Eldritch Horror Theatre

"What are you doing?"

Claire had genuinely heeded the master's warning and stayed perfectly still, but the bizarre scene unfolding before her finally broke her restraint.

"Didn't you ask me to get rid of them?"

Fu Qian asked casually, his hands never stopping as they hovered inch by inch over Claire's skin.

She didn't actually need his answer; she had already realized it herself.

As he moved, the grotesque insect-like patterns on her skin rapidly dissipated. They swarmed into his bottomless palm in thick clusters, drawn in by some unseen force.

'It was actually this simple...'

Claire stared blankly at her newly unblemished hands. An overwhelming wave of relief surged from her heart through her limbs and bones, softening her stiff joints.

She lost sight of them a second later, however, as a hand blocked her view once more.

It was too close for her to make out the exact details.

"There. You're as pure as you ever were."

Master Grimshaw was as swift and decisive as ever. Before Claire could even process another thought, a wave of numbness and itching washed over her as something wrenched itself free from her face, and he had already pulled his hand back.

'I...'

Taking a deep breath, Claire fought back the urge to touch her face. Only now did she finally muster the courage to look at her reflection in the nearby glass.

It was blurry, but it was undoubtedly her normal face.

...

"Thank you so much!"

When she finally looked away, her tone was filled with profound gratitude.

"Please rest assured, I will pay the fee exactly as requested."

Fu Qian's highly commercial persona had clearly left a deep impression on her, prompting her to emphasize this point immediately.

"Excellent. The problem is, I don't seem to have completed your original request yet."

Master Grimshaw seemed to thoroughly appreciate such a polite customer, though he blinked and posed the question a moment later.

"Uh..."

The timely reminder caught Claire so off guard that she forgot to close her mouth.

The continuous shocks of everything that had just happened—especially that final, overwhelming wave of relief—had made her momentarily forget why she had come here in the first place.

"Then... is there a way to fix Rick's problem?"

After a brief hesitation, Claire adjusted her expression back to a solemn one.

"As long as you don't mind paying a double fee."

Fu Qian remained as easygoing as ever, smiling as he opened his hand and presented it to Claire.

"Ah—!"

Even though she had braced herself, Claire still had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

Excellency Grimshaw's hand wasn't as fair and soft as a woman's, but for a man not much older than herself, his skin could be considered smooth.

But right now, from the center of his palm outward, the sight was almost beyond description.

It was a mottled mess of black and red, as if flesh, blood, bone, and skin had all been violently mashed together and churned full of countless holes.

The flying insects that had just been absorbed were now swarming in and out of those holes with terrifying density, even congregating into squirming, worm-like masses.

This horrifying display only lasted a few seconds before he clenched his fist again and plunged his arm backward into a lead-gray jar.

...

"Mister Grimshaw..."

Between the terrifying sight a moment ago and Fu Qian's bizarre action now, Claire was clearly left deeply unsettled.

"Don't worry."

He simply shook his head, gesturing for her to stay calm.

A few seconds later, Fu Qian pulled his hand out of the jar and presented it to her once more.

Slender and strong, and coated in a layer of pale blue liquid, the hand bore absolutely no trace of its hideous state.

It was as if he had simply washed his hands and removed all the filth.

'This...'

Faced with this miraculous sight, Claire remained frozen in silence.

"The corruption your husband is suffering from is indeed a bit more severe than yours, but that's not a problem."

Like a magician, Fu Qian suddenly produced a small glass vial.

She could clearly see it was filled with a liquid of the exact same color as what coated his hand.

"This is the same substance that's in the jar. Just have him drink it, and he will be purified exactly as you were."

"Ah... but I still don't quite understand. What is all this, really? And why was I corrupted too?"

She reached out and took the vial, though she was clearly struggling to keep up.

"Why do you think he was licking you all over?"

Fu Qian snorted.

"Driven by that vile filth, your husband will do everything in his power to spread the corruption to every living creature around him. That's the reason for his strange behavior."

"But rest assured, this vial is enough to cure him. Your only job is to make sure he drinks it all at once."

'This...'

Claire didn't say a word, but her face clearly showed her hesitation.

"Don't worry. The color might be a little strange, but it's completely tasteless. It's just like pure water."

Seeing this, Fu Qian offered another word of encouragement.

"Even so... knowing Rick, he absolutely won't drink it without a good reason."

Unfortunately, Claire's doubts were far from dispelled.

"He won't drink it... but won't he be doing other things? In the dark, no less."

With the patient's wife repeatedly backing out, Fu Qian's eyes narrowed, and his tone finally took on a stern edge.

"I'm sure you can coax him into drinking it... unless you'd rather watch Mister Weasley lick even more things?"

"Of course not! I want Rick back to normal more than anyone—wait a minute. How did you know his last name?"

As she instinctively defended herself, Claire suddenly realized what he had said and snapped her head up to stare at Fu Qian.

'Simple enough. The real you is still asleep on the table over there. A quick check of your belongings was bound to turn up something.'

Confronted by her shock, Fu Qian kept this to himself.

He had done far more than just that. For instance, an exact replica of the small vial in his hand was currently sitting right beside him in the Real World.

It was even filled with the same blue liquid that tasted exactly like pure water—mostly because it was literally just water mixed with a little dye.

As for why he was doing all this?

The special emphasis in the Containment Conditions, combined with the excessively hidden abnormalities on Claire's body, had triggered his instincts as a task runner. He sensed something fishy.

Because of this, Fu Qian had decided to adopt the highest possible level of security during this preliminary investigation: making someone else do the investigating.

The first step of his plan was to let Claire notice that there was something "off" about him.

That way, she would have a reason to report a malicious psychic and call in the local authorities.

"Uh..."

For the first time from the beginning until now, a trace of panic flickered across Fu Qian's face. He quickly masked it flawlessly and offered an excuse for his slip of the tongue.

"Don't forget my profession. I always see far more than you tell me."

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