Al Hassen agreed:
"Indeed, it's hard to imagine that the successor of 'Diviner' would be 'Clown'. According to normal logic, no one would link them together."
"Is this strange? I remember many sequences of potion formulas, and there was also a lack of necessary connections between them. Even the 'Goddess's Gaze' couldn't keep her energetic enough to maintain it for long."
"No, Lorcata, this is completely different. Even other sequence potions, even if they lack connections, we can still find certain common points from other aspects, but 'Diviner' and 'Clown' can't. I simply can't understand it at all." Al Hassen shook his head and sighed.
Klein listened to their discussion and chuckled, saying:
"Not really. There are still common points."
"What are they?" Al asked curiously, and Dunne's arm-reaching motion also slowed down noticeably.
Klein replied seriously:
"Whether it's 'Diviner' or 'Clown', they can both be found in the circus." "..." Al, Dunn and Lorcata froze in place.
"Ha... Good answer. I like young people like you!" The blonde woman Lorcata was the first to come to her senses and laughed out loud.
Al followed suit and smiled, shaking his head and saying:
"In this era, gentlemen with a sense of self-mockery are becoming increasingly rare. Fortunately, we have another one today."
You think I like self-mockery... Didn't I also fail to think of other commonalities... Klein muttered to himself, answering with a slightly bitter smile:
"I only hope that this sequence-based potion no longer has names like 'Animal Trainer', 'Acrobat', 'Magician', etc. Then it would truly form a circus."
And it's all one person forming a group...
"Haha." Dunn and others immediately burst into laughter at his words, and the carriage filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
The carriage moved forward, arriving at Zotlan Street. The slightly uninjured Klein entered the Black Thorn Security Company first.
"Deity! What happened to you? How did you end up like this?" Rosan looked casually and exclaimed in astonishment.
Klein looked down at his dirty and damaged formal attire and still answered with a heart-wrenching tone:
"In tasks, there are always such and such unexpected things. Fortunately, the deities' blessing, the outcome is good."
"Bravo, goddess!" Rosan devoutly drew a "Red Moon" on her chest.
Before Klein could speak, she took the initiative to ask:
"Do we need to go to the third floor again to hide? Is that seal really that dangerous?"
"Believe me, it's more dangerous than you think." Klein replied with a lingering fear.
If it weren't for his more mysterious "transformation ritual", he would have been dealt with at "2-049" today!
"Deity... " Rosan's lips moved, as if there were still many more words she wanted to say and many questions she wanted to ask, but considering the captain was waiting below, she finally restrained her impulse and called for Mrs. Oliona and others to go to the third floor - the left and right neighbors of Black Thorn Security Company. Up and down the building, either belonged to the church property or were occupied by devout, vaguely-informed priests.
When all the civilian personnel had evacuated, Klein didn't rush to the entertainment room to notify the other night watchmen. Instead, he immediately returned and assisted the captain and others in escorting the seal "2-049", the monster Bib's residue, and Antigonus family notes to the second floor.
Through the partition, Dunn pushed open the door of the entertainment room and said to the two night watchmen who were playing Kunta cards:
"Freel, Loya, you should go to the dock area's Tillyer warehouse immediately and assist Leonard in handling the aftermath."
"Okay." The dark-haired, expressionless lady Loya was the first to stand up.
The "corpse collector" with black hair and blue eyes, pale skin, followed and stood upright.
They put down the Kunta cards, walked out of the entertainment room, and when passing through the partition, they all paused for a moment.
"Wait." Dunn didn't disappoint everyone's expectations and shouted.
"Is there anything else?" "The Unwakeful" Loya, with unchanged expression, turned her head and asked.
"Remember to inform the police and have them block the road. Don't let anyone approach until you finish handling the scene and bring the corpses back." Dunn lightly tapped his forehead.
"Okay." Loya turned around and took a few steps forward, then paused again.
She turned back, blinked her eyes, and coldly confirmed:
"Captain, is there nothing else?" "No." Dunn replied resolutely.
Loya gave a barely visible nod and headed towards the door first.
While the cold and dark "corpse collector" Loya remained at a displeased but unhurried pace.
Just then, Dunn spoke again:
"Remember, remember to tell Rosan and Mrs. Oliona that they can come down now."
"Of course." Loya answered calmly, almost without any emotional fluctuations.
Watching the two night guards walk out of the gate and climb up to the third floor, Klein quietly let out a sigh of relief. He followed the captain and El and others into the underground, moving straight ahead and reaching the opened Charnis door.
"Go to the armory and find Old Neil. We need his ritual magic treatment," Dunn instructed while signaling to the "ever-wakeful" Cormanli, who was left behind, to open the Charnis door.
As the effect of the potion wore off, his spirit gradually became weak.
"OK," Klein said without waiting for the captain to finish, "I'll replace Old Neil to guard the armory and will also apply for at least twenty demon-hunting bullets and wait for the approval from the Sanctuary. I'll resist the curiosity about the Antigonus family notes." "..." Dunn was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Captain, is there nothing else?" asked Klein with a smile after finishing his quick response.
Dunn shook his head, still unable to speak.
Taking out his walking stick, he turned around, walked for a while, and then turned towards the armory, telling the general gist of the incident to Old Neil who was drinking water.
"It turned into a wild monster... And you killed an extraordinary being?" Old Neil quickly cleared the table. "It's like listening to a play script."
He muttered and walked around the table, his target directly pointing towards the corridor, not waiting for Klein's reply.
Klein, however, was rather curiously asked:
"Mr. Neil, does the church have any real healing potions? It still needs the help of ritual magic."
"Ordinary materials mixed potions cannot solidify the healing effect from the ritual for a long time. Extraordinary materials are very rare, and most of them are not suitable for doing this kind of thing." Old Neil casually explained. "You should know about 'The Goddess's Gaze', right? When this potion was just made through the ritual, it was a standard, true healing potion, but every minute, the effect was evaporating until it was just a little bit left."
"Ah... " Klein nodded slightly disappointedly.
As a former "keyboard adventurer", that is, a game enthusiast, the desire for healing potions was a habit problem.
Watching Old Neil leave, he sat down and felt the peace he hadn't experienced for a long time.
In this peace, he recalled the tragic scene of the tailcoat clown when he died, recalled his cold shooting, and recalled the terrifying wound and the gushing blood.
Klein's body gradually trembled, his heart filled with discomfort. He first stood up, then sat down, and then slowly repeated this process, accompanied by back-and-forth walking.
"Whew..." He let out a breath, planning to do something for himself to avoid constantly thinking about those unpleasant images.
Klein took off his hat, removed his formal attire, took out a handkerchief and a brush, and carefully cleaned the dirt and dust off his clothes.
After a while, he heard the familiar footsteps of Old Neil - it was made by the heel landing first.
"Such a tiring thing..." Old Neil complained as he walked into the room.
"You tell the others not to come here for an hour. I need some rest." His gaze swept over Klein, casually giving a command.
"Maybe you go upstairs to rest and I'll guard this place?" Klein offered kindly.
Old Neil shook his head:
"The top is too noisy. Rosanne is a girl who can't keep quiet."
"Alright." Klein didn't insist and put on his coat, put on his hat, picked up his walking stick, returned to the corridor, and pulled the door of the armory halfway open.
Tap, tap, tap, he walked slowly along the empty corridor, suddenly seeing a room he had never seen before beside it.
"There's a secret door here... " Klein stopped near the corner, looking towards that room.
He found that "The Collector" Fry had returned and was carefully inspecting a completely naked corpse inside.
Corpse? A thought crossed Klein's mind, and he gathered his courage to approach the room, gently knocking three times on the open door.
Dong, dong, dong.
Fry stopped his actions, turned around, and looked over with his azure and cold eyes.
"Sorry, I'm disturbing you. I just want to know if this is the body of that extraordinary being?" Klein asked carefully, adjusting his tone.
"Yes." Fry's thin lips opened and closed, but only uttered a single word.
Klein looked over him and towards the corpse, indeed finding the familiar terrifying wound on the forehead.
It was that tailcoat clown... Klein let out a sigh inwardly:
"Did you find anything?"
"No." Fry replied in an unusually concise manner. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Klein was about to leave when Fry spoke up:
"If you feel unwell, you can come in and have a look. You'll find it's just a corpse."
Afraid I have a psychological disorder? Klein thoughtfully nodded:
"Okay."
He entered the room and came to the long table covered with white cloth, looking at the corpse.
The red, yellow and white greasepaint on the tailcoat clown's face had all been removed, revealing a rather unremarkable face, black hair, high nose, around thirty years old.
At this moment, Fry walked to the square table in the corner and picked up a piece of pencil and a piece of white paper.
He returned to the corpse, placed the white paper there, held the pencil in his hand, and began to draw.
Klein glanced curiously and noticed that Fry was actually sketching the head of the tailcoat clown.
Not long after, Fry stopped the pencil, and on the white paper, a lifelike portrait appeared, it was just without the wounds, just with blue eyes.
People... Klein exclaimed in astonishment:
"I didn't expect, I didn't expect your sketches to be so good."
"Before becoming a night watchman, my dream was to be a painter." Fry's tone was without any ups and downs.
"Why not realize your dream?" Klein asked in confusion.
Fry put away the pencil, holding the portrait of the tailcoat clown and said:
"My father was a priest of the goddess, hoping I would also become a priest. This is a respectable profession."
"You were a priest?" Klein asked in astonishment again.
He couldn't imagine someone with such a personality and temperament being a priest.
"Um, not bad." Fry replied with a cold expression and a slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth, "Later, I encountered some things, experienced some things, and became a night watchman."
Klein didn't delve into other people's privacy. Instead, he asked:
"You were a priest of the goddess, then why didn't you choose 'the sleepless ones'?"
"A personal reason." Fry replied frankly, "And Ms. Daly is a good role model."
Klein nodded, about to change the topic, but heard Fry say:
"Please watch this for me. I must immediately hand over the portrait to the captain... Closing the secret door is troublesome."
"Okay." Although Klein was a little afraid of facing the corpse alone, he still forced himself to agree.
As Fry left, the room became quiet, the corpse lay there, weighing heavily on Klein's heart.
He took a breath and tried to overcome himself and moved closer to the long table.
The tailcoat clown lay quietly, pale face, eyes closed, all breath gone. Apart from the grotesque wounds, it also emitted the coldness of a dead person.
Klein gazed for a while, his mood gradually settling, seeming to calm down.
His gaze swept over, and he noticed a strange mark on the tailcoat clown's wrist, so he boldly reached out to touch it, wanting to turn it over to see more clearly.
The cold feeling just reached Klein's fingertips and entered his brain, the pale, lifeless hand suddenly jumped up and grabbed his wrist.
Gripped his wrist tightly!