Harlow glared at Matthew for a few seconds, before asking another question.
During the moment of silence, Matthew felt the temperature in the room drop.
He felt a chill run down his spine as drops of perspiration formed on his forehead. He couldn't tell if it was because of the anxiety that he was feeling like this, or because Harlow was glaring at him like he was about to put a bullet in his head.
Either way, he felt threatened by this glare.
"You look guilty… are you guilty of any crime?"
"No," Matthew replied in a beat, lying without a second thought. 'How would you just look at someone and say that they look guilty, you look like the devil's elder brother!' Matthew mocked in his mind.
'On second thought, he might be too good at his job.' He said, resisting the urge to feel the blueprints seated around his abdomen.
Ding, ding.
A few seconds passed before the bell chimed. 'This is the second time tonight that this is happening? Is there something wrong with the artifact? Or there's just something wrong with this guy and Theo person?" Harlow thought.
"Do you believe in any god?" Harlow questioned.
"I-I don't think so…" This was a question that Matthew had never answered as much as he would have loved to. The truth is that he does believe in a god, he just didn't know who the God is, but he was sure that there is an all-powerful being out there and not the measly ones that most people put their faith in.
He couldn't claim to be atheist and he couldn't say out loud that the one he puts his faith in is an unorthodox god. That's a one-way ticket to being charged and killed as a devil worshiper. Claiming to be an atheist would be safer.
Ding, ding.
The bell chimed, signifying to Harlow that Matthew had spoken the truth. However, this confused Harlow a bit, Matthew's answer was somewhat vague. 'Could it be that he really doesn't know? Is this person mentally challenged? Or has his brain been affected after witnessing a bit of the mystic in the past?' Harlow wondered.
"Are you mentally challenged?" Harlow asked.
"Huh? Are you mentally challenged?" Matthew responded, feeling a bit insulted by the question. He frowned, even though he was intimidated by Harlow's presence.
Harlow frowned at this, his bloodlust perverting his mind slowly. "I suppose most madmen wouldn't know that they're mad," Harlow commented, easing his desire to kill Matthew a little.
"Only a madman would know another I suppose." Matthew retorted.
Harlow snorted as he slowly clenched his fist, he couldn't tell why, but Matthew was annoying him and he wasn't the type to let that happen without repercussions.
'Hold it back or else the backlash from the artifact will be greater.' Harlow said to himself, calming his anger. There were rules to using such an artifact.
"Are you in any cult?" He asked quickly, wanting to be done with Matthew as fast as he could.
"If I was in a cult I wouldn't be dumb enough to show my face in the factory after killing innocent people," Matthew replied confidently.
"Exactly what the culprit would want the general public to believe."
"You should know." Matthew retorted.
Ding, ding.
The chime of the bell concurred with Matthew's statement, further annoying Harlow.
Ding.
The bell chimed again and the white handkerchief underneath it turned green.
Harlow stood up quickly, scaring Matthew and causing him to fall from his chair.
He picked up the bell and handkerchief, pocketing the latter.
"What are y-you trying to do?" Matthew asked, stunned by Harlow's sudden actions.
He watched as Harlow brought the bell closer to face and caught him unprepared, he listened to the melodious hymn that emanated from the trembling bell. Soon he fell asleep, lying on the floor.
Staring at Matthew and resisting the urge to stump his neck, Harlow spat at him before leaving the room. "Fucking bastard," He muttered...
...
On the other side of the steel factory, Gerry was also secretly inspecting the workers using an artifact. He had gone from the ground floor to the 4th floor, nodding and smiling at any of the workers that he met as he passed by.
Some of the workers were evidently uncomfortable, having Gerry observe them. Gerry unlike Harlow had a warmth to him which made it easy for his presence to be ignored by others at the factory.
Leaning on the barricade of the sky bridge of the 4th floor of the factory that connected one part to another, Gerry saw Harlow on the stairway of the 3rd floor. He patiently waited for Harlow to reach his position before speaking.
"So," He started. "How did it go?" He asked, curiously.
Harlow looked at him for a second before looking away. He had no intention of indulging in Gerry's small talk. He put his hand into his coat and brought out the white handkerchief that he had been placing underneath the silver bell.
Seeing that Harlow had no interest in replying to his question, Gerry also pulled out a paper from his pocket and took a deep breath in. He used his left palm to cover the right side of his face and when he lifted his palm off his face, blood began gushing out his right eye.
As if being drawn by a magnet, every drop of blood that came out of Gerry's eye fell onto the paper and slowly disappeared. After a second, pictures of everyone that Gerry had marked appeared on the paper.
Harlow watched as Gerry did all of this, not surprised by the gruesome process that Gerry had to go through, he knew that Gerry was also using an artifact, and using an artifact didn't come cheap. 'What price does he have to pay?' Harlow wondered.
As if to answer his question, Gerry's pupil on his right eye was no more, leaving an all-white eyeball for anyone to see.
"Quite gruesome, right? But don't worry, it's just temporary blindness. I would be good as new with a healing ritual." Gerry mentioned with a wicked grin as he handed the paper over to Harlow.
Harlow snorted in response to Gerry's attempt to show off.
"I found 2 Blessed and 9 Gifted," Gerry said. "None of them are members of our cult." He added.
Harlow flicked the white handkerchief in his hand and immediately, a basic layout of the steel factory appeared on it, along with red and green dots all over the surface of the handkerchief. The former was less prominent.
"The green dots are the wet ears. The red dots… people from other cults." Harlow explained as he handed the handkerchief to Gerry.
"All of them are Gifted." He added.
Gerry looked at the handkerchief and counted in his mind. '6 of them, much more than I thought we would find in this place.' With a smile on his face, he placed his hand into his coat and pulled out a revolver.
"I heard that the artifact that they assigned to you is capable of mass hypnosis, is that true?" Gerry inquired as he began loading his revolver.
"Let's just get this over with, I have other things to do tonight… I will manipulate the minds of the wet ears. Do what you want." Harlow said as he turned around and began making his way to the stairs. He too pulled out a gun from a holster hidden underneath his coat and confirmed if the cylinders were filled with bullets.
"Mr. Harlow, Don't kill the head blacksmith, he's the only mystic that Sir Kenneth has permitted to be here. He's the real overseer and an alchemist... and also, I called for backup." Gerry informed.
"Blimey! There are some fucking thieves in the factory, lock the whole place down!" Suddenly, Massey's voice echoed in the entire factory.
Immediately everyone heard his voice, the red dots on the handkerchief that Harlow gave to Gerry, began moving quickly.
Unlike the images on the paper that Gerry handed to Harlow, the dots on the handkerchief could track its targets down.
Almost immediately, from the 4th floor, Gerry saw a man on the sky bridge of the 2nd floor in brown leather pants, a workshop apron, and protective goggles, running towards one of the few windows in the factory as if he was going to crash into it and escape the building.
The peculiar thing about this man is that his entire figure was wrapped in a red light and only Harlow and Gerry could see this light. Gerry quickly glanced at the handkerchief and saw that that man was one of the targets as he could see that one of the dots on the handkerchief was indeed heading for a window on the 2nd floor.
Gerry aimed his revolver at this figure fast approaching the window and then-
Bang!
The trigger was pulled and almost a second later, the body of the person he shot at was skidding on the ground of the 2nd floor, unable to make it to the window.
All of this happened in a few seconds.