Part 1 The Joker Chapter 70 – Arrival of “2-049”

　　Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da.

　　As the horse’s hoofs opened and the wheels rolled, Klein, who had turned to look with his “psychic vision,” did not see the sweet, gentle young lady as he had hoped, and his eyes were filled with the scene of the brown carriage moving forward.

　　By this time the passengers for the public carriage at this station had all boarded, and the doors were closed tightly, gradually moving away.

　　And inside the carriage, twenty to thirty humans, because they were too close to each other, their auras overlapped each other, covering each other, and in Klein’s eyes, it was simply colorful and glowing, and it was really difficult to distinguish.

　　He shook his head silently, raised his hand and tapped his brow, closing the “spiritual vision”.

　　For him, just now is a kind of since encountered, can help to help the simple feelings, but if you have already missed, the situation is not particularly clear, then there is no need to always remember, delay their own things.

　　Bathed in scarlet moonlight, along the daffodil street which is still quite busy at this time, Klein strolled back to the house, and saw Melissa sitting at the dining table, with the bright gas lamp, burying her head to deal with the exercises assigned by the school.

　　She was chewing lightly on the barrel of her fountain pen, her brow furrowed slightly as she struggled with her thoughts.

　　”Where’s Benson?” Klein asked casually.

　　”Ah ……,” Melissa looked up, bewildered for a few seconds before saying, “He said he’s tired and sweaty from turning around several districts today, and he needs to take a nice relaxing bath.”

　　”Okay.” Klein let out a laugh and suddenly realized that Melissa was wearing a long dress she had never seen before.

　　It was beige in color overall, with fashionable leg of mutton sleeves, while the edge of the neckline and bodice were set with tulle ruffles, other than that, it did not have too much cumbersome design, and belonged to the lightweight and everyday type, which set off the youthfulness of a sixteen or seventeen year old girl perfectly.

　　”New dress?” Klein asked with a smile.

　　This was a consumption that he and Benson had strongly requested before they settled on it.

　　Melissa gave a “hmm”:

　　”I just got it back from Mrs. Rochelle, and I thought I would definitely need to wash it later, so I might as well try it on first.”

　　Klein listened rather puzzled and said:

　　”Mrs. Rochelle?”

　　Wasn’t this a former neighbor?

　　Melissa nodded and explained seriously:

　　”Mrs. Rochelle is actually a seamstress, just not very lucky, had to help sew clothes at home, had a, well, a bit of a hard time, I knew she was good with her hands, and the price was cheaper than going to a ladies’ haberdashery store, and it fit well, so I ordered the new dress from her, it only cost 9 sousl 5 pence for only a few days, and the same style of dress, in Harrods department store. would have cost a whole pound and a half!”

　　Good thrifty …… sister, I know, you are at least half in sympathy with Mrs. Rochelle …… Crane did not bother to accuse Melissa of being self-absorbed, and turned to laugh:

　　”When have you ever been to Harrods?”

　　It was in the Howells neighborhood, near the Divination Club, one of those places where at least the middle class could afford to spend money.

　　”……” Melissa was momentarily stumped for a long moment before saying, “It was Selena, and Elizabeth, who made sure I accompanied them, and actually, well, I actually prefer gears, and places with steam and machinery, hmm. ”

　　”It’s nice for a girl to visit a department store once in a while, hmm.” Klein smiled to placate his sister.

　　After a few moments of small talk, eager to wash off the bar’s stray odor, he quickly made his way up to the second floor.

　　Just as he was about to head back to his own bedroom to grab a change of clothes, he suddenly heard movement coming from inside the washroom near the small balcony.

　　Within seconds, though, Benson opened the door while rubbing his receding hair.

　　”Well? Any compliments on Melissa’s new dress?” He asked with a smile as he caught sight of Klein.

　　”Seem to have forgotten, just asked where it was made ……,” Klein said after a moment’s thought.

　　Benson laughed and shook his head:

　　”Really incompetent brother ah, Melissa just got that long skirt, can’t put it down, it’s hard to get the dishes, washed the dishes, immediately can’t wait to wear, until now have not taken off.”

　　”…… Didn’t she want to wait until after the shower to change? By the way, the pulp washed and dried ……,” Klein subconsciously retorted with the explanation given by Melissa.

　　”Tsk.” Benson sighed, “It’s been a hot few days and she’s been working in the kitchen for so long, I’m sure a shower followed by homework would be a lot more comfortable than it is now.”

　　Also right …… Klein dawned on him at once, and looked at his brother Benson and smiled at each other.

　　So you’re like this Melissa ah …… What’s wrong with a girl loving beauty, no need to make excuses to fix it …… The corners of his mouth turned upwards, and he shook his head lightly as he walked into his own section of the bedroom.

　　When he showered afterward, Klein vaguely heard a knock on the door downstairs, and his heart suddenly muttered:

　　Didn’t the crew that took the coins from the gas meter only come once every two weeks?

　　Could it be Mrs. Schrader from next door? No, this lady was said to adhere strictly to the etiquette of middle-class intercourse, and would not visit at an inopportune time.

　　Puzzled, Klein wiped himself clean, pulled on a stale but comfortable shirt and pants, and stomped down the stairs.

　　He looked around the room, not noticing any strangers, and asked out loud:

　　”Was there a knock on the door just now?”

　　Benson, who was leisurely looking at his newspaper, laughed:

　　”It was Beech Mountbatten, one of the policemen in charge of Iron Cross, asking if we’d met a boy of eighteen or nineteen with a round face today, heh, and he gave us a picture to identify him, but alas, neither Melissa nor I had seen him or we’d have gotten our bounty, hadn’t you, Klein?”

　　”No.” Klein probably understood what was going on.

　　”Instigator” Tris had managed to escape from the Docklands area of the Dragon Bar to the vicinity of Iron Cross and Daffodil Streets, which had led to a police visit.

　　The police came to the door to inquire about the case, and this also means that the action to catch the “instigator” is close to failure!

　　Crane did not think about this matter, because he had not yet begun to fight training, shooting can only be said to have just started, at this time to think about dealing with natural “assassins”, it is simply a joke on life.

　　That night, he slept uneasily, always worried that the “instigator” would sneak into his house to hide and cause another bloodshed.

　　Fortunately, Daffodil Street was safe all night, and the morning sunshine lifted all the gloom.

　　Relaxing, Klein changed into formal attire, put on his bowler hat, and carrying his cane, made his way to Zoltan Street and greeted Roxanne in the reception hall.

　　”Good morning, Klein.” Roxanne responded cheerfully, lowering her voice, “I hear the big operation last night failed?”

　　”The operation to capture ‘Instigator’ Tris?” Klein asked curiously in return.

　　”Uh-huh!” Roxanne nodded heavily and glanced at the location of the partition, “It seems that the informant of the Substitute Punisher Squad discovered ‘Instigator’ …… in the dock area, originally their intention was to wait for the other Extraordinary Person and a police department’s special action squad all arrived before launching the operation, striving to solve it at once without disturbing the ordinary people, but unfortunately, that ‘instigator’ was very sharp and discovered the problem in time, breaking out in advance and successfully escaping.”

　　”At times like this, they need an extraordinary person with tracking ability, like me.” Klein joked.

　　”There was no shortage of trackers at that time.” Suddenly, Dunn Smith’s voice rang out.

　　Roxanne jerked her head around to see the captain, dressed in a black trench coat and leaning lightly against the partition doorframe, staring at her with dark gray eyes.

　　She busied herself by raising her hands and covering her mouth, then shook her head back and forth, signaling that she hadn’t said anything.

　　Dunn shifted his gaze and turned to Klein for a moment of contemplation:

　　”The Substitute Punisher, the Mechanical Heart, and us Night Watchers, more than six Extraordinary Ones in total, tracked the injured Tris to the lower streets of Iron Cross, and discovered his temporary residence, however, the trail broke off right here, and both the Extraordinary Means and the normal elimination were lost, and he disappeared completely, as if he had suddenly evaporated. ”

　　”Do you need my help with divination?” Klein asked tentatively.

　　Dunn shook his head slightly:

　　”The Mechanical Heart has the ‘Secret Peeper’, a senior extraordinary not much worse than Old Neil, I even suspect that he’s already in the position of Sequence 8, I’m just not sure what the corresponding magic potion is called.”

　　”For the Spirit Knowledge Society to be passed down until now, there must be something special about them.” Klein casually relieved the captain.

　　For the entire next morning, he continued his occult lessons as before, continued reading historical information and literature, and continued practicing certain techniques.

　　Seeing that lunchtime was approaching, Klein grew a bit distracted.

　　After a few more minutes, he simply gathered up his materials and heeded the call of his stomach.

　　Just then, Dunn Smith came into the clerical office, his voice low and mellow:

　　”Klein, you and I will go to the Charnis Gate for a moment; seal ‘2-049’ has arrived under escort, and your sense of that notebook may be needed for the operation afterward.”

　　”…… Okay.” Klein replied as he rose.

　　Thoughts began to streak through his mind, thinking about what the seal actually looked like, and about whether or not this operation would be dangerous.

　　In this slightly tense silence, he followed Dunn down the stairs and into the tunnel.

　　After traveling straight through the intersection, Dunn suddenly stopped, turned his head sideways, and said solemnly:

　　”You follow me to do this movement, keep it all the time, absolutely can’t stop, remember, absolutely can’t stop, this is related to your safety!”

　　While speaking, Dunn flexed his arms, stretched them out again, stretched them out, and flexed them again, and kept repeating the cycle like this without interruption.

　　Klein watched the captain’s demonstration in bewilderment, and said in a sudden flash of insight:

　　”Because of the special nature of that seal?”

　　”Right.” Dunn nodded his head with unusual solemnity, “Moves like that will allow us to realize that something is wrong with you in the first place, and a timely rescue won’t put your life in danger.”

　　”Uh-huh.” Without further hesitation, Klein followed with the “flexed arm extension maneuver.”

　　”If this arm gets tired, then switch to the other one.” Dunn admonished again.

　　”2-049″ The seal is still really strange ah …… What in the world can such an action mean? Very dangerous looking …… Klein’s thoughts flashed and cautiously looked at the captain and said:

　　”Okay.”

　　He had too many questions in his heart, but had to force himself to endure them because the Charnis Gate was in sight.

　　Besides, with my secrecy level, I guess there’s no way to know the details, so I can only do what I’m told to do …… Klein exhaled, and followed Captain Dunn to the watch room outside the Charnis Gate.