Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 171 Heading to the Land of Hope
"Who killed Klein?"

Without hesitation, Angel asked the first question.

Of course, he also killed me, but I am alive now, so does he kill me?
Such a strange question came to her mind, and she fell into a circular argument, and was immediately brought back to reality by Arianna's soft and quiet answer.

"His name is Ince Zangwill. You should have seen him on the wanted poster within the church."

Ince Zangwill...

Angel recalled it in her mind, and with the hint of this name, she quickly found the wanted poster deep in her memory.

"Ince Zangwill, 40 years old, was a 'gatekeeper' who failed to be promoted to a higher sequence. He was seduced by the devil and turned evil. He absconded with the sealed artifact '0-08' three years ago."

He has short dark blond hair, dark blue pupils, a high bridge of nose, and most importantly, he is blind in one eye.

Comparing it with the expressionless face she saw before her death, she confirmed that the man was the defector wanted by the church.

"But why did he want to kill us? Is it to let the evil god come and make the conspiracy planned by the "Aurora Society" come true?"

She asked eagerly, and Arianna smiled slightly but did not answer immediately.

The surrounding lights suddenly dimmed, and the surrounding stone walls and the wooden table in front of him disappeared from Angel's field of vision, leaving only Arianna, who was simply dressed.

Immediately, the latter opened his mouth to answer.

“Our communication with it is limited to this point. Once you step out of this room, the more detailed you understand it, the easier it is to be felt by it and written into the story it weaves.”

"it?"

Angel asked in confusion, suddenly recalling the description on the wanted poster in his mind.

"You mean the stolen sealed item, '0-08'?"

In the internal church information that she had access to, this sealed object only had this number and no other description.The only thing we can know from the number is that this is a "Level 0 Sealed Artifact", which is very dangerous and cannot be inquired about, told to outsiders, described, or spied on. It can only be sealed in the "Temple", which is the night where she is. Underground of the church headquarters.

"Yes, it is an ordinary quill. Once it is written on paper, any story will become a reality. Zangwill used this sealed artifact stolen by him to plan what happened in Tingen City. Everything, let the coincidence gradually piece together the story he needs."

"coincide……"

Angel felt like she was struck by lightning. At this moment, she thought of the countless "coincidences" she had encountered, of Mr. Azik's reminder to her, and of the "red chimney" that Klein divined.

Could it be that all the efforts he made to join the Nighthawks, get to know his colleagues, integrate into this new world, and all the emotions he interacted with were all "stories" controlled by Zangwill and "0-08" behind the scenes. ?
I am like a ridiculous hamster, struggling to crawl through a transparent pipe. What I think is free choice is actually a set path?
At this moment, she shuddered and felt that her hands and feet had become stiff, like a puppet being held by strings.

"You don't need to worry too much. As far as I know, the target of everything planned by Zangwill and '0-08' is not you, but Dunn Smith."

As if he could see the thoughts surging in Angel's heart, the abbot of the Night Monastery showed a comforting expression on his plain face, and reached out to hold her right hand on the table.

Only then did she realize that her hands were trembling.

Under Arianna's cold but soothing touch, Angel calmed down slightly and began to analyze what he had just heard.

"Captain Dunn? But why him?"

she hesitated to ask.

This should involve higher-level secrets within the church. She was already prepared for the other party to refuse to answer, but to her surprise, Arianna said without hesitation:

"This involves some secret knowledge. Although you are..." she stopped mid-sentence with a smile, "...but you also need to make an oath not to leak this matter to other unknown people. A loving person.”

After swearing an oath in the name of the goddess in front of the servant of the goddess, Angel learned the truth about Dunn Smith being used by Zangwill to arrange everything with "0-08".

"Ince Zangwill managed to survive after failing in the Sequence 4 'Undead' on his way to be promoted to Corpse Collector, but for safety reasons, the church did not continue to allow him to be promoted again, which led to him becoming resentful of the church and eventually carrying the seal. Thing '0-08' defected from the church."

"When stepping from middle sequence to high sequence, that is, when advancing from sequence 5 to sequence 4, certain paths can be exchanged with the corresponding sequence of another path. Unfortunately, Zangwill knows this."

"He used '0-08' to create a series of coincidences in the city of Tingen, causing Dunn Smith to face a major crisis that could lead to the destruction of the city of Tingen. The purpose was to let him take out the Chanis under St. Selena Church. The relics of the saint inside the door, the ashes of Saint Selina, are to deal with the upcoming descendants of the evil god."

"I believe that after obtaining the saint's ashes containing the extraordinary characteristics of Sequence 4, Zangwill will use it to make a potion as soon as possible and switch to Sequence 4 of the 'Sleepless One' path."

In Arianna's description, Angel gradually opened her eyes. Only then did she realize that in a series of seemingly coincidental events, there was actually a law of "path exchange" hidden. An extraordinary person pursuing high-sequence power, What allows him to accomplish all this is a level 0 sealed artifact that can turn the story into reality.

After a long time, she digested the information, took a deep breath, looked at the room that became bright again, and asked:

"Ince Zangwill should have killed me then, but why am I still here?"

Apart from the identity of the mastermind hidden behind the scenes, this is what she is most concerned about.

"Sorry, I don't know about this matter either." Arianna's smile was apologetic.

"what?"

Angel screamed in surprise. She originally thought that her life was saved by this high-sequence Beyonder - which can be seen from Crestel's attitude towards her - but she didn't expect that the other party would give such a response. answer. "After the church received the telegram from Tingen City, I rushed there immediately, but it was still a step too late. The attempt of the 'True Creator' to come failed, and there were heavy casualties on the scene."

Arianna said slowly, the smile on her face faded, and there was a strange color in her eyes.

"But the strange thing is that your already fatal injuries recovered quickly, and even the dagger inserted into the heart was expelled from the body." She pointed to the bloody dagger on the table. "In order to protect you, I brought you back I came here and used some means to hide it from your teammates and the people at the funeral."

funeral?

Angel was stunned.

"So, I, I've been buried?"

"Yes, you will be buried next to Mr. Klein Moretti. This was the suggestion of your teammates. Since the family members could not arrive, the church respected their opinion."

"By the way, your pension, about 8000 pounds, will be given to your only registered dependent, Ms. Lily Granger."

Angel didn't have much affection for this "cousin" whom she had never really met, but the memories she inherited from Cole about living together made her still have feelings for Lily Granger, who was studying in Backlund. There is a hint of concern.

8000 pounds... This should allow her to live comfortably.

And even Ms. Arianna didn't know the reason why she came back from the dead. Could it be because of some kind of change brought about by time travel?
Angel didn't dare to express this idea. She sighed secretly, decided not to think about this unanswerable question for the time being, and asked instead:
"Where is Ince Zangwill now?"

No matter why he came back from the dead, his ultimate goal remains the same...

Just revenge.

"This is the task I am going to give you." After leaving the heavy topic, Arianna also returned to her kind smile, "Ince Zangwill has gone to Backlund, but the Level 0 item he owns Sealed objects can make any apparent pursuit futile, so..."

------

woo-

The whistle sounded, and more than twenty steam train carriages, dragged by the front of the car like a steel giant, slowly drove into Tingen Station.

Klein carried a huge suitcase that was not commensurate with his thin body, held down his half-high silk top hat in the crowd, and squeezed into the second-class carriage.

It is not as crowded as the third-class carriage, but the conditions are far inferior to the luxurious first-class carriage. Looking around, the carriages are full of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen. They either lower their heads to read newspapers, or close their eyes to relax and stare at each other. The passengers getting off the train didn't care.

After finding his own seat, Klein was surprised to find a middle-aged woman sitting on it.

"Hello, this should be my seat."

Considering that the other party might have accidentally made a mistake, Klein decided to have a friendly exchange first.

A few seconds later, with an embarrassed look on his face, he lowered his hat to hide his expression, and left under the laughter and curious gazes of everyone, heading to another adjacent carriage.

When he got on the bus, he kept thinking about Melissa and Benson he had met in the morning, and thinking about No. 6 Daffodil Street, which was not far from home and was already deserted. He actually got the wrong carriage and made a joke.

Alas, I look like a clown now...

He even wanted to paint his face like he did in the morning, make an exaggerated grimace for the passengers looking at him, and then leave, but the last trace of shame in his heart stopped him.

……

Not paying attention to the brief noise and laughter around him, Angel hid in the corner of the carriage, wearing a hood, looking out the window at Tingen City.

If the steam train line had not passed through Tingen, she would not have wanted to return to this sad place.

When will Ince Zangwill be dealt with, I might come back here and apologize to Melissa, Benson, and Klein...

Squinting her somewhat sour eyes, she withdrew her gaze and looked at the citrine pendant wrapped around her right wrist, as well as an additional emblem of the goddess of the night tied to the pendant.

This was given to her by Lady Arianna before she left.

Also given to her were the "magic pocket watch", her own wand, the amulet given to her by Klein, as well as a new dagger and revolver.

In addition to the "bloodthirsty" damaged to stimulate the full power of the "shattering ray", I am fully armed...

Putting down her sleeves to cover her wrists, she took out her ticket and handed it to the ticket inspector who came forward.

Her destination was printed on the ticket, the capital of Mandu, the land of hope - Backlund.

　Thank you all for your support over the past two months, so this book ends here...

　　Please watch the second volume on time at 7pm.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)