12th!
That Devil assassin!
The moment Klein saw the corpse and heard the sound, his hair stood on end; he knew he was in for a terrible ordeal.
In his line of sight, the living room was decorated mainly in bright yellow, and the coffee table, sofa and other items were all normal, except for the carpet which was stained with bright red blood and was slowly seeping in.
Beside the empty female corpse in the abdominal wound, a large black dog crouched, its mouth half-open, revealing sharp, piercing white teeth that sent shivers down one's spine. On each tooth grew dark red, rust-like marks, seemingly the result of long-term munching on flesh without regular cleaning.
At this moment, bloody intestines were still wrapped around several of the large black dog's teeth, surrounded by bits of torn raw flesh.
Its head moved closer, and its magma-like eyes reflected Klein, dressed as a worker, and his disguised face.
"Heh!" A defiant growl came from the large black dog's throat.
It really is an animal! It's Sequence 6 " Devil," a " Devil " about to ascend! And all the preparations I made today weren't aimed at it... Several thoughts flashed through Klein's mind in an instant.
Suddenly, the black dog's body expanded rapidly, transforming into Monster two or three meters tall. Behind it, a pair of enormous bat wings slowly unfurled, and ram horns covered with mysterious patterns grew beside its ears.
Within its moist, glistening fur, bursts of crimson and blue flames leaped forth, releasing a strong smell of sulfur.
Almost simultaneously, Klein pushed off the spot and instead of retreating, swung his cane forward, charging towards the Devil giant dog like a cannonball.
Sizzle!
The black, Devil giant hound lunged forward swiftly, its spiked claws flashing out afterimages as it struck Klein.
Without a sound, its claws pierced through the figure, as if piercing through air!
Klein's figure then dimmed and quickly became transparent.
This is just an illusion!
It's an illusion created by Klein!
At that moment, he rolled on the spot, got close to the bay window, and then pushed off with his left hand, lifting his entire body into the air and crashing straight into the glass.
After identifying the enemy, he made up his mind to run away immediately!
Upon seeing this, the Devil giant dog's magma-like eyes suddenly brightened, as if flames were burning fiercely within them.
It opened its mouth and uttered a foul-smelling word, a word from the Devil Language:
"Die!"
puff!
Klein's body froze instantly, his heart feeling as if it were being gripped tightly by Invisible Hand.
The figure frozen in mid-air instantly thinned and faded, turning into a roughly cut paper doll.
And this paper figure was covered in red rust, mottled red rust!
With a clang and a snap, two sounds, almost indistinguishable in order, Klein's figure reappeared, smashing through the bay window and lunging towards the stone-paved street outside. His Paper Figurine Substitute slowly floated down, igniting a flame that emitted the smell of sulfur.
The Devil giant dog growled and pounced again, leaping onto the windowsill.
A crimson fireball tinged with blue flew out of its mouth and blasted towards the enemy's escape route.
As soon as Klein landed, he immediately rolled again. The crimson fireball with blue hues slammed into him, but it didn't explode immediately. It seemed to be affected by an unseen force, slowing down the explosion.
Boom!
After Klein tumbled and leaped away a distance, the fireball expanded and exploded, shattering the surrounding stone slabs.
Seeing that the Devil hound was about to give chase, Klein, already prepared, opened his mouth.
He shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Murder!"
Help!
"Murder!"
"Help!"
The sound seemed to have been given a special effect, spreading far and wide in the quiet night, waking up the residents of the entire street, and reaching the ears of patrolmen two streets away.
The Devil giant dog paused its attack abruptly, hesitated for a second, then retreated back into the room and began cleaning up the scene.
Klein's frantic figure vanished instantly amidst cries of "Murder! Help!"
Inside a nearby house, the embers in a fireplace that had long been extinguished suddenly reignited, and an exaggerated flame rose up.
As if performing magic, Klein Blink in the flames and leaped out, cane in hand.
Then, using the " Master Key," he Door Opening every door he encountered and passed through every wall, quickly escaping in another direction.
"Phew, in a situation like this, a cry for help without extraordinary power is much more useful than firing a gun with simulated 'bang bang bang' sounds..." Klein sighed as he took out a bottle of Amanda hydrosol and dripped a few drops onto himself.
Because the " Devil's" original race was canine, he had to be wary of its special ability to track by scent!
He continued walking until he reached another intersection, where Klein stopped and looked around.
Seeing that the area was relatively quiet and had not yet been affected, he hurried to the street and hired a horse-drawn carriage.
Klein finally breathed a sigh of relief after the carriage had traveled a considerable distance in the dead of night, knowing that the " Devil " would not catch up.
The " Master Key " is really strange... It actually led me astray to a murder scene. I'll have to be extremely careful when using it in the future... That thing really was an animal turned " Devil "... Where did its Potion and formula come from? Does it have a human companion? How did it choose its targets in its serial killings?
Well, the good news is that once this is confirmed, it will be much more difficult for it to commit another crime, and the probability of it being caught will increase significantly...
Thoughts and doubts began to surface in Klein's mind, while the carriage sped along the wide, deserted road, passing between rows of gas lamps.
Suddenly, a thought struck Klein, and an image naturally appeared in his mind:
Pea vines hung down from the sky, weaving a dense forest path, but the coachman, oblivious, continued to drive the carriage through the green vegetation.
not good!
Without hesitation, Klein lunged at the car window, intending to jump onto the street.
Bang! The carriage shook, and he was bounced back.
At the same time, the pea vines really did droop down!
Klein frowned, trying to Flame Manipulation to ignite the carriage, but his snap of his fingers made no sound.
At this moment, the surroundings became unusually quiet; even the sounds of horses' hooves trotting over green plants and wheels speeding by had disappeared.
Klein tried his best to calm himself down. He looked out the window and saw that the carriage had already traveled halfway up the road woven from pea vines.
This... this isn't Backlund... He narrowed his eyes.
Just then, the carriage stopped, and outside the window were hammock-like seats made of pea vines hanging in mid-air.
A pair of feet clad in black leather boots dangled from there, and a soft but emotionless voice reached Klein's ears:
What were you doing just now?
It was that woman in the museum... a High-Sequence powerhouse... She didn't seem to recognize me, after all, I had disguised myself with the Azik Copper Whistle... She must have heard the cries for help and came to check... Klein's thoughts became unusually active at this moment.
He deliberately swallowed and said:
"I'm a private Detective, and I'm working with a lot of friends on a recent series of murders."
"I have a magical item called the ' Master Key,' which can Door Opening and pass through walls, but it can also cause me to get lost."
"It was during this process that I ran straight into the crime scene. Because I was no match for them, I could only run and shout for help."
"Every word I said is the truth..." Klein silently added in his mind.
After he finished speaking, there was a brief silence outside, but he felt a gaze pierce through the carriage, through the barriers, and directly scrutinizing the items he was carrying.
Thankfully, just to be on the safe side, I left Azik Copper Whistle and bookmark on the Gray Fog... At this moment, Klein was so grateful.
Caution and caution are indeed useful!
After an indescribable, unbearable silence, a soft but emotionless female voice finally spoke:
"That key is cursed; do not use it unless absolutely necessary."
As soon as she finished speaking, everything around her suddenly changed. The pea vines, the forest path, and the route to the sky all disappeared. The carriage was still driving on the street, passing between the elegantly designed iron-black gas lamps.
Klein remained on tenterhooks until the carriage reached the vicinity of the East Borough, where he paid Soli's fare.
Normally, horse-drawn carriages wouldn't enter any streets in the East Borough, as that would likely result in robbery.
In his one-bedroom apartment on Black Palm Street, Klein changed his clothes and went straight to sleep. He didn't try to return to Minsk Street after midnight, knowing that the situation in Backlund would be even more tense, with various checks and searches likely to be conducted outside.
He didn't immediately go above the Gray Fog to investigate the secret of the "bookmark," behaving just as he had described to the mysterious woman—a Low-Sequence private Detective with some extraordinary abilities.
"Tonight has been quite an adventure, very exciting. I only stole something... Well, most of the problems are the fault of the ' Master Key '..." Klein said with a self-deprecating laugh, and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, breathing in the pungent, throat-irritating fog, he slowly returned home, retrieving the newspapers and letters from his mailbox.
After Door Opening, he casually unfolded the newspaper and glanced at it, finding the headline on the front page unsurprisingly:
"The 12th case!"
" The Devil has returned! Police claim to have identified the killer!"
As for the theft of exhibits from the Kingdom Museum, it was only mentioned briefly in an inconspicuous place, without even specifying what items were stolen.
The unstamped letter that arrived with the newspaper was the water bill, which Klein had to pay himself. He glanced at it, tossed it onto the coffee table, and went back upstairs to boil water for a bath.
Only when the water vapor filled the bathroom did he seize the opportunity, taking four steps backward to enter the Gray Fog.
Inside the majestic, unchanging ancient palace, Klein sat down and picked up the bookmark depicting Emperor Roselle.
"It wasn't easy to get you!" He gently stroked the surface of the cardboard and sighed silently.