Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 366 365 Mental Patients
"Then I blew up all the buildings nearby, and after making sure there were no pursuers, I ran back."

At this point, Tang picked up his cup, took a small sip, and moistened his throat.

Klein put down the biscuit in his hand, listened to what Tang had to say, and pursed his lips: "Tang, you mean, they attacked you because you are a Puppet Master?"

"According to the divination results, that is indeed the case."

Tang put down the cup. "I'm helpless too. Who knew that drinking a magic potion would lead to such an undeserved disaster?"

That was incredibly unlucky.

“But it sounds,” Klein thought, “a bit odd.”

"Why would they target you if there's no conflict with the extraordinary pathways and they're not accomplices of that gang behind the scenes? It doesn't make sense; they have no reason to offend a Sequence 5 extraordinary."

Or perhaps there are more secrets hidden here?
For example, did they mistake Tang for someone else?

“I think so too. They have no reason to attack me. Without a core conflict of interest, it’s not common for a Sequence 5 Extraordinary to commit a crime of passion against someone whose background is unknown.”

"If it's just about killing to obtain extraordinary characteristics or robbing sealed artifacts, they shouldn't have targeted me. After all, they don't know what the sealed artifacts I carry are or what their negative effects are."

In short, the value was less than the risk involved, and they did something unnecessary anyway, so there's clearly more to the story.

"So I asked the school administrators in Backlund to look for some relevant information... It should be here soon."

As soon as Tang finished speaking, the two of them had a sudden inspiration.

They all looked at the convex window that offered a view of the blood moon outside.

Their shared heightened sense of inspiration made their movements remarkably synchronized.

On the convex window that could see the blood moon outside, ripples like water were now floating. Behind the mirror, it seemed, lay an unknown area, and a dark color gradually filled the convex window.

"You see, the efficiency is indeed very fast."

Neither of them sensed any danger.

Tang Xiaoxiao stood up, walked over, and reached her hand through the dark mirror, into the seemingly endless darkness, and took out a document wrapped in a brown leather bag.

He waved the document in his hand at Klein: "The data has arrived."

"Passing documents through a mirror?"

Klein, on the other hand, was quite interested in this peculiar method.

"Ah."

As Tang unpacked the leather bag, he replied, "It must have been orchestrated by a high-ranking figure in the Witch Path."

"Most of the confidential documents in the school, apart from those that are sealed and transported using various sealing objects, are mostly transported by extraordinary individuals through spirit world teleportation via the apprentice path, or like this, by extraordinary individuals through the witch path using mirrors to transmit them."

Tang placed the documents from the leather bag on the table and began to skim through them, while simultaneously explaining them to Klein:

"Those in high positions of the Witch Path wield authority over the Mirror Realm, and their curses are often cast using mirrors, making it a fairly safe method of teleportation in the school."

"Aren't you afraid that sending items through a mirror will be stopped? Hmm, the Witch Cult probably has people who can manipulate mirrors, right?"

“That’s true, but… oh right, Klein, I haven’t told you yet, but the person in charge of Miskatonic in Backlund is named Archerly Lancaster, an ageless witch of Sequence 3.”

"If there's a problem with our documents, it's fine if they're not important, but if they are, that lady will step in."

While it cannot be guaranteed that the Extraordinary beings on the Witch Cult who can interfere with the mirror are inferior to Archerley Lancaster, doing such a thing under her gaze is tantamount to slapping the Great in the face.

Slapping Michigan University in the face means that Mr. "Mistake" can come and do something.

If the equation holds true, the confidential documents are absolutely safe.

Klein was a smart man, and he quickly grasped the implications.

"The ageless witch..."

The name of a potion can actually reveal a lot: immortality, eternal youth...

Tang, being two ranks above Klein, was a legitimate investigator in Miskatonic, possessing far more knowledge of the occult and more secrets than Klein.

What Mr. "Mistake" meant was less that Tang was there to assist him, and more that an extraordinary being two sequences above him was there to broaden his horizons in Backlund.

In the world of mysticism, having a teacher and not having a teacher are two extremes. After all, for those extraordinary individuals who live in the wild, some experiences gained at the cost of their lives are invaluable.

Life is precious; if you don't court death, you won't die.

But some things won't come to you just because you don't do them.

After Tang finished reading the documents, he handed them to Klein.

"Hmm, the Ageless Witch, the Witch Path Sequence 4 is called Despair, and Sequence 3 is called Immortality. Hehe, it's said that the Ageless Witch has the longest lifespan among all demigods, immortal and eternally youthful... Hmm, speaking of which, the Hunter Path and Witch Path among the extraordinary paths we've mastered, these two adjacent paths should be quite complete, it's just that the side effects are a bit strong..."

"All I know is that Sequence 7 of the Witch Path will result in a gender change."

"Klein said."

"If one of two adjacent pathways has an anomaly in this respect, then the other one is likely to be similar."

Tang placed the information he had finished reading on the table. "The Hunter Path Sequence 4, the potion is called Iron Knight. Extraordinary beings who reach this sequence, whether male or female, will eventually become male."

Klein: "...Ah, this."

Sure enough, there was more than one way to ruin things.

But since extraordinary individuals on adjacent pathways can jump between each other in higher sequences...

"In other words, if a male becomes female at the Witch stage of Sequence 7 in the Assassin's Path, he can jump back to Sequence 4 in the Hunter's Path and become male again, as long as he works hard to advance to Sequence 4?"

"Sure, but as far as I know, most of the high-ranking witches haven't done that."

"Why……"

“I don’t know,” Tang said. “Don’t pry into adults’ affairs, Klein.” Klein: “…?”

Although he would later have to eat at the children's table, Klein still obtained the names of the high-sequence potions from the Witch Path, as well as more extraordinary knowledge.

"So, the difference between having someone to guide you and not having someone to guide you is really huge."

He sighed inwardly, then picked up the file sent by the Backlund investigator from the table and quickly flipped through it.

"The Resistance Alliance, a group of mentally ill people who often believe that there is something wrong with the people around them, then slaughter their own relatives and friends simply because they believe that these people are dead, yet they have strangely come back to life?"

Klein looked up in surprise, "How come..."

"Similar to those mentally ill people locked up in St. Peter's? I think so too."

Tang shrugged.

In recent years, the number of people suffering from this disease in Tingen has been increasing year by year, and there are many similar patients undergoing long-term mental health treatment in the psychiatric treatment room of St. Peter's Hospital.

Unexpectedly, this wave of mental illness also reached Backlund.

Tang rested his chin on his hand and said, “After professional psychological profiling, the group of people who call themselves the resistance fighters active in Backlund are highly similar to those paranoid patients locked up in the St. Peter's Psychiatric Clinic who say things like ‘This world is not right’ or ‘Ahhh, they want me to die, these people are clearly dead.’”

"It's as if the whole world has undergone mutations that we couldn't have predicted. But if what they're talking about really happened, the church, the royal family, the military, and the investigators would have noticed the problem long ago."

Klein thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case...

"But isn't it a bit too much of a coincidence that such people have appeared in both Tingen and Backlund?"

He asked in a questioning tone.

"It may be due to the influence of some sealed artifact, or the guidance of an evil god. In the world of mysticism, widespread group anomalies are quite common."

"These mentally ill people who claim to have seen the truth of this world are hiding in Backlund. Backlund has a very complex composition, and they are good at hiding. Apart from a few of the first few that the official Extraordinary were captured and sent to St. Peter for treatment, the others have not been seen. On the contrary, this time, I don't know whether to say it's lucky that we found the traces of these guys, or to say it's unlucky."

Tang didn't find the emergence of these mental illnesses particularly strange; instead, he was preoccupied with something else: "But now, what I find strange is why they attacked me?"

The question returns to the beginning: why would these self-proclaimed rebels attack a member of an official extraordinary organization?

Moreover, they did it like moths to a flame, each move aimed at his life. Was it really necessary to kill a psychic?
Although Tang did not reveal his identity, how could a Sequence 5 Extraordinary be so likely to make them act as if they were mortal enemies the moment they met?

Did these people forget their brains when they went out?

“Either their identity is special, or they are a special person,” Klein said.

“I’ve never seen these people before,” Tang rejected Klein’s second guess.

“Then their identity must be special… We’ve only been in Backlund for a short time, and if the investigator’s identity hasn’t been exposed, there’s probably only one possibility.”

Tang Lian quickly realized, "You mean, the identity of the Master of the Puppet is problematic in the eyes of these mentally challenged guys?"

He rested his left hand on his chin. "That can't be right. Surely these guys don't think everyone around them is a puppet controlled by a puppet master?"

That's why they acted so abnormally, believing that absurd things like the dead coming back to life could happen in the real world.

"But if you think about it, if all your friends, your family, all the acquaintances and strangers you come into contact with, whether they are ordinary people or extraordinary individuals, whether they are commoners or nobles, were all puppets... well, to be honest, I'd go crazy too..."

Klein felt a chill run down his spine. He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and gave a wry smile: "This is not a funny joke."

After the Sunwell Ore contamination outbreak in Tingen, which dissolved many people in the Sunwell Ore, the Mystic Masters of Miskatonic took action to stabilize the minds of the remaining living people in the city in order to avoid causing panic.

Under Mr. "Mistake", this disaster was blurred in the memories of ordinary people. Most of them would only think that a major natural disaster had occurred in Tingen City. They would not, and could not, associate it with the people they passed by on the road. Now they have become puppets put in by the puppet masters to fill the number of people and digest the magic potion.

However, these puppets are still significantly different from living people. Anyone who pays close attention can sense an inexplicable abnormality about the people they occasionally pass by on the street.

Klein had also felt this abnormal feeling; he sometimes dreamed of the eerie and terrifying sight.

Sequence 4 of the Diviner's Path, no wonder it's called the Trickster.

However, Klein didn't know whether the diviners, upon reaching higher sequences, had perfected the manipulation of the puppets, making them flawless in appearance, form, actions, and language, whether in public or private.

After all, he is only a Sequence 7.

Klein shared his guess with Tang.

"The high-ranking figures of the Diviner's Path are not in Backlund. Such manipulation of occult objects could not possibly go unnoticed. Your idea is flawed."

Tang refuted Klein's conjecture, "I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, but Mr. 'Mistake' did come to Backlund to investigate this matter. At the very least, the diviner who could so quietly deceive all the high-ranking figures in Backlund is not in Backlund."

Ok.

Klein nodded, agreeing with Mr. "Wrong".

Although a strange feeling still lingered in his mind, he couldn't shake it off.

Ultimately, this unrealistic idea remained buried in his heart, never to see the light of day again.

The next morning, Klein went out to continue his detective career.

only……

He watched as a beautiful woman brushed past him for the second time, and involuntarily frowned slightly.

"This is?"

Klein clutched the talisman in his pocket and calmly went to help his employer with trivial matters, thus building the reputation of the detective agency.

As he glanced out the window of his employer's house, he saw a face he had just seen.

That person stood quietly in a dark and mysterious space behind the mirror, visible only to Klein.

"Witch?"

Klein became secretly alert.

Yesterday he heard Tang say that he had encountered a witch who could travel through mirrors, and today he has run into her?
(End of this chapter)