Volume 7 The Inverted Man Chapter 71 – Chain Reaction

　　At this moment, Wendel could only feel his calves gently trembling, as if he was no longer able to support the weight of his body.

　　After leaving Utopia, he had expected what the worst outcome would be like, which was to suddenly die violently one day without cause.

　　But how could he not have expected that he would meet someone from Utopia again, in the real-life metropolis of Berkland.

　　And more importantly, the visitor also invited him to Utopia again.

　　To Wendel, this was a nightmare of extreme horror, and he was mentally sound enough not to break down on the spot.

　　Maintaining his basic composure, Wendel squeezed out a difficult expression and said:

　　”I have a lot of things going on lately ……”

　　The policeman named Byers immediately said:

　　”The court date is in two weeks, this is the relevant paperwork.”

　　As he said this, he handed the documents in his hand to Wendell.

　　Frankly speaking, Wendell didn’t want to take it at all, but he had to.

　　Byers then took a step back:

　　”This concerns a lady’s future, and I sincerely hope that you can testify.”

　　”Depends on the situation ……,” Wendell neither wanted to agree nor dared to refuse.

　　Without further ado, Byers curtsied and said:

　　”I will wait for you in Utopia, and hope to see you again sometime.”

　　After saying that, he turned his body and left the house, entering the street.

　　Throughout the entire process, it was as if Wendel had suffered a freeze and turned into a statue, standing there the entire time without blinking.

　　After another ten seconds or so, he seemed to have finally awakened from his nightmare, his body falling to the side with some weakness, bracing his right hand against the door.

　　Just now, he was that scared, scared that Byers would force himself back to a utopia that didn’t even exist.

　　In that case, Wendell didn’t know if he’d have a chance to leave, maybe just disappear forever.

　　The unpredictable but obviously bad end of this was more frightening to him than a sudden and violent death.

　　”Hurry, hurry up and report this matter! Capture that cop from Utopia, figure out the true situation of this weird town, and find a suitable way to solve the problem once and for all!” After Wendel came back to his senses, he forced himself to get up and prepared to notify the MI9 officers who were secretly monitoring him.

　　At this time, he finally realized that there was a big problem with his response just now, and surprisingly, he didn’t seize the opportunity to use the agreed upon gesture to inform his colleague in the shadows that there was a problem with the visiting police officer, nor did he try to stall for time and wait for the monitor to find out that something was wrong on his own, and even less did he play up the strengths of his former role as an intelligence officer to ask, without a trace of a trace, which inn Byers stayed at in Baker’s Cradle, and which train on what day was the ticket he had booked.

　　He was so alarmed that he could only subconsciously employ the response that would cause the least surprise.

　　With that thought in mind, Wendell stepped out of his room and peered in the direction Biles had left, but he didn’t even see the other man’s back.

　　The policeman from Utopia had already blended into the passing carriages and pedestrians.

　　Retracting his gaze, Wendell looked down at the paperwork in his hands, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive:

　　”Two weeks later, if I didn’t go to Utopia to testify in court, what would happen?”

　　The more Wendel thought about it, the more scared he became, his calves and belly felt weak again, and he was busy making hand gestures to inform his colleagues who were hiding around him about his own abnormality.

　　……

　　West End, 9 Bellotto Street.

　　Hugh was shocked and confused to learn that a resident of Utopia had come to Berkland.

　　Based on her earlier observation, Utopia should be hidden somewhere hidden, or between the real and the unreal, through random entrances that let outsiders in and out.

　　As for why outsiders should be allowed in and out, it should be a requirement of the ritual.

　　So, in Hugh’s perception, the inhabitants of Utopia shouldn’t leave their hometowns and run around.

　　Was this also a requirement of the ritual? What is the real identity of these residents, the followers of Mr. Fool, the companions of Germaine Sparrow, the World? After asking the general appearance of the Utopian visitors, Hugh, lacking further information, had to return to the MI9 headquarters, hesitating to send her subordinates to do a wide search.

　　She wasn’t sure if Mr. World would be happy to see such an act, and was worried about how it would affect the ceremony.

　　After pacing back and forth in her office, Hugh was ready to pray to Mr. Fool and ask Mr. K to pass on her questions to Germaine Sparrow, “The World”.

　　As she made her way to her chair, Hugh’s eyes swept over the report sitting on her desk.

　　It was a report on the investigation done by two of her subordinates, confirming that the passengers who had successfully arrived in Birkeland were fine, while pointing out that one of the passengers had been stranded in Utopia.

　　The passenger …… Hugh’s gaze was slightly condensed, and he had a guess based on his own intuition:

　　That Utopia resident came to Bakerland with his own purpose, not just running around, and his purpose was probably related to a certain passenger who had left Utopia before.

　　This …… Hugh was so creeped out that he sat down in a hurry and tried to pray.

　　It was at this time that there was a knock on her office door.

　　”…… Please come in.” Hugh said hesitantly.

　　As the door to the room opened, Hugh saw Locke, who had a tuft of goatee, and Wendell, the man who witnessed the Utopia incident.

　　”Colonel, Wendell met the man from Utopia, and he came straight to the door!” Locke said in a somewhat confused order of speech.

　　Such a development was equally unexpected to him.

　　Sure enough …… Hugh was not only not surprised, but secretly relieved.

　　She looked at Wendell and said:

　　”Why did he pay you a visit?”

　　”He, asked me to go to Utopia to testify in court for the Tracy murder case mentioned in my report.” Wendell had calmed down significantly more than before.

　　He then added:

　　”He’s a policeman named Byers, and I didn’t dare ask him where he lived, when he was going to leave, and which steam train he intended to take.”

　　To show his attention, Hugh stood up and said thoughtfully:

　　”Locke, at once call together the members of your squad, and seek out the drivers of the hired carriages that often wait for guests around Wendell’s residence, and the drivers of the public carriages that pass through the immediate area, and ask them if they have seen Byers, and if so, where they have carried the other party, and, also, send a man to the steam-train station, and wait at the entrance to watch for incoming and outgoing passengers… …”

　　Having instructed his subordinates, Hugh turned to Wendell:

　　”You cooperate with them and draw a picture of Byers.”

　　”Yes, Colonel.” Locke and Wendell replied at the same time.

　　When they went out and closed the door to the room, Hugh sat down again and began to pray.

　　Soon she was answered by Mr. Fool, and saw Germaine Sparrow, the World, praying in the gray mist.

　　Germaine Sparrow told her:

　　”You can do your investigation normally.”

　　”The speculation of a ritual can be brought up if necessary, but it must be included in several options.”

　　Hugh was instantly relieved and waited patiently up for his subordinates to report back on the investigation.

　　When night came, Locke returned to Bellotto Street and reported to Hugh:

　　”We found the driver of the hired carriage that picked up that Utopian!”

　　”Huh?” Hugh showed his concern.

　　Locke recounted briefly:

　　”The Utopian called Byers originally asked the carriage driver to go to the dock area, but as soon as the carriage entered the appropriate area, he asked to get off, saying that he had already arrived.”

　　”That street was quite unfamiliar to the coachman and gave him the feeling that he was lost.”

　　”By the time he left that street, he again found that his surroundings became familiar.”

　　”Some of our men accompanied him there again, but he couldn’t find that street anyhow.”

　　Hugh nodded slightly, his tone grave:

　　”It tentatively matches the description associated with the previous case of going in and out of Utopia.”

　　”Colonel, you mean being able to enter or leave Utopia on any street in any city?” Locke was still in a bit of disbelief.

　　Hugh mused:

　　”That seems to be the case for now, but I’ve always felt there’s a bit of a problem, hmmm …… how Utopia is connected to different places and what it relies on to locate itself ……”

　　After his voice trailed off, Hugh addressed Locke:

　　”Go tell Wendell that he’ll be spending the next two weeks after that until that paperwork expires.”

　　”Yes, Colonel.” Locke turned at once and left Hugh’s office.

　　Wendell didn’t have the slightest problem with Colonel Dilcha’s arrangement, and it could even be said that he could only find a sense of security at the MI9 headquarters.

　　His temporary accommodation was a slightly remodeled watch room, and through the window he could see the lawn, garden and trees outside.

　　With a sweeping glance, Wendell saw a pitch-black crow, which stood on a tree branch, quietly looking this way.

　　……

　　Banshee was unusually eerie at night, and every now and then the cries of crows or other seabirds echoed.

　　Verdoux stood at the window, staring at the approaching crumbling docks and the dead city that had fallen into ruin, the pressure building in his mind.

　　After a few days at sea, the ship he was traveling on was about to arrive at the port of Bansi.

　　The captain had told Verdoux during the day that they would only wait for two hours, beyond which Verdoux would have to wait for the next ship that would arrive at an unknown time on this uninhabited island.

　　Taking a breath, Verdoux withdrew his gaze and took off his jacket.

　　Then, he opened his suitcase and took out a black robe with a very classical flavor and put it on his body.

　　The surface of this robe was embroidered with gold and silver threads and inlaid with a variety of rice-sized gems, a seal belonging to the Abraham family.

　　After making preparations, Verdoux left the pirate ship and entered Banshee Harbor.

　　On the way, the classical robe tightened from time to time, strangling his face and bringing him close to fainting.

　　As he walked, Verdoux found the original Bansi Telegraph Office according to the map he bought, and saw that in the open space in the middle of the collapsed building, there were two still bright blood-red traces that were as if they were left behind after two people had been crushed into meat paste.

　　Next to these two shadows, on one of the crumbling walls, an octopus-headed monster in armor, with waves in its feet and a trident in its hand, was depicted.

　　Verdoux raised the horse lamp in his hand and was about to take a closer look when he suddenly felt a drop of cold liquid fall onto his neck.

　　He was shocked, and subconsciously reached out and touched it, only to feel that it was sticky, not like rain, and had no color, not belonging to blood.

　　Kind of like, like saliva …… Veldu forehead corner slightly jumped, slowly looked up, looked at the drop of liquid fell to the possible place.

　　It was a deep black, moonless and starless night sky.