corrected Klein's guess with a slight smile.
"Summoning evil gods and Devil, casting terrible curses..." Klein stared into the other's emerald eyes, speaking with a mixture of skepticism and conjecture, "You seem very certain? But our investigation sample only has two so far..."
Leonard chuckled nonchalantly, " Klein, there's no need for pretense between us. I witnessed you break free from the control of the Sealed Artifact '2-049,' and I know you're special. You should also have a vague sense that I'm different from ordinary Beyonder."
He suppressed his smile and met Klein's gaze, saying:
"I once told you that there are many special people in this world who can always do things that others cannot, like you, and like me."
"This world has a long history, and there are all sorts of magical objects. There will always be people who obtain them, master them, and become the protagonists of different dramas. There won't be too many such people, but there certainly can't be only one or two."
"I don't believe that Beyonder who harbor secrets are necessarily bad guys or villains, nor do I think it's necessary to figure out the origins or manifestations of their special abilities... As long as your actions don't harm me, the Nighthawks, or the entire Tingen City, you're still my teammate. Similarly, I hope you'll treat me with the same attitude. Of course, it's best not to tell the higher-ups about this; those guys are all rigid and conservative, always believing that special people like us will inevitably lose control and be tempted by evil Devil to Depravity."
However, I probably have more secrets than you can imagine... Klein muttered to himself silently, then said frankly:
That is indeed my attitude: I only consider your actions and intentions, I don't care about your special qualities, and I don't try to pry into your secrets.
After saying that, he silently added in his mind: No, actually I do care quite a bit, I'm really curious, but I can only force myself to hold back. Hmm, does Leonard think he's the protagonist of a drama? What kind of extraordinary encounter has he had, what kind of magical items does he possess?
Leonard unbuttoned his shirt collar, chuckled, and nodded:
"I'm glad we reached an agreement."
"In those adventure novels, this is called the meeting of the two protagonists, and the wheels of history begin to roll forward."
Shameless! Klein gave a perfunctory smile.
He knew perfectly well that the phrase "the wheels of history begin to roll forward" originated with Emperor Roselle...
At this moment, Leonard paced around twice, his bright green eyes gleaming, a smile playing on his lips:
"Alright, to be frank, I'm quite certain that the main characters in these deaths were supposed to die within the last three months, but were brought forward to the last two weeks by various means. And the other party's purpose is to summon evil gods or Devil, or to carry out a terrible, widespread curse."
"Having someone showing signs of death die prematurely makes it easy to cover up, won't quickly attract the attention of the police, and won't be sabotaged by the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind during the preparation stage..." Klein muttered to himself, analyzing the intentions of the person behind the scenes. Nader smiled and echoed:
"Yes, if healthy, normal people suddenly and inexplicably die more than three times, it will definitely attract attention and be subject to routine investigation."
"Then how do we find the altar where the ritual was held? Whether it's summoning evil gods or Devil, or creating terrible curses, an altar and a ritual are needed. And those 'lives' that were harvested prematurely must also have a similar place to be stored." Klein tentatively believed the other party, after all, he hadn't found any other clues and couldn't make any other judgments.
What's wrong with giving it a try?
Leonard chuckled twice and said, " Klein, isn't this your area of expertise? Can't you imagine what the area around an altar for a similar ritual would look like?"
Before Klein could answer, he preemptively described. "The aura of death is thick. Within a 10-meter radius of the altar, there are no living beings except for the person presiding over the ritual... The surrounding temperature is at least 5 degrees Celsius lower than normal, and a cold wind constantly blows... Within the altar sealed by the Wall of Spirituality, there are also the 'lives' taken from Mrs. Louwise and others..."
At this point, he looked at Klein and said jokingly:
"I believe you can definitely Divination the approximate location of an altar possessing these characteristics."
Klein frowned slightly and replied in a deep voice:
"As long as it doesn't go beyond Tingen City, and I need an absolutely quiet environment where no one will disturb me, like my home. Um, I also need Mrs. Louwise's and others' personal belongings."
At the same time, he had a nagging feeling that Leonard seemed far too knowledgeable about dark magic and witchcraft.
"No problem." Leonard chuckled, then strode past Klein and headed towards the Mass Hall, without another word.
This guy's way of doing things is really unique... Klein thought to himself, and followed the other person back the way they came.
Finding Frye earnestly asking questions and taking Record, Leonard, with a serious expression, said in a solemn tone:
"I have a guess, and I'm planning to have Klein give it a try."
"What guess?" Frye asked, seemingly coldly.
"I'll let you know when I have the results. I don't want to become the laughingstock of Rozanne and the others." Leonard casually made up an excuse to brush things off.
Frye didn't ask any more questions. As instructed, he went to the nearby police station to borrow Sols and Mrs. Louwise's belongings, and then met up with his teammates at Klein's house.
"Wait in the living room and don't let anyone disturb me." Klein took out his pocket watch, snapped it open, and glanced at it.
It was nearly 6 o'clock, and Melissa could return at any moment.
"You can trust us." Leonard paced back and forth in the small living room, his hands in his pockets, while Frye quietly sat down on the sofa.
Is this guy ADHD? Klein pursed his lips, returned to his bedroom on the second floor, locked the wooden door, and sealed the room with Wall of Spirituality.
Immediately afterwards, he set up an altar and prayed for the goddess's help to initially eliminate the interference.
Then, Klein wrote down the corresponding " Divination statement" on the paper:
"The location of the altar."
He set very broad restrictions to avoid any mistakes or omissions.
Taking the paper and the deceased's belongings, Klein lay half-reclined on the bed, first recalling the scene Leonard described, then silently reciting the " Divination statement" seven times.
He didn't try to use the special properties above the Gray Fog to complete it, firstly because Leonard, that strange and mysterious guy, was downstairs, and no one knew if he would notice anything amiss this time; secondly, he himself was a " Seer " whose Potion was about to be fully digested, and with the aid of the ritual, it should be enough.
Only if all else fails will Klein consider finding another opportunity to go above the Gray Fog, since summoning evil gods and Devil would threaten Benson, Melissa, and himself!
With the help of Cogitation, he quickly Dream Divination and "saw" blurry, hazy, illusory, and fragmented scenes.
Soon, a picture appeared in his mind.
It was a two-story gray-blue house bathed in the glow of Twilight. The windows on the first floor were tightly closed, and the dark curtains Ruth gaps, but they seemed to expand and contract from time to time.
The soil near the house was dark brown, with not a single blade of grass or flower growing there, and the surrounding garden seemed shrouded in shadow, dilapidated and gloomy.
Not far from this house, a river flows quietly.
After a while, Klein exited the dream after seeing no more images.
" Leonard's guess is true... Where could that house be? There are so many places with rivers in Tingen City, like the southwest of the West Borough, the Dock Borough, the University Borough..." He opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, and thought with a very serious expression.
PS: Tomorrow's two updates will be earlier, the first one at midnight.