Eldritch Horror Theatre

They were taking it seriously, but perhaps not that seriously.

Fu Qian had genuinely scoured his memory banks to retrieve that name just now.

Accompanying it was a Poker Face with an innate "strangers keep away" aura, along with flying long hair.

A certain Night Watcher who had caused trouble back when he first took on the role of bodyguard to ensure Eldest Miss Wen's smooth advancement.

Running into so many familiar faces on this trip to West Plain was certainly a pleasant surprise.

Without a doubt, this Ms. Tan was the elite operative drafted to reinforce their defenses.

And if memory served, the office she currently occupied originally belonged to Captain Qiao, the local former person in charge. Did that mean she was the new person in charge?

Although he hadn't seen her for a while and she appeared to have made some progress, she definitely wouldn't be higher than Tier 5 right now. Wasn't her strength still a bit lacking for this role?

And that was only a polite assessment of her strength; Ms. Tan's professional competence was even more memorable.

Although his strength wasn't noticeably greater, old brother Qi had a much sharper eye.

Was this the legendary "keep the highly competent around to actually do the work"?

Had even a formidable organization like the Night Watchers started to suffer from big-corporate disease?

Of course, no matter what, he couldn't fault her diligence.

Despite his lamentations, Fu Qian didn't blindly reject her out of personal grievance.

In the dimmed room, Fu Qian studied the figure working hard at the desk, confirming his memory wasn't mistaken.

It was indeed Team Leader Tan.

Even her attire hadn't changed much. She still wore a simple black outfit, her appearance rather plain.

And in the dead of night, she showed no signs of sleepiness, casually flipping through the documents in her hand with the air of someone devoting themselves to their duties.

The problem was her riding the crest of success. Not only had her cultivation advanced, but she had even been stationed externally to hold total local authority. Given her historically difficult-to-communicate-with personality, she was probably even harder to talk to now.

Fortunately, he wasn't planning on having a friendly conversation anyway.

As he rubbed his fingers together, a gemstone Ring shining with an ice-blue radiance appeared in the next moment.

But Fu Qian did not activate the Lucid Dream. Instead, his gaze fell beside Captain Tan's hand.

Slightly longer than a hand's span, it looked like a doll sewn from linen, its design rather crude.

It had no eyes. Its polygonal head bore only a mouth sewn from thick thread. No matter how you looked at it, it was the kind of junk that wouldn't sell even at a street stall.

At the same time, however, the clothes on the doll were exceptionally exquisite, made up of sharply contrasting red and white.

A ghastly white, and a red like stained blood.

...

Given Ms. Tan's style, the probability of her enjoying playing with ragdolls should be quite low.

Even if he was just holding stereotyped prejudices and she actually did like them, she surely wasn't extravagant enough to use a High-Tier transcendent item as a toy.

That was right. Fu Qian was very sure that the thing actually carried a trace of "divinity."

Faint, but distinct.

And right next to it was an ornately decorated wooden box shaped like a coffin.

The latter was already open, and judging by its dimensions, it was clearly a perfect fit for the doll.

The dignified person in charge of a region's Night Watchers, staying up in the dead of night to fiddle with such an evil thing, undoubtedly added a bit of gloom to the already quiet night.

But Fu Qian didn't think Ms. Tan had secretly fallen to the demonic path to practice some evil art.

It was obvious she didn't quite dare to look at the doll either. That pile of documents in her hand seemed more like a way to distract herself.

The situation before him looked more like she needed to bring the doll out to get some air at this hour out of some necessity.

So, although he didn't think that thing had the ability to help resist the dream invasion, Fu Qian didn't mind being accommodating and letting Tan Mingxue finish what she needed to do first.

Huu—

Facts proved that Ms. Tan did not waste this courtesy. Not much later, she let out a silent breath of relief.

Dropping the items in her hand, her gaze fell on the ragdoll. She carefully examined it up and down, like a parent checking if their child had secretly gotten a tattoo.

A moment later, evidently having found nothing, she finally looked completely reassured. Grabbing one hand and one foot of the doll, she slowly placed it back into the wooden box, then closed the lid bit by bit.

After doing all this, she carried the box to the side and locked it inside a cabinet.

It seemed this midnight chore was finally complete. Relaxing, she still wasn't in a hurry to go back and rest, instead choosing to walk to the window and gaze out into the distance.

And it was hard to say if it was purely a coincidence, but she was looking exactly in the direction of the Volcano's crater.

Unfortunately, in such dim light, there really wasn't anything to see. Soon, she turned around—Knock, knock!

Almost at the exact same time, a rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.

...

"It's so late. What do you need me for?"

She was visibly very confused, but after a moment's pause, Tan Mingxue still went up to open the door herself. Looking at the figure outside with slightly graying temples, she frowned and asked.

"I suddenly thought of a question just now and couldn't sleep, so I wanted to see if Your Excellency was still awake."

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian glanced behind the door.

"Can we talk inside?"

"...You really came at a coincidental time. Any later and I would have gone to sleep."

Her gaze swept back and forth across his face a few times. Tan Mingxue ultimately stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter.

That's what he was saying. No matter what, she had taken over someone else's office; the most basic courtesy still had to be observed.

Fu Qian was clearly very satisfied with this development, readily accepting good advice.

The reason it went so smoothly was partly because the Lucid Dream was naturally already active, and partly because the appearance he had chosen was none other than West Plain's former person in charge, Captain Qiao.

Toward this sort of predecessor who had been replaced, the successor would generally hold a kind of victor's leniency, and it seemed that even Ms. Tan was no exception.

Faced with this sudden midnight visit, she still didn't flat-out refuse.

"What exactly is the matter?"

Of course, even so, once the two took their seats, Tan Mingxue had no intention of making small talk, cutting straight to the chase.

"It's about the Huang Clan. I keep feeling they have been a bit too normal lately."

Fu Qian didn't hesitate, immediately putting the information he had just acquired to use and even volunteering for a task.

"Especially Huang Zhixun. For him to suddenly return after being away from home for so long really doesn't make sense unless he has a specific purpose. Do you want me to pay them a visit and knock some sense into them? The peace we've had in West Plain lately wasn't easy to come by."

"Haven't I said that you don't need to concern yourself with this matter anymore? The situation on their end is completely under my control."

However, the leader frowned as she listened, seemingly not too appreciative of this enthusiasm.

"Including Huang Zhixun—"

But in the next moment, some desire to confide kept her from shutting the topic down too firmly. After a brief hesitation, she continued.

"I even know that he didn't come back alone. There were two others accompanying him."

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