Chapter Seventy-One: Stagnation
Bending his arms and stretching out, Crane repeated the process as he watched as Dunn half-sideways pushed open the door to the guard room.
The captain's caution, high vigilance, and ridiculous "protective actions" made his mind tense as he felt when he walked past a grave at night as a child.
Class "2" seals, dangerous, and must be used with caution and moderation...... None of the official members of the night watch were able to know the details...... I don't know how dangerous it is...... In the midst of the tension, Klein couldn't contain a lot of thoughts.
At this moment, his head suddenly went wooden, as if the processor had lost power.
Everything slowed in Crane's sight, even the way he bent his arms.
He saw Captain Dunn stop and move closer to him frame by frame in slow motion, and saw the other party slowly stretch out his palm and push his shoulder.
Suddenly, Klein's thoughts and sight returned to normal at the same time, as if he had just hallucinated.
"What's going on?" he asked in a low voice, dazed and somewhat frightened.
Dunn shook his head at him and said in a deep voice:
"You pay attention. ”
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and walked into the guard room, where Crane followed closely and saw four people sitting or standing inside.
One of them was Leonard, the "Midnight Poet", and the other three Klein had never met before, but they all had one thing in common, that is, they were all doing "arm flexion and stretching" without the slightest relaxation.
"Klein Moretti has a wonderful connection with the notes of the Antigonus family. Dunn gave a cursory introduction.
Then he pointed to the three strangers:
"These ladies and gentlemen are their counterparts from the diocese of Beckland, escorting the seal '2-049', this is Lady Lorota, the 'gravedigger' of Sequence 8, and a sharpshooter. ”
At this time, the dark-haired lady in her mid-thirties nodded kindly to Klein.
She has a good appearance, no hat, wearing similar men's clothing, black jacket, white shirt, black tight trousers, leather boots of the same color, and the corners of her mouth are slightly upturned.
It wasn't until Klein said hello that Dunn pointed to the man sitting behind his desk:
"Al Hasson, an old fellow like me. ”
Before he could finish speaking, Klein watched as Mr. Al Hassan, in his gray trench coat, saw his "arm flexion and stretch" become jerky, like a lack of lubrication between the gears, or a rusty joint.
What's the situation...... Crane was stunned when he saw Lorotta nudge El Hasson, and the gentleman's movements returned to normal.
Klein was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized:
This is a manifestation of the dangerous leakage of the seal "2-049"!
What happens if you don't wake up in time?
Will it become the "living dead"?
With one doubt after another, Klein said hello to Al Hasson, who was very attractive to a middle-aged man.
"Borgia. Dunn pointed to the last night watchman.
It was an indifferent man with a knife mark on the side of his face, his brown eyes as sharp as an eagle, and he constantly surveyed everyone present.
"Let's go, guys, finish as soon as possible, and seal '2-049' as soon as possible. Al Hasson, a middle-aged gentleman who was handsome but had wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, stood up and said.
Well, what about "2-049"? Klein looked around curiously, and found no trace of the existence of the seal, of course, the place that was blocked by the table, he would definitely not be able to see it without turning on the "spiritual vision".
"Okay. Dunn turned to Leonard Mitchell and said, "You're in charge of driving, and it's better not to get Cezel involved in this kind of thing." ”
The Cizer he was talking about was a civilian in charge of the requisition and purchase of supplies from the Tingen Market Value Nighters, who also worked part-time as a coachman, the same person Crane drove when he went to Welch's residence to see Daly the "psychic".
"No problem. Leonard put away his frivolity and nodded solemnly.
At this time, Klein saw Al Huzen bend down and lift an iron-black box from where it was covered by the table.
The chest was inscribed with bright stars and a crimson full moon, and there was an invisible seal around it.
I don't know what "2-049" looks like, right......? Crane looked at the box curiously.
Boom!
Knock!
There was a sudden and violent knocking sound from inside the iron-black chest, so much so that its surface bulged again and again.
Knock! Knock!
There seemed to be something terrible inside the box that woke up, and slammed the door there, all at once, and smashed into the hearts of everyone in the guard room.
As soon as Klein's mind turned, he saw that the captain Dunn's "arm flexion and extension movement" was sluggish, and the joints were so hard that they seemed to be filled with glue.
Borgia, the night watchman from Beckland, nudged Dunn's shoulder, allowing him to return to normal.
After being affected by "2-049", the state is very similar to dancing a robot dance...... If all of them are affected, wouldn't it be an embarrassing dance troupe...... Fortunately, fortunately, "2-049" seems to affect only one person at a time...... Klein relieved the tension in his heart by complaining, and did not dare to slack off on the curl and stretching of his arms.
He followed Dunn's example, left his cane, and followed the five night watchmen, through the corridor, up the stairs, to the second floor of the Black Thorn Security Company.
Because Leonard quickened his pace and gave advance notice, Roshan and the others temporarily hid on the third floor - for them civilian personnel, similar things were not common, but they were definitely not unfamiliar, while another night watchman, Kornley, temporarily went to guard Chanis Gate in Dunn's place.
It wasn't until he got into the carriage that Klein breathed a sigh of relief, looked out the window suspiciously, and said:
"Won't '2-049' affect ordinary people on the street?"
Just by making it from the underground to the carriage, Seal "2-049" caused six retardations, two of which he obtained, awakened by Captain Dunn and Leonard Mitchell, respectively, which is quite an alarming frequency!
"Don't worry, '2-049' will prioritize humanoids within five meters of it, the closer it gets, the easier it will be to be picked, and as long as we keep at least three people around it, people passing by outside the carriage won't be affected. The good-looking dark-haired lady Lorotta explained in a languid tone.
Strange seals...... Crane, who was bending his arms, let out a similar emotion again.
On the way to Riel Bieber's house, Dunn and the others did not speak, and kept a close eye on each other's conditions, except for Lorota's unconcerned face, sometimes admiring the not very clean roads of Tingen, and sometimes praising Beckland's sewer system.
It didn't take long for the familiar building to appear in Klein's eyes, and a group of six people "watched" each other and walked to the third floor step by step.
The door of Riel Bieber's house has been plastered with a sign from the Tingen City Police Station, indicating that no one is allowed to enter.
Dunn did the arm flexion and stretch as he took out the key, opened the new lock, and then turned to the side to let Al Hassen, who was carrying the iron black box, into the house first.
Boom!
Knock! Knock!
The seal inside the iron-black box began to smash again, even more violently than before, causing Al Hasson's arms to start swaying uncontrollably, making Crane even suspect that the box would be directly penetrated.
Knock! Knock!
Klein keenly saw that Captain Dunn's arm bending action became difficult, and he was about to push the other party awake, but his head buzzed, Huo Ran was wooden, and the scene in his eyes instantly turned into slow motion.
Not to say once...... Affects only one ...... People...... Crane's mind was racing and foggy.
At this time, Lorota and Borgia, who had been prepared, pushed the two of them respectively.
Thinking ability restored, and his vision returned to normal, Klein looked left and right in fear, and almost blurted out:
Doesn't it mean that "2-049" can only affect one person at a time?
Luckily, I didn't stop bending and stretching my arms!
"Seal '2-049' has gone berserk, and the number of people affected has risen to two at a time, confirming that Rare Bieber is a descendant of the Antigonus family. Al Hassen describes it in a mechanical way.
Lorota chuckled, looked at Klein and said:
"As long as you meet the descendants of the Antigonus family, even if there is only breath left, '2-049' will become very excited, and its ability will also be significantly improved, I think you should be able to understand its feelings. ”
I don't understand...... Klein asked curiously:
"So, it's a creature?"
Lorota smiled and didn't answer directly:
"You'll find out later, as long as Riel Bieber hasn't escaped Tingen, '2-049' will lead us to him. ”
Crane had no choice but to put away the other questions and follow the night watchmen around the room.
With a thud of thump, they locked the door and descended the stairs to the carriage.
Al Hasson glanced out the window to make sure there were no pedestrians around him, then lowered the iron-black box to the floor and twisted the mechanical switch to untie the spiritual shackles.
The ferocious knocking stopped, and the entire carriage was silent, and even the snorts of everyone could not be heard.
Crane held his breath as he saw the iron-black box slowly open with a creaky, souring sound.
Bang dang!
The box toppled over, and a thin tan arm stretched out, the length of a child's finger.
The two arms pressed forward in turn, and a brown normal man's palm-sized thing appeared in front of Klein's eyes.
It has distinct elbow, knuckle, and knee joints, and its body is covered in tan strips of oil-stained cloth, and its face is painted with reddish-yellow clown paint.
It's a weird-looking puppet!
"2-049" lifted his head and looked at Klein with pure black pupilless eyes.
It slowly grinned at the corners of its stiff mouth and smiled like a clown.