Chapter 92 Photophobia and temptation
The good news is that sunlight does not count as "firelight."
In fact, this makes no sense. In Angel's common sense, the light and heat of the sun come from the energy generated by nuclear fusion that occurs all the time inside the star. What humans see is the visible light it emits, and the heat they feel is infrared rays, which are essentially "light" in a broad sense. In this case, under the influence of the negative effects of the "magic pocket watch", she should also be afraid of daytime sunlight.
Now she was standing at the door of the Blackthorn Security Company. The morning sun shone on her face, but she did not feel afraid or scared.
The bad news was that there was a gas lamp on in the corridor leading from the security company's door to the second floor.
How dare these people light the gas lamp? Isn’t fire the biggest threat to human beings living in this world?
If the gas leaks and is ignited by the flames, the flames will flow back into the gas pipes, and the entire building, the entire block, will be blown up...
Angel wanted to take out his pistol and shoot out the gas lamp that could burn down the whole house, but then he remembered that sparks would fly when the gunpowder ignited and the bullet was fired. After hesitating for a long time, he still didn't dare to fire.
…
"Good morning, Miss Angel. I didn't expect you to return from Enmat Harbor so soon. Why are you standing at the door and not going in?"
Klein, who stayed up so late last night that he was almost late, got off the public carriage and arrived at the gate of Blackthorn Security Company. Just as he was about to go upstairs, he found Angel standing on the street, wandering with his head down, unwilling to come in.
He quickly straightened his clothes which were a little messy due to his fast walk and greeted them.
When she looked up, Klein was surprised to see an emotion in her eyes.
fear.
In the eyes of this "Assassin" who possesses superb marksmanship, excellent close combat skills, and the ability to calmly deal with Mid-Sequence Beyonders and rescue his companions, this is the most unlikely emotion to appear.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Klein took two steps closer and asked.
"...Klein, are you afraid of fire?"
Angel's voice sounded particularly weak and pitiful, causing Klein to gasp.
"What kind of fire do you mean? The wildfire that burned down an entire mountain, the fire that burned down half of the dock area a few years ago, or..."
"No, that kind of fire."
Klein followed her outstretched finger and discovered that she was referring to the gas lamp in the hallway.
"Why is there someone leaving the gas on in broad daylight?"
He answered with a confused look, thinking that he would mention it to Miss Roxanne later: saving gas is everyone's responsibility.
"Yeah, how dare someone turn on the gas lamp? Aren't they afraid of blowing up Tingen City?"
Angel muttered, stumbling and swaying a little further away from the gas lamp.
"Ah, what?"
Klein was confused. He realized that he and the other party seemed to be on different wavelengths.
What on earth had happened at Enmat Harbor? Why did she seem so different after returning from that trip?
Klein felt the weather was getting warmer. He took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
——————
"Roshan, please turn off all the lights in the reception hall."
Klein pushed the door open a crack and called out to Roxanne, who was standing behind the reception desk sorting documents.
"It's okay. I'm fine now."
Angel bravely said this. She walked around Klein, pushed open the door of the reception hall, and stretched out her foot to walk inside, but her foot did not fall down for a long time. Her expression changed again and again, and finally she retreated back to the door.
"Let's just close it..." Klein added with a wry smile, looking at the puzzled Roxanne.
"What happened to Angel?"
Although she was full of questions, Luo Shan still walked out of the reception desk obediently, walked around the reception hall and turned off several gas lamps. The reception hall, which was only illuminated by the sunlight outside the window, did not become darker, but instead had a sense of tranquility that was different from usual.
"I'm not sure, but she seems to be experiencing some kind of photophobia."
After the lights dimmed, Angel breathed a sigh of relief and entered the reception hall. As long as there was no fire in her sight, she would behave as usual, find a sofa and sit down steadily, her expression no longer panicked or frightened.
"Photophobia?" Luo Shan also sat on the sofa and asked curiously, "But the sun is shining brightly on the street. If she really is afraid of light, how did she get to the company?"
"Sunlight doesn't count. She's afraid of fire, like gas lamps, or..." Klein looked around and noticed a kettle boiling on the stove in the corner. He pointed in that direction and continued, "...the flame of that stove."
Following his pointing, Angel's face, which had returned to normal, turned pale again and his body began to tremble.
"I'll turn it off right now! Turn it off..."
Luo Shan jumped up from the sofa, rushed to the stove, put out the fire, and returned to the sofa with the half-hot kettle.
"I'm really sorry, I'm not feeling well right now, but I'll be fine in a few minutes."
Angel took a small brass pocket watch from his wrist, opened the cover and checked the time. Klein leaned over curiously and found that the pocket watch was actually counting down. It seemed that there were less than five minutes left before the hands returned to zero.
“Snap—”
She closed the watch cover, closed her eyes and leaned back on the sofa, as if she had made up her mind to wait here until her abnormality disappeared before doing anything else.
Although Roxanne looked bewildered and wanted to ask several times, she ultimately suppressed her curiosity and whispered to Klein, "Klein, the captain said you should go to his office after you arrive. Angel also said so, but since she's like this... you should go first."
"Okay, I'll be right there. Please take good care of her."
Klein looked at Angel hesitantly before nodding, straightening his coat and hat, and heading towards Dunn's office.
…
"It's really all right now, you see."
Angel looked at Roxanne who was following him with a worried look on her face, and turned on the gas switch on the wall with a "click", letting the flame gradually burn and spreading warm light all around.
Just now, I actually thought that this little flame would burn down the entire Tingen City?
It’s unbelievable. Is this the inferiority complex that the “magic pocket watch” brings to me?
"Hmm, it seems that the symptoms just now are gone..."
There was hesitation in Roxanne's tone, and her eyes moved back and forth between the gas lamp and Angel. She finally convinced herself and nodded, but then asked again in confusion.
"But weren't you fine a few days ago? How did you suddenly become like this?"
"Just think of it as a negative side effect of an extraordinary ability, just like Captain's memory loss, or Leonard and the others not needing sleep."
Angel didn't know how to explain the negative effects of the magical item, so he could only give a perfunctory answer.
"How can not needing sleep be a negative side effect? I wish I had that ability!" Luo Shan retorted as she put the kettle on the stove, turned it back on, and lit the fire. "If I could only sleep four hours a night, I wouldn't have dark circles under my eyes from staying up late."
"Captain, you've had quite a few dark circles under your eyes lately. It seems the Sleepless One's abilities won't satisfy you either."
Angel stared at the blazing gas flame for a few seconds, and after making sure that he was no longer afraid of the fire, he sat back on the sofa with peace of mind.
Luo Shan waited for the water in her kettle to boil and made a pot of coffee. She then returned to the center of the reception hall and poured a cup for Angel and herself.
The aroma of coffee instantly filled the entire room.
Angel, who had gotten rid of the negative effects of the "magic pocket watch", became talkative again. Roxanne pretended to have a weird expression and imitated her fear of fire, which made her laugh so hard that she pretended to hit Roxanne on the head.
"cough--"
A deliberate dry cough came from behind the partition, causing the two men to quickly return to their sitting position.
Klein waited for the two ladies to tidy up their appearance before walking out from behind the partition. He pretended to be clueless and asked, "Ms. Angel, it seems you've returned to normal?"
"Ahem, yes, I'm sorry to bother you just now."
Angel hurriedly thanked Klein. If this enthusiastic gentleman hadn't helped turn off the gas light in the corridor, she would probably still be wandering downstairs, waiting for the negative effects to disappear.
"It's a gentleman's duty to serve a beautiful lady." Klein exaggeratedly took off his hat and saluted, causing the two ladies present to laugh. He then returned to a serious tone and informed Angel to go to Dunn Smith's office.
"The captain is looking at the telegram from Enmat Harbor. It might be a report on what happened there in the past few days."
The two of them arrived at Dunn's office door one after the other, and Klein quietly reminded him.
"Thank you. I'll keep an eye on it."
Angel nodded and prepared to knock on the door.
"Oh, there's one more thing," Klein said, as if he had just remembered something else. He raised his hand and lightly pressed it, stopping Angel from knocking on the door. "Are you free next Monday afternoon? Around 3 o'clock. It's what I told you last time."
What we talked about last time... "The Moretti family's moving celebration dinner"?
Angel was a little puzzled. It was neither too late nor too late at 3 pm, which was not suitable for lunch or dinner. Could it be afternoon tea?
But since the other party had already extended the invitation, Angel was ready to nod in agreement, but she suddenly remembered that she had to attend the "Tarot Club" every Monday afternoon. Although Mr. Fool allowed temporary leave after teaching everyone ritual magic, she was not prepared to be the first person to "take the plunge."
"I'm sorry, but I'm already booked for something else on Monday afternoon and can't get away. Can you schedule it in the evening?"
She replied to Klein with an apologetic look on her face.
"Sure enough... It's okay, let's make another appointment. This afternoon time slot really isn't suitable..."
Klein seemed to have anticipated that she would be busy on Monday afternoon and nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry to have delayed you a little. Please go in and report to the captain first."
"OK."
Angel knocked on the office door and waited for Dunn Smith to invite him in before pushing the door open and walking in.
Just before the door closed, she glanced at Klein behind the crack and saw his deep eyes, his expression faintly visible under the shadow of his top hat. He was still standing outside the door, wondering what he was thinking.
Hi, I was going to split two 3000-word chapters into three 2000-word chapters, but the chapters ended up being so well-broken (not really), I felt like I couldn't split them up anymore, so I'll just post them all at once. There's another chapter in a minute.
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