Free Web NovelChapter 463: Chapter 463 Reverse Deduction Method_1
Inside the office of Rose Iron Prison, Aiden finished reading the telegram that had been sent to him and quickly destroyed it.
The telegram from Heinz showed no significant differences from the previous several ones.
The suspected Resurrection Cult, funded by Mr. Blood Cloak, continued to expand. Although the local Heresy Tribunal had placed it on the watch list, restricting its spread and development, the intensifying refugee crisis still provided fertile ground for its growth.
The religion adopted by the cult was originally a national religion from the continent’s southern part. The refugees from the southern regions were familiar with it. Of course, the main reason was that the religion precisely filled the spiritual void for these helpless refugees. Many of them had lost all hope in life and were in dire need of faith for support.
At that time, a charlatan suddenly displayed infallible miracles (for the miracles were real), which naturally drew the refugees like moths to a flame.
Although the Kingdom of Gistas’s role in stoking the southern wars was covert, not every refugee was oblivious to it. Conspiracy theories abounded—and a good portion of them hit the mark. The refugees felt no guilt about seeking asylum in the country; some even harbored critical or even hostile attitudes toward it. The Gistas authorities’ prohibitions had little deterrent effect on the refugees and sometimes even backfired.
The search for Professor Dodge continued to move forward steadily—which actually meant slow progress. The Royal Secret Police had identified thousands of potential suspects and were checking them in sequence, but as the investigation continued, new suspects kept emerging.
At this rate, Aiden felt he couldn’t wait any longer, especially since Mr. Blood Cloak, just like him, had found Professor Dodge’s target. Judging by the current trend, it seemed most likely that the Hand of Erasure would end up in his hands. freeweɓnøvel.com
The Royal Secret Police were a reliable source of intelligence, but when it came to action on this matter, one could hardly count on them. First, regarding Mr. Blood Cloak, they lacked the ability to capture him; even if Heinz himself took charge and confronted Mr. Blood Cloak, he would be no match for him. Naturally, Heinz wouldn’t choose to confront him directly but rather find ways to limit the cult’s expansion and reduce its perilous influence on the Kingdom’s order.
Second, concerning Professor Dodge, this military man who betrayed the Empire actually posed little harm to the Kingdom of Gistas. To some extent, he even helped the Kingdom. Although his attention was on the military’s "infection" project, Heinz had made it clear he had little interest in it, and Aiden suspected how much effort he actually put into this matter.
Luckily, this time Heinz played a role, albeit a limited one. Although he couldn’t talk openly about the military’s "infection" project in the telegrams handled by others, he still mentioned, "I have found a way to deal with the matter you mentioned."
With his authority and connections in the Kingdom’s intelligence services, fabricating charges for an investigation or inform through higher-ups to dismiss a captain wasn’t difficult.
But such actions weren’t much of a blow to Mr. Blood Cloak. If he lost a bunch of pawns, he would simply find new ones. Next time, Qiqimora might not accidentally run into them.
Speaking of Qiqimora, the Witches’ Gathering was much the same: their intelligence-gathering capabilities were strong, but for Aiden, there wasn’t much actionable power to utilize.
They also plotted to infiltrate the base, but first, their infiltration efficiency couldn’t surpass that of Mr. Blood Cloak, and secondly, their primary target wasn’t Mr. Blood Cloak—they were, at most, in competition. Lamia aimed for the "infection" project, while Qiqimora targeted the Hand of Erasure.
For her own safety, Qiqimora refused to track Mr. Blood Cloak or investigate the Resurrection Cult. The incident she had witnessed before had evidently intensified her wariness of this man. She preferred to snatch the Hand of Erasure before Mr. Blood Cloak, rather than directly compete with him for it—a sentiment Aiden agreed with. Without sufficient strength, confronting Mr. Blood Cloak rashly would only lead one to be brainwashed into a follower by his power of "betrayal."
At this point, Aiden finally realized a significant problem—in Gistas, there was practically no one who could stand in for him and confront Mr. Blood Cloak.
Realizing this, Aiden seriously considered the idea of cooperating with Professor Dodge.
Professor Dodge wanted to cure his son, and Aiden had no reason to object to that; he could even think of ways to offer assistance if necessary.
Since Mr. Blood Cloak sought to take the Hand of Erasure from him, from that perspective, they shared a common enemy.
After the incidents involving Sera and Heinz, Aiden began to master a sort of reverse deduction tactic for orchestrating events to achieve the outcome he desired.
First, he had to clarify his personal goal: to prevent Mr. Blood Cloak from obtaining the Hand of Erasure—that alone would be enough. It was overly ambitious to hope to assassinate Mr. Blood Cloak directly in Gistas, virtually impossible.
Starting from this desired outcome, he reverse-engineered the process that would most likely lead to it—if he could join forces with Professor Dodge against Mr. Blood Cloak, that would be the best scenario.
Then he further deduced the factors necessary to create this scenario, which was to establish contact with Professor Dodge before Mr. Blood Cloak and at the very least provide Dodge with a warning to prevent him from falling into Mr. Blood Cloak’s hands. For this, he needed to control both parties’ whereabouts and movements as much as possible.
Qiqimora was one step away from becoming a saint of the "Void" authority. If she ascended, she would receive the call of the Hand of Erasure and could sense Professor Dodge’s location.
However, handing divinity over to Qiqimora was almost certainly a one-way trip. And once Qiqimora became a saint, she would likely seize the Hand of Erasure from Professor Dodge, making it difficult for Aiden to control her through a trade afterward.
At that time, which side should he take? Whether a saint of the "Void" or the holder of the Hand of Erasure, neither would be easy to handle. freeweɓnøvel.com
As for Mr. Blood Cloak’s side, Aiden indeed knew of an extremely efficient method to locate him—a method more effective than relying on the intelligence networks of both the Royal Secret Police and the Witches’ Gathering.
Thinking this through, Aiden sighed.
The key figure in this search method wasn’t hard to find; he was in his prison. However, after days of coexistence, he had come to fully understand one thing—the avenging goddess was not a very good partner to work with.
