Plop! Plop! Plop!

Klein's heart suddenly began to beat violently. It contracted into a ball, then suddenly swelled, causing his body to tremble slightly.

For a moment, he almost forgot what he was going to do and what he should do, until the intruder suddenly paused and tilted his ears slightly, as if he heard some changes.

The "blood" returned to his brain, and Klein regained his basic ability to think. He reached under the pillow and grasped the wooden handle of the revolver.

Feeling the hard and smooth touch, his emotions quickly stabilized, and he pulled out the pistol slowly and silently, pointing it at the intruder's head.

To be honest, he had no confidence at all whether he could hit the target. Although he had been able to hit the target steadily before, a moving person and a fixed target were two completely different concepts, and he was not arrogant enough to confuse the two.

However, he vaguely remembered a sentence from his previous life, which roughly meant that the greatest power of a nuclear bomb only exists before it is launched.

At this time and in this environment, the principle is the same: the best deterrent is before the bullet is fired!

If you don't pull the trigger and fire blindly, the opponent won't be sure that you are a rookie and there is a high possibility that you won't be able to hit him. He will be worried, he will be afraid, he will think a lot, and even put constraints on himself!

In an instant, one thought after another emerged, and Klein immediately made a decision. He was not the kind of person who would become calmer the more dangerous the situation was. Instead, he had already anticipated the scenario of encountering a monitor and had planned to use intimidation rather than attack.

There is an idiom in the country of foodies: it is better to be prepared!

When Klein pointed his gun at the intruder, the thin man froze suddenly, as if he sensed something.

Then, he heard a chuckling voice:

"Good evening, sir."

The thin man clenched his hands quietly, his body seemed tense. Klein sat on the lower bunk of the bunk bed, pointed his gun at his head, and said in a casual and natural tone:

"Please raise your hands, turn around, and try to be slow. Frankly speaking, I'm a timid person who gets nervous easily. If you go too fast, I'll be scared. I can't guarantee that there won't be any accidental firing. Yes, that's it."

The thin man raised his hands halfway beside his head and turned his body little by little. The first thing that caught Klein's eyes was the neatly buttoned black tights, followed by two thick and sharp brown eyebrows.

Klein could not see any fear in his blue eyes. Instead, he felt as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast. It seemed that if he was not careful, he would be pounced on and torn to pieces by it.

He tightened his grip on the gun handle and tried his best to keep his expression calm and indifferent.

It was not until the thin man was facing him that he raised his chin, pointed to the door, and said softly and gently:

"Sir, let's go out and talk. Don't disturb other people's sweet dreams. Um, move slower and walk more lightly. This is the most basic courtesy of a gentleman..."

The thin man turned his cold eyes and glanced at Klein. He still raised his hands halfway and walked towards the door step by step.

Aiming his revolver, he turned the handle and slowly opened the door.

Just when the door was half open, he suddenly squatted down and rolled forward, and the door seemed to be pulled by a strong wind, and closed again with a clang.

"Hmm..." Benson, who was on the upper bunk, was startled by the huge noise. He was dazed and about to wake up.

At this time, a melodious and peaceful melody came from outside, and a low and soothing voice sang:

"Ah, the threat of fear, the crimson hope!

One thing at least is true: this life flies by.

One thing is true, the rest are lies,

After the flower blooms once, it will die...” (Note 1)

This poem seemed to have the power to relax and soothe people. Benson on the upper bunk and Melissa in the inner room fell asleep again in a daze.

Klein felt calm both physically and mentally, and he almost yawned.

The thin man's escape was so quick that he had no time to react.

Looking at the closed door, he smiled slightly and said to himself:

"You may not believe this, but this bullet I fired is actually a blank."

Be careful of blank bullets caused by accidental firing!

Next, Klein listened to the midnight poem and waited patiently for the battle outside to end.

In just a minute, the tranquility, like the melody of the moonlit lake, stopped and the night returned to its deepest silence.

Klein silently slid the wheel to move the empty space, waiting for the result.

He waited for ten minutes. Just as he was feeling uneasy and hesitant about whether to go out and investigate, Dunn Smith's calm and gentle voice finally came from the door:

"Solved."

Huh, Klein exhaled, picked up the revolver, took the key, and walked towards the door barefoot. He opened the door silently and saw Dunn Smith standing opposite him, wearing a knee-length black windbreaker, a half-top hat, and deep gray eyes.

He closed the door and followed Dunn to the end of the corridor, standing in the faint crimson moonlight.

"I wasted some time entering his dream." Dunn said calmly, looking at the red moon outside the window.

“Do you know his background?” Klein relaxed a lot.

Dunn nodded slightly and said:

"An ancient organization called the Secret Order. They were established in the Fourth Epoch and are related to the Solomon Empire and some of the corrupt nobles at the time. Oh, the Antigonus family's notes came from them. Due to the negligence of one of their members, they entered the antique market and were obtained by Welch. They had to send people everywhere to track them down."

Without waiting for Klein to ask, he paused and said:

"We will arrest some of their members based on the clues. Well, the results may not be very good. These guys are as good at hiding as rats in the sewer. But at least they will understand that the Antigonus family's notes may have been obtained by us, or in other words, we have grasped the key clues. In that case, unless the items are extremely critical and important, they will completely give up this action. This is their philosophy of survival."

"...What if the notes are extremely important?" Klein asked worriedly.

Dunn smiled and didn't answer, but said:

"We know very little about the Secret Order. We were able to succeed this time thanks to your cleverness. This is a credit to you. Considering the possible and hidden dangers, and the help in finding the notes after the inspiration is improved, you have a chance to choose."

"An opportunity to choose?" Klein vaguely guessed something, and his breathing subconsciously became heavier.

Dunn restrained his smile and said solemnly:

"Do you want to become an Extraordinary? You can only choose the starting Extraordinary from the incomplete sequence."

"Of course, you can also give up this opportunity and choose to accumulate merits until they are enough for you to become the 'Sleepless One', which is the beginning of the Night Guards bestowed by the Goddess herself and the beginning of the complete sequence mastered by the church."

As expected... Klein was delighted and did not hesitate for the time being. He took the initiative to ask:

"Then which 'Sequence 9' can I choose from?"

You must have detailed information to decide whether to give up or accept, and which one to choose!

Dunn turned around, wearing a scarlet veil, and looked into Klein's eyes, and said slowly:

"In addition to the Sleepless, the church also has three 'Sequence 9' potion formulas. One is called 'Secret Peeper', which is the ability mastered by Old Neil. Ha, Luo Shan should have mentioned it to you. She always can't control her mouth."

Klein smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to answer. Fortunately, Dunn didn't care and continued:

"We got the recipe for the Secret Peeper potion and the unconnected sequel from the Moss Ascetic Order. At that time, they were said to have not yet fallen. They still upheld morality and precepts, persisted in the pursuit of knowledge, and strictly kept secrets. All inductees, after becoming Secret Peepers, had to keep silent for five years and learn to be silent in order to practice and improve concentration. The Secret Peeper motto of 'Do whatever you want, but don't harm' came from them."

"The 'Secret Peer' has a comprehensive but preliminary understanding and mastery of mysterious knowledge such as magic, witchcraft, astrology, etc., and knows a lot of ritual magic, but it is easy for him to sense certain existences hidden behind things. He must be cautious and full of awe of extraordinary power."

"We lack most of this sequence, so we can't string it together into a chain. For example, its sequence 8. Of course, maybe the Temple has it."

This meets almost all my requirements... Klein nodded slightly, feeling the urge to make a choice.

Fortunately, he still remembered something else:

"What about the other two?"

"The second type is called 'Corpse Collector'. Many of the cultists who worship the god of death in the southern continent choose this type. After taking this potion, they will be mistaken for the same kind by the unintelligent undead and avoid being attacked. They can endure the erosion of cold, decay and the smell of death, can directly see some evil spirits, understand the characteristics and weaknesses of many undead creatures, and gain some physical improvements. We have its subsequent Sequence 8 and Sequence 7. Haha, you should be able to guess its Sequence 7, 'Psychic'! This was Daly's original choice." Dunn described it in detail.

"Psychic" does look mysterious and cool, but what I want most is to master the knowledge of occultism... Klein did not interrupt and listened quietly.

Dunn Smith turned his head and looked at the crimson moonlight and said:

"We only have Sequence 9 of the third type. I don't know if the 'Sanctuary' has anything else hidden. It's called 'Fortune Teller'."

A fortune teller? Klein's pupils shrank slightly, and he thought of the regret that Emperor Roselle left in his diary:

He regretted not choosing between the apprentice, the thief, and the fortune teller!

Note 1: Adapted from the English translation of The Rubaiyat by Edward Fitzgerald.