"You're right…"
As these words were spoken, Klein could clearly see the person in front of him being enveloped by an indescribable sadness and loneliness at a speed visible to the naked eye. Strangely, Klein felt that Lin Ruo himself didn't seem to feel this sadness and loneliness.
He was like a person crying without realizing it, thinking his emotions were stable, but in reality, he was already overwhelmed with sorrow.
This gave Klein a bad premonition and a sense of guilt. He coughed lightly and said, "I don't know if you've tried it… but I have a clue about my time travel, a bit of an idea, so I want to give it a try."
Hearing this, Lin Ruo quickly snapped out of his previous emotions. He rubbed his temples, and the content of the original "Lord of the Mysteries" novel flashed through his mind.
He said, "Although I don't know what you're planning to do… I still wish you success!"
After saying this, Lin Ruo smiled again and jokingly said, "And now that I'm bound to you, if you can go back, maybe you can take me with you!"
"If that really happens, it would be great." Klein smiled and subconsciously began to recall the details of the ritual he performed before his time travel.
After all, this was about whether he could go home, so Klein couldn't be careless.
What Klein didn't know was that while he was recalling the ritual, Lin Ruo was also thinking about similar things.
However, Lin Ruo was considering whether, in his current state as Klein's spirit, he would be taken to the Source Castle if Klein went there.
Although he had no interest in seizing the Source Castle, Lin Ruo was still interested in witnessing the development of the Tarot Club.
As Lin Ruo was thinking this, he saw Melissa, who had gone to freshen up, return to the room.
After boiling water and making tea, she and Klein started eating black bread for breakfast. Since Melissa had to go to school, she left in a hurry after breakfast. But before leaving, she repeatedly reminded Klein about buying black bread and lamb, treating Klein like a silly brother who couldn't manage daily life.
After Melissa left, Klein changed his clothes, took his revolver, and planned to go out.
During this time, he described to Lin Ruo what happened before his time travel and mentioned his plan to perform the ritual again.
This wasn't something that needed to be hidden. After all, given Lin Ruo's situation, even if Klein didn't say anything, Lin Ruo could still observe the whole process. It was better to be honest and maybe get some advice.
"I haven't heard of the ritual you mentioned, but I feel it shouldn't be dangerous for you… If you want to try it, there's no harm." Lin Ruo said sincerely as he floated out of their room with Klein.
He knew that the upcoming ritual wouldn't send Klein home, but he also understood that this would be Klein's first step towards becoming the Lord of the Mysteries.
He had to admit, he was quite looking forward to it.
"Mm." Since they were in public, Klein couldn't say much more and just responded vaguely, glancing in the direction of Lin Ruo's voice.
Of course, he didn't see anything, but the voice reminded him that there was indeed a spirit there.
Considering the miraculous nature of time travel, the existence of spirits in this world didn't seem surprising.
The two of them arrived at the place to buy food. After Klein bought the black bread, as Lin Ruo expected, he saw the circus clown distributing flyers in the town square.
As Klein approached, someone stopped him and asked in a hoarse voice, "Do you want a divination?"
It was a woman wearing a pointed hat and a black dress, with red and yellow face paint and deep gray-blue eyes.
Almost the moment she appeared, Lin Ruo's attention was entirely focused on her. After all, there were many speculations among readers about this woman's identity in his previous life.
The most reliable and widely accepted theory was that this woman was related to the Goddess of the Night.
After all, it was hard to believe that a random fortune teller could divine that Klein was the "Fool."
However, to Lin Ruo's disappointment, even though he watched her closely, he didn't notice anything unusual about her until she finished the divination and produced the Fool card.
Then she was chased away by the real fortune teller—yes, the one who divined for Klein was actually an animal trainer.
Helpless, Lin Ruo could only follow Klein out of the divination tent. Reluctantly, he looked back and was suddenly stunned.
Because he saw the "fortune teller" standing by the tent.
And her gaze was fixed on him.
Lin Ruo: !!!
He almost instinctively wanted to do something, but before he could act, everything went black.
It was a true blackout, not just a loss of consciousness. Immediately, Lin Ruo seemed to see something in the darkness, like a brilliant galaxy or a crimson moon, but everything flashed by. Lin Ruo only felt something cold and hard in his hand, but before he could think more, his vision returned to normal.
Lin Ruo eagerly looked back at the "fortune teller," but was disappointed.
Although she was still standing there, she was no longer looking at him and seemed confused about her surroundings.
There was no doubt that even if she had some connection to the Goddess of the Night, she was now just an ordinary person.
Lin Ruo pursed his lips and turned to look at Klein, who was heading to the "Vegetables and Meat" market to buy the remaining ingredients.
He took a deep breath, controlled his spirit to follow Klein, and raised his hand to look at the new object in his hand.
It was a black badge, slightly larger than a one-yuan coin, made of an unknown material that looked like both jade and metal. The surface had patterns that gave Lin Ruo a strong sense of déjà vu, reminding him of a description from the original novel—"black as the base, adorned with brilliant stars, encircling a half-crimson moon."
Lin Ruo: …
Isn't this the holy emblem of the Church of the Night?
Why did the Goddess of the Night give him this?
As Lin Ruo wondered, a sudden inspiration struck him. He tentatively infused his spirituality into the badge—an operation he learned when he gained extraordinary abilities through a paradox at midnight.
Although the extraordinary abilities disappeared after the paradox was canceled, he retained much of the knowledge as stored information.
As soon as he infused his spirituality, Lin Ruo immediately sensed a real but invisible power spreading from the badge and enveloping him.
At the same time, he received corresponding knowledge from the badge:
This was a holy emblem made by the Goddess of the Night, with hidden powers. As long as it was activated, it could ensure that his actions and thoughts were not remotely perceived by others, providing a secretive protection with surprisingly low consumption. Just a little spirituality could maintain it for a long time. Besides enhancing secretive protection, the badge had another function: it could allow Lin Ruo to switch to a hidden state, similar to invisibility, making him unseen by anyone.
This was undoubtedly a very useful item, especially for Lin Ruo now, as it could prevent him from being purified as an evil entity by official extraordinary beings.
"Is this… an early investment?" However, Lin Ruo wasn't particularly happy, as having this holy emblem made him feel like he was already being arranged clearly.
"Think positively, at least this makes me half a divine favored one." After a while, Lin Ruo, with mixed feelings, could only comfort himself with this thought, while his mind involuntarily recalled various aspects of the Goddess of the Night from the original novel.
Being noticed by the Night might not be a bad thing…
But he wondered what price he would have to pay for this gift in the future…
Lin Ruo's thoughts drifted.
In this state, he followed Klein, who had finished shopping, back home. When he came back to his senses, Klein had already placed the four black breads in different corners as required by the ritual, preparing to attempt the fortune-changing ritual.