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

Chapter 7 Pick the Softest Persimmon

Four Night Watchers from Backlund came to their aid, along with three Night Watchers from Tingen.

A total of seven people squeezed onto the same carriage.

This will undoubtedly make the space inside the carriage very cramped.

Even avoidance maneuvers are restricted due to space constraints.

Even so, almost no one would let go of their 'surveillance' of others.

If anyone's movements become clumsy, the people around them will immediately remind them.

But even under these circumstances.

Klein, however, still couldn't help but drift off into thought.

"Ember, is he really the Ember I remember?"

"But how could that be! It's just a game, and although I've been transported to a strange world, it's a real world, not a virtual reality game!"

"How could someone from a game possibly appear alive in front of me?"

"So, is this really just a simple coincidence? But..."

"Klein!"

Dunn nudged Klein, who had suddenly stiffened, and said in a deep voice, "Concentrate."

"Feel sorry."

Klein shook his head, gave a wry smile, and lowered his head.

It's a pity there are too many people here, otherwise we could go back above the gray fog to do divination.

I want to use divination to see if he is the person I remember.

"Try to think more positively."

Klein took a deep breath, silently reassuring himself, "Perhaps Emperor Roselle has played this game before, and maybe the other person is just cosplaying the character? Hmm, maybe it's because their potion requires them to portray 'Ember'?"

"Yes, that's probably it, it's very likely!"

Klein's spirits lifted. Having "figured everything out," he stopped daydreaming and began to concentrate on dealing with the effects of "2-049."

"Klein."

Leonard chuckled and joked, "Are you scared? If you are, I think you can start thinking about your epitaph right now."

"It's not impossible."

Klein raised an eyebrow but didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled and said, "Then write 'Priest, please resurrect me, thank you.'"

Leonard was at a loss for words, and could only mutter, "The priest can't resurrect, you idiot."

Instead of being annoyed, Klein winked at him.

Not long after.

The carriage slowly came to a stop in front of a building with the sign of the Tingen Police Department on its door.

This is Riel Bieber's home, and it's also their destination for this trip.

The group got off the bus one by one, not daring to relax their "surveillance" of others along the way.

Al Hassen was the first to enter the house, carrying a suitcase.

At the same time, he suddenly started smashing the box in his hand, even more violently than before!

This even makes one wonder if the box might be smashed through.

The next moment, Klein and Dunn were affected almost simultaneously.

They both pointed at each other, seemingly wanting to give each other a push.

Unfortunately, both of them were affected at the same time.

However, they weren't the only ones who arrived; Lolota and Ember, who were prepared, each gave them a push.

"The sealed artifact '2-049' has entered a berserk state. It can be confirmed that Riel Bieber is a descendant of the Antigonus family."

El-Hassen described it in a mechanized way.

"『2-049』Once it encounters a descendant of the Antigonus family, even just a trace of his aura, it will quickly enter a berserk state, affecting up to two people each time."

"Imprint, who had just shoved Klein, explained calmly."

"So, it's alive?"

Klein turned to look at Ember's face and couldn't help but ask.

In the past, he would have been very puzzled about what was in the box.

But now, he is more troubled by Ember's identity.

Is he actually playing a role?

"call."

Al Hassen's tone became much more relaxed, "As long as this Riel Bieber hasn't left Tingen, '2-049' can lead us to him."

As they talked, the group went downstairs one by one and returned to the carriage.

After confirming that there were not many pedestrians around, Al Hassen turned the mechanical switch on the box, unlocking the spiritual shackles.

The violent impact stopped abruptly, and the entire carriage fell silent; you could hear a pin drop.

The dark iron box slowly opened, making a creaking sound that pierced the ears.

Clang!

Suddenly the box tipped over, and a thin, brown arm stretched out, no longer than a child's finger.

With each arm pressing forward in turn, a strange wooden puppet appeared before everyone's eyes. It was brown with distinct elbow, finger, and knee joints, covered in brown oil-stained strips of cloth, and had its face painted with red and yellow clown paint.

"Is this '2-049'?"

Klein subconsciously thought, "How can there be such an ugly puppet?"

『2-049』 Raised his head, his pure black, pupil-less eyes looking at Klein.

He slowly cracked his stiff lips, revealing a clown-like smile.

As its mouth opened, revealing its dark and deep oral cavity, Klein, who was staring at it, felt a sudden, inexplicable, and intense fear rise up all over his body.

until.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ember standing to the side, and Ember raised his hand.

Parry!

"Bang!"

The puppet suddenly fell to the ground, as if it had bumped into something and knocked itself down.

no doubt.

It seemed to really like Klein, so much so that it wanted to "eat him up," and forgot that there was an ember next to it.

Furthermore, while influencing Klein, it also influenced the Ember.

"Thanks……"

Klein stared with lingering fear at the somewhat comical puppet slumped on the carriage floor in a duck-like posture.

This tiny thing almost killed him!

"Of course."

Yu Jin shook his head.

It's not time to fight the BOSS yet, so we can't let the NPCs die at the hands of the mobs.

Otherwise, no one will be there to help him take the damage.

"Click click click~"

It took the puppet a while to recover, and it used its hands to alternately brace itself against the carriage floor to keep away from the embers.

It looks like a frog with its limbs upside down, which is both comical and somewhat ridiculous.

However, given its eerie abilities and nightmare-inducing appearance, no one would want to laugh.

"Click click click!"

The puppet stood up using both its hands and feet, and then forcibly turned its hands and feet 180 degrees.

Only its head remained, staring intently at the embers. Finally, it even turned its head away, then leaped forward with all its might, using both hands and feet—

It tried to jump off the carriage and run away into the distance.

Then, it was grabbed back by a large hand covered in leather armor.

"Keep up!"

Dunn pointed in the direction the puppet was trying to escape and gave a deep order.

Leonard, who was driving the car, immediately spurred the horse toward the direction the puppet wanted to escape.

Meanwhile, the embers inside the carriage had released the puppet, which then adjusted its direction.

They tried to jump off the carriage at an even faster pace than before.

But at the very last step, they are ruthlessly pulled back.

Based on the direction the puppet was trying to escape, Leonard repeatedly adjusted the carriage's direction.

The carriage sped along and soon entered the dock area, arriving at the warehouse cluster.

The puppet circled around several times, but the direction it was trying to escape from remained the same—

He wanted to go to the innermost gray-white warehouse.

"This is it!"

Al Hassen's expression turned serious. He nodded to Ember, who was holding the puppet, and helped him put the puppet back into the iron-black box. A violent thud came from inside the box once again.

He then painstakingly fastened the mechanical switch, infused it with spiritual energy, and activated the star and red moon symbols on the iron box.

While this cannot completely isolate its influence, it can at least prevent it from escaping and harming others.

"Get off the bus."

After witnessing them complete this, Dunns' deep, mellow voice rang out, "Be careful, Riel Bieber is most likely in the vicinity."

"Also, remember not to take your eyes off the people next to you."

"No."

Al Hassan shook his head, then looked at Ember under Dunn's questioning gaze. "Ember, how are you feeling?"

"No problem."

Yu Jin nodded slightly and said calmly, "I am certain that I can completely isolate the influence of '2-049'."

"it is good."

Al Hassen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Ember, carry the box and walk in front. Everyone else, make sure to stay within five meters of him!"

"Um?"

Leonard's expression changed slightly, and he subconsciously looked at Dunn.

In his view, anyone holding '2-049' alone is practically committing suicide!

"Do as he says."

Dunn was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

He trusted Al Hassen's judgment and believed that the young man named Ember wouldn't risk his life.

Furthermore.

Without the interference of '2-049', they can indeed fight more boldly.

On the other hand, even if an accident does occur, a distance of five meters is enough for them to carry out a rescue.

PS: 『2-049』 exhibits certain characteristics of being 'alive'.

Furthermore, some details in the original work show that it also knew to pick the softest persimmons to squeeze.

Therefore, Klee, who is only Sequence 9 and also a diviner, was affected significantly more often than others.

Of course, it could also be called survivor bias.

However, the original work clearly states that "on the way from underground to the vicinity of the carriage, the sealed artifact '2-049' caused six instances of slowing down, two of which I experienced."

There are six people in total, and they cannot be affected consecutively. That is to say, each person can be affected a maximum of three times out of six.

As a result, Kesong was affected twice, and coincidentally, he was the only one among everyone who was in sequence nine.

Aside from picking on the weak, I can't think of any other possibility...

Well, it could also be because fortune tellers "appreciate each other".

(End of this chapter)