Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 40: Revelation of Nightmare

"Claire, do you smoke?"

Leonard, who looked like a poet, put the last file in its place, took out a cigarette, and politely asked Claire.

Claire waved her hand and smiled, "No, thank you."

Leonard put away all the information on hand and said to Claire, "Do you mind if I go out and take a break?"

"of course not."

After watching Leonard leave the office, Claire straightened up from the pile of papers. The window was bright, and she could see the rising sun.

Another busy all-nighter.

Ever since she obtained the "Sword of the Goddess" and gained the insomniac trait, Claire calculated carefully and found that she had never slept for more than three hours a day. There were even times when she was so busy that she didn't sleep at all.

"Could it be that the goddess is using her 'gift' to exploit my labor?" After mumbling this, Claire honestly drew a crimson crescent shape on her chest.

After a night of investigation, with Leonard's assistance, Claire identified six women who were the most suspicious.

Claire compiled the information of the six women into a book, picked it up and prepared to go to the captain's office next door to report on her work.

But before Claire knocked on the captain's office door, she saw Klein hurriedly striding towards her through the partition.

Leonard, holding a stubbed-out cigarette between his fingers, followed behind Klein.

"Claire, I need to see the captain urgently."

Klein didn't bother to say anything more. He knocked on the door and quickly pushed it open and walked in.

Seeing Klein so anxious, Claire stood at the door of the captain's office in confusion. Leonard also came to a distance and looked inside.

"What's the matter?" Dunn asked calmly, looking directly at the slightly panicked Klein.

Klein tried his best to calm his breath and spoke clearly, quickly, and a little nervously:
"I've had that feeling I've seen this somewhere before. It must be that notebook, the Antigonus family's notebook."

Leonard, who was standing by the door, was slightly surprised: "Klein actually has a clue?"

Claire also asked curiously, "Is it the ancient book from the Fourth Epoch that's been keeping you so busy?"

Leonard nodded and listened carefully to the movements in the house.

Inside the house, Dunn's expression remained unchanged, but within Claire's mind, Dunn's emotions shifted significantly: "Where is it?"

Klein quickly replied, "It's right where Leonard and I rescued the hostages yesterday, across from the kidnapper's room. I didn't notice it at the time until I had a dream and received a revelation."

Leonard was surprised and said, "It's across from the kidnapping site yesterday? Is it such a coincidence?"

Claire sighed, "The Fortuneteller's inspiration is truly well-deserved."

Dunn wasted no time and made a series of arrangements in an orderly manner. First, he asked Cohen to replace Old Neil on duty, then called in the "corpse collector" Frye, and asked everyone present to prepare to go out.

Leonard drove the carriage, and Dunn, Old Neil, Frye, Klein, and Claire all sat in the carriage, making it a little crowded.

During the break in their journey, Dunn asked Klein to describe his findings in detail again.

Klein stroked the citrine pendant and began by recounting the time he and Leonard had accepted the commission, and then the inspiration he had received last night.
"I dreamed of the Hermetic words in the notebook, 'Everyone will die, including me'. After waking up from the nightmare, my inspiration reminded me that when I rescued the kidnapped Elliot, there was a strange, invisible, and indifferent gaze behind me."

"The notes were right behind me! On the opposite side of the house!"

Old Neil chuckled as he listened, "Klein, you and that notebook seem to have some kind of fateful bond. Even you could meet like this."

As Claire listened to the narration of this suspected fellow villager, she also felt that his experience was simply a series of coincidences.

It just so happened that the rich man's butler was able to find the Blackthorn Security Company through rumors, and it just so happened that the Antigonus notes that the Nighthawks had been looking for recently were opposite the place where the rich man's son was kidnapped.

A little weird.

Claire thought silently.

The galloping carriage soon arrived at the place where Klein was inspired.

Most of the Tingen Nighthawks team surrounded them under Dunn's command.

This team of Beyonders all had clairvoyance. Dunn and Leonard could see the darkness and filth.

Frye, Klein, and Old Neil can see magical auras, spirits, etc.

Claire also quietly opened her Eye of Prying. She could see a blurry barrier in the house in front of her that blocked her view.

Is it... a spiritual wall?
Dunn gave a look.

Leonard, in tacit understanding, stepped forward and punched the door open.

The barrier shattered in an instant.

A strong stench rushed towards him from the gap, and Dunn rushed in first.

Claire was placed a little further back.

As soon as she entered, she saw a corpse that had developed gigantic features.

The highly decomposed corpse swelled up.

It belongs to an old woman.

In the spiritual vision, the corrupt bacteria that were growing wildly in the old woman's body looked like small spots of light swimming inside the corpse.

There are maggots wriggling.

As she approached, the old woman's swollen eyeballs rolled to the floor with two "pops", leaving two yellow-brown marks.

It happened to roll down at Klein's feet.

Klein, standing next to him, vomited as he bent over to the other side with a "wow" sound.

Claire, who was not far away, was also stimulated by this and covered her mouth, almost unable to suppress the nausea that was churning in her stomach.

At this moment, Frye, with an expression as cold as a corpse, opened a small tin box and placed it in front of Klein's nose.

Claire could even smell a minty, fresh scent.

The nausea was mostly eliminated at once.

Klein thanked him.

There was an imperceptible warmth in Frye's cold eyes. "You'll get used to it."

They were all cold-hearted people. Claire recovered and followed the others, carefully searching for clues.

Klein seemed to have been here before, groping his way through the place bit by bit under the guidance of his spirit. He looked somewhat distressed, as if he was hearing some auditory hallucinations. Claire was very familiar with that state.

"It's a little familiar." Klein reported to Dunn.

Dunn nodded and asked Leonard to go downstairs to find the patrol police to assist in the questioning.

Leonard, who had been helping to organize documents all night, was still wearing his police inspector uniform. He turned around and ran downstairs after receiving the order.

The rest of the people who stayed behind made no new discoveries except confirming that this place was previously sealed by a spiritual wall.

Not long after, Leonard arrived at the scene with a patrolman from the area.

After seeing the body in the room, the patrolman's face changed. He immediately cooperated with the inspectors on the scene and went to other residents' homes with Leonard to knock on their doors to investigate the situation.

Dunn added, "Claire, you should also go and do the inquiries."

"Okay, Captain." Claire quickly followed Leonard.

Leonard and the patrol officer questioned them skillfully and carefully. Claire was learning and practicing the questioning formats for various situations that she had learned from the book.

Soon, they investigated the general circumstances of the deceased.

Katie Stefana Bieber, aged between 55 and 60, is a widow whose husband was a jeweler.

Among a bunch of basic information, the most eye-catching information is that the deceased had a son in his thirties, Riel Bieber, who lived with him.

(End of this chapter)