Chapter 957: Chapter 955: Prismatic Colors (28) Chapter 957: Chapter 955: Prismatic Colors (28) No doubt, she was a true cat lover through and through.
Adele looked to be in a terrible state, but upon hearing the meow, she lifted her head as if awakened.
And after displaying Henry for only a second, Fu Qian slammed the door shut with a clang.
From the last glimpse he got, he could see Adele suddenly standing and rushing over, followed by the sound of the barricaded items being knocked down.
It wasn’t out of cruelty or to play a game of catch and release; there simply wasn’t enough time.
By the time Fu Qian showed the cat, the audience that had been led in circles before was now so close they could almost see their nostrils.
And Adele must have taken quite some time to build the pile of obstacles inside, which, even though her current boundless energy didn’t seem to know fatigue, would still take some time to clear away.
…
Indeed, the power of love was strong. After leading the audience around in two circles, Fu Qian was delighted to find that Adele’s demolition work had been very effective.
Without any pleasantries, Fu Qian pushed the door open, squeezed through the uneven passage, and casually threw the mad cat at the rushing Adele, then shut the door behind him.
One had to admit, even as resembling the walking dead, felines remained powerful creatures.
Hardly released into the air, Henry was already shaking its body wildly.
However, perhaps because of the abuse it had suffered along the way, it did not attempt to turn and seek revenge on Fu Qian but chose to flee immediately.
Unfortunately for the cat, Adele appeared to prove a woman’s cat-like reflexes were just as sharp, and for a moment, they were darting up and down in a frenzied chase.
By the time Henry was inevitably captured in Adele’s clutches, Fu Qian had already re-stacked the barricade and even reinforced it.
Seeing Henry lovingly embraced and cuddled in Adele’s arms, Fu Qian did not rush to intervene but instead sat down to rest and observe his surroundings.
Apart from Adele, there were two bodies in the theater.
Even though both were unrecognizable, Fu Qian was surprised to identify one–it was Brother Paul, his target for this trip.
But now, the once handsome model was no longer recognizable.
His head bore a huge gaping hole, and his limbs were severely mutilated.
At the same time, another body, equally grisly, was entangled with Paul’s.
It was a young man with an unfamiliar face, but Fu Qian felt he could guess who it was–was it Angelo whom he had impersonated before?
The possibility was not slight, considering the young man seemed well-acquainted with Adele and Paul.
From the surrounding traces, it appeared that after both men had gone mad, they had tortured each other significantly before being ‘finished off’ by Adele.
Human potential truly was immense.
With a word of admiration, Fu Qian watched Adele who seemed somewhat calmed down, thanks to petting the cat.
Now the question was, with Paul dead, how would he proceed with the detailed plan?
“Adele, why are you here?”
After thinking it over, Fu Qian decided to start with simple, child-like questions.
“I saw Paul come back and take a hurried phone call… worried he would come for Henry, I followed him here…”
To Fu Qian’s pleasant surprise, although Adele’s response was intermittent, it was still somewhat coherent.
Concerned that he would find the cat and beat it?
I understand your concern, but don’t you people have anything better to do? Don’t any of you have jobs?
Despite his inner commentary, Fu Qian quickly analyzed the information he was getting.
Adele and Paul caring about the cat at that time meant the strange events hadn’t yet taken place.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been much later, as both their homes weren’t far from here, and Paul would not have stayed long if he couldn’t find the cat.
“What happened to Paul then?”
Fu Qian continued to ask while Adele was still composed.
“He… went crazy, we didn’t find the cat… he suddenly lunged at Angelo… bit him… I tried to help, then Angelo went mad too… then both of them stopped moving… but it seemed like everyone else had gone mad…”
As she told her story, Adele’s emotions grew erratic, with gurgling sounds starting to emerge from her throat.
“I was so scared…”
The other was indeed Angelo.
“There’s nothing to be scared of.”
Fu Qian casually reassured her, seeing that Adele’s ability to answer was not going to last much longer. Now was the time for the important questions.
“What did Paul give you?”
Fu Qian asked directly next.
“He gave me…”
The question was clearly a bit harder, and without pressuring her as she murmured to herself, Fu Qian waited.
“A small bottle of medicine.”
And ultimately, Adele did not disappoint.
“A very small bottle… drink it to resist… the pollution… Paul told me someone else had given it to him, but he didn’t want to take it…”
Someone gave it to him but he didn’t want to take it?
Fu Qian’s brow furrowed slightly. Adele’s response outlined a plausible sequence of events in his mind.
He had asked her specifically because he had a feeling that Adele’s current state might be due to the same reason Oliver had.
Actually, this was also why he was keen to find Paul and talk to him–in his role as a high-level researcher, if there really was a way to counteract the pollution, Oliver likely would have been privy to it, and his distinct behavior the first time they met had attested to that.
As his “lover,” the likelihood wasn’t slim that Paul would benefit from Oliver’s influence.
Now it seemed highly probable.
Although the “company” in this timeline had dismissed Paul’s warning, Oliver had still left him with a token of goodwill.
But things had unfolded differently from what Fu Qian had expected; the two seemed to have fallen out, causing Paul to reject that token of goodwill.
Perhaps it was Adele’s pure love for cats that had moved him, leading him incredibly to pass it on to her, allowing for this conversation to happen.
“Did Paul say anything else special to you?”
“…Paul also said… after disaster strikes, try to hide in dark places… it might be safer.”
Darker places are safer, something Oliver seemed to have verified as well.
Fu Qian clicked his tongue in admiration, feeling that the full picture of the event was becoming clearer.
The problem was, this was information already disproven for him; the effects on Henry weren’t significant.
“Then I just kept hiding here… they all wanted to get in… I was so scared, my mind was so confused… I didn’t know where else I could hide where they wouldn’t find me…”
Meanwhile, Adele’s lament continued, her grip on Henry growing stronger and looking like she might lose control at any moment.
Yes, where could she hide from this all-pervasive color–wait a second!
Fu Qian suddenly realized something.
Based on past experience, how did “I” always ensure others couldn’t find me?