Chapter 2937: Give Her a Transfusion

His origins were mysterious, his thought process was peculiar, and he didn't even seem to have a particularly close relationship with the moon.

The Old Doctor before him was undoubtedly hard to figure out, possessing the detached air of a special guest.

Yet this special guest insisted on living and dying with the production crew?

Considering they had gotten along fairly well so far, Fu Qian didn't subject him to a harsh interrogation over these suspicious points. Instead, he chose to use Excellency Serana's fortune as a final probe.

"Give her a blood transfusion? Did you forget I said I don't treat locals?"

Sure enough, Excellency Serana wasn't very well-received. The Old Doctor immediately frowned.

"Of course I remember... So is that also a mission that appeared in your head after entering the dream?"

Fu Qian smiled and nodded, asking naturally as he followed up on their previous conversation.

"No... This is my personal preference."

Those words seemed to strain the Old Doctor's brain cells. After struggling to think for a moment, he shook his head.

Special treatment specifically for outsiders? It didn't even have anything to do with the theme of the dream?

'Well done, Excellency Serana. This actually yielded results,' Fu Qian thought, undoubtedly quite satisfied with this reaction.

Seeing that the Old Doctor seemed to harbor some doubts, he even offered a few words of comfort.

"I understand. Hobbies like yours are actually quite normal. On the outside, I know a group of people who call themselves the Night Watchers; they pay special attention to outsiders."

...

The Old Doctor might have ties to the Night Watchers.

After subtly prying and gaining a deeper understanding, this had become one of Fu Qian's leading theories.

The Night Watchers were aware of the concept of a Warehouse Manager. This had been verified long ago.

The clearest evidence of this was the observation project the Needle Witch, Kelin, had conducted around Eldest Miss Wen.

Yes, during that early mission to help Wen Li advance to Tier 6, the local Night Watchers had explicitly mentioned that their superiors held a subtle attitude toward her promotion.

His first reaction at the time had been to attribute it to Eldest Miss Wen's unique constitution.

The Night Watchers had noticed some clues regarding that possession-like advancement and the dangers it entailed. Consequently, they had decided not to help, preparing instead to strike her down if necessary.

That explanation had seemed perfectly reasonable. However, his subsequent experiences made that theory feel a bit shallow—the Sufferer. The Divine Path Wen Li walked had proven to be highly unusual, which seemed to add another layer of reasoning as to why the Warehouse had sent him to help her back then.

Following that came a logic rooted in reverse engineering: Could the Night Watchers have known about the Warehouse's tendencies in this regard?

As established, the Night Watchers knew the Warehouse existed.

Putting himself in their shoes, an organization with such overbearing strength and vast intelligence networks could absolutely conduct systematic observations and analyses to uncover certain patterns.

For example, they could determine the circumstances under which a Warehouse Manager was more likely to appear.

Given that premise, could their strategy of "quietly observing changes" around Eldest Miss Wen have actually been a baiting tactic?

And they had indeed caught a fish.

Ever since then, he had been under their scrutiny.

To be blunt, the "push-and-pull theory" he had mentioned to Old Man Henry earlier was built entirely on the premise of this concern.

Fu Qian had never deluded himself into thinking he could remain perfectly hidden from such a behemoth.

His strategy for dealing with the Night Watchers had always been crystal clear: exposure was inevitable, so he had to control the pace of that exposure as much as possible, keeping their execution threshold constantly chasing just behind him.

In short, he and the Night Watchers had actually been engaged in a "spiritual exchange" for quite some time now. Their special treatment of outsiders was an obvious fact, one that neatly aligned with the Old Doctor's treatment philosophy.

In addition to that, there was even a precedent to reference—the special custodian back in the Deity Burial Ground.

Granted, since Annalise wasn't born with a Heaven-Reaching pattern, the place before him shouldn't be the Deity Burial Ground.

But a focal point for special powers, a solitary custodian, an abnormal mental state... When you combined these elements, the sense of déjà vu was simply too strong. That was what had prompted his gradual, step-by-step probing just now.

"The Night Watchers, hehehe..."

However, the Old Doctor's reaction in that moment was truly rather unique.

After repeating the name Fu Qian had brought up, a distinct hint of mockery seeped into his ensuing laughter.

"You understand nothing."

A moment later, he even turned to look at Fu Qian and launched a personal attack.

"My knowledge is indeed rather shallow."

Of course, such an attack had absolutely no effect on Fu Qian.

True masters always possessed the heart of an apprentice. In that moment, he simply nodded in agreement, expressing that the mysteries of the Transcendent Tier were vast as the ocean and he still had a long way to go. Naturally, the Old Doctor's excessively rigid attitude wasn't exactly good news.

It seemed it would be quite difficult to persuade the man to follow his suggestion.

As for violent persuasion?

For one thing, the man was already on the verge of death. For another, his mental state looked so fragile it might shatter at a single touch; he simply lacked the necessary resilience to survive a harsh interrogation—

"But the Night Watchers did invite me to their headquarters for an academic exchange, you know."

Faced with this thorny situation, Fu Qian genuinely didn't resort to violence. Instead, he simply continued speaking in a natural tone, even adopting a somewhat smug demeanor.

It was as if he were saying that while his professional skills might be lacking, his networking abilities were top-notch, and he had already earned official recognition.

"And it wasn't just once, either. Several people have repeatedly invited me. I have no choice but to adjust my schedule and make the trip in a couple of days."

A high degree of recognition, even.

...

"Interesting."

By all logic, someone with the Old Doctor's rigidly upright personality shouldn't have fallen for such a trick.

Yet, after a moment of silent scrutiny, he actually nodded and stood up.

"If that's the case, let's test out your idea and see how it goes."

He then took the Blood Collection Bottle in hand and walked step by step into the center of the courtyard, stopping right where the werewolf had been standing.

"Thank you for the trouble."

Seeing this, Fu Qian offered a polite courtesy, feeling none of the surprise of someone who had stumbled upon a lucky windfall.

Relying on luck at any given time was simply irresponsible behavior. The shift in attitude before him was no accident; it was a victory born from days of academic reasoning.

To an insider, the concept of an "invitation from the Night Watchers" was actually highly subtle and carried immense impact.

As an overarching, top-tier organization, they would normally either recognize your talent and immediately recruit you, or deem you a threat and instantly squash you like a bug.

This sort of somewhat ambiguous, highly permissive courtesy was something that would be incredibly difficult for anyone to just make up.

The fact that he was receiving it could only be attributed to the abundant fruits borne from his stellar performance over the past few days.

Therefore, regardless of the Old Doctor's true identity—whether he was allied with the Night Watchers or opposed to them—introducing such a novel concept was bound to leave an impression. When dealing with someone so stubbornly set in their ways, this approach was far more effective than ordinary persuasion.

Naturally, the sheer effectiveness of the final result made it a resounding success.

Within the Bottom Layer of the Dream, one truly had to make good use of "concepts."

'Wait a minute, isn't your transfusion method a bit too brutal?'

Amidst his musings, an astonishing scene unfolded in his line of sight.

He watched as the Old Doctor faced the empty air in front of him. Clutching the medicine bottle in one hand, the old man raised his terrifying Scythe—one that had never actually hacked anyone before—high into the air with the other, and violently slashed it down.