Eldritch Horror Theatre

Was this seriously a classic horror trope?

Grouping up to court death, getting lured away, acting alone, and then mysteriously vanishing?

Standing in the doorway of this cramped room, gazing at the solitary light piercing the darkness, Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

Along with a distinct lack of optimism.

It wasn't that he found the scene particularly terrifying.

Fu Qian had seen far too many grand spectacles. Even with his current ordinary human constitution, a sight like this absolutely wouldn't cause enough emotional turbulence to cloud his judgment or observation.

But it was precisely because of his calm observation that he instantly realized the severity of the problem.

From opening the door to arriving here, no more than a dozen seconds had passed.

Yet Brother Ruthless had simply vanished, even silently leaving his equipment behind for Butters.

But if that were the case, the situation had suddenly grown much more grim.

That would mean the Transcendent element in here wasn't just highly active, but capable of far more than mere temptation.

At the very least, it could make a living person disappear in the span of a few breaths.

Though it seemed to have disappeared right along with him.

The spot where Butters currently stood was undoubtedly the exact place where they had seen the "jellyfish" from outside.

Yet a sweeping glance revealed nothing but Butters's body illuminated in the light.

Even the intense accompanying yearning in their hearts seemed to have stopped growing.

Even so, it was clear that Brother Butters was still suffering immensely.

He stared fixedly at the empty floorboards, a look of such loss in his eyes that it was heartbreaking to witness.

"What are you looking at? You have the tools, hurry up and dig!"

Unfortunately, Fu Qian felt not a shred of pity. He walked straight up and offered a reminder.

"Or it'll run away in a second."

...

What to do next after someone went missing in a horror story was a matter well worth debating.

Of course, the core principles remained the same. The most common approaches generally fell into two categories: figuring out the cause, or just running away.

Although Butters looked like his brain had practically crashed, resisting the mental influence while dragging him away wouldn't be too difficult for Fu Qian.

However, on one hand, that would be equivalent to directly abandoning Brother Ruthless. On the other, it wasn't the optimal choice for figuring out his earlier question—namely, what the "correct" way to complete this scenario actually was.

Everything he had experienced along the way reeked of obvious strangeness. It was filled with ambiguity and eerie occurrences, and now it even directly involved the Transcendent.

But the most peculiar aspect was still the entirely unreasonable scene transitions.

He still couldn't grasp the trigger conditions, but if he truly adopted the perspective of a horror story, ending this expedition would undoubtedly be a major milestone.

For example, grabbing Butters and fleeing this house.

If he advanced directly to that step, logical deduction suggested he would very likely waste a testing opportunity for nothing.

That is, whether taking certain subjective actions within the scenario might be a way to correctly complete it—such as "finding out the truth."

Aside from that, he could conveniently observe just how active Transcendent power was in this mission.

Therefore, Fu Qian decisively rejected the highly sensible plan of running away.

Dig...

And it was clear that Butters felt quite inspired in that moment. Staring at the dark brown floorboards, his dazed gaze actually focused a little.

Clang—

The very next moment, without any hesitation, he swung the crowbar and smashed it into the floor.

Prompted by Fu Qian's words, he seemed absolutely certain there was some hidden space beneath it...

Strictly speaking, there actually was.

Wood splinters flew through the air. Driven by the deep yearning in his heart, Butters displayed astonishing perseverance, tirelessly digging into the ground beneath his feet.

Even after prying open the floorboards and digging quite a bit deeper into the dirt, he didn't uncover anything that looked like a basement.

During this time, Fu Qian didn't sit idle either. Aside from acting as an overseer, he took the opportunity to observe their surroundings.

The place truly looked like it had been abandoned for many years. Even the few pieces of furniture left behind all shared a rather classical style.

Standing inside the building, he could better appreciate Brother Ruthless's earlier critique about the windows.

It seemed lighting had barely been considered when this place was built. The windows were small and placed high up, to the point that the fairly bright moonlight outside could barely shine through.

To avoid causing Brother Butters any panic, Fu Qian didn't rashly take the light from his hands to search for traces of the Ruthless Guy.

Thud!

This bit of humane care proved effective. After Butters's tireless digging, the crowbar struck through the sandy soil and suddenly let out an unusual sound.

Thud, thud—

This sound was an immense source of encouragement, causing Butters to rapidly speed up his movements. He kept striking and vigorously clearing the surrounding dirt.

A moment later, the object he had found finally revealed itself under the light.

It was dark, greenish-black, adorned with strange-looking patterns, and its shape naturally evoked Fu Qian's memories of Bairluk Town.

A coffin?

Weren't there a few too many horror elements here?

It was restless even buried underground. If he opened it and found a zombie or a vampire lying inside, that would be way too classic—crack!

Still tireless, Butters showed astonishing decisiveness. He jammed the crowbar into one corner and forcefully wrenched it.

It seemed the coffin had been buried for quite a long time and wasn't all that sturdy anymore. The very next second, a corner of it was pried open.

This is...

The moment the scene inside was exposed, Butters's movements came to an abrupt halt.

...

What should he call this? A Jellyfish Vampire?

The instant the coffin lid shattered, that familiar eerie red and blue light abruptly shone out from within.

Even without Butters shining his light, the silhouette of the thing inside was clearly visible. It actually looked like a person lying there.

Just like the jellyfish from before, it was translucent. It was completely naked, without a single strand of hair.

Slender yet curvaceous; judging from the exposed parts, it was distinctly a woman.

At a glance, he could even see fine fangs near its mouth.

Coupled with the gloomy residence and lying in a coffin, it was an excessively classic vampire image.

Although compared to a true Blood Clan member like Demigod Serana, it was somewhat lacking aesthetically, its tightly closed eyes combined with that bizarre texture gave it a strange, mind-beguiling charm.

In fact, the moment the coffin broke open, the voice echoing directly in his mind suddenly amplified.

So much so that even with Fu Qian's willpower, he felt strangely unable to tear his gaze away from that face.

Slap—

Of course, this didn't stop him from backhanding Butters—who had already leaned over beside him—square across the face.

"You..."

The slap was so forceful that Butters was nearly knocked to the ground. However, after steadying himself, he finally shot a vicious glare in Fu Qian's direction.

"Idiot, didn't you notice we're missing a person?"

Fu Qian remained completely unfazed, directly tossing out the dangerous piece of information he had held back until now.

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