Chapter 46: Portrait

Chapter 46: Portrait

*Ugh! Blegh!*

Klein crouched there, vomiting uncontrollably. Since he hadn't eaten breakfast, he quickly emptied his stomach of whatever reserves he had.

At that moment, a small, tin-colored square flask that looked much like a cigarette box appeared before his eyes.

The mouth of the flask, missing its stopper, emitted a mixed scent of tobacco, disinfectant, and mint leaves, which hit Klein's nose so sharply that he felt a sudden jolt of alertness.

The intense stench still lingered in the air, but Klein no longer felt nauseated, and the vomiting soon stopped.

Following the tin-colored square flask upward, he saw a pale, non-human hand, the sleeve of a black trench coat, and the cold, dark temperament of the "Corpse Collector," Frye.

"Thank you." Klein fully recovered, bracing himself with his hands on his knees as he stood up again.

Frye nodded expressionlessly

"You'll get used to it."

He recapped the tin flask, put it in his pocket, and turned toward the highly decomposed corpse of the old woman. Without wearing gloves, he began the examination directly, while Dunn Smith and Leonard Mitchell paced around the room, occasionally touching the tabletops and newspapers.

Old Neil stood outside the door, pinching his nose, and complained in a muffled voice

"Too disgusting. I'm applying for a subsidy this month!"

Dunn turned back, touching the wall ash near the fireplace with his right hand clad in a black glove, and looked toward Klein.

"Does this place feel familiar?"

Klein held his breath, visualizing the image of his silver-white pocket watch in his mind to calm his body and soul.

Already in a state of Spirit Vision, he immediately experienced a different sensation. A scene from the deepest recesses of his memory flashed before his eyes

A fireplace, a rocking chair, a table, newspapers, iron nails on a rusty door, a pewter tin inlaid with silver...

The image was dim and dark, like a documentary from Earth, but blurrier and more illusory.

It rapidly overlapped with everything Klein saw before him. That sense of déjà vu—as if he had been here before—became distinct, and a phantom, drifting scream pierced through the invisible barrier once more

"Honackis... Freya... Honackis... Freya... Honackis... Freya..."

"It's a little familiar," Klein answered truthfully. His head throbbed slightly, so he could only tap his forehead twice to ease the pain.

Honackis... The Honackis Mountains mentioned in the original owner's diary?

That was content decoded from the Antigonus family notes...

The whispers just now were very similar to a previous occurrence; they both involved the term "Honackis"... Was this... was this an inducement?

Klein was startled and did not dare to think further, fearing he might step onto the path of losing control.

Dunn nodded slightly, walked to the front of the cupboard, and suddenly reached out to pull open the wooden door.

The bread inside had grown mold, and beside it lay seven or eight stiff, grey, furry rats.

"Leonard, go downstairs and find the patrolling police to find out the situation here," Dunn instructed his teammate.

"Alright." Leonard turned and left the house.

Dunn then opened the doors to the two bedrooms, searching them thoroughly.

Once he confirmed there were no clues or the Antigonus family notes, the "Corpse Collector" Frye straightened his back and wiped his hands with a white handkerchief he carried.

"Death occurred more than five days ago. No external injuries, nor any significant impact caused by Beyonder powers. The specific cause must await further examination."

"Did you find anything?" Dunn turned to look at Old Neil and Klein.

The two, who had long since exited the state of Spirit Vision, shook their heads simultaneously.

"Aside from a dead person, everything here is normal. No, at first, an invisible force sealed the room. You know, we often use similar operations when performing ritual magic," Old Neil added after thinking for a few seconds.

Just as Dunn was about to speak, he suddenly looked toward the door. After a few seconds, Klein and Old Neil realized something and turned to look at the corner of the stairs.

A few seconds later, the sound of light footsteps grew louder as Leonard and a police officer walked up.

The officer's expression changed slightly upon smelling the stench. He immediately cooperated with his "colleagues" from the Special Operations Department to knock on the door of the second-floor resident and gathered general information about the situation on the third floor.

A moment later, wearing silver second-class sergeant epaulettes, he looked at the corpse in the rocking chair and said

"Katie Stephina Bieber, between 55 and 60 years old, widow. She had been renting here with her son, Riel Bieber, for over ten years."

"Her husband was a jeweler during his lifetime. Her son is about 30, unmarried, and inherited his father's business, earning about 1 pound and 15 shillings a week. According to their neighbors, they haven't been seen for over a week."

By this point, Klein knew where the focus of the investigation lay

The missing person—or more accurately, the person whose whereabouts were unknown—Riel Bieber!

That ancient notebook was likely on his person!

"Do you have a photo of Riel Bieber?" Dunn looked at the officer; he was playing the role of a Senior Inspector.

However, it couldn't exactly be called an impersonation, because in the police department's files, he truly was a Senior Inspector, with his salary and subsidies calculated accordingly—though, of course, this did not include the Church's portion.

The officer shook his head somewhat nervously.

"I don't know... I'll have to go back to the precinct to look. Normally, we don't keep photos of every single person."

"I understand. Continue questioning the first-floor residents. Ask for details," Dunn ordered.

Looking at the officer, he closed the main door and turned to Old Neil.

"I'll leave the rest to you. Otherwise, I'll have to let the residents here sleep peacefully and search for Riel Bieber's likeness in their dreams. Hmm, I don't trust portraits completed based solely on oral descriptions too much."

Old Neil nodded. He took several thumb-sized bottles from the hidden pockets of his black classical robe and sprinkled the liquids inside in a specific order around the room.

Immediately after, he pinched a handful of powder and sprinkled a circle around himself.

A strange, pungent odor rose and dispersed, unaffected by the stench in the room. Klein suddenly felt an invisible force surrounding Old Neil, a force that separated him from the environment and the others, much like the state the house had been in previously.

Old Neil half-closed his eyes, his mouth moving as he chanted low, muffled incantations. Klein wasn't quite prepared and only vaguely heard, "I pray for the Goddess's power," "I await the Night's grace"...

*Whoosh!* A sudden gust of wind rushed in through the window, blowing the powder.

Klein's heart suddenly jolted, and the hair on his skin stood on end. He felt an indescribable, terrifying "scent" that one dared not look at directly rapidly permeate the air.

His mind felt confused yet tense, unable to relax, much like the state one is in after solving a set of high-difficulty math problems.

Suddenly, Old Neil's eyes snapped open, his pupils pitch black.

He took out an absorbent fountain pen from his pocket and began sketching rapidly on some scrap paper on the table, his movements so fast his entire body trembled.

Klein stared intently, seeing a face with deep eye sockets and a high nose bridge rapidly emerge.

Once the naturally curly short hair was finished, Old Neil wrote a line of words below the portrait

"Black hair, deep blue eyes, a porcelain false tooth on the left side of the mouth."

*Clatter!* The fountain pen in Old Neil's hand fell onto the paper, and his body twitched a few times.

"This is the remaining likeness of Riel Bieber in the room," Old Neil whispered, his eye color quickly returning to normal.

Then, he returned to his previous position and slowly turned in a circle. That invisible, separating force instantly dissipated, turning into a light breeze.

"Praise the Goddess." Old Neil tapped his chest four times, forming the shape of the Crimson Moon.

Klein's mind relaxed, and as he observed more closely, he found that Riel Bieber's features were nothing special and his temperament was quite peaceful, though the nasolabial folds on both sides of his nose sagged noticeably.

"I'll try to see if I can use the Divination Staff Item-Finding Method." He picked up the portrait, found the male clothing in the bedroom, and spread them out on the floor.

Dunn, Leonard, and Old Neil did not stop him. They watched as he thrust the silver-inlaid black cane onto the clothing and the portrait. The "Corpse Collector" Frye remained silent as usual.

*Brown to black.* Klein completed his silent prayer with a deep gaze and released his grip.

The black cane stood quietly, as if it had been inserted into the floor.

"Riel Bieber's location," Klein silently repeated in his heart.

Amidst the whistling wind, the cane fell over, but during the fall, it kept changing direction, eventually turning into a small-scale rotation around its pivot point.

Without any external force to assist, the silver-inlaid black cane stood upright once again.

Klein tried several times, but the result was always the same. He could only shake his head at Dunn and Old Neil.

A strange force was interfering with his "divination"...

Dunn removed his black gloves and said to Leonard and Klein

"Take Riel Bieber's portrait to question the residents here for final confirmation, then issue a wanted notice for him on the grounds of murdering his mother."

"Alright." Klein gripped the cane and bent down to pick up the portrait.

Once the neighbors confirmed that the person in the portrait was indeed Riel Bieber, Dunn had Leonard and the officer go to the police station to complete the formalities, while he and Frye went to several bars in Tingen City to look for people through underground channels.

Klein and Old Neil took a public carriage back to the Blackthorn Security Company. It was not yet eight o'clock, and Roselle had not yet arrived.

Closing the main door, Klein turned to Old Neil and asked, half in confusion and half as a student seeking guidance

"Why did I... why would I deliver the Antigonus family notes to Riel Bieber's house?"

That was completely in the opposite direction from Welch's residence to Iron Cross Street.

Old Neil walked to the sofa and chuckled.

"Isn't it quite obvious? You don't know if it was the power within the notes that was triggered, or if you were curious and performed certain rituals described in them, provoking some bizarre existence that shouldn't have been provoked. And the purpose of this power, this existence, was to deliver the notes to Riel Bieber and sever all clues so that no one could discover them."

"Consequently, besides you, who was chosen, Welch and Naya committed suicide on the spot. As for you, to be honest, I still don't understand how you managed to survive."

"I don't know either..." Klein sat down, answering with a forced, bitter smile. "I've thought of your guess regarding the sequence of events, I just don't understand why the notes had to be given to Riel Bieber."

Old Neil spread his hands.

"Perhaps his birth numerology met the requirements, or perhaps he is the last remaining descendant of the Antigonus family. In short, there are too many possibilities... As for why that notebook was sold to our Tingen City, there should be a similar reason."

"I think it's something like the descendant theory." Klein suddenly realized, then sighed. "It's a pity I didn't notice it immediately; both Riel Bieber and that notebook are gone."

Old Neil smiled.

"That is a problem for Dunn to worry about. For you, it is a good thing."

"Why do you say that?" Klein frowned in confusion.