Chapter 3034 An Old Friend's Handiwork

Adept at doubting, adept at elimination.

Old Man Henry's encounter was simply too coincidental to be a genuine coincidence.

And if it wasn't a genuine coincidence, some power had to be deliberately orchestrating it from the shadows.

Figuring out exactly who was pulling the strings seemed easy enough. After all, at first glance, only one power appeared to be involved—the Abyss, right?

Wrong. As a cat serving two masters, the old man inherently represented two distinct powers.

Not to mention that one side—Blazing Rainbow—already had a history of scheming against the other.

And while the Abyss represented chaos and frenzy, it had never actually shown much aggressive intent.

As for Excellency Blazing Rainbow, although He also kept a low profile, there was a massive influencing factor to consider: His relationship with Fu Qian himself.

Although they hadn't truly come to blows, neither of them would mind casually screwing the other over to the point of death if the opportunity arose.

Therefore, if this wasn't a coincidence, the probability of Blazing Rainbow pulling the strings was actually much higher than the Abyss doing so.

There was even an extra little detail that supported this conclusion.

If Fu Qian could tell something was wrong at a glance, how could an experienced veteran of the jianghu like Old Man Henry not realize it? He had finally made the difficult trip back, hadn't even had time to catch a nap, and the very thing he'd been monitoring suddenly mutated?

Furthermore, while the Abyss was certainly formidable, the Night Watchers had dared to use a place like the Birthday Party as their headquarters. How could they not have a single countermeasure prepared?

Yet as a result, not only had Old Man Henry failed to seek backup, but he had also stubbornly chosen a method with zero room for maneuver—throwing his own body into the breach—without even sending out a message first?

It was tragic and heroic, sure, but thinking it over carefully, it also seemed incredibly irrational.

As for what caused Old Man Henry's illogical reactions, one only had to look back at another piece of Blazing Rainbow's past handiwork.

Back in the Sacred Night Capital, Fu Qian had barely stepped off the plane and hadn't even gotten to enjoy the nightlife before Henry showed up at his door, ultimately leading to a massive fight.

Compared to Henry's usual paralyzed-with-laziness demeanor, that had undoubtedly been extremely abnormal.

Later events proved that it had all been part of Excellency Blazing Rainbow's strangulation plot.

And despite having his actions directly manipulated, Henry himself hadn't felt the slightest thing wrong the entire time.

Comparing that incident with what lay before his eyes, didn't it bring a strong sense of déjà vu?

It wasn't a case of near ink, one gets stained black—he hadn't been infected by his student's stupidity. The old man's mind simply wasn't his own; he was unconsciously following a prearranged script.

Staring at the curled-up cat inside the red fog, Fu Qian entertained an even bolder thought: Did the Abyss leak first, or did the old man set up his resistance here first?...

The chicken or the egg had always been a classic problem.

If the above guess held true, it easily answered his initial doubts.

Namely, the Abyss hadn't appeared by coincidence. Instead, under Blazing Rainbow's subtle guidance, the old man had actively triggered this anomaly himself.

Which led to the next question: how did he trigger it?

Considering Henry's status as an Abyss Pledger, the process shouldn't have been too difficult.

However, what happened just now was clearly bizarre. Why couldn't they see anything before, yet the moment the long-haired man delivered a kick, both the Abyss and the cat materialized?

By applying the control variable method, the difference between the before and after states was glaringly obvious: the first time they passed by here, the long-haired man hadn't yet been driven insane by Fu Qian.

In other words, there was reason to suspect that the awareness of this "leak" had only sprouted in the long-haired man's mind after he had been tortured to his absolute limit.

Why?

This actually touched upon a technical issue: how did Old Man Henry normally conduct his surveillance?

Did he just run over whenever he saw red fog swirling? Or did he rely purely on his connection and sensory resonance with the Abyss? The former seemed far too oblivious, but if it were the latter, he wouldn't have needed to deliberately find a vantage point with such a good line of sight.

Therefore, Fu Qian leaned more toward the idea that Henry's surveillance relied on his vision, but it wasn't as simple as just watching for red fog—he was observing the Crowd.

Indeed, when standing atop the Clock Tower and gazing down, this was the very first thing that came to Fu Qian's mind.

They were far more than just meaningless NPCs. They might be chaotic, and they might be fickle, but these people could essentially be considered the external manifestation of the structures themselves. Every shift and intersection in their flow was like a beating pulse, reflecting the changes within.

And as everyone knew, Blazing Rainbow was the ultimate energy conservation enthusiast. If something could be accomplished with an ounce of effort, He would absolutely never spend two.

So, by trying to put himself in Blazing Rainbow's shoes, Fu Qian could easily imagine a few possible methods—

Such as subtly guiding the Crowd, tricking the old man on the Clock Tower into thinking a problem had occurred.

Then, after the old man rushed over at top speed, his own special constitution would actually induce the very problem he feared.

If that was the case, the young couple's inexplicable behavior of wandering into a place like this finally made sense. Because they were pawns, too.

It even explained why Fu Qian's group hadn't noticed the Abyss earlier—because the Abyss simply hadn't appeared yet.

Right up until just now, the leak Old Man Henry had imagined hadn't become reality.

His delusions had even caused him to sink into some sort of "false plane." It wasn't until the young couple had been driven mad by Fu Qian, sparking a "flame" in their "will" that ignited everything, that the false had finally become real.

'Did He even factor this professor into His calculations? As expected of Excellency Blazing Rainbow.'

Marveling at this potential scheme, Fu Qian bent down to feel the surging red fog from up close.

It was a pity he was no longer a Blank-Slate Demigod; the red fog didn't show any special interest in the hands of a Mechanical Tyrant.

'So the crux isn't here? Then what could Excellency Blazing Rainbow's true objective be?'

Fu Qian wasn't blindly full of himself. Mainly, Blazing Rainbow ought to be quite clear about the relationship between Henry, his student, and Fu Qian.

He would also know that if anything happened to Old Man Henry, Yuan Shan would definitely seek out Fu Qian.

So in Fu Qian's eyes, whatever scheme Excellency Blazing Rainbow had cooked up, He had certainly reserved a spot in it for him.

'The only question is, what kind of spot? Am I really just free labor?'

Click, click—

Right amidst Fu Qian's brainstorming, an unusual sound drifted over from the side.

Catching the movement from the corner of his eye, he realized the noise was coming from Madam Three-Eyed's hands. Stripped of her previous quiet elegance, she was frantically pressing the broken Pocket Watch, making it click and clack as she repeated the exact same motion over and over again.

'She found the Abyss, but not her husband?'

As someone relatively well-versed in her story, Fu Qian easily empathized with her sudden anxiety.

Madam Three-Eyed had clearly pinpointed the right location, but unfortunately, the Wanderer—the Abyss Knight—hadn't answered the call—

"Don't panic, let me give it a try."

Seeing that Madam Three-Eyed looked ready to hurl herself right into the pool of the Abyss, Fu Qian casually offered this word of comfort.

Hmm...

For the very first time, Madam Three-Eyed turned around in dead earnest and stared at Fu Qian.

"I can't guarantee the results."

Under her intense gaze, Fu Qian gestured for her not to get her hopes up as he took off Annalise's Lies, just as he had done back in Chaumont's Small Shop.

Except this time, a Scarlet Angel was instantly ripped straight out from the pattern symbolizing the Crimson Frenzy, plunging directly into the pool.