Preparation... Of course I don't have that... Klein smiled and pointed at the secret doll Enzo:

"That glove has yet to be sealed."

As he spoke, Enzo, whose skin was red and peeling, used his left hand, which was wearing the "Blood Flower" and "Green Flower" rings, to take off the human leather glove covering his right palm.

This is "creeping hunger".

Normally, when Klein was not using it, he tended to leave the "Creeping Hunger" on the gray fog. After all, after the glove mutated, the original seal became invalid and it had to eat a living person a day, otherwise it would feed on the wearer. But considering that Mr. Azik had already replied and might come to meet him soon, he finally decided to leave the "Creeping Hunger" in the real world unless there were special circumstances.

After all, he had already anticipated the scene of Mr. Azik's arrival and did not want the following conversation to happen:

"Didn't you say that the previous glove needed to be resealed?"

"Yes, wait a moment, I'm going to the bathroom."

or:

"Are you ready?"

"...No, wait a moment, I'm going to the bathroom."

Klein felt awkward and strange just thinking about similar scenes and lines. Even if he didn't consider the possibility of Mr. Azik discovering the secret of the gray fog, this would cause his image in the other person's mind to decline in an unpredictable direction.

Therefore, after obtaining the new doll and completing the attempt to "see himself", Klein brought the "Creeping Hunger" back to the real world and made up for the previous meal.

The difference from the past is that the wearer has been changed from him to the secret doll Enzo.

In addition to this, in order to curb the daily cannibalistic impulse of the "Creeping Hunger", Klein carried a few ordinary mushrooms with him and kept the secret doll less than 5 meters away from him at all times.

Hearing his words and seeing the puppet's movements, Azik nodded and reached out to take the human-skin glove.

Klein took the opportunity to take out a few mushrooms from his pocket and threw them into a trash can not far away.

Bang!

He snapped his fingers, causing the mushrooms to burn on their own, emitting a red glow, but without affecting other things around them.

This is the "magician's" ability to manipulate fire.

After doing all this, seeing Mr. Azik's eyes inevitably looking over, Klein laughed dryly and said:

"The previous incident made 'Creeping Hunger' a little afraid of mushrooms. I used this weakness to curb its usual impulses."

In fact, this has little significance for practical use, because carrying mushrooms with you to suppress the "creeping hunger" will cause the seal that endures the hunger to immediately counterattack after the mushrooms disappear. Unless there is other "food" that can be easily obtained in front of it, it will only become a helper of the enemy.

"Mushrooms..." Azik muttered to himself while holding a glove that was beginning to be stained with blood. The surroundings suddenly became dark, and even the sunlight outside the window was refused to enter.

Pale, dark green, and complex symbols, logos, and patterns appeared out of thin air, as if they were written by invisible resentful souls, shadows, spirits, and other creatures.

They intertwined and combined in mid-air, evolving into a mysterious, illusory double-door bronze door, which seemed to connect to another world, a deep, silent, and terrifying world.

The illusory door shrank smaller and smaller, and finally fell on the "Creeping Hunger", causing the blood color on its surface to quickly fade away, and paleness became the main color.

After a few seconds, the human leather glove returned to normal, still a thin layer, but even without the suppression of the mushrooms, it did not show any mania or impulsiveness.

“Same as before.” Azik handed “Creeping Hunger” to Klein.

It feels good to have a big boss backing you up! Klein sighed, thanked him sincerely, and put the Creeping Hunger on his left palm.

He thought about it and took the initiative to mention:

"Mr. Azik, when I was carrying the copper whistle you gave me through the raging sea, I had the same dream again and again.

“The main part of the dream was a dark and cold mausoleum that was upside down and deep underground. There were countless coffins placed inside, and inside the coffins lay dead people, with dense white feathers growing on their backs.

“The feathers were stained with light yellow oil, and deep in the mausoleum there was a black mist that enveloped everything.

"In the dream, you and I were exploring this mausoleum. I don't know what we disturbed, causing the black mist to make a wheezing sound and extend into illusory black tubes.

"Every time I dream about this, I wake up in shock. This seems to be somewhat similar to the byproduct of the Spirit Cult's artificial death plan that appeared before."

Klein turned what he had divined with the copper whistle into his dream and told it in detail to remind Mr. Azik not to be careless. After all, "dream divination" is equivalent to a dream in a sense, and Azik knew that he was a Beyonder of the "Fortune Teller" path, so it was not surprising for him to have similar experiences.

There is only one difference between the revelations obtained from normal dreams and those obtained from "dream divination": passive and active.

Azik listened quietly without interrupting Klein's description. At the end, he nodded and said:

“This should be related to what the god of death left behind in the violent sea.

"It seems that the Spiritual Cult's plan to create an artificial Grim Reaper has made some substantial progress."

Mr. Azik is worthy of being the "Archon of Death" of the Fourth Epoch. He did not look down on my dream at all... Klein raised his right hand, rubbed his face, and transformed into the appearance of Gehrman Sparrow.

He then said:

"There is only one thing left to prepare, and that is to confirm that 'Admiral of Hell' Ludwell is not in a dangerous place, and there are no demigods of the Spiritual Cult around."

As for whether the murloc cufflinks were still on the other ship, Klein did not raise the question because he would confirm it every now and then. He believed that Admiral Hell Ludwell had not yet discovered the magical item, or had already discovered it but deliberately did not move, waiting for the crazy adventurer Gehrman Sparrow to "visit" him and fall into the trap.

Azik responded calmly:

“We can confirm this when we get to the nearby area.”

“Okay.” Klein immediately asked his secret doll Enzo to go to the coat rack and pull out the gold-inlaid cane.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Azik stretched out his right hand and grabbed Klein's shoulder.

Klein also stretched out his right palm and grabbed the secret doll Enzo's shoulder.

The colors of the surrounding scenery changed suddenly again: the red became redder, the black became blacker, and the blue became bluer. They overlapped with each other, yet were distinct and incompatible.

The two of them and the puppet immediately began to travel through the spirit world, while the black gold-inlaid cane flew in the "front", pointing out the location and direction of Klein's lost fish-man cuff.

Not long after, the cane stopped and hung in the "air", and Azik also stopped traveling, but did not leave the spirit world.

He seemed to be looking at something, and also seemed to be listening to something. After two or three seconds, he said:

"No problem."

After saying this, he took Klein, and Klein took his secret doll, and "walked" out of the spirit world.

At the same time, Klein recalled his previous experience of searching for clues to Mr. Azik's memory with him. The target at that time was the ancient book in the hands of Lieutenant General of Disease Tracy.

At that time, Azik also said "it's not a big problem", but the opponent had the "ageless witch" Katarina...

There’s nothing wrong… Well, if you say there’s nothing wrong, then there’s nothing wrong… Klein complained as he looked around.

This was an environment he was quite familiar with: a huge ship with a gloomy green hue in the darkness, a pale mainsail with a black tulip painted on it, and undead creatures such as zombies, skeletons, resentful spirits, and shadows that were either operating the sails, patrolling back and forth, or practicing artillery fire. All of these proved that this was the "Black Tulip", the flagship of the "Admiral of Hell".

The difference from what Klein saw last time was that there were many living Beyonders on the Black Tulip this time.

The captain, "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell, who was wearing a thin rapier on his waist, a lace shirt, a gorgeous coat, a white skull-shaped tricorn hat, and a silver-white mask on his face, was standing at the entrance of the cabin and looking over here.

Suddenly, the square black ring on Ludwell's right hand vibrated slightly, and a light flashed.

The pale flame in the eyes of this proud pirate general flickered noticeably and finally shrank to the extreme.

Then, Ludwell bent his back, and in front of the crew's dull, surprised, or lifeless gazes, he faced Azik Eggers, prostrated himself on the ground, and kissed the deck.

ps: I was out and about all day today, so the number of words is a bit short, I will update it first and revise it later.