Mr. Death in the Steam World

As time continued to pass, the question lingered in Moen's mind.

What exactly is the harvesting form? And where does the voice in the notebook originate?

Too many questions remained unanswered, but no matter how he asked, the voice in the notebook never responded.

While probing the notebook, Moen noticed the dark red pattern on the cover.

He remembered that the pattern appeared after absorbing the spiritual liquid of the Other Shore Flower, but it did not disappear with the death of the Other Shore Flower.

He tentatively extended his finger, and in an instant, a flood of fragmented images rushed into his vision—

That was a memory from before the birth of the other shore.

From the flower's first-person perspective, Moen knew everything about it.

He saw how it was brought out from an ancient site.

It was an underground temple, its walls covered with densely packed runes, and the air was thick with the smell of decay and death.

A man dressed as an explorer carefully removed it from the stone platform and placed it into a specially made container.

Moen knew that it was Professor Leonard.

The professor initially regarded it as a rather special research subject.

But gradually, the professor began to suffer from insomnia, had nightmares, and started unconsciously walking to its side in the middle of the night.

Moen witnessed how the Other Shore Flower gradually controlled Leonard's mind and fed through his body.

They started with small animals, gradually grew into larger prey, and eventually even began to prey on humans.

Moen saw it laughing at Leonard's foolish attempt to take it to his death.

"This level of harm is meaningless to me."

In my memory, the voice of the other shore flower was disdainful and arrogant.

It killed many people, and in order to avoid causing a disturbance, it always used methods of induced suicide.

—Use pollen to influence the minds of victims, let them walk towards death on their own, and then slowly consume their vitality.

Those people's deaths were attributed to accidents, depression, or mental instability; no one would question a flower.

Things should have continued like this, but its flowering period is ultimately limited.

If it cannot evolve to the next level during its flowering period, it will slowly wither and eventually turn to dust.

Unwilling to give up, it frantically searched for any way to prolong its life.

Just when it was at its most anxious, its original owner, Moen Marcus, passed by its habitat.

It thought it was just an ordinary meal delivered to its door—a poor student, destitute and alone, whose death would go unnoticed.

Unexpectedly, after the original owner hanged himself, he miraculously came back to life.

It immediately realized that this was the power of other contained objects.

For it, which desperately needs to evolve, this is undoubtedly a lifeline.

However, it was unsure just how powerful the contained object was, and dared not act rashly, so it sent a rat to investigate.

After confirming that Moen itself was not strong, it attempted to control Moen directly with pollen.

But it failed.

It couldn't understand until its death why its pollen was so effective, yet couldn't charm an ordinary person.

In fact, the answer is very simple and straightforward.

Her pollen can only control the living, while Moen appears no different from an ordinary person, but is a complete dead person.

Left with no other option, it resorted to controlling Clara and using her to threaten Moen into handing over the containment item.

As for what happened next, it was exactly the same as what Moen had personally experienced.

The next few days were uneventful. On a bright and sunny morning, Clara slowly opened her eyes.

She felt like she had a terrible dream.

In her dream, vines and flower buds sprouted from her body, and she even fought with her brother.

How could this happen!

She subconsciously looked down at her small hands, then touched her arm; everything was normal, no vines, no marks.

She felt a little relieved and began to look around at her surroundings.

A spacious room, a soft bed, and familiar street scenes of Kansas City outside the window.

This is where?

Her memory was still stuck on that night. She remembered going out to take out the trash and meeting a kind uncle who gave her a beautiful flower.

As for what happened after that, she felt as if she were looking through a layer of fog, unable to see anything clearly.

She only remembered that her brother's voice was anxious and frightened, as if he was calling her name, or as if he was fighting desperately against someone, as if—

"Clara!"

Hearing the noise in the room, Moen pushed open the door, rushed in, and hugged Clara tightly.

"Brother, older brother?"

Moen hugged her very tightly.

"You're finally awake! Do you know how long you were unconscious? A week! A whole week!"

He was somewhat incoherent, asking her if she was hungry or if she felt unwell.

Clara was being held so tightly she could barely breathe, but she didn't struggle.

She could feel her brother's trembling body and hear the anxiety and self-blame in his voice.

A wave of guilt washed over her—how could she have felt that her brother had become a different person just a few days ago?

Her brother has always been the brother who loved her.

She was even fighting with her brother in her dream; that's really inappropriate.

"Brother, I'm fine."

Clara said softly, reaching out to pat Moen's head.

"Clara is perfectly fine, nothing's wrong with her."

Moen released her, looked her up and down for a while, and only after confirming that she was really alright did he breathe a long sigh of relief.

He sat on the edge of the bed, stroked Clara's head, and whispered to her what had happened that night—of course, an abridged version.

He only said that a bad person wanted to hurt her, he chased the bad person away, and she was so frightened that she remained unconscious.

Although Clara seemed to understand only vaguely, fortunately, a twelve-year-old girl is relatively easy to fool, and Moen managed to get away with it.

If possible, he didn't want Clara to never have to deal with dangerous things in her entire life.

He also told Clara that a big surprise awaited her on the day she was discharged from the hospital.

Under the effect of "Vibrant Fragrance", Clara's recovery speed is surprisingly fast.

That afternoon, the doctor exclaimed in surprise when he came to check on the patients.

"This...how is this possible?"

Clara's arm, which had previously had several abrasions, now only had faint marks left.

Her complexion was rosy and she was full of energy, not at all like a patient who had been in a coma for a week.

"Incredible, truly incredible..."

The doctor shook his head and wrote something on the medical record.

"Miss Marcus, you are probably the fastest recovering patient I have ever seen."

Clara tilted her head and smiled, wondering why the doctor was so surprised.

Only Moen knew that it was the power of the Blue Essence.

With Moen by her side, Clara recovered quickly, and her complexion improved day by day.

On the day Clara was discharged from the hospital, Moen kept his promise—

"Surprised? Unexpected? Hahahaha..."

Clara stood in the doorway, looking up at the bronze plaque, her eyes sparkling.

"Brother is so amazing!"

The words "Marcus Detective Agency" are clearly engraved on the bronze plaque.

Private investigator, that's what Moen plans to do.

This identity allows him to legitimately access various unusual events and also enables him to utilize his investigative and analytical abilities.

More importantly, he can harvest more vitality and essence from this, and even make some money!

Professor Pip gave him a small sum of money to renovate the firm, as well as enough for them to live on for a month.

That afternoon, he moved Clara into the second floor of the firm.

Clara was thrilled with her new home, running back and forth in the office.

Although the analogy is a bit corny, Moen genuinely thinks Clara is like a lively little white rabbit.

Sitting in his office chair, Moen admired the much better environment around him than before and couldn't help but smile.

He risked his life for this!

Although he is still a dead man, the countdown of the Death Note has never stopped.

But he sincerely believes that things will get better and better in the future.