Chapter 3062 High Spirits from Wine

Three venues before it was even evening? This standard of hospitality truly left no room for complaints.

The rustling pages of the "First Birthday" made a classic sound. The moment it reached his ears, the scenery before him transformed.

Seeing how much His Excellency Corvos respected the concept of a painless end—to the point of instantly dismissing the second venue's setting without wasting a single word—Fu Qian couldn't help but marvel.

'I don't care if you are some destined noble, how much scheming or conflicting interests are involved, or even if you possess earth-shattering devotion—before me, it is all nothing but fleeting clouds passing before one's eyes.'

Regardless of whether he was the Serpent of Destiny or not, this old man truly possessed the demeanor of a master of destiny.

So much so that the fate of that predecessor from back then was looking increasingly grim.

His Excellency Corvos's abilities—whether or not he needed to rely on the Birthday Party to achieve these effects—undoubtedly countered the administrators to some extent.

On one hand, by leveraging bonds at the level of destiny, he could easily see through disguises.

In fact, the Serpent of Destiny had already demonstrated this once during the Nightmare Corridor mission; its very first words upon meeting had exposed that Fu Qian wasn't the true King of the Abandoned Prison.

On the other hand, he possessed genuine oracle-like abilities, such as foreseeing destiny.

In short, if one believed Corvos's claim that he had deliberately arranged for the Birthing Axe to fall into the hands of the Ji Clan, then the predecessor who brought the axe from another world had likely found it very difficult to escape the "judgment of justice."

...Some partnerships only lasted as long as there was wealth to share.

As mentioned earlier, although that predecessor had found the axe, they had missed the Bronze Madam.

In other words, that operation back then hadn't been very successful at its core; Old Man Ji's maxim was never found.

And Corvos's subsequent actions clearly carried the intention of squeezing out some residual value since the plan had been less than ideal.

If the Birthing Axe could be exploited for its residual value, why wouldn't that predecessor be?

Given the Night Watchers' attitude toward a Warehouse Manager, the probability of a friendly partnership between them was exceedingly low.

When their collusion failed to yield the desired results, squeezing the marrow from each other's bones was the most normal course of action.

In short, after confirming that Corvos knew of Ji Feng's existence, running through the entire sequence of events once more revealed no contradictions with his earlier theories.

First of all, everything still traced back to that apocalypse nineteen years ago, when Ji Feng went mad from the sparring between left and right...

Then, some kind of contingency he left behind was discovered by his successor, leading them to collude with the Night Watchers in a joint development effort through details that remained unknown...

However, the project was unsuccessful, and they only managed to retrieve a single family planning tool...

Unable to find Ji Feng's legacy, the partnership fell apart. Corvos then took their sole harvest to exploit its residual value on his own... And it had actually borne fruit, baiting out the "unspeakable" secrets of another administrator...

It had to be said, this Serpent of Destiny was shaping up to be the lifelong nemesis of any Warehouse Manager.

Rapidly organizing his thoughts, Fu Qian couldn't help but sigh.

Previously, a predecessor had stumbled at the hands of the one in the Nightmare Corridor, which drastically increased the difficulty of his own subsequent missions.

Right before his eyes was yet another godawful precedent, one that had helped His Excellency Corvos establish a certain degree of informational advantage.

Putting himself in those shoes, the theme of this third venue became all the more highly anticipated—though it seemed remarkably ordinary?

Amid his brainstorming, he had already scrutinized the new setting, and it didn't look particularly pleasing.

With the disappearance of the Silver Mist Manor, the building that appeared before his eyes was considerably shabbier by comparison.

Not only did its style pale in comparison, but even its size could hardly be called magnificent.

Ordinary dimensions, ordinary furnishings. At a glance, it was hard to pick out any special features. Calling it a Night Watchers office wouldn't be wrong at all—was it possible that it actually was?

Fu Qian's expression didn't change in that moment, but an ominous premonition swelled in his chest.

Especially after spotting a Burlap Doll dressed in bloodstained clothes on a nearby wooden desk...

He knew it. How could a reception personally hosted by His Excellency Corvos suddenly drop the ball?

Quickly combining the elements before his eyes, Fu Qian vaguely seemed to guess the theme of this third venue.

The Burlap Doll was, of course, the work of His Excellency Needle Witch, possessing a level of ugliness that could be patented.

So much so that, combining this with the previous mention of an office, had they arrived at His Excellency Needle Witch's workplace?

Of course not.

While that Excellency was certainly mysterious, the place where she slaved away truly lacked any connection with him.

Not to mention that her critical office space would most likely never allow the "Crowd" to come and go so freely.

Yes, on one hand, in the room at this moment, apart from that Burlap Doll, not even a single familiar face could be seen.

On the other hand, besides the five-person group acting as the audience, there were actually quite a few other faces.

He didn't recognize a single one of them, and almost none of them seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the audience.

Yes, the Crowd. A Crowd even livelier than the one over at Drifting Street, giving the scene before him the distinct vibe of a trending tourist spot.

Then if it wasn't His Excellency Needle Witch's office, whose would it be—Jiang Mingxue's?

Gazing at the Burlap Doll sitting there, Fu Qian found it rapidly overlapping with a certain scene in his memory, bringing to mind a certain old subordinate of His Excellency Needle Witch.

Yes, West Plain.

The last time he incarnated as Grimshaw and revisited the place that had once birthed the Ill Omen, a certain bad-tempered Night Watchers captain had already been promoted to oversee West Plain's affairs.

And on her desk sat a precious artifact gifted by her old superior, meant to provide guidance at critical moments.

Furthermore, since many matters were handed over to the Huang Clan for joint management, the Night Watchers Base in West Plain not only had few personnel, but its architectural style was also rather plain, far from magnificent.

Of course, aside from the first two points, there was one paramount reason—after the Record of True Transcription incident, West Plain was no longer a holy land for retirement. On the contrary, it had become a highly sensitive location.

Whether the Needle Witch's actions over there had been exposed was the very culprit behind the tense relationship between her, himself, and even Chief Yuan; it was also the core of their recent maneuverings.

His Excellency Corvos choosing this place for the third venue was no slight at all. On the contrary, he was finally serving the main course, revealing the dagger hidden in the map.

After all, forces acted mutually. The very act of using this place to test Professor Fu equally exposed the fact that Corvos was well aware of the matters in West Plain.

And if Fu Qian was also in the know, that meant Fu Qian now knew that Corvos knew...

"Apologies for the crudeness. Are you satisfied with this place, Professor Fu?"

Corvos's face still showed no trace of anything unusual, and he made no effort to hide his familiarity with the place. He simply found a random seat, sat down, and casually called out.

"How could I be? In my eyes, this standard of hospitality is entirely too grand."

How could Professor Fu be remiss in his manners? As he sized up the room, he followed suit and sat down, insisting that his host was being far too polite.

"Oh? Too grand how?"

The pleasantries, however, were not yet over. Corvos asked the question casually.