Snap!
Klein noticed that Isengard Stanton's back was noticeably sunken, and felt a dull ache in his own spine.
With a thud, Isengard, who was already leaning forward, fell to the ground, seemingly losing consciousness from the pain for a moment.
Kaslana, who had thrown that punch, stood there, panting with a blank look in her eyes, her forehead covered in cold sweat, and made no follow-up attack.
She was as if she had just woken up from a long nightmare caused by her emotions, all her strength completely gone in the previous outburst.
Huff, huff, Kaslana swayed, about to collapse.
Klein narrowed his eyes, took two steps forward, and rushed to Isengard Stanton's side.
He crouched down, trying to help the other person up.
Lying there, Isengard cried out in agony:
Run!
"Leave me alone!"
Clearly, he didn't believe that the trio, one severely injured and the other powerless, could hold off the " Apostle of Desire " in an instant, so he ordered Klein to escape immediately and reunite with the official Beyonder, otherwise all three of them would die here.
At the same time, Isengard struggled to raise his right hand, attempting to use some extraordinary ability to draw the attention of the official Beyonder a short distance away to the anomaly inside.
As for the miniature "telegraph machine" with a loudspeaker, it had already flown to the wall after Isengard fell to the ground.
Klein hesitated, about to make a decision, when he saw a viscous black "liquid" flowing down from the ceiling, quickly condensing into a pitch-black figure.
The figure seemed to be completely shrouded in a black curtain, with only a pair of cold Blue Eyes exposed.
Upon seeing him, Klein felt as if he were witnessing the most intense emotions and desires of all living beings:
Fear, anger, Greed, Envy, hunger, lust, and so on.
The " Apostle of Desire " did not waste the carefully crafted atmosphere and immediately entered the living room.
At this moment, among the Detective trio, Kaslana was exhausted due to an emotional outburst, Isengard Stanton suffered a severe spinal injury and was basically incapacitated, and only Klein was unharmed.
However, aside from his revolver and extraordinary bullets, all his magical items were above the Gray Fog, and opposite him was a Sequence 5 " Apostle of Desire," a powerful being capable of raising Devil Dog!
Just then, the corners of Klein's mouth curled up slightly.
He suddenly slashed his right hand, which was placed on Isengard's back wound, causing the obvious indentation to shift eerily to the side, to a rib!
The most amazing and extraordinary ability of a " Magician ":
" Damage Transfer "!
It can transfer the wound to the original person once, turning a serious injury into a minor one, but it cannot transfer the damage to other people or objects!
As soon as Klein saw Isengard Stanton injured, he had already devised a plan:
First, pretend there's no way out, let the " Apostle of Desire " appear, then shift the Great Detective's wounds, leaving him with only a minor rib fracture. At this point, Klein believes Isengard will simultaneously deal with the " Apostle of Desire," which is humanity's most instinctive death throes.
In this way, even if the " Apostle of Desire " realizes something is wrong, it won't have time to break free. Once Klein completes the "treatment" and joins forces with the Great Detective, they can entangle the target and delay until the official Beyonder arrives!
Almost simultaneously, a vibrant green appeared on the surface of the ring Isengard was originally pointing outwards, and his body was quickly enveloped in a soft glow, causing his wounds to heal rapidly.
His rib fracture healed instantly.
The Detective's pain was real, but his helplessness was not!
However, this overlapped with Klein's assistance.
The " Apostle of Desire," who was about to make a move, suddenly widened his eyes upon seeing this scene and abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Unperturbed, he immediately turned and ran towards the window.
During this process, his body rapidly collapsed, turning into a viscous black liquid.
The liquid seeped into the ground and soaked into the walls, disappearing instantly.
Klein's raised right hand only had time to snap his fingers once.
The Air Bullet pierced through the open window and shot outside, scattering sparks, but the " Apostle of Desire " had completely vanished.
"You ran really fast, without even a moment's hesitation... Are you even Devil... This is going to be a huge problem... "Klein's lips twitched as he turned to look at Isengard Stanton, who had rolled over and stood up beside him.
The great Detective happened to be looking at him as well.
"You know how to treat?"
"You know how to treat?"
The two spoke at the same time, asking the same question.
After exchanging a glance, Isengard shook his head and smiled wryly:
"I never imagined that he would escape from the trap I set."
As he spoke, a faint light emanated from his ring, and he looked around to confirm that the " Apostle of Desire " was far away.
Isengard then explained two sentences:
"I didn't have a chance to simulate similar healing abilities this afternoon, but I thought I could use this to set a trap, making the ' Apostle of Desire ' appear because of my serious injury, so I deliberately bandaged my wounds in an exaggerated way."
He pointed to the padding marks near his shoulder on his left arm.
"Sure enough, this came in handy, but I didn't expect you could handle serious injuries, and as a result..." Isengard sighed softly.
As a result, both of them prioritized "treating" their injuries, and neither of them bothered the " Apostle of Desire," causing it to flee as soon as it sensed something was wrong.
Neither I nor Stanton had any hidden cards or arrangements that the " Apostle of Desire " was unaware of, intending to use them to trap him. But instead, they canceled each other out, letting their target escape... Is this what they call positives equaling negatives? Klein smiled helplessly:
"This is because we don't understand each other well enough, and our cooperation isn't smooth enough."
"No, it's my fault," Isengard said sincerely. "When I saw that you didn't run away or defend yourself, but instead came to help me, I should have deduced that you were calm, confident, and had a solution. Unfortunately, while wearing this ring, my brain was constantly under high load, making it difficult to think about anything else."
"2-081," this Sealed Artifact, also has a passive intelligence-reducing effect... Klein chuckled.
"Mr. Stanton, this is not the time to discuss who is responsible. The ' Apostle of Desire ' has escaped; we need to consider what to do next."
As Isengard removed the ring, he turned towards the living room door and said:
"The official Beyonder are arriving soon. I'll go outside to Placate Stuart and the others, and then we can discuss a solution. Are you coming with me, or do your own thing first?"
An official Beyonder... Mr. Stanton mentioned the Nighthawks, the Machinery Hivemind, and the military... I hope it's not someone I know... Hmm, my Spirituality didn't warn me, it shouldn't be... Mr. Stanton is giving me a chance to pack up and deal with the sensitive items to avoid trouble from unfriendly official Beyonder... Klein's mind raced through a series of thoughts as he pondered and asked:
"Mr. Stanton, where was the ' Apostle of Desire ' when you pinpointed his location?"
Isengard thought for a moment and said:
"Your bedroom, sit at your desk."
... How arrogant... Klein pointed to the door and said:
I'll go there to check and see if there are any traces left.
"If we could find out the true nature of the ' Apostle of Desire,' the hunt for him would be much simpler."
"I'll leave the rest to you."
"Okay." Isengard walked to the side and helped the weak and powerless Kaslana to her feet.
Seeing this, Klein suddenly found it amusing:
We've discussed so much, made preparations and laid traps, but in the end, we still couldn't hold back the " Apostle of Desire," and things have turned out like this... Unexpected events always outnumber preparations... So, the " Magician " is only Sequence 7...
After leaving the room, Klein went straight upstairs to his bedroom.
The interior layout remained unchanged, even the distance between the chairs and tables was the same as before, but Klein seemed to see a figure enveloped in a dark liquid:
He sat there, staring straight ahead, patiently and calmly waiting for his chance.
No wonder he's called " the Cold-blooded "... Klein looked at the glass of the bay window, wondering if he could Divination what it might have reflected.
The " Devil " path is very adept at crime, so it shouldn't be so easy for them to leave clues... But they could try above the Gray Fog... Klein checked around and began burning some occult notes he had casually made.
Not long after he finished dealing with the situation, he saw several strangers go up to the second floor.
The leader was a man with strong facial features, but he had a head of fluffy, messy, and stubborn brown hair.
He held in his hand an ancient silver mirror with strange patterns, its two sides decorated with black gemstones forming "eyes".
"Hello, Mr. Moriarty, I am Ikanser Bernard of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. May I inspect this place?"
Klein nodded and said:
"No problem."
He immediately replied politely:
"Do you need me to stay with you and answer any questions you may have?"
"Okay, thank you for your help. Mr. Stanton mentioned your situation," Ikanser said with a smile.
Several teammates followed behind him, each with a different attitude towards Klein: some ignored him, some were curious, and some harbored considerable hostility.
My situation? How exactly did Mr. Stanton introduce me, and what kind of story did he fabricate? Klein's thoughts raced as he followed Ikanser back into the bedroom, while the other official Beyonder split into pairs, each responsible for different areas on the second floor.
"Is this where the ' Apostle of Desire ' sat?" Ikanser asked, pointing to the chair in front of the desk.
He had clearly already consulted Isengard Stanton.
"Yes," Klein answered readily.
Ikanser didn't say anything more. He picked up the silver mirror and gently stroked its surface three times with his right hand.
After a slight pause, he spoke in a deep voice:
"Honorable Arrodes, my question is, what did the Devil who sat here before look like?"
The surrounding lights suddenly deepened, seemingly imbued with the mist of rain, while a strange shimmering light Blink on the surface of the silver mirror, converging to create a scene:
A person covered in a thick, black liquid sat in a chair, with his back to the window and his face towards the bed.
Then, the scene changed, and the dressing mirror in the corner of the room vaguely reflected the profile of the dark figure, a profile also obscured by "pitch black".
But you can still vaguely make out some outlines.
The " Apostle of Desire " has high cheekbones and a pair of cold Blue Eyes.
PS: Problem solved! It really was the fault of that stupid Windows 10 system's random updates. I found the wireless network adapter after resetting the system, but it also restored my computer's partitions, so all my data was gone. Luckily, I know how to search for partitions and recover data. Now I'll remember to turn off automatic updates...