Chapter 972: The Power of the Cat

"I can't find it directly now; I am a character in the story, I don't have subjective initiative. Moreover, if I directly open the cabinet or lift the bed to face that thief, he will choose to escape. In the situation of growing stronger as the enemy grows stronger, even if I can exert my own power, I might not be able to catch it."

【So what do you want to do?】

"I want to make it take the initiative to find me, and then I will launch a shameless sneak attack."

"She" chuckled, not asking Xia De how he would do it.

Xia De tore off that page of paper from the notebook, and then tore it into three parts, each part specifying who it was for.

He stood up from the sofa and said in an exaggerated tone:

"Oh, it seems I have to go to the police officers to seek help; staying in a house that has been stolen is really too dangerous."

Saying this, his right hand swung toward the door, and three notes flew silently toward the stairs. Doctor Shi Nai De didn't even use a spell; the powerful mental power of a Six-Ring Shushi directly guided the three notes to fly over. He saw the names written on the folded notes, so he distributed the notes, and after the three people opened them separately, they each took action.

"I'm going to the bedroom to change clothes first; it's really too cold tonight."

Saying this, Xia De walked into his master bedroom and closed the door.

The living room with the gas lamp lit returned to quiet, and inside the master bedroom, the sound of the wardrobe being opened rang out. Then came the sound of hangers colliding with each other and clothes being thrown onto the bed.

The kitchen cupboard opened silently at this time, and a short, medium-built man wearing a black trench coat crawled out without a sound. He wore a hat, and his face was covered by shadows from every angle. After landing, he listened carefully, confirming that the owner of the house in the bedroom was still changing clothes, so he carried Xia De's antique knight sword to the living room, glanced at the closed master bedroom door, and then held his breath and walked out of the room.

Entering the second-floor corridor, he did not walk down the stairs but walked toward the third floor, clearly thinking that leaving from the front door was not safe. But his footsteps had just stepped on the fifth step when he stopped abruptly. He raised his head and clearly saw the old man with charred wings spread behind him standing in the darkness on the landing platform leading to the third floor.

Although 【Jack the Phantom Thief】 grows stronger as the enemy grows stronger, it also has its own limits, otherwise it would not have been pulled into the story by the Angel-level relic 【Dice Story Collection】. It usually does not tend to attack when encountering a strong enemy but chooses to escape, so after seeing Priest Ao Gu Si, it turned around and fled back to the second floor.

It still did not choose to flee to the first floor but walked along the corridor trying to go to Room 2 on the second floor. But just after crossing the door of Room 1, it saw a man standing at the end of the corridor with his hands behind his back. Doctor Shi Nai De stood at the boundary of light and shadow, and the strange scarlet light revealed in his eyes on the half of his face illuminated by the gas lamp.

Darkness squirmed behind the doctor, as if something even more terrifying was lurking in that thick darkness. 【Jack the Phantom Thief】 turned around again, unable to move on the second floor, unable to go to the third floor; this time it finally chose to go to the first floor.

The sound of going downstairs was silent, but there were still people on the stairs going down.

Princess Lei Qianya's Fate Ring was spinning at high speed behind her, with the Match Girl carrying a bamboo basket standing on her left hand, and the Sleeping Princess holding a spindle standing on her right hand.

Little Mia stood on the blonde Miss's shoulder, and the princess held 【Night Watchman】 with both hands, looking at the strange humanoid creature walking down the stairs like a great enemy.

Even though she had anticipated the horror of the Sage-level humanoid relic, when this thing that clearly looked like a human but whose intuition kept reminding her that it was absolutely not human appeared in front of her, Princess Lei Qianya still took a careful step back.

The Night Watchman in her hand did not glow, which proved that the opponent could not be judged as an evil creature. Princess Lei Qianya bit her lip and aimed her sword at it, wanting to force it to retreat back to the second floor.

But unlike being forced back by Priest Ao Gu Si and Doctor Shi Nai De just now, this time the thief did not turn around directly but hesitated at the top of the stairs.

"Sure enough, I still have to show power to force it back."

Carrying Xia De's cat, the princess of the Cavendish family prepared to face a frontal contact battle with the Sage-level humanoid relic. The flow of spirit made the bodies of the fairy tale characters summoned around her more solid. She took a step up, and the Angel-level relic in her hand made the Sage-level relic in front of her retreat a step, but it still did not turn around and return to the second floor.

At this moment, Princess Lei Qianya actually heard footsteps coming from behind her. Before she could turn around to confirm who was coming, a hand reached out from behind Princess Lei Qianya, and then grasped 【Night Watchman】 together with her:

"【My heart is clear, the sword slashes the devil】."

The standard Fourth Era common language was read out by Luweiya. The purple-eyed girl with brown shoulder-length hair came to Princess Lei Qianya's side. The silver sword light emitted a faint glow on the surface of the silver sword, and the runes on the sword body were lit up in a clear yellow color.

Luweiya stood side by side with Princess Lei Qianya. As the sharp light seemed to slash upward, 【Jack the Phantom Thief】 was finally forced back to the second floor.

"Luweiya, you... oh, thank you very much, my state is a bit poor, otherwise I could have done it myself."

The princess made the Sleeping Princess and the Match Girl disappear, panting heavily and being supported by Luweiya. The female fortune teller glanced at Mia on her shoulder:

"Don't push yourself. What did you just do? How could your mental power consumption be so great? I have potions here... Also, is it necessary to thank me? In this house, we can also be considered sisters."

Princess Lei Qianya's face flushed slightly, not knowing what she was thinking. She took the potion with a minty taste and drank it in small sips. Luweiya said again:

"Hasn't Xia De finished this matter yet? I waited for a long time at the Prophecy Society, so I rushed over."

She walked upstairs with the blonde Miss. At the top of the stairs, they met Priest Ao Gu Si and Doctor Shi Nai De coming from upstairs and the other side of the corridor.

Both the old priest and the middle-aged doctor felt very surprised by Luweiya's appearance, but then they didn't feel particularly surprised; after all, theoretically, no one here should have appeared here tonight.

【Jack the Phantom Thief】 wearing a black trench coat was originally standing at the door of Room 1. Seeing the four people surrounding him, he decisively retreated back to Room 1 on the second floor. His footsteps still had no sound.

But when he re-entered the room and turned to look at the window, he was greeted by a fist and a scolding full of anger:

"Oh, you damn thief! You actually dare to take the initiative to appear!"

【Mortal's Luck】 Xia De Hamilton, entering the final battle stage.

"【Mortal's Luck】 Xia De Hamilton returned home and immediately keenly discovered that his home had been stolen. Roll the dice to determine if he discovered what the stolen item was. If the points exceed 90, gain a 20-point bonus for any checks related to 【Jack the Phantom Thief】 in the following steps."

"I want to declare!"

At the Prophecy Society, Iruna under the light looked at the parchment in her hand:

"Due to Hamilton's trait 【I Love My Home】, any check conducted in No. 6 St. Deran Square gains a 1.2x coefficient for the total value."

The people around all gasped, and from this, they thought of the rumors about that house.

Clang, clang, clang~

Iruna read out the number:

"55 points. Symbol point bonus 20 points..."

Because it enjoyed a 1.2 coefficient at this time, it was still eight points short. Iruna's eyes quickly swept over the content on the parchment. After Xia De returned to No. 6 St. Deran Square, the information in her hand was a full half more. For example, the trait of "I Love My Home" only appeared after Xia De entered the house. The seventeen-year-old girl understood from this what Luweiya often said about Xia De's obsession with that house:

"Special scene bonus - Hamilton Detective Agency, because he is doing detective-like work, provides an extra 20 points of inspiration bonus. Total points 95 x 1.2 = 114."

Although they knew that such a simple check could not fail, people still breathed a sigh of relief. After all, someone had rolled three 1s in a row just now, which showed that everything was possible in the story.

"The detective who returned home keenly discovered that the stolen item was the 'Knight Sword of Hamilton of Lei Jiede'. Although the detective was angry that he had been stolen from, this anger did not give him keener perception to find the top criminal hiding in his home. What will Xia De Hamilton do next?"

Iruna frowned and thought for a while:

"Do not give instructions, let him act randomly according to his own ideas."

After saying this, fearing being suspected, she added another sentence:

"That thief is definitely in the house, but with Hamilton's investigation, he can't find him. Instead of giving him ineffective instructions, it's better to wait for the thief to take the initiative. I don't believe he can hide for a whole night."

After waiting for a while, she didn't hear her companions behind her questioning this decision, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. The voice in the darkness continued to tell the story of the detective and the thief, and this story was about to come to an end:

"Looking around, pacing constantly, suppressing his complex mood of panic, guilt, anger, and anxiety, 【Mortal's Luck】 Xia De Hamilton could not understand his bad luck and was even more angry at losing his precious status symbol. He suppressed the thoughts in his heart, sat on the sofa trying to calm himself down, and after writing and drawing, finally decided to go to Liderwich Field to report the crime himself."

Everyone was watching the tabletop set. After Xia De entered No. 6 St. Deran Square, the original large area set disappeared, and now the tabletop blocks were stacked into the appearance of Xia De's home.

"The detective entered the bedroom and closed the door behind him, which would increase his sense of security. Perform an extra luck check; if it is higher than 350, discover the sound of the thief walking in the living room."

Clang, clang, clang~

"Check successful. The detective who was changing clothes keenly sensed the footsteps outside the door. He decided to walk out of the bedroom to take a look. Note, because the gun holster was left on the desk, this weapon cannot be used in the following steps."

A sigh came from behind Iruna, but the seventeen-year-old girl knew that this was Xia De deliberately not taking it.

"The night was slightly cold, and panic occupied the young detective's heart. He didn't know if the faint footsteps outside at this moment were just his hallucinations or a criminal who hadn't left yet, and at this moment, the image of the strange and evil monster that he had heard of in urban legends in the winter night in the distant past seemed to flash behind that door."

Iruna thought this psychological description was funny.

"He reached out and pushed open the bedroom door. The familiar and warm home now seemed incomparably strange. Even though the light of the gas lamp shone here, he still struggled to convince himself that everything was very normal when he took the first step."

"Did you find Jack the Phantom Thief? Should a check be performed?"

Iruna asked, and the hoarse voice telling the story responded:

"Xia De Hamilton came to the living room, checking the living room which actually had no clues at all. He found nothing, and then carefully came to the door of Room 1 on the second floor."

The voice paused imperceptibly, and then immediately said:

"Xia De Hamilton encountered 【Jack the Phantom Thief】 head-on, and the battle began."

Almost everyone held their breath, only Iruna sighed long, and the story finally reached its end.

————Side note————

PS: Actually, the five people in the group didn't have many opportunities to take action together. After all, the five people combined had almost no weaknesses. Only in this kind of occasion could the five people appear in one event together.

Of course, at the end of this volume, after Xia De enters the Middle Ring, he will face more dangerous things, and the frequency of the five people in the group acting together will be higher then.

I am considering who will participate in the final battle at the end of the volume when this volume ends. By the way, you can guess where the final battle of this volume is without a prize. ===== CHAPTER 973 =====