Chapter 2954: Unintentional Masterstroke

Noon. The Nest of the Night Watch known as the Birthday Party.

After a brief, leisurely stroll, the banquet's receptionist finally made a belated appearance.

A single glance revealed a familiar face—none other than Excellency Logan, whom he had hit it off with back in Shangjing and subsequently fought alongside on two separate occasions.

Judging by his appearance, Old Man Henry's previous assessment was completely spot-on.

Despite staring straight into the sun, braving the Unseen Hill, and enduring that bizarre phenomenon where one Qi transforms into the Three Pure Ones... Excellency Logan had weathered every hardship and ultimately achieved a positive outcome.

Not only had he fully recovered his former bearing, but he now carried an almost otherworldly grace.

He remembered the man once saying he hoped to reach Tier 2 within ten years; by the looks of it, he wouldn't need nearly that long.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mister Fang."

It seemed that not only had his Rank advanced, but his personal temperament had evolved as well.

Logan's feelings toward the guest standing before him were undoubtedly complicated; his slightly heavy expression was proof enough.

Yet, after some mental preparation, he had not only returned Fu Qian's greeting but even managed to use an honorific for the very first time.

"Excellency Henry."

He then offered separate greetings to Yuan Shan and her teacher. It was clear he still viewed Old Man Henry as a senior figure and didn't dare show any disrespect.

"Stoss is tied up and couldn't get away, so he asked me to receive you in his stead."

Turning to lead the way and gesturing for the three to follow, Logan continued to explain his presence here.

...

'Excellency Stoss is busy?'

'Sure enough, being a Night Watcher isn't an easy job. Even someone in upper management still has to toil away every day.'

"It's no problem. My arrival was rather sudden."

Replying to Logan's explanation, Fu Qian kept his tone and posture completely relaxed, as though he were just dropping by for a casual stroll.

In all fairness, it was a bit strange for Logan to be playing the receptionist here.

Although the Night Watchers had repeatedly displayed a friendly willingness to engage, the formal host of this Hongmen banquet was supposedly Stoss.

Even if Stoss wasn't available, having the demigod Aike act as receptionist would have made far more sense.

Judging by his words, the upper echelons of the Night Watchers were collectively quite busy lately—Excellency Father's Amnion? Having interacted with the Evaluation Council for a while, Fu Qian easily thought of a likely reason.

Indeed, he just so happened to know of a few projects the Night Watchers might be busy with right now.

For example, Father's Amnion—a subject he had personally helped draft the initial proposal for, and onto whom bucket after bucket of dirty water had been poured.

Given the special certification previously provided by the Warehouse, Excellency Amnion had genuinely been taken down by treacherous villains.

Even with that entity in poor condition, pulling off such a feat would still require the Council to expend a tremendous amount of effort.

As a relatively active member, it was perfectly normal for Excellency Stoss to be out on this field assignment.

Aike's absence served as circumstantial evidence supporting this theory; she was, after all, the head of the "Finger Orb" project.

Even if her combat strength was slightly lower, if the goal was to encircle and annihilate a Pleasure Spreader, there was a high probability she would participate.

Under these circumstances, Logan—who had just recovered from a severe illness—was likely one of the few Night Watchers with any free time. Plus, he and Fu Qian were at least somewhat acquainted.

"You did arrive faster than I expected."

However, the downside of employing an amateur quickly revealed itself. Old Man Logan had evidently exhausted his meager repertoire of polite pleasantries.

In response to Fu Qian's remark, he turned around, conveying his sentiments with a deeply meaningful expression.

The subtext could easily be interpreted as, "You're even more unafraid of death than I imagined."

"...My teacher and I happened to need to make a trip back here anyway."

It was the very embodiment of an awkward conversation. Faced with this suddenly stiff atmosphere, Chief Yuan—the only person present who still understood basic social graces—stepped in with slight embarrassment to smooth things over.

Her excuse wasn't even perfunctory. While she might not wander back for no reason, Old Man Henry's face, sporting what looked like heavy smoky makeup, was already conspicuous enough.

"...Unfortunately, Speaker Soral is also absent. You may have to wait here for a few days, Excellency."

His attention forcibly diverted, Logan once again looked Henry up and down before delivering another piece of unfortunate news.

...

'Soral? The one who revealed the name of the "Meria Flower Ball"?'

Given that Logan had directly included his official title, Fu Qian easily matched the name to his memories.

'So the person helping Old Man Henry maintain his condition is none other than the current Speaker of the Night Watchers?'

He had to admit, the perks for this retired comrade were quite impressive. Excellency Logan's words held a massive amount of information, and Fu Qian listened with keen interest.

Moreover, with even the Speaker absent, the Night Watchers Base's defenses appeared to be somewhat hollow.

Connecting the dots, the turbulent situation he had stirred up had also contributed to this emptiness.

If someone were to take advantage of this opportunity to unleash a storm of blood and carnage, it would be a brilliant masterstroke of luring the tiger away from the mountain.

"What about Corvos?"

It was hard to say whether he knew Professor Fu was silently plotting a grand scheme in his head, but Old Man Henry clearly didn't care much about his healer's absence. He simply snorted and brought up another name.

"...Excellency Corvos keeps his whereabouts rather concealed. I'm not sure if he is present at the moment."

Regrettably, this particular inquiry did not receive a concrete answer.

Logan hesitated for a moment, his tone somewhat helpless.

Furthermore, despite his usually rebellious and untamed nature, Logan appeared surprisingly serious and respectful when mentioning this name, acting even more cautious than he had when bringing up Speaker Soral.

"Figured as much."

Old Man Henry formed a stark contrast. As he sneered, his expression practically dripped with disdain.

"It's fine. I haven't been back in a while anyway."

Such a blunt attitude undoubtedly plunged his beloved disciple back into awkwardness.

Seeing that even Excellency Logan had fallen silent, Chief Yuan tirelessly continued to smooth things over, stating that she planned to give a thorough report on her recent work.

"Do you have any plans for your itinerary?"

Unfortunately, as the saying went: if you fear awkwardness, you will encounter endless amounts of it.

Noncommittal toward her statement, Excellency Logan seemed to finally recall his duties for this trip and turned his gaze back to Fu Qian.

...

'So as the receptionist, your method of working is to ask the guest what plans they have?'

At that moment, although Yuan Shan still had a smile plastered across her face, Fu Qian could clearly sense the mental and physical exhaustion behind it.

Tasked with managing the atmosphere for three absolute social disasters, the pressure of her job was obviously immense.

"Of course I do."

Fortunately, whenever Fu Qian was a guest, he genuinely always came with his own plans.

"I plan to go take a look at the Tower over there, because I have one too."

He then gestured toward the peculiar structure he had spotted earlier. His tone was full of nouveau-riche arrogance, entirely unbothered by the fact that he was exposing another one of his identities.

"Then, if I have time, I'd like to visit an old acquaintance."

Hmm...

"Who?"

Seemingly taken aback by how packed Fu Qian's itinerary was, Logan clearly began to brainstorm.

"I believe her name is Lily."

Fu Qian simply searched through his memory.