Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Temporary allies..."

Repeating Fu Qian's words, Gerald just looked at Elena and sneered.

"Is that so? Is this Mister Lu your new teammate?"

The threat in those words was unmistakably heavy, carrying the distinct implication: Are you sure you want to involve yourself and share the blame?

Gerald believed he had a decent grasp of Elena's team.

A guard on the verge of losing control, a walking corpse who had resurfaced after a long disappearance—the only one who posed any real threat was Elena.

And from his past dealings with her, he knew that while she might be crazy, she wasn't stupid. She had absolutely no reason to commit such a senseless act of slaughter.

Because of that, he had never considered the three of them suspects.

As long as they had the tact to back off now and save him the trouble, he wouldn't lower himself to deal with them.

To his surprise, however, Elena's response was shockingly blunt.

"Mainly because, after talking it over, we realized there's no conflict of interest between us."

Under Gerald's incredulous stare, Elena even provided a perfectly logical explanation for her decision.

And in fact, she was telling the absolute truth.

Admittedly, the Mister Lu before her was capricious and incredibly dangerous, but this current incident was also taking a bizarre turn.

In past struggles, Siren and the Ji Clan had certainly clashed head-on, but it was hard to imagine either side committing a direct assassination in plain sight.

Not to mention that this year, the Ji Clan actually seemed to be actively avoiding conflict.

The situation was highly suspicious. Simply giving up and walking away was certainly an option, and they probably wouldn't face much obstruction if they did.

But if they wanted to proceed, this unpredictable threat had to be taken into consideration.

Under these circumstances, having a teammate who clearly knew more about the situation wasn't a bad thing. Besides, she was never well-liked by Siren in the first place.

Exactly. In Elena's judgment, Gerald wouldn't necessarily be able to do anything about this Mister Lu, despite coming right to their door.

With such a stealthy, traceless killing, simply finding and executing a random suspect wouldn't be enough for Gerald to explain the problem away.

And she didn't believe Gerald could prove Mister Lu was the killer within the tight timeframe they had left.

Of course, the biggest source of confidence behind this decision was her faith in Lorraine's strength.

As long as they were prepared, Elena believed her side wouldn't be powerless to fight back even if Mister Lu tried anything malicious.

Therefore, the risk was worth taking.

...

"Very well... In that case, would your team mind coming with me?"

With events repeatedly spiraling out of his control, Gerald was clearly both shocked and suspicious. However, since the blessing could appear at any moment, he didn't waste time.

"Of course. We were just about to head to the front anyway."

Fu Qian agreed cheerfully, as if he had just received an invitation to a banquet.

For his own mission, this was a crucial development. How could he not go take a look?

His visible delight undoubtedly provoked the Siren members. The group looked as though they wanted to beat him to death right then and there. Even Elena couldn't help but sigh softly.

...

A moment later, amidst the creaking of opening doors, this group of mixed emotions returned to the Legendary Little Shop.

And unsurprisingly, the number of people inside the shop hadn't noticeably decreased.

This wasn't hard to understand. When something like this happened, sneaking away before being discovered was certainly suspicious, but leaving immediately after the incident came to light would look just as guilty.

Instead, everyone had to stay seated right where they were.

This delicate situation clearly deepened the drinkers' resentment over the fact that the blessing still hadn't appeared. The moment Fu Qian's group walked through the door, almost everyone glared over with grim faces.

"Everyone's still here?"

Fu Qian seemed completely oblivious to their resentment, even offering a stylish wave in greeting.

At that moment, at least half the people present desperately hoped this guy really was the killer, just so Siren would instantly smash him to pieces on the spot.

"Is this the one?"

Under this heavy blanket of expectation, Fu Qian didn't make the audience wait long. He actually beat Gerald's group to a nearby drinking table.

In the darkness, a figure in a sleek tactical suit was slumped over the table, seemingly overwhelmed by alcohol—that is, if her suit hadn't been pierced completely through.

Looking closely, one could see that Spikes had actually pierced right through various parts of the woman's black jacket.

The Spikes were nearly transparent, making them somewhat inconspicuous in the darkness. Their shapes were exceedingly regular, looking exactly like crystal clusters that had grown using her body as a base.

"When was she discovered?"

Scanning her up and down, Fu Qian asked thoughtfully.

...

He had been brought here to view the crime scene, yet somehow he was acting like the lead investigator.

For a moment, not only the Siren members but even the spectating audience felt that the tone of the situation was a bit bizarre.

"Right after I got back."

Gerald, however, couldn't be bothered to argue over such details and answered with a cold sneer.

"It was no more than a few minutes after you left, and even less for your new allies..."

Allies?

Had they stepped outside just now to discuss a joint operation?

This revelation clearly shocked the listening crowd.

Those who had the guts to show up here were generally veterans who had roamed the Wasteland for years. Most of them recognized the trio and considered them potential competitors to some extent.

After all, even though outside rumors claimed this team was composed of the foolish and the crippled, Elena alone was someone no one dared to underestimate.

She actually chose to cooperate with this mysterious madman?

The crucial point was that no one had seen them interact at all beforehand. Could they have known each other previously?

For a time, all sorts of thoughts ran wild among the crowd.

...

So there was a gap of a few minutes at most.

As the person in question, however, Fu Qian didn't care about the crowd's thoughts. Instead, he carefully examined the corpse in deep thought.

This method of death was genuinely rare.

Without needing to touch her, Fu Qian could confirm that the woman's insides had also completely turned into crystal clusters; her flesh and bones were no exception.

Her remaining slumped over the table was likely not out of any consideration for preserving the crime scene, but simply because she physically couldn't make any other movements.

On another note, it was understandable why he had still drawn such a high degree of suspicion despite clearly not being at the scene.

Unlike the previous victim who had lost his head, the cause of this effect was clearly not some violent physical trauma, but a power akin to a curse.

And with this new assassination method, casting from a distance, remaining formless and traceless, and triggering a delayed onset were clearly not issues. This rendered alibis completely meaningless—in fact, it made them seem even more suspicious.

So the question was... was it possible that this new technique had been chosen specifically for this very purpose?

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