"Whoosh—"
Angel, who was waiting on the side, saw Klein sitting against the headboard sway his body, exhale a breath of stale air, then open his eyes and stand up from the bed.
"He indeed died from heart disease. I saw the moment of his attack..."
This "Seer" briefly described the scenes he saw in dream divination to the other two.
"...But before his death he was patted by a woman, should be a woman's hand. Can Extraordinaries use this method to cause heart attacks, making people die in their own homes?"
Without waiting for Angel and Leonard to answer, Klein had already taken out the one penny copper coin for quick divination.
"Val Ellison's death has extraordinary factor influence."
Reciting this sentence, he tossed the coin, his gaze chasing the coin flying up and falling down, catching it with both hands with a "snap."
Opening his palm, unsurprisingly, George III's relief glittered under the dusk sunlight.
"But this doesn't match the previous five instigation cases. I remember 'Instigators' don't have the ability to make people sick and die, right?"
Leonard looked confused, looking at "George III," then turning to look at Angel beside him.
"'Instigators' indeed cannot do this. They only have verbal seduction abilities."
But if it's not an Instigator, but rather...
"Then we have to consider the possibility of multiple Extraordinaries cooperating. They have 'Instigators' search for people with fragile hearts who harbor resentment toward others, seducing them to commit crimes; other companions seek out physically weak ordinary people, using extraordinary abilities to curse them, accelerating their deaths..."
Klein sat back at the headboard, joining the two's brainstorming, offering his view.
"Not necessarily multiple perpetrators. Maybe only one Extraordinary committed the crimes..."
Due to her familiarity with the "Assassin" pathway, when Angel heard the keywords "female," "instigation," and "curse," her first thought was completely different from the other two.
"The next sequence after 'Instigator,' 'Witch,' possesses the ability to curse others, using others' blood, hair, or direct contact to impose curses on them."
"You mean the person who committed these cases is the same person? She alone killed nearly a hundred people scattered across Tingen City in less than half a month?"
Leonard drew a sharp breath, seeming to want to refute, but after pausing with his head tilted for a moment, he changed his view.
"Maybe it really is like this. This 'Witch' doesn't need to go to every crime scene to commit crimes. She only needs to find targets in crowds, slightly influence them, push their inner thoughts, or worsen their original illnesses. This way she has time to kill many people in a short period."
"But why would she do this? To hide the person she really wants to kill among these deceased? But that would make too much commotion. If she only killed a few of them, the police wouldn't notify official Extraordinaries due to discovering a large increase in deaths."
Angel thought it over but couldn't understand this killer's motive for doing this. Could it be purely enjoying slaughter?
"No, there may be other reasons." Leonard's expression became serious, brows tightly furrowed, making his usually more casual demeanor without a hat somewhat restrained. "Imagine, if Lawrence who committed suicide on the street hadn't been 'instigated,' what would his outcome be?"
"His factory went bankrupt, heavily in debt, even his house was taken by creditors. Even without being provoked into street suicide, he probably would have ended his own life with a gun someday after drinking, on impulse, and might even endanger people around him."
Angel deduced based on available intelligence.
Leonard nodded, then mentioned another victim: "What about McGehm who burned himself to death?"
Klein pondered for a moment, answering: "According to police investigation, McGehm had deep grievances with his neighbor. He had repeatedly threatened to 'use harsh methods' against the neighbor. Even if he hadn't gone to commit arson this time, a murder case would have occurred sooner or later. And even if he hadn't gotten himself killed, the law would have given him appropriate punishment."
"Next is Val Ellison who died on this bed. According to his daughter's description, Val already suffered from heart disease, and recently due to high-intensity labor was frequently experiencing chest pains. As far as I know, once heart disease shows high-frequency chest pain, death isn't far away."
This time Leonard provided the answer himself.
"You mean these victims, even without extraordinary power intervention, were already near their own death dates. This Extraordinary just artificially shortened their already short lives?"
"A more accurate description is, their originally due lives were 'stolen' by this Extraordinary."
When saying "stolen," he used emphatic tone.
"She stole these victims' lives to extend her own lifespan?"
Klein widened his eyes, lowering his voice to ask, seeming afraid his surprised voice would be heard by Tromi outside the door.
"No, stealing lives for one's own use requires high-sequence Extraordinaries. Her purpose is probably more complex, such as using stolen lives to summon certain evil gods, sacrifice to demons, or as materials for some large-scale curse. These evil existences most love fresh lives."
His tone was calm and lacking emotion, as if stating facts he had long confirmed in his heart.
But Angel's heart wasn't as calm as Leonard's.
Summoning evil gods, demon sacrifice, large-scale curses.
Behind each word could be dozens or hundreds of lives.
Needing to use nearly a hundred people's lives as materials, even if these people only had weeks or months left to live, what's summoned probably wouldn't be simple existences. Even if just to curse certain targets she couldn't easily handle, the death toll would be shocking.
Klein's expression was also very ugly. Seeing Leonard seemed not anxious at all, he hurriedly pressed: "Then how do we find her? Conducting this kind of large-scale sacrifice ritual requires specially built altars and venues, complex ritual preparations, possibly even multiple participants."
"That's your job, Seer." Leonard squeezed out a slight smile on his face. "Besides, isn't the environment around this kind of large ritual altar, altar for sacrificing lives, easy to imagine?"
"Away from downtown areas, avoiding busy streets, preferably standalone buildings, surrounded by dense death aura. Except for the ritual host, no life can approach." He was confident, continuing without waiting for Klein's answer. "Due to needing to store obtained lives, spiritual walls must seal the venue, binding these ghosts. In environments where undead gather, temperature will be much lower than nearby areas, even sunlight can hardly penetrate."
"Bring the deceased's belongings. You can easily use divination to connect them with the deceased's stolen lives, finding the ritual site. I believe you can do it."
"I'll try my best."
Klein still hesitated somewhat.
"There are no outsiders here. Let's speak frankly."
Leonard shook his head, somewhat dissatisfied with Klein's attitude.
"Even as a 'Seer,' your divination efficiency and accuracy are terrifyingly high. Look at Old Neil—he's been doing this for decades and still can't match you in divination. Moreover, when pursuing the Antigonus notes, when you were controlled by Sealed Artifact '2-049,' I learned afterward you didn't rely on the notes to remove the negative effects."
He knows?
Angel was listening to Leonard and Klein's conversation from the side. Suddenly seeing him make shocking statements, saying "no outsiders" then starting to reveal Klein's secrets, she instinctively moved closer to Klein, away from this "Midnight Poet" who seemed to have gone mad.
Klein also stiffened completely, standing by the headboard, not knowing what to say.
"And you," Leonard's gaze moved toward Angel, "your combat experience is so rich it probably can't be explained by the 'Assassin' potion's enhancement, right? I even suspect that without relying on 'Nightmare' abilities, just through close combat, even the Captain wouldn't be your match. In less than a month, Extraordinaries defeated by you can't be counted on one hand, and you're only Sequence 9!"
Sorry, I've already advanced to Sequence 8 now...
Seeing Leonard being aggressive, Angel frowned without rushing to refute.
"And I also have some secrets of my own." With a change of tone, this unrestrained poet actually began talking about his own secrets. "This world has various magical items and extraordinary powers. There will always be people who obtain them, becoming protagonists on the world stage. Such people won't be too many, but definitely not just one or two."
"You are, and so am I."
"This doesn't mean such people should be locked in Chanis Gate, brought to trial. As long as your actions don't endanger me, don't endanger the Nighthawks or even all of Tingen City, then we're still teammates, closer teammates. I hope you feel the same about me."
His gaze carried frankness and sincerity, looking at Angel and Klein in turn.
So this is your "speaking frankly"? Thinking Klein and I are like you—lucky ones possessing certain magical items or mysterious powers, having this conversation to form a private alliance?
Angel didn't rush to answer, first looking toward Klein beside her, only to find he was also looking over with a grave expression.
Seems this guy has quite a few secrets too...
But since Leonard was willing to actively reveal secrets and extend an olive branch, might as well agree first. If he really was as he said, not planning to use these powers for evil, then the three could become allies helping each other; if this guy was hiding within the Nighthawks for some malicious purpose, then having more contact with him would allow timely discovery of problems for reporting...
After weighing pros and cons, Angel actively extended her right hand: "I agree. As long as you don't endanger us or commit broadly criminal acts, we'll always be allies."
Leonard's mouth curved into a smile. He extended his right hand, not grasping but placing it on Angel's hand back, his gaze turning toward Klein who hadn't yet taken a stance.
"Provided we mutually guarantee not to pry into each other's secrets. And our special nature is best kept from higher-ups—they might not have this attitude."
After emphasizing this point, Klein also extended his right hand, placing it on top of the two's hands.
"This is exactly what I wanted to say. I'm glad we've reached consensus." Leonard smiled more broadly, withdrawing his arm.
"Let's return to the mission. You guessed right—I can use divination to find the altar's location, as long as it's within Tingen City or nearby areas."
"Speaking frankly" seemed to free Klein considerably, his speech no longer hesitant.
"I need to bring as many deceased's personal belongings as possible, need an absolutely quiet environment. This place isn't far from Daffodil Street. Let's go to my house."
"Very good. Let's do that. Move quickly—it's almost dark."
Leonard snapped his fingers, flicking his windbreaker hem behind him, first walking to the door, grasping the handle...
"...Please remove the spiritual wall."
After turning the handle several times, he turned back and said quietly.