Mystery: Emerging From Knowledge Moor

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After staying in the Executor team's office until he got off work, Leyton took two more books from Mr. Kosith, one in Elvish and the other in Jotun. Then, carrying the small iron box containing the bronze phosphorus and the two books, he took a carriage home.

When he returned home, the sky hadn't completely darkened yet, and the street lights on both sides hadn't been lit. Leyton stood at the door, his eyes sweeping across the street. This area was a neighborhood with more wealthy residents, White Maple Street. There weren't many pedestrians or vendors on the street, only carriages coming and going.

Leyton's gaze swept across the entire neighborhood, and after finding nothing that triggered his spiritual intuition, he felt a little relieved.

Although the captain didn't say much when he handed the bronze phosphorus to Leyton in the afternoon, Leyton could guess that he was mostly being used as bait to lure out the Beyonder from the Marauder pathway who had been playing pranks in the hospital. Given the prankster attributes the person had shown, now that he had targeted Leyton, he might come looking for him.

Just a piece of bronze phosphorus couldn't give Leyton a sense of security. Although this mystical item was indeed very powerful, mystical items needed to be used. Leyton didn't think he would have time to use a mystical item when facing that Beyonder who seemed to be a Sequence 5 Dream Stealer, especially since the other party was one of the most bizarre pathways.

After withdrawing his gaze from scanning the surrounding neighborhood, Leyton turned and opened the door to go home. A crow landed on the street lamp to Leyton's right. The crow's plumage was somewhat different; it wasn't pure black, but rather had some dark red feathers on its wings, legs, and head, like a non-mainstream crow among crows. The crow's strange plumage caught Leyton's attention, and as he made the action of opening the door to enter the house, he slightly turned his head to glance at the crow.

Spiritual intuition gave no warning, and the Eye of Mystery Prying didn't see anything either.

"It really is just a non-mainstream crow!" The slight suspicion that Leyton had due to the crow's feather color dissipated.

The element of crows was a little too sensitive at this time. Amon's preferred form was a crow, and now he was being targeted by a suspected Sequence 5 Dream Stealer. Any crow that appeared around him at this time could make Leyton suspect something was wrong, even though he knew that Marauders only gained the ability to parasitize after Sequence 4.

"Young Master, you're back. Sally is already preparing dinner. It will be ready in about fifteen minutes," the butler greeted him immediately, seemingly having timed his wait in the living room for Leyton's return.

"Okay, I'll be in the study for a while. Call me when dinner is ready," Leyton nodded.

"Very well, Young Master. I took your glasses to the shop for repair today. They should be fixed tomorrow, or the day after at the latest." It had to be said that the butler was truly reliable.

"Glasses? Hmm? Hmm, okay, I understand. Uncle Sean, take a rest. Just call me when dinner is ready," Leyton nodded and quickly walked into the study.

After entering the study and closing the door, Leyton's face darkened. He placed the two books he was holding on the desk, then opened the metal box containing the bronze phosphorus. Looking at the gray-brown dragon scale inside the box, Leyton hesitated for a long time before closing the box.

"Touching it with my hand, I don't know if that counts as skin contact. To be safe, I should keep it in this metal box. Maybe it can even isolate the Marauder pathway Beyonder's perception of treasures," Leyton sighed, ultimately not taking out the bronze phosphorus.

The butler's words just now reminded Leyton of something he had forgotten after going to the Crimson Advanced Hospital on Hawke Street today. He had clearly bought two identical pairs of glasses in the morning, one he was wearing and the other he had been keeping in his coat pocket, but he didn't know when it had disappeared, and he hadn't even remembered that he had another pair of glasses.

"If the butler hadn't mentioned that he had taken the previously broken pair of glasses to be repaired, I wouldn't have remembered that I had another pair of glasses. Only by truly facing the Beyonders of the Marauder pathway can you know how bizarre and terrifying they are," Leyton muttered.

Leyton sat down on a chair and carefully recalled everything he had encountered in the Crimson Advanced Hospital, but no matter how much he recalled, he couldn't remember any memories related to glasses.

"It couldn't have happened after I met the captain, otherwise the captain should have noticed something was wrong. It could only have been during the time I spent with Eliza. Could there be something wrong with that Sanguine named Eliza? Or was there a third person always next to us?" Leyton immediately denied his own idea.

The Sanguine's sense of smell couldn't be easily deceived. Although the air in the hospital wasn't circulating properly and various odors were mixed due to the ventilation duct being stolen, Eliza should have been able to detect it if someone was right next to them.

"All the evidence points to Eliza! Is she really a Sanguine? Or is she pretending? The person I divined taking away my dropped book and tearing the book was also dressed differently!" The more Leyton thought, the more suspicious he found the Sanguine girl Eliza he had encountered.

"But that's not right! If she really had a problem, she wouldn't have cared about my provocative words back then. So why is she targeting me? Is there something special about me?" Leyton carefully considered whether there was anything about himself that might attract others.

After thinking for a long time without any results, Leyton got up irritably and walked back and forth in the study.

"Woof woof— Woof—"

"Meow! Meow! Meow— Meow——"

The sound of cats and dogs, rising and falling, came from outside the window, and judging from the sound, they were staying on this street. Leyton remembered that although there were people on this street who kept pet cats and dogs, there shouldn't be so many. Following the sound, he walked to the window of the study and pulled open the curtains.

Outside the window, a group of cats with different colors and patterns, led by a black cat, were chasing a group of dogs, jumping up and down. The dogs were being defeated by the well-trained cat army, especially the black cat leading the way, almost scratching a dog with every paw.

"This kitty is too fierce!" Leyton murmured.

"Caw—" A crow on the streetlight outside the window called out.

Leyton then noticed that the crow that had landed on the streetlight when he came home earlier was still there, and it seemed to be enjoying the cat and dog battle below.

This scene made Leyton feel a little strange. Both the cat army and the crow were too human-like.

Leyton didn't hesitate any longer and actively used the Eye of Mystery Prying. The world in Leyton's eyes changed color. The ordinary buildings outside lost their color and turned into black and white pictures, while the lit streetlights, the surrounding vegetation, the chasing and being chased cats and dogs, and the crow standing on the streetlight, these living things turned into abstract and intense colors. When those cats and dogs got close, they became a blur in Leyton's eyes.

Leyton focused his attention on the black cat leading the way. The astral body, mental body, etheric body, and even the spirit body on the other party's body emitted layers of different colored brilliance under Leyton's gaze. Even though these different brilliance layers were stacked together, they were clearly distinct in Leyton's eyes, as if he was casting his gaze from a higher dimension.

These alternating layers of brilliance outlined an orange-yellow pattern like a balance scale. The pattern was very blurry. Leyton didn't continue to observe it, knowing to restrain himself and not recklessly Snoop the unknown. This was a lesson Leyton had just learned this afternoon.

His gaze shifted to the crow standing on the streetlight. The crow seemed to have noticed Leyton's peep and turned its head to look at Leyton through the window.

The crow in Leyton's eyes continued to grow and expand. Fine scales kept emerging from its body, and the red feathers turned bronze and continued to spread throughout its body. The feathers became flamboyant and ferocious, and a illusory book seemed to be constantly flipping through its pages in its huge eyes.

Leyton immediately turned his head away and closed his eyes, no longer using the Eye of Mystery Prying. The stinging pain in his eyes gradually subsided.

Leyton then opened his eyes with lingering fear, not daring to look at the crow on the streetlight again. The other party was obviously a true big shot.

The cat army chasing the dogs seemed to be frightened. After meowing a few times, they scattered and fled, and the black cat leading the way also hid itself in the shadows of the houses on the other side of the street.

Leyton shifted his gaze to the direction where the cat army began to disperse. A clown dressed quite comically was standing under the streetlight there.

The clown wore a tall red top hat, a red swallowtail dress coat, and long pants. He wore dark red leather shoes on his feet. The leather shoes were polished very brightly, reflecting bright white light under the streetlight. The clown's face was painted with exaggerated makeup, his face as white as if covered with flour, a red nose, and exaggerated lipstick on his mouth, as if drawing a smile on his face that stretched to the roots of his ears. His blackened eyebrows and eyes were painted into abstract square shapes, and his orange-red wavy hair was neatly combed back, with the hair reaching his chin.

The clown wore a pair of glasses on his face that didn't match his style at all. Leyton recognized that it was the pair of glasses he had lost at the hospital, and now appearing on the clown's body seemed to be mocking him.

The clown noticed Leyton's gaze, stood under the streetlight that had lit up at some point, and gave Leyton an exaggerated smile and a salute.

Leyton took two steps back in fright, and his right hand reached into the inner pocket of his coat, feeling a little more at ease only when he touched the metal box containing the bronze phosphorus. The clown under the streetlight stood there motionless, and Leyton, standing by the window, did not dare to act rashly.

A strange, silent, and terrifying atmosphere began to permeate the surroundings invisibly, as if to freeze this scene.

"Caw! Caw!"

The crow standing on the streetlight called out again. Because of the deep impression of the Eye of Mystery Prying before, Leyton subconsciously looked up at this crow big shot.

The crow big shot stretched its head and then returned to its standing posture on the streetlight, motionless. It seemed that it was just casually calling out a few times just now.

Leyton, who retracted his gaze, found that the clown who was originally standing under the streetlight was gone. Leyton looked around in a panic, but couldn't find the clown's figure. He pulled the curtains shut as if fleeing, and Leyton retreated step by step facing the window, as if the clown just now might pull open the curtains and reveal his exaggerated and strange smiling face at any time.

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