Meursault's body lay there, his eyes wide open, as if still holding a fierce glare.
The wound that had cut halfway through his throat was originally only a thin line, but with the convergence of the Beyonder characteristic just now, it had stretched much wider and blurred considerably.
At the same time, the incontinence that follows death gave his lower body a foul stench.
Klein held that deep-red, jelly-like item in his hand, feeling troubled by what he should do next.
Broadly speaking, his choices were only three: one, clean up the scene, deal with the wound, and go out to call the police in the name of self-defense; two, wait until nightfall, throw the corpse into a sewer, and pretend nothing had happened; three, immediately abandon his current identity, flee to another district, and change his name again.
The problem with the first choice was that Klein was currently an unregistered resident with secrets that couldn't be exposed. Calling the police would easily lead to him being investigated. The second choice, aside from constantly worrying that the body would be discovered and the police would come knocking, also contained another danger:
After the ambassador behind Meursault confirmed that his subordinate had disappeared or died, he would definitely send people to 15 Minsk Street again. By then, Klein might be facing a Sequence 7, or even a Sequence 6, enemy — the force opposing him might be backed by a country, a powerful country.
The third choice seemed the wisest and safest, avoiding all risks, but it had its downsides. Klein's portrait would likely end up on a wanted list. Furthermore, it would be *him* as seen by Mrs. Sammer from next door, Lawyer Jurgen, and others — *him* without his disguise. Once the relevant newspapers were published, even if only within the Greater Backlund area, Klein could easily be recognized by Daly and other Nighthawks. Then the problem would become big and troublesome.
Since this involved Ince Zangwill, and the Sealed Artifact "0-08," it was highly likely that he would be hunted by powerful Beyonders of the High-level Deacon tier or above.
Of course, there was a branch to the third choice, which was to hide the corpse, throw the evidence into the sewer, and then flee. But this also carried the risk of being wanted, because if the ambassador couldn't find his man, he might very well instruct members of the Z-man Gang to report to the police, using Backlund's official forces to conduct a search. If he could track Klein's movements, the situation would effectively become the second choice.
After thinking it over, Klein quickly made a decision:
Divination...
Of course, deep down, he already had a preference, which was choosing the lesser of two evils. The first choice was relatively less risky. He could grasp the initiative to some extent and, through exposure and attracting the attention of the official forces, suppress the ambassador's subsequent actions and prevent them from being too extreme.
He took out a piece of paper, wrote down the divination statement, unfastened the spirit pendulum from inside his left sleeve cuff, and let the citrine pendant hang down naturally, almost touching the surface.
"I should call the police." "I should call the police."
...
After reciting silently, he saw the pendulum swing clockwise, with considerable amplitude and speed.
This indicated a rather strong affirmation!
After sequentially divining the other two choices and receiving negative answers, Klein no longer hesitated and began to deal with the scene.
He put on black gloves, searched Meursault's corpse, and found a sharp dagger, a small stack of cash, a pack of rolled cigarettes, a lighter, and some miscellaneous items.
Klein put everything else back, took off his gloves, directly grasped the dagger, and thrust it into the wound on Meursault's throat, destroying its original shape.
Then, he put on his gloves again and made Meursault grip the dagger.
After doing all this, Klein gathered Meursault's Beyonder characteristic, self-made charms, Tarot cards, the blood-stained contract, the paper with the divination statement, and various materials from his body and home together and put them into a paper bag.
Then, he performed the ritual of "summoning" himself, turning into a special spiritual body.
Carrying Azik's copper whistle, and making himself more sturdy and powerful, Klein picked up the paper bag, ended the summoning, and returned to Above the Gray Fog.
He temporarily stored those real-world items behind the "Fool"'s high-back chair, leaving Azik's copper whistle there. Then, feeling completely unburdened, he simulated the sensation of rapidly plummeting downwards and re-entered his own body.
The reason Klein didn't burn the blood-stained standard contract and the paper with the divination statement was that he was worried that after the alarm was raised, the matter would be handed over to a special department, and a powerful Beyonder would come to conduct a targeted divination.
And once there was the obstruction of the Gray Fog, even if the Eternal Sun descended in person, they would not get an effective answer.
This was also the reason why, after advancing to Sequence 8 and greatly increasing his spirituality, Klein did his weekly sorting and summarizing Above the Gray Fog.
He simply could not afford significant suspicion or an in-depth investigation right now!
After dispelling the spiritual wall and letting the sudden gust of wind blow away the residual smell of the ritual materials, the only items related to the supernatural and mystical domains on Klein's person and throughout the entire room were the candle burning quietly in front of him.
But this time, he had chosen an ordinary candle. After all, he was praying to himself and summoning himself; there was no need to be so particular.
And in a household, having a spare candle was very reasonable, normal, and in line with the characteristics of the era, even if the household belonged to a single man.
After extinguishing the candle and putting it back, Klein took out his gold pocket watch, flipped it open with a 'pa', glanced at it, estimated how many minutes had passed since Meursault's death, and added the minimum time it would take for the police department to send someone to investigate, inquire, and report up the chain of command.
He wanted to ensure that even if a Beyonder came to investigate later, Meursault's time of death would be more than an hour past.
In mysticism, in the field of spirit mediumship, this was an important time node. Beyond it, the information obtainable was quite limited and very fuzzy. For example, one could divine that the person who killed Meursault was "Sherlock Moriarty," but not get the specific details of the death.
As for the risk that the other party might divine whether extraordinary factors were involved, Klein was not worried at all, because the main extraordinary factor involved (the blood-stained standard contract) was Above the Gray Fog...
And his own role in premonition and combat mastery would also be obfuscated by this — the other party's divination would certainly point towards that mystical space Above the Gray Fog and would be inevitably interfered with.
"Lucky I'm a professional too... It really feels like I've become Moriarty..." Klein re-examined the scene, and after confirming there were no issues, he began to stare at the ticking hands of his pocket watch.