Eldritch Horror Theatre

"That kind of thing... eat it..."

As a high-tier transcendent and a Night Watcher in the City of Charlatans, Winona had always considered herself well-informed.

Yet today, not only had she suffered repeated setbacks while dealing with the mysterious man named Grimshaw, but the situation her friend had just described once again made her acutely aware of her own ignorance.

She had rushed here as fast as possible. After hearing her friend's bizarre account, she had sprinted the rest of the way, devoting all her focus to confronting the unseen enemy in the void. Though the pile of boxes had struck her as strange, she hadn't thought much of them at first.

But if things were truly as her friend described... Winona secretly panicked, immediately switching to using only her peripheral vision.

Given behavior that in no way resembled a normal person's, the probability that Rick harbored a supernatural anomaly had undoubtedly skyrocketed.

Which raised the question: what on earth was this guy's purpose here?

He didn't seem driven by pure malice, yet upon being discovered, he had attacked a Night Watcher without the slightest hesitation...

Such conduct could only be described as madness.

"Hmm... right before he disappeared, he mentioned that when someone arrived, I wouldn't need to keep our conversation a secret... Did he know you were coming?"

Faced with her friend's question, Claire thought hard and quickly recalled a particular instruction that had left her feeling deeply unsettled.

Insane and arrogant, just as expected...

Her friend's words left Winona momentarily speechless.

It was entirely too arrogant!

Even taking a massive step back, assuming Rick truly had serious issues and this guy was acting in the name of some so-called "justice"...

To leave behind such a specific instruction after pulling off all those stunts was a naked mockery of the Night Watchers' incompetence, no matter how one looked at it.

...

"Don't worry. Given the current situation, I'll request a dedicated specialist to protect you here."

In any case, Winona had no interest in sharing an analysis that would only boost the enemy's prestige.

After a brief moment of thought, she simply comforted her friend, assuring her that there was no need to worry and that the Night Watchers were already handling the matter.

Evidently, the powerful organization provided a clear sense of security. Claire's face, which had already begun to calm, grew even more composed.

"So what is that guy trying to do?"

...

This question was genuinely hard to answer. Winona fell silent for a moment.

However, seeing the lingering gloom on her friend's face, she reached out and squeezed her hand.

"Don't overthink it. This isn't your fault. That meeting was clearly a premeditated setup."

"...Also, we might not be able to determine what that lunatic is after right now, but I can guarantee he'll pay the price for what he's already done."

Despite her best efforts to suppress it, Winona uttered the last sentence through gritted teeth.

Anyone who heard it wouldn't doubt her resolve.

Including Fu Qian.

...

She was taking it seriously, but not seriously enough.

In the darkness, Fu Qian listened to the conversation between the two women before him, looking thoughtful.

Of course he hadn't left. While this trip had already been fruitful, there was still more to be gained.

The flashy exit of turning off the lights earlier was merely a spur-of-the-moment whim to set the mood.

The instant the lights went out, he simultaneously activated Blood Crusade.

As for how he managed the timing of the blackout so perfectly, the reason couldn't have been simpler—the Thread of Attachment's target was approaching.

Facts proved that while the Night Watchers realized they should look for clues here, they had judged the probability of him showing up to be quite low. In the end, only Winona had hurried over.

Raylan was likely handling internal deployments and leading the frontal search.

It was a division of labor—waiting to see if she found anything substantial here before coordinating their next move.

It was a very logical arrangement. Unfortunately, while Winona might have had plenty of drive, as someone who had been polluted, she was no longer suited to be charging at the forefront of this pursuit.

"Alright, let me take you back first. Just focus on resting and waiting for the others to arrive."

Having vented her resentment, Winona clearly wasn't just going to practice the spiritual victory method. Looking at Claire, she swiftly made the arrangements—

"Why did you turn off the lights?"

Yet the moment she finished speaking, Winona froze, staring at the once-again pitch-black space before her.

For a transcendent, this level of darkness wouldn't render her completely blind.

What shocked her was, first, why the lights had suddenly been turned off.

And second, it didn't seem like Claire was the one who had turned them off.

In the darkness, Claire's silhouette was clearly standing in the faint light by the doorway, still a considerable distance from the switch.

She was far from Winona as well.

Even though she had been standing right in front of her just a sentence ago.

With such a bizarre change happening in an already bizarre place, a strong premonition of disaster welled up in Winona's heart.

"What... I didn't turn them off!"

The next second, Claire spoke from the doorway, her voice filled with confusion and a hint of a tremor.

...

He really hadn't left!

In that instant, Winona's scalp tingled as if electrified. She rapidly drew her weapon again, holding her breath and entering Grade 1 combat readiness.

However, she only held this posture for a few seconds. Finding no movement whatsoever, a different kind of terror suddenly crept up on her, and she turned to look at Claire outside.

"I know you didn't turn them off, so who turned them on just now? Was it me?"

"Just now..."

The eerie question echoing from the darkness seemed to leave Claire somewhat bewildered.

"You didn't turn on the lights..."

As she muttered the words subconsciously, her fear rapidly intensified.

"After you shouted and rushed in just now, it's been pitch-black inside the whole time..."

Something was definitely wrong... So who had she been talking to just now?

No one had spoken to her. She had been dragged into some sort of dream-like hallucination!

Claire's highly infectious panic made even someone as strong as Winona feel a surge of dread.

But in the blink of an eye, a realization surfaced in her mind.

It was exactly like what Grimshaw had tried to do when she and Raylan visited him to investigate.

The only difference was that he had failed then, whereas this time, he had finally succeeded.

Turning on the lights, talking...

From the moment she had arrived and charged into the house, everything that followed had happened in a dream.

This explained why Claire said the lights were never on.

From Claire's perspective, after Winona went in, she had simply been searching silently in the dark the entire time.

To avoid getting in the way under such circumstances, Claire had voluntarily retreated to the doorway.

Things seemed clear now, but the question was, what was that guy's goal in doing this?

Facing the darkness that remained completely devoid of any anomalies, Winona fell into an uncontrollable bewilderment.

There was even an incredibly bizarre point in all this: the first time she had encountered this trick, even without any defenses, she had narrowly managed to break free from its influence.

Yet this time, despite having prior experience and being in a state of maximum alertness, she had fallen for it the very first second.

It was completely unreasonable.

While her abilities didn't lean toward the mental domain, she shouldn't have been entirely defenseless against such methods—the Demigod Realm!

At that moment, Winona stared into the empty darkness, feeling her limbs turn as stiff as wood.

Was there a Demigod Realm entity hidden here, or even behind Rick's entire disappearance?

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