Lord of the Mysteries - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Returning

The Antigonus notebook is in the apartment across the kidnappers'!

Although it was very coincidental, Klein believed that his intuition was correct .

He immediately got out of bed and rapidly changed out of the old clothes he usually wore to bed . He picked up a white shirt beside him and draped it on, quickly buttoning from top to bottom .

One, two, three . . . He suddenly realized that he was "missing" buttons . The left and right sides did not seem to match .

On careful look, Klein realized that he had made a mistake buttoning the first button, causing the shirt to warp .

He shook his head helplessly before taking a deep breath and slowly breathing out, using some of his Cogitation techniques to restore his calm .

After putting on his white shirt and black trousers, he barely managed to wear his armpit holster steadily . He pulled out the revolver he hid under his soft pillow and holstered it .

Without time to tie a bow tie, he draped his formal suit on and with a hat and cane in each hand, he walked to the door . After putting on his halved top hat, Klein gently twisted the door handle and walked into the corridor .

He carefully closed his bedroom's wooden door and sneaked downstairs like a thief . He used a fountain pen and paper in the living room to leave a note, informing his siblings that he had forgotten to mention that he had to be early for work today .

The moment he was out the door, Klein felt a cool breeze and his entire being calmed down .

The street in front of him was dark and silent without any pedestrians . Only the gas lamps illuminated the streets .

Klein took out his pocket watch from his pocket and snapped it open . It was just six in the morning and the crimson moonlight had not completely faded away . However, there was a hue of sunrise over the horizon .

He was just about to seek out an expensive for-hire carriage when he saw a two-horse, four-wheeled trackless carriage approaching him .

"There are public carriages this early in the morning?" Klein was puzzled as he went forward and waved for it to stop .

"Good morning, Sir . " The carriage driver stopped the horses skillfully .

The ticketing officer beside him had his hand to his mouth while yawning .

"To Zouteland Street . " Klein scooped out two pennies from his pocket and four halfpence .

"Four pence," the ticketing officer replied without any hesitation .

After paying for the ride, Klein got onto the carriage and found it empty . It exuded a clear loneliness amid the dark night .

"You are the first one," said the carriage driver with a smile .

The two brown horses widened their pace as they proceeded briskly .

"To be honest, I never imagined there to be a public carriage so early in the morning . " Klein sat near the carriage driver and made idle chatter to divert his attention and relax his tense mind .

The carriage driver said in a self-deprecating manner, "From six in the morning to nine at night, but all I earn is one pound a week . "

"Are there no breaks?" inquired Klein in bafflement .

"We take shifts to rest once a week . " The carriage driver's tone turned heavy .

The ticketing officer beside him added, "We are in charge of plying the streets from six to eleven in the morning . Following that, we have lunch and an afternoon break . Near dinnertime, which is six in the evening, we replace our colleagues . . . Even if we do not need rest, the two horses will need it . "

"It wasn't anything like that in the past . There was an accident that should not have happened . Due to fatigue, a carriage driver lost control of his carriage and it toppled . It resulted in us having shifts . . . Those bloodsuckers would never become this kind so suddenly otherwise!" The carriage driver scoffed .

Under the illumination of dawn, the carriage drove towards Zouteland Street and picked up seven to eight passengers on the way .

After Klein was less tense, he did not converse further . He closed his eyes and recalled the experiences from yesterday, hoping to notice if he had forgotten anything .

By the time the skies were bright when the sun was fully up, the carriage finally arrived at Zouteland Street .

Klein pressed his hat with his left hand and briskly jumped off the carriage .

He quickly stepped into 36 Zouteland Street and arrived outside Blackthorn Security Company after going up the flight of stairs .

The door was still closed and had yet to open .

Klein took out the ring of keys by his waist and found the corresponding brass key and inserted it into the keyhole and twisted it .

He pushed forward as the door slowly opened . He saw the black-haired, green-eyed Leonard Mitchell sniffing at a recently popular cigarette .

"To be honest, I prefer cigars . . . You seem to be in a rush?" the poet-like Nighthawk asked in a relaxed and cozy manner .

"Where's Captain?" Klein asked instead of answering .

Leonard pointed at the partition .

"He's in the office . As an advanced Sleepless, he only needs two hours of sleep in the day . I believe it's a potion those factory owners or bankers would like the most . "

Klein nodded and quickly passed through the partition . He saw that Dunn Smith had opened the door to his office and he was standing at its entrance .

"What's the matter?" Dressed in his black windbreaker, he held a gold-inlaid cane with a solemn and stern expression .

"The feeling of déjà vu came to me . It should be the notebook . The Antigonus family's notebook . " Klein tried hard to make his answer clear and logical .

"Where was that?" Dunn Smith's expression did not have any obvious changes .

However, Klein's intuition told him that a clear and invisible stir had happened in him . This was possibly a flash of his spirit or a change in his emotions .

"It's at the place Leonard and I saved the hostage yesterday . Opposite the kidnappers' room . I didn't notice it back then until I had a dream and received a revelation," Klein did not conceal anything .

"From the looks of it, I missed out on making huge contributions . " Leonard, who had walked to the partition, chuckled .

Dunn nodded slightly as he instructed with a solemn expression, "Get Kenley to replace Old Neil's watch of the armory . Let Old Neil and Frye come with us . "

Leonard stopped acting frivolous as he immediately informed Kenley and Frye who were in the Nighthawks' entertainment room . One of them was a Sleepless and the other was a Corpse Collector .

Five minutes later, the two-wheeled carriage that came under the jurisdiction of the Nighthawks began driving down the sparse streets in the morning .

Leonard wore a feather hat, a shirt and a vest . He stood in as the carriage driver, lashing out a whip from time to time, sending out a crisp crack .

Inside the carriage, Klein and Old Neil sat on one side . Facing them were Dunn Smith and Frye .

The Corpse Collector's skin was so white it looked like it either had not been under the sun in a very long while or he had a severe blood deficiency . He looked to be in his thirties with black hair and blue eyes . He had a high nose bridge and his lips were very thin . He had a cold and dark demeanor and had a faint smell from often touching corpses .

"Repeat the situation again in detail . " Dunn adjusted the collar of his black windbreaker .

Klein stroked the hanging topaz in his sleeve as he began from their mission commissioning until the dream . By the side, Old Neil chuckled .

"Your fate seems to be entwined with that Antigonus family's notebook . I never expected you to meet it in such a manner . "

That's right . Isn't this too much of a coincidence!? Thankfully, Leonard just mentioned that there was no indication of hidden factions of mysterious powers at play from the preliminary investigations of Elliott's kidnapping . It was solely a crime motivated by money . Otherwise, I would really suspect if someone had deliberately arranged for this to happen . . . Klein found the situation rather curious .

It was too coincidental!

Dunn did not express his ideas as he was in deep thought . Likewise, Corpse Collector Frye maintained his silence in his black windbreaker .

Only when the carriage stopped at the building mentioned by Klein was the silence broken .

"Let's go up . Klein, you and Old Neil walk behind . Be careful, very careful . " Dunn got off the carriage and pulled out a strange revolver with a clearly long and thick barrel . He stuffed it into his right pocket .

"Alright . " Klein did not dare take point .

After Leonard found someone to watch the carriage, the five Beyonders walked orderly into the building . With very light footsteps, they arrived at the third floor .

"Is this the place?" Leonard pointed at the apartment opposite the kidnappers .

Klein tapped his glabella twice and activated his Spirit Vision .

In this state, his spiritual perception was enhanced again . He found the door familiar as if he had once entered it before .

"Yes . " He nodded in affirmation .

Old Neil also activated his spiritual perception and after observing carefully, he said, "There's no one inside, nor are there any spiritual glows of magic . "

Corpse Collector Frye added with his hoarse voice, "There aren't any evil spirits . "

He could see many spiritual bodies, including evil spirits and restless wraiths, even without activating his Spirit Vision .

Leonard took a step forward and, like yesterday, punched the door's lock .

This time not only did the surrounding wood shatter, even the door lock flew and fell noisily to the ground .

Klein seemed to feel an invisible seal instantly vanish . Immediately following that, he caught a whiff of an intense stench .

"Corpse, a rotting corpse," Frye described coldly .

He did not appear to suffer from nausea .

Dunn reached out his black-gloved right hand and pushed open the door slowly . The first thing that they saw was a chimney . For early July, there was an abnormal heat emanating the room .

In front of the chimney was a rocking chair . Sitting on it was an old woman dressed in black and white . Her head hung low .

Her body was abnormally large . Her skin was blackish-green and swollen . It felt like she would explode from a simple prod, spewing a foul rotting stench from within . As maggots and other parasites squirmed between her flesh, blood, and rotting juices, or clothes and wrinkles, they appeared like points of light in Spirit Vision . They seemed to cling close to an extinguished darkness .

Pa! Pa!

The old woman's eyeballs dropped to the floor and rolled a few times, leaving behind a yellowish-brown streak .

Klein felt disgusted and being unable to tolerate the putrid stench any longer, he bent over and puked .