Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2391: Chapter 2386: Trigger

”You mean to say, Lisa actually isn’t a victim, and might even be the direct source of that influence?”

The subtle shift in Cass’s tone before and after was naturally picked up by Fu Qian with ease.

And he did not waste the reputation of ”having a handle on the situation”; he blinked once and quickly came to a conclusion.

Cass’s sigh contained quite a bit of information, like the real purpose behind putting Lisa in charge of managing Kaldora’s flesh.

It was far from just some sentimental arrangement based on their old connection; they really were using that connection from the start.

Professor Lisa’s condition wasn’t all that stable—this was something he had learned long ago.

For instance, she had to rely on the prohibition around her neck in order to maintain her current form for long periods of time.

And from what Cass meant, occasionally getting close, physical contact with Divine Blood and Flesh also had similar benefits.

It was just that human plans can’t keep up with Heaven’s; to make this work, Lisa had to stay at the Academy for a long time.

But the feng shui around the Academy turned out a bit off, leading to the unexpected situation before their eyes.

Fu Qian felt his reading comprehension was still functioning fine, but if that really was the case, then things had twisted into quite the roller coaster.

”A more accurate term would be trigger. Lisa alone isn’t nearly enough to cause something on this scale.”

And the next moment Cass indeed confirmed this, though he corrected a single word.

”Indeed, her condition still looks relatively stable.”

Fu Qian readily agreed, his gaze falling on Lisa’s face.

Though she still furrowed her brows in her sleep, just in terms of how she looked, she was much better off than Cass—not at all like a source of chaos.

Bear in mind, the old man was a Demigod in full, yet he had already shown direct signs of losing control.

Such tremendous power was hard to imagine being released straight from Lisa.

Her having flipped some switch somewhere was much more reasonable.

...

”That’s also what caught me off guard. After I came back, I went to see her immediately, and at the time every aspect was still perfectly normal.”

Sleeping Lisa clearly had no idea she was being scrutinized in unison by the two big shots of Heaven’s Commencement Institute.

And while expressing his firm agreement with Fu Qian’s assessment, Cass also let out a long sigh.

Clearly he found the current situation hard to digest—the feeling of a properly running system, firmly under control, having a glass of water suddenly poured over the mainframe.

But even so, not only had he acted as if nothing was wrong on the way here, even now he still refused to let the person involved know the role she had played; before talking about any of this, he made sure she was asleep.

”The fact that even now you can only infer something instead of directly sensing it already says enough.

”If you can’t feel the negative effects that have already occurred, then something earlier building up and finally reaching a qualitative change—it’s very normal you can’t sense that either.”

Feeling the dean’s protectiveness over the young one, Fu Qian shook his head and casually helped straighten out the logic.

”You’re right. That’s also why, after Lisa came to find me, I chose to come straight over with her.”

With communication flowing this smoothly, Cass looked quite gratified, and in the next moment he pointed out why this visit was happening at all.

”From what Lisa said, you once specifically asked her whether she’d come to report progress to me?”

And the old hand’s worldly instincts were indeed sharp; chatting as if offhand, Cass turned those vertical pupils on him, clearly quite certain Fu Qian wouldn’t say something pointless.

”I did have some guesses. And don’t worry—though the mentors at the Benevolence Institute have noticed a few things, for now no one else will be getting involved.”

Fu Qian did not disappoint; he simply nodded.

...

This was not just random talk; some of his earlier actions had indeed been deliberate.

Though at the time the situation was still far from clear, for Fu Qian, that was exactly where professionalism showed.

When all the elements and conditions are in place, making a decision really isn’t that hard.

Only by still grasping patterns and connections amid Chaos, by skillfully working with unknowns, probabilities, contingency plans, backup plans and such, can you truly prepare for the storm before it hits.

The advice he gave Lisa fell precisely into that category.

And looking at things now, it had indeed won them a certain window for handling the incident.

”That’s good. If too many people get dragged in, things can get messy—especially if the Night Watchman side steps in.”

He wasn’t just dropping hints on purpose; he even remembered to control the field as he went. This overly reliable performance of Professor Fu’s clearly left Cass very satisfied.

Given that so far, aside from him and Lisa, no obvious trouble had broken out yet, he naturally hoped to keep the situation within controllable bounds.

”As for the thing Lisa triggered, do you have any concrete thoughts?”

He didn’t waste any time; soon enough Cass went straight to the heart of it.

”Honestly I’m not entirely sure about the process, but I went over to the Benevolence Institute earlier today and happened to confirm one thing—that the area around the Academy has indeed been imbued with a certain special concept... a concept related to a Superior Being.

”That very likely is also why the earlier incident at the Benevolence Institute happened.”

On this, Fu Qian continued to share generously.

...

”A concept related to a Superior Being... that lines up with my thinking somewhat.”

Cass listened intently to Professor Fu’s latest research findings, and as he commented he studied his own hands.

Once Superior Beings are involved, the rank of a Demigod no longer amounts to much; the phenomenon of losing control suddenly became far more reasonable.

”But I still find it hard to picture how exactly it was triggered. I can only speculate that it has to do with Kaldora’s remnants. We still know far too little about the secrets of that kind of form.”

However, looking at the still-sleeping Lisa, he admitted there were things he still couldn’t quite grasp.

”That kind of Divinity is indeed very special.”

Fu Qian very much agreed with this assessment.

Leaving aside everything before, just from the Engraving Wisdom he had harvested a moment ago through Insight, he could feel how twisted it was.

”As for what role Lisa played in it, I do have an idea I’d like to test... can you wake her up?”

Pointing at the person in question, Fu Qian asked Cass for confirmation.

”Just wake her? I thought you’d at least be curious about Lisa’s nonhuman form.”

Cass showed rare surprise at that.

Not just because Professor Fu actually had a plan, but also because the request was so unexpectedly simple.

”It is related to that, actually—over here!”

Fu Qian only nodded slightly, then called out to the person who had just stirred.

Just like when he had hypnotized her moments ago, Cass’s hands moved fast; once he had confirmation, he instantly released Lisa from her state.

Mm...

She was clearly a little dazed, but with the two big shots of Heaven’s Commencement Institute standing guard, Professor Lisa’s sense of security was strong; she didn’t probe into it, and instead looked straight over at Fu Qian.

”Have your teeth recovered? Try biting me directly.”

The latter did not hesitate and made a suggestion full of self-inflicted abuse.