Inside the house Hugh and Fors rented in the Cherwood Borough.
Fors had just finalized the opening of his new book and was in a good mood, preparing to reward himself with a cigarette, when Hugh pushed open the door to the study.
"Smoking is harmful to your health," Hugh said, sniffing.
Fors the confusion on her face, Fors didn't argue, but instead asked:
"You seem to have run into some trouble?"
Hugh scratched his rough blond hair and plopped down on the chair next to him.
"That person contacted me before; he's the one who sold me the ' Sheriff ' formula through someone else at the gathering Mr. A organized."
He gave me a fairly simple task, with an initial reward of 30 pounds, but I don't know if there are any hidden dangers involved...
Fors briefly recalled:
"That guy... he must have an organization behind him, but why would he try to recruit you? Aren't he afraid that your intelligence will drag him down and cause the entire organization to be completely destroyed? You don't have anything that can be taken advantage of. Your looks are passable, but you're too short. I guess your life is the only thing worth anything... Um, what mission?"
Hugh was already used to being teased by her friend, so she ignored her earlier words and went straight to answering the next question:
"Investigate who has recently inquired about Capim."
" Capim? That human trafficker who should be hanged, no, burned at the stake?" Although Fors wasn't a bounty Hunter, gathering material was Author's instinct, so she often had Hugh recount her observations and rumors.
Hugh nodded. "It was him, but he's dead, and it seems he died a rather gruesome death."
"How did he die? Was he slowly slashed to death with a knife?" Fors asked, quite pleased and curious.
"That person didn't describe it in detail, maybe tomorrow's newspaper will," Xiu said after a couple of seconds of thought. "He only mentioned the special circumstances of the scene, saying that Capim's body was covered with tarot cards, and his face was covered with the ' Judgement ' and 'Emperor' cards."
"The ' Judgement ' card should mean ' Capim is Judgement, and the result is a death sentence.' What does the 'Emperor' card represent? The identity of the murderer, no, the hero?" Bestselling Author Fors instinctively began to interpret the unique layout of the crime scene.
Suddenly, she paused, stunned.
Tarot cards? A corpse scattered all over the tarot cards? Fors suddenly thought of the Concealment organization he had recently joined:
Tarot Club!
Could it be one of our own members? But there's no one codenamed "Emperor"... If it is, this is the first time I've found traces of the Tarot Club in the real world... We're not just a Concealment organization that exists only above the Gray Fog... Fors's thoughts were churning, filled with both surprise and worry.
Led by a waiter, Klein entered the familiar living room.
There was still only one candle in the room, its dim light illuminating the surroundings like a scene from a ghost story. Coupled with the mysterious figures dressed in black robes and wearing iron masks, the atmosphere became even more intense.
As soon as he stepped inside, Klein suddenly had a strange feeling.
He felt the flickering candlelight was staring at him.
He felt the flames would suddenly explode, igniting his hair and robes.
He felt that the curtains hanging quietly behind the bay window would suddenly swing up, enveloping his body, covering his mouth and nose, and forcibly suffocating him.
What's going on? Klein was stunned, his nerves on edge.
It wasn't exactly a premonition of danger, but it was an intuition that was hard to ignore.
Klein carefully found a seat and sat down.
The moment his buttocks touched the surface of the chair, he felt as if the chair would suddenly explode, and thick wooden splinters would pierce through his body.
This reminded him of several videos he had seen on Earth—a poorly made pneumatic lift seat exploding, with steel bars and fragments piercing the owner's buttocks and drilling into their abdomen, leaving the scene a bloody and gruesome mess.
Why do I keep having these bad associations? Could it be the negative impact of the spirit injury I suffered in the previous battle? Klein looked around thoughtfully and noticed that the chubby Apothecary still hadn't come this time.
What happened? Or have they already left Backlund? Klein muttered to himself for a moment, then heard the old man, the " Eye of Wisdom," announce the start of the gathering.
In the time that followed, Klein sometimes felt that the chandelier on the ceiling would fall at an angle and hit him on the head, sometimes that the coffee table in front of the " Eye of Wisdom " would suddenly move sideways and trip him, and sometimes he suspected that the members of the party around him were full of malice and might suddenly start a fight.
This made him restless, both wary and suspicious, and he had no interest in paying attention to the various transactions, whether successful or aborted.
If a sense of danger is like the occasional vibration of a cell phone reminding you of incoming messages or calls, then this inexplicable intuition is like a constantly running electric drill, making it hard for me to relax and focus on anything else... Klein tried to rub his temple, but instead touched the cold iron mask.
In that instant, he felt his iron mask suddenly cave in, pressing against his face and embedding itself into his brain.
Was it really because the spirit was injured, causing hallucinations? Klein frowned.
He had originally intended to make a request at this gathering to purchase the mutated pituitary gland and blood from the Thousand-faced Hunter's brain, but given his current situation, he had no choice but to cautiously abandon the idea.
--Although the gathering organized by the old man " Eye of Wisdom " is not of a high level and is unlikely to involve high-level Monster like the Thousand-faced Hunter, Klein believes that many members here have attended other gatherings and may have access to relevant information and clues.
Feeling uneasy, Klein attended the party as an observer.
As soon as he took off his robe, removed his mask, and left the room, the inexplicable intuition that everyone and everything was trying to harm him vanished instantly; the eeriness disappeared!
This... Klein's pupils contracted slightly as he confirmed that the phenomenon he had just witnessed was not due to an injury to his spirit, otherwise he wouldn't be in two states, one internal and one external.
He suspected that there was an unseen, unsensible, and terrifying person or thing in the living room where the party was being held. This aroused his " Seer's " Spirit Intuition understanding and " Clown's " sense of danger. However, due to the other party's suppression or special nature, this arousal appeared in the form of overly vivid associations, which prevented him from becoming alert.
Who could it be? This is terrifying! Just its existence gives me a feeling of impending loss of control... Klein quietly moved away from the house of the old man " Eye of Wisdom " and headed towards the nearest street.
Suddenly, he had a guess:
This area is near the " Bravehearts " bar. Sharron, Steve the " Wraith " Maric killed), and others are responsible for monitoring the surrounding area...
Their deaths would inevitably enrage that High-Sequence member of the Rose School of Thought, drawing his attention here and to the Beyonder active near the " Bravehearts " bar...
Was that him just now?
Thankfully, I used items like the " Biotoxin Bottle " and the " The Sun Brooch " tonight, and to avoid being Divination, I left them on the Gray Fog... Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable... The " Magician " who just performed an impossible act would have died right here...
The world of Beyonder is truly dangerous...
Inside the Saint Samuel Cathedral, Ace Snake looked at the captain of the Mandated Punishers squad before him, his silver eyes devoid of emotion, and asked:
Who is Capim?
Why would his villa have an underground prison?
The squad leader of the Mandated Punishers team immediately replied:
"A wealthy man, rumored to be involved in multiple cases of missing girls, is suspected of being a human trafficker and also secretly involved in the slave trade."
"That underground prison proved the rumors true."
"Why would a human trafficker receive the protection of several Beyonder, and not of low Sequence?" Snake pressed.
"Sir, this requires investigation. We tried to find clues using extraordinary methods, but all attempts failed," the leader of the Mandated Punishers squad replied somewhat nervously.
"I tried it too." Snake did not blame him.
The high-ranking member of the Church of Storms paused for a moment before saying:
"Continue investigating this matter. Also, find that Sequence 6 or Sequence 5 ghost."
After his subordinates left, Snake picked up his pen and wrote down several individuals who needed special attention in his Record:
" Capim, human trafficking, tarot card rituals, strange but low- Sequence ghosts, Concealment schemes."
Inside the Earl Hall's luxurious villa in Queens Borough.
Audrey was waiting for the maid to cut her food when she suddenly heard her father Earl Hall, who habitually read the newspaper at breakfast, chuckle.
" Capim is dead."
"Who is he?" Audrey asked, her eyes wide.
Actually, she wasn't curious at all about who Capim was; she was simply cooperating with her father, who clearly had a desire to communicate.
This is both the daughter's special talent and the instinct of a " Mind Reader ".
"A wealthy man who might be a human trafficker in private, he's on good terms with certain people, huh..." Earl Hall chuckled. "He was murdered last night, there were obvious signs of Judgement at the scene, and all the newspapers are calling the killer a Robin Hood, the Robin Hood ' Black Emperor,' hmm, that's a name given to him by the code name of the ruler of the ancient Solomon Empire."
A thief? A thief " Black Emperor "? " Black Emperor "... Audrey immediately thought of the Card of Blasphemy that currently belonged to Mr. " The Fool," the highest-level item she had ever encountered.
She suddenly became interested in the case of Capim's murder:
"That sounds interesting. Although it's illegal, I still want to say that the thief did a really good job. Hmm, Dad, what happened?"
"The police and church authorities haven't released any specific details, and I haven't met with them yet. The newspaper described it like this: the Robin Hood wore black armor, a black crown, and a matching cloak. He entered Capim's villa, not only stealing all the valuables from the safe but also taking the lives of Capim and his wicked henchmen, rescuing the girls imprisoned in the dungeon. He sprinkled tarot cards all over Capim, the most prominent being the two on his face: one ' Judgement ' and the other 'The Emperor,'" Earl Hall said, smiling as he held up the newspaper.
Tarot cards... the " Judgement " card and the "Emperor" card... Audrey's eyes suddenly lit up.
PS: Next chapter preview. "What? A safe?" Klein looked at the newspaper and almost blurted it out.