That child was the origin of all these events.
"What do you want to do?"
Chief Reed's face hardened, his expression full of vigilance.
"We want to help you look for the child."
Klein quickly came up with a suitable reason and said in a gentle tone, "Since you believe your child is still alive, we are also willing to believe that he is alive and help your family reunite. That is our original intention in coming here today."
A Beyonder beside him followed up, "Being separated from one's family is such a painful thing. You've already suffered so much, you shouldn't have to endure this kind of torment again."
Chief Reed merely kept a cold face and snorted. "I won't believe your words! You must be trying to harm my child!"
No matter how Klein and the others explained, no matter how gently they spoke, Chief Reed refused to reveal a single word.
They wanted to use Chief Reed's wife as a breakthrough, but Chief Reed cut them off first, his face cold, unwilling to say a single sentence to them.
"Perhaps using a Nightmare to enter his dreams could allow us to glimpse related information from Chief Reed's dream world."
Klein came up with a plan, but he felt that this method was far too dangerous.
If some of the power of that evil god's offspring still remained within Chief Reed, then the one who entered the dream would face terrifying danger.
Unless there was absolutely no other way, Klein did not want Leonard to take that risk.
After thinking it through, Klein had someone go and look for the deputy director who usually treated Chief Reed and his wife kindly, hoping to use this layer of relationship to slowly dismantle Chief Reed's guard against them.
"Unless you bring Baron Hastur Campbell, I will only trust him. Everyone else, I won't trust a single one!"
Chief Reed gave this condition after finally loosening up.
Baron Hastur Campbell?
Klein searched the records and finally found relevant information about him.
According to the records, before giving birth to the evil god's offspring, Chief Reed's wife had nearly been unable to conceive due to her own condition.
It was that Baron Hastur Campbell, who had some connection with Chief Reed, who sent his own doctor, and even personally went to Chief Reed's home once.
After that treatment, Chief Reed's wife was finally able to give birth to her child, the evil god's offspring.
To Klein, who had experienced the Tingen incident, the appearance and help of Baron Hastur Campbell felt far too coincidental. There might be something wrong with it.
Moreover, this Baron Hastur Campbell was not only deeply trusted by Chief Reed, but had even promised to give the child a new name.
From this point alone, Baron Hastur Campbell's level of suspicion rose considerably.
Now that Chief Reed had made such a request, it might be that he wanted to take this opportunity to exchange some information with this Baron.
Even though they had not yet met, Klein had already listed Baron Hastur Campbell as a suspect candidate in his mind.
"What? You're going to invite Hastur to help?" Leonard, who arrived later to join them, was full of shock after hearing Klein's arrangement.
The person he least wanted to meet right now was Hastur.
At the very least, he needed to wait about a month. Because of this, he hadn't even dared to go to the Braveheart's Bar recently.
"Leonard, do you know this Baron Hastur Campbell?"
"...." Leonard was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
"I do know Hastur Campbell. Quite a few things have happened between us. I'm not suitable for handling this task. In fact, I should even avoid him, so that our relationship doesn't affect this mission."
With those words, Leonard preemptively blocked Klein from assigning him the task of inviting the man.
"Then I'll go." The Beyonder from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery accepted the task.
"Alright." Klein agreed. The group then stayed at the nursing home to rest for a while, while also looking up relevant information about Chief Reed and Hastur.
'Phew, I've finally gotten through this hurdle for now.'
Hearing Klein's arrangements, Leonard finally let out a sigh of relief, while thinking about whether he should find an excuse to leave the nursing home later, just in case he ran into Hastur.
"Leonard, come on, tell us what kind of person that Baron Hastur Campbell is."
"...." Leonard once again experienced what it meant to be "pleasantly surprised."
....
"Chief Reed?"
Hastur was in the first-floor lobby, receiving the Beyonder from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery who was accompanied by two police officers.
When he heard that the other party had come because of Chief Reed's matter, his first reaction was to refuse.
The High-Dimensional Overseer was still active, currently sweeping the seas together with Alger, hunting down those unfortunate pirates and continuously strengthening the Ghostly Blue Avenger.
Although it was far from Backlund, if He were willing, one day would be enough to arrive there.
Hastur did not want to have too much contact with Chief Reed. Once they met, Chief Reed would definitely ask him to give the High-Dimensional Overseer a suitable name.
If this layer of connection existed, the high-dimensional observer would definitely take notice of him.
"Sorry, I don't have time to go out for now." Hastur chose to politely decline.
He could only decline politely and could not refuse forcefully. After all, as a noble with no particular stains on his record, cooperating with the police was a responsibility.
If the matter were handled successfully, it would also bring him an additional measure of honor.
"It's fine. We can bring Chief Reed to meet you."
"Chief Reed is a pitiful man. I don't want my appearance to make him recall what happened back then again. It would be better for him to gradually forget."
"That's not something I can decide." This Beyonder had been very gentle and calm throughout, showing no concern at all over Hastur's slight displeasure.
"Who is the person in charge of this operation?" Since he couldn't avoid it, Hastur could only try to learn as much relevant information as possible.
"A captain from Tingen, very experienced."
"??" Hastur was slightly stunned, thinking the person being referred to was Leonard.
"Klein Moretti." The Beyonder still spoke Klein's name, showing the sincerity of this visit.
"?!" Hastur's eyes narrowed, his heart suddenly stirred. To think it would actually be Klein who was in charge of this matter!
How interesting.
That he and Klein would become involved with each other because of this.
"Does this Captain Klein have any outstanding qualities?"
"Of course. Being transferred from Tingen to work in Backlund and even serving as the captain of this operation, his professional ability is beyond doubt."
"I have a friend named Leonard. He's also from Tingen."
"He's participating in this operation as well."
Hearing that Leonard was also involved, Hastur had even less reason to refuse. If anything unexpected happened, the old man inside Leonard could also try to seize an opportunity.
Soon, Hastur followed this Beyonder and arrived at the nursing home by carriage.
Inside the nursing home, Leonard tried several times to find a chance to slip away, only to be stopped by Klein each time.
All Leonard could do was sigh silently, hoping that Hastur didn't know about Seraphina being a witch.
When Hastur entered the nursing home and appeared before them, Leonard's mouth twitched slightly, but he still piled on a smile and hurried forward to greet him.
"Hastur, my friend. I never thought I'd meet you here."
"I didn't expect it either." Hastur exchanged a few pleasantries with Leonard.
Seeing that Hastur didn't mention anything about Seraphina, Leonard finally felt relieved.
"This is our captain, Captain Klein," Leonard briefly introduced Klein to Hastur.
Hastur stepped forward and said with a smile, "I've long heard of you, Captain Klein."
"Hello, Baron Hastur Campbell."
It was a very brief exchange, without anything special or noteworthy.
"Fate seems to have changed."
A voice suddenly sounded deep within Leonard's mind, leaving him quite surprised.
Under normal circumstances, the old man would only speak to him when no one else was around. It was rare for him to speak so directly like this.
On the surface, Leonard acted as if nothing had happened. Using going to the washroom as an excuse, he went there alone.
"Old man, what exactly did you discover?"
"Nothing at all."
"??!" Leonard looked completely confused. If nothing was discovered, why speak up so suddenly?
"It was just a sudden feeling on a whim, that's all."
"You can't peer into what's really happening?"
"Heh, I wouldn't actively do something so boring."
"Old man, is it that you won't do it, or that you can't?"
"The two of them seem to both carry the aura of the Evernight Goddess."
"How do you know?"
"I guessed."
"..." Leonard left the washroom with a face full of confusion.
On the other side, Klein and the others had already led Hastur to Chief Reed.
"Chief Reed, long time no see." Hastur's gentle tone instantly broke through Reed's habitual vigilance.
He reached out, wanting to feel for Hastur's position, but quickly withdrew his hand. His lips trembled as he spoke with both excitement and sorrow,
"Baron Hastur Campbell, I never thought I'd be able to see you again."
"Yes, it's fate." Hastur was equally emotional.
He hadn't expected to see Chief Reed again either. Looking at Reed's current weathered appearance, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorrowful.
The original Chief Reed had been a handsome middle-aged man.
Now, he seemed to have aged twenty years overnight, slightly graying hair, wrinkles carved into his face by time, looking like an elderly man in his fifties or sixties.