Part 1. The Joker Chapter 109 – reasoning
The sound of fast running footsteps reached Klein’s ears from far away, settling him down as he stood in the doorway of the watch room.
”What happened?” Leonard, the first to arrive, asked in a hushed voice, revolver in hand.
Seeing him unable to stop the car, Klein immediately thought of something Roxanne had mentioned, three years ago, Leonard, who had just become a “Sleepless One”, tried to run through the stairs at a sprint speed without adapting to the power of the magic potion, and as a result, he turned into a wheel.
Coughing lightly, Klein pointed at the Charnis door:
”There was a violent knocking sound coming from inside just now, which turned into a tap, and then the door was pushed open a little.”
”The Charnis door was pushed open?” The diminutive Cornley asked back in dismay.
”Yes, it was pushed open a crack.” Klein was about to continue his description when he saw that Leonard, Cornley, and Loyal had not approached the watch room, stopping a few paces away and spreading out in an arc, as if in defense of themselves.
He paused for a moment and said:
”You guys suspect me?”
”No, not suspicion, this is part of the normal processing flow.” Cornley shook his head in denial.
In such a tense atmosphere, Leonard still wasn’t serious enough to smile and added:
”In other parishes, there have been cases like this, where the extraordinary man manning the Charnis Gate lost control, pulled the bell, and then took advantage of the inattention of his teammates who had rushed to help and killed two people in a row.”
”Okay.” Klein no longer had the aggression and anger of being targeted, and turned to ask, “Then how do I prove that I didn’t lose control?”
Leonard gathered his playful expression, nodded four times on his chest, and chanted in a low voice:
”They are naked, unclothed, uncovered in the cold.”
”They were drenched by the heavy rain, and because they had no shelter, they clung to the rock.”
”They are mothers whose children have been taken from them, they are orphans who have lost hope, they are the poor who have been driven from the right way.”
”The night did not abandon them and gave them favor.”
……
Sacred and compassionate prayers echoed in the ground, giving everyone’s body, mind, and spirit a relieving quiet.
Seeing that Klein did not react abnormally, Leonard stopped chanting and sketched a smile and said:
”No more questions, you are still our trustworthy companion.”
The cold lady Loyal, who had remained silent, glanced at the Charnis Gate and took the initiative to ask:
”What did you see after the door was pushed open a bit?”
”I saw the Muppet of Doom, the one in the long black classical court dress, 3-0625,” Klein replied with some lingering afterthought, “but it didn’t take more than three seconds for it to be pulled back by an invisible force, and the Charnis Gate was closed again, so what the hell is going on here? ”
Leonard said as he and Kornleigh and Loyal each looked at each other:
”Hehe, we, like you, are not clear about the reason for all of this, since the Charnis Gate has re-closed and is no longer abnormal, then we shouldn’t enter at this time, we must wait for the dawn and wait for the captain.”
At this, Loyal added coolly:
”I will stay here and be on guard with you.”
”Alright.” Leonard spread his hands and laughed teasingly, “As the strongest person here, I’ll stay as well… Coenly, you go back to the second floor, lest the police department can’t knock on the door for an urgent case.”
Coenly did not say much, instantly nodded and turned to leave.
At this time, Leonard glanced at Klein and Loyal respectively and said:
”Perhaps we can continue playing cards? This situation requires some entertainment to keep us from being too tight.”
”No problem.” Klein adjusted his revolver and put it back in his armpit gun pouch, and without saying yes or no, Loyo, draped in her soft and sleek black hair, followed into the duty room.
In the midst of the landlord, no, the evil, Klein said in a seemingly casual manner:
”Doom Muppet, I mean 3-0625, according to the description of the information, it should not have the characteristic of being alive ……”
”Haha, 3 A’s,” Leonard pressed a hand and said in a casual manner, “In the previous forty years, 3-0625 has not shown the characteristic of being alive, we can start by assuming that the description of the information is correct, and use it as a premise to reason and deduce.”
”Over. You have an idea?” Loyal asked succinctly.
As Klein hesitated to drop 3 ‘2’s as soon as he could, Leonard took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee and said:
”Yes, since 3-0625 doesn’t possess the characteristic of being alive itself, its performance today must be due to the influence of other factors, and factors that have only appeared recently, or else it would have shown us this side of it a long time ago.”
”And what has been different behind the Charnis Gate in the last month?”
Loyal said after a few seconds of contemplation as he looked at the three “2’s” that Klein had dumped:
”There’s only one thing that’s different from the past, and that’s that the Antigonus family’s note and seal ‘2-049’ once spent a night behind the Charnis Gate.”
Leonard looked at the cards in his hand and laughed as he tapped the table:
”If it was possible to make the Doom Muppet abnormal, ‘2-049’ would have created a similar event behind the Charnis Gate in Berkland a long time ago, so I suspect that the problem comes from that Antigonus family’s notes.”
Klein couldn’t help but nod frequently as he thought about it carefully:
”This is the most likely …… Leonard, I didn’t expect you to be a person who is good at reasoning.”
Generally speaking, romantic poets and being good at reasoning are incompatible ……
”That’s only because he loves reading detective novels lately.” Luo Yao stated flatly beside him, “Two kings, 8 to K straight, no one wants it?3 sixes, no more.”
Seeing this scene, Klein and Leonard fell into silence in unison.
Not concentrating on playing cards they had forgotten one crucial thing:
Luo Yao was the “evil” in this hand!
Watching Loyal cut his cards, Klein once again seized the opportunity to ask:
”What force pulled 3-0625 back?”
Leonard glanced at him and laughed:
”You didn’t think that the only protection behind the Charnis Gate was a sealed chamber buried deep underground and a few aging caretakers, did you?”
”As a matter of fact, the caretakers had left the Charnis Gate and returned to St. Selene’s Church when the sun had completely set.”
”The power inside reaches its peak at night and is no longer suitable for living creatures, and waits until the sun rises to diminish, which is why the captain told us not to enter the Charnis Gate, no matter what we heard.”
In other words, the captain forgot to tell me this reason …… Klein pondered and asked:
”A protection similar to a spell?”
Like an amplified version of charms and amulets?
”Hmm.” Loyal nodded as he touched the cards, “The reason why the Charnis Gate is placed underneath the central church of each city is to maintain it with the help of the faithful who come every day, and their devout prayers will allow some of the spirit to enter the spell, and a small amount of it will add up to a large amount.”
”So ……,” Klein nodded indistinctly, seeing a bad hand.
At that moment, Leonard chuckled:
”There’s more protection behind the Charnis Gate, St. Selene’s ashes are interred inside, she was a high sequence powerhouse in her lifetime.”
St. Selene’s ashes? The ashes of a high sequence powerhouse? Holy ashes? What purpose could this serve? Klein was puzzled and curious again.
St. Selene was a saint during the establishment of the Church of the Goddess of the Night, active in the ancient Third Age and recorded in various sacred texts, so Selene was a common name among the people who believed in the Goddess of the Night.
Leonard seemed to have heard Klein’s thoughts and said to himself:
”There are rumors that the corpses or ashes left behind after the death of a high sequence powerhouse still have incredible power, of course, this is just a rumor.”
Klein nodded slightly and turned his attention back to the poker in his hand.
In the next few hours, no more abnormalities occurred behind the Charnis Gate, but Klein lost a whole two Soule, losing his heart, and Leonard, who also played poker with the temperament of a romantic poet, even lost four Soule and five pennies, and only Loyal, who did not make a sound, was the winner.
”The sun has just risen, and it is my turn next.” The quiet “writer,” Mrs. Siga Teang, entered the watch-room at six o’clock.
Klein wrote down last night’s encounter in his logbook and returned to Blackthorn Security with Leonard and Loyal.
At this moment, he looked unusually tired, while the “Midnight Poet” and “Sleepless One” beside him were still in high spirits.
”This is the difference between the different sequences ah ……” Klein was about to pass through the partition and go home to catch up on his sleep when he suddenly saw the captain open the door and enter.
”Good morning, Captain.” He stifled a yawn as he greeted.
Dunn, wearing a black trench coat, removed his hat and swept him a glance with his gray eyes and said:
”Good morning, you should get back to resting, did anything happen last night?”
Klein instantly gave a short rundown of what happened with the Muppets of Doom and Leonard’s reasoning.
”Hmm.” Dunn didn’t comment and walked stoically towards his office, “I’ll send a telegram to inquire about the Sanctuary.”
Without lingering, Klein walked slowly out of 36 Zoltan Street and breathed in the cool morning air.
His spirits were lifted and he suddenly remembered something that he had always forgotten before:
”I forgot to tell the captain and Leonard and the others about the paper in the hands of the Muppets of Doom!”
”How could I have forgotten?”
”It seems that subtle forces are influencing me, preventing me from telling the other night watchmen about it ……”
”…… It was many days ago that the Antigonus family’s notes were stored behind the Charnis Gate in Tingen, and 3-0625, the Doom Muppet, should have been affected by this long ago, so why didn’t it appear unusual until last night?”
”Because last night was my first rotation at the Charnis Gate?”
”It used all its power just to show me the pattern on that paper?”
”Is that what the Antigonus family notes were trying to accomplish?”
”Because I survived contact with it and became a Diviner?”
……
A single doubt flashed through Klein’s mind, leaving him transfixed in place, not knowing whether to pretend nothing came to mind and go on home to sleep, or to go upstairs and report to the captain.