Part 1 THE JOKER CHAPTER XIV The Psychic
The Real Psychic …… Crane murmured the description without another word and followed Dunn-Smith out of the carriage.
Welch’s residence in Tingen was a detached house with a garden, outside the skeletonized iron gate was the road that could allow four carriages to drive at the same time, there were street lamps on both sides of the road at intervals of fifty meters, they were different from the ones that Klein had seen in his last life, they belonged to gas lamps, and the height of the poles was slightly equal to that of an adult man, which made it convenient to light a fire for illumination.
The black metal is close to the glass, surrounded by a grille, casting a lamp like classical “art”, cold and warm dance, shadow and light at the same time.
Treading the yellow-covered road, Klein and Dunn-Smith passed through the half-hidden iron gates and entered the Welch’s rented quarters.
Directly opposite the gate was the access road for two carriages, paved with cement and leading up to the two-story house.
It had a garden on the left and a lawn on the right, and the faint scent of flowers and refreshing smells were intertwined in a delightful way.
As soon as he stepped in, Klein suddenly shivered and looked left and right.
He felt that in the garden, in the shadows of the lawn, on the top floor of the house, behind the swing set, in one dim corner or another, there were pairs of eyes watching him!
It was obviously empty and deserted, but Klein felt as if he were in a bustling street.
This weird contrast, this odd feeling, made his body tense up, and there were chills going up from his tailbone.
”Something’s wrong!” He couldn’t help but open his mouth to remind Dunn.
Dunn walked sideways with an unchanged expression and replied flatly:
”Don’t worry about it.”
Seeing that the “night watchman” had said so, Klein endured the creepy feeling of being followed, spied on, and sized up without being able to spot the target, and took a step to the front door of the single house.
I’ll get jumpy if I stay like this for too long …… As Dunn reached out to knock on the door, Klein took another quick glance back, the flowers swaying in the wind and no one in sight.
”Come in, gentlemen.” A slightly ethereal voice came from inside the house.
Dunn twisted the handle and pushed his way in, addressing the woman sitting on the couch:
”Daley, any results yet?”
The living room chandelier was unlit, and a leather couch with a main two-part layout surrounded a coffee table made of marble.
There was a candle burning on top of the coffee table, but the flame was a brilliant blue, covering the semi-open layout of the living room, dining room and kitchen with a layer of swaying and eerie colors.
In the center of the long sofa sat a woman wearing a black robe with a hood, blue eye shadow and blush, and a silver chain with a white crystal pendant wrapped around her exposed wrist.
At the first sight of her, Klein had an inexplicable feeling: dressed like a real psychic ……
Is this playing herself?
The “psychic” Daley, with her demonic beauty, swept over Klein with her sparkling turquoise eyes and looked at Dunn Smith, who said:
”The original spirit has disappeared, including Welch and Naya’s, and now the little ones here know nothing.”
Spirit? Psychics …… Those unseen pummelers just now were spirits? There were so many spirits? Klein removed his hat and placed it on his chest, bowing slightly:
”Good evening, ma’am.”
Dunn Smith then sighed and said:
”It’s still tricky ……”
”Daley, this is Klein Moretti, try and find out something from him.”
”Psychic,” Daley’s eyes instantly turned to Klein as she pointed to the single couch in the passenger seat:
”Have a seat.”
”Thanks.” Klein nodded and took a few steps over and sat down honestly, a heart unconsciously lifting.
Whether he would live or die, whether he would make it through without incident, or whether his secret would be exposed, depended on what happened next!
And what makes oneself most powerless is that one lacks what one can rely on, and can only hope for special ……
This is a very bad feeling …… Klein thought bitterly.
As Dunn sat down on the double sofa across from him, “psychic” Daley took out two thumb-sized glass bottles from a hidden pouch at her waist.
Her turquoise eyes smiled as she looked at Klein and said:
”I need a little assistance, after all, you’re not the enemy, can’t be so direct and rough, that will make you uncomfortable, feel pain, and even leave serious sequelae, I’ll give you some fragrance, give you enough tenderness and lubrication, let you let go of yourself a little bit, and really immerse yourself in that feeling.”
How does that sound …… Klein was staggered for a moment, his eyes surprised.
Across the table, Dunn laughed and said:
”Don’t be surprised, unlike the guys in the Stormbringer’s Guild, in our place, ladies are allowed to verbally molest males as well. On that note, you should be able to understand that your mother was a devout follower of the Goddess, and you and your brother went to the church’s Sunday school.”
”I understand, I just didn’t realize it would be so, so ……” Klein gestured, not finding the right adjective, and almost blurted out the translation for “old driver”.
Dunn’s mouth turned up at the corners and said:
”Don’t worry, Daley actually rarely does that, she just wants to calm and relax you that way, she likes corpses better than men.”
”You make me sound like a pervert.” “Psychic,” Daley interjected with a smile.
She opened one of the vials and sprinkled a few drops into the bright blue candle flame:
”Pure dew distilled and extracted from a mixture of nightshade, deep sleep flower, and chamomile, I call it ‘Amanda’, Hermetic for serenity, it smells good.”
As he spoke, the candle flame shook a few times, and the drops of pure dew evaporated quickly, filling the room.
A fresh, captivating scent burrowed into Krynn’s nose, his emotions no longer tightened and his mind quickly calmed as if he were looking down into the darkness in the dead of night.
”This bottle is called ‘Eye of the Spirit’ and is made from the bark and leaves of the dragon and aspen trees sun-dried for seven days, decocted three times, and steeped in Ranch wine, with a few spells in between, of course …… “The amber-colored liquid dripped onto the bright blue candle flame as Daley, the psychic, described it.
Klein smelled the liquor, ethereal and ethereal, and he saw the candle flame shake terribly, and saw Daley’s blue eyeshadow and blush shimmering with an eerie sheen, and even reshading.
”It’s good for psychics and charming enough for flower essences ……”
As Daley narrated, Klein only felt her voice coming from all directions.
Looking around in confusion, Klein realized that everything was shaking and blurring, as if shrouded in layer after layer of fog, and even his own body was shaking, blurring, drifting, and losing weight.
Red was redder, blue was bluer, black was blacker, colors mixed like an impressionist painting, disorienting and dreamy, while a burst of tiny overlapping murmurs came from the surroundings, as if there were countless invisible people talking.
”This is similar to the feeling I had when I did the ‘Transit Ceremony’ before, ah, but without that flavor that makes people crazy and makes them want to explode ……” Klein thought suspiciously as he looked at all this.
At that moment, his eyes were attracted by a pair of crystal-like emerald eyes, the black-robed Daley sat on the fuzzy “couch”, her gaze eerily focused on the top of Klein’s head, and her voice laughed softly:
”Formally recognize me, I, ‘Psychic’ Daley.”
This …… I can still think calmly and rationally ah …… Just like the ‘transit ceremony’ and ‘party’ when the …… Clay’s mind moved and deliberately acted muddled, “Hello ……”
”The human mind is very vast and harbors many hidden secrets, see, that ocean, all we can understand on our own are the islands that are exposed on the surface, but in reality, below the surface, the islands have a much larger portion, but in reality, in addition to the islands, there is also the entire ocean, and the boundless sky that symbolizes the spirit world… …”
”You are the spirit of the body, and you know not only the islands that are exposed on the surface of the sea, but also the parts of the islands that are hidden under the sea, and the whole sea ……”
”Where existence exists, traces must be left behind, the memories of the island’s surface can be erased, but the part under the sea and the whole sea, must have its residual counterpart projected ……”
Daley coaxed over and over again, and the blurred winds and shadows around him changed into similar shapes, as if the sea of Klein’s mind was completely on display, waiting for him to find and discover it on his own.
Klein calmly watched, from time to time “tumbling” the sea, and finally answered in a drifting tone:
”No …… I can’t remember …… I forgot ……”
He showed just the right amount of pain.
Daley tried coaxing one more time, but the sober Klein was unaffected.
”Well, that’s the end of it here, go back.”
”Go back.”
”Go back. ……”
The ethereal voice hovered as Daley disappeared, the winds and shadows began to subside, and the ethereal smells and faint scent of wine became apparent again.
All the colors returned to normal, the vague disorientation no longer present, and Klein’s body shuddered, finding its weight.
He opened his eyes, which had been closed at some point, and realized that he still had the same blue candle in front of him, the same Dunn-Smith sitting comfortably, and the same “psychic” Daley in her hooded black robe.
”Why are you using the theories of those evil lunatics from the Psychic Alchemy Society?” Dunn frowned slightly and looked at Daley.
Daley replied calmly as she put the two vials away:
”I think it’s quite correct, at least it fits with some of the things I’ve seen and touched ……”
Not waiting for Dunn to speak again, she spread her hands and said:
”It’s a tricky one, there’s no trace left of anything.”
Hearing this, Klein beside her breathed a long sigh of relief and asked in mock ignorance:
”It’s over? What just happened? I feel like I slept ……”
That’s a pass, isn’t it?
Thankfully, there was a “drill” for the “transfer ceremony”!
”Consider it done.” Dunn interrupted and looked at Daley, the psychic, and said, “Have you examined Welch and Naya’s bodies?”
”The bodies can tell us more than you think, unfortunately, Welch and Naya did commit suicide, let’s just say that the power that affected them was so awe-inspiring that not a trace of it remains.” Daley stood up and extended her hand to the candle, “I’m going to rest now.”
The bright blue glow faded and the house was instantly flooded with a mesmerizing scarlet.
……
”Congratulations, you may go home, but you must remember not to tell your family or friends about this, you must promise.” Dunn led Klein all the way to the front door.
Crane was surprised and asked rhetorically, “Don’t we need to check for signs of curses or evil spirits?”
”If Daley didn’t say so, then no.” Dunn replied briefly.
Klein put his heart down and thinking of his previous concern, he was busy asking again:
”How do I make sure there’s no more trouble back there?”
”Don’t worry too much.” Dunn moved the corner of his mouth and said, “According to statistics, eighty percent of the, living parties in similar situations, did not encounter the dreaded follow up, well, this figure is what I said from my impression, probably, almost.”
”Then there’s still twenty percent of unlucky people ……,” Klein didn’t dare to spell “face”.
”Then you might consider joining us as a civilian, that way we can spot any precursors in time.” Dunn said casually as he approached the carriage, “Or just become an Extraordinary, after all, we’re not your babysitters, we can’t watch you all night long, even what you do with women.”
”I can?” Klein asked along with that.
Of course, he had little hope, after all, how could it be so easy to join the Night Watchers and gain the Extraordinary Power!
That was an extraordinary power!
Dunn paused and gave him a sideways glance:
”…… It’s not impossible, it depends ……”
What? The turn of events startled Klein, and he froze beside the wagon for a moment before saying:
”Really?”
Are you kidding me? It’s so easy to become an Extraordinary?
Dunn laughed softly, his gray eyes hidden by the shadow of the carriage:
”Don’t believe it? Actually, by becoming a Watcher, you will lose a lot, such as freedom.”
”Even if we leave that aside for a moment, there are other problems, first, you’re not a decorated cleric or devout believer, you can’t pick and choose the safest path.”
”And secondly ……,” Dunn said as he grabbed the handrail and mounted the carriage, “we, the Vicarious Punishers, the Mechanical Hearts, and other similar judgmental bodies, deal with a quarter of the incidents each year that are out of control for the Extraordinary. ”
A quarter …… Extraordinary Person Out of Control …… Crane was struck dumb for a moment.
At this time, Dunn half-turned his body, his gray eyes deep, the corner of his mouth moved without a smile and said:
”And a large portion of that quarter is our teammates.”