At that moment,
After leaving
Yet he had never once anticipated that he would encounter someone from Utopian in
And more importantly, the visitor was inviting him to return to Utopia.
For Wendel, this was an extremely terrifying nightmare. The fact that he hadn't collapsed on the spot was testament to his decent psychological fortitude.
Maintaining a semblance of composure, Wendel forced out a troubled expression and said:
"I have a great many things to attend to lately…"
The policeman named Byers immediately replied:
"The hearing is in two weeks. Here are the relevant documents."
As he spoke, he handed the papers in his hands to Wendel.
Frankly speaking, Wendel had absolutely no desire to take them, but he had no choice but to do so.
Byers then took a step back:
"This concerns a lady's future. I sincerely hope you'll appear in court to testify."
"I'll see how things go…" Wendel neither wanted to agree nor dared to refuse.
Byers said nothing more and gave a slight bow:
"I'll be waiting for you in Utopia. I hope we'll have the chance to meet again."
With that, he turned around, left the house, and stepped out onto the street.
Throughout the entire exchange, Wendel had been like a man frozen solid, transformed into a statue — standing there the whole time without blinking once.
More than ten seconds later, he seemed to finally awaken from the nightmare, his body going limp as he staggered to the side, bracing his right hand against the door.
Just moments ago, he had been so terrified — terrified that Byers would forcibly drag him back to the non-existent Utopia.
If that had happened, Wendel didn't know whether he would ever get the chance to leave again. Perhaps he would simply vanish forever.
Compared to dying suddenly, this unpredictable yet clearly disastrous ending was far more frightening.
"Quickly — I need to report this immediately! Capture that policeman from Utopia, find out the true nature of that bizarre town, and locate a proper way to resolve this once and for all!" After snapping back to his senses, Wendel forcibly rallied his spirits and prepared to notify the Section 9 personnel who had been covertly monitoring him.
At that moment, he finally realized that his handling of the situation just now had been deeply flawed. He had failed to seize the opportunity and use the prearranged hand signals to alert his colleagues in the shadows that the visiting policeman was problematic. He hadn't even tried to stall for time and wait for the watchers to discover the anomaly on their own. Nor had he deployed the skills he had once honed as an intelligence operative — casually, imperceptibly extracting which hotel in Backlund Byers was staying at, or which day and which train he had booked his ticket for.
He was so terrified that he could only instinctively resort to the response least likely to cause any complications.
With that thought, Wendel stepped out of the room and gazed in the direction Byers had departed, but he couldn't even catch a glimpse of the man's retreating figure.
The policeman from Utopia had already blended into the passing carriages and pedestrians.
Pulling his gaze back, Wendel looked down at the documents in his hand, a sudden unease rising in his heart:
"Two weeks from now — if I don't go to Utopia to testify in court, what will happen?"
The more Wendel thought about it, the more frightened he became. His calves went weak again, and he hurriedly made a hand signal, informing his concealed colleagues of his abnormal condition.
……
West District, 9 Bellotto Street.
Upon learning that a resident of Utopia had come to Backlund, Xio was both shocked and bewildered.
Based on her prior observations, Utopia should have been hidden somewhere — in a secret location, or between reality and illusion — with random entrances that allowed outsiders to come and go.
As for why outsiders needed to be allowed in and out, that should have been a requirement of the ritual.
Therefore, in Xio's understanding, Utopia's residents shouldn't have been leaving their homeland to wander about freely.
Was this also a requirement of the ritual? What were the true identities of these residents — believers of "The Fool," companions of "The World" Gehrman Sparrow? After getting a rough description of the Utopian visitor from Wendel, Xio lacked any further intelligence and had no choice but to return to Section 9 headquarters for the time being, hesitating over whether to dispatch her subordinates for a wide-scale search.
She wasn't sure whether "The World" would be willing to see such an action carried out, and she worried it might interfere with that ritual.
After pacing back and forth a few steps in her office, Xio prepared to pray to "The Fool," asking Him to relay her questions to "The World" Gehrman Sparrow.
As she walked toward her chair, Xio's gaze swept across the report lying on the desk.
It was a field report compiled by two of her subordinates. On one hand, it confirmed that the passengers who had arrived safely in Backlund were all without issue; on the other, it noted that one passenger had remained behind in Utopia.
A passenger… Xio's eyes narrowed slightly, and a guess formed in her mind based on pure intuition:
That Utopian resident had come to Backlund with a specific purpose — not simply wandering aimlessly — and that purpose very likely had something to do with a certain passenger who had previously left Utopia.
This… Xio felt a jolt of alarm and hurriedly sat down, attempting to pray.
Just at that moment, a knock sounded at her office door.
"…Come in," Xio said after a brief hesitation.
As the door opened, Xio saw Rocke, with his thick goatee, and Wendel — the firsthand witness of the Utopia incident.
"Colonel, Wendel encountered someone from Utopia. He came directly to visit — showed up right at the door!" Rocke said, his words somewhat jumbled.
This turn of events had caught him just as much by surprise.
Sure enough... Show was not only unfazed but secretly felt a wave of relief.
She looked at Wendel and said: