Klein sat on the edge of his bed, quietly feeling out the extraordinary powers he now possessed.
To his surprise, the Light Cone's buffs had really carried over into reality—though, unfortunately, the blessings hadn't.
He looked down at his clothes. His outfit had reverted to the familiar black trench coat.With a casual motion, he reached out his empty left hand, grasped at the air——and pulled out a monocle.
He walked to the full-length mirror in his room, gathered a bit of spirituality, and imagined himself putting on the full relic set.
The next second, fabric and violet flames of Phlogiston sprouted from his shoulders, knees, and elbows, materializing out of thin air to envelop his body.In moments, the outfit known as "The Scholar Lost in Erudition" had reformed upon him.The flames gathered at his left chest, glowing like a blooming violet flower.
Klein placed the monocle on his left eye.
With a thought, a violet Phlogiston flame ignited around his head, wrapping everything except the monocle in shimmering fire—concealing his face completely from view.
He reached up to touch it.
His hand passed through the flame effortlessly—no heat, no texture, and his vision wasn't obstructed in the slightest.
If not for the reflection in the mirror, Klein might have forgotten his head was even on fire.
Still, something felt… missing.
After thinking a moment, he dismissed the flame around his head, opened the wooden wardrobe, took something from the shelf, and placed it on his head.
Straightening his collar, he turned toward the mirror again.
Staring back was a man in a white shirt, purple vest, mauve jacket, black trousers, and violet suede boots.
On his right hand gleamed the exoskeleton, a monocle sat on his left eye, and atop his head rested a half-tall silk top hat.
Klein smiled in satisfaction.
Now that's the look.
He turned around once, thinking that if the jacket's tails were just a bit longer, like a tailcoat, it would be perfect.
At that thought, the coat's hem lengthened gradually, morphing into a tailcoat.
Klein raised an eyebrow.
So it wasn't about the clothes—it was a matter of aura.
Still, he admitted he looked even better like this, so he decided to keep the new look.
Then, covering his head again with Phlogiston flame, he glanced in the mirror—It looked like something straight out of a movie he'd seen once—Ghost Rider.
Shame his head wasn't a skull; otherwise, the resemblance would've been uncanny.
He reached into his coat pockets—Only to realize everything that had been inside before was gone.
He tugged at his collar slightly ([redacted]) and confirmed that the old garments had completely vanished, not just hidden beneath.
Trying something, he reached out with his hand, and the shoulder holster with his revolver appeared instantly.
But when he tried to make it disappear again, it didn't work.
"Too bad," Klein muttered. He'd half hoped he'd just acquired one of those storage artifacts you always see in novels.
So he focused again, visualizing dismissing the relic, channeling his spirituality.
The Phlogiston flame at his chest instantly flared outward, engulfing his entire body.
The fire devoured his clothes, exoskeleton, and monocle like burning paper——but instead of revealing his skin, it revealed his original black trench coat beneath.
Ash drifted away on an invisible wind, dissolving into the air without a trace.
"Wow."
This transformation—and the way it reverted—was incredibly cool.
As the saying goes, a man remains a boy at heart until death.
Klein couldn't resist transforming back and forth several times, admiring his dramatic metamorphosis in the mirror over and over.
At last, he ended the transformation and plopped back down on the bed, grinning like an excited kid.
He pulled open the curtains; sunlight streamed into the room.Smiling, he reached into his trench coat pocket to take everything out for inspection.
Pistol. Bullets. Charms. Eye of Lightning…
Klein's hand froze mid-motion.
Where was the blue bullet?
He patted down every pocket on his body—nothing.Then tore apart the bedsheets—still nothing.
Where was that blue bullet?
Klein sat down at the desk, pulled out paper and pen, and wrote a question:
"The whereabouts of my blue bullet."
He didn't know its proper name, but that didn't matter—as long as he had a clear point of focus.
He closed his eyes, slipped into meditation, and let himself enter a dream for divination.
His consciousness sank, and an image appeared before him—
An open field.
He stood there, revolver in hand, aiming at a phantom soldier trapped in ice and golden chains.
He fired.
The bullet flew out.
Klein's eyes opened.
The result of the dream divination was… unbelievable.
He didn't buy it.
Taking four steps backward, he ascended into the gray fog and tried again—another divination.
The result was exactly the same.
He had fired that bullet himself.
But what happened afterward—where it went—he couldn't see.
Either there wasn't enough information, or the bullet involved a high-level being, blocking his divination.
Klein leaned toward the latter.
He had a strange feeling that, if he hadn't personally witnessed that bullet leaving the gun, even this fragment wouldn't have shown up in the reading.
He left the gray fog and returned to reality, sitting in silence for a long moment.
Then he opened the drawer.
Inside lay the phone that Sailris had given him.
It had only four apps installed:
a browser that couldn't connect to the internet,
a game called "Honkai: Star Barrel Rail",
a chat app similar to WeChat,
and a dialer.
Klein opened the dialer, tapped the only contact, and waited.
In the tavern, inside Sairuis's room—
Sairuis picked up his ringing phone.
The contact name flashed on the screen: "Black-Cat Bug Wearing a Top Hat."
He answered, speaking before the other side could say a word:"Let me guess—the bullet's gone?"
A short silence. Then Klein's voice came through:
"So… why did it disappear in reality after I fired it in a dream?"
"Because that's what [Hunt] is," Sailris explained.
"The bullet, called 'Reverse Time Strike,'—no matter when or where it's fired—it will eventually transcend time, space, illusion, and reality, and nail its prey to destiny itself."
Klein hesitated. "So… when will it appear again?"
"No idea."
"No idea?"
"That's right. It depends on when you'll have enough hatred. If one day you hate yourself so much it cuts to the bone… well, maybe it'll hit you right between the eyes."
Sairuis chuckled.
"...Tss." Klein sucked in a sharp breath. "Don't go raising that kind of flag! Uh—you probably don't know what a flag is—"
"Oh, I know," Sairuis interrupted smoothly. "I just want to see if it'll actually trigger."
There was a long silence over the line.Then Sairuis laughed softly. "Anything else? If not, I'll hang up."
"…Goodbye. Go on, hang up already." Klein's voice carried exasperation—and a hint of dry amusement.
"Bye-bye." Sairuis hung up.
(End of Chapter)