Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 252 251 Surprise?
After walking up the stairs filled with gray fog, the group of four arrived at the study on the second floor.

The crimson moonlight filled the study, creating a desolate atmosphere, just as Klein had seen before.

Klein set his eyes on the long table in the study.

The same as what he saw last time, the layout of this study where Welch, Naya and the original body had discussed the Antigonus family notes together had hardly changed. Emperor Roselle's diary and the book that was highly suspected to be the Antigonus family notes were lying safely on the desk, with no one flipping through them.

Dunn walked in front, "Neil."

Pettigrew, holding a candle, took two steps forward, while Daly retreated behind Klein, looking at him while guarding against any unexpected events.

After all, Klein Moretti was in the greatest danger here. His spirit was involved in the construction of this ritual, and his own sequence was too low. If he encountered any danger without being prepared, Klein Moretti would most likely die on the spot or lose control.

Daly tilted her head. Behind her, the shadow of a large door loomed.

Dunn took the candle from Pettigrew and without much hesitation placed it close to the hardcover notebook in the upper right corner of the desk.

Through the dark green candle, the Church of Darkness's requiem master's eyes became slightly unfocused, and through the candle flame, he seemed to see some images.

There wasn't much change around him. After confirming something, Dunn took two steps back, while Pettigrew had already stepped back after Dunn took the candle.

"The teamwork is excellent. Is this the official Beyonder team?"

Klein marveled inwardly. Of course, in this four-person configuration, he merely acted as the key and the bridge.

That’s the worst one.

After Dunn retreated until he reached Pettigrew's side and reached a safe area, he returned the candle to Pettigrew and turned to Daly, who was standing by the gate, and said, "Daly, Neil, you can start now."

"Ok."

Daly nodded and took out some black powder from her pocket. Klein was not sure what the raw materials were.

Pettigrew also took out some black powder of unknown origin from his shirt pocket.

Under Klein's incomprehensible gaze, the two of them threw the objects in their hands into the air.

The black powder was scattered all over the place, seemingly covering the entire study.

The candle in Pettigrew's hand, with its burning green and black flame, suddenly rose up and swallowed up the powdery objects in the air.

The green and black flames grew stronger.

The gray fog around them quickly receded, and outside the window, the cold crimson moonlight suddenly became real. Reality and illusion began to interact, producing incomprehensible and terrifying errors.

Klein saw that the crimson moonlight shining into the study from the window was constantly changing its angle, as if the moon outside the window had violated its own operating rules and was falling rapidly.

Pettigrew, along with Klein, Dunn, and Daly, retreated to a corner of the study.

"look carefully."

Pettigrew whispered.

Klein inexplicably felt that all of this was incredibly familiar, yet there was always a vague, impenetrable membrane enveloping this familiarity, making it impossible to penetrate.

"Next, you should feel a familiar feeling. This is your spirit, now promoted to a 'diviner,' reminding you. However, this reminder is being interfered with by a higher power. Therefore, you only feel familiar, but cannot recall the source of this familiarity by consulting your spirit."

Through Klein Moretti's spirituality and the "error" of the great being, ritual magic bypassed the limits of the influence of the Antigonus family notes and restored what had happened in this study.

"So, this is the memory of the original body before he died, I don't know, and the memory fragments have become incomplete?"

Klein listened quietly and thought.

Time went back, and when the crimson moonlight shining outside the window froze once again, Klein heard the sound of the doorknob being turned.

The door that had been opened due to their entry was now tightly closed, intact. As the doorknob turned, a figure that Klein was extremely familiar with came into view.

Klein's pupils dilated for a moment, and he almost cried out in surprise.

"That's, me?!"

That's Klein Moretti!

A Klein Moretti with stiff limbs and a dull expression, like a walking corpse!

"This result is unexpected, but reasonable."

Daly said softly.

"Keep looking down." Dunn glanced at Klein, who was clearly in shock and terror, and spoke in a low voice.

Like flowers in the mirror, the moon in the water, in the study that was illusory and not real enough, Klein Moretti, like a puppet, walked stiffly to the desk, paying no attention to the dead Klein in the corner. He directly picked up the notebook and put it inside his clothes.

He walked out with the Antigonus family notes.

"We'll follow."

Dunn said.

Several people nodded silently, no one spoke, and followed the fake and dull Klein Moretti.

They first walked through the corridor and passed the stairs, and saw Welch, whose face was covered in blood, and Naya, who had drowned. Their bodies were swaying like monsters, standing stiffly in the living room, looking at the shadow of Klein Moretti, and watching him leave the villa.

"It's a memory you've forgotten," Pettigrew said.

In other words, Klein Moretti died after Welch and Naya? Was this to take the Antigonus family's notebook?
Klein remained silent as they followed the shadow of Klein Moretti and left Welch's residence.

He heard the sound of wind blowing behind him, and Klein looked back.

It was exactly the same scene he saw when he just entered here, the bodies of Welch and Naya, hanging themselves in the living room.

They watched silently as the shadowy figure of Klein Moretti retreated, and seemed to be watching Daly, Pettigrew, Dunn, and Klein himself.

They swayed, swayed...

There were no carriages or pedestrians on the street. It was quiet and cold, without any trace of living people. Only a crimson moon hung quietly in the sky, deep and dark.

Klein saw his own shadow staggering forward. His stiff and rigid appearance made it hard not to wonder if he was a broken puppet that the puppeteer couldn't fix.

"Perhaps the original self had once become a dull puppet, manipulated by the Antigonus family notebook, and the reason no one noticed this was because everyone who saw the original self, who looked like a puppet, was also being manipulated?"

Klein suddenly had a terrifying, horrifying thought.

"This should be Sequence 5 of the Diviner's Path, the extraordinary ability of the Puppet Master."

Dunn pondered for a moment and then began to communicate with Daly.

"Antigonus was a great nobleman in the Fourth Epoch Solomon Empire, in charge of the Diviner's Path. The notes left behind by his descendants contain the secrets of the Diviner's Path. It's not surprising that they possess certain mystical powers."

A faint light flickered in Daly's eyes. As a Sequence 5 corpse collector, she could directly see spirits and protected spirits. She already had some guesses about what Klein Moretti had endured.

"Apparently, our 'diviner' was also marionetted at that time."

"Mr. McGowan and Ms. Naya's deaths, according to the autopsy results from Tingen University, were caused by powerful external mystical influences. Their spirits died much earlier than their bodies." "This is also a major characteristic of secret marionettes."

Daly couldn't help but look at Klein a little more.

"Although I don't know how you managed to survive the manipulation of the Antigonus family notebook, no matter what, it is indeed a very lucky thing."

"But Welch and Naya..." Klein said softly.

Daly sighed, "Obviously, they don't have your luck."

But in the world of extraordinary people, good luck does not necessarily mean true good luck.

The few of them followed for a while and found that Klein Moretti, who was being manipulated, was walking towards Golden Rose Street, which was Klein's residence.

"The Antigonus family's notes were dropped off and hidden along the way?"

Pettigrew speculated so.

After all, they didn't find the notebook in Klein's house.

Soon, as expected, they saw Klein Moretti take something out of his clothes and put it on a bench a few streets away from Golden Rose Street.

Klein Moretti's shadow continued to move forward, and the Antigonus family's notebook gradually faded and disappeared as he walked further away.

This is because Klein Moretti's spirit no longer knows what will happen next, and is unable to restore the truth of the matter through this ceremony led by Klein.

Everyone knows what happened next. Klein returned to his family apartment at 47 Golden Rose Street. Influenced by the Antigonus family notes, he shot himself in the study. However, due to unknown reasons, Klein Moretti did not die. Only Welch and Naya became the ghosts of the Antigonus family notes.

The scene froze. Dunn glanced at the spot where Klein had placed his notes. He turned sideways and said to Pettigrew, "Okay, the ceremony ends here."

Pettigrew nodded, took out a handful of powder from a hidden bag somewhere, and sprinkled it on the candle burning with a green and black flame.

This time the candlelight was noticeably dimmer, and the grayish-white mist gradually filled the space again.

Klein's mind was in a daze for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he saw the living room of Welch's residence, which was filled with light as pure as the sun.

"It's over, little one. Well, next you can consider asking Tingen University for compensation. After all, this is indeed a serious consequence caused by their poor supervision..."

As Daly spoke, she glanced at Klein.

Klein was about to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

"My spiritual power is completely depleted... Moretti, you need to go back first. Don't worry about anything else." Dunn supported Klein and said to Pettigrew, who was putting away the candles, "Pettigrew, take Klein back to his residence."

"Okay, Captain."

-

After that ceremony, Klein had little contact with the Antigonus family notes in the following days.

According to the arrangements made by Officer Pettigrew and Dunn Smith, his current schedule was to go to 32 Red Rose Street regularly to learn basic occult knowledge and elements of ritual magic from Old Neil, so as to digest his potions as much as possible and improve his abilities.

Monday afternoon, around three o'clock.

This afternoon was the day Klein decided to hold a mysterious gathering above the gray fog. Klein planned to inquire about information about Tingen City, Miskatonic University, Antigonus, and the Secret Order above the gray fog.

Of course, in order to maintain the mystery and greatness of "Mr. Fool", he could not ask his question directly and had to take a few detours.

Klein, who had postponed his study session with Old Neil to the evening, took four steps counterclockwise, similar to his previous attempts. With each step, he silently chanted the corresponding incantation in Chinese:

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Immortal Lord."

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianjun."

"The God of Blessing and Prosperity Xuanhuang."

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun."

After reciting the four-part Honorific Name, Klein felt his body become lighter and float upward.

He soon saw the diffuse, gray, boundless, hazy fog and the deep red "stars".

At the same time, the gray fog began to riot.

Ahhhh, this dirty thing, ahhhhhh——!
The clone of Nicholas Flamel, Sequence 1, parasitic on Klein's spirit, as if it had grown out of the other's spirit, looked at the gray fog that was more noble and distant than the seven pure lights, smiling, observing, and expecting.

"Surprise?"

Klein didn't notice at all how the gray fog was different from the last time he climbed up.

In the mysterious space above the gray fog, the young man sitting at the head of the long bronze table, wearing a black silk robe and a matching tuxedo, stood up. He looked at the three "deep red" stars that lit up beside him. Within each of those stars, he saw three clusters of countless worms.

One group is stronger, two groups are weaker.

One has a close connection with the gray fog, while the other two have a less deep connection with the gray fog.

But that's enough.

Mr. Error gave a standard smile.

He straightened his hat.

"Then let's get started."

Today's Tarot gathering.

Audrey Hall in the Queens district of Backlund, Alger Wilson, with his rough yet profound features, aboard the Tudor Empire's ghost ship, their bodies, their spirits, were already crawling with twelve-segmented insects.

At the same time, the "deep red" star shone brightly, and surged like a tide, drowning them.

The gray fog rioted, even more rioted.

Three insect nests carrying all kinds of pollution, will, madness and malice are rapidly approaching the gray fog!
I refuse! I refuse!

There are bugs!
A figure emerged from beneath the gray fog.

He was wearing a dark and gloomy cloak, and his deep eyes were looking at the mysterious space above the spiritual world.

Seeing the gray fog's riot and rejection, he slowly took out a translucent mask and put it on his face.

Blind and stupid, start.

The next moment, the gray fog's riot stopped.

Hehehe, it’s the Lord of Heaven, it can be saved——!
When the effects of deception and deception were swift, when the spirits of Klein, Audrey, and Alger reached the mysterious space above the gray fog, and the gray fog realized what had just happened and the aura of intelligence reduction was lifted...

Ahh ...
It's finished...

(End of this chapter)