Chapter 228: The Mastermind

Almost instinctively, Klein bent his knees and rolled sideways toward

the bathroom door.

Sou!

A small black-feathered arrow stabbed into the wash basin. The arrow

seemed to be made of bone and suffused a blue luster. It was extremely

beautiful.

If Klein had hesitated in any way, he definitely wouldn't have been able

to escape this sudden attack!

After rolling for a moment, Klein reached into his pocket and attempted

to pull out a few tarot cards.

But at that moment, he felt a gust of wind engulf him. Through the

corner of his eyes, he saw a black figure quickly closing in on him at

high speeds. It appeared in front of him in an extraordinary pose, as he

tightened his foot and kicked out from bottom to top.

Realizing that he couldn't avoid the attack, Klein quickly gave up on

his previous intentions and used his elbow to block the attack.

With a bang, he felt his entire left arm go numb, and his body was

yanked over, just like in the sport squash, that the middle class loved

to play the most, or like a soccer ball that was now popular among the

lower class.

What immense strength! Klein's heart tightened. Without being

flustered, he adjusted his body in midair and changed his posture,

barely maintaining his balance as if he was performing acrobatics.

Pa! Pa! Pa... At this moment, a tree-bark-colored blow-pipe

had just landed on the floor of the bathroom and bounced behind the

door, at a declining speed.

Just as Klein was about to stretch out his body to firmly stand and face

the follow-up attack, a scene suddenly flashed in his mind.

The speed of the enemy in black far exceeded his expectations, arriving

even faster than he had expected. He lowered his body and swung his arm,

striking him in the chest.

In the blink of an eye, Klein's body bent over, spinning half a circle

more, like a small ball that kept falling and kept being thrown around.

Pow!

He stretched out his hand and pressed it to the ground, opening his legs

like scissors while keeping his head low. It made black-clothed man's

fist miss as it tore through empty space.

The fist that was originally aimed at his chest could only hit his legs

after Klein turned his body, but his legs were opened wide.

Pushing up, his legs closed in together, allowing Klein to leap nimbly

to the side as he finally managed to stand up straight.

Pow!

Before he had the chance to observe his enemy, the black figure had

already arrived in front of him, bringing with it a strong gust of wind.

What a fast reaction! Klein quickly lifted his arms up in

front of him to block.

With a dull thud, he felt as if he had collided with a black bear.

Failing to withstand the immense force, he could only stagger backward,

his arms almost turning numb in the process.

At the same time, Klein finally recognized his attacker.

He had dark skin, a lean and hardy build with recessed eye sockets. He

was none other than the "executioner" of the Zmanger gang, Meursault,

the person who had come to see Detective Moriarty in the morning!

Pa! Pa! Pa! With a fierce glint in his eyes, Meursault closely

pursued after him as he flung both of his arms, delivering left hooks or

right punches in a barrage of attacks at Klein.

The gap between Klein's strength and that of his opponent was obvious.

He was unable to face him head on, and he had to rely on his agility and

premonitory senses to barely avoid the combo of punches.

No! I have to make full use of my advantages! With a similar

thought, Klein stopped engaging in melee combat. He lowered his body and

rolled to the side.

Crack! A chair was torn apart by Meursault's kick.

Klein supported his body with one hand as he exerted strength in his

waist and continued rolling in a bid to seek a chance to use his tarot

cards and self-made charms.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Meursault caught up quickly and kicked out his legs, one after another,

that was in no way slower than his opponent.

He was like a giant bear with the gift of agility and had zero

weaknesses. He made it so that the rolling Klein was only capable of

focusing on dodging and defending, without giving him the chance to draw

his cards or use his charms.

Kacha! Bam! Bam!

A chair was broken, the table overturned, the coat rack toppled, and

Klein had circled most of the way around, but his situation was turning

dire.

I can't go on like this! He kept dodging, rolling and

tumbling, seeking every opportunity to turn the situation around.

Suddenly, an idea came to him when he spotted the coffee table in the

living room through the corner of his eyes.

Bam! Klein defended a blow with one arm as jumped back towards

the living room while enduring the pain.

At this moment, Meursault's leg muscles bulged suddenly like they were

inflated with air.

Boom! He stepped on the ground so hard that it seemed to

shake, and he jumped up and shot at Klein like a bullet, with one of his

legs aimed at him.

Klein barely managed to hold on for a moment before being sent flying

again, crashing through the coffee table with a clang, sending the

ceramic tea set flying towards the cupboard, scattering the round

fountain pens, the contract template, and the various newspapers on the

floor.

Seeing that the detective in the black double-breasted coat was weakened

from the impact and momentarily unable to stand up or roll, a fierce

glint flashed in Meursault's eyes. He slid forward, pushing his knee out

amidst the shattering sounds of the porcelain.

Klein's eyes turned dark as he watched this scene. He was already

holding a contract template in his hands.

He had fled to the coffee table in the living room, ignoring the

warnings his premonition was giving him, solely to pick up a contract

template or newspaper!

When he saw Meursault's knee coming at him, Klein's wrist shook.

At that moment, a scene appeared in his mind once again, a scene with

Meursault's neck twisted backward.

Sou!

Klein slightly pressed his wrist, shaking out the contract template in

his hand.

Sou!

The contract was like a dart made of fine steel as it shot at

Meursault's throat. At that moment, the distance between the two of them

was less than a meter. Moreover, as Meursault closed in, the distance

between them was decreasing!

A white item was reflected in Meursault's eyes as he instinctively tried

to jump back to dodge it.

Oof!

The contract stabbed right through Meursault's throat, penetrating his

windpipe.

Blood with patches of bubbling blood gushed out as Meursault fell in

front of Klein, his knees heavily hitting the ground.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." He pulled out the bloodied contract template

and clutched his throat.

However, he was unable to stop the blood from flowing out of his wound,

and his eyes gradually became unfocused.

In the end, his body twitched a few times, and he stopped moving.

Klein took a moment to recover before he had the strength to turn around

and stand up. He had a few tarot cards between his fingers, on guard

against possible counterattacks and other enemies.

After activating his Spirit Vision and confirming that his assailant was

dead, Klein looked around and didn't see any other auras.

Only then did he relax a little. He noticed that two of the chairs were

broken, the coffee table was smashed up in several spots, and porcelain

was strewn all over the floor. The entire living room, dining room, and

foyer were in a mess.

Lowering his head, he saw that the sleeves of his suit had been damaged

and that the outer layer of the cloth had been stained with a great deal

of dust.

Suddenly, Klein said softly in a self-deprecating manner, "There's no

way to claim reimbursement for this...

"Haha. Hahaha. Hahaha."

He laughed as if he had encountered something that could amuse him for

the rest of his life. He laughed so hard that his body bent forward and

backward, to the point where only his laughter reverberated in the

entire house.

A few seconds later, Klein stopped smiling and walked to the corpse with

a heavy expression.

He wanted to make the dead speak!

Being familiar with the mediumship ritual and answering his own prayers,

Klein took of a whiff of the refreshing fragrance and used the technique

of dream divination to whisper, "The mastermind who sent Meursault on

this mission."

Soon, his eyes turned black as he entered a dream and saw a gray blur.

Suddenly, the gray and blurry world and lit figures changed, forming

numerous scenes and images before him.

In front of Meursault was a middle-aged man without a hat. His white

shirt had a complicated, layered, petal-shaped collar and cuffs, which

made him look very magnificent. Matched with a tight black vest and

skinny trousers, he looked gaudy and exaggerated.

This middle-aged man had brown hair and blue eyes, a thin face with a

stubble. He was a very good-looking gentleman.

He looked at Meursault and said in a deep voice, "No matter what you do,

make sure you find Ian Wright alive. If he's dead, bring him to me

within an hour, preferably within fifteen minutes."

"Yes, Mr. Ambassador." Meursault didn't hide his unruliness but still

kept his head lowered.

The scene shattered, and Klein frowned.

Mr. Ambassador?

This matter actually involves other countries?

*Judging by the style of the shirt, the ambassador is most likely the

ambassador of the Intis Republic to Backlund.*

Ian is only a teenage boy...

*That gentleman is able to channel spirits, or at least he has someone

around him who can do so...*

Klein thought for a moment, then constructed another sentence for the

dream divination.

"The reason for finding Ian Wright."

In the grayish blurry dream, Klein once again saw the middle-aged

gentleman from before.

He stared at Meursault and said in a low voice, "You don't need to know

why. Just heed my instructions.

"I gave you the potion and money to become the person in power behind

the Zmanger gang; not for you to raise questions, but for you to do

things!

"Yes... You only need to know that Ian Wright might be involved in an

item of great importance."

As the scene faded away, Klein once again exited the dream.

*An item of great importance... I really can't tell, Ian... What could

it be... Potion... So Meursault is actually a Beyonder. It's no wonder

that his combat skills were so powerful and terrifying. He should be a

Beyonder adept in this field...* As these thoughts crossed his

mind, Klein felt exhausted. It seemed that responding to his own request

had consumed too much of his spirituality.

If he wanted to have his mediumship standards restored to what it was

previously, he estimated that it would only happen when he was a

Sequence 7.

After ending the ritual and dispelling the wall of spirituality, Klein

looked at Meursault's corpse and carefully observed it for a long time.

Finally, he saw specks of spiritual radiance converging at the wound on

his opponent's throat, slowly congealing into a piece.

Carefully grabbing it, Klein pulled out a dark red object that looked

like jelly from Earth.

*Is this the Beyonder characteristic left behind by Meursault? I wonder

what kind of Sequence potion it is... That's easy to determine. I'll get

the answer by doing a divination above the gray fog... Theoretically

speaking, the Beyonder characteristic of Low-Sequence Beyonders will be

able to imbue a person with the corresponding powers, even without the

supplementary ingredients. However, one can easily lose control and go

insane on the spot after consuming it... Nearly all the supplementary

ingredients for low Sequence potions lack spirituality...*

Klein's thoughts ran wild before he finally forced himself to focus.

A corpse was now in front of him. It gave him a headache thinking about

what he should do next.