Upon hearing Klein and Fry's speculation, Leonard tugged at the collar of his shirt, took a few steps back and forth and said:
"Then we must investigate everyone that Solus came into contact with within the poorhouse, as well as everyone he met after going bankrupt and being evicted from his house. This is very troublesome... Let's hurry up and do a thorough investigation here, and then head straight to the third death case in the west district. We'll leave the rest to the police."
"OK," Klein replied without hesitation.
Fry also had no objections. Turning around, he headed towards the several poor people who had slept near Solus last night.
Leonard was about to look for another target when he suddenly saw Leonard giving him a sign. With his chin pointing to the side hall of the poorhouse. What does it mean? He was confused and pretended nothing had happened. He walked around the church hall for half a circle, then, when Fry wasn't paying attention, followed Leonard's footsteps and entered the side hall, passing through the partition and reaching a secluded and deserted corner.
"I have a guess," Leonard stopped in front of the shattered window and suddenly and directly began to speak.
Klein looked around doubtfully and asked, "What guess?"
Leonard asked in a deep green eye, "If there is no extraordinary factor's influence, what do you think Mrs. Lawvis would have as an outcome?"
Klein thought for a moment and said rather heavily, "The same outcome, but it would be delayed by one week, two weeks, or one month. For their kind of family, until they can no longer bear it, they will definitely not go to the doctor, and once a heart disease becomes serious, death can come at any time and there will be no chance to save it."
"Then what about Solus? If he wasn't instigated, what kind of outcome would he have?" Leonard asked again.
Klein pondered before speaking:
"From the information provided, Solus has long been resentful of bankruptcy and is extremely angry that he didn't get saved. I think he will eventually take revenge, but the target will not be the recipients of relief, but the company boss who caused his bankruptcy, and the bank clerk who took away his house."
"What will happen after he takes revenge?" Leonard asked again.
"Without a doubt, he has already planned to end his own life, whether the revenge is successful or not, he will die." Klein gave a definite answer.
Leonard nodded slightly and showed his characteristic light-hearted smile:
"Then can I say that Mrs. Lawvis and Solus are both destined to die in the near future?"
Klein, being a "well-informed" keyboard expert, immediately had a guess after hearing this question:
"You mean that their deaths are artificially advanced by extraordinary factors? And why is that?"
"More accurately, their 'life' should have been artificially shortened by extraordinary factors, stolen away, and 'life' has always been the best material for summoning evil gods and demons and terrifying curses." Leonard corrected Klein's guess with a slight curl of his lips.
"Summoning evil gods and demons and terrifying curses..." Klein stared at the other's green eyes, half questioning and half speculating, and said, "You seem very certain? But our investigation sample is only two for now..."
Leonard mockingly smiled and said, "Klein, we don't need to pretend with each other. I witnessed you breaking free from the control of the seal '2-049', knowing your special ability, and you should also vaguely sense that I am different from ordinary extraordinary people."
He suppressed the smile and met Klein's gaze, saying:
"I once told you that there are many special people in this world who can do things that others can't, for example, you, and also me."
"This world has a long history, and there are various magical items, and there will always be someone who gets them, masters them, and becomes the protagonist of different dramas. There won't be too many such people, but it's definitely not just one or two."
"I don't think the extraordinary people who hide secrets are necessarily bad guys or villains. I don't think it's necessary to figure out what their special abilities are based on what they are or why they are like that... As long as your behavior doesn't harm me, the night watchmen, or the entire Tingen City, then you are still my teammate. Similarly, I also hope you can view me with a similar attitude. Of course, it's best not to tell the people above about this, because those guys are old-fashioned and conservative, always thinking that such special people will inevitably lose control and be tempted by evil gods and demons and fall into depravity."
However, my secrets are probably more than you think... Klein said silently to himself and said calmly:
"I really do have this attitude. I only look at your actions and intentions, and I don't care about your uniqueness, nor do I try to pry into your secrets."
After saying this, he silently added in his mind: No, actually, I still care a lot, and I'm quite curious, but I can only force myself to endure it. Um, Leonard thinks he is the protagonist of a drama? What kind of adventure did he get, what kind of magical items did he possess?
Leonard unbuttoned the collar of his shirt and smiled slightly, nodding:
"I'm glad we reached an agreement."
"In those adventure novels, this is called the two main characters meeting, and the wheels of history start rolling forward."
Shameless! Klein gave a perfunctory smile.
He clearly knew that "The wheels of history start rolling forward" came from Emperor Roselius...
At this moment, Leonard took quick steps and paced twice, his green eyes bright, and his lips curved:
"Well, I'll be honest, I have a pretty good chance of suspecting that the main characters of these deaths should all die one by one within three months, but they were advanced to the nearest two weeks by various means, and their purpose was to summon a demon god, a devil, or to carry out a terrifying, widespread curse."
"Making the people with death signs die earlier is easy to cover up, it won't quickly attract the attention of the police department, and won't be disrupted by night watchmen, penance bearers, and the mechanical heart during the preparation stage..." Klein muttered to himself, analyzing the thoughts of the person behind it.
Leonard smiled and agreed:
"Yes, if there are healthy, normal people suddenly die for no reason, as long as it's more than three cases, it will definitely be noticed and subject to routine investigation."
"How do we find the altar where the ceremony is held? Whether it's summoning a demon god, a devil, or creating a terrifying curse, it requires an altar and a ceremony, and the 'lives' that were prematurely harvested must have a similar place for storage." Klein tentatively believed in the other party, after all, he hadn't found any other clues and couldn't make another judgment.
It won't matter if we try!
Leonard chuckled twice and said: "Klein, this shouldn't be your area of expertise, right? Don't you imagine what the situation would be around a similar ritual altar?"
Before Klein could reply, he took the initiative to describe: "The smell of death is intense. Within a radius of 10 meters centered on the altar, there won't be any living creatures except the person presiding over the ceremony... The temperature around is at least 5 degrees Celsius lower than normal, and there are constantly cold winds blowing... In the sealed altar where the lives taken away by Lavisse and others are sealed, there are also the 'lives' taken away by them..." At this point, he looked at Klein and said playfully:
"I believe you can divine out approximately where the altar with these characteristics is located."
Klein furrowed his eyebrows and replied in a low voice:
"As long as it doesn't exceed the city of Tingen, and I need an absolutely quiet, undisturbed environment, such as my home, well, I also need Lavisse and others' personal belongings."
Meanwhile, he had a thought in his mind, thinking that Leonard knew too much about this kind of black magic and black witchcraft.
"No problem." Leonard smiled and suddenly stepped forward, crossing over Klein and heading towards the Mass Hall, not saying anything more.
This guy's working style is really unique... Klein muttered to himself, following the other party back along the same route.
Finding the Fley who was seriously asking and taking notes, Leonard said solemnly and seriously:
"I have a guess, and I'm going to let Klein try it out."
"What guess?" Fley asked seemingly coldly.
"There's a result to tell you, I don't want to be the target of Rosan's ridicule." Leonard casually found an excuse to gloss over the matter.
Fley didn't ask any more questions and followed the instructions, borrowing Sol and Lavisse's personal belongings from the nearby police station, and then meeting his teammates at Klein's home. "You wait in the living room. Don't let anyone disturb me." Klein took out his watch, snapped it open, and glanced at it.
It was nearly 6 o'clock now. Melissa might come back at any moment.
"You can trust us." Leonard put his hands in his pockets and walked around the small living room. Fry sat quietly on the sofa.
Is this guy a hyperactive patient? Klein pursed his lips and returned to his bedroom on the second floor, locked the wooden door, and sealed the room with a spiritual barrier.
Then, he set up the altar and prayed for the help of the goddess to initially eliminate distractions.
After that, Klein wrote the corresponding "divination sentence" on a piece of paper:
"The location of the altar."
The restrictions he gave were very broad to avoid any mistakes.
Taking this paper and the deceased's belongings, Klein lay half-sitting on the bed, first recalled the scene described by Leonard, and then recited the "divination sentence" seven times silently.
—He didn't try to complete it through the special means above the mist. First, because this strange and mysterious guy Leonard was downstairs, no one knew if he would notice anything this time. Second, he was a "diviner" whose potion was about to be digested, and with the assistance of the ritual, it should be sufficient.
If there was no result, Klein would consider seeking another opportunity to go above the mist. After all, summoning a demon god or devil would threaten Benson, Melissa, and himself!
Using meditation, he quickly entered the dream state, "seeing" blurry, hazy, illusory, and fragmented scenes.
Soon, a picture appeared before his eyes.
It was a two-story gray-blue house bathed in the glow of dusk. The windows on the first floor were closed, and the dark curtains showed no gaps at all, but there were times of expansion and contraction.
The soil near the house was dark brown, with no grass or flowers growing, and the surrounding garden seemed to be shrouded in shadows, dilapidated and dim.
Not far from this house, there was a river flowing quietly.
...
After a while, without seeing any more images, Klein emerged from the dream.
"Leonard's speculation is true... Where will that house be? There are too many rivers in the town of Tingen, such as in the southwest of the West District, such as the Dock District, such as the University District..." He opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, and thought seriously with a rather serious expression.