Time passed steadily, and Tinggen bid farewell to the tail of summer, arriving in mid-August. The temperature stabilized at around 26-27 degrees Celsius.
Wham!
Klein suddenly stood up from the bathtub and stepped out, causing droplets of water to splash.
He stood there naked, looking down at his abdomen. With a little effort, he saw the clear lines of the muscles.
This was the result of his consistent training over this period of time. Besides, he also seemed much more energetic.
Today, his martial arts teacher, Gavon, began teaching him the basic boxing footwork and发力 techniques.
Popping, popping, popping, Klein's bare feet stepped on the bathroom floor. Sometimes he slid forward, sometimes he retreated quickly, sometimes he dodged to the right, accompanied by punching and blocking movements.
Huh, he stopped, happily exhaled, and took the towel beside him, wiping himself.
During the past two and a half weeks after meeting Dr. Dast Goodrian of the Lunatic Asylum, Klein seemed to have escaped coincidences and left the circle where he always encountered extraordinary events. His life became stable, he received his salary regularly, delved into mysticism, practiced shooting and martial arts, developed new dishes, and saved up decent tableware and furnishings with his brother Benson and sister Melissa one by one. He consulted Captain Dunn, teammates Leonard, and others about past extraordinary cases, and went to the club to do divination. He strictly followed the rules he had summarized himself.
This made his heart calm. If not for the occasional thoughts of Earth at night, if not for the fact that the red chimney case was still unclear, if not for the occasional appearance of the pattern on the bad luck puppet in dreams, he would have begun to get used to and cherish his current life.
During this period, the "Tarot Club" held three meetings. Klein did not receive any new Rosel diary, but according to "Justice", she had met two extraordinary individuals and was naturally getting in touch with them. Once they entered the corresponding circle, they should be able to trade more Rosel diaries.
The "Hangman" also said that he had returned to the land and was handling some affairs. As soon as he had free time, he would immediately start looking for them.
In addition, "Justice" felt that the two extraordinary individuals she had met were worthy of development. For example, each had a decent cover identity, certain, and different resource channels, each had their own persistence and characteristics. They were not the kind who would casually disclose secrets. The only problem was that they were all sequence 9, not suitable for a high-end and strict secret organization like the "Tarot Club".
High-end organization? I feel it's more like a pyramid scheme... At that time, "The Fool" Klein just wanted to sigh with her face covered, unable to find words to respond to Miss "Justice"'s self-confidence, and could only agree to let her observe the two extraordinary individuals further.
Of course, "Justice" was no longer the naive and romantic girl at the beginning. She carefully did not mention the names and characteristics of the two extraordinary individuals, fearing that the "Hangman" would find out about herself based on this.
"Miss Justice said she clearly felt the signs of the potion digestion. Maybe in another three or four weeks, she will be able to complete the 'Audience' role... The formula for 'Reader' should be put on the agenda... " After drying his body, Klein placed the towel aside, put on his underwear, and thought about what happened at the "Tarot Club" the day before.
During these nearly twenty days, he only met Dr. Dast Goodrian once. Based on the idea of not rushing, he only talked about the other person's condition and asked about some unimportant things from the Guild of Psychological Alchemy.
The speed at which "Justice" digested the potion forced him to think about how to get sequence 8 "Reader" formula from Dast.
One by one, he fastened the buttons of his shirt, and then picked up another dry towel, wrapped his head with it, and absorbed the moisture from his short hair.
Compared to "justice", his rate of digesting the "divinationist" potion was neither faster nor slower. By this week, during meditation and clairvoyance states, there were no more incidents of hearing unwanted sounds or seeing unwanted scenes.
On the contrary, Klein wiped his hair again, looked up at the door, and murmured silently to himself:
"The 'divinationist code of conduct' I summarized is indeed effective. Next week... Next week, I should be able to completely digest the potion... The Horncastis goat horn crystal and human face rose in the 'Clown' formula are still unknown where to obtain... Maybe I can follow Ms. Daly's example and submit a special application... But that will definitely attract the attention of the higher-ups... Right now, I just want to develop in a humble way... The believers of Aurora in the police department have also been found, but we still don't know who Mr. Z is..."
"Henry said he could complete the 'Red Chimney' commission by the end of this week... My private money has recovered to around 7 pounds, so there's no need to worry about how to pay the final installment..."
"The information he previously provided about some houses and tenants doesn't show any problems. I don't have the time to check them one by one..."
"Perhaps we can first look at which house with the 'Red Chimney' recently changed tenants?"
"Um, this is an idea."
...
After sitting still for about twenty or thirty seconds, he put on the grey-black trousers, fastened the tie, buckled the gun bag, threw the discarded knight practice suit into the laundry basket, and opened the door to leave the bathroom - he had just finished his martial arts training on Wednesday afternoon not long ago, and was still at Mr. Gwyn's house.
"Hello, Mr. Moretti," the servant girl doing the chores happened to pass by and hurriedly bowed.
Klein nodded slightly and pointed to the messy and wet bathroom, saying:
"Please clean it up."
"This is my duty. The clothes will be handled by the laundress. She will come at six." The servant girl lowered her head and replied.
The laundress doesn't provide food or accommodation, and the pay is very low. So they don't work for just one household. Instead, they often take on the laundry of several nearby residents, or rush to a few places in a hurry, wash one place and then leave immediately for another, or collect all the clothes and handle them together at home, sending them back one by one. Only in this way can they barely make a living.
Klein said nothing more and went to the living room, saying goodbye to the host who was sitting in the rocking chair.
He saw Gao Wen, with grizzled hair, nodding listlessly. On his legs was a light brown blanket, and in his hand was a copy of the "Ahova Evening News".
Klein knew that this man, bathed in the setting sun, was actually in his early fifties, but he looked so listless as if he were eighty or ninety years old.
During his usual combat training, Gao Wen remained silent, only speaking when instructed to do so, and never talking or chatting unnecessarily. Klein, due to being exhausted from work every day, lacked the desire to initiate a conversation, so the relationship between the two remained cold up to now.
"Watch Gao Wen's demonstration. His strength is still quite astonishing, and his movements are agile enough. Knocking me three times would probably not be a problem... He receives a salary from the police department and has bought a piece of land in the countryside of Tingen, where he can collect a fixed rent... He employs a chef, a maid for odd jobs, and a laundry worker... In the world of big eaters on Earth, a man of his wealth in his fifties or sixties would have already traveled around the world... "
Klein withdrew his gaze from Gao Wen, shook his head inwardly, and then went to the coat rack, taking off his half-high silk hat and black thin coat.
Fully dressed, he took his cane and walked out of the house, approaching the gate along the cobblestone path covered with weeds.
Just then, he saw a two-wheeled carriage parked outside the iron fence, and a familiar man standing there.
"Leonard?" Klein looked at the disheveled night watchman teammate with confusion and muttered to himself in a low voice.
Leonard was wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and unbuttoned leather boots. He was rotating his hat in his hand, and when he saw Klein come out, he smiled and said:
"Surprise?"
Only surprise, no joy... Klein ignored the other's inappropriateness and stared at the green eyes of this fake poet:
"What's the matter?"
Leonard put on his hat and said:
"Captain, you are to assist me and Fry. We'll go over the details on the way."
"OK." Klein followed the other person into the carriage compartment.
As the scenery on both sides receded, Leonard picked up the nearby briefcase and threw it across.
Klein caught it firmly and took out the documents, carefully reading them.
"11 p.m. on August 11th, inside the West District Poorhouse, the bankrupt Solus attempted to set fire and create a tragedy, but in the end, he only burned himself to death..."
"10 p.m. on August 11th, dock workers Zid jumped into the Tasok River and ended his poor life..."
"8 p.m. on August 11th, Mrs. Lavouis, who made matchboxes in the lower street of Iron Cross Street, suddenly fell ill and died..." ...
When he saw the first two incidents, Klein was puzzled and thought that similar death incidents were too common and too frequent. Not only should they not attract the attention of the night watchmen, but even the police department should avoid wasting police resources.
But when he looked further down, he gradually frowned.
After flipping through two pages, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Leonard:
"Isn't this too much?"
When normal death incidents become so numerous that they are shocking, they can no longer be called normal.
Leonard nodded in agreement rarely, saying:
"Over the past two weeks, the number of death incidents is five times the normal level."
"The police headquarters in Tingen City discovered this problem and promptly transferred the matter to us, to the substitute punisher and the mechanical heart."
"Although the initial verification of these death incidents was all fine, the captain thought we had to re-examine them, and this might require the assistance of divination or ritual magic."
Klein suddenly understood:
"I see."
Leonard snapped his fingers and said:
"I, you and Fry will be in a group. He will wait for us at the lower street of Iron Cross Street. Xigia, Lohya and Old Neil will be in a group and investigate the corresponding incidents in the north district. The captain will stay in the security company to deal with unexpected situations."
"Um." Klein nodded firmly and suddenly remembered something, hurriedly asking, "Can I go home first and leave a note?"
He has to tell his brother and sister that he has something to do tonight and won't have dinner at home.
Leonard laughed:
"No problem. It's just a convenient coincidence."
Only then did Klein calm down and once again flip through those death incidents, trying to find connections from different ways of dying, different names, and different time points.
As he was looking, he thought to himself:
Is this my first collective mission as a night watchman?