novelraw Chapter 191: Seeing Through the Illusion
Chapter 191: Seeing Through the Illusion
Ember nodded, her tone calm, even holding a trace of approval for Nicole’s professional eye.
“However they did it…”
“this ‘Wilbur’ is perfect. From any angle we can see, he’s no different from the real one.”
“At least, not different enough to spot from here.”
“However—”
Her voice sharpened, a blade sliding from a sheath.
“His all-out attack just now? It proves he’s fake. It blows the whole theory out of the water.”
“If he were the real Wilbur, he would’ve had a dozen better chances to strike. Chances way better than the one he just took…”
“But he deliberately ignored those opportunities.”
“Instead, he went all out at the single worst, most predictable, and easily defended moment.”
“I’m afraid…”
Ember’s gaze grew heavy, pinning Nicole.
Her words could only carry so much.
In reality, in that split second, she had run a full-scale simulation in her head.
Using the combat intuition forged in red-moon nightmares and real-life slaughter, she’d immersed herself in Wilbur’s perspective, walking through the entire fight from the beginning.
Before seeing the data from that last attack, she couldn’t quite “get” his combat logic. Her suspicion was just gut feeling.
But now, after seeing and “feeling” the characteristics of his full-power strike, she plugged that crucial data into the simulation.
A dozen contradictory, logically impossible results and choices flashed in her mind!
The contradictions all pointed to one conclusion:
This “Wilbur,” his timing, his use of his own abilities… it wasn’t the real Wilbur. The insidious, cunning Blighted Hand.
He was a nearly perfect… substitute.
A replica?
Nicole wasn’t an idiot. She’d just been thrown off by her own thought patterns and the flawless disguise in front of her. She needed a second to process.
Pandora knew Nicole would get it.
Under her gaze, Nicole was silent for a few seconds.
Then, she murmured, “But…”
Her brow furrowed. A dozen calculations flickered in her eyes.
Then, a lightbulb went off.
A sharp, clear gleam ignited in the depths of her eyes!
She got it.
Completely.
The newly-enlightened Nicole’s head snapped up, her gaze shooting toward the window, toward the eastern battlefield where the fighting was thickest!
The advance speed there… it had changed a moment ago. A change she hadn’t understood, had dismissed as a fluke.
Now, with Ember pointing out this crucial piece of the puzzle… she looked back at that “abnormality.”
Nicole saw it. A hidden, deliberate connection.
At that moment, Ember walked to her side.
She also looked toward the east. Her gaze was heavy, her voice carrying the relief of someone who’d finally seen through the fog.
“On the surface, Aldrich seems to have ‘forgotten’ his worries about the Scarred Woman. He’s going all in on the Garden.”
“In reality, it’s the exact opposite.”
“He’s so fixated on the Scarred Woman that he built a whole trap just for her.”
The same light of understanding shone in Nicole’s eyes.
The situation, baffling moments ago, now clicked into place.
The missing piece was in place. The fog obscuring her view was wiped clean.
Her vision was sharper than ever.
Nicole’s analysis spilled out, her words faster than usual:
“If the Wilbur in the greenhouse is fake…”
“then the real Wilbur is in the eastern battlefield. Right now.”
“He’s waiting.”
“Waiting for the Scarred Woman to show.”
Her gaze flicked to Ember.
“You slipped his grasp. So he changed strategies.”
“He’s using the same bait as last time to lure you out. And for this trap, he’s arranged a force he thinks you can’t resist…”
Ember’s scarred face seemed to glow with a fervent light. The corner of her mouth lifted.
“That’s right.”
“Using a Third-Rank to ambush a Second-Rank like me, with a flawless new method of disguise… he really… thinks highly of me.”
Nicole glanced at Ember.
Even if the line was self-deprecating, given the terrifying strength she’d shown, the raw power that dwarfed any normal Second-Rank… it probably was worthy of Aldrich’s “respect.”
Nicole killed the thought. Her logic kept moving.
“And…”
“Aldrich must have considered the possibility that you wouldn’t bite. That you’d just watch from afar.”
“If so, the real Wilbur will make his move. He’ll speed up the destruction of the eastern node.”
“In the end, they still take the Garden.”
Looking at Aldrich’s whole plan, simple on the surface but a chain of traps within traps…
If it worked, the real Wilbur wouldn’t just ambush and kill the annoying Scarred Woman. He’d also destroy the ritual node, letting Aldrich win a swift victory and take the Garden.
All reward, no risk.
Even if the Scarred Woman didn’t show, they had a high chance of taking the Garden. The only price was exposing a secret method they’d never used before.
It proved one thing.
For all his gloom and cruelty, to survive in a place like Ascension Road, to become a veteran Third-Rank with his own faction…
Aldrich was no brute.
He had patience. He had a meticulous mind. And he knew how to plan a trap.