"It hurts so much…"
Lorne gradually regained consciousness from the dizziness, propping himself up with his elbows on the ground.
The rough feel of sand and grit came from his palms, and dust on his knees fell off as he moved.
Once his vision cleared, he was stunned.
The terrifying, apocalyptic scene was gone, and the suffocating pressure in the air had also vanished without a trace.
"The disaster is over?"
"I'm actually fine…"
Lorne knew he should be grateful that he had emerged from this crisis unscathed.
But he always had a feeling that it was all bark and no bite.
Ugh, his head still hurt terribly… Lorne frowned, shaking his groggy head.
He touched his throbbing temples; the keen spirituality brought by the Monster Pathway became a burden at this moment.
Even though the disaster had passed, the lingering spirituality around him still hammered his nerves like countless tiny hammers.
The only thing to be thankful for was that the needle-prick-like warning of danger had indeed disappeared.
"Did the Official arrive in time?"
No… Lorne shook his head, dismissing the guess.
If it were the Official, there wouldn't be complete silence around; they would have sealed off the scene immediately.
What exactly happened just now? It seemed like… playing cards… Right, playing cards!
Lorne remembered that after being hit, he was blinded by a flash from a playing card, and then he fainted.
He abruptly spread his right hand.
A playing card lay quietly in his palm, completely intact under the strengthened grip of the Robot.
"Meow~"
Before Lorne could think further, a meow drew all his attention.
"Lachi?"
Lorne looked into the distance and saw his Orange Cat seemingly dragging something with both its mouth and paws, burrowing into a suitcase.
A few seconds later, it crawled out of the suitcase, stood on it, and kept pawing at it.
Wait, that looks like my suitcase!
Lorne recognized the familiar suitcase; it was the one that had accompanied him all the way from Backlund until now.
"Did you go find my suitcase for me?"
Lorne stepped forward to Lachi, a worried expression on his face.
"Meow~" Lachi looked at Lorne, its eyes seemingly glowing—a look that begged for praise.
"Please, how is a suitcase more important than your life? Weren't you afraid in all that chaos?" Lorne lifted the Orange Cat by the scruff of its neck, forcing it to meet his gaze.
There was no joy on his face, only worry.
"Awoo…" Lachi drooped its head, seemingly not understanding Lorne's reaction.
It had clearly done its owner a big favor, yet he was blaming it.
"Sigh! Don't run off randomly next time…"
Feeling the cat's struggle, Lorne sighed.
He didn't let go but instead gently placed it back into his satchel, then walked forward, bent down, picked up the suitcase from the ground, and ran off into the distance without looking back.
He knew this wasn't the time for idle thoughts.
With such a major incident happening here, the Official couldn't possibly be unresponsive.
They would probably arrive soon, and the best course of action right now was to leave.
…
Blackthorn Security Company.
Klein, who was underground, inexplicably felt a pang of unease.
Ever since a sudden burst of messy footsteps from above, there had been complete silence.
Klein knew that a Beyonder incident had most likely occurred, and an urgent one at that, otherwise Frey and the others wouldn't have left without saying hello to him.
Alas! Tingen has truly been plagued by disasters recently… he sighed inwardly.
"I hope nothing goes wrong…" Klein was somewhat worried about his own situation.
Being in a semi-confined state, Klein currently had no weapons at all; forget a gun, he didn't even have a small knife.
The Clown also had no direct offensive abilities; apart from the Sun Flame charm, he had no means of attack.
"No one should come to the Nighthawks' territory, right…?"
His words seemed to set a flag, and the next second, the Seer's instinctive spiritual intuition was triggered!
A cold sensation suddenly appeared on the back of his neck.
Klein quickly retreated a few steps, then activated his Spirit Vision, seeing a skeleton with quiet blue flames flickering in its empty eye sockets.
Specter!
Why is there a Specter here? This is behind Chanis Gate, with all sorts of ritual magic; it's basically impossible for such things to exist… Klein was full of surprise, completely unable to comprehend the situation before him.
No!
The pores all over his body suddenly contracted.
It was too sudden; this evil spirit appeared as if specifically to be discovered, and the stinging sensation of the spiritual warning had not subsided—the real threat was still there.
"Pfft"
Sharp pain came from his abdomen.
If he hadn't detected the anomaly in advance and twisted his body with the Clown's extreme control over his body, this blow would have killed him directly.
But this sneak attack still wounded Klein; he collapsed to the ground, cold sweat streaming down.
"Good reaction." Ince Zangwill walked out from the shadows.
A smile played on his lips, seemingly not angered by Klein dodging his attack.
He was in a very good mood now; normally, he couldn't release Specters behind Chanis Gate.
But contrary to expectations, 0-08 actually helped him, allowing him to successfully release a Specter to act as a decoy.
Looking at the disheveled Klein before him, Ince Zangwill's smile grew even wider.
He even felt that he might have been too cautious, using a decoy to deal with a mere sequence 8.
"How foolish. Let me put you out of your misery."
Just as Ince Zangwill was about to kill Klein directly, he was surprised to find the other party staggering to his feet.
"I'm almost impressed by your fighting spirit, but it's useless…" He denied Klein's actions with an air of condescending Pride.
Until Klein slowly uttered a word.
"Light."
Looking at the light rushing towards him, Ince Zangwill's smile froze.
…
Zouteland Street.
"Hoo~ Hoo~ Hoo~"
Lorne slowly slowed his pace.
"Have I run this far already?"
Looking at the street sign in front of him, Lorne gasped for breath.
He had been running for quite a long time; even with the physical enhancement of the Robot, he was starting to feel exhausted.
He had thought about hailing a hansom cab, but strangely, he hadn't seen a single one on the way.
Was it because of the sudden disaster? Were they all evacuated?
With doubts, Lorne slowed his pace and continued walking forward.
…
Behind Chanis Gate.
Klein and Ince Zangwill both lay on the ground, both seemingly badly injured.
Especially Ince Zangwill, wisps of white smoke were still rising from his body.
0-08 fell out of Ince Zangwill's pocket and began to automatically write the plot it desired.
Clearly, on certain high-level matters, it knew far more than Ince Zangwill.
'Foolish Ince Zangwill, it seems he hasn't realized that everything he did was an Error.'
'Due to excessive Pride, it is reasonable that he was hit by Klein Moretti's hidden trump card.'
…
'According to the plan, Luo En Di Sen Ke will arrive in this street during his escape and will consequently notice the anomaly at Blackthorn Security Company.'
…
'After some twists and turns, it is reasonable for him to take 0-08 away; 0-08 will thereby completely escape from certain existences…'
In the last paragraph, the quill seemed to get stuck, unable to write anything further.
…
"Strange."
As he walked, Lorne felt something was off.
'Why is there no one on this street?'
Looking at the empty street, Lorne was a bit bewildered.
What surprised him even more was that the azure sky seemed to have undergone some changes.
The sky had darkened…
"It's so quiet…"
The further in he walked, the more Lorne felt something was wrong.
Even without people, this street seemed a bit too quiet, and whether it was an illusion or not, it was clearly afternoon, but it felt as if night had suddenly fallen.
Lorne stopped, instinctively reaching into his embrace and gripping the hilt of his "Phantom" gun.
He suddenly felt as if he had just escaped one den of tigers only to enter a den of wolves.
…
Behind Chanis Gate.
The quill, which had been rapidly writing the plot on the ground, suddenly stopped.
It seemed to have sensed the gazes of certain existences.
After a brief struggle, the plot it had originally written was quickly scribbled out.
It had to abandon its initial plan and wrote new content.
'As a Sequence 5, even after being attacked, Ince Zangwill did not immediately die.
Aside from his somewhat sluggish mind, his condition today seems to be very good.
He will proceed with his original plan to take Saint Selena's ashes and successfully leave…'