Lord of Mysteries : The Undead Do Not Die from Kindling the Fire

The four NightHawks from Backlund, along with the three from Tingen, squeezed into the same carriage.

This inevitably made the space inside the carriage very cramped.

Even simple movements were restricted due to the lack of space.

But despite this, almost no one relaxed their vigilance towards each other.

The moment someone's movements became awkward, those nearby would immediately alert them.

Even under such circumstances, Klein couldn't help but get distracted.

"Ashen One, is he really the Ashen One I remember?"

"But how is that possible? That was just a game, and even though I've crossed into an unfamiliar world, it's a real world, not a virtual reality game!"

"How could someone from a game appear alive right in front of me?"

"So, is this really just a coincidence? But..."

"Klein!"

Dunn gave Klein a push as he suddenly stiffened and said sternly, "Focus."

"Sorry."

Klein shook his head with a wry smile and lowered it.

Unfortunately, there were too many people here; otherwise, he could return to the above-the-gray-mist to perform a divination.

A divination to determine if Ashen One was really the person he thought.

"Think positively."

Klein took a deep breath and silently reassured himself, "Maybe Emperor Roselle played this game too, and Ashen One is just cosplaying the character? Or maybe it's because his potion requires him to act as 'Ashen One'?"

"Yes, that must be it. This possibility is very likely!"

Klein, feeling enlightened, stopped daydreaming and began to concentrate on resisting the influence of "2-049."

"Klein."

Leonard joked with a smile, "Are you scared? If you are, you can start thinking about your epitaph now."

"That's not a bad idea."

Klein raised an eyebrow but didn't get angry; instead, he smiled and said, "Then it should say, 'Priest, please revive me, thanks.'"

Leonard was at a loss for words and muttered, "Priests can't revive, you idiot."

Klein wasn't annoyed; instead, he winked at Leonard.

Before long, the carriage slowly stopped in front of a building with the Tingen City Police Department emblem on the door.

This was Ray Bieber's house, their destination.

They got off the carriage one by one, not daring to relax their vigilance towards each other.

Al Harsen was the first to enter the house, carrying the box.

At the same time, the box in his hand suddenly started thrashing violently, even more fiercely than before!

It seemed like the box would be smashed to pieces.

In the next moment, Klein and Dunn were almost simultaneously affected.

Both reached out towards each other, as if to push each other away.

Unfortunately, they were both affected at the same time.

However, prepared in advance, Loretta and Ashen One each gave them a push.

"The sealed artifact '2-049' is in a berserk state. We can confirm that Ray Bieber is a descendant of the Antigonus family."

Al Harsen described it in a mechanical manner.

"Whenever '2-049' encounters a descendant of the Antigonus family, even a trace of their residual aura, it quickly goes berserk, affecting two people each time."

Ashen One calmly explained after pushing Klein.

"So, it's alive?"

Klein turned his head to look at Ashen One and couldn't help but ask.

In the past, he would have been very curious about what was inside the box.

But now, he was more curious about Ashen One's identity.

Is he really acting?

"Phew."

Al Harsen's tone relaxed a lot. "As long as Ray Bieber hasn't left Tingen, '2-049' can lead us to him."

As he spoke, they all went back down to the carriage.

After ensuring there weren't many pedestrians around, Al Harsen turned the mechanical switch on the box, unlocking the spiritual lock.

The violent thrashing stopped abruptly, and the carriage fell into a silence so profound that a pin drop could be heard.

The iron-black box slowly opened with a creak, making a sound that grated on the ears.

Bang!

Suddenly, the box tilted, and a slender brown arm stretched out, only as long as a child's fingers.

With alternating arm movements, a brown, oddly jointed puppet, wrapped in oil-stained brown cloth strips, with a face painted like a clown, appeared before them.

"This is '2-049'?"

Klein thought instinctively, "How could a puppet be this ugly?"

'2-049' raised its head, and its pitch-black, pupil-less eyes stared at Klein.

It slowly cracked a stiff smile, revealing a clown-like grin.

As its mouth opened, showing the dark, deep cavity inside, a wave of intense, inexplicable fear washed over Klein.

Until.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashen One raise his hand.

Rebound!

Bang!

The puppet suddenly fell back, as if it had hit something and bounced off.

Without a doubt.

It seemed very fond of Klein, so much so that it wanted to "eat" him, forgetting that Ashen One was right beside it.

And while trying to influence Klein, it also tried to influence Ashen One.

"Thank you..."

Klein, still a bit scared, stared at the comically slumped puppet on the floor.

Just a small thing like that almost took his life!

"It's my duty."

Ashen One shook his head.

It wasn't time to fight the boss yet; he couldn't let the NPC die to a small monster.

Otherwise, there would be no one to help him tank damage later.

"Clack clack clack~"

The puppet took a moment to recover, using its hands to push itself away from Ashen One.

It moved like a frog turned inside out, absurdly comical.

But with its eerie abilities and nightmare-inducing appearance, no one found it funny.

"Clack clack clack!"

The puppet stood up with both hands and feet, forcibly turning its limbs 180 degrees.

Its head was the last to turn, and it leapt forcefully—

Trying to jump out of the carriage and run away.

Then, it was caught by a large, leather-gloved hand.

"Follow it!"

Dunn pointed in the direction the puppet had tried to escape, giving a deep command.

Leonard, who was driving, immediately urged the horses in the direction the puppet wanted to flee.

In the carriage, Ashen One had released the puppet, and it adjusted its direction.

It tried to leap out of the carriage at an even faster speed.

But at the last moment, it was always grabbed and pulled back.

Following the puppet's attempts to escape, Leonard repeatedly adjusted the carriage's direction.

The carriage sped along, quickly entering the dock area, arriving at a cluster of warehouses.

Circling the area several times, the puppet's direction remained consistent—

It wanted to reach the gray-white warehouse at the innermost part.

"This is it!"

Al Harsen's expression became serious. He nodded at Ashen One, who was holding the puppet, assisting him in stuffing it back into the iron-black box, which started to thrash violently again.

He then struggled to fasten the mechanical switch, infusing spirituality, activating the star and red moon symbols on the iron box.

Though this couldn't completely block its influence, it would at least prevent it from escaping and harming others.

"Get off the carriage."

Witnessing them finish, Dunn's deep, resonant voice sounded, "Be cautious. Ray Bieber is likely nearby."

"And remember, don't let your gaze stray from those around you."

"No."

Al Harsen shook his head, and under Dunn's puzzled gaze, he looked at Ash, "Ashen One, how do you feel?"

"No problem."

Ashen One nodded slightly, calmly saying, "I can completely block '2-049's' influence."

"Good."

Al Harsen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Ashen One, carry the box in front. Everyone else must stay within five meters of him!"

"Hmm?"

Leonard's expression changed, and he instinctively looked at Dunn.

In his view, one person carrying "2-049" alone was suicidal!

"Do as he says."

Dunn was silent for a moment before speaking slowly.

He trusted Al Harsen's judgment and believed that the young man named Ashen One wouldn't risk his life for no reason.

Moreover.

Without the interference of "2-049," they could fight more freely.

And even if something went wrong, five meters was enough for them to intervene.

P.S.: "2-049" shows certain characteristics of being "alive."

From some details in the original story, it's clear it knows to "squeeze the softest persimmons."

So, Klein, who is only a Sequence 9 and a Seer, gets affected more often than others—

Of course, this could also be explained by survivor bias.

But there's a clear description in the original text: "Just on the way from the underground to the carriage, the sealed artifact '2-049' caused six sluggish phenomena, two of which affected him."

There were six people in total, and since one person couldn't be influenced continuously, one person could be influenced a maximum of three times.

Klein was influenced twice, and coincidentally, he was the only Sequence 9.

Besides picking the softest persimmon, I can't think of another explanation...

Well, it could also be due to "like recognizes like" among Seers.

(End of this chapter)

[email protected]/Lives954

currently on chapter 9