Wilt turned his gun on Tris and continued:
"You don't have to pretend to be tough, either."
"Under the effects of Mind Breath, you must be extremely weak right now. You're at the end of your rope and have no way to kill me."
"Even an ordinary police officer could take you down. If you don't leave now, you might really lose your chance."
Tris knew that what Wilt had said earlier was true. Hesitation and conflict appeared in his eyes.
He didn't want to give up. He wanted to take another chance and see whether Wilt was bluffing, just as he was.
But just then, he heard Wilt speak again. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not sparing you because I'm as weak as you are. It's because I know Sharon."
"I'm letting you go for her sake."
"You know Sharon?" Tris looked surprised at the name and abandoned the idea of making another attempt.
"Of course." Wilt nodded.
"I heard about you from her."
"I know her very well. If you don't believe me, you can ask her."
Whether Sharon knows me is another matter.
Hearing that, Tris put away his dagger. Taking Wilt for one of Sharon's bed partners, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Vincent," Wilt replied.
"My name is Vincent."
"Vincent." Tris committed the name to memory, intending to ask Madam Sharon about him when he returned.
He then turned and walked toward the window, preparing to leave, but Wilt's voice rang out again:
"Wait!"
Tris tensed instantly. He hurriedly gripped his dagger and looked at Wilt, on guard and ready to strike at any moment:
"What is it?"
Seeing his reaction, Wilt smiled, then picked up the dagger from the floor and tossed it to him:
"Don't leave things lying around. They can be used to track you."
"As for this revolver, I'll hold on to it for now. I'll give it back the next time we meet."
Tris looked at Wilt, then at the dagger in his hand. He had actually been careless enough to forget something so important.
But this also made Tris believe what Wilt had just said all the more, because if Wilt meant him harm, there would have been no need to warn him.
Tris put both daggers away, then crashed straight through the window.
Bang! His figure disappeared into the sea.
"Some of the Potion in my body was actually digested. That's an unexpected bonus." Surprise flashed across Wilt's eyes.
He then tossed the revolver in his hand to the floor.
Clatter!
"Leaving this revolver here, the official Beyonders should be able to use it to track down Tris."
Wilt had warned Tris about the dagger because he was afraid Tris would suddenly remember it and come back for it.
He used a dagger to gain Tris's trust, then, once Tris was truly gone, he would leave the revolver behind to frame him.
"Hmm... I can't really call it framing him. After all, he was the one who did it. At most, I'm just saving the official Beyonders a few detours."
Wilt then used a Cryptologist's exceptional powers of observation to erase the traces of his presence. Once everything was dealt with, he too jumped into the sea through the window...
Tingen City.
Wilt walked down a street.
He had changed into a dry set of clothes. He had bought them with money, and the money had been stolen.
"As long as I follow Amon's moral standards, I'll have an inexhaustible supply of money."
"But I'm avatar 041 right now, so ultimately, the one stealing is Amon, not me, Wilt."
"But I stole too little money, and people on the street don't carry a few pounds around with them. So I need a way to make money now, starting with a large sum to deal with my immediate needs."
"Sequence 8 is Swindler, so I need to stop behaving like a thief and swindle others to make more money. That would also be a good way to digest the Potion."
"Besides, why I was sent to Tingen City is another question worth thinking about."
Wilt turned into an alley with his head lowered in thought. Just then, someone approached from the opposite direction. Wilt glanced at him instinctively, then suddenly froze.
The man wore a double-breasted, pitch-black clergyman's robe and a soft hat. His hair was dark blond, and his blue pupils were so dark they looked black. He had a high nose bridge and tightly pressed lips, with features like a classical sculpture, without a single wrinkle. His most striking feature was that he was blind in one eye.
"The former Archbishop who defected from the Church of Evernight-Ince Zangwill!"
Wilt instinctively wanted to run, but he noticed that Ince had spotted him too.
No, he's a Sequence 5 Gatekeeper. If I run, he'll definitely catch me, and I'm no match for him in a fight.
Wilt forced himself to remain calm, but his mind raced for a solution. I have to think of something, or he'll definitely kill me to silence me.
Wait! A thought flashed through Wilt's mind.
I'm an Amon avatar. Why should I run? Why should I avoid confronting him?
No, he should be the one who's afraid!
If it were another Archbishop or a deacon, I'd turn and run without a word. After all, they can pray to the Evernight Goddess. But would Ince Zangwill dare?
He's a traitor to the Church of Evernight. He wouldn't dare!
As a former Archbishop, he should have learned about Amon, so I can try to scare him off by posing as Amon.
With that thought, Wilt began his performance.
Across from him, Ince Zangwill had paid Wilt little attention when he first saw him, taking him for a passerby.
Then he noticed that Wilt seemed to recognize him. Ince Zangwill's expression instantly darkened, and he felt the urge to kill.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Ince Zangwill intended to kill Wilt to avoid leaving a hidden danger.
But just as he was about to act, Ince Zangwill suddenly saw the corners of Wilt's mouth curl up into a faint, playful smile.
Wilt then took a monocle from his pocket, breathed on it, and placed it over his right eye:
"Interesting!"
Boom!!! At that word, Ince Zangwill's thoughts exploded, and his mind went blank.
His pupils contracted sharply with fear, and his face turned deathly pale. He recalled a top-secret file he had seen when he was an Archbishop.
Ince Zangwill instinctively wanted to pray to the Evernight Goddess, but then he suddenly remembered that he had defected.
Ince Zangwill stood frozen for several seconds. Then he noticed that Wilt was merely watching him curiously with a playful look, as though he had found an interesting toy.
But Wilt made no other move, and hope rose in Ince Zangwill's heart. He remembered some of the ways to deal with this from the file.
Gulp! Ince Zangwill swallowed. At last, he made a decision and, with difficulty, raised his right leg and tried to take a step forward.
Tap! His foot landed firmly, and nothing happened.
Ince Zangwill continued walking.
Tap, tap, tap!!!
He walked forward step by step, drawing closer and closer to Wilt, growing more and more nervous.
Ince Zangwill forced himself not to look at Wilt, treating him as though he didn't exist. Soon, he came face-to-face with him.
Tap! Ince Zangwill did not stop. He brushed past Wilt, his steps unhurried and steady.
Only after he had turned a corner and the gaze behind him had vanished did Ince Zangwill hurry away from this place of trouble through the Spirit World.
A few seconds later, Ince Zangwill appeared in his room. He saw an ordinary-looking quill writing on its own in a notebook.
Ince Zangwill's furious voice rang through the room:
"So it was your doing after all-0-08 Quill of Alzuhod!!!"