paranoianovel Chapter 12 Reading the Script
Chapter 12 Reading the Script
"May the Heavenly Venerable of Blessing and Prosperity bestow this revelation upon me. It was you who appeared to me in a dream, making me aware of the enormous crisis unfolding in Tingen. It was you who saved my life."
Evan spoke solemnly to the 'Fool' who was sitting upright in the chair.
Meanwhile, "The Fool" Klein was completely bewildered. When had he ever appeared in his dream? Could he even appear in dreams? How come he didn't know? He had only just transmigrated here a few days ago!
Wait... a few days ago? Could it be the dream he had the day I traveled through time?
The Fool straightened his posture and said in a casual tone:
"I haven't been interfering with reality lately. You dreamt of my honorific name, which you haven't used in a long time, on that day."
"It must be a great power related to you that helped me. I saw your name in a mysterious notebook from the Fourth Epoch, and naturally I could pronounce your name in this language that I had never heard before."
That notebook must have been yours, which is why it appeared to me in a dream, foretelling the future disaster in Tingen, allowing me to avoid it.
The astute Klein immediately grasped two key phrases: the mysterious notes from the Quaternary period and the future of the Tingen catastrophe.
Especially the "mysterious notebook," which immediately reminded Klein of the Antigonus notebook that triggered his original self's suicide.
Unexpectedly, this Antigonus Notebook was related to the "Heavenly Venerable of Blessing and Prosperity" who had caused him to travel to this world. Furthermore, those who had recently come into contact with the notebook should all be living in Tingen. Based on Evan's description, Klein concluded that Evan was a Tingen native.
With this judgment, Klein examined Evan again and felt that the somewhat blurry figure in front of him looked a little familiar.
Klein, who had just been promoted to 'diviner', recalled the strangers he had met in the past few days and quickly connected the person in front of him with his classmate, Evan Horn, who had been so audacious as to go to St. Serena's Church to fry fish that morning. The more he looked at the person, the more similar they seemed.
This discovery made Klein frown, because Evan Horn had been personally investigated by the captain and had not been exposed to the Antigonus Notebooks, but now it was proven that he had read the notes directly, which made him wary of Evan.
At the same time, he could not see Evan's astral body clearly, and the colors representing emotions on his etheric body were also chaotic and disordered, making it impossible to grasp Evan's emotions. The surrounding black and red colors made Evan seem as if he were shrouded in the smoke of a battlefield.
"You can now call me Mr. 'Fool.' Where did you see this notebook from? Do you know where it is now? As for the disaster you dreamed about, what was it like?" Klein asked Evan tentatively.
To Klein's surprise, Evan became even more respectful upon hearing the title "Fool."
"Does the title 'The Fool' have some special meaning?" Klein wondered for a moment.
"I saw this notebook at the home of Heinz Vancent, a 'diviner' I met at a occult conference, and at the time I did not realize that your great power was in this notebook."
After being given a dream through your power, I went to look for the notebook again, only to find out that he had sold it to my classmates Welch and Naya, who both committed suicide on the day I had the dream.
As he spoke, Evan glanced fearfully at the seated 'Fool,' then continued:
"Of course, this is not the fault of that notebook. Through the dream, I learned that someone was using high-level power to create all sorts of coincidences and to carry out a huge conspiracy. That notebook was just being used."
This involves another classmate of mine, Klein. Please forgive my skepticism about the dream and my doubt about your power.
To verify the truth of the dream prophecy, I went to the Church of the Night today and used some tricks to lure out the Night Watchman. I discovered that my classmate Klein had indeed joined them and was deeply involved in the conspiracy.
Two of my classmates have already lost their lives because of my negligence. Please bless my classmate so that he will not be harmed again, and so that the people of Tingen may be spared from disaster. I am willing to give everything for this, including my soul!
By the end, Evan was so emotional that he was almost incoherent. After he finished speaking, he stood respectfully in the magnificent palace, bowing his head and awaiting the judgment of the "Fool".
Klein was completely dumbfounded. He never expected that the story would come back to him. However, Klein eventually figured out what was going on.
That is, Evan read Antigonus's notes and was influenced by them to learn the name and Chinese pronunciation of "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun".
Later, on the night Welch and the others committed suicide, I had a dream about high-sequence powerhouses secretly stirring up trouble in Tingen, which involved Klein himself.
After evading the Night Watchers' scrutiny, he immediately took advantage of his newfound acquaintance with Captain Dunn, ostensibly to go fishing as a mystery enthusiast, but actually to verify whether the information about Klein in his dream was accurate.
After confirming Klein's condition, he became convinced of the accuracy of the dream and believed that since the Antigonus Notebook, which had given him the dream, had saved him from committing suicide like Welch and the others, it could certainly save Klein as well.
So in the end, he placed his hopes for saving his classmate Klein on the Antigonus Notebook and on the "Heavenly Venerable of Blessing and Prosperity" recorded therein.
And finally, he risked holding a ritual to contact himself, emphasizing that the notebook containing his power was being used by the mastermind to provoke the wrath of the "Fool".
From this perspective, Evan's emotions were not as intense as he appeared; he was still quite cunning. However, this flaw did not detract from his overall positive qualities, and Klein was still deeply moved.
"What a great classmate of the new era!" Klein couldn't help but admire. "In my past life, wouldn't my classmates have been worshipping him?"
But at the same time, Klein was also somewhat amused and exasperated. If he was really caught up in the conspiracy of a high-sequence powerhouse, then finding the 'Fool' wouldn't help!
The Fool is just a pitiful, weak, and helpless ordinary person who only stepped into the extraordinary path this morning. He is essentially a fraud, with no fighting ability whatsoever. How could he possibly save himself?
But Klein wasn't one to sit idly by and wait for his fate, so he chuckled lightly in a somewhat playful tone, guiding Evan's words:
"Don't get excited, tell me what kind of dream you had."
After thinking to himself, "You're such a show-off," Evan said what he had prepared in advance.
"My dream didn't contain much, but I still saw that high-sequence being writing a script that could manipulate people's fates, Mr. Fool."
I saw a script in my dream, written by the mastermind behind everything. I wonder if you would allow me to write it down and present it to you.
Klein was taken aback, but quickly found an idea.
Since the entire temple and hall on the gray fog were created according to my ideas, could I have someone else directly copy down what's in my mind?
Give it a try
The 'Fool,' seated in the chair, slowly spoke to Evan:
"Imagine a passage of text, feel an urgent desire to write it down, and then pick up a pen and write it on paper."
Without hesitation, Evan followed Klein's guidance, picked up the pen that appeared out of thin air, and began writing furiously on the paper that appeared out of thin air as well.
Soon, Evan wrote down what he had memorized, but omitted the name Ince Zangwell and the information about 'Lanius'.
Letting Klein know in advance that Ince Zangwill is behind this, and prematurely exposing the key figure of Lanluus, could very well provoke Ince Zangwill, which would be detrimental to Klein and would also be a disaster for the goddess and Adam. Therefore, Evan must selectively conceal the truth.
Klein took the contents written by Evan and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"It is a logical coincidence that the esoteric monk Riggins, under the combined influence of fatigue and hallucinations, mistakenly sold the Antigonus Family Notebook as a regular ancient book."
"Drawn by the bloodline of the Antigonus family, the notebook subtly influenced its various owners, eventually ending up in Tingen, where it fell into the hands of 'Hainasen Vancent,' a member of the Aurora Society who believed in the 'True Creator.'"
…………
"After a dark divination, the power of the Antigonus Family Notebook was fully awakened. Welch and his classmates died, and the survivor, Klein Moretti, driven by the notebook, delivered it to Riel Bieber's house. This was the inevitable ending."
(The following lines are drawn, followed by new content).
"It is puzzling and lacks sufficient reason that Klein Moretti did not commit suicide and survived, as did Evan Horn. However, no one noticed his connection to the Antigonus Notebook from beginning to end, so no relevant extraordinary person noticed that his supposedly successful suicide attempt had failed."
"Klein met Dunn Smith through Welch's case and joined the Night Watch team, while Evan Horn, who harbored a secret, was also investigated because of his relationship with Welch's classmate."
…………
"Evan Horn had planned to wait in Tingen for his brother, who would return in half a month, but his longing for Backlund prompted him to immediately go to the telegraph office while he was out for a walk and send a telegram to Backlund. This telegram was successfully sent, and it was clear that Evan Horn would soon set off from Tingen for Backlund."
Klein was shocked, feeling a chill rise from his tailbone to his forehead.
It turns out that everything the original owner encountered was preordained, and everything was proceeding according to the mastermind's plan, except for the two unexpected events involving herself and Evan.
Is this the power of a high-sequence strongman? It truly sends chills down one's spine.
I was the one who caused the script of the mastermind to go astray because of my time travel, but what about Evan? Was it because only I could see the black and red city phantom surrounding him?
If the mastermind's attitude towards Evan is to get him away from Tingen as soon as possible, what about his attitude towards himself? Will he also get him away from Tingen?
But if that's the case, it doesn't seem unacceptable. But then Klein remembered that Evan said the mastermind would cause a huge disaster for Tingen. Even if he was arranged to leave, what would happen to his brother and sister? What about the captain and old Neil?
Klein fell into deep thought and inner turmoil.