Chapter 327: Encounter on the Road

Inside the small theater of the Rice Circus.

As long as something felt familiar, there was no problem for a Seer to

recall it. Klein nudged his gold-rimmed glasses up on his nose, leaned

back, and murmured something almost soundlessly.

Soon after, he pretended to close his eyes to rest for more than ten

seconds. In reality, he had used the help of Cogitation to quickly fall

asleep and be reminded through his dream.

It was a rather dim room, with only one candle flickering on the coffee

table. The people sitting around it were all wearing black hooded robes

and iron masks that covered only half their faces.

Deliberately massaging his glabella, Klein opened his eyes and continued

watching the beast taming performance.

He had interpreted the revelation and knew the source of the

familiarity: the scene in the dream was of the Beyonder gathering

organized by Old Mister Eye of Wisdom.

There was also an Apothecary with a chubby face who enjoyed using

sarcasm as a warning. Although he was clearly a kind-hearted fellow, he

always gave others the feeling that he deserved a beating.

*Could it be that Apothecary? That shouldn't be the case. When did he

learn beast taming... According to the confidential records of the

Nighthawks, an Apothecary doesn't have Spirit Vision like those of the

Seer pathway who were able to distinguish emotional colors in detail.

Well, when it comes to the color of auras, they're actually quite good

at it...* Klein's thoughts slowly dispersed without affecting

his appreciation of the performance onstage.

In his Spirit Vision, the emotional colors of the black bear, the tiger,

and the curly-haired baboon were indeed unstable. If there was an

addition level of provocation to a certain degree, they might very well

rampage on the spot. This indirectly confirmed that the chubby man who

had just spoken wasn't causing trouble. He seemed to be able to read the

thoughts of the three animals and understand their impulses.

Having received the warnings, the beast trainer's face darkened with

anger, but even so, his actions were instinctively gentler. He was more

careful, and the show ended without a hitch.

After that, there was a simple but comedic skit. Only when it was over

was it the magician's turn to perform.

This magician wore a tuxedo. He wore a bow tie of the same color, as

well as a large top hat. The moment he appeared, he spat out fire from

his mouth, which immediately caused the audience to applaud and cheer.

Such a simple trick... Klein, who had excellent eyesight and

had watched quite a few magic lesson programs, understood the gist of it

with just a quick glance.

Next, the magician performed: the classic escape act, releasing flying

doves from his hat, pulling out flowers, card tricks, and so on. Klein

thought he could easily see through every one of the magician's tricks,

but he was surprised to discover that, at some point, he actually failed

to do so because his attention had been drawn to where the magician

wished it to be, causing him to ignore the key details.

*He clearly doesn't have any Beyonder powers, but his technique is still

able to fool my eyes. Hmm, the key point is grasping attention... The

Magician's second principle is fully divert a target's attention, thus

achieving the desired effect?* Klein made a guess in his mind

which he wasn't sure if it was right or wrong.

It needed him to "act" it out to receive feedback.

At this moment, the magician's performance came to an end. The audience

weren't stingy with their warm applause and cheers. The atmosphere in

the theater reached its peak that afternoon.

*Heh heh, the third principle. A Magician's performance requires the

applause of the audience for his performance?* Klein muttered to

himself in a half-joking and half-guessing manner in silence.

Shortly after three o'clock, he pulled the collar of his black

double-breasted frock coat and left the small theater. He didn't try to

come into contact with the chubby man who was suspected to be the

Apothecary and only secretly remembered his appearance---soliciting him

suddenly might result in extreme reactions.

He took a tracked public carriage back to Minsk Street.

The carriage was divided into two floors and each of them had a few

passengers. According to his usual practice, Klein chose the spot next

to the window on the first floor.

The carriage proceeded and stopped from time to time. Klein, who had

half-closed his eyes to recall the inspiration he had just had, suddenly

felt his heart palpitate. He became sober and rational---the reaction

was like someone had forcibly intruded into his dream or channeled his

spirit.

At this moment, he clearly knew that he was no longer in the real world!

As someone rich with experience, he pretended to be unconcerned. He

looked around and saw that the gentleman in a tuxedo and top hat to his

left was still flipping through a newspaper. There were two children who

were being reprimanded by a vexed woman in a light blue dress for being

disobedient troublemakers. Beside her, people were chewing on bread or

drinking tea that they had brought with them... Everything was the same

as before.

However, when Klein quietly activated his Spirit Vision, these

passengers didn't emit any of the corresponding auras or emotions!

They don't have Ether Bodies!

*They're clearly talking, eating bread, and reading newspapers, but none

of them have any signs of life!*

*Is this an illusion, or did they just suddenly die and are just moving

according to the inertia of their lives?* Klein tried to remain

calm as he looked out the window and saw carriages and pedestrians

passing by. It was still an afternoon scene.

However, they also have no aura colors... As the carriage

moved forward rather slowly, Klein became more and more serious, not

understanding what had just happened.

He lowered his head and examined himself. He saw a clear spirituality

luster which was completely different from the people around him.

At that moment, he suddenly heard an angry roar. It didn't sound like it

came from a human!

Klein looked up and saw a large black dog on the street.

Its sharp white teeth were stained with traces of blood and rust. It was

the huge Devil dog that had committed heinous crimes!

The black dog quickly swelled into a tall devil. It had bat-like wings

on its back and goat horns, filled with mysterious patterns, that grew

from its head. It looked up at the sky and said in the devil language,

"Corruption!"

Almost as soon as it opened its mouth, Klein confirmed that it was real,

because it possessed aura and emotion colors while strong spirituality

lusters were being emitted from it!

Following the howls of the huge Devil dog, a few illusory pedestrians

exploded and turned into a black mist that filled the air, blocking his

line of sight.

However, Klein could vaguely see that there were quite a few "real

people" with aura colors in midair and around him. They were using

Beyonder powers which emitted spirituality lusters.

*What's going on? Ordinary people are illusory, but the Beyonders are

real... Have the Nighthawks and Mandated Punishers found the Devil dog

and used a Sealed Artifact to create a battle environment which wouldn't

disturb reality? That Sealed Artifact is only aimed at Beyonders, and it

has no effect on normal people? Thus, I, who just happened to pass by,

was pulled in out of bad luck? Klein's mind raced as he roughly guessed

what had happened to him.*

What a ridiculous disaster... Just as he was sighing with

emotion, he suddenly heard a blood-curdling shriek, a sharp and loud

scream.

The black gas that screened his vision suddenly dispersed, and the

gigantic Devil dog fell heavily onto the ground. Its body was divided

into two halves, and all the light in the air converged on something,

making it look like a clean, pure moon shining down on the dark

environment.

The gigantic Devil dog tenaciously roared again, and its body suddenly

exploded. Using its soul and flesh as fuel, it ignited blue and red

flames that soared into the sky.

However, the flames lost all of their brightness as soon as they reached

midair, having been absorbed by that bright and resplendent moon-like

object.

It disappeared without a trace, and that huge Devil dog died so simply

and completely, not even leaving a speck of it behind.

So powerful... As Klein was sighing, he suddenly thought of

something. Would those official Beyonders discover that he---another

wild Beyonder---was sitting in the carriage, different from the other

illusory people in the surrounding area?

His heart tightened as his scalp went numb. He pulled out a paper

figurine, and with a shake, he transformed it into himself, a copy that

was without any aura or emotional colors.

As for him, with the help of the substitution spell, he hid in the paper

figurine's "shadow."

At this moment, Klein heard a light snort from across the street.

The snort was clearly filled with anger and indignation.

*Who is it? It doesn't seem like the sound an official Beyonder will

make...* Klein was puzzled, but he didn't dare to dispel his

double and peek his head out to look.

Following which, a few pairs of eyes swept across the crowd, not

stopping for even a moment.

When all this faded away, Klein saw that the void around him had cracked

and shattered like glass.

Then the feeling of reality inundated him, and he knew he was back in

the real world.

After removing the double, he sat back in his seat. The passengers in

the carriage were doing their respective deeds---reading newspapers,

chewing bread, and scolding children. It was no different from before.

But in Klein's vision, they had regained their aura and their emotional

colors.

In addition, compared to earlier, the tracked carriage had clearly moved

forward by quite a distance.

*It seems like in that special battle environment earlier, time and

space are synchronized with reality. If that battle had continued for a

long time, then the carriage would've left the area of influence,

leaving me alone there. Alone there... That would be an obvious

exposure... Fortunately, Backlund is the Capital of Capitals and the

Land of Hope. There are High-Sequence Beyonders from the three major

Churches residing here...* Klein thought with a lingering sense

of fear.

He had originally thought that even if they had locked onto their

target, it would still take the Nighthawks, Mandated Punishers, and

others several days to find the black Devil dog. Moreover, that was on

the premise that the dog hadn't left Backlund. That was something

certain, because leaving Backlund would mean stepping out of the range

of the ritual, and the advancement would fail. And to the Devil, the

negative impact of a failed ritual would cause it, who was already

struggling at the edge of bloodlust, to immediately lose control.

Who would've thought that just after one night and half a day, the

gigantic Devil dog would be discovered, executed, and cleansed!

*Terrifying! This is Backlund... This is the true power of the three

Churches! A Sequence 6 Beyonder who's just about to advance was merely

exposed and had left behind the tiniest of traces. Yet, he was quickly

found and killed so easily... This is a Devil that can sense danger

ahead of time! From the looks of it, some Sealed Artifact perfectly

hinders this trait... In the future, I must be even more

careful!* Klein felt that he had learned a great lesson.

At this moment, he remembered the strange snort he had heard earlier.

*It seemed to be the companion of that gigantic Devil dog? Its master?

He was actually not discovered. Perhaps the final explosion of the

gigantic Devil dog was secretly orchestrated by him... Of course, it's

also possible that he's a member of some secret organization that is

unsatisfied with the official Beyonders...* Klein abruptly

looked out the window on the opposite side of the carriage. All he saw

were people walking past looking ordinary. They either wore tweed coats,

half top hats, or bright long skirts. He couldn't tell if there was

anything wrong with them.