Eldritch Horror Theatre

It really was the night Dayun Mingwang descended from the heavens.

At a crimson crime scene, caught red-handed with evidence in a situation where no amount of explaining could clear his name, Fu Qian silently pondered the dream's temporal location.

Jiang En had made it quite clear. For the owner of this dream, the timing of this scene was undoubtedly the exact moment Dayun Mingwang appeared in Shangjing to challenge the two young talents.

And in Jiang En's eyes, not only was he outwardly arrogant, he had even played dirty in secret, exploiting the situation to orchestrate Taylor Gulade's predicament in a bid to win without a fight.

However, all of this had been seen through by none other than his brilliant and mighty self.

He had to admit, it was a truly bizarre situation.

As the true mastermind behind Shangjing's many incidents at the time, Fu Qian was naturally quite clear on the real culprit behind the so-called corpse-picking incident.

To share in the corrupt grace of Jiang En's promotion, the Greed Worms had guided things along, setting up a perfect scheme of 'do not bully a young person in poverty'.

And Jiang En, completely unaware, had used the defenseless, drunken woman to frantically fight his own bestial nature, thereby completing the ritual step by step.

Yet here in the dream, Fu Qian—the oriole supposedly lurking at the very end—had tragically been caught red-handed, completely unable to defend himself.

Any way he looked at it, he was trapped in a scheme, about to be used as a scapegoat.

And the ultimate beneficiaries would be not only Jiang En, but also the trouble-ridden Taylor.

Dayun Mingwang would fail to make a name for himself in the world; instead, he would make the Twin Prides of Shangjing famous, tragically turning into their stepping stone.

Brilliant. What a dream this was.

...

"That actually sounds quite reasonable."

After a moment of thought, Fu Qian finally gave a slight nod, maintaining the Virtue of seeking truth from facts.

"So the reason you appeared here is because you were worried you couldn't beat me?"

Since he was seeking truth from facts, naturally that didn't just entail positive flattery; it also meant deeply analyzing the person's inner thoughts.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Unfortunately, not everyone had the courage to face their own heart. Jiang En—who had just been speaking eloquently about Dayun Mingwang's evil deeds with sharp and meticulous logic—immediately let out a meaningless, furious rebuke.

"Is that not it? Then why are you here? To uphold justice, a law enforcer of Shangjing in the night? Or out of kindred spirits cherishing each other, unwilling to see Taylor, who shares your fame, defeated by a treacherous plot?"

It was a pity that in this duel of questions, his triple rhetorical barrage—inherited from Madam Harriet—could never possibly lose.

Fu Qian didn't hesitate for a single second, directly firing back with a cold sneer.

...

"Heh... you don't need to worry about that."

It was obvious that Jiang En was finding it quite difficult to parry Fu Qian's questions.

However, his circumstantial advantage was simply too great. After hesitating for only a few seconds, he realized he could just choose to skip the question entirely.

"You can indeed treat me as someone upholding justice, and start thinking about your own situation next."

"For example, once we reach the Night Watchers, how do you plan to defend yourself?"

"What's so hard to defend?"

Jiang En was actually planning to drag him off to the authorities. He had to admit that while the move lacked originality, it carried considerable deterrent force.

Unfortunately, Fu Qian had always been immune to things like deterrent force. He immediately and calmly struck back.

To ensure the other party received this sentiment, he even raised a hand and adjusted the mask on his face, looking as if everything was completely under his control.

The only problem was that the Iron Cage in his hand was slightly heavy, causing this carefree demeanor to suffer some color loss.

"You are here, and I am here. You can falsely accuse me of being the killer, so why can't I identify you as one?"

"I knew you would do that."

Pity that Jiang En sounded equally unfazed.

"Who in all of Shangjing doesn't know that I stay behind closed doors and rarely go out?"

"You want to pin so many incidents on me all at once? Do you take the Night Watchers for fools?"

...

"Even though you're just one person, your plan is quite meticulous."

Clear-headed, composed in his responses, and taking it upon himself to pursue the culprit, Jiang En displayed a considerable degree of intractability.

For a moment, even Fu Qian let out a murmur of praise.

Looking back toward the bed and seeing the woman drunk on red wine still dead asleep, Fu Qian actually stopped trying to defend himself. The next moment, he adopted a brazen posture.

"Speak. What do you want?"

Sneering, Fu Qian even sat straight down.

"Given your current situation, I absolutely refuse to believe you have the mood to act as some volunteer policeman."

"Going through so much trouble to find me here must have been really hard on you. State your conditions."

"...Wisdom King truly has clear eyes and a sharp mind."

Staring at Fu Qian, no expression could be seen on Jiang En's face, as if he was trying to confirm how much sincerity lay in those words.

Of course, it was hard to say how he was reading any information from a mask.

Regardless, at a certain moment, a smile finally rose slowly on Jiang En's face.

"It really isn't my turn to act as Shangjing's emissary of justice. Today, I could completely have just been passing by this place and seen absolutely nothing... at most, I happened to pick up a few Items."

"Items..."

Hearing the melody and grasping the intent, Fu Qian's tone became thoughtful, as if he had understood something.

"You want me to hand over one of my transcendent items in exchange for you forgetting what you saw?"

"How could I?"

Jiang En continued to shake his head with a smile.

"I originally just happened to pick up an Item, and in my excitement, I saw nothing else. So how could there be anything to forget?"

...

"I understand... truly worthy of the famous young genius."

After a few seconds of silence, the Dayun Mingwang beneath the Ferocious Mask seemed to fall into a brief hesitation.

But it didn't last long; soon, a string of low laughter emerged from Fu Qian's throat.

"I previously heard that Your Excellency has encountered a bottleneck in recent years, suffering from a persistent stagnation, and I was worried the world might lose an outstanding talent."

"Seeing you today, I now know Brother Jiang's ambition has not diminished in the slightest. It is truly gratifying."

"But there is one problem. This seat does indeed have transcendent items on me, but they are fundamentally tailored to suit my own abilities. I highly doubt they will actually satisfy you, Brother Jiang En."

"You wouldn't be expecting me to pull them out one by one for you to choose from, would you?"

"Wisdom King doesn't need to worry about that at all. I wouldn't be so tactless."

Seeing things progressing smoothly in his desired direction, Jiang En was clearly in an excellent mood. He immediately voiced his reassurance to Fu Qian's question while pointing to the side.

"I only want the Item in Wisdom King's hand."

"...Oh?"

This time, Fu Qian's silence lasted even longer than before.

Earlier, at the very first moment, he had conveniently stowed away the Eternally Lucid Mind. Right now, there was one and only one Item in his hand, and that was the Sweet Dream Head Cage.

And the thing Jiang En had taken a fancy to was actually this bizarrely shaped prop?

"Brother Jiang En... have you met a noble benefactor recently?"

Of course, even so, when Fu Qian spoke again, he sounded as though he had obviously realized something.

"What you want isn't something suitable for use, but something valuable, because your goal is simply to use it to exchange for a favor."

(End of Chapter)

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