Within a nearly abandoned three-story building on the outskirts of the western part of the northern district.
This place originally belonged to the Backlund Medical College, but the main body of the college had already relocated to a better and more suitable location, leaving only a small number of teaching staff and students who had failed to graduate that year to "watch over" the premises.
Audrey, wearing a white coat and a mask of the same color, had her lustrous golden hair tucked into a cold-toned surgical cap.
She glanced at Fors Wall, who was dressed similarly, and felt that she had a special aura about her, as if this attire suited her more than it did Audrey herself.
Uh... it's that kind of aura that makes her look like she could pick up a scalpel and cut open a patient's stomach at any moment... Audrey said nothing, following half a step behind Fors as they entered the classroom ahead.
After receiving from Fors the intelligence passed on by Xio, she was quite startled, because Mr. "Fool" had said it was a simple task.
Considering that "simple" might only be relative to Mr. "Fool" himself, Audrey took the opportunity when she was alone and in disguise to chant the honorable name, whisper a prayer, and report the whole incident in detail.
However, to this point, she had still not received a response.
Passing through the doorway and entering the room, Audrey instinctively glanced around and found that this was not an ordinary classroom. There were actually four skeletal specimens and four glass coffins, which were filled with preservative fluid, soaking four naked corpses with pale complexions.
At the front of the classroom stood a transparent glass pillar, also filled with liquid, in which floated the corpse of a man wearing a black scholar's robe.
His clothing clung tightly to his body, giving a very heavy feel; he hadn't slumped over but floated upright in the center.
As if he had drowned alive, rather than being put in after death... Audrey, as a Spectator, made a preliminary judgment.
Additionally, she saw that scattered around the long tables in the room were several people in white coats, masks, and surgical caps. They remained silent, just like the corpses and bones around them.
Glancing at the crimson moon that had finally revealed a corner through the clouds, and the dim, gloomy night, Audrey looked back at the scene inside the classroom and couldn't help but shudder with instinctive fear.
But at the same time, she also felt excitement and thrill.
This is the life of a Beyonder... Audrey muttered silently to herself, then followed Fors to find a corner seat.
After waiting a while longer, the floating male corpse in the black scholar's robe inside the vertical glass pillar at the front of the classroom suddenly opened its eyes, its voice penetrating the barriers:
"Let's begin."
…
Eastern District, Daravi Street.
Klein, wearing a dusty gray-blue worker's uniform and a peaked cap, walked along the dim street where only a few gas lamps were still functioning.
From the apartments on both sides, some candlelight spilled out, mingling with the crimson moonlight struggling through the clouds, barely outlining the silhouettes of passersby.
Klein encountered passersby in old, tattered clothes, with numb, despairing expressions. They were homeless people being driven by the police.
They had nowhere to sleep, wandering aimlessly through the streets, occasionally catching a chance to rest for a while in an inconspicuous corner or on a park bench, but they would soon be chased away again.
In the cold, deep darkness of the night, Klein felt they were more like walking corpses than any he had seen before, and the entire Eastern District was more like an abyss than the abysses of myth and legend.
He took a sharp breath, but his throat was irritated, and he couldn't help coughing twice. He quickly gathered his thoughts and observed the apartment at the street corner out of the corner of his eye — the one with obvious blast damage that hadn't been repaired yet.
"To monitor the crime scene, the best and most inconspicuous place is the apartment directly opposite, the third, fourth floors, and the rooftop all meet the requirements..." Klein analyzed the situation using knowledge he had learned in the Nighthawks squad.
Throughout the process, he did not slow his pace to avoid arousing suspicion.
Arriving at the intersection, Klein smoothly passed by apartment number 1 and entered the building opposite the crime scene.
He was no stranger to such places; the one-bedroom he rented in the Eastern District was in a similar apartment building, and earlier in Tingen City, he, his brother Benson, and his sister Melissa had lived for a long time in an apartment of only slightly higher quality — this was both Klein's personal experience and from fragments of the original owner's memories.
Amidst his thoughts, Klein pulled down his peaked cap, lowered his head, and stepped on the creaking stairs at a moderate pace, making his way to the third floor.
Due to the unfortunate incident that evening, he no longer had his revolver, so he kept one hand in his pocket, holding several Tarot cards between his fingers.
In the third-floor corridor, without any lights and only a faint moonlight, Klein didn't rush forward. He carefully observed the layout.
Directly opposite the crime scene is the left side; the best monitoring view should be the third room from here... Klein began to move forward cautiously, step by step.
After passing two rooms, he also put his right hand into his pocket and quietly opened the tin cigarette case.
An instant later, his fingers touched the "All-Black Eye," and a deafening whisper, as if tearing apart his spirit and bursting his brain, immediately sounded in his ears.
At the same time, using this contaminated item, Klein saw strange black thin lines.
These lines floated in the void, and although there were some crossings and slight tangles, tracing them back to their source, one could still distinguish who each belonged to.
Corresponding figures reflected into Klein's brain, which was about to be boiled: men, women, and children sleeping on bunk beds, and several tenants lying on floor mattresses.