Part 1 The Joker Chapter 13 The Night Watchman
Ta-da!
Klein couldn’t help but take a step backwards, wondering for a moment if he was awake or still in a dream.
The figure removed his black bowler hat and bowed with a small amplitude and a low smile:
”To reacquaint myself with the Night Watchman, Dunn Smith.”
Nightwatchman? The code name of the extraordinary team of the Church of the Goddess of the Night mentioned by “Justice” and “The Hanged Man”? Something dawned on Klein, and then before associating it, he suddenly blurted out:
”You manipulated the dream? You made me dream like that?”
Dunn Smith, the night watchman, put his black bowler hat back on to hide his slightly high hairline, and said with a hidden smile in his deep gray eyes:
”No, I’m just entering your dream to do the necessary channeling.”
His voice was mellow and soft, echoing down the dark, shimmering hallway without disturbing anyone’s beauty sleep:
”In dreams, although there is an amplified presentation of normally repressed emotions and all sorts of dark mentalities that make everything seem chaotic, absurd and crazy, the truth is still there, still hidden within. To an old hand like me, all is obvious and easy to see, and I trust you in your dreams more than the awake you.”
This …… normal people who can control their dreams? If I dreamed something earthbound, wouldn’t that be something Dunn-Smith would find out about? Klein was creeped out, full of afterthoughts about the dream encounter.
But he quickly tasted some more creepiness as he remembered that he was lucid and rational in the dream, knowing what to say and what not to say.
In short, it was nothing like dreaming!
So Dunn Smith just “saw” what I wanted him to see?
Klein’s thoughts turned rapidly, vaguely realized something.
Is this a perk that comes with traveling, such as the special nature of the spirit itself, or is it the added influence of the “transit ceremony”?
”So, Mr. Smith, are you sure that I really lost my memory?” Klein asked rhetorically after organizing his words.
Dunn Smith didn’t answer directly, but instead looked deeply at him:
”Surprised that you don’t feel surprised about this kind of thing?”
”The parties I’ve met before don’t believe in extraordinary powers even if they’ve just finished dreaming, preferring to think that they haven’t really woken up yet.”
Klein said with a “hmm”:
”Perhaps it’s because I’m praying for and expecting such a power to help me.”
”Interesting logic to think about …… Perhaps you survived not just because of luck.” Dunn nodded without much of a smile, “I can now confirm that you really did lose some of your memories as a result of this incident, especially the ones relating to the event itself.”
”So I can go back?” Klein asked tentatively as he inwardly breathed a long sigh of relief.
Dunn walked slowly with one hand in his pocket, the darkness around him becoming quiet and gentle.
”No, you still have to come with me to meet the ‘expert’.” The corners of his mouth turned up politely.
”Why?” Klein blurted out, busily adding, “You don’t trust your own channeling of your dreams?”
Are you kidding me, if that “expert” is good at hypnosis, mind-reading, or something like that, wouldn’t my biggest secret be exposed?
I can’t imagine what the outcome would be!
”I have always been modest, but I still have some confidence when it comes to dreams.” Dunn replied calmly and calmly, “However, it’s not bad to confirm the crucial and important things once more, not to mention, she is very different from what I am good at, so maybe she can help you recover some memory.”
Without waiting for Klein to say more, his voice changed to a deeper tone:
”After all, you have a stake in the whereabouts of that Antigonus family notebook.”
”What?” Klein was stunned for a moment.
Dunn stopped in front of him, his gray eyes staring into his eyes and said:
”There’s no notes left from that Quaternary at the scene, not in the entire house, Welch is dead, Naya is dead, and you’re the only lead.”
”…… Okay.” Klein was silent for a moment and exhaled.
The notes are gone …… This is still weird!
I can’t believe I didn’t even think about the whereabouts of that Quatermass note at all before!
Dunn nodded imperceptibly, crossing to Klein as he spoke:
”You lock the door and come with me now to the Welch residence, where the ‘expert’ is waiting for us.”
Taking a silent breath, Klein’s heart drummed with apprehension.
He had every intention of refusing and even trying to run away, but he believed that with the previous experience of the dream, Dunn Smith must have raised his guard, and with the difference in strength between a normal person and an extraordinary person, forcing the issue would not have much chance of success.
He must still have a pistol on his person …… itself should be the kind that has practiced shooting many times ……
Various thoughts clashed violently in his mind, and Klein finally chose to recognize reality:
”Okay.”
Hey, we can only take one step and see what happens, maybe that special in my dream world will work again ……
”Let’s go then.” Dunn’s tone didn’t have the slightest ripple.
Klein turned to follow two steps, and suddenly stopped:
”Mr. Smith, I …… would like to go to the washroom first.”
I came out just to go to the restroom ah ……
Dunn didn’t stop, but gave him a deep look and said:
”No problem, Klein, believe me, in the dark, I am far more powerful than you think.”
In the dark …… Klein repeated the words wordlessly.
He didn’t try it recklessly, and honestly resolved the hold in his belly, then washed his face with cool water to calm himself down completely and utterly.
Changing his coat and hat and closing the door to his own room, Klein followed Dunn softly on his feet down the steps toward the apartment door.
In the midst of such calm, Dunn-Smith spoke suddenly:
”At the end of the dream, why did you try to escape? What were you afraid of?”
Klein’s mind was racing, and as he thought, he answered:
”I don’t remember what I did at Welch’s house, nor do I remember if I directly caused his and Naya’s deaths, and I’m afraid that in the end it will really be confirmed to be me, and I don’t dare to gamble on this, so I might as well run away and go to the southern continent to start a new life.”
”That’s what I would do if it was me.” Dunn pushed open the door to his apartment, letting the cool midnight breeze blow away the stifling heat inside.
Unafraid of Krynn’s escape, he got into the carriage first, the one Krynn had seen in his dream, four wheels, a single horse, a driver, and the police system symbol of “crossed swords and clustered crowns” painted on the side of the carriage.
Klein followed him in and found it thickly carpeted and smelling of a calming aroma.
Sitting down casually, he searched for a topic of conversation, trying to pry out more:
”Mr. Smith, if, and I mean if, the ‘experts’ confirm that I really did forget that part of my memory, and there’s no other evidence that proves that I’m the aggressor and not the victim, then it’s over?”
”Theoretically, yes, and we’ll look for that notebook in other ways, as long as it still exists. Of course, before this, we’ll make sure that you have no curses on you, no lingering smell of evil spirits, no corresponding psychological problems, and can meet the future of your life peacefully and healthily.” Dunn Smith flashed a smile, a slightly odd one.
Crane caught this keenly, and not wanting to be relieved, he hurriedly pursued the question:
”In theory?”
”Yes, just in theory. In this field, it’s always full of twisted, counter-intuitive, and unbelievable things.” Dunn looked into Klein’s eyes and said, “They last, they end, and there are times when it’s not something we can foresee or control.”
”Such as?” Kline was actually a little scared for a moment.
The carriage sped along the nearly deserted street, and Dunn took out his pipe and sniffed the odor:
”Just when we think it’s over and everything has returned to normal, it comes back in frightening, chilling ways.”
”A few years ago, we dealt with a case of a cult who organized their followers to complete living sacrifices by committing suicide to please the evil gods, and one of the followers was chosen to sneak into the police station to report the case after his survival instincts overcame his stupidity, overcame his pagan beliefs, and overcame his psychedelic drugs.”
”The matter was turned over to us to deal with, a very small task, as that cult had no extraordinary people, and the gods sacrificed to were even more randomly thought up by their leader, who had lost his humanity in order to enrich himself and enjoy himself.”
”With only two of our team members and the cooperation of the police, we were able to solve the cult without a single leak. And that person who reported the case, we also confirmed that he had no flavor left behind by evil spirits, no curse to haunt him, and even more so, no mental disorder, no personality problems, and no other strange traces.”
”After that, he had a good career, married a very nice wife, had a boy and a girl, and all the shadows seemed to be far away from him, and the horrors and bloodshed of yesteryear seemed to have dissipated completely.”
Speaking of this, Dunn-Smith laughed and said:
”But it was in March of this year that the man who was financially sound, the husband and wife, the children bright and lovely, died, strangling himself to death in his office.”
The scarlet moonlight from the carriage window shone in and draped itself over Dunn-Smith.
For the moment, his seemingly self-deprecating smile actually struck Crane as }human, unspeakably }human.
”Strangled himself ……” Klein sucked in a breath of cool air wordlessly, and seemed to see his own miserable end.
Even if he dodged a bullet, he only escaped for a moment?
What is the way to solve it completely?
To make himself an extraordinary person to fight against it?
The carriage returned to silence, as countless thoughts of Klein’s sprang up and fell away.
In this unspeakable silence, the carriage traveled long and fast.
Just as Klein had made up his mind and was planning to cheekily ask Dunn Smith to see what solutions were available, the carriage came to a halt.
”Mr. Smith, Welch’s residence has arrived.” The coachman’s voice reached the two men’s ears.
”Let’s get down.” Dunn straightened his black trench coat that reached his knees, “Heh, I’ll introduce in advance that the ‘expert’ is disguised to the outside world as the most well-known psychic in Ahova County.”
Klein collected his other thoughts and asked curiously:
”And what is her actual identity?”
Dunn half-turned his body and looked back, his gray eyes deep:
”A true ‘psychic’.”