Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 142 Different Fates for the Same People, Here's How It Is

"Hello, Mr. Dunn."

Klein reached out and shook hands with Dunn, who still had a smile on his face and his expression remained unchanged.

If it were the old Sherlock Holmes, Dunn might have recognized him at a glance. Although he had used rudimentary makeup skills to disguise himself, he still looked at least 80% like his original self.

But after becoming "Faceless," he made subtle adjustments to his facial features—even altering his cheekbones, making them more prominent to more closely resemble Benedict Cumberbatch. His original black hair was dyed a brownish hue, and his brown eyes became deep black. This resulted in him resembling only about 80% of the original "Sherlock Moriarty" through makeup, and even his height was slightly adjusted by a few centimeters.

These changes were so subtle that only those who were particularly familiar with the area would notice them, and coincidentally, Klein had almost no acquaintances in Backlund. Most people could only vaguely discern some differences, but Klein could easily fool them.

The man standing before Dunn now bears only about 60% resemblance to the original 'Klein Moretti'! While this still arouses Dunn's suspicion, it's not too surprising—because no matter how much the other party interrogates him, the person standing before him is a completely different person.

Moreover, this was their second meeting. Although the Mercury Serpent's interference prevented him from recognizing her last time, it indirectly affected Dunn's judgment, giving him the illusion that "he didn't recognize her last time, so he must be mistaken again."

However, the captain has a bad memory, so he might not be able to remember what I look like. Klein thought to himself, half self-deprecatingly and half-sarcastically.

"Dunne".

Iconsel sensed something was wrong and whispered a reminder, "We have to go."

"Feel sorry."

Dunn finally realized that he had been shaking hands for a while, and as he released his hand, he said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Detective Sherlock, you look very much like one of my friends."

"It's alright, Mr. Smith."

Klein smiled and nodded, behaving very politely, and naturally turned around to continue his investigation.

"Sherlock the Detective".

Dunn suddenly asked, "Excuse me, but which sequence pathway are you an Extraordinary?"

Klein, with his back to Dunn, looked somewhat surprised and astonished, but when he turned around, his expression returned to normal, and he said calmly:

"I am a fortune teller."

Dunn nodded silently, without asking any more questions or saying another word.

Meanwhile, detectives Isengard and Kaslana were also drawn by the commotion and curiously came over.

Seeing that the three had all arrived, Iconsel's expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice:

"The Night Watchers are coming with that sealed artifact; we must leave now."

"it is good."

Klein suppressed his smile, nodded silently, and left with the members of Mechanical Heart.

As Dunn watched their departing figures, his expression softened considerably, a smile appearing on his lips, as if he were lost in thought.

Not long after, a group of night watchmen wearing black woolen coats jogged in, their expressions wary and alert, as if they were facing an extremely terrifying enemy.

Thump, thump, thump, a figure in full silver armor walked in.

It gives an unusually heavy feeling, with every detail following an ancient style. The area diagonally from the left shoulder to the lower abdomen is stained with a splash of dark red blood that cannot be washed off. Combined with the red splattered spots in other places, it creates a picture with a very eerie beauty, like a unique and gorgeous decoration.

The person inside the armor seemed puzzled by Dunn's expression and asked in confusion:

"Captain, what happened?"

"It's nothing."

Dunn's smile faded, and he said calmly, "I'm thinking of something happy."

Leonard still felt something was off, but he was interrupted just as he was about to ask more questions.

"Stop touching her, let's find someone else!"

The red-gloved squad leader, Soster, took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and immediately frowned. He said in a deep voice, "Leonard, hot water is ready in the master bedroom bathroom on the second floor. Don't waste time, or you'll have to return to the goddess's embrace."

The silver full-body armor stopped, and the wearer raised his hand to lift the visor, revealing the wearer beneath—a handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes. The surrounding night watchmen immediately stepped forward to help Leonard remove the heavy, blood-stained armor as quickly as possible.

Without any hesitation, he went straight to the second floor, found the bathtub still steaming with white mist, quickly took off his clothes, and lay down in the hot water without even showing his nose.

-

"They probably didn't recognize me, right?"

Klein, who was already quite a distance away, walked down the street, feeling somewhat guilty.

They're only about 60% similar now, you can't possibly still recognize them, right? Really?

"How could anyone recognize me in this state? They definitely wouldn't!"

Klein went from self-doubt to self-comfort to firming his belief: yes, he definitely didn't recognize her! That wasn't something he should be worrying about. His most important task right now was to get to the police station and retrieve his £50 bail!

The journey from the Hall family's luxurious villa to the estate took an hour. Once they arrived at the estate, several more hours were spent having the tailor take their measurements and select clothing.

By the time everything was over, lunchtime had long passed, so they had to have lunch at the manor. Even though the Hall family manor was uninhabited, the servants and chefs there were of the highest caliber, so the food was naturally impeccable.

Although this was Alfred's manor, Hilbert managed it for him when Alfred was away from Backlund. Therefore, to the manor's servants, Hilbert was practically a second master. And naturally, they dared not neglect their master's arrival, immediately bustling about in preparation.

When Yu Jin and his group arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted by a wonderful aroma. The long table was laden with all sorts of delicacies: pan-fried foie gras, roast beef, roast chicken, pan-fried sole, Dixie oysters, stewed lamb, cream soup... It was no less impressive than a royal meal.

In addition, there were bottles of Misty Champagne, Ormere wine, and Nanville red wine, their colors glistening invitingly in the sunlight. The servants knew Hibbert's tastes; he preferred Misty Champagne, and the variety of drinks was prepared for Ember, their guest.

While eating lunch, Yu Jin glanced at a passing servant and suddenly asked with a meaningful look:

Are there any other extraordinary individuals within the manor?

"You noticed?"

Hibbert, who was cutting his steak, looked up in surprise. He nodded without denying it and said, "Don't worry, the extraordinary individuals in the manor are all trained by the Hall family."

He popped a small piece of steak into his mouth, and after chewing it, he slowly said, "It's not a secret. Most nobles keep guards on their estates, which is perfectly legal. Of course, training extraordinary individuals is not legal. The royal family only allows us to train extraordinary individuals through the 'lawyer' and 'arbitrator' pathways."

"However, as you know, once unspoken rules are allowed, they are difficult to strictly regulate. The potion formula was originally sold to us by the royal family. Even if we secretly cultivate extraordinary individuals through other means, the royal family won't really say anything. This is a tacit understanding reached between the two sides in secret."

"For the royal family, it allows them to legitimately collect more 'taxes.' For the nobles, having extraordinary individuals as guards makes them feel more at ease. After all, the Church usually sends official extraordinary individuals to provide protection for the nobles, but this is clearly far from enough. For example, the extraordinary individuals sent by the Church of the Night to protect the Hall family consist of only one squad of Night Watchers."

"Well, I'm not complaining. After all, the Church needs to maintain order throughout the Kingdom of Rune, and their number of Night Watchers is quite limited, so it's normal that they can't provide us with enough protection. But because of this, the Church actually tacitly allows nobles to cultivate extraordinary individuals. Of course, the premise is that there's no trouble, otherwise we'll have to pay a hefty fine, you know what I mean."

Hilbert shrugged. The chaos he was referring to was essentially the loss of control by the extraordinary individuals. Since the nobles were going to cultivate extraordinary individuals, they were bound to bear the risk of these individuals potentially going out of control. It would be best if they could resolve the issue themselves, but if they couldn't and alarmed the Church's extraordinary individuals, then paying the price was only natural.

Ember looked thoughtful. "Don't any noble children join the Night Watch? Or perhaps the Mechanical Hearts and the Punishers?"

"have."

Hilbert nodded, saying helplessly, "Actually, Father originally wanted Alfred to join the Church of the Night and become a Night Watcher. But Alfred was more eager to make a name for himself and ultimately chose to join the military."

After a pause, Hibbert lowered his voice and said, "In fact, this is the fate of most noble children. The royal family has always been the most aggressive in courting noble offspring. If they aspire to achieve great things, they go to the military; if they want more access to classified and extraordinary areas, they can go to MI9. For example, the Duke of Negan,"

Hilbert paused, then continued, "He is the nobleman with the most land besides the king, and also a follower of the Church of Storms. Therefore, his guards include extraordinary individuals sent by the Church of Storms, one of whom is even a Sequence 6 Wind Chosen! But that is not the strongest among his guards. The strongest is Duke Negan's secretary, a Sequence 5 extraordinary individual! If he could advance further, he would reach the realm of demigod!"

"This extraordinary individual was raised entirely by Duke Negan's family and is completely loyal to them. I've heard that Duke Negan is searching far and wide for Sequence 4 potion recipes, which are probably prepared for him."

Hibbert's eyes revealed undisguised envy, after all, that was Sequence 5, just one step away from becoming a demigod Sequence 4!

After all, while Backlund is generally safe, with archbishops of saintly rank presiding over the three major churches, making unrest unlikely, in the event of an attack or assassination, the nobles would still rely on these guards, not the three major churches, to save their lives!

In this respect, isn't the royal family the same? The military, MI6, and those extraordinary individuals secretly trained by the royal family—aren't they their "guards"? It's just that the royal family is much larger than the nobility, nothing more.

Although it sounded logical, Ember looked at Hilbert with some suspicion and asked curiously:

"I don't remember you saying that before, did you?"

Hilbert looked embarrassed and said with a wry smile:

"Okay, I admit, I was startled. You participated in that joint operation more than a month ago, right?"

In response to Hilbert's question, Ember nodded slightly.

Hilbert swallowed the roasted mushroom and said bitterly:

"That was a joint operation by the royal family and the three major churches, but we nobles were completely unaware of it. We had no idea that such a cult of extraordinary individuals was lurking in Backlund! And one of the cult's bases that was raided by the Night Watchers was located in Queens, less than a kilometer from our house as the crow flies!"

Before this, Hilbert had some reservations about becoming an Beyonder. But this 'purge' truly taught him a lesson. Backlund, which he thought was perfectly safe, also harbored countless unknown dangers!

This undoubtedly terrified all the nobles and wealthy people in Backlund, who unanimously increased the number of their guards. Hibbert had originally only intended to train three to five Extraordinary Ones of his own. But after that incident, there were no fewer than ten Extraordinary Ones being kept at this manor alone! —And the Hall family owned more than just this one manor.

As for the cost of training extraordinary individuals? Even Audrey, upon reaching adulthood, would inherit over 300,000 gold pounds. And Hilbert, as the heir, would receive even more. Compared to their own safety, the cost of training a dozen or so extraordinary individuals was utterly insignificant to them!

Just then, Hilbert heard a whooshing sound.

He instinctively glanced out the window, only to see the gloom in the air dissipated by the gale, and the thin, pale yellow mist after the rain swept away. The leafless branches swayed, leaving a clear trail in the wind as they headed southeast. A few seconds later, everything returned to normal, calm as before.

"It's rare to see such strong winds in Backlund winters; at least I don't recall ever seeing them," Hibbert said, looking out of the carriage with a slight frown.

Yu Jin also looked up at the window, but after a moment he lowered his head and put a small piece of foie gras into his mouth, saying slowly:

"It must be an extraordinary being from the Church of Storms."

"The Church of Storms?"

Hibbert, surprised and with a hint of curiosity, asked, "Which Wind Chosen One is this?"

He only knew the names of the lower-sequence potions in the 'Sailor' pathway, but he didn't know what their abilities were. He just felt that the gale outside seemed very similar to the 'Wind-Centered Ones,' which was why he asked the question.

"No."

Ember shook his head slightly and said slowly, "This is at least a demigod."

Hibbert was taken aback at first, then his expression changed slightly.

In Backlund, the three major churches are nominally ruled by only one demigod, and that is the archbishop of each church! Although Hilbert is not a follower of the Church of Storms, he knows that the archbishop of the Church of Storms is the Singer of God, Ace Snake!

Could it be a joint operation by the three major churches, just like last time? Hilbert glanced at Ember instinctively, but Ember didn't seem to know anything about it. But for a demigod to personally pursue an enemy in broad daylight, it couldn't be a trivial matter.

In other words, this is most likely a sudden event, and the one who could be hunted down by a demigod must be at least a Sequence 5 Extraordinary.

Yu Jin withdrew his gaze from the window and said, "Don't worry, the wind is heading towards the East District and the dock area."

Hibbert shook his head with a somewhat helpless expression and said with a wry smile:

"To paraphrase Emperor Roselle, these are turbulent times!"

As the heir to the earldom, he had always considered himself extremely well-informed. But now, a series of events in Backlund that were completely beyond his expectations left Hilbert with a profound sense of powerlessness.

It's none of their business now, so there's nothing to worry about, but what if trouble comes knocking on our door in the future?

……

"Catch it, you must catch it alive, or a spirit..."

"I need to know who it is!"

In the courtyard of a luxurious villa not far from St. Wind Cathedral in the Joewood district, Duke Negan, who had just escaped from his room, was panting heavily, his face contorted with terror and fear from the assassination attempt.

He never expected that, following the last assassination attempt on Qilingus, he would be targeted again!

The Wind Guardian responsible for protecting him did not reply, but looked around warily. In just a few seconds, members of the Duke's Guard arrived simultaneously, surrounding the Duke and protecting him.

Neither the Duke nor the Wind-Chosen One appeared vigilant, but not tense. They were near the Cathedral of Holy Wind, and the Duke had already sounded the distress call. Everything would be alright once the Singer of God arrived!

However, as time passed, one second, two seconds, three seconds... Duke Negan's expression suddenly turned somewhat panicked:

"Why hasn't the archbishop arrived yet?"

"Maybe, maybe..."

The Wind-Cherisher's nerves were stretched to the limit, and he hesitated, unable to utter a word.

But how could the Duke not guess that the Archbishop was probably not even in the Holy Wind Cathedral at the moment! His act of arranging for his mistress to stay in the Holy Wind Cathedral was precisely what had harmed him!

suddenly--

"Bang!"

The corpse of a woman, who originally had a beautiful figure and a stunning face, jumped from the second floor and landed in front of them.

"Let's go! Get out of here!"

Duke Negan's expression turned utterly terrified, and in his weakened state, he instinctively screamed.

But the next second, Duke Negan's terror exploded, shooting straight to his brain, drilling into his blood vessels, and covering his nerves. He heard something break and felt a warm sensation at the back of his head.

He died, unsurprisingly, his life taken by his own fear.

The Conservative Party leader, the largest landed nobleman besides the King, the current Prime Minister's brother, a Sequence 6 Extraordinary, a truly important figure, the Duke of Pallasnigan died just like that.

(End of this chapter)