Lord of Mysteries: The Color of the Stars

"I am Dunn Smith."

A deep, steady male voice answered from outside the door.

"Dunne... is he the policeman who came to see me before?"

Upon hearing this, Klein immediately recalled the name of the gray-eyed police officer that Julian had deliberately mentioned earlier.

He tried to clear his head, then stood up and walked towards the door.

However, before he even reached the door, Klein noticed something unusual.

That was the extremely strange color enveloped in the morning light outside the window. It didn't look like a simple golden yellow or reddish-brown, but rather a strange color that seemed to be a mixture of neon lights and ultraviolet lights.

Seeing this, Klein suddenly realized that there seemed to be something wrong with the environment he was in.

In addition, Melissa should have been up and prepared breakfast long ago, but the house was quiet, which made Klein feel increasingly strange.

"...Is it an illusion created by supernatural forces, or a dream?"

He quickly realized what was happening.

Composing himself, Klein calmly opened the door and looked blankly at Dunn Smith outside.

The gray-eyed officer got straight to the point, pointing out a new clue that the "Night Watchers" had: Klein had visited Welch's residence on the day Welch and Naya died.

Faced with this information, Klein did not panic, but calmly explained that he did not remember these things.

Faced with Klein's calm and composed explanation, Dunn first praised his good mental fortitude, and then brought up the matter of the missing revolver.

Klein did not hide anything; on the one hand, he admitted that the pistol was in his possession, and on the other hand, he came up with a reasonable explanation.

Seeing that Klein hadn't revealed any flaws, Dunn said he needed Klein to go to the police station to assist with the investigation, which might take two or three days.

Klein nodded; he had by now fully adapted to the feeling that he might be in a hallucination.

He appropriately displayed his nervousness, and after leaving a note for Melissa, he followed Dunn downstairs and into the four-wheeled carriage bearing the police badge.

On the way, he asked Dunn with some concern what was going to happen next, and appropriately expressed his fear of the whole thing. His performance was flawless, and he did not run away at the last minute like in the original story.

"...Officer Dunn, I'll be alright, won't I?"

Why do you think something might happen to you?

Dunn asked with great interest.

"I don't know, but after hearing what you said about Welch and Naya's strange deaths, it seems like some kind of bizarre curse."

"I'm afraid the same thing will happen to me. So if going to the police station can guarantee my safety, even if it's only temporary, it's a good thing."

"The only problem is, what if my brother and sister worry about me..."

Klein became so engrossed in his speech that he didn't even realize the scene outside the car window was starting to distort, blur, and become unreal.

The only thing that remains constant is the vibrant, neon-like color.

"I……"

Klein took a deep breath, intending to continue speaking, but suddenly found that the entire carriage had turned into darkness.

"!"

Klein suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and began to breathe heavily.

Suppressing his inner tension, he got up and went to the corridor, heading towards the public restroom.

However, at that moment, Klein saw a figure standing in front of the window at the end of the corridor.

"Let's get to know each other again."

The figure turned around and said to Klein:

Dunn Smith.

……

On the other side, inside a three-story building, Julian, dressed in a beige trench coat, wearing a top hat, and holding a silver-inlaid cane, slowly walked to the door of a family's house.

"This is it, Riel Bieber's house..."

According to the original timeline, this descendant of the Antigonus family should have already obtained the Antigonus family's notes.

The only problem is that Julian is not sure whether the Secret Order has already made contact with this person.

Thinking of this, he once again took out the "Scholar's Legacy" and began searching for any possible clues around him with the help of the magnifying glass.

"...As expected, there's a problem."

Julian soon noticed something amiss.

That is, two specific right-hand fingerprints can be found on the doorknob and the mailbox next to Riel Bieber's house. Judging from the density, oxidation and distribution of the fingerprints, these should be Riel's and his mother's fingerprints.

However, in addition to this, there was a relatively new set of fingerprints on his doorknob that had not appeared on the mailbox.

Most importantly, judging from the distribution of the fingerprints, this set of fingerprints came from the left hand.

For Julian, who used to be a "detective," it was easy to grasp the crux of the problem.

"The third set of fingerprints did not appear on the mailbox, so it was not the fingerprints left by Riel Bieber and his mother."

"And you can tell that this person is left-handed, unlike Riel and his mother."

"This shows that this person is an outsider."

Julian paused, then continued his reasoning:

"According to the culture of the Rune people, even in the interactions between ordinary people, it is difficult for a normal visitor to make such a rude move as trying to open the door... Therefore, this visitor may be here to scout the place, or want to steal something."

"Of course, it's possible it's someone we know, like the local police officer or the apartment manager, so we need to confirm that further."

Thinking of this, Julian once again used "scene reconstruction" to roughly recreate the scene of the fingerprint's owner's visit.

Sure enough, a blurry figure wearing a tailcoat and a bowler hat appeared in the magnifying glass.

The figure put a clockwise-spinning amethyst pendulum back into its pocket, then tried turning the doorknob once. After confirming that the door was locked, it turned and left.

All of this happened at night. Combining various clues, Julian was now able to confirm that this person was from the "Secret Order," and was most likely the tuxedo clown with a strength of Sequence 7 who appeared in the original work.

Julian carefully extracted the fingerprint, then put on a pair of gloves and took out a wire.

After a slight turn, the door to Riel Bieber's house quietly opened.

"Even though lock picking is part of detective knowledge, I feel like a thief myself..."

Julian muttered to himself as he quietly turned away and closed the door.

"Huff...huff!"

From the bedroom on the right, heavy snoring could be heard, sounding like a raging bull.

Composing himself, Julian walked towards the bedroom and opened the door.

Inside the room, a man in his early thirties was sleeping soundly on the bed in a very unrestrained manner, while a notebook was placed on the table next to him.

Its cover is made of dark black cardboard, exuding an ancient and timeless feel.

"This is the Antigonus family notebook..."

Julian swallowed hard, then silently reached for the notebook.

However, at that moment, something else happened that he couldn't understand.

The neon light reappeared, quickly enveloping not only Julian but also the notebook.

Moreover, Julian could even hear a faint, terrifying roar that seemed to carry some kind of extreme emotion.

"...Is it anger?"

This thought naturally came to Julian's mind!