LOTM: Paradox Pathway

"Mr. A actually arrived in Tingen so quickly?!" Klein didn't conceal the shock on his face, because the others were all equally astonished by the arrival of a "legendary" Sequence 5 in Tingen.

In a small place like Tingen, the highest-level Beyonder that everyone had seen was Captain, who was a Sequence 7. Only a very few had been fortunate enough to witness passing Red Gloves members and experience the demeanor of high-sequence Beyonders.

But even among the Red Gloves, a Sequence 5 was already a captain-level figure!

Such a powerful Beyonder had appeared in Tingen?

And he was also a crazed heretic?

Fear, unease, worry...

All sorts of negative emotions began to surge up in their hearts, but soon, a tranquil power spread throughout the room.

"Leonard seems to have used this kind of power before... Hmm, the Captain? So once you reach Nightmare, you can use abilities without reciting poetry?" Klein suppressed the urge to yawn, but Dunn said seriously:

"Everyone doesn't need to worry. As long as we make proper preparations, low-sequence Beyonders aren't without a chance to defeat mid-sequence Beyonders. Even a Sequence 5 can theoretically be killed by demon-hunting bullets. The news of the Aurora Order's divine emissary appearing has already been reported to Backlund, and I believe more reinforcements will arrive soon. Before that, we must protect Tingen! Moreover, we're not the only ones facing this crisis—the Mandated Punishers and the Machinery Hivemind will also coordinate in the investigation..."

Dunn held a document in his hands, reading the arrangements on it somewhat mechanically, but just then, Klein suddenly raised his hand—

"Captain, speaking of the Aurora Order, I suddenly remembered something."

"Go ahead." Dunn immediately stopped upon hearing this, and Klein, seeing this, said somewhat hesitantly:

"I remembered the incident with Hanass Vincent. One of my informants found out that he had contact with Lanevus..."

"Hanass Vincent?" Dunn pinched his brow, which could no longer be concealed by his hair. After a long while, he finally said with realization: "I remember now, that fortune teller who leaked the secret incantation pointing to the True Creator? The one who died mysteriously afterward? He had contact with Lanevus?"

Lanevus was just a fraudster and shouldn't have been mentioned at this time, but if he had dealings with someone suspected of being a True Creator believer, that would be another matter entirely.

Everyone knew that the Aurora Order was a force that worshipped the True Creator. Was Mr. A, this so-called divine emissary, suddenly coming to Tingen related to this fraudster?

"What else did your informant say?" Dunn didn't ask about the informant's identity, but Klein didn't continue using the informant as an excuse. Instead, he said solemnly:

"Nothing more, but speaking of Lanevus, I really did encounter something. Just yesterday, a woman who supposedly was carrying Lanevus's child came to the Divination Club. At that time, I originally intended to use Spirit Vision to take a look, but inexplicably forgot about it. Originally, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but now that I think about it, that was very likely a warning from my spirituality!"

"Your spirituality made you forget to use Spirit Vision? 'One must not look directly at God'?"

Old Neil, who was responsible for teaching Klein mysticism knowledge, was the first to react, and Dunn's expression also changed accordingly.

"That is to say, there very likely exists a child of an evil god in Tingen City? And Mr. A, this Aurora Order divine emissary, came to Tingen for this lady carrying the evil god's child? No, ordinary people shouldn't be able to... Never mind, these details don't matter! We must immediately notify the Red Gloves..."

Dunn turned and headed toward the door. Halfway there, he suddenly turned back and said:

"There's one more thing. From now on, everyone go to the armory to collect full equipment including signal flares. When going out, you must maintain groups of at least three people. All leave is temporarily cancelled. All members of Sequence 8 and above are temporarily suspended from Chanis Gate duty rotation..."

...

"Oh, poor Ince Zangwill. His action of using official Beyonders to stop Mr. A instead made the official Beyonders aware of Megose's existence. Under the actions of the official Beyonders, Megose will soon be caught, and his plan can no longer succeed. What a pitiful fellow..."

In the room at Red Chimney, the quill pen once again jumped and wrote these words, as if celebrating and cheering for Ince Zangwill's poor scriptwriting skills.

Ince Zangwill was so angry that his scalp went numb.

Pacing back and forth in distress, Ince Zangwill racked his brains thinking of strategies.

His past experience as an Archbishop floated before his eyes. The operational policies of official Beyonders and the matters that needed attention when interacting with various forces all began to appear before him one by one.

Accompanying this process, he gradually formed an idea in his mind. After pondering briefly, he once again picked up that quill pen and wrote in the open notebook:

"Because the Nighthawks discovered Megose, this directly aroused the vigilance of the evil god's child. To protect itself, it gave part of its power to the mother body. The power of evil god children is always magical, and it's very reasonable for Megose to be able to escape tracking."

"Megose's disappearance attracted the attention of the Nighthawks. They became more convinced that this was related to Mr. A's purpose in coming to Tingen, which drew the attention of all official Beyonders in Tingen City."

"To capture Megose and Mr. A, and to prevent disaster from befalling Tingen, the Nighthawks came out in full force, conducting detailed patrols throughout Tingen City. This undoubtedly increased the burden on the official Beyonders."

"To protect the evil god's child in Megose's womb, Mr. A issued orders to Aurora Order members in Tingen and Backlund to begin creating numerous incidents to drag down the energy of Backlund's official Beyonders. Fanatics are always blind—this is very reasonable."

"The official Beyonders were driven to distraction by the Aurora Order, and at the same time received reproach from Backlund's nobles and royalty, forcing them to devote more attention to Backlund."

"Tingen City cannot obtain support from Backlund in a short time, which will undoubtedly put tremendous pressure on Tingen City's Beyonders. Long-term tense nerves began to affect the mental state of the official Beyonders, and some Beyonders began to show signs of losing control—this is very reasonable."

"The official Beyonders' power was greatly weakened, and the opportunity that Ince Zangwill was waiting for would soon arrive. He would certainly be able to obtain everything he wanted to obtain!"

...

After writing the last line, Ince Zangwill slumped against the chair back as if exhausted. At this moment, he felt that no one could stop his plan anymore!

Such a perfect script completely conformed to the logic of all forces, and no one would exceed his calculations!

"I will definitely make you regret abandoning me!"

(End of Chapter)

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Author's Note: I may have written it a bit vaguely—Ince Zangwill writing the script and Mr. A encountering the Red Gloves did not happen simultaneously.

The timeline is as follows:

First, early in the morning, Snow woke up around 5-6 AM and woke Klein up. Klein went to work, Mr. A looked for someone, and at the same time the quill pen began writing. Ince Zangwill discovered this and began revising the script—these happened simultaneously.

Then, after Ince Zangwill revised the script, Mr. A's search for Megose didn't go very smoothly. He divined several times, which took some time before he determined the location, and it was at this time that he happened to encounter the Red Gloves.

According to the original work's records, the train from Tingen to Backlund only takes one afternoon (when Klein went to Backlund, there was a timetable). Considering that the Red Gloves definitely have special trains (after all, they need to transport sealed artifacts), they would certainly be faster. So it's reasonable for them to chase from Backlund to Tingen in three to four hours.

That is to say, according to this timeline, Ince's new script took effect at 6:30 AM, then the Red Gloves discovered traces of Mr. A's departure. Even if the Red Gloves arrived four hours later, it would only be 10:30 AM, when Klein was still learning mysticism knowledge.