Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 369 368 The Unspeakable
As Rosago tugged at the seemingly ordinary threads of spirit energy, his expression grew increasingly grave, then increasingly terrified.

What is this?
What kind of spiritual thread is he grasping?!
"you--"

"Officer, is there a problem?"

Klein looked at the police officer played by Rosago, who had been talking so confidently just moments before, with a strange expression. His expression went from full of confidence to stiff in an instant.

At this point, Rosago was clearly no longer interested in playing his role properly.

His spiritual intuition was like it had taken adrenaline at that moment, frantically warning him and indicating what kind of risks were hidden here.

escape--!
No longer caring about anything else, Rosago, his face filled with terror, tried to get up and turn to run away.

monster!

monster--!
In his vision, the originally normal spiritual lines emanating from the two people gradually transformed into transparent insects stretched to their limits.

The insects shimmered with tiny, dazzling lights, creating a dreamlike and quite beautiful sight.

If it were only to this extent, Rosago could still cover it up by claiming that he might be hallucinating.

But something new had entered his mind.

"Sequence 4, Trickster, potion recipe, main eye of the Trickster, true soul of the Spirit Raider, auxiliary materials..."

"Sequence 3, Ancient Scholar, Potion Recipe... Ritual, completely detached from reality for at least three hundred years, taking the potion after one has become history and no longer belongs to the current era..."

If Rosago had known about the Sequence 4 potion recipe, along with Sequence 3, he would have been very happy.

However, under these circumstances, this level of knowledge entered his mind in such a terrifying and bizarre way.

This is not normal, this is not normal...

Several of the spiritual threads that had transformed into the stretching insects drifted toward him on their own, without his control.

These threads of spirits coiled around his fingertips, seemingly inviting him, the master of puppets, to manipulate them.

Can--

Rosago's pupils dilated once again.

His attempt to escape froze, and the voice in his mind suddenly amplified.

It was a hollow, supreme sound, echoing within the potion.

Upon hearing this hollow voice, the body of the man acting as Sherlock Moriarty's assistant began to slowly deform after spiritual threads wrapped around him.

Transparent worms filled the seemingly ordinary body, like a monster hiding in the crowd, wearing a human shell. It sat there nonchalantly, with a smile on its face... That smile also turned into two huddled worms representing eye sockets and a transparent worm with a bent body.

This is not a living person!
"you……"

His brain froze, and he mechanically tried to take something out.

Everything is good, everything is good!
Flames leap, air cannonballs...

Yes, yes, and paper figures... no, that's not right... he no longer has any paper figure substitutes...

He was only dealing with someone whose highest sequence pathway was only Sequence 7 and who had no special background, so why did he fail? Why did it turn out like this? Why... why is there something like this here...?

"No, that's not right..."

The police officer, played by Rosago, muttered to himself, knocking things over on the table, and his empty eyes clearly indicated that he was gradually heading towards a state of madness and loss of control.

He's about to lose control!
Klein's spiritual intuition was finally triggered, and he looked at the police officer who had been talking so eloquently just moments before with a horrified expression.

The police officer, who was supposed to be conducting a population survey, had transparent fleshy buds wriggling wildly on his face.

His expression was chaotic and frantic, as if he had faced the most terrifying thing in the world, his mind was breaking down, and he was about to turn into a monster.

"He's an extraordinary being? He's about to lose control?!"

Klein realized this, his expression darkened, and he was about to activate the ritual magic in the room to throw the guy out, but the puppets standing on either side were faster than him.

They grabbed the disguised puppet master and slammed him to the ground as soon as Rosago's body began to malfunction.

"No, even without ritual magic, he's finished."

Tang's voice made Klein retract his hand, which was about to trigger the ritual magic.

"Ahhhh——!"

Rosago writhed wildly on the ground, his face contorted in pain, and clear liquid oozed from the pulsating flesh on his face.

Upon seeing this, Klein took a step back with a look of horror on his face. He couldn't help but look at Tang, who was sitting there, still in the mood to drink tea.

"What... what's wrong with him?"

"A very common phenomenon."

Tang put down his cup, patted the dust off his clothes, and said, "He was just pulling on our spiritual threads. I was wondering why, of all times, that someone had to come tonight to conduct a census... Mr. 'Mistake' put something on me to ensure our safety."

Tang casually remarked, "And this is an extraordinary individual who has mastered the Diviner's Path; clearly, he has not reached the level of a demigod."

He glanced at Rosago, who was pinned to the ground, his limbs convulsing, his body twitching, yet still staring intently at him without blinking, and smiled sneer: "So, he saw things he shouldn't have seen, and heard things he shouldn't have heard."

As if hearing what Tang said, the granulation tissue on Rosago's face burst open, and blood flowed out along with the cerebrospinal fluid.

His entire face was blown into a bloody hole, as if self-destructing.

The eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and other parts were turned into bloody, mangled holes, through which one could vaguely see the brain that had begun to turn gray.

"Ahhh—ahhh—"

Meaningless sounds escaped Rosago's mouth. In his eyes, the humanoid monster composed of countless insects stood up and slowly approached him.

"Don't come any closer—don't come any closer—!"

His expression was one of utter terror, but every word he uttered was just a meaningless "ah ah" sound.

His vocal cords have mutated, and he can no longer produce normal sounds.

The monster seemed to understand his words, chuckled, walked over, and squatted down in front of him.

A gentle, slightly amused voice rang in Rosago's ear:

"Did your teacher ever tell you that magicians never perform without preparation?"

"You didn't prepare a paper doll substitute, you didn't prepare a magic doll, you even thought Klein was just a Sequence 7 magician, so you simply came here unprepared and made such a presumptuous visit?"

“Ah, I’m a little worried about the training strategy of the Intis intelligence department. Should such a Diviner-path extraordinary being be completely wiped out of this world?” “A Diviner-path extraordinary being has made such a low-level mistake… Perhaps I should change some of the underlying knowledge of this path, just like Amon did.”

"you……"

He raised his head and met the monster's gaze.

His expression was blank; his face, already a bloody mess, was inherently expressionless.

"You are--"

That sound, that sound—!
He heard this voice when he was promoted to Joker, Magician, Faceless Man, and Master Puppet!
"Alright, your mission is over, Rosago."

The monster chuckled, "Thank you for your dedication. Rosago, you have played an indispensable role in the journey toward the end of the world."

He gently placed his hand on Rosago's head.

Then, the already mangled head suddenly exploded.

Klein watched as Tang stood up. Without doing anything, the head of the puppet master impersonating a police officer suddenly exploded, splattering red and white matter all around, a truly terrifying sight.

A Sequence 5 Mystic Master was killed without leaving a trace, merely by touching the mark left by Mr. "Mistake".

He instinctively took a step back, his lips twitching.

"But isn't this a bit too intense?"

“Well, you’ll have to get used to it. Mr. Mistake can be quite ruthless sometimes.”

Tang muttered something, then casually shifted the blame: "Ugh, this really is a bit of a heavy taste. How am I supposed to view food like pig brains after this..."

When you see something like this, do you only think of pig brains?
Klein was speechless. Seeing that Rosago was definitely dead, he suppressed his nausea and asked, "This Master of Mystic Puppetry, is he from Intis's side?"

Aside from Miskatonic University, among large organizations, perhaps only the secretive Cult of the Secret Order and the Republic of Intis possess the corresponding, coherent, and complete potion pathways for extraordinary individuals who follow the Diviner path.

Although Klein was not clear about the sequence level of the potions these three possessed.

But in Backlund, and by sheer coincidence, we run into each other tonight. There's a 99.9% chance that they're from Intis's side.

"I guess so."

Tang nodded. "Although I became that executioner, I managed to get away with it, but we can't escape responsibility for Ian Wright's matter. The manuscript of the third-generation difference engine was placed in a place that only Fussack's spies could find."

Perhaps only Ian Wright's superior, and Ian Wright himself, could find the manuscript of the third-generation difference engine.

Klein and Don had previously learned that Ian Wright had been being searched by Intis's spies. If they hadn't found Detective Zeryl's body and made Ian Wright realize the seriousness of the problem, perhaps the final result would have been that Intis would have had the Difference Engine manuscript all to themselves, while MI9 and Machine Heart would have returned empty-handed.

but……

Tang rummaged through the clothes on the dead Rosago's body and took out a stack of manuscripts from the inside pocket of the clothes.

"look."

Tang shook the item in his hand, looked at Klein, and said with a smile, "It's like fate arranged it, delivering this item to us."

Their orders for tonight regarding the scramble for the manuscript are to stand by.

High-level combat was not suitable for Don and Klein. Ms. Archerley's original intention was to wait for other investigators to take the manuscript away or destroy it in secret, but now, by sheer coincidence, the manuscript has fallen into their hands.

"It's such a coincidence."

"Yes, it's such a coincidence."

Well, Klein does still have a bit of PTSD about the word "coincidence".

After all, the quill pen in Ince Zangwell's hand could manipulate coincidences.

But under Mr. "Mistake's" watchful eye, they shouldn't fall into the same coincidence created by "0-08" again.

perhaps……

Tang took the manuscript and went to his room to prepare the ritual magic, intending to give the item to Mr. "Mistake".

It's not safe to keep this on your person; you should get rid of it as soon as possible.

Klein waited in the living room, awaiting the release of Rosago's extraordinary properties.

Now I have both the extraordinary traits of Sequence 5 Master of the Puppet and Sequence 6 Faceless Man.

"Isn't this going a little too smoothly?"

Klein muttered something unconsciously.

I have a feeling that his luck is skyrocketing after meeting Mr. "Mistake".

"However, this might also be another manifestation of the Yellow and Black King who holds the key to good fortune?"

After Tang delivered the manuscript to Mr. "Mistake," Rosago's extraordinary characteristics were also revealed on Klein's side.

Seeing Tang magically produce a piece of cloth from his pocket and wrap it around the seal formed by Rosago's eyeball, Klein looked at the remaining parts of Rosago's corpse:
"What should we do with the body? Bury it somewhere?"

“Of course, we’ll use ritual magic to process it. Hmm, but if you don’t mind, Klein, you can also use the items from this Puppet Master as auxiliary materials for potions. That way, you won’t need to look for them again when you advance in your cultivation…”

"Let's forget about it and just use ritual magic to deal with it."

Klein refused.

Tang shrugged. "Yeah, there's no need."

With the help of the Mystic Puppet, Tang performed another divination interference after Klein. After the two of them set up the altar and prayed to "Great Knowledge" to obtain feedback from the ritual magic, the body of Mystic Puppet Master Rosago disappeared in a hurricane.

"His body will appear somewhere deep in the raging sea, where it will be quickly devoured by the fish, and no one will be able to find a trace of it."

Tang said, "By the way, the battle over there is over too. The demigods of the Rose School succeeded, Ambassador Intis was assassinated, and the battle is over."

"We plan to pin this on the indulgence faction of the Rose School. They already have a bad reputation in the Northern Continent, so it's normal for them to take the blame for something like this, isn't it?"

For some reason, Klein felt that Miskatonic was very adept at shifting the blame.

"MI9 and the Machine Heart over there..."

"It will mislead people to Intis's side; the manuscript is indeed in the hands of their Mystic Master."

Great, a closed loop has been formed.

(End of this chapter)