At eight o'clock in the evening, at the Church of the Harvest.
Klein, who had changed back into his normal clothes, took the opportunity of pressing the brim of his hat to casually look around before entering the hall and walking towards Emlyn White, who was standing before three rows of candles on the right.
At the vampire's feet was a black briefcase, its surface seemingly covered with a layer of "Spirituality Wall."
Upon detecting Sherlock Moriarty's entrance, Emlyn first felt joy, but then a vigilant expression immediately appeared on his face.
He bent down to pick up the briefcase and stepped back several paces, getting closer to Father Utravsky, who was intently praying.
"So he's afraid that I'll forcefully snatch the Beyonder material..." Klein stopped three meters away and said with a smile, "Let me first verify whether these are exactly the two materials I need."
Emlyn White ran a hand through his hair, lifted the briefcase to his chest, and with a snap, undid the hidden clasp.
The "Spirituality Wall" shattered with the sound, transforming into a gentle breeze that passed through the prayer hall.
Klein, who had long activated his Spiritual Sight, immediately saw strange and resplendent rays of light, the spiritual luster given off by multiple Beyonder characteristics.
Inside the briefcase were two small boxes: one made of white tin, intricately patterned, ancient and heavy, and the other a pure cardboard box.
Emlyn, holding the black briefcase with one hand, opened the silver-white but slightly dim tin box. Its contents resembled a walnut without its shell, yellow-brown in color, with protrusions and depressions like the ridges of a brain.
As the candlelight flickered, it constantly changed its form: sometimes gray-white and wrinkly, sometimes dark brown and extremely smooth, and sometimes a mix of both colors, sketching out a "face" without facial features.
The moment he saw it, Klein felt the completely digested and integrated potion power within him stir slightly, like a magnet encountering an opposite pole.
Using his "Clown" abilities, he controlled his body and suppressed this feeling of mutual attraction, understanding in his heart that this was the genuine mutated pituitary gland of a Thousand-faced Hunter.
It seems Emperor Roselle's guess in his diary is indeed possible. High-sequence items of the same pathway will intermittently and unconsciously attract mid-to-low-sequence Beyonders to their vicinity, with a tendency to aggregate with each other... Although the mutated pituitary gland of the Thousand-faced Hunter is far from being a high-sequence item and wouldn't possess that kind of strange attraction, it has accumulated enough Beyonder characteristics, and combined with the fact that I have digested the Sequence 7 potion, similar signs appeared when the two were in close enough proximity...
I never noticed this before. One reason is that the corresponding Beyonder materials were of a low grade, and the other is that my own strength was poor and my Sequence was insufficient... By the way, every time I digest a potion, an illusory starry sky seems to appear around me, filled with countless brilliant points of light that pull at each other, trying to get closer... This might be the visualization of the 'law of Beyonder characteristic aggregation' within the same pathway. Moreover, the greater the 'mass', the stronger the gravitational pull...
Then, do the Beyonder characteristics of neighboring pathways conform to this law?
Expression unchanged, Klein recalled the records in Roselle's diary and, combined with his own experience of digesting three potions, roughly confirmed the existence of a certain law.
Emlyn White glanced at him warily, quickly closed the tin box, and opened the adjacent cardboard box.
The inside of the cardboard box was padded with a dense material, and in the center lay a glass bottle capable of holding 200ml of liquid. Half of it was empty, while the rest was filled with a viscous liquid that changed its color according to the light.
"Any more questions?" Emlyn asked as he closed the box.
"Let me confirm once more." Klein took out a gold coin, letting it spin and jump between his fingers as if it possessed a life of its own.
*Clang!*
The coin bounced up and then fell, landing on Klein's palm.
This time, the human profile was facing up, indicating affirmation.
Klein nodded slightly and pulled out stacks of banknotes from different pockets of his clothes: some in denominations of 10 pounds, 5 pounds, and 1 pound.
"1450 pounds." Klein piled the cash up and placed it on the table and chairs beside him.
"Step back a few paces, no, five steps!" Emlyn shouted cautiously.
Klein smiled and raised his hands, taking five steps back.
Emlyn carefully approached and checked if there was any blank paper mixed in with the stack of cash.
After a rough count, he threw the briefcase in his hand toward the trading partner.
Klein was startled but caught the briefcase with agile movements and precise judgment.
He was afraid the glass bottle would break and the blood of the Thousand-faced Hunter would leak out.
Emlyn White, taking this opportunity, gathered up the cash and quickly retreated to Father Utravsky's side.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, seriously checking the amount and authenticity of the money.
Seeing this, Klein couldn't help but recall the previous scene, feeling a sudden pang of shame: He and Emlyn had turned the good Church of the Earth Mother Goddess into a scene resembling an arms or drug deal...
Having confirmed the condition of the two materials, Klein snapped his fingers, lighting the match he had specifically separated in his pocket, allowing the abruptly rising crimson flames to envelop him.
When the flames subsided, he had vanished.
—Because he often met Emlyn White at the Church of the Harvest, he no longer minded Father Utravsky knowing that he was the Beyonder who had helped him expel his dark personality, and even felt this could build some rapport.
Emlyn, who was counting the money, looked up to see this sight, stunned for a full two seconds.
He moved his lips and muttered to himself:
"My briefcase...
"My tin box..."