The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and a corner of the cemetery was quiet and cool. Leonard Mitchell suddenly picked up the shovel that was stuck next to him.
The two piles of earth gradually grew higher, and the tomb was exposed bit by bit. Occasionally, people passed by, but they were unaware of it, as if what happened here was just a dream.
Finally, Leonard gave up the shovel, leaned down, stretched out his hands, and grasped the edge of the coffin lid.
With a sudden force, he opened the heavy wooden lid and found that the thick iron nails had fallen off at some point, leaving the dark coffin empty.
Nothing at all!
Leonard kept his body half-bent, watching the scene quietly, without any additional movements for a long time, as if he had turned into a stone statue.
…………
In his hazy dream, Klein saw a stone tablet with an inscription on it. It stood silently among many similar tablets, and was dyed crimson by the moonlight.
This scene was shattered immediately, and Klein suddenly woke up and confirmed that he was still Dwayne Dantès, still in the master bedroom of 160 Boklund Street.
The dream just now seemed to be telling something... As a "fortune teller", Klein took every dream seriously, and this one was no exception. He gathered his spirits, cast away his sleepiness, and tried to interpret it:
“That should be a tombstone…
"This represents someone who has died, or something to do with resurrection...
"The crimson moonlight symbolizes the goddess, and corresponds to concepts such as the Church of the Night and the Night Watchers... If you see the moon directly, it may involve the 'original moon', the vampire ancestor Lilith, and the 'mother tree of desire'...
"The tombstone was stained with a color that was almost blood, which indicated that it was not a good thing..."
As Klein interpreted the text, he connected the contents and tried to reach an effective and meaningful conclusion.
After careful consideration, he began to believe that the revelation given by the dream was related to his past and the Church of Night.
Thinking about what happened in the past few days, Klein slowly came up with an answer:
"Dwayne Dantès will definitely be put on the investigation list because he frequently goes to Saint Samuel Church. If Leonard hasn't left Backlund yet, this will definitely attract his attention. After all, he knows that Dwayne Dantès is not simple and has a mysterious background...
"As an angel from the 'Thief' pathway, the grandfather inside Leonard is likely to discover that the gray fog is closely related to the 'Fortune Teller' pathway, and knows that the corresponding Sequence 0 is called 'The Fool'...
"In this way, they can naturally associate the previously circulated name of 'The Fool' with this, and believe that I am a member of the secret organization that worships 'The Fool'. And from this line of thought, they can also implicate the person who killed Lanevus, the 'thief' Black Emperor who also used tarot cards...
"Add to that the clues about Gehrman Sparrow that I deliberately left behind, and the fact that Leonard had already been investigating Sherlock Moriarty, and it's not impossible that he put all of this together and found the key suspect.
"And Sherlock Moriarty's disguise was not very good in the early days. If Leonard investigates further, it is not difficult to find that the great detective is very similar to his former colleague... So, he went to Tingen to dig up the grave to confirm?"
As he was thinking, Klein took a pillow and fumbled to sit up. He felt that he had found the answer to the dream just now.
He began to carefully analyze what would happen next, considering whether to give up the identity of Dwayne Dantès:
“Leonard couldn’t tell the other Nighthawks about his speculation and results because the key part couldn’t be explained, which would expose his own secrets…
"Based on my experience and understanding of him, he will use other methods to guide us, which will be more complicated and troublesome and take more time. Before that, finding him and giving him another warning should be able to dispel his idea. After all, the church did not suffer any substantial losses this time and no one died.
"Well, I paid attention to the timing of Dwayne Dantès's identity and specifically forged the trajectory of his activities in the southern continent in the past few months, staggering the dates with the decrease in the frequency of Gehrman Sparrow's appearances. This involves the Intis colony, so it is quite difficult to verify...
"That is to say, Leonard is at most at the level of Gehrman Sparrow equals Sherlock Moriarty equals Klein Moretti. At most, he thinks that I am an accomplice of 'them' and belong to the secret organization that believes in 'The Fool'...
"Hehe, in his eyes, Dwayne Dantès should be a mysterious strong man who can directly sense the existence of the grandfather in his body. He is half god and half man. This is significantly different from his other identities."
Klein quickly came up with a plan and began to think about what happened at the East Balam Veterans Club that afternoon:
“How could this arms smuggling business find me directly?
"I have just established a friendship with Senator Macht, and we haven't been through any tests yet, so I'm not that trustworthy...
“Perhaps, this itself is a test?
“The number of guns and artillery at the beginning should not be large, and they will not involve very good products. Moreover, payment must be made before delivery. If I really have any problems, they will not suffer any losses. They only need to bear the aftereffects of this small batch of weapons flowing into the area under their control.
"Well... for them, I am a rich man with a complicated background and in-depth knowledge of West Balam. First, I have money. Second, I have courage. Third, I have resources and connections. I can sell arms to the right people. Fourth, I have no background in the upper class of the kingdom and can be thrown out as a scapegoat at any time.
"They should send someone to secretly monitor... As long as this 'business' can be successfully completed, I will be a close partner of the military... This will help investigate the truth of the Backlund Great Smog Incident...
"The problem now is that I don't have any real knowledge of the resistance forces and tribes in West Balam... I don't know where Anderson has gone, and I don't have his contact information...
“Well, Danitz might have some information about West Balam… so does Ms. Hermit, and the same is true for the Mysterious Queen behind her… Let’s gather information from these channels first…”
Having made up his mind, Klein gradually calmed down and felt sleepy again. So, he slid down a little bit and got into bed.
…………
In the basement of St. Samuel's Church, Leonard, who had just returned from Tingen, caught up with the team's internal meeting.
Soest first reported the Archbishop's conclusion and the gains of several local "Nightwatch" teams:
"With the help of the Holy Temple, Saint Anthony confirmed that the intruder was Gehrman Sparrow, and concluded that this crazy criminal is still alive but not in this world.
“This is such an inconsistent statement, I don’t understand what it means, and His Eminence the Archbishop has not explained it.
"In short, our focus will completely shift to the investigation of Gehrman Sparrow.
"According to the information provided by MI9, Gehrman Sparrow is a fake identity, originally from Backlund..."
After summarizing the clues, Soest asked casually:
"Do you have anything to add?"
Leonard opened his mouth and was about to speak, but his eyes flickered twice and he fell silent again.
Soest glanced at him and called him out:
"Leonard, didn't you find any clues?"
Leonard was silent for a second, shrugged his shoulders and said:
"That clue has been eliminated."
Soest didn't ask any more questions and turned to look at other team members.
After a round of supplementation and analysis, he began to arrange the tasks of his "Red Gloves" team.
After everything was arranged, Leonard Mitchell returned to the upper lounge with a list of people who needed to be put into dreams and cross-checked, and threw his body into the **.
After sitting in silence for a while, Leonard raised his hand to tidy up his hair, ready to take action.
However, the first dream he came to did not belong to any of the names on that list.
His target is Dwayne Dantes!
——After repeated consideration, he decided to have a face-to-face talk with this member of the secret organization, the undead Quaternary monster, to see if he could get the relevant information.
This may seem a bit reckless, but it is a good idea when both parties know that the other has problems and secrets.
…………
At 160 Böklund Street, Klein's confused mind suddenly became clear and he realized that someone had entered his dream.
He hesitated for a moment, sat down in the easy chair, turned his head and looked towards the balcony. He saw a man with black hair and green eyes wearing a white shirt and a black vest jumping in lightly. It was Leonard Mitchell.
I hadn't looked for you yet, but you came here on your own... The other Night Watchmen all knocked on the door politely, but you climbed over the balcony... Klein complained in his heart as he watched the poet classmate approach.
At this moment, in Leonard's eyes, Dwayne Dantès in his dream was still dressed in formal attire, with gray hair, sharp features, and extremely charming.
At this moment, the rich man's mouth curled up slightly with a smile, and he did not hide the fact that he remained sober and was not affected by the "nightmare" ability.
“Hasn’t Pales Zoroast ever told you what politeness is?” Klein said in a tone that matched the other person’s image.
Pales Zoroast... He is warning me again... Leonard was stunned for a moment and remembered the name.
He quickly gathered his thoughts, bowed in a not-so-standard manner and said:
"Excuse me for interrupting, you are on our investigation list.
"Did you guys do this infiltration? Is this the reason you came to Backlund?"
"No." Klein, who was portrayed as Dwayne Dantes, picked up the red wine beside him, took a sip and said, "It wasn't us. It was him alone."
He acted as if he wasn't afraid of you knowing.
"German Sparrow?" Leonard asked in a low voice.
Klein looked at the other person with his deep blue eyes that showed a hint of vicissitudes of life and said:
"Isn't this obvious?"
"What exactly does he want to do? He didn't take anything." Leonard asked.
Klein raised his hand and touched his graying temples. He laughed and said:
"what you think?"