Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Mmph—"

In that moment, Eva clamped her hand over her mouth so forcefully it looked as if she might swallow it.

But regardless, the bloodcurdling scream that should have escaped her was choked down instead.

The room was barely ten square meters. Even in the incredibly dim light, it was easy to tell this was a utility room filled mainly with cleaning supplies.

A light sniff revealed the distinct, musty odor of wet mops.

And right there, partially hidden among the tools, someone sat slumped in the corner.

It was no optical illusion; a tall silhouette was faintly visible in the gloom.

Fu Qian had noticed the anomaly the second they stepped through the door. Keeping Eva's psychological endurance in mind, he had positioned them accordingly.

As for why he hadn't forced the iron gate open earlier, waiting until now to show off his skills?

Besides, judging from the current situation, they might have run straight into the guy who had just walked up the stairs.

If his testing results from the previous script were representative, it meant that transcendent elements might exist in this task, but they didn't hold their usual crushing dominance over ordinary people.

In other words, there was room to maneuver.

Under these circumstances, until he figured out exactly what this script wanted from him, Fu Qian was in no rush to blindly meddle with cause and effect.

As it turned out, the School of Twilight was indeed exceptionally lively right now.

Not only were they being hunted and cornered within its labyrinthine structure, with monsters ahead and the Shadow behind;

but even in a tiny utility room, some expert was hiding out, striking a pose of standing aloof from the world.

The only pity was that he seemed to recognize this otherworldly expert.

While Eva was over there desperately suppressing her breathing and swallowing down the stomach acid rising from sheer panic, Fu Qian had already walked straight into the corner and stood before the seated figure.

The person didn't react at all throughout the process, not even when Fu Qian brushed a mop off his brown curls.

Between the puffy mound of hair and the delicate facial features that didn't quite match his frame, this distance was enough for Fu Qian to confirm his identity. The person before him was none other than the volunteer from the party basement, the one whose head had been covered in fake blood.

Just like before, he was also a corpse.

Eyes tightly shut, face completely drained of color—his appearance was practically identical to the last time.

It was just that the timing didn't quite line up.

Although Fu Qian wasn't exactly a professional while restricted to a Mortal Body, his rough observations led him to believe that this person hadn't been dead for very long.

Assuming the party had taken place last night, the most conservative estimate meant at least twenty hours had passed by now.

Yet the corpse before him not only seemed fresh, but it also hadn't stiffened at all, just like yesterday.

Aside from that, his previously bloodstained clothes had been swapped out. The jacket he was wearing was brand new.

...

So, how exactly had this transition happened?

Did the different scripts not have to care about plot continuity at all?

But the previous exploration of the Old House, and even Eva's reaction upon seeing him, had clearly proven the continuity between them.

It couldn't be that at the end of the party, Mister Wolf, who had come in response to a call for help, had simply resurrected the guy, right?

"Joshua?"

While he pondered this, Eva, having somewhat composed herself, ultimately didn't throw the door open and flee for her life. Instead, she followed him over and stood carefully behind Fu Qian.

Naturally, at this distance, she was close enough to see the corpse's face.

Sure enough, this party guest was an acquaintance of hers. She let out a muffled gasp almost immediately.

[Dead.]

After making a fairly universal hand gesture to convey this meaning, Fu Qian pointed at the pen in Eva's hand as a brief reminder.

Under such intense emotional fluctuations, it was completely understandable to momentarily forget the taboo against speaking.

Not to mention that, when faced with the explosive revelation that the man was dead, Eva was already being quite resilient. For instance, she hadn't needed to cover her mouth again.

The reason Fu Qian still reminded her wasn't because he was being nitpicky.

It was primarily because the moment Eva had let out her muffled gasp, the footsteps coming up the stairs had stopped again, and they sounded like they were right outside.

...

No longer paying attention to the corpse, Fu Qian put down the shoe in his hand and walked straight to the door.

Throughout the process, there was no sound from outside, as if the person who had come upstairs had noticed something or was searching for something.

[Outside?]

Snapping out of her daze, student Eva was readily accepting good advice. She put everything down and followed him, using the faint light seeping through the cracks to swiftly jot down a question directly on her own jacket.

Fu Qian attributed this to Mister Wolf's performance, which had made her unconsciously view herself as a beneficiary.

[Yes.]

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian stepped aside to give her the best observation spot.

And this time, Eva had clearly learned her lesson, covering her own mouth in advance.

Tap...

Amidst this anticipation, the footsteps outside finally sounded again.

At one point, the light filtering in through the crack suddenly darkened.

However, despite Eva's cardiac-arrest-level tension, the light immediately returned to normal, and the footsteps gradually faded away.

...

As expected of a legendary Law-Tier Item.

Truth be told, the utility room door wasn't sturdy in the slightest. If one didn't care about making noise, a single kick would just about bust it open.

And yet, the fellow outside seemed to genuinely just be passing by, swaggering off without a care.

Even the brief moment he walked past was enough to finally expose his appearance—

[Wrapped a jacket around his head?]

After catching a fleeting glimpse, Eva couldn't resist turning to look over. With a bizarre expression, she wrote down a line of text, seemingly unable to believe her own eyes.

Of course, her description was perfectly accurate.

Fu Qian had also seen it clearly. The misshapen head that had provided the greatest visual shock just now was actually a light yellow jacket, wrapped layer by layer around the person's head, completely covering the face.

[Yes.]

Nodding slightly in response, Fu Qian cast a sidelong glance at the corner.

This somewhat familiar look inevitably brought to mind Butters's "bloodstained clothes" in the basement, which had similarly covered Joshua's head.

So much so that, even though one could clearly tell it was a human body with a fairly normal walking gait aside from that, it still naturally evoked the term "walking dead."

Granted, such things were a bit fantastical, but wasn't a person dying twice in a short span of time just as absurd?

[Why would he do that?]

Having received Fu Qian's confirmation, Eva looked completely bewildered as she asked, unable to comprehend it.

[Hard to say, but he should run into the thing chasing us very soon.]

Writing was tiring work, and Fu Qian had no intention of conducting any lengthy analysis right now. He took the pen and swiftly scribbled back his reply.

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