Eldritch Horror Theatre

'So this is the ultimate form of pulling a long face?'

Staring at the comrade whose art style had abruptly mutated, Fu Qian offered a silent critique alongside the others.

As an ordinary person, he couldn't perceive the internal changes happening inside the man's body.

But the completely counterintuitive, chaotic arrangement of his facial features—which almost induced the urge to vomit—seemed to indicate that this team member's sense of self had completely collapsed.

Of course, the conclusion about the urge to vomit came mainly from observation.

Aside from the Old Man Saint, the other two awake members had grown visibly unwell in just a few short seconds.

"Blegh!"

Naturally, Ah You's expression eased up a bit the very next moment, because he had actually thrown up.

Though he immediately relied on incredible willpower to keep the volume of the projectile vomit within a relatively polite range.

'The human heart is a strange thing indeed!'

To Fu Qian, even if Ah You swallowed his own vomit back down, his emotions wouldn't fluctuate in the slightest. But the subtle, sympathetic connection between these two made him deeply appreciate the complexity of human nature.

"Have some water."

Completely unlike her earlier abrasive attitude, however, once her expression relaxed, Ais spoke without a hint of mockery or teasing. Instead, she uncapped a canteen and handed it over.

If he wasn't mistaken, it was even her own canteen.

'No wonder she can get away with that abrasive personality. She definitely has her methods.'

Catching this from the corner of his eye, Fu Qian silently praised her tact but couldn't be bothered to pay any more attention.

Right now, what interested him the most was undoubtedly the condition of their first failed member.

Although his facial features had shifted—as the dipper turns and stars shift—his breathing remained steady, and he hadn't sprouted any other chaotic appendages.

'It must primarily be a mental affliction, yet it's strong enough to contort his physical face...'

'Everyone is troubled by their own issues; the puzzles are independent...'

'There's nothing unusual visible in the room, which means this influence likely transcends space...'

'The team made special preparations for this. It was an expected danger during the operation...'

'Even though they brought the Golden Saint Robe, they didn't try to use it to violently brute-force a solution, relying instead on so-called "knowledge." This meant the power creating the puzzles most likely couldn't be countered that way...'

'All in all, they came prepared and with a clear purpose. Regardless of whether it aligns perfectly with my own mission objectives, it's worth cooperating to see how things play out.'

Reaching a quick conclusion, Fu Qian decided to uphold the team spirit for the time being—though unfortunately, some people didn't seem quite as committed to it.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed that after taking a small sip of water, Ah You had completely recovered his wits.

Yet, his first reaction wasn't to savor the lingering scent on the canteen, but rather to shoot a glare at Fu Qian.

The expression on his face was even sterner than before.

'How exactly was this team roster decided?'

'Our preparations are visibly thorough, yet the person they picked is this unreliable?'

'Can't you rein in that aggressive male competitiveness of yours a little?'

Fu Qian naturally understood the meaning behind that look. Ah You was clearly resentful that Fu Qian hadn't been the first to crack, forcing Ah You to become the group's pressure-release valve.

This was the drawback of a team composed of ordinary people. In a normal team made up of transcendents, the existence of Ranks acted as a universally acknowledged evaluation standard, making the team's ecosystem much simpler.

But swap them out for a bunch of ordinary people wearing gear, and it inevitably introduced far more sociological elements.

Amid his internal critique, Fu Qian didn't even spare a glance at this dull negativity.

The next moment, he simply stood up, walked over to the first failed member, and poked the man's eyelid.

His finger met nothing but empty skin. Almost instantly, the eye that had drifted to one cheek darted diagonally to the opposite corner.

It wasn't just the eye. The other facial features erupted into chaos, squeezing against each other as they fled.

Just like a startled school of fish.

'How fascinating!'

The scene before him gave the impression that the man's facial features had become completely independent, each growing atop a fleshy, swimming fish just under the skin.

These frantically darting fish maintained a fragile equilibrium, reacting rapidly to the slightest disturbance.

To test this theory, Fu Qian waited for an opening and grabbed one of the man's ears.

Feeling a force akin to a struggle, Fu Qian refused to let it have its way, pinching it tightly and dragging it in a full circle around the face like spreading a pancake.

The room was gripped by dead silence. Regardless of what anyone had been thinking previously, everyone was now staring at his utterly abstract behavior.

As expected, wherever the ear passed, the eyes and mouth scattered in a panic, unable to find a safe haven—just like a driven school of fish.

"Interesting. It's just like driving fish."

Just as Fu Qian was having the time of his life, a voice spoke his earlier assessment aloud.

It was an unfamiliar voice, too.

Hearing this, Fu Qian finally stopped what he was doing.

It couldn't be helped. Continuing to play with the face after a comment like that might lead to accusations of desecrating a corpse.

Glancing in the direction of the voice, he saw that the newly awakened fellow looked barely thirty years old.

He was tall and thin with thin lips, and the upper half of his face bore the Golden Face Ornament covering one eye.

But even so, the exposed half of his face perfectly illustrated the word "flippant."

"How's the texture?"

Seeing Fu Qian look over, the man asked in deadpan earnestness.

"The fish have quite a strong pull."

Acting as a proper team member, Fu Qian sincerely shared his experience.

"Hahaha..."

The man blanked for a second at the answer before laughing, clearly finding it highly amusing.

"Scrooge, you'd better keep quiet!"

But this laughter, which lasted barely a few seconds, seemed to draw an immense amount of hostility.

Ah You, who had previously been glaring unkindly at Fu Qian, instantly shifted targets and snapped mercilessly.

"Any sudden movement could cause a disturbance. If you have a death wish, don't drag the rest of us down with you."

"Sorry, I forgot."

The man called Scrooge apologized with surprising speed.

Cutting off his laughter, he immediately admitted his fault with a straight face.

"But according to the rules, shouldn't you be calling me One-Eye, Ah You?"

'So he really is called Ah You. Are they actually assigning codenames by body parts?'

Fu Qian watched with keen interest, though unfortunately, the person in question clearly didn't share the sentiment.

With a frosty expression, Brother Ah You stared coldly at Scrooge.

"You'd be better off focusing your energy on the puzzles. If we go any deeper, there might not be enough people left to guard you."

The implication was clear: stop running your mouth—you were far too slow at solving your own puzzle.

"Fair point..."

With the facts laid bare, Scrooge seemed to have nothing to say in his defense.

But right after giving a slight nod, he let out a confused sound, sniffing the air as he looked around.

"What's that smell?"

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