Steam Age: I Fight Against Divine Authority with Otherworldly Tales

Chapter 103 Mysterious Death

As Suren stared at the bizarre painting before him, the trembling of "Source of Knowledge" intensified, as if this were the source of the anomaly.

"This painting looks like it depicts a crime scene? Judging from the victim and the method of the crime, it seems to be a reference to Jack the Ripper?"

Just as Su Lun was pondering, the figures in the painting began to move spontaneously, bringing the whole painting to life!

Suren felt as if he were there, as if he were one of the onlookers. He seemed to hear the whispers of demons in his ears, and as the whispers grew louder, waves of violent emotions surged into his heart.

Just then, the man in the painting turned his head to face Suren. The man's face was still blurry, but Suren vaguely seemed to see a bloody smile on his face.

Then, the man in the painting suddenly leaned halfway out of the painting, holding a sharp scalpel, and slashed at Suren's chest.

Suren instinctively tried to dodge, but found that she had lost control of her body.

As the scalpel sliced ​​across Suren's chest, excruciating pain shot through him, but Suren was like a bystander, forced to watch helplessly as the strange man made a second cut.

One cut! Two cuts! Three cuts!

The man swung his weapon faster and faster, and in an instant, blood gushed from Suren's chest.

The pungent smell of blood filled Suren's nostrils, but Suren felt no pain. Instead, waves of pleasure surged through him, making him even feel a sense of enjoyment.

"Calm down, Suren!"

Suren forcibly suppressed the pleasure and lingering rage within him; he needed to calm down to save himself!

"My five senses are still there, but I've lost control of my body. But if it's so powerful, why use such inefficient attack methods?"

"And what about Etherine? Why hasn't she made a move? Was she attacked too?"

"Impossible! If this painting could be attacked without contact, I would have been attacked before I even touched it. There must be something unusual about it that I haven't noticed!"

"And that flood of violence just now... I understand!"

Almost instantly, these thoughts flashed through Suren's mind.

At this moment, a smile appeared on his lips as his consciousness gradually returned to clarity, and he regained control of his body!

In that instant, the entire scene shattered. When Suren came to his senses, he was standing in the same spot again, holding the eerie painting in his hands.

The painting depicts a calm and peaceful scene, seemingly just an ordinary landscape painting.

"Hey! Hey!"

Suren heard Eiselin's shouts and turned his head to see a somewhat puzzled Eiselin.

"What's wrong with you? You're staring at a landscape painting..." Etherine stopped mid-sentence.

Suren followed her gaze to her chest and found that her shirt was torn to shreds, and the skin behind the shirt was a bloody mess, still bleeding profusely.

"Enemy! When?" Etherine drew the dagger from her waist and looked around warily.

"It's alright, it's all taken care of." Suren waved his hand, and the "Tears of Ellie" on his chest flashed, causing the wounds to heal at a visible speed. The muscle tension made Suren wince in pain.

After "Ellie's Tears" advanced, its power became even stronger. In addition, the wound was not deep to begin with, and Suren's chest was completely healed in seven or eight seconds.

However, the pain of flesh growing back still lingered. Suren pressed his aching chest and said, "There's something strange about this painting. I was just pulled into an illusion. If I hadn't had a similar experience before, I might have died there."

Aiselin frowned slightly. She glanced at Suren's chest, then at the painting in his hand that had transformed into a landscape, and said gravely, "What kind of illusion is this? How can it project harm into reality?"

Suren shook his head and said, "I'm not entirely sure either. I'll try to trace the origin of this painting."

He closed his eyes and tried to trace the painting using [Revelation], but the images that flashed through his mind told Suren that it was just an ordinary painting.

Suren opened his eyes, shook his head, and sighed helplessly: "Either that strange power from before has disappeared, or there is a higher level of power behind this painting preventing me from prying into it. I can't get any useful clues at all."

But based on the content of the illusion, I suspect it's most likely related to Jack the Ripper.

He put the painting away and then led Etherine out of the storage room.

"You're probably planning to keep investigating, aren't you?" Etherine said with a smile as she walked out of the storage room.

Although she had only known Suren for a short time, through previous events, Etherine knew that Suren was someone obsessed with the truth.

Suren nodded. He did intend to investigate further, since the violent emotions in the illusion were too similar to the characteristics of the Aksha artifact. Perhaps this was the opportunity for "Ellie's Tears" to advance.

Of course, the investigation must be within Suren's capabilities. If it is too dangerous, Suren will definitely choose to give up.

"Anyway, just be careful." Seeing this, Aiselin stopped trying to dissuade her. "It's almost time, I should go back too."

After a brief farewell, Etherine left, leaving Suren alone in the shop.

He looked at his tattered shirt, shook his head with a wry smile.

……

As evening approached, Su Lun stood in front of the shop, looking at the copper signboard that read "Silent Chords Secondhand Goods Store," and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

This afternoon, Suren opened an account at "Saint-Henry Bank" and cashed Charles's previous checks in gold pounds before commissioning this sign.

He went into the secondhand shop, locked the door, and then went up to the second floor.

After entering the kitchen, he took out the ingredients he had bought in the afternoon and began to cook dinner.

This was the first time Suren had cooked since coming to this world. Fortunately, he had lived alone for more than ten years in his previous life and had developed some decent culinary skills.

After eating and drinking his fill, Suren sat at his desk, pondering his next plan.

Now that he has established himself in Librardton, Suren does indeed need to start thinking about his own goals.

"If you want revenge, increasing your strength must be your top priority; the most important thing is to advance to the level of an Executor."

"The fastest way to advance is undoubtedly to improve one's color rank, but that's too vague and uncertain..."

Thinking about this, Suren felt a bit troubled. It seemed that besides contacting events and frequently using his abilities, he didn't have any other good methods.

However, upon further reflection, he realized that since Leonard could become an orange-yellow rank transcendent through the manuscript, it meant that it was possible to achieve a rank advancement through secret information. However, the "Eternal Oath Knights" could not mass-produce orange-yellow rank powerhouses. These two things seemed somewhat contradictory.

"No, perhaps it's because the manuscript contains more secret information, and a powerful superhuman isn't necessarily a good teacher, so naturally they can't teach others to advance their color rank!"

"Following this line of thinking, I should actually be collecting that hidden knowledge..."

After much thought, Suren decided to continue along this line of thought, prioritizing finding ways to improve color levels.

After all, with his current rank, it would take him three years to advance to the Executor level, which is too long. By then, Leonard would be even more difficult to kill.

"Then I'll slowly accumulate points as a Twilight Removalist, while also searching for clues to advance my color rank."

Thinking of this, Suren sighed. Even if he had accumulated enough points to advance to the level of an agent, the materials required would still be a major problem.

According to the document provided by Aiselin, in addition to a standard "Source of Knowledge Condensation", a specially made purification agent is also required to advance to the level of an Agent.

This purifier is not as easy to obtain as the stabilizer for ascended awakeners. The required materials are two extraordinary materials with the "solidification" property, plus powder made from "Time Amber", and the three are mixed together.

As for the "Source Knowledge Essence" required for advancing to the level of Agent, it is even more troublesome, requiring a mixture of "Demon Grand Duke Soul Essence", "Astral Silver Sand" and "Dreamweaver Grass".

A "Demon Heart Seal" dropped by a Demon Lord once sold for nearly 3000 pounds on the black market. Suren couldn't imagine what kind of astronomical price the "Demon Grand Duke Soul Essence" would fetch.

As for "Time Amber," "Astral Silver Sand," and "Dreamweaver Grass," Suren had never even heard of them...

"Sigh, I'm short of money," Suren couldn't help but sigh.

"However, there are still things we need to pay attention to: collecting materials and finding ways to improve color levels. These two things are my core goals right now."

However, this is only Suren's long-term goal. Besides these two things, Suren actually has a lot more to do.

"First, there's the incident involving Verdu, which involves the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary item, so it definitely needs our close attention."

"We also need to gather as much information as possible about Bloody Mary."

"And then there's the one closest to me right now..." Suren took out the painting from that morning and placed it on her desk.

Since that attack, the painting seems to have become just an ordinary painting.

"That shop owner probably gave up the shop in a hurry because of this painting. We can seem to get a lot of clues from the former shop owner."

Suren nodded, preparing to go to "Sevier's Agency" tomorrow to try and find the contact information of the former owner.

……

The next morning, in the Bretton Woods district.

Suren arrived at a house and rang the doorbell.

This is the address of the former shop owner provided by "Sevier Agency".

Strangely, Suren rang the doorbell three times, but no one answered the door.

"Is he not home?" Suren muttered to himself, and then prepared to leave.

Just then, a middle-aged woman in a blue dress called out to Suren, "Sir, are you here to see Mr. Danvers?"

Mr. Danvers was the former shop owner that Suren was looking for.

Suren paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Madam, do you know Mr. Danvers?"

"Alas, you are too late. Mr. Danvers has already passed away." The lady sighed, seemingly feeling regret.

"Dead? That can't be such a coincidence, can it?"

Suren was startled and quickly asked, "When did Mr. Danvers pass away?"

"Just last night," the woman said, her face filled with fear, "the entire Danvers family is reduced to bones!"

"Bloody Mary?" Suren blurted out instinctively.

The woman's fear intensified; she instinctively moved away from the surrounding reflective objects and shushed Suren.

"Sir, please don't say that name so casually." She patted her chest, seemingly still a little scared. "Only a few of us neighbors know about this. The newspapers probably won't even publish it. If you're Mr. Danvers' friend, I suggest you leave here immediately to avoid getting involved..."

She stopped talking and left, muttering to herself.

Suren couldn't help but frown.

"Is it a coincidence? Why did he have to die at Bloody Mary at this exact moment?"

Intuition told Suren that Danvers' death was not natural, and he tried to use [Revelation], but as yesterday, he got nothing.

"Currently, it seems I can't obtain any information through [Revelation] regarding anything involving Bloody Mary and Jack the Ripper. However, if I have enough clues, things might improve."

Suren pondered for a moment, then suddenly laughed; the mystery surrounding the matter had only piqued his interest.

Instead of continuing the investigation, Suren went to the post office and mailed a letter.

That was a letter Suren had written this morning, addressed to Charles, informing him of her current address.

After all, Suren is a newly recruited "Twilight Removalist," and all his commissions come from recommendations from acquaintances. Currently, the only connections he can utilize are Charles and the "Eternal Oath Knights."

"I don't expect to get much business in the early stages. I'll just have to see if I can get lucky with the secondhand market."

Suren certainly didn't expect the secondhand market to bring him any income. His main purpose was to try his luck at the secondhand market and see if he could find any special items, which was basically just finding a bargain.

He deliberately placed a simple sign at the entrance, stating that he only accepted rare and precious items and antiques over a hundred years old, in order to filter out worthless junk and avoid wasting his time.

……

When Su Lun returned to "Silent Chords Secondhand Shop", she was surprised to find a boy sitting at the door. He looked to be fourteen or fifteen years old, with blond hair and wearing an inappropriate suit, like a child who wanted to integrate into adult society.

Noticing Suren's figure, he stood up, revealing a tooth missing from his front, and tentatively asked, "Mr. Karen Dantès?"

"It's me. And who are you?" Suren asked, somewhat puzzled.

The boy pulled a metal plaque from his pocket, and upon closer inspection, Suren realized it was a plaque for the "Night Owl Brotherhood".

Suren immediately understood. After all, he had rented the property through an agency, and with the Night Owl Brotherhood's intelligence network, finding Suren wouldn't be difficult if someone wanted to.

Suren laughed and said, "Did Baldy Toby send you? Your Night Owl Brotherhood is pretty well-informed."

"My name is Tom Crouch, sir." The young man smiled smugly. "Bald Toby is one rank lower than me in the Night Owl Brotherhood."

Suren couldn't help but chuckle. He opened the door to the secondhand shop and said, "Let's go inside and talk."

After entering the house, Suren picked up the tea leaves she had bought the day before and brewed two cups of tea.

The two sat facing each other, and Suren finally asked, "So, Tom, what brings you here?"

"Of course, it's about establishing a cooperative relationship with you. You should also know about the situation in Libratton. Because there's no fixed exchange, our 'Night Owl Brotherhood' is basically operating on a model where one person is responsible for a specific area."

Tom picked up his teacup, blew on it, and continued, "Bald Toby highly recommends you, saying you're an excellent Twilight Removalist."

A skilled Twilight Removalist naturally needs accurate intelligence, wouldn't you say?

Suren smiled slightly. In fact, he had guessed the other party's intentions, but this matter was indeed a good thing for Suren.

Thinking of this, he said, "I really need intelligence, for example... intelligence on Jack the Ripper."