Chapter 37: The Club

Chapter 37: The Club

Under the afternoon sun, Klein stepped out of his house.

Since he had to walk all the way from East End to Welch's residence, he had swapped his formal attire, top hat, and leather boots for a linen shirt, an old brown jacket, a matching wide-brimmed felt hat, and worn leather shoes. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about the smell of sweat contaminating that expensive suit.

Following Narcissus Street, he walked slowly toward the East End. As he passed through Corner Square, he instinctively glanced toward it.

The tents had already vanished; the circus had finished its performance and left the area long ago.

Klein had originally imagined that the beast tamer who helped him divine was actually a hidden powerhouse who had come specifically to guide him after discovering his uniqueness, and that there would surely be future encounters and hints. However, none of that happened; she had simply moved on to her next journey with the circus.

*There aren't that many tropes in life...* Klein shook his head with a self-deprecating smile and turned toward the East End.

There wasn't just one East End; as its name suggested, it was formed by the intersection of two roads.

With the crossroads as its core, it was divided into Left Street, Right Street, Upper Street, and Lower Street. The apartment where Klein, Benson, and Melissa had previously lived was located on Lower Street.

However, the residents living in the apartments and the surrounding area did not consider the vicinity to be Lower Street. Instead, they had coined the term "Middle Street" to distinguish it from the slum areas where people gathered at the end of the road, two hundred meters away.

In those areas, five, six, or even ten people might be squeezed into a single bedroom.

Walking along the edge of Left Street, Klein's thoughts drifted. He thought of the Antigonus family notebook, its disappearance, the importance placed upon it by the Nighthawks, and the bloody massacre that had resulted from it.

His mood gradually grew heavy, and his expression darkened.

Just then, a familiar voice reached his ears

"Little Klein."

*Hmm...* Klein turned his head in confusion and found himself standing at the entrance of the "Slings Bakery." Mrs. Wendy, with her greyish-white hair, was waving at him with a gentle smile.

"You don't look very... very happy?" Wendy asked warmly.

Klein rubbed his face and said, "A little bit."

"No matter how many troubles you have, tomorrow will come eventually," Mrs. Wendy said with a smile. "Come, help me try my new sweet iced tea. I'm not sure if it suits the local palate."

"Local palate? Are you not a local yourself, Mrs. Slings?" Klein shook his head with a smile.

*Trying it out* probably meant it was free, right?

Wendy Slings curled her lips slightly and said, "You guessed right. I'm actually a Southerner. I followed my husband to Tingen over forty years ago. Haha, back then Benson hadn't even been born, and your father and mother hadn't even met."

"I've never quite gotten used to the food style of the North. I'm always missing the food from my hometown—missing pork sausages, potato bread, roasted pancakes, vegetables fried in lard, and roasted meat with specialty sauces."

"And, I miss sweet iced tea too..."

Klein couldn't help but smile as he listened. "Mrs. Slings, that is a truly mouth-watering topic... However, I feel much better now. Thank you."

"Good food can always heal sadness." Wendy handed Klein a glass of reddish-brown liquid. "It's a sweet iced tea I formulated based on my memories. Taste it and tell me if it's good."

After thanking her, Klein took a sip. He felt the drink had a texture similar to iced black tea from Earth, but it wasn't as sharp; the tea flavor was stronger and more refreshing, instantly dispelling the heat brought by the scorching sun.

"It's wonderful!" he praised.

"Then I can rest easy." Wendy's eyes crinkled as she smiled, watching kindly as Klein finished the glass of sweet iced tea.

After chatting with Mrs. Slings for a while about the move to the new house, Klein returned to the street he knew best.

In the afternoon, there were far fewer street vendors here. They wouldn't gather again until after five-thirty, and those who remained were listless and weary.

As soon as he turned into this area, Klein's mood suddenly turned inexplicably gloomy, filled with an indescribable sense of oppression, depression, and darkness.

*What's happening?* He keenly sensed something was wrong with himself and immediately stopped to look around, but he saw nothing strange.

After thinking for a moment, Klein raised his hand and tapped his brow twice as if in thought.

The view within his sight changed instantly, and the auras of the street vendors and several pedestrians were revealed.

Before he could even examine the healthiness of their colors, he was drawn to the thick, dim shades representing their emotions.

He could not judge the specific thoughts of the observers, but the impression of pessimism, numbness, and melancholy was deeply etched into his heart.

Looking around, he found that the entire vicinity was filled with these dark tones, which even the sunlight could not dispel.

This was an oppression accumulated over countless days, months, and years.

Seeing this, Klein understood the reason immediately.

Just as Old Neil had said, once one activated Spirit Vision, it was easy to feel uncomfortable when entering unfamiliar environments and easy to be infected by the emotions of others.

A similar logic applied to the ability of "Spirituality"—an ability gained after becoming a "Diviner" without extra study. It was a passive and unavoidable perception that allowed one to directly sense the existence of certain abnormalities.

And perception inevitably involved a certain degree of interaction. Therefore, in the eyes of Beyonders like "Spirit Mediums," the strength of everyone's spirituality was as obvious as torches in the night. Consequently, people with high spirituality would naturally and easily be influenced by abnormal and intense atmospheres; they could only learn to grasp, control, and adapt through repeated practice.

"This kind of oppressive 'color' must have taken a very long time to form, right?" Klein sighed and shook his head, feeling moved.

He tapped his brow twice again and worked hard to restrain his spirituality.

*Tap, tap, tap.* Klein walked toward the apartment step by step, sensing for other possible abnormalities and subtle connections, searching for the Antigonus family notebook that had been "hidden" from him.

The street was the same as usual, with dirty water and trash, only becoming clean once he reached the apartment entrance.

Klein pushed open the half-closed door and, in the darkness where the sunlight could not reach, circled the first floor.

He climbed up floor by floor, making the wooden stairs creak continuously.

The second floor was as devoid of light as ever. Klein allowed his "Spirituality" to run wild, staring directly into the gloom.

However, not only did he fail to find any clues to the notebook, he didn't even see a single invisible spirit.

"If they were this easy to encounter, most ordinary people wouldn't fail to notice the existence of Beyonder things..." Klein remarked to himself.

He already understood that most "spirits" did not exist in the form of spirit bodies, but as spirituality, which required a "Spirit Medium" to communicate with effectively.

After circling the third floor, Klein left the apartment and walked along the path in his memory toward Welch's residence.

He walked for a full hour but still found nothing along the way.

Standing outside the garden villa, Klein gazed at the house through the locked iron gates and muttered to himself

"I shouldn't have to look for the Welch house, right? The Captain and Ms. Daly must have conducted a carpet search..."

"And I don't have the keys here; I can't exactly climb over the wall..."

"I'll try a different route tomorrow..."

"I walked so much today, yet there's no step-count leaderboard..."

Amidst his complaints, Klein turned toward a nearby neighborhood, intending to take a public carriage to the Blackthorn Security Company to collect today's thirty bullets and make time for practice.

"Diviners" lacked fast and effective means of attack; they could only rely on revolvers and walking sticks to compensate!

The area near Welch's residence was quite clean, with many bright and tidy shops lining both sides of the street.

As he turned the corner, just as Klein was about to look for a public carriage stop, his gaze suddenly swept over several signs on the second floor across the street

"Harold Department Store."

"The Veteran Officers' Club."

"The Divination Club."

...

*The Divination Club...* Klein repeated the name in his mind, suddenly thinking about his need to "act" as a Diviner.

*Hmm, I should go take a look... look for some new ideas...*

Amidst his swirling thoughts, Klein crossed the street, went to the opposite side, climbed to the second floor, entered the hall, and stood before a beautiful lady in charge of reception.

The lady, whose brownish-yellow hair was pinned up, sized Klein up and said with a smile

"Sir, would you like to have a divination, or join our club?"

"What are the requirements for joining?" Klein asked casually.

The lady with the high-pinned brownish-yellow hair introduced professionally

"Fill out detailed information and pay an annual membership fee. It is 5 pounds for the first time, and 1 pound every year thereafter. Don't worry, we are not like those political or commercial clubs that require a recommendation from a formal member to join."

"Members can use the club's meeting rooms and various divination rooms and tools for free, enjoy the coffee and tea we provide for free, read the newspapers and magazines we subscribe to for free, and purchase lunch, dinner, alcoholic beverages, and some divination textbooks and materials at cost price."

"Furthermore, we invite at least one famous diviner every month to give lectures and answer difficult questions."

"Most importantly, you can find a group of friends with the same hobbies and exchange experiences with one another."

*Sounds good, but... but I have no money...* Klein smiled self-deprecatingly and instead asked

"What if I just want a divination?"