Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 173 – A Nightmare

　　Silver City.

　　Derek Berg didn’t know how he got home, only remembering the unspeakable fear.

　　Compared to the past, Dak Riggins’ character and behavior is not very different, but there is a disturbing change, Derek is afraid that Silver City is targeted by the evil god “Fallen Creator”, and he is afraid that he hasn’t yet become the “Sun” to save Silver City from the curse of more than two thousand years. He was afraid that before he could become the “sun” and save Silver City from the curse that had lasted for more than 2,000 years, and give hope and sunshine to its inhabitants, it would already be completely destroyed.

　　At this moment, he hated that he was not strong enough, and he was still only Serial 8.

　　No! Couldn’t just watch! Derek stood up, ready to rush to the round tower, to tell the other elders of the “Council of Six” and the “Chief” Colin Iliad, about the anomaly he had discovered.

　　But Derek knows very well, similar anomalies are not even considered suspicious, every exploration of the dark depths, accompanied by the members of the inevitable days, ten days, or even more than a month of highly tense state, that is really at any time and any place may encounter or powerful or bizarre monsters.

　　In addition, the barrenness of the uninhabited and the journey without hope will bring extreme depression, coupled with the fact that for the sake of safety, the members of the exploration team are not allowed to have sexual catharsis during the outing phase, which makes them every time they experience the exploration, there may be a certain amount of remodeling of the mind, if they meet with the great danger of half of the members of the team killed or injured, the remaining people’s personality change is not too rare thing.

　　The only way to deal with such people is to isolate and treat them in the usual way, with few exceptions.

　　–Silver City had the first three sequences of the “Dragon” pathway, so there was no shortage of “psychoanalysts”.

　　Derek rushed to the door, but suddenly slowed down.

　　He knew that this way to report to the “Council of Six” would probably be ineffective, and there was a small chance that it would arouse suspicion, and even the danger of being targeted by Elder Lovia, the “Shepherd”.

　　After hovering for more than ten seconds, Derek clenched his teeth and pulled the door open.

　　He felt he had to warn the elders of the Council of Six, even if he had to take a small risk!

　　For the majority of Silver City’s inhabitants, sacrificing to maintain the city’s existence and the continuation of civilization is a belief that has been ingrained into their bones.

　　Selfish people often didn’t survive long in such internal and external environments.

　　Of course, Derek is not completely reckless, in the members of the Tarot Club, especially the “inverted man”, he clearly understand that there are times when you know how to be patient, to properly protect themselves, do not make useless and unnecessary sacrifices, which is in order to better defend the Silver City.

　　I am only saying that I observed the abnormality, there should be no danger …… Derek comforted himself and ran more and more sharply.

　　Finally, he saw the round tower that symbolized the highest power in Silver City.

　　He found the extraordinary person who guarded this place and requested to see the “chief”.

　　To Derek’s surprise, the extraordinary person did not ask why as normal, after a simple pass, took him along the stairs circling up, arrived at the room belonging to the “chief”.

　　It was strange …… not the same as before …… Derek felt that this change in detail made himself more uneasy.

　　Entering the room, he saw the “Chief” Colin Iliad standing in front of a wall.

　　This tall old man with deep lines, blue eyes, and disheveled white hair had his back to two straight swords hanging crossed on the wall, and was dressed in his usual linen shirt and brown jacket, making it hard to believe that he was a powerful man who had hunted and killed many demons and monsters.

　　”Derek Berg, what is it you must tell me face to face?” Colin asked in a mellow voice.

　　”Your Chief Excellency.” Derek curtsied, “I met the squad exploring that temple at the training grounds today, and I, I noticed that the Dak Riggins I knew has changed strangely, he’s no longer as cheerful as he used to be, and he smiles politely like a stranger, and also, Elder Lovia no longer shifts her state of speech from time to time.”

　　Colin asked in a low voice as he looked deeply at Derek:

　　”Are those the only two things?”

　　”Yes.” Derek lowered his head, “I think there may be an anomaly here.”

　　Colin waved his hand:

　　”I know, I’ll have Avello do the examination, you go back, in the future, this kind of thing can just be reported directly to the guards of the round tower.”

　　Avro is the most senior and closest to Sequence 6 “psychoanalyst” in Silver City, but unfortunately, there are no magic potion formulas after Sequence 7 here.

　　Receiving such a reply, Derek left in a somber mood.

　　Colin watched his back disappear by the door and suddenly sighed with disappointment.

　　……

　　After exchanging with Dr. Allen for a while about Will Onsettin’s situation, Klein, who didn’t make any additional discoveries, disembarked from the carriage midway and took the steam subway, arriving at the vicinity of Minsk Street after three stops, and switched to a trackless public carriage to return home.

　　Since it was still early, he first used divination to confirm that the previous tenant had not lied, and then diligently continued to study the Book of Secrets.

　　Since having this occult book, which could be described as an introduction to mastery, Klein’s utilization of that mysterious space above the gray mist became more and more ingenious, and accomplished quite a few excellent operations.

　　”What limits me now is my own sequence, my own strength and spirituality.” At the end of the night, Klein hid the Book of Secrets and lamented as he went to the washroom to clean himself up and prepare for sleep.

　　This night, he slept soundly, even if the early morning church’s full hour bell only made him roll over.

　　Winter is for staying under the covers …… Klein muttered as he got up.

　　As a treat for the “Black Emperor”, his breakfast consisted of extra hard boiled eggs with sugar and strawberry jam bought especially for the white bread.

　　Just as he was enjoying his food, the doorbell suddenly rang.

　　”Didn’t I tell Mike to come after breakfast?” Klein muttered, taking a sip of the sweet soup and wiping his mouth with a napkin.

　　According to his agreement with Mike, the reporter, the other man would arrive half an hour after breakfast to open an interview with the rescued East End girls, and if Mike didn’t show up for more than half an hour, it meant that things would be postponed for a day.

　　Klein walked to the door and before he could reach out his hand, his mind naturally sketched out the visitor at the door; it was not reporter Mike Joseph, it was Dr. Alan Krebs.

　　”Good morning Alan, did you sleep late yesterday?” Crane noticed that Alan looked rather pale and quietly turned on his psychic vision to take a look.

　　Allen removed his hat, placed his cane, and was about to take off his coat, but was dissuaded from doing so by the cold air in the room.

　　Klein laughed dryly and said:

　　”I was getting ready to go out today, you know, Mike might come looking for me, so, no fireplace.”

　　Alan nodded and didn’t say much, following Klein all the way into the living room and finding a seat before speaking:

　　”Sherlock, I had a nightmare last night, I dreamed about that kid, Will Onsettin!”

　　A nightmare? That’s within my knowledge …… Dream Interpretation I’m a professional, more so than deduction …… Klein leaned forward and crossed his arms:

　　”What kind of nightmares?”

　　Alan recalled:

　　”There are some details and processes I can’t remember, the one I remember most is a dark, towering spire with a giant silver-white serpent coiled around it, which was slowly writhing and looking at me with cold, unfeeling red eyes.

　　”Somehow, I got into that spire and went up the stairs now and then, down, through wall after wall, through locked door after locked door, and eventually, I found the child called Will Onsettin in a dark corner, hopping a few steps on one leg, huddled against the wall, with the deck of tarot cards sprinkled around him.

　　”He was scared and happy to see it was me, and cried out ‘Dr. Allen.’ …… That was pretty much the whole dream, and I woke up after that.”

　　Crane listened attentively and asked thoughtfully:

　　”Did Will Onsettin say nothing else?”

　　Allen frowned for a while, then suddenly blurted out:

　　”Yes, he said, Dr. Allen, that a snake was trying to eat me!

　　”Then the huge, silver-white snake hung upside down from the ceiling with its head facing me ……

　　”It had a big mouth, but there were no teeth in it, no tongue, and it was blood red!”

　　The giant silver-white serpent …… pitch-black tower …… under layers of defense Will Onsettin …… Klein spoke to Dr. Allen with deliberation:

　　”It wasn’t too strange a dream, it would be that you were communicating with Will Onsettin and unconsciously perceived that he was in some sort of predicament, threatened by something, and therefore, dreamed similar scenes: the child hiding deep in the tower, behind the countless walls and gates, the giant silvery-white serpent coiled at the top of the tower… …

　　”Oh, as a detective, you have to know a little bit of psychology, more or less, and it’s often described in the newspapers.

　　”What puzzles me is why you didn’t have such a dream until today?”

　　Klein hadn’t lied about the interpretation, he just hadn’t gone into the possible real cause.

　　Alan opened his mouth and said:

　　”I was in such a hurry just now that I forgot something.”

　　As he spoke, he pulled out his leather money clip and pulled a nicely handcrafted thousand paper crane out of it:

　　”After I found out that Will Onsettin’s family had moved away, I remembered that before he was discharged from the hospital, he gave me this, saying, Doctor, it will bring you good luck.

　　”I didn’t care for it at the time, and casually threw it in a drawer in my office, only to go get it back last night after I parted from you and put it in my wallet, only to have the nightmare I just had during the night.”

　　Klein looked at the thousand paper cranes and nodded thoughtfully:

　　”Dr. Allen, it seems that Will Onsettin didn’t mean to bring you bad luck, he did make amends afterwards, the thousand paper cranes invented by Roselle the Great itself means to give good wishes, and he also said that it would bring you good luck.”

　　Alan subconsciously asked back:

　　”Thousand paper cranes folding was invented by Roselle the Great?”

　　I don’t know if it was him, but I think it should be him …… Klein said with an upturned corner of his mouth:

　　”Probably.”