Chapter 3042 Why the Federation Was Born

A record of the year's good and ill fortunes naturally meant an almanac.

"Avoid Southwest, Suitable for Forging Ties." Back when Demigod Aike delivered that divinatory reading, Fu Qian had already marveled at the intense sense of déjà vu.

Under these circumstances, when Corvos pulled out a book, it inevitably drew his thoughts in that direction, even if it didn't have many pages.

Not to mention the man had a face identical to the "Serpent of Destiny."

Even though he hadn't specified exactly what kind of authority he wielded, however one looked at it, His Excellency Corvos had to have an inextricable bond with the concept of destiny.

For such a person to pull out an almanac was simply too fitting a picture.

Especially considering that in a place like the Birthday Party, destiny truly seemed faintly visible and tangible.

Among the heavyweights of the Night Watchers, Corvos very likely held a distinct host's advantage—this was the home court of home courts.

In short, it seemed he had run into a rather difficult host.

Sure enough, reacting to Fu Qian's answer, Corvos looked quite satisfied and even offered a word of comfort. "Heh... Don't worry. This place is located in the north of the Birthday Party."

That comfort contained a great deal of information. He was practically stating outright that he was fully aware of Professor Fu's hexagram for the day, to the point that he had taken it into consideration when choosing this meeting spot.

"And you're correct. The 'First Birthday' does indeed record every day of the year, though it requires some skill to decipher," he added, directly confirming Fu Qian's guess. Running his fingers across those bizarre geometric patterns, he signaled that it was perfectly normal not to understand them and there was no need to feel inferior.

"Understood," Fu Qian said. He naturally didn't harbor any such feelings, not to mention this wasn't his first time encountering a similar situation.

Previously, when he teamed up with the Witch to hunt the Precept Angel, the contents of the resulting Book of Precepts had also been nothing but unintelligible squiggles to him. He had already played the role of an illiterate once before.

"That is good. Now we can continue our previous topic," Corvos said, looking quite satisfied with Professor Fu's composure.

However, the overbearing side of someone who had long occupied the position of a higher entity was also on display. Forcefully cutting off the topic in a single second, he clearly hadn't forgotten that the reason he had wanted to move to a brighter spot earlier was because their chat had been too engrossing.

"Since the organization of the Night Watchers seems so unreasonable to you, what reason does Professor Fu think could possibly explain our existence?" he asked.

...

'Is he paying a bit too much attention to public perception?'

It had to be said that His Excellency Corvos's question was of a very high standard. But for him to care so much about the impression the Night Watchers gave people seemed somewhat unbefitting the style of the foremost violent organization.

Normally, shouldn't it be: "We Night Watchers do as we please; why must we explain ourselves to you?"

Regarding the answer to this question, however, Fu Qian actually did have some research results.

For instance, the sea of mind.

Over the past few days, this special place that rejected higher entities had increasingly demonstrated its extraordinary nature.

And the Night Watchers' excessive care for order, especially for ordinary humans, made it easy to draw a connection between the two.

They bore some weighty mission that had ultimately forged this sociological miracle.

But on the one hand, the topic of the sea of mind was even more sensitive than matters related to the Sacred Night Capital.

On the other hand, even if this motive were introduced, the core issue remained: grand beliefs didn't put food on the table. For an organization to maintain long-term stability, it had to rely on a rationally structured operating model.

A system designed on the premise that all its members were idealists was naive and would easily be put to the test as time passed.

According to what he had learned, it had been three hundred years since the Night Watchers stepped from behind the scenes into the light after the Long Night, forcefully organizing the Federation and establishing the current system.

Perhaps there were cases of factional opposition playing out right before his eyes, but by Fu Qian's criteria, their operation was already abnormally stable. It was still a sociological miracle.

"That is actually hard to say. Perhaps it has something to do with the driving force behind your sudden decision to go chat with the Laria Family back then?" Fu Qian said.

Ultimately, for the sake of everyone's health, he truly did not mention the sea of mind. Instead, he offered another reason, answering a question with a question.

It couldn't be helped; having many projects on hand simply gave one that kind of confidence.

The mortal dynasties had met their absolute end with the peaceful abdication of the Laria Family. This was historical common knowledge he had long since heard about.

Yet his research into this family over the past few days showed that the entanglements involved were incredibly complex.

The Mother of Gospel, the First Generation Dark Moon, Ji Feng and the Warehouse behind him, and even the White King inside the Birthday Party...

The interweaving of these various forces had clearly made this family a crucial node in the world's entire structure.

And the Night Watchers, who had kept a low profile for centuries after the Long Night, suddenly stopped biding their time. They stepped forward to restore order, ushering in a complete era of peace for ordinary people in the form of the Federation.

In Fu Qian's eyes, such a massive shift inevitably required an incredibly strong driving force to accomplish—one strong enough that it might explain the aforementioned "unreasonableness."

He had always been quite curious about this, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity now.

"Oh... So you really don't know what that driving force was?" Hearing this, however, a half-smile appeared on His Excellency Corvos's face as he also chose to answer the question with a question.

...

'I think I know what the driving force was. No wonder the Night Watchers seem to have an issue with the Warehouse.'

Though nothing had been explicitly said, it felt as if everything had been laid bare.

At that moment, Fu Qian shook his head inwardly, once again lamenting the abysmal working environment created by the Warehouse.

'You're actually asking me about the "driving force"?'

His Excellency Corvos's reaction was clearly hinting at far too much.

Why did he think the Night Watchers shouldn't be the ones being asked about the "driving force"?

Simple. Because the person asking was a Warehouse Manager.

Why shouldn't a Warehouse Manager ask?

Answer: Was it possible that, in his eyes, a Warehouse Manager should inherently know?

Indeed. Having directly asked how much SAN Value he had left earlier, His Excellency Corvos was undoubtedly quite certain of Professor Fu's identity. And regardless of how long he'd been on the job, there had to have been some sort of handover, right?

Professor Fu ought to have some grasp of the Warehouse's past glorious achievements, shouldn't he?

"Now I know," Fu Qian sighed, having no intention of playing dumb.

It was a pity. His Excellency Corvos had ultimately still overestimated the Warehouse's moral integrity.

Not only did it blindly delegate all the dirty and grueling work, it didn't even provide a list of victims.

Of course, Corvos's incredibly certain posture faintly indicated a few other things as well.

Namely, over the years, the Night Watchers seemed to have gained quite an understanding of the Warehouse's operational characteristics.

So much so that they were able to see through the unreasonable aspects of their own destiny, realizing it had been tampered with.

It was even highly likely that this was the exact specialty of the person sitting before him.