In the Jonwood District, inside the house rented by Xio and Fors.
Fors had just finalized the beginning of her new book and was in a good mood, planning to treat herself to a cigarette, when Xio pushed open the door and entered the study.
"Smoking is bad for your health," Xio said, twitching her nose.
Noticing the confusion on her face, Fors didn't argue and instead asked, "You seem to have encountered something?"
Xio ruffled her messy blonde hair and plopped down on the chair next to her: "That person contacted me again, the one who sold me the 'Sheriff' formula through someone else at Mr. A's gathering."
"He gave me a fairly simple task, with an initial reward of 30 pounds. But who knows if there's any hidden danger..."
Fors thought for a moment and said, "That person... there should be an organization behind him. But why would they want to recruit you? Aren't they afraid that your intelligence would bring disaster to the entire organization? And there's nothing much you have that they could want. Your looks are passable, but you're too short. Probably the only thing valuable is your life... Uh, what's the task?"
Xio was long used to her friend's jabs. Ignoring her previous words, she directly answered the latter question: "Investigate who has been asking about Capin recently."
"Capin? That human trafficker who deserves to be hanged, no, burned at the stake?" Though Fors wasn't a bounty hunter, gathering material was a writer's instinct, so she often had Xio share her experiences and rumors.
Xio nodded: "It's him. But he's already dead, and it seems he died quite miserably."
"How did he die? Slowly cut with a knife?" Fors asked with obvious pleasure and curiosity.
"That person didn't describe it in detail. Maybe tomorrow's newspapers will have the story," Xio said after thinking for two seconds. "He only mentioned the special scene at the location: Capin's body was covered with Tarot cards, with the 'Judgement' and 'Emperor' cards placed on his face."
"The 'Judgement' card probably means 'judging Capin and sentencing him to death.' What does the 'Emperor' card represent? The identity of that murderer, no, that hero?" The bestselling author Fors instinctively interpreted the unique arrangement at the crime scene.
Suddenly, she froze.
Tarot cards? The body covered with Tarot cards? Fors suddenly connected this to the secret organization she had just recently joined:
The Tarot Club!
"Could it be that one of our members did this? But there's no member with the code name 'Emperor'... If it is indeed so, this is the first time I've discovered traces of the Tarot Club in the real world... We are not just a secret organization that only exists above the gray fog..." Fors's thoughts churned, filled with both surprise and concern.
............
Under the guidance of a servant, Klein entered the familiar living room.
As before, there was only a single candle in the room. Its dim yellow light illuminated the surroundings like a scene from a ghost story, and with the mysterious figures in black robes and iron masks, the atmosphere became even more intense.
As soon as he stepped inside, Klein suddenly felt a strange, inexplicable sensation.
He felt that the flickering candle flame was staring at him.
He felt that the flame would suddenly explode, igniting his hair and robe.
He felt that the curtains quietly hanging behind the bay window would suddenly billow up, enveloping his body, covering his mouth and nose, and suffocating him.
What was this? Klein was stunned, extremely tense.
This wasn't exactly a danger premonition, but it was an unavoidable intuition.
Klein carefully found a seat and sat down.
Just as his butt touched the surface of the chair, he felt that it would suddenly burst open, and large wooden splinters would pierce his body.
This reminded him of several videos he had seen on Earth—a cheap pneumatic lift chair exploding, with the steel rod and fragments piercing the owner's buttocks and abdomen, the whole scene a bloody mess, too horrible to look at.
"Why do I always have these bad associations? Could it be the negative effect of spirit body damage from the previous battle?" Klein thought, looking around thoughtfully, and noticed that the chubby Pharmacist hadn't come again.
"What happened? Or has he already left Backlund?" Klein muttered silently to himself and heard the old gentleman "Wisdom Eye" announce the start of the gathering.
In the following time, Klein intermittently felt that the chandelier on the ceiling would fall at an angle and hit him, then thought that the coffee table in front of old man "Wisdom Eye" would suddenly move and trip him, and then suspected that the gathering members around him were full of malice and might suddenly attack.
This made him restless, both alert and puzzled, and he had no mind to pay attention to the various transactions, successful or failed.
"If a danger premonition is like a phone that occasionally vibrates a few times to remind you of an incoming message or call, then this inexplicable intuition is like a constantly running electric drill, 'vibrating' so that I can't relax and can't focus on other things..." Klein tried to rub his forehead, but touched the cold iron mask.
At that moment, he felt that his iron mask would suddenly dent, stick to his face, and embed into his brain.
"Is it really a hallucination caused by spirit body damage?" Klein frowned.
He had originally planned to raise a request at this gathering to purchase the brain‑altered pituitary gland and blood of a Thousand‑faced Hunter, but being in such a state, he had to cautiously give up.