In the early hours of the morning, in the well-ventilated but silent underground, the dim yellow light of the gas lamp, protected by the glass, illuminated the empty and peaceful corridor steadily and without swaying.
Klein sat in the guard room, casually flipping through the newspapers, magazines, and books piled in front of him, and paying a little attention to the outside, on guard against anyone breaking into the Chanis Gate.
His coat and hat were hung on the coat rack near the entrance, and his cane was leaning against the wall within easy reach.
The rich aroma of coffee filled the air. Klein couldn't help but take a sip and pinch his temples to fight the heaviness in his head and the fatigue in his body.
Although he often went to bed at five in the morning and woke up at noon when he was in college on Earth, and in the past two or three years of working, he would stay up all night from time to time, and still go to work in high spirits the next day, but this was all thanks to the fact that the games were too fun, the novels were too good to read, and the movies, variety shows and TV dramas were too interesting.
And this world obviously does not have these late-night necessities.
“Emperor Roselle is the same. If he wants to show off, he should show off completely. He should devote his limited life to an infinite cause and lead the people of other worlds to enter the information age in small steps and fast pace!” Klein muttered silently. He could only comfort himself that at least he still had newspapers, magazines, and an increasingly rich variety of novels.
He originally wanted to overcome sleepiness by concentrating on studying, but he found in practice that this was in conflict with his responsibilities, because once he got into the state, it was easy to ignore the movements outside and the situation at Chanis Gate.
Phew. Klein picked up the coffee cup and blew carefully.
He took a sip, letting the fragrance linger in his mouth and letting the liquid slowly flow through his esophagus.
"Firmer coffee from Pas River Valley is bitter, but very refreshing." Klein praised and put down the cup.
The Pas River Valley is located in the southern continent and is a high-quality coffee bean producing area. It is currently under dispute between the Intis Republic and the Kingdom of Loen. They have established colonial regimes on the left and right banks of the Pas River Valley respectively and destroyed the original Pas Kingdom.
In the eerie silence, Klein picked up a magazine at random and found it was a magazine about clothing and matching, "Women's Aesthetics".
"This must have been taken from Roxanne..." He whispered in amusement, flipping through the pages with interest.
Perhaps influenced by the rapid development of camera technology in the past decade or so, the magazine "Ladies' Aesthetic" not only made extensive use of illustrations, but also imitated newspapers and used black and white photos as content.
They quite fashionably invited famous drama and opera singers to show the charm of the costumes and the magic of matching. In just seven years, they developed from a regional new magazine in Backlund to a mainstream journal with distribution throughout the country.
“This dress is nice, and the girl looks good too…” Klein flipped through the pictures leisurely, not hiding his yearning for beauty.
He is a man with normal physical and mental development. He has always admired beautiful girls. However, he has already set a goal to find a way to go home, so he tries to keep a distance from the opposite sex. He does not want to delay the other party or leave any emotional debt.
As for finding streetwalkers, he is a little bit of a germaphobe in this regard.
Benson and Melissa already have a bond that cannot be broken. They can only find a way to make up for it in the future... Klein suddenly felt heavy and couldn't help but sigh.
The longer you are away from home, the more you can feel the melancholy in the dead of night.
He instantly lost interest in admiring the beautiful lady, put down the magazine in his hand and picked up a novel instead.
"Storm Heights, author, Fors Wall." Klein read out the main content of the cover.
In the quiet late night, under the dim yellow light, a book with a cover reminded him of the days when he rented books as a child, so he read on with nostalgia.
The novel "Storm Heights" tells the story of Ms. Sissi, who is 1.65 meters tall and weighs 98 pounds, entering Frius Heights as a governess.
"One pound is approximately equal to one catty... Is this the otherworldly version of Jane Eyre?" Klein stroked the comfortable-touch paper with his fingers, speculating on the subsequent contents.
However, when he thought it was a romance novel, an "evil spirit" appeared at the end. When he believed it was a supernatural novel, Ms. Sissi revealed that she was a detective and gave a gorgeous reasoning.
When Klein thought there was nothing wrong with this being a detective novel, the protagonist suffered a severe blow to the head, lost his memory, and a tear-jerking plot began.
“…In the end, it’s still a romance novel.” Klein closed the book and took a sip of coffee with a headache.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fierce knocking sounds suddenly rang out, echoing in the dim and quiet corridor, and echoing in the underground where almost no one was.
Klein was startled, and his mind suddenly tensed up.
He instinctively took out the revolver from the gun pouch under his arm, adjusted the magazine and trigger, and slowly walked to the door, looking for the source of the sound.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The banging became more and more intense. Klein looked in the direction of the sound and saw the black iron double doors with seven holy emblems painted on them.
"The sound coming from behind Chanis's door?" He narrowed his eyes and his heart beat like a drum.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Klein saw the Chanis Gate shaking slightly and felt the tremendous force it was bearing.
“No way… I encountered trouble on my first day on duty here? Did I become more unlucky after traveling through time?” Klein’s right hand, which was holding the gun handle, broke out in a cold sweat.
But soon, he remembered the captain's instructions: no matter what sound you hear, no matter what happens, do not open the Chanis door unless it is opened from the inside.
Uh, is this normal? Klein calmed down a lot.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Clank! Clank! Clank! The noise behind Chanis's door was getting louder and louder, but the heavy black iron double door was just shaking, and there was no other abnormality.
“This is really normal. I’m so scared…” Klein whispered and was about to return to the guard room.
Just then, he heard a harsh friction sound and saw the Chanis door move heavily outwards and a crack appeared!
tie!
Amid the awkward voice that made his teeth ache, Klein's almost frozen eyes saw a figure. It was about the height of an average adult man's forearm. It was wearing a black, elegant, miniature court dress with obvious stains on the hem.
It has a not-so-delicate face, with dark eyes and a tightly pursed mouth.
This is a puppet, a toy puppet!
Almost at the moment when Klein subconsciously raised his gun and aimed, the puppet in a black palace dress pressed tightly and hard against the open Chanis door and unfolded the paper in its hand.
There were numerous cryptic symbols depicted on the paper, some that Klein knew and some that he had not yet mastered. Together, they formed a vertical eye!
Before Klein had time to think about what was going on, the palace puppet was suddenly pulled back behind the Chanis Gate by an invisible entity!
Bang!
The Chanis door closed again, and there was no more knocking or clapping.
The underground returned to its usual peace and silence, as if nothing had happened.
"The Chanis door was opened from the inside. I have to report to the captain... but it closed again..." At this time, Klein regained his thoughts, feeling shocked, scared, and confused.
A few seconds later, he remembered what the puppet in the black court dress was. As a formal member of the Night Watchers, he was qualified to know about the "3" level items sealed behind the Chanis Gate in Tingen City.
"Number: 0625."
"Name: Doom Puppet."
"Danger level: '3', there is a certain degree of danger, please use with caution, and this can only be applied for operations involving more than three people."
"Secrecy level: Full member of Nightwatch and above."
"Sealing method: Just isolate from humans."
“Description: This doll is wearing a court dress that was popular around 1300. The hem of the dress has traces of dirt that are difficult to wash off. It is impossible to confirm whether it was originally there.”
"In several tragedies in Tingen caused by family financial crises, the police noticed the existence of this doll. It was always placed in the child's bedroom, on the cabinet next to the bed."
"Several Nighthawks were commissioned to investigate this puppet."
"It has been preliminarily confirmed that it will bring bad luck, causing people around them to gradually become unlucky, fall into crisis, and eventually die one by one. It only took the subject two weeks to reach the brink of bankruptcy."
"This puppet does not possess the characteristics of being alive, and has no tendency to try to escape the seal."
"After long-term experiments, we found that as long as you stay within a ten-meter radius of it for no more than half an hour a day, you will not be tainted by bad luck. If you are already tainted by bad luck, as long as you transfer it to another owner, the situation will improve."
"Appendix: The first place this puppet appeared was at the home of old lady Tess on Lower Iron Cross Street in the West End. She was a toy-making craftsman. Because of her old age, her husband was seriously ill, and her two children died early, she had to move to Lower Iron Cross Street."
"It was the last toy she sold, and she traded it for some hemlock juice, which ended her and her husband's starvation after more than three days."
Klein recalled the information about Sealed Artifact 3-0625, and more doubts and fears arose in his heart:
"Didn't they say that this puppet doesn't have the characteristics of being alive? Didn't they say that it has no tendency to try to escape the seal?"
"Then what did I just see!"
"And what was it that finally pulled it back?"
“What does the pattern drawn on the paper it unfolds represent?”
"The scene just now really looked like there was a psychopathic murderer treating the victim. The victim knocked on the door and tried to call for help, but was pulled back again..."
As his thoughts raced, Klein decided not to act on his own.
He returned to the guard room and pulled a rope.
The rope was pulled, the gears were running, and a quick bell suddenly rang in the Blackthorn Security Company on the second floor.
Leonard Mitchell and other sleepless people who were playing cards in the entertainment room immediately put down their cards and rushed underground.
PS: Ask for recommendation votes on Monday~