20 19. Night Watchers One Hour Ago

—One Hour Ago—

The "Night Watcher's" two-wheeled carriage traveled along the quiet streets of the eastern district of Tingen City.

Because it was a combat against Beyonder beings, Dunn Smith did not let the usual carriage driver, Cesare, follow the team. Instead, he had Frye sit in the driver's seat, while he, Royale Reideen, and Seeka Tron sat quietly in the carriage, taking turns holding the sealed artifact to disperse its negative effects.

2-105, "Blood Vessel Thief," is the name of this sealed object. The "2" in the code name indicates that it is a Level 2 sealed artifact, dangerous, requiring cautious and restrained use, with a secrecy level for bishops and Night Watcher captain and above. The "Night Watchers" of Tingen City only have three of these level objects, and to confront Mrs. Sharon, this "Blood Vessel Thief" is the most suitable.

It looks like a thick, rigid blood vessel, allowing the wearer a chance to steal an ability from the target, even high-sequence powerhouses could fall victim. Used by Sequence 8 "Midnight Poet" Seeka Tron, there's a high probability of successfully stealing the invisibility ability of Sequence 7 or Sequence 6 Mrs. Sharon. Once the theft is successful, Mrs. Sharon will lose this ability for ten minutes, while the holder of the "Blood Vessel Thief" can use it as if they were well-trained, possessing strong close combat abilities and the ability to become invisible. The "Midnight Poet," with these capabilities, would become an opponent Mrs. Sharon would find difficult to handle.

Of course, with the powerful abilities of the sealed object, there inevitably comes equally dangerous negative effects. Regardless of whether gloves or other protective gear are worn, those who touch it will gradually have their life stolen. At first, it's not obvious, but if one doesn't break contact, external symptoms will appear after half an hour, and even a near demi-god of Sequence 5 can't last two hours under continuous contact.

However, with repeated testing by the church, as long as there are three or more holders, the negative effects can be greatly slowed.

Inside the carriage, they took turns holding this thick blood vessel, each person enduring for three minutes before passing it to another.

Under such rotation, even a Sequence 9 wouldn't experience fatigue that could affect combat within two hours, let alone show physical signs of aging.

Dunn took the "Blood Vessel Thief" from Royale. Even though he was wearing gloves, the hand that touched the sealed object felt numb, and there seemed to be a weak current flowing through his body, but it was not obvious. Without paying close attention, it was almost imperceptible.

He glanced out the window, where the dark road was lined with gas lamps moving continuously backward. Compared to the noisy and chaotic docks, and the lively but orderly North District, the East District of Tingen City appeared peaceful and serene. Here lived Tingen's wealthy merchants and politicians, mostly in villas with gardens, low in population density, but not at all low in status.

Passing the crossroad ahead would lead to Orsna Street…

Dunn knocked on the movable partition behind him, and Frye's deep voice came through: "Captain, what's the matter?"

"Stop at the junction, don't get too close to the target."

"Understood."

With a sigh from Frye, the horse pulling the carriage obediently halted, and the two-wheeled carriage stopped at a corner of the crossroads.

Dunn was the first to step down from the carriage, using the dim gaslight to observe Orsna Street. Royale and Seeka also came down from the carriage in turn, and Frye, seeing no one around, casually tied the horse to a nearby lamppost.

Not far from them was Mrs. Sharon's residence, a two-story small building hidden in a garden.

According to the plan, Dunn Smith should first use his "Nightmare" ability to pull Mrs. Sharon into a dream, even if she was not asleep at the time. The "Nightmare" would make the unguarded Mrs. Sharon feel sleepy and quickly fall into a dream, just like lulling a baby to sleep. If there were other servants in the residence, Dunn could also make these ordinary people fall into a deep sleep quickly, thus avoiding involving them in a fight.

Once Dunn was successful, the rest of the "Night Watchers" would quickly enter the residence, head to Mrs. Sharon's location, and decide whether to capture or kill her based on the situation at the scene.

Killing her would be best... Dunn Smith pondered to himself.

In situations where the strength was similar or even weaker than the opponent, it was unrealistic to fantasize about capturing an experienced Beyonder person alive. For a Beyonder person, being bound hand and foot was not a difficult problem to solve; they could even retaliate while unconscious. If one harbored the hope of capturing Mrs. Sharon alive, it was very likely that she would use her unknown abilities to escape or even counterattack and kill the team members present.

This was also the reason he did not want Daly to come along, even though Daly had expressed her willingness to join the fight many times, he decisively refused her, resulting in Daly's mood being somewhat low during the strategy meeting.

Dunn looked around at his team members, Frye, Royale, and Seeka all looked at him, waiting for his orders.

His team members trusted him so much, he must protect them well...

Shaking off the somewhat chaotic thoughts, he handed the "Blood Vessel Thief" he had been holding for three minutes to Frye, and whispered, "Prepare to start the operation."

The Night Watchers nodded in unison, indicating they understood.

Dunn leaned over and sat on the step next to the carriage door, clasping his hands and closing his eyes. The night around him seemed to deepen by shades.

This was him employing his Beyonder ability, "Nightmare," effective within a hundred meters. With just a little time and an uninterrupted setup, he could put the target to sleep, entering the dream designed by "Nightmare."

The other three night watch members stood by patiently waiting. According to their experience, it would take the captain about five minutes to silently pull a Beyonder person into the dream, then he would bring one of his teammates into the dream, signaling they could start their attack.

This was also the greatest limitation of the "Nightmare" ability: pulling a Beyonder person of similar strength into the dream required him to enter as well. If "Nightmare" woke up from the dream, the target would also awaken and thus receive a spiritual warning.

However, this time, in less than a minute, Dunn Smith opened his eyes to the surprise of the others and stood up.

Facing his teammates' puzzled looks, Dunn also appeared perplexed. Frowning, he explained, "There are only two maids in the residence, both ordinary people, and I've put them to sleep. But Mrs. Sharon is not at home. I asked the servants in the dream, and she hurried out half an hour ago."

"Could it be that Ms. Granger was lying, and Mrs. Sharon did not invite her over tonight?"

Royale Reideen, with black hair and blue eyes and finely arched eyebrows, immediately suspected they had been deceived by the so-called informant, Angel Granger.

"It's unlikely. In my dream, I also saw Daly using the 'Cup of Truth.' If she were lying, it's unlikely she would pass our test," Dunn dismissed this possibility.

"Then Mrs. Sharon must have had something come up? Perhaps an invitation from a dignitary or a lover's call, especially since this is the busiest weekend night in the social circle," suggested Seeka Tron, a white-haired lady adept at devising novel plots.

That did make some sense... Dunn thought, considering Mrs. Sharon's status in Tingen City, it was not unlikely she was invited to some dignitary's "event" on short notice.

So, what now?

The group's gaze focused on Captain Dunn Smith.

Dunn, with his gloved right hand massaging his temple, fell into deep thought.

…

"I just said, having come all this way, are we to return empty-handed?"

Several people helped each other, climbed over the wall, ascended to the balcony from the back of the small building, and entered Mrs. Sharon's residence from the second floor. Seeka, while pulling up Frye, the only one among the four who did not belong to the "Sleepless" pathway, whispered softly.

"Your speech sounds like a burglar breaking into a house." Royale, who followed Frye up to the second floor, replied quietly.

Knowing that Mrs. Sharon was not home and the servants were all sound asleep, the four night-watchers did not hide but moved forward as if they were in their own home. Based on information obtained from questioning the servants in their dreams, Dunn led the way to Mrs. Sharon's bedroom door.

Glancing left and right, seeing his teammates ready, he twisted the doorknob and opened the bedroom door.

The bedroom curtains were tightly closed, but the gas lamp was not turned off. Under the light, the bedroom's decor was exceptionally luxurious, completely mismatching the modest exterior of the small building. In the spacious center of the room was a large bed, with velvet quilts messily piled on one side. The dressing table by the wall was filled with various cosmetics and jewelry boxes left open, revealing jewels of different lusters. Light, frivolous garments and stockings were carelessly thrown on the rocking chair, and the partially open wardrobe in the dressing room was filled with dresses of various styles.

The air was even filled with a fragrance that made one's blood surge.

The most eye-catching thing in the room was a full-length mirror placed in the center of the carpet, smeared with some unknown dark red liquid. A burnt-out candle lay in front of the mirror, surrounded by petals unknown to Dunn.

"It looks like a magic mirror divination."

"Gravedigger," Frye's hoarse voice came through. He shared the pathway of "Spirit Medium" with Daly and had considerable knowledge of mediumship and divination.

The group immediately became tense, standing back to back, cautiously looking around.

Divination, a method both loved and dreaded by the Beyonder.

Divination by teammates could help them anticipate dangers ahead, find missing items, or even converse with the dead like mediums. However, attacks by divining enemies were hardly surprising. Diviners could foresee their ambushes or assaults in advance, or even set traps themselves, thwarting the actions of official Beyonders.

Could it be that Mrs. Sharon foresaw tonight's night watchers' actions and ran away in advance?

Running away is one thing, but what's worrisome is if she used divination to gain an intelligence advantage, only to set up an ambush in return, turning everyone into prey.

Frye pressed his forehead, entered a state of clairvoyance, and carefully checked the surroundings.

"There's no sign of spiritual luminescence; she must have run away."

Only then did everyone relax. Royale frowned and muttered to himself, "Mrs. Sharon wouldn't use the magic mirror for divination without reason. Who tipped her off?"

"It must have been this morning when the captain brought back Ms. Granger. Many civilians witnessed it. If Mrs. Sharon has her channels, it wouldn't be hard for her to know about this," Seeka analyzed.

Dunn opened his mouth, attempting to explain that he only informed the civilians that they were investigating Cole Granger's disappearance. But upon reflection, he felt that he shouldn't have gone to the Granger's house in a police uniform, using a police carriage, following his usual practice. He should have taken Angel Granger back to the Blackthorn Security Company for protection in the late night, making the trip as inconspicuous as possible.

But at that time, the "night watcher's" own carriage was out, and he also wanted to intimidate Angel Granger a bit with his police identity... No, those reasons don't hold up. Why did it seem reasonable at the time?

Anyway, this operation was a failure. Now, the only thing left to do is to gather as much evidence of Mrs. Sharon's crimes as possible, and then inform the church and the Tingen police, issuing a warrant for her arrest.

"...Then she would definitely ask the magic mirror questions like 'Did Angel Granger betray me?' and 'Where is she now?', naturally exposing us in front of her," Seeka continued, mimicking the tone of divination and gesturing in front of the mirror.

Dunn's facial expression froze.