Chapter 107: Tracking and Trap

"The temperature inside here is at least ten degrees lower than outside."

Klein tightened the windbreaker around his body and commented while shivering.

Of course, part of the reason is my earlier blood loss. I heard that after blood loss, the human body feels cold. Combined with the already lower temperature here, it makes me feel like it's winter...

Klein silently added in his mind.

He couldn't appear too weak, otherwise the captain would very likely have him go back to rest first and switch Old Neil in to handle the curse ritual.

Dunn seemed not to hear Klein's complaint. He walked slowly at the front of the team, eyes half-closed, entering a meditative state. His gaze swept ahead, and the semi-transparent phantoms floating in the corridor—with blurry forms and faces—all calmed down under his watch, then their figures faded and no longer appeared.

"This can only temporarily appease them. We need to quickly set up the ritual to completely solve the 'anomaly' in this house."

Leonard followed behind Klein, speaking in a low voice.

He held an oil lamp taken from the carriage, its weak light illuminating the path ahead for Klein.

The two "Sleepless" in the team could find their way and distinguish objects with just the weak moonlight. This lamp was purely prepared for the "Seer" Klein.

The three passed through the corridor beside the living room, approaching the center surrounded by cold and phantoms—this house's dining room.

Dunn didn't pause at all, directly pushing open the door and walking in. Klein glanced at the other end of the corridor before following inside.

That side was the living room where Angel was standing guard alone. To allow Klein to explore by lamplight and use candles to set up rituals, the three had left her there.

Moreover, Klein suspected that leaving Angel alone to guard the living room might have another meaning—if she wanted to escape, this would be the best opportunity.

"Magic Pocket Watch"...

In Angel's earlier explanation, Klein had finally learned the name and effects of this mystical item.

So this was the reason she had shown "photophobia" symptoms last week, lingering downstairs at the company, refusing to enter?

Recalling the Angel he had seen on Zoutland Street last Tuesday, and her equally panicked unease when seeing lamplight just now, Klein clenched his fists and looked toward the altar in the center of the dining room.

It was a round dining table filled with dolls, with a space cleared in the center. Although the bone-chilling cold had mostly dissipated, one could still feel it all originated from this central position of the round table.

Three extinguished candles were placed at the edge of the round table, forming an equilateral triangle.

Countless phantoms floated in the dining room's air. Seeing people enter, they silently adjusted direction and drifted toward the three.

Dunn, walking at the front, focused his gaze. The approaching phantoms all suspended in midair, as if they had lost their target or had fallen asleep, no longer pursuing the living.

"Terrible curse ritual. Fortunately we've already destroyed it... quickly, appease them."

Leonard frowned as he surveyed the dining room full of floating phantoms, urging action.

Klein nodded, walked past the phantoms below, came to the round table, and swept the dolls to the floor. His sharp eyes noticed that these roughly made dolls all had names pasted on them along with corresponding birthdays, spirit numbers, and other information.

"Joyce Meyer?"

A familiar name caught his eye. Klein couldn't focus on the ritual and picked up the doll with Joyce's name.

"Who is he?"

Dunn's low voice sounded in his ear, seemingly carrying some sleep-inducing power.

"One of the survivors of the Clover tragedy. Klein divined for him."

Before Klein could answer, Leonard had already explained. He took the doll and studied it carefully.

Klein took out the candles he carried, replacing those three that had obviously been sacrificed to evil gods. He took out essential oils, sandalwood, and other materials, setting up the altar.

After quickly using the ritual knife to create a spiritual wall surrounding the three, he lit the candles, prayed to the Goddess of Night, and completely appeased the phantoms around the house.

They should be the victims of this curse ritual—those people whose remaining lives were "stolen."

Unfortunately, the subsequent spirit channeling didn't yield useful clues. These souls had been completely destroyed by the curse ritual, leaving only some incomplete fragments.

Even the altar itself couldn't be divined for sufficient information.

"After the ritual was destroyed, the phantoms could hardly provide information through spirit channeling. The altar also had anti-divination measures. Those two are definitely experienced."

Hearing Klein's words, Dunn looked around unwillingly. The appeased phantoms had all faded away, leaving only those handmade dolls in the empty dining room.

"The names and information on the dolls are indeed related to the 'Clover tragedy.' I saw several familiar names. Based on their quantity, very likely all survivors in Tingen City have their names on them."

Leonard held the "Joyce" doll, rummaging through the pile of dolls on the ground to find several more he recognized.

"I suspect they were preparing to use the lives of dying people as sacrifices, using the curse altar to curse-kill the Clover survivors. There are many of them, located throughout Tingen City, their movements don't intersect, and they even have official Beyonder surveillance protection. If they acted directly, they probably couldn't kill many before being discovered by us."

He spoke confidently, seeming very familiar with these rituals.

Dunn also nodded, approving Leonard's analysis: "Choosing patients, choosing those with dark hearts easily incited—killing dozens of people in this scattered way using disease and accidents would easily be considered 'normal deaths' by police, and the supernatural factors behind it wouldn't be discovered in a short time. By the time police found something wrong in statistical data and reported to us, tracking here, they would have completed the ritual and departed gracefully."

"But what about Tris? The Clover tragedy was his doing, but the ones conducting the ritual were two other females..."

Klein thought of the young male with a round face on the wanted poster, unable to connect him with the two Beyonders encountered today.

"Maybe he has other tasks, like continuing to search for dying people, then having accomplices kill them to create premature deaths... Let's go upstairs. Their living quarters might have left clues. We can try tracking Tris through spirit channeling or divination."

Leonard put down the doll in his hand, his gaze looking toward the ceiling.

Moments later, the three came to the house's second floor.

Compared to the tightly closed windows and heavily covered curtains on the first floor, the second floor seemed somewhat more normal.

Both bedrooms were arranged like rooms where living people resided. In one room, bedding was casually draped over a corner of the bed, various women's clothing was messily placed around, and a large suitcase was open in the room's corner, as if the bedroom's owner had thrown it there without time to pack.

The dressing table had various opened cosmetics, and the makeup mirror above was shattered. Palm-sized fragments scattered on the table and floor showed signs of being hit by hard objects—clearly deliberately destroyed.

The three all shook their heads. The opponent's first target was mirrors, obviously to counter subsequent divination. The gains from expending spiritual energy for spirit channeling wouldn't be great.

The adjacent bedroom had much more refined furnishings than this side. The quilt was folded like blocks, and dresses were neatly hung in the wardrobe.

It seems these two bedrooms were where the two Beyonders lived. Just don't know which room the "Pleasure Witch" lived in, and which the "Witch" lived in...

Secretly guessing, Klein found that the full-length mirror embedded in the wardrobe door was intact.

Could it be that this room's Beyonder didn't have time to destroy the mirror and hastily left? Maybe she interrupted the ritual and couldn't attend to this side...

He was secretly pleased. After coming all this way, he had finally encountered useful clues.

In mysticism, mirrors are gateways to the unknown, to the spirit world. As long as they're still intact, divination and spirit channeling will definitely yield something!

He rubbed his cold, stiff hands and stepped forward.

But immediately, the throbbing from his spiritual intuition stopped him: the mirror ahead was dangerous!

"Wait, don't use it for divination. This mirror is a trap!"

Leonard's panicked voice also came from behind.