In the exhibition hall containing Roselle's diary, two members of the Mechanical Heart team suddenly heard a soft click.
They both turned their heads to look at the sealed artifact on the glass display case, which resembled a jigsaw puzzle.
Inside the scaled-down model of the museum's first floor, a gray dot kept flickering.
"There's an inanimate object in the nearest restroom," one of the members made a definite judgment.
The other member relaxed slightly, frowned, and said in a speculative tone: "A dry leaf blown in by the wind?"
"Possibly," the first member nodded. "We'll have a passing security guard check it out later to confirm. The captain told us to stay here no matter what happens, and not to leave, especially not alone."
In case of an extreme emergency, they could evacuate with Roselle's notes.
"Alright," his companion agreed without objection.
...
In the office area on the second floor of the museum, Klein, like a floating spirit, passed through walls one after another, flying directly above the restored study.
However, he did not fly too quickly, constantly sensing the spark downstairs and calculating the distance.
When the straight-line distance between the two points approached thirty meters, he raised his ethereal, translucent right hand and snapped his fingers silently.
In the restroom on the first floor, the box of matches suddenly exploded with a muffled bang.
Immediately, a red flame shot up, igniting paper towels, a potted plant, and the wooden partition door.
The raging fire did not spread immediately, but the commotion was enough to be startling.
Security personnel nearby heard the noise and immediately rushed to the location. Meanwhile, in the exhibition hall that monitored the entire first floor, the two Mechanical Heart team members simultaneously saw the flames in the "model" and instinctively wanted to head there, both to try to extinguish the fire and to capture the person creating the disturbance.
But they had barely taken two steps when they stopped, remembering the captain's orders: No matter what happens, do not leave this exhibition hall, do not leave Roselle's notes!
They exchanged glances, warily looked at the two entrances to the hall, and quietly took out their own beyonder weapons.
— As beyonders of the
...
At that moment, Max Livermore, who was patrolling the different exhibition halls on the first floor carrying a lantern, also sensed the commotion. Without a second thought, he headed towards the hall with Roselle's notes.
Ensuring the safety of the item had higher priority than capturing the intruder!
Moreover, Max believed that no matter what the other party's goal was, once they entered this floor influenced by the sealed artifact and stepped into the exhibition halls, leaving would not be easy!
If there were no helpers outside, the intruder might even be trapped and die here!
Even if they had helpers, it would take a considerable amount of time to break the effect.
"Once inside, you're prey caught in a trap!" Max Livermore ran quickly, passing through one exhibition hall after another, and finally caught sight of his two companions.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the museum, Klein, based on the layout he remembered, had passed through doors and walls and arrived directly above the restored study.
He didn't rush to take further action; instead, he first looked down.
Because the stone slabs were relatively thick, Klein couldn't vaguely confirm whether there was any aura or emotional color below, so he spread his arms, fell forward, and silently lay flat on the ground.
His illusory, transparent figure quickly blurred and merged into the floor.
...
On the ceiling of the first floor, where a huge crystal chandelier hung, a nearly formless, faint human face suddenly emerged.
This eerie face looked down at the exhibition hall, its eyes constantly moving, taking in every corner of the area.
"No beyonders, no security..." Klein muttered, and his entire figure immediately penetrated the ceiling, descending half-flying, half-dropping to Roselle's desk covered by glass.
He swept his gaze, and without hesitation, reached out both hands at the same time to grab the bookmark from the "Creative Manuscript" and the one that looked like a child's scribble.
He was doing this to prevent that any powerful beyonder could use wondrous means to retroactively view the scene here, so he needed to appear as if he didn't know which bookmark was unusual, ensuring that investigators wouldn't suspect Miss Justice, who had only touched one bookmark.
His spirit body, enhanced by Azik's copper whistle, slightly sluggishly passed through the glass cover, securely held the two bookmarks, and then wrapped them within his spiritual body.
With this step done, Klein felt greatly relieved, no longer visibly anxious or tense.
He reached out his hands again to grab other bookmarks.
Wah! Wah! Wah!
Suddenly, a loud, shrill baby's cry echoed through the exhibition hall.
It was so unreal, as if coming from very far away.
Klein's body abruptly stiffened, like water encountering ultra-low temperatures, instantly showing apparent signs of freezing.
Even in his spirit form, he seemed to be frozen!
Wah! Wah! Wah!
Accompanying the repeated baby cries were numerous black slits that surrounded Klein, like a discontinuous iron fence.
In just an instant, one of the black slits split open, revealing an eyeball covered in bloodshot veins. In the center of the eye was a deep pupil, where tiny white worms like short hairs were constantly wriggling and crawling.