"Haah... haah... what, what exactly is going on?"
Inside the narrow restroom of the speeding train, Sodod sat on the toilet, his face filled with astonishment at the results of his extensive Lantern perception.
After expending a significant amount of Lantern spirituality, Sodod finally sensed the presence of a Beyonder being nearby. However, to his surprise, it was not the Shadow he was looking for, nor did it have the color of a Shadow.
In the perception of a Lantern Beyonder, other Beyonders are distinguished by specific colors—Shadow being black. But the Beyonder presence Sodod sensed this time was an unusual purple, a color he had never seen before.
“What... what is this? What kind of Beyonder is this? Could it be that the person I’m dealing with isn’t a Shadow? No, this strange Beyonder is quite far from me, at least separated by a whole carriage.”
“That person, with such a bizarre ability, definitely isn’t an Apprentice-rank Shadow. They must be at least a Black Earth rank... My Lantern is no match for their Shadow. So, what I’ve detected probably isn’t them, but another type of Beyonder. There’s another Beyonder on this train!”
In a short amount of time, Sodod sorted out his thoughts, roughly confirming the current situation, and then an idea formed in his mind.
“Now... this is the only way...”
...
On the dark wilderness, the steam train continued to roar forward. The sudden appearance of a large amount of white smoke caused the train attendants to rush over, thinking there was a fire. However, when they opened the windows to disperse the smoke, they strangely found no signs of a fire. The compartment where the smoke originated was now completely empty, and the briefcase that had fallen to the ground earlier was also gone.In a first-class compartment near the front of the train, Dorothy, who had been leaning on the sofa boredly, looked curiously at the attendants running back and forth in the corridor, a hint of suspicion arising in her heart.
"What’s going on outside? Could there be a fire?"
Dorothy murmured to herself, feeling slightly worried. But after a while, seeing that no alarm had sounded and the train hadn’t slowed down, she concluded that it probably wasn’t a big deal.
“It should be nothing serious... Well, I’ll sit for a bit longer and then go to bed. In this era, without a phone to play with, I can only sleep this early.”
Thinking this, Dorothy glanced at the Concealment Ring on her hand, passed down from her mother, and checked its spirituality. She checked the ring’s spirituality about every half day to ensure she hadn’t been inadvertently detected by some mystical detection ability.
Although so far, the only time Dorothy’s Concealment Ring had been useful was when it defended against a wave of detection from a hunter at the Buck Mansion, she still checked the ring’s spirituality daily, just in case.
Dorothy had expected the ring to be as usual, with its spirituality intact. But this time, after checking, she was stunned.
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy discovered that the Shadow spirituality in her Concealment Ring was completely depleted. The 2 points of Shadow she had stored in the ring were now entirely gone!
“What’s going on? Have I been detected by some mystical ability? And the Shadow spirituality was completely drained... Does this mean I might have already been detected?!”
Looking at the condition of the ring on her hand, Dorothy thought in shock. She immediately became alert, scanning her surroundings for any signs of abnormality. Although she found nothing unusual, she was convinced that she might be in danger.
“My location might have been exposed. There could be other Beyonders on this train. I must take action.”
Thinking this, Dorothy took out her Cursed Box, opened the lid, and expanded the entrance. She put on the Corpse Marionette Ring and began controlling the corpse marionettes stored in the box. Immediately, a corpse marionette dressed in a trench coat and a top hat, with deep-set eyes and a high nose, crawled out of the box and stood in Dorothy’s compartment. This was the corpse marionette, Edrick.
Just then, there was a knock on Dorothy’s compartment door. Dorothy looked at the door, clearly aware that someone was outside—likely the Beyonder who had detected her.
Realizing this, Dorothy quickly crawled under the bed, lying still. She then controlled Edrick to draw his pistol, approach the door, and ask, "Who is it?"
"Haah... haah... Sir inside, I know you’re a Beyonder. Please open the door. I have an important matter to beg of you. Just open the door first..."
From outside came a weak voice. After hearing this, Dorothy was slightly taken aback.
“He has something to ask of me? And that voice...”
Dorothy thought this, then controlled a pre-released gecko corpse marionette to crawl out from under the door and look at the scene outside. She saw a man clutching his abdomen, his clothes stained with blood, leaning against the door frame, breathing weakly. Through the gecko marionette’s vision, Dorothy’s heart tightened.
“He’s indeed injured, and gravely so. From the looks of it, he’s not here to cause trouble...”
After confirming the situation outside, Dorothy controlled Edrick to open the compartment door. The man outside immediately stepped in and weakly collapsed onto the floor.
Edrick quickly closed the door and, holding the pistol, asked the man, "Who are you? What’s your identity? What happened? What do you want from me?"
Edrick asked directly, and after catching his breath, the man looked at Edrick and spoke solemnly.
"I am Sodod Shord, a captain of the Ulster’s Serenity Bureau. I was attacked while on a transport mission. The item I was transporting was stolen, and I was severely injured. Right now, I’m barely hanging on thanks to the Devouring Sigil’s enhancement, but I won’t last much longer... haah..."
“He’s from the Serenity Bureau? And if he’s from Ulster, that’s the city we passed through not long ago. Did he board there?” Dorothy thought as she listened to Sodod’s words from under the bed. She then controlled Edrick to continue asking.
"What were you transporting? Who attacked you?"
"Haah... haah... I don’t know. The item was sent back by an investigation team we dispatched to the Razor Mountains. My mission was to escort it to the central bureau in Tivian. As for the person who attacked me, I don’t know who they are... I can only confirm they’re a Shadow Beyonder, likely a Black Earth rank, capable of moving through walls. They’re probably a Wall Walker, a primary Shadow with auxiliary Stone..."
“A Wall Walker? I remember reading about them in the book Aldrich gave me. If a primary Shadow with auxiliary Stone takes the elemental path, they can advance to a Aeromancer. It seems this Wall Walker advanced through a different ritual...”
As Dorothy pondered this, Sodod’s breathing became more labored.
He stared at Edrick and continued, "Haah... haah... Although I don’t know who you are, which organization you belong to, I... I want to ask you to retrieve the item I was transporting! Then, deliver it to the central bureau in Tivian. If you can get it there, the bureau will surely reward you handsomely... The item is in my briefcase. I don’t know what’s inside... but it must not fall into the hands of dangerous societies or cults... ugh... ah..."
As he spoke, Sodod’s body began to tremble. His eyes widened, and he uttered his final words to Edrick.
"Please... I beg you..."
As the life-sustaining effect of the Devouring Sigil began to fade, Sodod spat out a final mouthful of blood, his head lolled to the side, and he died with his eyes wide open.