Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 256 255 Provocation
"They say criminals tend to return to the scene of their crimes. Does this also happen often in the world of the occult?"

Otherwise, why is it said that a haunted house cannot be lived in if the murderer has not been caught yet?

"But, Tingen University didn't notice it? Or perhaps, they've noticed it and are just monitoring it, preparing to take action?"

Klein hurriedly dressed. He did not go directly to Tingen University. Instead, he walked through the quiet alleys late at night, preparing to go to No. 32 Red Rose Street first to find Dunn Smith and seek his help.

After all, he is not an official employee of Tingen University now, and he has not officially graduated from there. He no longer has the status of a student. In addition, he is not familiar with other people in the Tingen University Security Department. If he goes there at this time, he may touch something. Maybe he was intact when he went in, but when he came out, he would be in pieces and covered with bruises.

After going downstairs and greeting the landlady, Klein hurriedly left 47 Golden Rose Street.

His figure was hidden in the night. There were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the road. Apart from the occasional college students and migrant workers who seemed to be out buying supper, there was no one else.

On both sides of the street, the light of mineral lamps illuminated one block after another, but the darkness here was still greater than the area that the mineral lamps could illuminate.

Above the black night sky, a crimson moon hangs high, swaying gently...

As he turned a corner and passed a street intersection, Klein suddenly stopped.

His spiritual premonition gave him a strong warning. Klein looked at a street lamp not far away and saw a shadow under the lamp that did not belong to the street lamp.

He slowly raised his head and saw something flickering under a streetlight not far away...

It was a corpse, a corpse hanging in mid-air with a hemp rope around its neck.

When he saw the appearance of the corpse clearly, Clayton felt his hair stand on end and his scalp tingled!
That was the member of the secret order he met this afternoon, Nicks Miller!
That was what he dreamed of, Knicks Miller!

he died?

He died here?!
-

"My divination tells me that this body is indeed Nicks Miller's. It's not a substitute or a replica..."

"It's impossible to communicate with the spirit. Nix Miller's spirit has been affected by something higher up. However, judging by the remaining spiritual energy, Nix Miller had already become a marionette before his death..."

The bright light from the mineral lamp illuminated the scene around where Nicks Miller's body was hanging, and together with the Welch family, the large-scale ritual magic used to conceal the truth once again enveloped the area near the street lamp where the body was found.

Pettigrew handed a glass of warm water to Klein, who was sitting on the bench, looking a little dazed and unnatural. "Take a moment."

Klein reached out to take the slightly warm cup of water, rubbing the walls of the cup, absorbing the warmth, trying to calm his frantic heartbeat from the shock he had just experienced.

"Although we have already obtained what happened at that time through divination, I still want to hear what you think about this matter."

Klein took a sip of the warm water in the cup and listened to his heartbeat gradually subside. He felt free from the fear that made his scalp explode and his entire body freeze.

He quickly and clearly recounted how he had gone to Tingen University during the day to find Don Eggers, wanting to inquire about the situation at Miskatonic University. He met Nicks Miller on the road, but did not recognize him at the time. However, he dreamed of that scene at night and remembered who the other person was. He was about to go out to ask Dunn Smith for help, but ended up seeing Nicks Miller's body on the road. He told the whole story in detail.

"Do you suspect that the mastermind behind the theft of the Antigonus family's notes from the Tingen University Library is trying to silence them?"

Since Klein didn't intend to hide it, he naturally told Pettigrew about the speculation he and Tang had discussed and the "coincidence."

Pettigrew was also pondering this matter. As a wizard, he had seen many strange and bizarre things.

Hearing this, Klein nodded heavily. "If it were before, I wouldn't be sure if there was a third party involved in the theft of the Antigonus family notes."

He spoke in a low voice to Pettigrew, "But now, I'm 80% sure."

The time span between Klein's encounter with Knicks Miller and his discovery of him through dreams and spiritual warnings was less than twelve hours, not even half a day.

Although the puppetization of Nix Miller was most likely caused by the Antigonus family notebook, Nix Miller, who clearly hadn't found the notebook, was puppetized...

It's impossible that a secret society that has not made any progress for a long time can suddenly make rapid progress in a short period of time, right?

This coincidence was so strange that it could hardly be covered up by coincidence. Klein was certain that there must be something wrong.

"The autopsy results are out."

The extraordinary people on the corpse collector's path quickly completed a preliminary examination of the body of Nix Miller, who had turned into a secret puppet, his spirit completely decayed and dissipated, and was unable to communicate with spirits or perform divination.

"The deceased, a member of the Secret Order, a Sequence 5 Puppet Master of the "Fortune Teller" Path, Nix Miller... had no Beyonder characteristics, and was highly Puppetized. At least, it wasn't the kind of rapid Puppetization that other Puppet Masters of the same level could achieve... Based on the spiritual reaction that hasn't completely dissipated, the deceased was a Puppet Master who had abandoned him for at least two hours..."

The essence of the secret doll is a dead person. After the secret doll master gives up the spiritual thread, the secret doll will return to its original state. It is easy to determine such problems through autopsy by the corpse collector.

Klein looked over and found that it was not any of the "Nighthawks" he knew, nor was it any Beyonder from the Tingen University Security Department.

Instead, he was a young man with a cold expression and pale skin, wearing a black suit with an open book embroidered on the left chest, and a strange uniform with various occult symbols with complex meanings, such as wheat ears, flowers, stars, curves and planes.

"They're from Miskatonic University." Pettigrew whispered to Klein.

This is a blatant provocation. There is no way Tingen University and Miskatonic University will let things go like this.

Klein nodded, but he had no intention of going up to chat right now.

First, Klein was unsure of the other party's attitude.

Second, he was really scared.

Nicks Miller's visit to Tingen University once again did attract the attention of Tingen University's extraordinary people. The extraordinary people of Tingen University's Security Department had intended to secretly monitor him and catch all the people of the other party and the Secret Society in Tingen City. However, they did not expect that not only Nicks Miller himself disappeared under their noses, but also several Tingen University extraordinary people who were responsible for monitoring him disappeared.

Shortly after Klein discovered Nix Miller's body hanging from a streetlight, the Beyonders from Tingen University also quickly found the place, preventing any accidents from happening.

But as a key clue, Nicks Miller, who was under strict supervision of Tingen University, was actually hung under the street light for at least two hours. During this period, no passerby noticed that there was a body here. The body was just swaying and floating in the wind.

Until Klein passed by, the corpse turned around, and its dead, soulless eyes stared at Klein...

When he met her at Tingen University, was she a living person? Or a secret doll?
Did the Antigonus family's notes really pass through the hands of the Secret Order? Was it not that Nix Miller was already being manipulated by the Antigonus family notes at that time?

"The world of Cthulhu is so dangerous..."

After exhaling silently, Klein shook his head with a wry smile.

He wanted to go home even more.

In this world, death is possible at any time and anywhere.

The people surrounding the corpse exchanged a few words for a moment before the body was covered with a white sheet and loaded onto a carriage, to be taken to Tingen University for further analysis. Tingen was a city of miracles, a city ruled by "error." Even if the spirit was truly annihilated, they could still obtain the information they desired through various mystical means.

"Let's go back to No. 32. Don't stay on Golden Rose Street for the time being. The person behind this incident has obviously noticed you and may take action against you."

Pettigrew said.

Klein let out a long breath and said in a deep voice, "Okay."

-

No. 32 Red Rose Street, in a brightly lit six-story building.

As "sleepless ones", Dunn Smith, Leonard Mitchell and others are more energetic as the night goes on. Old Neil and the others went back to rest a long time ago and are not here now. Ms. Daly, a Sequence 5 gatekeeper, is currently accompanying the investigators from the University of Michigan to assist in the investigation.

After several night watchmen roughly reconstructed the scene from Pettigrew's narration and Klein's oral account, they looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The key person was inexplicably turned into a doll and hung on the side of the road. Miskatonic University also sent investigators to deal with this matter, but there is still no clue.

The whereabouts of the Antigonus family notes remain unknown, and many things seem even more confusing.

Finally, it was Leonard Mitchell, who had the temperament of a poet, who spoke first.

He pinched the monocle in his left eye socket and said to Klein, "I really don't know whether to say you're lucky or unlucky."

"According to the information shared by the Church of Tranquility and Miskatonic University, Nix Miller has reached Sequence 5 of the Diviner Path, making him a Puppet Master... A Diviner who is a Puppet Master has actually been Puppetized. Clearly, the Antigonus family's notes alone couldn't activate this."

Leonard used his knuckles to press against the bottom edge of his monocle, adjusted it, and said with a smile, "So, I think Klein's suspicion is very reasonable."

"The Antigonus family's notebook was lost at Tingen University, and Nix Miller of the Esoteric Order was marionetted. Behind these two events, there's a very likely a powerful force we're unfamiliar with."

"He, she, or it, wants a predetermined development."

Upon hearing this, Klein couldn't help but glance at his fellow Nighthawk, who had a poetic temperament but gave him a strange, incongruous feeling.

He only saw that the other person was looking at him at the same time, with an ambiguous light flashing in his slightly narrowed eyes behind his monocle.

"Could this guy have figured something out?"

Klein secretly complained, but on the surface he remained calm.

There's no way, I have to stay calm.

He didn't want to be burned at the stake in this era... Old Neil had said that there were indeed cases in Intis where Beyonders who had committed heinous crimes were tied to the stake and burned alive with the purifying fire.

Tsk tsk tsk, just thinking about that scene gave Klein phantom limb pain.

"Well, that's it..."

Dunn Smith pondered for a moment and then made his final decision:

"Klein, you'll be staying here for the time being. Neil, you'll be working with him."

This is a form of protection. After all, Klein Moretti has become a fortune teller and is also considered a member of the Night Watchers.

Pettigrew nodded, "Okay Captain."

The same is true for Klein.

"Okay, Captain."

-

"System, are you sure he's not special at all?"

'Of course not.'

Behind the mechanical voice, there was a more joyful low laugh, which Leonard did not hear.

"Tingen City is becoming more and more interesting."

"As the person closest to the Lord of Mysteries, he actually tried to manipulate the birth of another Lord of Mysteries. Let me guess, why is this..."

-

University of Tingen Medical School, underground morgue.

Nicks Miller, who had just been sent here, sat up straight from under the white cloth.

The people pushing the cart ignored Knicks Miller, who seemed to be resurrected from the dead. They sent the cart to a morgue, and saw Knicks Miller getting down from the cart.

As he walked, he pulled out his head.

The sound of tearing and breaking came from Knicks Miller's neck, and his flesh and spine were all broken into pieces under Knicks Miller's terrifying strength.

Then, the headless corpse put its head on the cart, swayed, and opened the sliding cabinet in the morgue where corpses were stored.

He fumbled around in the sliding cabinet and quickly found an item.

It was a bloody, warm, lifelike head.

"As the top faceless man, I naturally need the top disguise technology."

The head opened its eyes, and then, with a strange smile, it was placed on the headless torso.

The person pushing the cart behind him stood there quietly.

They all turned their heads, as if looking through the wall, to look at Ms. Daly, who was communicating with the University of Michigan investigators not far outside the morgue.

They all showed a very persistent smile full of expectation.

(End of this chapter)