Lord of the Mysteries - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Tracking

The wooden puppet's face was painted in red and yellow like the common clown . The corners of its mouth were upturned high, revealing an abnormally comical smile .

Its lips parted to reveal a dark and deep mouth . Klein, who had locked his gaze with it, felt his hair stand as intense horror leaped out of his heart in an uncontrollable manner .

Everything before his eyes grew dull, as though he was looking at the world through a piece of thick brown glass .

Klein's thoughts slowed down gradually, and he instinctively wanted to ask for help, but his neck seemed to be held tight by a rope . He couldn't make a single sound, and the single word was trapped in silence .

Just then, Dunn noticed his arm exercises becoming sluggish and pushed him heavily .

The brown glass before Klein's eyes shattered in an instant . He blurted out the word "help" which had remained dormant in his throat . It reverberated within the carriage, with sharp panic .

"It's getting stronger," Klein spoke in a very certain tone .

Being next to a strange Sealed Artifact like 2-049 really placed on in terrifying peril if they were not careful . No, it was totally impossible to guard against it . It could only be avoided through other methods!

"It's normal," Aiur Harson said steadily, nodding .

Lorotta chuckled .

"It seems to like you? Don't worry . It is a relatively less dangerous Grade 2 Sealed Artifact . "

In her naturally languid voice, the puppet whose joints clearly reflected a human's stood up . It began tottering towards its left .

Its action was incomprehensible, just like a steam engine that someone had rusted due to a lack of lubricating oil .

Robot dance . . . Klein suddenly had the few Chinese words pop into his head . He had a new guess of the danger 2-049 posed .

It assimilates the living things that it seizes control of?

If I am not woken up in time by the others, would I have become a human-sized puppet, a real-life Barbie doll?

Just as thoughts flooded Klein, Aiur Harson was awoken by Dunn . He extended and bent his arms as he pointed in the direction that the puppet was walking slowly towards . He said to Leonard who was driving the carriage, "Over there!"

Leonard couldn't make the carriage pass through the building, so he had to detour . During the detour, 2-049 constantly adjusted the direction that it was facing . It acted like a compass that pointed towards the Antigonus family .

Upon seeing the scene, Klein, who was constantly "exercising" his arms, nearly burst out laughing under the tension .

I heard that 2-049 was created by the Antigonus family . . . Is this an act of loyalty or the perfect example of screwing things up?

Leonard drove the carriage according to Aiur Harson's occasional instructions .

Whenever the strange puppet 2-049 walked to the edge of the carriage, Aiur Harson would pull it back and start it all over again .

Every time that happened, its mouth would open and two people would be under its influence simultaneously .

Klein's taut feelings gradually began to relax . He realized that Sealed Artifact 2-049 was not as scary anymore . As long as there were more than three people present and they constantly maintained their arm motions, if they made sure to wake their partners in time, 2-049 was merely a puppet with slightly unique characteristics .

The carriage traveled at high speed, and quickly arrived at the harbor, where warehouses were clustered .

After circling a few times, they confirmed that 2-049 intended to enter the innermost grayish-white warehouse . Aiur Harson's expression turned solemn . He grabbed the puppet carefully and stuffed it back into the black chest .

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Under constant ferocious knocking, Aiur woke up again and again with the help of Borgia and Lorotta as he activated the mechanism with great effort . He then injected his spirituality and activated the star and crimson symbols on the chest .

At the reappearance of the formless seal, Aiur Harson let out a long heavy breath .

"Let's get down," Dunn Smith said with a low and mild voice . "Leonard, tying the horse here will do . "

Dressed in windbreakers, suits, or shirts, the six left the carriage and walked into the innermost warehouse . As they walked, they uniformly stretched and bent their arms .

This added a comical and ridiculous vibe to the rather tense situation .

The Nighthawk Awkward Dance Squad . . . Klein could only complain inwardly to ease such a feeling .

However, there was no other way around it . According to his observations, 2-049 first affected the upper body . Therefore, to detect it in time to prevent a more dangerous situation from developing, they only had the choice of extending and bending their arms, shake their necks or bodies . However, the latter only made one look like a hooligan .

As for actions like blinking eyes and striking one's eyebrows, they were either too easily ignored or the action was too big . Neither was a good option .

This awkward dance squad is better than Causeway Bay 1 triad members . . . Klein sighed in resignation and followed Captain Dunn Smith and company .

As they approached the warehouse's door, the deeper his anxiety and worry became .

No one knew what kind of effect the notebook had on Ray Bieber!

If something dire happened, Klein did not dare pin his hopes on transmigrating again .

Furthermore, he discovered that he could still be injured and bleed while chopping ingredients for dinner . The speed at which he recovered at was normal too . He wasn't some kind of monster that was impervious to combat or death .

As they walked, Dunn suddenly lowered his non-moving hand and made a pressing gesture to beckon everyone to stop ten meters away from the warehouse's door .

"Klein, divine if there is any danger in the warehouse . It'd be better if you could tell the level of danger," Dunn said as he turned his head to Klein .

His gray eyes looked deep as usual; there was no fear .

Klein gave an unnoticeable nod and stopped the hand exercise . He extended his right hand to his left cuff and removed the silver chain that had a hanging piece of topaz .

As he was still moving his arms, Dunn realized his sluggish actions in time and woke him up with a nudge .

Klein held the silver chain with his left hand and allowed the topaz to hang down naturally . Simultaneously, he moved his right arm, but with a much smaller range of motion .

When the topaz stabilized, he half closed his eyes, outlined the spherical light, and entered Cogitation . He then mumbled, "There's danger in the warehouse . "

"There's danger in the warehouse . "

. . .

After seven times, he opened his eyes and saw the hanging topaz slowly going in clockwise circles .

It turned faster and faster, and in the end, Klein felt like it was pulling his left hand .

"There's danger, great danger," Klein replied honestly .

Clockwise meant affirmation to the chanted statement, while counter-clockwise meant denial .

To other Beyonders, even a Mystery Pryer, using spirit dowsing could only determine if there was danger, but it was unable to obtain information regarding the level of danger .

However, Klein discovered that when he used spirit dowsing, the pendulum would spin at different speeds, revealing the degree of the answer .

Although it was not very accurate and extremely vague, it allowed one to have a rough assessment of the actual situation .

As expected of a Seer potion . . . Klein was rather happy with the outcome .

Just as he was about to put away the topaz pendulum, Leonard Mitchell, who had maintained his silence, suddenly spoke .

"Divine if there is danger around us also . "

Dunn nodded in agreement . "Yes, I am worried that the Secret Order will not give up and that it has placed Ray Bieber's house under constant surveillance . They could have followed us here and could cause trouble at a critical moment . "

Klein took a deep breath and entered a calm, ethereal state once again .

When the silver chain turned stable once again, he recited in his heart, "There is danger surrounding us . "

. . .

"There is danger surrounding us . "

. . .

After repeating the statement, Klein opened his eyes and looked at the silver chain .

In his dark brown eyes, the topaz pendulum first moved counterclockwise with difficulty . Then, it suddenly paused and started moving clockwise .

"There is danger surrounding us . " Klein felt a tug on his heartstrings as he spoke carefully .

Furthermore, someone had tried to intercept his divination, but had lost to him in the invisible fight!

Just as he spoke, an orange-yellow fireball the size of a fist flew towards them .

It came crashing towards the middle of the group with its blazing speed .

Dunn Smith, who had already drawn his long-barreled revolver before Klein did his divination, immediately raised his hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger .

Bang!

The fireball didn't seem to be affected by the gunshot but continued its original trajectory, as though it was forcing everyone to scatter from dodging .

Klein originally thought nothing of the troublemaker who was following them . After all, there were six Beyonders present . They were not even short of Sequence 8 and Sequence 7 experts . It was a lineup that was practically unstoppable in a small city like Tingen .

But when the fireball smashed down, he came to a sudden realization .

To them, the most dangerous enemy was not the tracker nor the troublemaker, it wasn't even Ray Bieber who was in the warehouse in an unknown state, but the Sealed Artifact 2-049!

Once they dispersed and the battle began, they wouldn't be able to wake each other in time . Then, they would turn into real-life puppets one after another!

As these chaotic thoughts bombarded him, Klein was pulled by Leonard aside to dodge the fireball .

Without the time to feel anguish for his clothing, he saw the Nighthawks split off into two groups while dodging . It was done very orderly .

Poof!

The orange-yellow fireball landed on the ground but didn't stir one bit of dust . It disappeared as though nothing had happened .

An illusion? Just as this thought came to him, Klein saw Aiur Harson lift the black chest and threw it least ten meters away .

"Stay away from it! Watch it!" Aiur shouted .

Before he finished his shout, Leonard and Borgia had separately approached it . They stood at least seven meters from the chest to prevent anyone from approaching .

As for Dunn and Lorotta, they each held guns . They stood beside Aiur Harson who had drawn a thin silver sword . They took up a formation resembling a crescent as they rushed towards the origins of the fireball, while taking note of the peripheral regions .

Upon seeing this scene, Klein, who needed to do the arm exercises without his cane, immediately heaved a sigh of relief . He realized he had overlooked an important matter .

2-049 had a limited range of influence . As long as they were at a sufficient distance from it, they did not need to worry about the danger .

Klein rolled over and stood up . He stuffed his topaz pendulum into his pocket with one hand while he reached into his holster for his revolver with the other .

A location in Hong Kong .