Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 11 The Metaphysical Detective
The dimly lit room was covered with a thin veil of pale red moonlight, and everything was shadowed and not distinct enough.
The three men in black coats were asleep in separate places, and on the small couch of the group, with his eyes closed as if half-melting into the night, Klein seemed to be in a deep sleep as well.
His dreams were of a gray, distorted world, with occasional flashes of light.
Eventually, these flashes of light settled into a single image.
It was the eerie corner with sewage flowing from the floor, and the man with short tawny hair, white shirt, and brown vest lying against the wall, surrounded by a dense mass of gray rats.
The man’s lips were half gnawed off, revealing slightly yellow teeth and rotting gums inside, his nose was nothing but a blood stain mixed with some short hairs, piece after piece of flesh on his face had disappeared, clearly presenting morose white bones, a white, fat maggot burrowed in and out of everywhere, writhing constantly, and the position of his throat, which appeared to have been gnawed on by some wild beast, was missing at least half of it.
Klein barely recognized it as Zerrill Victor Lee, who could no longer be equated with his mature, handsome appearance in the black-and-white photo Ian had given him.
Zerrill was dead, and in a few days, would probably be gnawed down to his bones, maybe not even complete …… Klein broke out of his dream and recalled the image he had just seen.
Past experience after past experience had allowed him to witness similar corpses more calmly.
Looking out the window at the Crimson Moon, Klein pondered for ten seconds or so and decided to try psychic channeling to the man in black next to the couch.
–The corresponding “Amanda” Pure Dew and “Spirit’s Eye” potion, he had already prepared a bottle of each in the previous few days of preparation, as for the Tranquility Potion, Klein didn’t need it, he himself was able to prevent others from invading his dreams. As for the serenity potion, Klein didn’t need it, as he was able to remain calm and rational when others invaded the dream world and forced him to channel.
After setting up a simple altar and letting the scent of tranquility spread out to create a half-asleep state, Kraven prayed to himself, to the “fools not of this age”.
Then, he entered the gray mist and responded with more than two-thirds of his spirituality.
”When I reach Sequence 7, similar prayers should be able to slightly pry the power of the mysterious space above the gray mist just like the summoning and sacrifice rituals. ……” Looking around, Klein made a rough judgment and quickly returned to the real world.
He passed through the star-like heavens and earth and the chaotic and noisy storm of thoughts and entered the mind level of the target man, seeing the other man’s illusory figure floating in mid-air.
”Who sent you to Zerrill’s house?” Klein asked in a deep voice as he looked away.
The man’s disembodied figure replied with dull eyes:
”Meursault, Meursault sent me to wait for a boy named Ian.”
The light and shadows in his mind world then changed, presenting a thin, lean, and dark-complexioned man, the leader of the group that Klein had encountered earlier on the steam subway chasing Ian.
Sure enough, it was him …… Klein had consumed too much spirituality in answering his prayers, and by now he was beginning to feel tired, and was too busy grasping at straws to ask:
”And who instructed Meursault?”
”I don’t know …… He’s the ‘executioner’ of our Zimmerg party, no one can order him around, except the boss.” The man said blankly.
The Zimanga …… Highlander word for “warrior” …… Pseudo Historian True Occultist Klein’s head suddenly throbbed, and his body involuntarily flew out of the thought storm.
It didn’t take long for him to get out of the psychic state, and he only felt his head twitching hollowly.
He didn’t rush to leave, methodically packed up his materials and his short tawny hair, and opened the window of the convex belly window, letting the cold night wind blow inside, dispelling the smell of Amanda’s Pure Dew and Spirit’s Eye Potion.
In the process, Klein returned to the balcony, locked the door from the inside, and wiped down everything he had touched.
He waited until Zerrill’s bedroom was restored to its previous state, then bowed to the three sleeping men, pressing his chest into a bow.
Straightening his back, Klein put on his gloves and, with a bracing leap, deftly tumbled to the convex belly window and padded to his toes, using the unusually small space to steady himself.
He lifted the vertical pins upward, blocked the bottom with a tarot card, and used the Joker’s ability to feel the details and adjust his balance.
After a few seconds, Klein slowly drew back the tarot card, and the vertical pin stabilized in place without falling down.
Brush!
He closed the half of the window without the pins first, then flashed past it and pushed his right hand violently inward to close the other half.
The speed of this action was such that the pins did not fall downward until there was a vibration, and they were inserted with precision into the matching iron holes.
Clunk! An indelible sound rang out, as if a strong wind had slapped against the glass surface.
Knowing that the three men in the bedroom would be slow to awaken, Crane, without further delay, leaped straight for the street.
The height of the second floor wouldn’t be a bit dangerous for him now, he just couldn’t remain silent when he landed, creating the same not-so-significant commotion.
Crane quickly left the neighborhood, leaving Rosebud Street, but did not return directly to Minsk Street in the Chorwood district in a rented carriage.
He turned a few corners and traveled toward the immediate East End.
The wind was cool enough to pierce his bones on the chilly night, and Klein shivered, deciding that he’d have to add a sweater for future moves, and deciding to purchase charcoal over the next few days to make the fireplace do what it was supposed to do.
After an unknown amount of time, without a map, he relied on his instincts and entered the East End of Birkeland.
There were very few gas streetlights here, only so many as one or two could be seen from a distance, and if it weren’t for the dark clouds that hadn’t obscured the red moon tonight, Klein was sure that many sections of the road would have been so dark that he wouldn’t have been able to see at all.
As he walked, he suddenly saw a pair of eyes appear in the deep dimness ahead of him, and a hunched figure protruded one after the other.
They shifted from a vague distance, silent, wordless.
Walkers? Kraven paused suddenly, grasped the Requiem and Tarot cards in his probing hand, and quickly opened his psychic vision.
He saw the color of the unhealthy and weak aura, and also saw the appearance of the figures.
These were all living people, normal living people, just with numb expressions, empty eyes, and feeble movements, both male and female.
It was almost past midnight, why were they still walking the streets …… Klein leaned to one side in puzzled wariness and crossed over the group from the street edge, but soon he encountered a second and a third wave, with the same numbness imbued with pain.
He frowned slightly and was about to go up and inquire when he suddenly heard a chorus of curses from up ahead:
”Get up! Get up all of you!”
”You sons of bitches!”
”Streets and parks are no place for you fellows to sleep!”
…… Klein was stunned, and the corresponding words of the “Poor People’s Law” popped into his head, and he realized what was going on.
He himself had been in the same situation.
Exhaling, Klein picked up his pace and headed for his one-bedroom house on Black Palm Street on the East Side.
There, he slept for two hours, initially regaining his aura, and then went out again, folding a dead tree branch to use as a “divining rod”.
”Location of Zerrill’s body.”
”Location of Zerrill’s body.”
……
With the help of the short tawny hair, Klein walked for a long time to the corner of the East Side, where there was a sewer entrance.
–After the Great Plague 12 years ago, the Kingdom of Rune gradually built an advanced sewer system in the capital city, surpassing the Republic of Intis’s “Roselle Legacy” in one fell swoop.
Removing the lid, Klein held his breath and climbed down the vertical metal steps.
Because it is not a special clothing, not many pockets, can not bring too many items, he discarded from Frye learned the “Krager oil”, refreshing the brain to eliminate the odor of the “Krager oil”, at this point in time, out of the ordinary regret.
Ten seconds later, Kraven landed on his feet and felt the sticky ground.
The dirty feeling irritated his arms and body, but he could only force himself to endure it, and continued to walk forward, walking forward in the empty and quiet sewers.
Forked paths appeared ahead, one of them relatively hidden, with a thick, more disgusting stench wafting out than the others.
Klein turned off and kept going until he reached the end, where he saw dense dots of psychic light and aura colors.
There was no need to use candles, and the ghastly corners were reflected directly in his eyes with his psychic vision turned on, reflecting the rotting, gnawed and torn body.
It was exactly the same image he had seen in his dream divination.
Zee!
The dense gray rats scattered in all directions, but some of them stayed where they were, refusing to leave, unable to part with their food.
After confirming that it was Zerrill, Klein only hesitated for a moment before quickly setting up the psychic ritual.
Well …… if Ian’s description is correct, Zeruel died only a few days, “psychic” should be able to harvest a certain, shallow information …… he thought with confidence.
Woo!
As the wind swirled, and the rats all fled as the psychic wall was built, Klein went through the ritual as he had before.
”The cause of Zerrill’s death.”
”The cause of Zerrill’s death.”
……
Over and over in low chanting, Klein’s eyes turned black, missing his pupils, missing the whites of his eyes, and quickly, with the help of meditation, he entered the dream world.
But nothing presented itself in that foggy, unreal world.
Klein opened his eyes and made a judgment with a slight frown:
”Psychic failure ……”
”Someone ‘handled’ Zerrill’s spirit ……”
”There are extraordinary people involved in this matter.”
”Disguising as Zerrill and having one detective fail to recognize it is also side evidence of that.”
Contemplating for a while, Klein made the decision to call it a day and not get deeply involved, his commission was considered to be overdone anyway.
”Let Ian call the police.” He whispered a sentence, collecting the materials and disarming the wall of spirituality.