Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 338 Parasite
at the same time.

32 Red Rose Street, Tingen City, in front of Blackthorn Security Company.

Two people, dressed in uniforms with black cloaks over them, their large hoods hanging down, obscuring their uniforms and making their faces almost impossible to see, exchanged a glance. Then one of them stepped forward and knocked on the door of Blackthorn Security Company.

"How can I help you?"

Rosanne, who was sitting at the front desk in the lobby on the first floor, looked up with some curiosity at the two strangely dressed people who walked into the lobby.

“We’re looking for Captain Dunn Smith.”

One of the visitors said.

Are you looking for our captain? Or specifically asking for Captain Dunn, someone you know? Or someone else from the official Extraordinary ranks?
Rosanne looked at the two people suspiciously, and still asked uncertainly, "So, who are you?"

“We are from Miskatonic University and have something we would like to discuss with Captain Dunn Smith of the Night Watch.”

Seeing that Rosanne seemed determined to get to the bottom of things, the man in the black robe coughed lightly, revealing a corner of his uniform beneath the robe.

The uniform was embroidered with the Miskatonic school emblem. Even though Rosanne wasn't an Extraordinary, after spending so much time in Tingen and becoming familiar with the official information about Extraordinary individuals in Tingen, it wasn't difficult for her to recognize what the emblem represented.

Seeing this, she quickly said to the two men in black robes in front of her, "Okay, the captain is upstairs. Do you need me to take you there?"

"No need, Miss Rosanne, we know how to get there. Also, you can leave work early."

Rosanne: ?
Rosanne opened her mouth, but seeing that the two investigators had no intention of explaining after saying that, and had already walked up the stairs, she came out from the front desk, walked to the door that had been closed, opened the door, and glanced outside.

The streets are so quiet today...

As Rosanne muttered to herself, still wondering what the man in black meant and whether he was joking, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and pulled the half-open door completely open.

Rosanne was startled. She looked back and saw that the person who opened the door was the same man in black from before. He had already packed a small bag for Rosanne and said softly, "Get out of here quickly. Don't be nervous. Everything should be fine."

The unusually quiet outside, coupled with the sudden visit of investigators from Miskatonic University... gave Rosanne a bad feeling.

She seemed to want to say something but hesitated, her expression gradually becoming serious. She picked up the bag from the investigator's hand, her expression hardening. Without checking if she had all her belongings inside, she quickly left Blackthorn Security Company.

Leonard Mitchell, standing on the second floor, watched Rosanne's figure disappear quickly. He then glanced around before sitting back down in his office chair. He slowly removed the monocle from his left eye, took out a cleaning cloth, and wiped it until it looked brand new.

"That's interesting. If Don Eggers is just sending two parasites to deal with me, then I feel like I'm being underestimated."

Ultimately, he is a former King of Angels who has survived since the Third Age. Even though his current avatar only possesses the extraordinary characteristics of Sequence 4, his rank is still that of an angel, and the experience he has gained is far beyond what those later parasites could catch up with in a short time.

If it were just two parasites, Leonard felt he couldn't keep up this act.

What was unexpected was that, for this success, no, perhaps there were other reasons as well...

"Pales, you're here too."

In a nearby café, Palez Zoroaster looked at the coffee cup in front of him, its surface rippling and undulating.

The angel of time, who did not appear too old, seemed to notice the gaze from Amon inside the Blackthorn Security Company at 32 Red Rose Street. He raised his head, glanced in that direction, and then looked at Nicolas Flamel, who was sitting in front of him wearing a black silk top hat.

"Your true form isn't in Tingen City?"

“Yes.” Nikolai smiled and readily admitted Pales’s guess. “There are some things I need to take care of in Intis. It’s most appropriate for you to handle things here for the time being.”

Upon hearing this, Pales asked cryptically, "What matter requires an angel king to handle personally?"

Nicola picked up the cup on the table and took a sip of his coffee. “It has some connection to the ‘future,’ but Mr. Zoroaster, it would be better if you didn’t ask too many questions.”

When it comes to matters involving the Ring of Fate and higher-dimensional observers, the fewer people who know about them, the better.

Pales would never do anything that involves the "future".

After all, he had witnessed firsthand how terrifying that thing could be.

Pales paused for a moment, then changed the subject, asking, "An Amon clone has infiltrated the Night Watchers. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"

As an archangel of the Thief pathway Sequence 1, Pales did not believe that his own pathway's angel king was completely unaware when Amon, an avatar that was not even an angel, was hiding in Tingen City.

This indirectly suggests that Nikolai, or Don, did it on purpose.

He wanted to do something with Amon.

"perhaps."

Nicola put down his coffee cup, smiled, and said, "So, I'd like to invite Mr. Zoroaster to watch a good show next."

"A good show?" Pales chuckled. "What does it involve? If it's some kind of puppet show, I'll be very disappointed."

After all, he had seen quite a few of the puppet shows directed and performed by that strange guy Don Eggers.

All these years have passed, and he has never seen this type of mysterious servant.

Even more bizarre than Old Zarathustra, Antigonus... If the Lord of Mysteries is this kind of person... Pales quickly stopped his thoughts. Good heavens, he wanted to live a few more years.

Well, if we compare it like this, bringing the Celestial Venerable back to life might not be such an unacceptable thing.

Nikolai seemed oblivious to Pales's distraction, explaining with a slight, odd, and unsettling smile playing on his lips:
"It should be more exciting than that, for example..."

Pales didn't think much of it at first, but the more he listened, the stranger his expression became, with a hint of speechlessness and amusement.

"I never thought I'd see this kind of drama again, with my old bones like this? Wasn't Roselle trying to do the same thing back then?"

“Unfortunately, Rosell didn’t succeed in the end,” Nikolai said, looking in the direction of Blackthorn Security Company. “It should be within the next two or three years, Mr. Zoroaster. The end of the world is coming, and the stage has already been set. As one of the audience members, I also hope that nothing will happen during this period.”

"He intends to make you the 'mistake'?" Pales turned to look at Nikolai and asked.

“Yes.” Nikolai nodded. “At that time, I will give you the second portion of the extraordinary properties of the Time Worm.”

“There’s no rush,” Pales sighed. “Although I was fooled by that kid before, and have enjoyed such a comfortable life for so long, I’ve lost interest in vying for that position.” Without Amon’s threat, he actually had no desire to become the King of Angels anymore.

Sequence 1 is still pretty good; not too complicated, and unlike Don Eggers, it doesn't seem like he's got eight hundred wicked schemes growing out of his body. Isn't it tiring to be scheming and calculating all the time?

-

No. 32 Red Rose Street, Blackthorn Security Company.

When Dunn Smith knocked on Leonard Michel's office door, Leonard was wiping his monocle, his feet straddling the desk, looking quite relaxed and showing no signs of impending doom.

As Dunn Smith entered, Leonard slipped his cleaned monocle into his left eye socket.

He put his legs off the table, smiled, and looked at Dunn Smith, who was walking at the front, and the two men in black robes and uniforms behind him, asking:
"Captain, is there anything I can help you with?"

Leonard asked with a smile, seemingly showing only a hint of surprise and oddity, without any other emotion.

When Dunn entered the office, which he hadn't set foot in for quite some time, he instinctively glanced around. Seeing nothing unusual, he then turned his attention to Leonard, who was already standing up.

“Leonard,” he said, his voice deep and direct, “is there anything you want to say to me?”

"Is there anything I want to say to you?" Leonard asked with some doubt. When he noticed that the person who followed Dunn into the office had taken off his hood, revealing two unfamiliar faces, a strange smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"Ah, now that you mention it, there is indeed something I've always wanted to talk to you about, Captain."

As he spoke, he walked out from behind his desk and stood in front of Dunn.

A black-robed figure who had been standing behind Dunn suddenly stepped forward and blocked the path between Dunn and Leonard.

"It's confirmed."

Another man in black robes looked at Leonard and spoke in a heavy voice.

"He has been parasitized, deeply parasitized, and it is unclear whether his thoughts and consciousness have been hollowed out by the Time Worm."

If the soul is hollowed out by the Time Worm, then even if the parasite breaks free from the deep-level parasitism, it will be of no use.

"Oh, so you guys already found out."

Leonard adjusted his monocle in his left eye socket, his smile widening. "I thought I'd been hiding it very well... How did you guys find out?"

"Hmm, let me guess. Klein didn't come to work today... Actually, I've always felt that there's something strange about Klein Moretti. Logically speaking, given the indiscriminate killings in the Antigonus family notes, he should have died like the other two. That's the ending I saw..."

At this point, Leonard paused slightly, his smile widening.

The two parasites immediately became alert.

"That's strange, you all actually want to hear more..."

"As parasites, what you shouldn't be considering is..."

Before he could finish speaking, the expression of the University of Michigan parasite standing between Leonard and Dunn changed drastically.

"Arrest him! This guy is stalling for time!"

Suddenly, one after another, twelve-segmented insects appeared in Leonard's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Dunn subconsciously closed his eyes. As a Sequence 6 Soul Reaper, he quickly retreated, handing the battlefield over to the two Mystic Demigods who were with him.

As Leonard revealed his mythical creature form through the Thief pathway, one after another Time Worms crawled out from the two Mithril Thief pathway demigods.

At the same time, transparent, shimmering patterns were revealed on the walls, floors, and ceilings when some kind of switch was turned on.

"Ritual magic?"

Leonard looked at the ritual magic spreading rapidly on the wall with some surprise. As a former top decipherer, he quickly deciphered the information he needed from these patterns.

"The outsider's presence has mysteriously weakened. Warning, blockade, lightning strike..."

From attacks to blockades, from the outside to the inside, the intricate and diverse nested ritual magic patterns left Leonard speechless.

"I didn't expect that." He chuckled. "I originally thought that two or three nested sets would be enough, but I didn't expect there to be so many hidden things."

After Roselle's death, that guy reclaimed the extraordinary traits of the past Knowledge Emperor, which seem to be quite well-suited to the Knowledge Wilderness.

I wonder if the god of craftsmen can sleep at night...

"However, this set of ritual magic still has a fatal weakness in essence."

Leonard remained calm and collected despite being attacked by the two parasites. He suddenly turned around, slipped past the two parasites' stealing actions, and arrived at the door.

The gate was now closed, its intricate patterns separating the inside from the outside, isolating and sealing off everything within and without.

"Nothing in this world is perfect. Everything has its most basic flaws and errors, which are available for our use."

Leonard reached out, pressed the doorknob, and pushed it outwards.

“As the Night Watchman, Leonard Mitchell is naturally someone who needs the protection of the ritual magic that is present throughout Blackthorn Security Company.”

After saying this, he gave Dunn Smith, who was standing at the door and had begun trying to pull him into the dream, a new expression.

That was an expression of confusion, pain, frustration, and helplessness.

He hesitated, then whispered, "Captain..."

“Leonard.” Dunn was taken aback, and before he could react, Leonard was already standing in front of him.

"Yes, aren't I Leonard Mitchell?"

A black, pointed soft cap was placed on Leonard's head. He adjusted his monocle and smiled as he spoke.

(End of this chapter)