After dinner, at the " Bravehearts " bar, in the billiards room.
Klein, dressed in a simple black jacket that matched the style of the place, wearing a dark baseball cap, and holding a glass of Southville beer, casually closed the door and walked to the opposite side of Kaspars, who was bending over and tentatively hitting the ball.
Before he could force a smile and greet him, Kaspars had already stopped what he was doing, straightened up, and glanced at him:
" Maric isn't here."
"There aren't any extra parties like the ones you're looking for."
"I have nothing but weapons."
... You're quite familiar with this routine... Luckily, my purpose today is different... Klein smirked and said.
"I'm here to buy weapons."
Maric isn't here again... It seems this hideout has been exposed and targeted by enemies, so they simply moved to a new location... Then I won't be able to contact the bodyguard... And the helper I plan to use to fool Miller Carter is Maric's Living Corpse... Secretive, obedient, and unafraid of death, well, the prerequisite for obedience is that his Spirituality shields him from the influence of Azik Copper Whistle... As he spoke, a series of thoughts flashed through Klein's mind.
Kaspars was slightly surprised, leaned his cue stick closer with suspicion, rubbed his red nose, and said:
What weapon do you want to buy? Have you run out of ammo? You've been practicing a lot.
"No, the bullets I use for practice are extra ones I bought at the Cragg Club..." Klein said with a smile.
"I want to buy explosives, the kind widely used in mines."
"What do you want to do?" Kaspars blurted out, his expression turning serious and solemn. "I warn you, don't try anything damn big! I won't allow my customers to provoke the Sivellaus Yard! Of course, you can choose not to buy weapons from me."
To be able to work as a black market arms dealer and survive until now, in a way, he's still quite law-abiding; at least he wouldn't sell things to those crazy guys... Klein habitually offered his assessment from the perspective of Nighthawks, while chuckling, "You seem to have misunderstood something. I don't intend to blow up bank vault doors, nor do I plan to create a sensational news story. I'm just helping people demolish buildings to facilitate subsequent renovations."
"Then why didn't he hire a reputable construction company?" Kaspars remained vigilant.
"Haha, it's a secret room; he doesn't want outsiders to know." Klein then asked, "Do you know any reliable demolition experts? I'm not good at this kind of thing; I'm afraid I'll destroy the whole house."
Kaspars's doubts dissipated considerably when he saw that the other party was still considering keeping the house intact.
Just before he was considering his answer, a faint, ethereal voice suddenly echoed in the room:
"Unnecessary."
A familiar feeling washed over him, Klein quickly turned his head to look, only to find that the bodyguard had been sitting in a chair in the corner at some point.
She was still wearing a black Gothic court dress and a matching small soft hat. Her face was as pale as ever, but her light golden hair and delicate features complemented each other perfectly.
"Good evening, madam." Klein bowed slightly in greeting.
"Good evening, Ms. Sharron." Kaspars made the same gesture.
So her name was Sharron... Klein waited thoughtfully for her to speak.
The bodyguard, referred to as Sharron, looked at Kaspars and said:
" Maric won't be coming here again."
"If you need to contact him, leave a message using the third method agreed upon."
"Yes, Ms. Sharron." Kaspars, Old Man had clearly seen it all, seemed to have an instinctive fear of the bodyguard.
Upon hearing this, Klein interjected:
"If, and I mean if, I want to ask Maric for help, how do I contact him?"
"Looking for Kaspars," Sharron replied succinctly.
"Okay." Klein shrugged and grunted, "What did you mean when you said we didn't need a demolition expert?"
Sharron's azure eyes remained completely unmoved.
"That's me."
"You are... you are the demolition expert? Wait, aren't you supposed to have special abilities, like Sequence 5 Beyonder? How come you're also a demolition expert..." Klein was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to respond.
Ultimately, he chose to believe the bodyguard and said carefully:
I went to visit him...
Before he finished speaking, he glanced at Kaspars, indicating that the following topic was not suitable for this ordinary person.
Physically speaking, black market arms dealers are indeed ordinary people... Klein added.
Sharron turned her head and looked at Kaspars, saying:
"Go and prepare the explosives."
"Two pounds."
"He's out."
"Yes, Ms. Sharron." Kaspars glanced at Klein, limped out of the billiard room, and didn't forget to close the door behind him.
Seeing the bodyguard just staring at him without saying a word, Klein felt like he was being watched by a female ghost, and quickly organized his thoughts before speaking:
"I found out Baronet Pound's residence and went to visit him in the middle of the night..."
After relaying Macht Pound's words verbatim, Klein began to demonstrate his reasoning, working backward from the result to the process:
"I believe he lied in many ways; a Viscount's family couldn't be so easily controlled secretly."
"Even a child could notice something amiss, how could the royal family and the church be completely oblivious?"
"After Macht Pound's Depravity grace, he had numerous opportunities to interact with outsiders and other nobles. If he had just a little courage, he could easily resolve any problems."
"Therefore, I believe he is definitely hiding something, and this is most likely related to that underground structure."
"Judging from his condition, that thing that seems to be Evil Spirit won't be able to escape for a long time, so I'm planning to use some explosives to destroy the entrance and prevent others from having a chance to go in. Um, I'm afraid they might accidentally release the Evil Spirit."
"Hmm." The bodyguard, Sharron, neither confirmed nor denied Klein's idea.
At this moment, Klein hesitated for a moment and asked:
"I don't know anything about explosives, so I'm preparing to draw up a layout diagram. I'd like to ask an explosives expert to provide the location and quantity of the explosives. If, if I were to ask you for help again, how much would I need to pay you?"
If it's too expensive, I'd rather hire a regular demolition expert. After all, this job only costs 50 pounds, while a bodyguard costs 1,000 pounds for 3 days... Klein had already made contingency plans.
"Free." Sharron's answer was as concise as possible.
Free? Klein was immediately startled.
In his common sense, free things are always the most expensive!
Sharron sat there quietly, and after a few seconds offered a brief explanation:
"After the entrance was blown up, I was the only one left who could get in and out."
"This is exactly what I want to do."
In other words, you plan to eliminate the Evil Spirit and reap the rewards once you're confident enough? Destroying the exit is actually helping you eliminate interference and potential predators, since other Sequence Beyonder can't pass through boulders and mud like spirits... well, except for the " Apprentice " pathway, but they don't know about that underground structure... Klein nodded in realization:
"Make a deal!"
After he finished speaking, he quickly added:
"Hmm... borrow a few more men from Maric, men who can keep their mouths shut. These are the helpers to show Miller Carter."
"Okay." Sharron did not refuse.
Klein deliberately avoided mentioning the payment for this, and said with a smile:
"Then tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock."
"We need to survey the surrounding terrain beforehand to prevent the blasting from causing significant damage."
Sharron nodded slightly, her figure gradually fading and disappearing from sight.
On Saturday morning, Xio Derecha once again took a public carriage to the East Borough to check on the progress of his commission.
While waiting to transfer, she suddenly felt the urge to buy a newspaper.
She took out a penny and bought a copy of the Backlund Post from the newsboy next to her, quickly flipping through it.
Suddenly, her gaze froze, because of a news item on page three:
"According to this newspaper, a serious explosion occurred at 7:10 pm last night in an apartment building located at 1 Dharavi Street in the East Borough, suspected to be caused by a gas leak. The tenant in room 6 on the 3rd floor, where the explosion occurred, died instantly, with no intact body remaining. As of midnight, the explosion had resulted in three deaths and sixteen injuries..."
1 Dharavi Street... Apartment 6, 3rd floor... Isn't this Williams' rented place? He's dead? Died from a gas leak explosion? No, no! Absolutely not! He wouldn't use gas so extravagantly, even if it was installed there! He just accepted my commission, could it be because of this? But, Lanarvus is a wanted criminal; if he found out someone was looking for him, he could just move to another place. There's no need to kill someone to keep a secret; that would only expose the problem...
This approach is so strange and radical, it's like something Lunatic would do...
He was clearly just a fraudster...
Poor Williams...
I will definitely avenge you!
The truth will definitely be found out!
Hugh gazed sadly and solemnly at the public carriage stopped in front of him, but did not get on.
She knew that going to the East Borough now would be very dangerous.
She planned to go back immediately and tell Fors to move to the spare rental house temporarily. She would then disguise herself, sneak into the East Borough, ask acquaintances for information, and try to find out the details of the incident and trace the killer's movements.
Ah, Miss Audrey's requests are never without danger... I thought that as long as the wanted fraudster wasn't cornered and prevented from escaping, he wouldn't retaliate viciously... It was my negligence; I'm the one who caused Williams' death... Hmm, it's also possible that he was gathering information on other things at the same time, which led to this disaster... Hugh closed his eyes, crossed the street, and headed towards the waiting point on the other side.
At 10:14, Klein and his bodyguard Sharron confirmed the surface conditions corresponding to the Quaternary building and arrived at the house at 8 Williams Street.
Sharron had vanished; Miller Carter saw Sherlock Moriarty, Detective with his three taciturn, burly assistants.
"This makes exploration easier," Klein explained.
Miller Carter's gaze swept over the three assistants who looked like they were capable fighters, and he nodded in satisfaction.
"Your preparations are faster than I expected. Do they have snake-repelling experts among them?"
"Yes, they are all very skilled at snake control," Klein answered without hesitation.
How could Living Corpse be afraid of being bitten by a snake?