Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 375 374 The Secret Puppet Masters of the Secret Order

Under the crimson moon, a young man wearing a black silk hat walked along an empty street and brushed past a disheveled, terrified homeless man who was fleeing in panic.

The young man turned his body to the side and, very lightly but firmly, grabbed the homeless man's shoulder.

"What happened?"

The young man's light brown eyes seemed to conceal unknown emotions that were not easily perceived by ordinary people.

He looked down at the homeless man who was on the verge of collapse from fear, his voice surprisingly calm.

This calming aura seemed to possess some kind of peculiar magic, slightly calming the homeless man's almost overflowing fear.

The homeless man collapsed to the ground following the young man's movement. His grimy, bearded face was covered in dirt, yet he clung to the young man's clothes as if grasping at a last straw. His voice trembled and broke into a broken murmur:

"Kill! Murder! Inside! Corpses! So many corpses!"

"They're climbing! Monsters! They're monsters! Help me, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

"So many corpses? A crawling monster?"

The young man shifted his gaze from the homeless man to the alleyway not far away from where the homeless man had scrambled out.

At the alley entrance, hands clung tightly to the stone bricks surrounding the entrance, and distorted, crazed faces filled the alley.

They huddled together in the dark alley, like cockroaches that couldn't stand the light, piled up tightly, fearing the crimson moon in the sky.

"Where...where are people...where are people..."

"No...no, we can't appear in open areas...He said...no...no..."

The young man wearing a black silk hat released the homeless man.

The homeless man's pupils contracted sharply as he trembled violently. He instinctively wanted to beg the seemingly calm young man in front of him to call the police, but the moment the young man released him, it was as if his memories had been stolen. The young man's voice and face disappeared from his memory.

As before, the homeless man stumbled and screamed as he ran away into the distance, fearing that if he fell behind even a second, he would be grabbed and eaten by those crawling corpses.

"The secret dolls have rioted?"

Nikolai adjusted his hat, took a small step forward, and instantly appeared at the alley entrance.

Looking down into the alley, Nikolai saw the scene inside.

Indeed, such images can easily cause psychological trauma to children.

Countless twisted and deformed arms, some several meters long, reached out from the alley, grabbing at their prey and trying to drag Nikolai, who was blocking the entrance, into the alley as well.

Nikolai reached forward slightly, and clumps of slightly warm objects appeared in his hands.

The outstretched arms suddenly stiffened, withering and decaying like flowers. First came the flesh, then the bones, organs, and brain, and the souls followed suit, rapidly disappearing. One after another, the faces, driven to madness, decayed.

The stench of decay filled the narrow alley. The filthy, foul-smelling corpses aged rapidly as the young man approached, losing their anchor and turning to ashes.

They had their lives taken away. A puppet is still a puppet. The death of the spirit does not mean the death of the body. They will still die after experiencing a large-scale life theft.

With a soft thud, the sound of something falling came from not far away.

Nikolai looked over there and saw a pale-faced, black-haired, red-eyed, handsome but slightly effeminate young man hurriedly picking up the doll that had fallen to the ground, and then running away like a madman.

Nicholas: “…”

Ignoring the vampires passing by... oh sorry, I should say bloodstains, Nikolai walked into the alley.

Inside, the place was crammed with corpses, layer upon layer, their faces, limbs, and bodies overlapping each other. Each one had a ferocious expression but was incredibly devout. The dense effect created by the piled-up corpses made the mountain of corpses look exceptionally terrifying.

It would be unwise to place these inferior products, made by other Mystic Masters, in Backlund.

After a moment's thought, Nikolai quickly deduced the reason for their uprising from what he had stolen from these puppets.

"Looking for Klein..."

He looked up at the crimson moon in the sky, then listened intently, as if trying to hear a voice from someone.

"They were taken away?"

"Okay, I'll handle this."

After listening to the conversation, Nikolai walked out of the alley.

In the dark alley, both the corpses and the puppets were reduced to ashes, their extraordinary properties flowing rapidly to Nikolai, who put them into his pocket.

At the alley entrance, Nikolai saw Creste Cecima, the Goddess Sword of the Church of the Night, who had just arrived.

"Mr. 'Mistake'?"

The Night Watchers of the Church of the Night, seeing Nicholas appear there, looked at each other in bewilderment.

They were puzzled as to why Mr. "Mistake" would be there.

“Just passing by, Mr. Cecima.”

Nikolai calmly greeted the "Sword of the Goddess".

The two had met a few times. Kreste Cecima had come to Tingen as a representative of the Church of the Night to discuss cooperation between the Church of the Night and Miskatonic with Mr. "Mistake" Nikolai Flamel.

Kresta Cecima glanced at the alley behind Mr. "Mistake," then looked at the calm-faced Mr. "Mistake"...

Kreste Sesima: ...

Should he take charge of this matter or not?
"Never mind," Kreste Sesima sighed inwardly.

Let's report this to our superiors first.

He really had neither the right nor the ability to handle matters concerning such important figures.

"But what is Mr. 'Mistake' doing in Backlund?"

Kreste Cecima kept this question buried in his heart until Mr. "Mistake" turned and left, at which point he slowly let out a breath.

"Let's go and report what's happening here first... There's been a large-scale incident of people being attacked by puppets in Backlund. Has a high-ranking person using the divination path infiltrated Backlund?"

-

"Cough cough..."

When Klein opened his eyes again, the dust in the air made him cough a few times.

The factory was dark, with containers covered by cloth scattered on the dusty floor. Crimson moonlight barely shone through the broken windows. "This is our new base. The old one was destroyed by those puppets and official organizations."

With a snap of her fingers, Triss's lights in the factory came on, dimly, but enough for Klein to see.

Triss was sitting on a container directly opposite Klein.

Klein glanced around and saw the young man who had been in charge of delivering the message, as well as the man who had previously held a gun to his head.

Klein was not tied up with ropes, and after arriving at the destination, he was no longer held to a gun to the head, where he could be shot at any moment.

These people seemed to have some good intentions, but Klein was cautious by nature and did not intend to believe only what they said on the surface.

He had a very bad impression of the rebels; after all, who would have a good impression of someone who had followed them all the way?

"What do you want to say by bringing me here?"

What can't be said face-to-face? Why must we find a place like this?
Klein thought to himself, if all else fails, I'll try to kill myself. I hope they won't cremate my body.

If possible, Tang might notice my unusual late return, or Mr. Flamel might discover I'm missing... After all, the feeling of death isn't exactly pleasant.

Of course, given the possibility of survival, Klein still didn't want to die. The way these people treated him on the surface at least indicated that they didn't want him to die yet.

“I think you’ll find some stories about Backlund interesting.”

Triss said.

It is clear from his actions during the Backlund smog incident that Sherlock Moriarty is not the kind of person who would stand idly by and watch others die.

This person is, to some extent, worth cooperating with.

He has a secret. Despite facing triple pressure from "0-08", the Witch Cult, and the Aurora Society, he still managed to escape alive, and he is suspected of having a connection with a Death Archon (Azik: ?).

and……

A shadowy glint flashed in Triss's eyes. She suppressed her emotions about her whereabouts and smiled at Klein, saying:
"Detective Moriarty, have you noticed the recent surge in human trafficking cases in Backlund?"

"Human trafficking cases? I thought you were going to talk about people coming back from the dead."

Klein was surprised, and his mind raced, trying to extract something from the witch.

His intuition told him that what they were about to say might be very important.
"It is indeed a human trafficking case, but I think your claim of being brought back to life is also related to this matter."

Triss said.

As a detective who was gradually gaining fame, Klein naturally took on the task of finding the children. As expected, the children were found quickly after the fortune teller's divination.

However, if it involves a large-scale human trafficking case... Although the criminal penalties for human trafficking are extremely severe in the countries of the Northern Continent, unfortunately, there is never a shortage of people in this world who do such things.

If a business has a 10% profit margin, someone will try to get involved.

If there's a 20% profit margin, those who want to get involved will become active.

If there's a 50% profit margin, they're willing to take the risk.

However, if there is a guaranteed profit, there will always be people who dare to trample on all human laws.

As long as there is demand, there will naturally be people willing to take the risk.

This is not something that can be prohibited by law.

Backlund's management was alright in aristocratic areas like Queens, but in poor neighborhoods like the East End, the management was chaotic and the population turnover was extremely high, making it a less than friendly place for both the managers and those being managed.

Human trafficking is not uncommon in the East District. On the surface, the East District appears calm, but this does not mean that the East District, or even the entire Backlund, is also calm behind the scenes.

Perhaps things were alright in the city directly managed by Mr. "Mistake," but in such a place where power was deeply entrenched, Klein didn't want to think too much about the filth within.

"Yes, human trafficking, whether in Backlund or elsewhere, is currently taking place. There are quite a few people being transported into Backlund right now through intermediaries."

"Tell me, Detective Moriarty, what is the purpose of transporting so many people in here?"

They couldn't possibly be here to do manual labor, could they?

Klein mentally scoffed, his face darkening. He quickly grasped the crux of the matter and asked Triss, "Whatever their motives, with so many missing persons and human trafficking cases, I think neither the major orthodox cults, the Miskatonic Church, nor the military should stand idly by."

"Yes, that's the theory."

Triss gave a somewhat mocking smile. "But what if I said that those official extraordinary organizations, those high-ranking members of the righteous god sects knew about it, approved of it, tacitly approved of it, and even some of them helped with their human trafficking?"

Klein's heart skipped a beat. "Why? I don't think they have any reason to do this."

"You can't expect me to believe what you're saying just because of your word, can you? Unless you have more evidence, I will only consider what you're saying to be baseless speculation."

"evidence?"

Triss glanced around at the people with a half-smile. "They are all evidence."

"What do you mean?"

Klein glanced at the people around him. They were either silent or wiping their weapons, none of them intending to speak.

"Perhaps you learned about the origins of our organization from Miskatonic? We are all driven mad, believing that someone manipulated our deceased relatives and friends, turning them into monsters..."

Klein was aware of this; there were many such cases at St. Peter's Hospital in Tingen.

"So, as someone who follows the Diviner's Path, you should know what the name of the potion is for Sequence 5 of this Path, right?"

Seeing Klein deep in thought, Triss, still smiling, prompted, "The Puppet Master can turn people into puppets on strings, making them come to life and play roles."

"You mean, some high-ranking individuals with divine abilities are controlling people?"

"Yes, and it was manipulated in a way that was almost imperceptible to ordinary people."

Triss said, "I think only one person could pull off such manipulation."

She said sarcastically, "The Secret Order."

"The Secret Order..."

Klein had heard of the name before. In Tingen, when he faced Riel Bieber, Miskatonic's investigators had already learned that the mastermind behind the Antigonus family notebook murder case was a member of the Secret Order.

"The Secret Order is helping those people involved in human trafficking? But what does that have to do with what you said about the official Extraordinary organization tacitly approving their actions?"

(End of this chapter)