Chapter 44: Destiny

Chapter 44: Destiny

Leonard's chanting was like a lullaby, echoing faintly between the doors on either side and through the winding wooden staircase.

Klein's mind instantly drifted into a trance; he seemed to see tranquil moonlight and the gentle rippling of a peaceful lake.

His eyelids grew heavy with sudden speed, as if he could fall asleep even while standing.

Amidst this blurred perception, he once again felt an invisible, eerie, and indifferent gaze from behind him, as if he were wandering through the Spirit World itself.

A strange sense of déjà vu surfaced, and Klein abruptly regained his senses. Relying on his powerful intuition and an extremely familiar meditation technique, he barely managed to break free from the influence of the "Midnight Ballad."

However, his body and mind remained tranquil, making it difficult to generate any other emotions.

Soon, Leonard stopped chanting and turned his head with a smile.

"I'm considering applying for a Feinapote violin. How can there be chanting without accompaniment?"

"Haha, just kidding. I heard they all fell asleep."

The Nighthawk team member—a man with black hair, green eyes, and a poetic temperament—stepped forward and walked toward the door where the kidnappers and the hostage were located.

He suddenly shrugged his shoulders, clenched his fist, and struck the door lock.

*Crack!*

The wood around the lock splintered, the sound being very faint.

"This requires precise control," Leonard said with a smile while looking back, reaching his hand into the broken hole to open the door.

Klein, having regained his clarity, was not as confident as him. He tucked his hand under his arm, drew his revolver, and adjusted the cylinder to ensure it was ready to fire immediately.

As the door swung back, he saw a man sleeping face-down on a table with a pistol lying by his feet, and a man rubbing his eyes groggily, attempting to stand up.

*Step!*

With a sliding step, Leonard approached and knocked out the kidnapper who was about to wake up.

Just as Klein was about to follow him in, he suddenly felt something. He spun around abruptly, facing the staircase.

*Tap, tap, tap.* Footsteps came from below, growing clearer. A man wearing a brown coat and no hat, clutching a paper bag of bread, rounded the corner of the stairs and headed toward the third floor.

Suddenly, he paused, seeing a metallic muzzle staring down at him.

Reflected in his pupils was a young man wearing a half-high silk top hat, dressed in formal black attire with a matching bowtie; reflected was the cane leaning against the railing, and the dangerous revolver.

"Stop all movement. Put your hands up. Three, two..." Klein's voice was low and soothing.

He held the revolver with both hands, attempting to treat the man as a practice target.

In the tense atmosphere, the man in the brown coat dropped the bag of bread and slowly raised his hands.

"Sir, have you perhaps misunderstood something?" He stared fixedly at Klein's finger on the trigger, squeezing out a small smile.

Klein could not yet determine if he was an accomplice or a neighbor, but he showed no outward sign of abnormality, saying in a deep voice

"Do not attempt to struggle. Someone will come later to verify if this is a misunderstanding."

At this moment, Leonard, having dealt with the kidnappers inside, walked out. He glanced at the man at the staircase corner and said leisurely

"So the kidnappers had an accomplice responsible for backup and buying food?"

Hearing this, the man in the brown coat's pupils shrank. He suddenly kicked the bag of bread in front of him, attempting to block Klein's line of sight.

Klein seemed unaffected. As if practicing, he calmly pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

A burst of blood erupted from the man's left shoulder.

He rolled with the momentum, attempting to flee toward the second floor, but Leonard had already reached out to brace the railing and jumped down.

With a muffled thud, Leonard descended from above, landing on the man.

The man lost consciousness. Leonard patted away a bit of the bloodstain, looked up at Klein, and chuckled.

"Not bad shooting."

*I was aiming for his leg...* Klein's mouth twitched imperceptibly, and he smelled the faint scent of blood.

He discovered that after consuming the "Divination" potion, although his vision, hearing, and touch had not improved, he could still "see" obscured objects and "hear" faint footsteps, allowing him to make judgments in advance.

*Does this fall under the category of "Spirituality"?* Klein nodded thoughtfully, watching Leonard search the accomplice for a sharp dagger and "drag" him into the room.

With a gun in one hand and a cane in the other, Klein entered the room where the kidnappers were. He saw Elliot Vickroll being startled awake by the gunshot, his body shifting from a curled position to lying straight as he slowly sat up.

The original three kidnappers had been tied up tightly by Leonard using the ropes they had used on Elliot, strung together like a chain and tossed into a corner—where rope was insufficient, Leonard had used strips of their clothing instead.

The one shot in the shoulder was unconscious and receiving bandages, but Leonard, finding it dirty, had not helped him remove the bullet.

"You... who are you?" Elliot stammered, a hint of pleasant surprise hidden in his voice as he saw the scene.

"Yes, you guessed correctly. Very accurately," Leonard replied casually while half-squatting.

*To think this guy actually has a sense of humor...* Klein lowered his revolver and looked at Elliot.

"We are mercenaries hired by your father. You can also call us security personnel."

"Whew, really? Am I rescued?" Elliot asked, filled with joy but not daring to move recklessly.

It was evident that in the short few hours since his kidnapping, he had suffered quite a bit; he lacked the impulsiveness typical of his age.

Leonard stood up and said to Klein

"Go downstairs and find the patrolling police. Tell them to notify that tobacco merchant. I don't want to walk out of here with a child and these four guys like a kidnapper."

Klein, thinking about how to handle the aftermath, nodded. He put away his revolver, picked up his cane, and walked toward the stairs.

As he descended step by step, he felt vaguely as if he had forgotten something, and he heard Leonard say to Elliot

"Don't be nervous. You'll see your father, mother, and the old butler, Kelly, very soon. How about a game of Gwent?"

...

Suppressing a smile, Klein walked out onto the street and, following the directions of passersby, found two patrolling police officers.

He did not use the badge or credentials of the "Special Operations Department," but instead explained the situation in full under the guise of professional security personnel.

As for the issue of being armed, he wasn't worried at all, as he had just obtained a "Universal Weapon Use Permit" the day before—applied for through internal channels, the approval was very fast.

The two police officers exchanged glances. One went to notify reinforcements and the Vickroll family, while the other followed Klein back to the kidnappers' room.

After waiting for over forty minutes, taking advantage of a moment when the police weren't looking, Leonard gave Klein a meaningful look, signaling him to slip out of the room with him.

"Trust me, going to the police station is a huge waste of time. Let's leave first," the poet-like Nighthawk explained with a relaxed expression.

Adopting the mindset that "if the sky falls, the tall people will hold it up," Klein did not argue and followed behind.

Nearly five minutes later, several carriages sped toward the building where the kidnappers had been. The old butler, Kelly, accompanied his obese master, Vickroll, as they stepped down.

Even at this moment, Elliot was still in a daze, unable to believe the good news had come so quickly—so quickly it felt like a dream.

Suddenly, he heard a crisp *snap* and instinctively turned his head

A two-wheeled carriage drove past with its window open, and the black-haired, green-eyed Leonard snapped his fingers again.

After passing the Vickroll family's carriage, Leonard closed the window, turned around, and looked at Klein.

He smiled and raised his right hand.

"A pleasure doing business with you!"

*It's not like we're close...* Klein gave a polite high-five.

He also hadn't expected the kidnapping case to be resolved so quickly. He could only inwardly marvel that Beyonders were indeed Beyonders; even as a half-baked Sequence 9, he could accomplish many incredible things.

"This is a gesture nobles use to celebrate after a fencing match," Leonard explained with a smile.

"I know." Klein had many noble classmates.

He glanced out the window and frowned slightly.

"Aren't we going to confirm with Mr. Kelly? If he thinks Elliot was rescued by the police, our reward will be halved."

A full 100 pounds!

As for providing the location of the kidnappers, there would be no doubts following the recent "meeting."

"Don't worry about it. In our lives, money isn't that important," Leonard said with a shrug and a smile.

*...To me, it is very important!* Klein forced a polite smile.

"Many poets died young because of poverty."

Leonard laughed.

"I believe Elliot won't lie about this matter; I can see he still retains some innocence. However, even if you get the 200-pound reward, you won't get much of it."

"How much will I get?" Klein asked immediately.

"According to the unwritten rule, half of the reward goes to Mrs. Orianna as extra funds for the team, and the rest is split among the participating members. Unfortunately, since you aren't an official member, you'll probably only get ten percent."

*10 pounds? That's not bad either...* Klein pretended not to feel the sting and instead asked

"Aren't you worried that once the kidnappers wake up, they'll realize they were affected by Beyonder powers?"

"They won't suspect anything. They'll just think the weather was too good, too perfect for sleep, that they couldn't help but collapse. They might even believe that the chanting only exists in dreams; that's something we've verified," Leonard answered very confidently. "However, your Hunter's bullet might seem strange. Of course, a weirdo who likes mysticism is a very reasonable explanation."

"Mm." Klein set his worries aside, feeling only that he had forgotten, or rather, overlooked something.

............

Returning to Zotlan Street, Klein did not wait for Kelly to come. Instead, he took a stroll to Welch's residence, took a different route home, and bought beef, cabbage, and other ingredients for dinner along the way.

It was the usual pleasant dinner, the usual leisurely chat between the three siblings during their studies, except for one additional visitor who came to collect the pennies from the gas meter.

As the night deepened, the three siblings said goodnight to each other and returned to their respective rooms.

Klein was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by a rustling sound from outside. Confused, he opened the door and walked to the unoccupied bedroom.

Pushing open the mottled door, Klein saw a gray table.

On the table lay a notebook with a cardboard cover that had been completely stained black.

A strange sense of déjà vu surfaced in his heart. Klein walked over and opened the notebook.

The open page featured a drawing: it was the "Fool" wearing magnificent clothes and a dazzling headpiece!

Below the "Fool," a line of Hermes was written

"All men must die, including me."

Klein's heart jolted. He suddenly noticed that the corners of the "Fool's" mouth had curled upward!

*Whoosh!*

He sat up abruptly, seeing the crimson moonlight through the curtains, the bookshelf, the desk, and the outline of his own bedroom. He realized he had had a nightmare.

As a "Diviner," he understood that dreams always revealed something, so he carefully reflected on it.

In his recollection, Klein suddenly froze, because he knew what he had overlooked today!

While immersed in Leonard's chanting, he had been subjected to an invisible, indifferent gaze from behind.

This gaze was different from the experience of normal meditation or using Spirit Vision; it gave him a sense of déjà vu!

And according to Captain Dunn, once such a feeling appeared, it often meant...

Klein sat bolt upright, confirming the sensation

Yes, it was it—that notebook! That notebook of the Antigonus family!

(End of Chapter)