Ding-a-ling-a-ling.
In the thin night fog, over a dozen black police carriages and hundreds of blue uniforms had sealed off the Triangle.
The small building was already empty.
Shortly after the unusual astronomical phenomenon appeared, seven staff members in the Thorn Flower died simultaneously. The cause of death was unknown, but a large number of spiders crawled out of all the bodies.
The Hall of Suffering, responsible for medical affairs, arrived with the Hall of Order police, sealing off the street on suspicion of Black Death. Everyone was taken back for physical examinations and questioning.
However, shortly after the lockdown, tightly sealed carriages entered the restricted area one after another. Representatives from the twelve major gods, regional heads of four semi-public secret societies, the local official of the Watchers—an agency directly under the royal family—the head of the Rangers, a special department of the Governor's Guard, and high-ranking officials from various mystery organizations all appeared outside the small building, gazing at it with solemn expressions.
An exceptionally bright red moonbeam still enveloped the small building. The moonlight had dimmed considerably but remained striking and undeniable.
In the perception of these individuals, the bright moonlight still carried a vast and majestic mystery, which had not completely faded even after several tens of minutes. Even more bizarrely, this power had not destroyed any obstacles but had directly penetrated deep underground to erupt at a specific point, precisely striking mythical creatures without harming any humans. Such precise control and such uncanny manipulation methods were unheard of by anyone present. There was no other possibility apart from a legendary expert, unless a true god had descended, ha. So now, I'm only concerned about this individual's purpose in concealing their identity.
“There shouldn’t be any malice, after all, they conveniently helped us clear out a group of mythical creatures that had infiltrated the city. If not for their help, it would have taken you some effort to clear them out.” Archbishop Trinlais was one of the few ordinary people present. A rank seven Soul Severer from the Church of the Black Night stood beside him, but it was the ordinary man who spoke. “I heard that two Watchers were trapped by those cold spiders down there, and suddenly someone sent a beam of light down, clearing all the cold spiders?”
“One was a Watcher, the other was the private detective Lynch Levive, an external consultant we hired to help the Watchers investigate the Crown Square Massacre.” Mr. V explained. “They are still undergoing medical examinations in the carriage. Do you need me to call them for questioning?”
“There’s no need.”
This was a middle-aged man wearing a pointed wizard hat and purple robes, Gulman, the Rhine branch president of the Arcane Research Society, a rank seven Soul Severer. Gulman shook his hat: “Since the other party clearly had no ill intent, there are only two possibilities: either they harbored hatred for the Abyss Weaver and conveniently destroyed its cold spider kin upon discovery, or they intentionally wanted to help those two people below. If we question them now, it might be fine if they don’t reveal anything, but if the young people can’t keep a secret and actually say something, do you know what we’d plan to do next?”
As soon as the man spoke, more than twenty important figures present nodded in agreement. While everyone was still pondering, a kind-faced old woman in a nun’s habit coughed for a moment, then smiled at Mr. V: “What did you say those two children’s names were again?”
Mr. V immediately stood upright with hands at his sides, his expression quite respectful. The old woman was Nightingale, a healing sister of the Church of Suffering. She was only a rank five Soul Severer, but she had personally entered multiple plague zones, saving countless lives. Even the district bishop of the Church of Suffering would meekly follow her instructions.
“Lynch Levive and Natalie Angel.”
“Good, remember to remind me when we go back.” The old woman instructed the middle-aged nun beside her, “Strengthen the records of these two people, noting that they are suspected to have a legendary expert supporting them.”
Indeed… another round of frequent nodding. Before the nuns could react, other organizations had already begun issuing similar requests, with essentially one guiding principle: downplay tonight’s celestial omen, act as if nothing happened, and as for the two individuals, who are suspected to have a legendary expert supporting them, avoid provoking them if possible.
Soon, having formed their own conclusions, the gathered important figures quickly dispersed. The unknown legendary expert might still be nearby, so it was best to avoid them.
However, the two individuals, who were now the focus of attention due to suspected support from a legendary expert, were unaware of everything that had transpired. They had boarded the police carriage taking Lynch home and were watching Lynch manipulate his soul together.
In reality, they were watching him test his new toy—his alienated soul.
Lynch tested it several times and found that as long as his consciousness remained internal, a red moon appeared in his mind, and the red fog, symbolizing the Concealment authority, orbited the red moon like a satellite in the form of a light sphere.
The phantom of the red moon was his soul. When his consciousness made contact, it felt like looking into a mirror, allowing him to perceive his soul's state more clearly.
And the moment his consciousness first focused on the authority, countless unspeakable, incomprehensible pieces of information exploded directly in the depths of his consciousness.
It startled Lynch.
But the soul's red moon immediately glowed with a crimson light. Under the moonlight, these pieces of information gently merged into his consciousness.
Lynch felt muddled, as if he understood a lot of bizarre and extraordinary knowledge, yet also as if he understood nothing. According to his neighbor Luna's explanation, this was normal; with Lynch's current soul strength, he couldn't comprehend too deeply. As his soul grew stronger, he would gradually understand the meaning of the authority on his own.
As for now, Lynch at least knew how to use it.
After completing his soul alienation, in his normal state, his physical and mental strength had noticeably improved. Previously, his malnourished, frail body probably hit its limit bench-pressing thirty kilograms, but now Lynch estimated that pushing forty to fifty kilograms was no problem, and with continued training, he could increase it further.
Not only that, but in his normal state, he could use the various abilities of his subordinate authority and some secret arts that relied on soul energy. For example, when Officer Natalie helped him escape the terror claws' encirclement during the mystery relic's memory, that was an application of this normal state. For Soul Severers, this was merely dealing with enemies; it wasn't even considered combat.
When a certain authority was activated, like Officer Natalie did last night by shattering the authority's image and merging it with herself, one would enter an activated state. While physical strength increased again, the effects of various abilities would also be significantly enhanced.
If even the soul manifestation itself shattered and merged into the body, one would enter the ultimate transcendent state, gaining all-around enhancements. But once it ended, like the officer last night, one would fall into a short period of weakness, unable to even break free from spider webs.
Lynch, however, immediately realized that under his single authority, he actually had no abilities; it was completely blank.
He only learned from Officer Natalie that both the authority’s abilities and the secret arts hidden deep within the soul had to be comprehended to be mastered.
Secret arts were similar to magic; one could learn them by reading various mystery documents and the experiences of predecessors. Abilities, however, were more troublesome. There were many specific ways to comprehend them, but it all boiled down to one sentence: comprehending through mystery contact from mystery memories.
“For ordinary people, mystery is fraught with deadly danger, but we Soul Severers can only grow stronger by constantly engaging with mystery.” The officer smiled faintly. “This is the distorted fate of a Soul Severer: living with mystery every day until one day they can no longer bear it, are completely consumed by mystery, and become a part of it. So, welcome to the world of Soul Severers, Lynch. What are your plans for the future?”
“Me? I plan to reopen my detective agency, but change it to an abnormal events office.”
“Oh? Any particular reason?”
“My current situation isn’t optimistic; I must increase my strength quickly. First, I’ve just offended the Abyss Weaver. I don’t understand its emotions, but its cultists certainly won’t be happy, so I must improve my strength to guard against their retaliation. Second, the mastermind behind the Randall family painting hasn’t shown themselves yet. Now that I’ve escaped the Flicker’s gaze and severely messed with it, this mastermind will likely make other moves. I’ve probably become a target for two evil god cultists, so I need to prepare to deal with them quickly.”
Lynch sighed; there were still some things he couldn't openly say.
The goal of immortality, like a carrot on a stick, was too tempting, and to achieve it, he had to clash with evil gods. Coupled with the need to constantly engage with mystery to acquire various abilities, he clearly needed to interact with mystery more frequently than other Soul Severers.
In his opinion, there was no better fit for him than a private detective specializing in mystery events. It offered freedom, various channels to combat mystery, allowed him to quickly expand his network in the mystery world, earned good money, and he was already familiar with the field.
The only drawback was the danger, but precisely because of the danger, he needed more contact with mystery to increase his strength.
So he made up his mind to treat this profession as the first step on his path of immortality. Well, at least he had to earn enough for living expenses first.
“Indeed, that’s your most important task right now.” Officer Natalie’s expression suddenly became a little downcast. She looked away and said softly, “The subsequent investigation is beyond the scope of our previous consultant agreement, so you don’t need to participate. Focus on your own affairs first. If you need any help, come find me at the club. I won’t bother you for now.”
Lynch was taken aback, then enlightened, revealing a half-smile: “There’s one thing I don’t want to hide from you. I promised someone I’d help him investigate a series of cases related to the Crown Square Massacre, even more deeply than your investigation, in exchange for a red moon memory to save my life. Although I don’t need it as urgently now, that person helped me when I needed it most. So, as long as they don’t show malice, I intend to complete this commission as best I can—that’s my bottom line. Besides, I’ll still need red moon memories in the future.”
Officer Natalie nodded repeatedly, the look of disappointment gone from her face.
“However, on the very first day of the investigation, I had close contact with an evil god, and it’s now linked to an important figure in city hall. The implications are certainly widespread, and the danger is extremely high. I’m just a rookie who has just undergone soul alienation and hasn’t even learned any abilities yet. I’m scared to face such a dangerous case alone, so I want to find someone to protect me and investigate together. So, are you willing to help me, Natalie?”
The officer bit her lip and looked away, her face slightly flushed as she said, “Let me make it clear: I wasn’t planning on letting an outsider help, nor did I think you were reliable. But you’re right, the danger ahead won’t be small, and letting you investigate recklessly would be very dangerous. To protect your life, I can only help, even if I’m unwilling. Why are you laughing? I’ll make you stop laughing right now.”
“Pfft, pfft, pfft, I’m really not laughing.” Lynch had already covered his mouth and was slumped in the carriage, stammering through suppressed laughter, “I’m just wondering if you can only say such sensible things when you look away.”
“Go ahead and laugh.” The officer no longer tried to hide her flushed face, ‘gently’ stepping on Lynch’s foot, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “Laugh again and I’ll step on you again. Now, tell me honestly, what should we do next?”
“First, let’s go back to those documents about confrontations and deaths. The Weaver you described today, its method of hiding secrets should be directed at people, not causing the police station to catch fire, so there should be other issues behind this. We should definitely see those documents; perhaps some secrets are hidden within them.”
“Secondly, little Martha said that when she helped a reporter deliver photos to a colleague, her ring became tainted with mystery. I immediately thought of Donnie, who died in Madam Bessie’s shop. Perhaps a breakthrough can be found through him. In any case, we can start by checking with the Investigator newspaper.”
“Third is the Valente family. The hillman we saw this afternoon, the one with tumors, is probably the hillman Jeremy mentioned who peered at the mystery relic. We still don’t know what role the Valente family plays in this, but that’s also a breakthrough point.”
“Finally, there’s city hall…”
“The Speaker of the House of Commons certainly holds a high position; it might be difficult to deal with him directly,” Officer Natalie said with some concern.
“I understand, which is why I suggest dealing with the directly involved individuals from the Railway Workers’ Union at the forefront as soon as possible. As for the Speaker, we shouldn’t touch him, or even ask him anything. It’s best not to report anything related to him to avoid him discovering that we know his secret. That way, our investigation will be easier.”
“Understood,” Officer Natalie said, watching Lynch’s analysis intently, and nodded gently.
“Then, starting tomorrow morning, we’ll launch a targeted investigation, beginning with the Investigator newspaper.”
“Alright, but tomorrow morning probably won’t work. Victor asked me to tell you that you need to come to the club tomorrow; he wants to take you somewhere to meet some people.”
“Huh? What for? I’m not interested in socializing; I don’t really want to go.”
“It’s for a formal commendation, and incidentally, to introduce you to some future quality clients.” Officer Natalie flashed a brilliant smile. “Are you going, you who only have thirteen shillings?”
“For the honor of the Watchers!” Lynch immediately shouted loyally. “Why don’t we go tonight?”
Volume One concludes. I think the problem-solving part of this version is acceptable; I wonder what everyone else thinks.
Volume Two begins. Lynch is about to embark on a path of immortality filled with deception, living a life of trickery, fraud, and swindling evil gods for money. I hope you brothers will continue to support me. Thank you everyone.
Also, please keep reading, I beg you.
Rate on N.U.
