Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 45 Return

The Antigonus family notebook is in the room opposite the kidnappers!

Although it was a coincidence, Klein believed his gut feeling was correct.

He immediately rolled over and got out of bed, quickly taking off the old clothes he wore to bed.

He grabbed the white shirt next to him, draped it over his shoulders, and quickly buttoned it from top to bottom.

One, two, three... He suddenly realized that a button was "missing," and the left and right sides didn't seem quite asymmetrical.

Upon closer inspection, Klein realized that he had buttoned the shirt wrong from the start, causing it to become distorted.

He shook his head helplessly, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, using some meditation techniques to regain some composure.

After putting on a white shirt and black trousers, he managed to put on the shoulder straps with a semblance of composure, and took out the revolver hidden under the soft pillow, placing it inside.

Without bothering to tie his tie, he put on his formal attire, took his hat in one hand and his cane in the other, and walked to the door.

After putting on his half-high silk hat, Klein gently turned the handle, opened the door, and entered the hallway.

Carefully closing the bedroom door, he descended the stairs almost silently, like a thief. Using a pen and paper from the living room, he left two lines of text indicating that he had forgotten to mention last night that he had something to do at the company and needed to arrive early today.

As Klein stepped out the door, he immediately felt a refreshing breeze, and his whole being calmed down.

The street before him was dim and quiet, with no pedestrians, only the light of the gas streetlights shining silently.

Klein took out his pocket watch from his inside pocket, snapped it open, and saw that it was just past six o'clock. The crimson moonlight had not yet completely faded, but there was already a hint of brightness on the horizon.

He was looking for an expensive carriage rental job when he suddenly saw a trackless public carriage with two horses and four wheels coming towards him.

"There are public carriages so early?" Klein was slightly surprised. He went up to them and waved for them to stop.

"Good morning, sir." The coachman skillfully brought the horses to a stop.

The staff member next to him who was in charge of collecting fees covered his mouth with his hand and yawned.

"Go to Zotland Street," Klein said, pulling two pennies and four half-pennys from his pocket.

"Four pence," the cashier answered without hesitation.

After handing over the fare, Klein boarded the carriage, only to find it completely empty, with no other passengers, its dimness revealing a palpable sense of desolation.

"You're the first one," the driver said with a smile.

The two brown horses set off, moving forward with relatively light steps.

"To be honest, I didn't expect there to be public carriages so early." Klein sat down near the driver and answered casually to distract himself and ease his tension.

The driver said self-deprecatingly:

"I work from six o'clock every day to nine o'clock at night, but I only earn £1 a week."

"Isn't there any time to rest?" Klein asked in surprise.

"We'll rotate shifts to one day off each week," the coachman said, his tone turning somber.

The toll collector next to him added:

"We are responsible for working from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., then we have lunch, then a lunch break, and after dinner, around 6 p.m., we relieve our colleagues... Even if we don't need to rest, we still need two horses."

"It wasn't like this before. It's only since some coachmen got too tired and made some careless mistakes, causing the horses to go out of control and the carriage to overturn that we have this rotation system... How could those vampires suddenly become kind!" The coachman sneered.

Bathed in the morning light, the public carriage headed toward Zotland Street, boarding only seven or eight passengers along the way.

After easing his tension slightly, Klein stopped talking, closed his eyes, and replayed yesterday's events frame by frame to see if he had missed anything.

When the sun was fully up and the sky was truly bright, the public carriage arrived at Zotland Street.

Klein, with his left hand on his hat, hopped and skipped off the carriage.

He strode into 36 Zotland Street and went up the stairs to the outside of Blackthorn Security.

At this moment, the gate was closed and had not yet been opened.

Klein took the keychain from his waist, found the matching brass key, inserted it into the hole, and twisted it with a "click".

He pushed the door open, letting it slowly slam open, revealing Leonard Mitchell with black hair and green eyes, sniffing a recently popular cigarette.

"Actually, I prefer cigars... You seem eager?" the poet-like night watchman asked casually.

"Where's the captain?" Klein asked instead of answering.

Leonard pointed to the partition:

"In his office. As an extraordinary 'sleepless' who has risen through the ranks, he only needs to rest for two hours during the day. I think factory owners and bankers would love this magic potion the most."

Klein nodded, quickly walked through the partition, and saw that Dunn Smith had opened the office door and was standing at the entrance.

"What is it?" He was wearing a black trench coat, carrying a gold-inlaid cane, his expression calm and serious.

"I have this 'I feel like I've seen this somewhere before' feeling. It must be that notebook, the Antigonus family notebook." Klein tried his best to control himself and make his answer sound clear and logical.

"Where?" Dunn Smith's expression did not change significantly.

But Klein's intuition told him that the other person seemed to be experiencing a noticeable, invisible fluctuation, which could be a flash of inspiration or a change in emotion.

"Just yesterday, Leonard and I rescued the hostages in the place opposite the kidnappers' room. I didn't realize it at the time until I had a dream and received a revelation." Klein didn't hide anything.

"Looks like I missed out on a huge contribution yesterday." Leonard chuckled as he walked to the partition at some point.

Dunn nodded slightly and solemnly gave the order:

"Let Cohenley replace Old Neil in guarding the armory, and let Old Neil, Frye, and we go together."

Leonard stopped acting frivolously and immediately notified Cohen and Frye, who were in the Night Watchers' Recreation Room. One was a "Sleepless One," and the other was a "Corpse Collector."

Five minutes later, the two-wheeled carriage belonging to the Night Watch squad sped off in the early morning when there weren't many pedestrians.

Leonard, wearing a felt hat, shirt and vest, temporarily acted as a coachman, occasionally cracking the whip in the air to make it sizzle.

Inside the carriage, Klein and Old Neil sat on the same side, opposite Dunn Smith and Frye.

The "corpse collector" had skin so white it looked like he hadn't been in the sun for a long time or was severely anemic. He was probably in his thirties, with black hair, blue eyes, a high nose, thin lips, and a cold and gloomy demeanor. He seemed to have a faint smell left from years of handling corpses.

"Tell me the story in more detail," Dunn said, straightening the collar of his black trench coat.

Klein stroked the citrine pendant hidden by his sleeve, recounting his story from accepting the commission to the dream, while old Neil chuckled beside him:

"You seem to have some kind of fated connection with that Antigonus family notebook, that's why we met."

Yes, what a coincidence! If Leonard hadn't just mentioned that the preliminary interrogation results of Elliott's kidnapping case showed that there were no hidden forces or mysterious powers manipulating it, and that it was just a case of someone taking a risk for money, I would have suspected that it was deliberately arranged by someone... Klein also found this quite strange.

What a coincidence!

Dunn remained silent, seemingly deep in thought, while Frye, the "corpse collector" also dressed in a black trench coat, maintained his usual silence.

The stillness was broken only when the carriage stopped and the building Klein had mentioned appeared outside the window.

"Let's go up, Klein. You and old Neil will be at the very back. Be careful, you must be careful." Dunn got off the carriage, pulled out a strange revolver with a noticeably long and thick barrel from his pocket, and stuffed it into his right pocket.

"Okay." Klein didn't dare to rush to the front.

Once Leonard found someone to guard the carriage, the five extraordinary individuals entered the stairwell in an orderly fashion and quietly made their way to the third floor.

"Is this the place?" Leonard pointed to the room opposite the kidnappers.

Klein tapped his brow twice, activating his spiritual vision.

In this state, his inspiration was heightened, and he felt that the door seemed familiar, as if he had been inside it before.

"Yes." He nodded affirmatively.

Old Neil also activated his spiritual vision, and after careful observation, said:

"There was no one inside, nor was there any magical aura."

"The Corpse Collector," Frye added hoarsely:

There are no evil spirits.

He can see many spirits, including evil spirits and vengeful ghosts, without needing to activate his spiritual vision.

Leonard stepped forward and, just like yesterday, punched the door lock.

This time, not only did the surrounding wooden planks shatter, but the door lock also flew off with a thud and crashed to the ground.

Klein felt as if some invisible seal had vanished in an instant, followed by a strong stench.

"Corps, rotting corpses," Frye, the "corpse collector," stated coldly.

He showed no signs of nausea.

Dunn extended his right hand, gloved in black, and slowly pushed open the door. The first thing that caught everyone's eye was a fireplace, which was unusually stuffy and hot in the early July weather.

In front of the fireplace sat a rocking chair, where an old woman in a black and white dress sat with her head bowed.

She had grown abnormally large, her skin was blackish-green, swollen and shiny, as if it would burst open and spew out a putrid stench if poked at. Maggots or parasites crawled in and out of the flesh and putrid liquid, in the clothes and folds—in her spiritual vision, they were like specks of light surrounding a extinguished "darkness".

Snap, snap.

The old woman's two eyeballs fell out, landed on the ground, rolled a few times, and left several yellowish-brown marks.

Klein felt nauseous and could no longer resist the stench, so he bent over and vomited.

(End of this chapter)