Inside a private Detective agency.
"Sir, your case is complete." Henry, the private Detective with a husky voice, looked at the gentleman before him in a black tuxedo, a top silk hat, and a dark face mask, and said with a sigh of relief, "It was truly an difficult task. It wasn't difficult, but it took us far too much effort. To be honest, I deeply regret offering such a low price."
"No, no matter what you say, I won't pay an extra penny!" Klein emphasized to himself, pointing to the thick stack of documents on the coffee table. "Is this the investigation report?"
"Yes," Henry sighed, pressing down on the at least sixty-page investigation report, "This is the most troublesome one I've ever done..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Klein hand him four one-pound notes, and his attention shifted to checking their authenticity.
"This is the final payment." Klein reached out and grasped the thick investigation report.
Henry coughed twice and said:
"You are truly an honest and trustworthy gentleman. Alas, I never expected the investigation report to require so many papers; it was completely beyond my budget."
Just then, Klein picked up the very thick investigation report and stood up abruptly.
He bowed slightly, then immediately picked up his cane and headed for the door.
Detective Henry's next words were thus stuck in his throat.
Hey, how could I possibly pay for the paperwork for the investigation report? It's included in the overall commission fee! Klein touched his remaining £5.80 Soli savings, muttered to himself, and strode onto Besik Street.
He first looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him before cleverly leaving the area and taking off his mask when he had the chance.
Klein didn't plan to go home now. Instead, he intended to find a nearby coffee shop to quickly organize his investigation report, identify the houses that had changed tenants after he Divination "Red Chimney," and then investigate some of them before dinner.
There were many cafes in the neighborhood, but almost none met Klein's requirements. Since Steam and machinery became symbols of the times, more and more cafes lowered their standards and became like cheap restaurants, serving busy laborers tea, coffee, bread, toast, and dishes such as lamb stew with tender peas. As a result, respectable gentlemen and ladies no longer went to cafes to talk business, nor did they regard such behavior as a symbol of status. All sorts of clubs began to appear, replacing the original social function of cafes.
After walking for quite a while, Klein finally found a coffee shop with a decent atmosphere.
After settling into a secluded corner booth, he took a sip of his Southville coffee, which cost only three and a half pence, and carefully opened the investigation report.
"... In the North Borough, East Borough, West Borough, South Borough, Golden Indus Borough, Dock Borough, and University Borough of Tingen City, there are a total of 1,179 houses with dark red chimneys... In the outskirts of Tingen City, there are 546 houses with the red chimneys described by the employer... This does not include those towns and villages that belong to Tingen but are relatively far away."
"Below is the address of each property along with the corresponding landlord and tenant information. As requested by the employer, we have collected more detailed information regarding the past three months."
Klein scanned the pages one by one, constantly making Record with his pen on the papers he carried with him.
Finally, he discovered that after he Divination the "red chimney," a total of twenty-five houses experienced changes in tenants.
"Not too many. I'll try to finish the investigation within two days. Hmm, I've seen that red chimney and part of that house in my Dream Divination. As long as I encounter it again in reality, I will definitely feel a Spirituality familiarity and thus confirm the target. Simply put, I'm a human investigation machine..." Klein nodded silently and planned to visit fifteen places today based on the different locations of the houses.
As for whether such actions are dangerous, he doesn't need Divination to find the answer.
Since there has been a change of tenants, it means that the mastermind behind the misfortunes and coincidences that have plagued my Fate has left!
I hope to find out what the previous tenant looked like from the landlord... However, since that guy hiding behind the scenes can influence my Fate so subtly and make coincidences seem natural, he must also have a way to erase his own existence... Sigh, I can only pray to the goddess that he will make a mistake... Klein sighed, forced himself to cheer up, put on his silk hat, picked up his cane and report, and got up to leave the café.
Next, he spent 2 Soli to hire a two-wheeled carriage and rushed to visit the fifteen houses with red chimneys before dinner, but unfortunately, none of them were the one he had seen in his dream.
"If tomorrow's investigation yields the same result, things will get complicated. He's still living in the Red Chimney house that I divined before... This either means he's confident enough not to be afraid of my investigation, or even of being captured by the Tingen Market Nightwalkers, or it means he doesn't know he's been exposed, and what resisted my divination was a power that wasn't entirely his own..." Klein stood at the door of No. 2 Narcissus Street, analyzing one possibility after another.
Several minutes later, he dusted off a few specks of dust from his black tailcoat, adjusted his half-high silk hat, took out his brass key, and Door Opening go home with a smile on his face.
He plans to prepare braised lamb and honey roast for Benson and Melissa tonight.
At 11 p. m., the three siblings said goodnight to each other and went to their respective bedrooms.
Klein closed the door, stood in front of his desk, and looked out the bulging window in the light of the gas lamp. The surrounding streets were dark, with only a few streetlights guiding the way. The stars in the sky were inlaid on the black Curtain, scattered and not very clear.
"I wonder what Backlund, the so-called ' Land of Hope ' and ' Capital of Capitals, ' will be like..." Klein murmured silently, reaching out to grasp the curtain, preparing to pull it open.
Ugh!
Just then, a cold wind blew by without warning, and the gas lamp's light suddenly turned a dark green.
Klein instinctively took a few steps back, his professional instincts causing his left teeth to tap lightly twice. At the same time, he leaned sharply against the headboard, trying to reach the pistol that was under the pillow.
In his line of sight, a face suddenly appeared on the wall below the gas lamp and above the desk—a semi-transparent face with no eyes, no nose, only a mouth!
"Don't shoot," the face said, its mouth opening and closing.
Can we communicate? Klein already had his gun in hand and was aiming at his target.
"What do you want to do?" he asked in a deep voice.
The face chuckled softly.
"I am Daly."
" Daly?" Spirit Medium Daly, the " Spirit Medium " who was transferred to the Backlund parish? Klein Daly in confusion:
"Ms. Daly?"
"I know this visit is too abrupt, and I should have informed you beforehand so you could prepare. However, I'm not in a position to meet you directly right now, so I can only communicate with you through this little guy." The semi-transparent, eyeless, and noseless face chuckled.
Although the voice was off, ethereal and grating, it was definitely Ms. Daly's speaking style... "The ability of Spirit Medium is really cool..." Klein thought to himself, without lowering his gun, and asked:
"Madam, what would you like to discuss with me?"
"If I were you, I would first use Spirituality to seal the bedroom, otherwise your family would think you have mental problems," the semi-transparent, eerie face joked. "Heh, you don't need to be so wary. I secretly returned to Tingen because of the letter Dunn sent. You know, Nighthawks can't leave their jurisdiction at will."
"The captain's letter?" Klein didn't approach the desk, but instead reached into a hidden pocket inside his black trench coat on the coat rack and pulled out " Holy Night Powder."
"Dunner and I both grew up in the Tingen City Nightwalker squad, and we've always maintained a good relationship. Last Thursday, yes, Thursday, he sent me a letter mentioning you. He said you imitated the maxims of the sleuths, summarizing your own 'Diviner's Code' from the practice of divination, and claimed that this effectively helped you master potions, thus preventing you from hearing sounds you shouldn't hear or seeing images you shouldn't see. Dunner said that's very similar to me."
"Hehe, you really aren't going to the sealed room? I personally don't mind being misunderstood by your brother and sister." The semi-transparent face explained at a measured pace.
So that's how it is... It really is Ms. Daly... Klein breathed a sigh of relief, stuffed the " Holy Night Powder " back into his inner pocket, then walked a few steps to his desk and took out a ceremonial silver knife from the drawer.
Having quickly constructed the Wall of Spirituality, he turned to look at the eerie face projected onto it and said:
"Ms. Daly, what else did the captain say in the letter?"
"He was just expressing his doubts, feeling like he'd grasped something, but couldn't quite understand it, and wanted my opinion," Daly said, using the eerie, eyeless and noseless face. "And after reading that letter this morning, I knew you were definitely not as clueless as you claimed. Heh, Mr. Moretti, I think you've already figured out the Acting Method!"
"Is this why you came to see me?" Klein asked rhetorically, neither confirming nor denying.
Daly already clearly understood the " Acting Method "... He calmly made a judgment in his mind.
Daly revealed a slight smile through her semi-transparent face, saying:
"Yes."
"I think we should be honest with each other about this. I know you've figured out the Acting Method, and you certainly know I've mastered Acting Method too. The unpleasant thing is, it took me almost two years to clearly understand it, while you, you've only been Beyonder for a month and a half."
Upon hearing Daly's words, Klein considered for a moment, then smiled calmly and said:
"This is because you are my role model."
He originally intended to say, "I am standing on the shoulders of Giant," but ultimately decided not to give Emperor Roselle another chance to appear in his ears.
P. S.: I already knew about the event; China Literature and I had discussed it. However, I need to proceed at my own pace. My family elders are having birthday celebrations these past few days, and I've been traveling back and forth. Plus, I've had a lot of updates in the previous days, so I need to adjust. I'll try to add more chapters before the event ends. Anyway, this is the first month of the new book's release, so there will be plenty of extra chapters later. As for those tasks, I've already completed two. Regarding donations, everyone donated enough on the first day of release, so there's no need to push for more now.