Upon reflection, that fortune teller seemed suspicious from the moment he appeared until his disappearance, but by then, there was no energy left to think or doubt.
A drowning man will clutch at a straw, and a person dying of thirst will drink a cup of poison knowing it is lethal. A glimmer of hope in dire circumstances holds such a deadly allure that it can make one temporarily forget fear and caution.
That is why it was so easy to dive headlong into a trap that someone else had meticulously set.
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When Minerva learned that the first guerrilla unit had been annihilated, she showed no surprise or disappointment, and even the slightly frenetic atmosphere of the Navy Department building didn't express much. Everyone's face only bore a similar expression of relief and calm.
