No. 6 Daffodil Street, 1 AM.
The lights in the living room were still on. Two stunningly beautiful women sat on the sofa, seemingly waiting for something.
Unlike the mature, calm red-haired woman, the younger black-haired girl appeared restless, constantly glancing toward the front door.
"Don't worry, your brother has already succeeded. He's on his way back now."
The blood-red-haired woman, Miss M, said gently.
One of her golden eyes had now turned azure blue, her gaze seeming to transcend the barriers before her.
"Mm, he's already reached the entrance of Daffodil Street. Just a few more meters and he'll be home."
Before she finished speaking, the black-haired Cecilia immediately stood up and walked quickly toward the entrance hall.
Just as Cecilia arrived, the door opened from outside. She saw her brother Silas walk in carrying a briefcase.
His handsome face was somewhat pale, his spirits not very good. His steps were unsteady as he entered, as if he could barely carry the briefcase.
"Silas!"
Seeing this, Cecilia hurried forward to take the case from Silas's hands.
"I'm fine."
Silas smiled, not letting his sister touch what was inside.
On the way back, his injuries had healed as expected.
But as compensation, intense hunger had surged within him, as if wanting to hollow out his body from the inside.
"Dear sister, I'm starving. Is there anything to eat at home? Preferably meat, something tender."
"I'll go check the kitchen right away."
Cecilia said, turning toward the kitchen.
Silas sent his sister away, then walked to Miss M with the briefcase and opened it on the table.
In one corner of the case were several boxes piled up, giving off a bloody smell. These were the witch's organs he had extracted.
He didn't want his sister to see them and planned to put them away separately later, preserving them with a ritual to ensure freshness. On the other side of the case were the items taken from Madam Sharon.
Besides some ladies' items and a small amount of cash, three items were most conspicuous.
One was the Beyonder characteristic that had precipitated from Sharon's body after death.
It was a deep purple crystal, translucent and lustrous, from which one could faintly hear ambiguous soft murmurs.
Another special item looked like a sharp spike, colored like black iron, yet felt light when picked up.
Silas's spiritual intuition told him this should also be a Beyonder characteristic.
As for the remaining item, it was what Miss M had asked Silas to bring her: a bottle containing red liquid, extracted from the life force of numerous deceased in Tingen City.
Silas had once seen Madam Sharon use it to repair her wounds.
"Here, what you wanted."
He took out the bottle, placed it on the table, and then closed the briefcase.
Miss M took the small bottle.
Silas watched her movements. He saw Miss M open the cap and drink all the liquid inside in one gulp.
Blood-red light appeared on her body's surface. She couldn't help but lower her head, trembling as she let out a soft hum. After a moment, she gradually recovered.
Silas's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Releasing the restrictions on his hearing, he discovered the sound of tearing flesh and blood from Miss M's body had diminished, no longer as intense as before.
As expected, she was using that bottle of liquid to heal herself.
Though he had already guessed this would be the case, it was such a pity he couldn't add poison to it.
"Are you regretting not putting deadly poison in there?"
Miss M asked with a light laugh, as if seeing through Silas's thoughts.
"Of course not."
Silas lowered his eyes. "You still have bombs planted inside my sister and me. As long as you don't die immediately from poison, you'd have enough time to kill us."
Besides, Shepherds had vigorous vitality and were so hard to kill. In such a short time, he simply couldn't find any drug that would poison her instantly.
"That's right. I'm very pleased you're so sensible."
Miss M smiled. "As a reward for completing my request, what would you like?"
A reward?
Hearing Miss M say this, Silas couldn't help but freeze.
She wants to give me a reward. Does she really want to give a reward, or does she have ulterior motives?
"What's wrong? Don't you trust me?"
Miss M said.
Silas said nothing.
"What a shame. Well then, how about I teach you some advanced knowledge about potions, or rather, Beyonder characteristics?
This kind of thing, the Church of Evernight won't tell you." Seeing Silas's ambiguous attitude, Miss M said with a sigh.
"You should already know about the acting method, so let me teach you the three laws of Beyonder characteristics."
Miss M said.
Silas had no objection. He accepted the white bread and black tea Cecilia had prepared to tide him over, eating while listening to Miss M slowly explain the three laws.
The three great laws of Beyonder characteristics were: Indestructibility, Conservation, and Convergence.
Indestructibility meant Beyonder characteristics couldn't be destroyed and would precipitate from dead Beyonders.
Conservation meant the total amount of characteristics remained constant. And Convergence meant characteristics of the same sequence had a tendency to gather together.
In his previous experiences, Silas had vaguely recognized some of these patterns. Now, hearing Miss M's explanation, he suddenly understood completely.
No wonder dead Beyonders precipitate characteristics. It's because characteristics don't perish. Wait a minute, if that's the case...
"Then the main ingredient for the Listener you provided me before, could it be..."
"That's right, it was precisely a characteristic precipitated from a Listener who died previously."
Miss M said without concern.
Silas's expression changed slightly, his eating motion pausing, but very quickly he returned to normal, continuing to pick up the white bread, dip it in butter, and eat it, occasionally sipping his black tea.
"Additionally, among the items you took from that witch, there's an Assassin's Beyonder characteristic," Miss M smiled.
"If you know what the supplementary ingredients are, perhaps you could have your sister take it and become a Beyonder... Did you divine the potion formula from the witch through a séance?"
Silas recalled briefly and knew she was referring to that sharp, black, iron-colored crystal.
Madam Sharon was a Beyonder of the Demoness Pathway. Having a low-sequence Beyonder characteristic wasn't strange at all.
But, having Cecilia become a Beyonder...
He hesitated momentarily.
Just then, Silas heard a sound nearby. Cecilia was bringing out the prepared food and placing it on the table. She must have heard Miss M's words, or rather, the latter had deliberately let her hear.
"Brother, is an Assassin an offensive type of Beyonder?"
She prepared Silas's utensils while asking.
"...Yes, indeed it is."
Silas replied.
"I see... Then, brother, if possible, I also want to become a Beyonder."
After tidying up, Cecilia simply sat down beside Silas, looking seriously into his eyes with her equally azure gaze, and said this.