Eldritch Horror Theatre

Eva's voice rose, clearly struck by a major revelation from their exchange.

"Was it her boyfriend, Wen? He did that to Salma? Why would he do that?"

Her execution of the Three-Stage Questioning was flawlessly smooth.

"Why do you think that?"

Unfortunately, her freshly opened train of thought crashed headlong into the question Expert Fu threw back at her.

...Didn't you specifically bring him up?

At that moment, it was obvious Eva wasn't the only one thinking exactly that.

Even if they couldn't produce a solid reason, they had just been discussing a grisly murder. If you suddenly asked whether they knew a specific person, anyone's mind would immediately jump to that conclusion.

Unfortunately, even without putting on airs of solemnity, Mister Wolf's every move still carried an overwhelming sense of authority. In the end, no one actually voiced their complaint.

After choking on her own words for a moment, Eva wracked her brain and actually managed to offer a direct theory.

"I've met her boyfriend. On one hand, I don't really understand why they're together. On the other hand, there are a lot of people at school who have a crush on Salma.

Because of that, there's definitely a chance they argued."

Carefully weighing her words, Eva finally laid out her deduction.

"But there are a few issues with that. First, I've been here the whole time today. I never saw Wen come by, and I never heard any shouting.

And second, whatever happened, I just don't think their conflict would escalate to something this extreme."

As she finished speaking, she seemed to suddenly remind herself of something. Eva looked down at the blood on her hands, froze for a few seconds, and then frantically wiped them on her clothes. Finally, as if she'd been electrocuted, she hurled her jacket and backpack to the floor.

...

"A reasonable deduction."

Watching Eva's frantic reaction, which had instantly ratcheted up the tension in the room, Fu Qian still voiced his approval of her theory.

"I asked because the scream of the person who fell sounded a bit like him."

Not only that, but he also went on to share his own observations.

"Besides, this is an easy thing to confirm. This building only has four floors, and he isn't going to run away. We can just go down and check in a bit."

He was right...

The three of them, previously suffocating in the bizarre and terrifying atmosphere, stared at him as if struck by sudden enlightenment. Eva even stopped her frantic movements.

They had indeed been overthinking things.

Regardless of whether his response was a bit extreme, they just needed to go down later and see if it really was Salma's boyfriend. However...

Seeing that Mister Wolf wasn't overly suspicious of them, the tall-nosed student involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief. But at the same time, he suddenly remembered something.

"But that clearly should be Joshua..."

A moment later, he couldn't hold it in.

"Tell him why that isn't Joshua."

Without even bothering to argue, Fu Qian simply gestured at Eva.

"Huh?"

The two assistants looked at her in surprise, failing to understand what Eva had to do with this.

"Wolf and I... found Joshua's corpse in the storage room on the second floor."

Eva obeyed, recounting their earlier discovery in a faint voice.

...

"Impossible!"

The two assistants sounded on the verge of a nervous breakdown, shouting almost in unison.

Passerby B, who had arrived later, couldn't resist running over to the window to look down again.

Because this area was somewhat remote, and the initial scream hadn't been followed by any others, no one had come over to investigate yet.

"Why is it impossible?"

Just as he had with Eva, Fu Qian casually asked the two assistants to give their reasons for that judgment.

"He should be on the first floor... I just left for a little while, and when I came back, he was gone."

Faced with this increasingly derailed situation, the two exchanged a simple look and finally seemed to make up their minds. This time, it was Passerby B who answered.

Oh? That was a bit vague.

It could mean Joshua came to school to study over the weekend, or it could mean his corpse had been stashed there.

"And then you looked everywhere for him?"

Studying their deeply furrowed brows, Fu Qian evaluated the situation inwardly and chose to sidestep that profound question.

"Yes, it was just me at first."

Passerby B replied.

So they were working in shifts? No wonder their outfits were different.

Passerby B, who was keeping watch here, noticed he was missing and hurriedly began searching.

The tall-nosed student arrived later, only to find both of them missing. Unsure of what was going on, he chose to cover his face and move more stealthily.

Although it was just a single sentence, it was enough for Fu Qian to untangle a few logical threads.

"And you guys locked the iron door too, not wanting him to be disturbed?"

"...Yes."

"Such reliable friends."

Faced with the assistants' honest replies, Fu Qian even offered them a word of praise.

"Is there something wrong with your heads? Why would you do that?"

Unfortunately, not everyone shared his composure. Eva finally couldn't listen anymore and snapped at the pair.

"Well—"

"Your words just now reminded me of something."

While Passerby B was at a loss for words, his partner suddenly remembered something. He looked at Eva and spoke up.

"Joshua told me that Salma had long been tired of her boyfriend and was going to break up with him soon to be with him."

Oh?

At that, even Eva's head snapped up in surprise.

It was a true testament to the power of pooling information. Under Mister Wolf's few guiding words, a sequence of events was pieced together thread by thread—

Salma had sparked a connection with Joshua and was preparing to break up with her boyfriend, Wen.

Wen knew she was practicing here today, so he came looking for her.

But the moment he walked in, he ran into Joshua.

It wasn't clear exactly what happened next, but following a likely conflict, Wen wanted to hide Joshua. Because of his size, however, he only managed to drag him to the second floor before dumping him in the storage room.

Which was why that door was locked.

Wen then went all the way upstairs, which led to Salma's murder.

When he tried to leave, people were already coming up from both sides. Panicking and desperate for a way out, he tried to hide on the outer windowsill, only to lose his footing and fall.

The sequence of events sounded extremely fluid, and it nearly stripped this night of all supernatural elements, reducing everything to purely human actions.

Throughout this whole process, Eva's overly active imagination had turned her into an innocently implicated victim, scaring her half to death.

His gaze sweeping over the three of them, Fu Qian internally summarized their understanding of the night before finally nodding.

"You're welcome. Next, you had best figure out how you're going to explain this to the police."

With the tone of someone stepping away after a job well done, he even walked over, picked up Eva's backpack, and handed it to her.

...

They all looked like they wanted to say something but held back. After hesitating for a few seconds, Eva finally took her bag and left, heading straight for the elevator.

The remaining two looked far more conflicted, but they eventually made the same choice.

With the sound of the elevator doors closing, he was once again the only person left in the darkness-shrouded building in the blink of an eye.

Was it actually not over yet?

Muttering to himself, Fu Qian glanced around. Instead of heading toward any exit, he once again walked into the depths of the darkness. A moment later, he pushed open a familiar door and re-entered the women's restroom.

The three of them had turned the lights on when they rushed in earlier. Standing in front of the blood-spattered stall, Salma was still leaning there, her face looking even more macabre under the light.

He stared quietly at the scene for a few seconds before pulling a small notebook from his pocket. Flipping it open, he also used the light to read its contents.

He certainly hadn't picked up the backpack earlier out of a sense of chivalry.

Carrying a pen around was an uncommon habit, especially when coming to the dance studio to practice.

So he had casually checked it earlier, confirming that Eva had not only brought a pen, but really did have a notebook.

It was even a Q&A notebook. It was densely packed, and the handwriting grew increasingly unhinged toward the end—

[Will I have good luck this All Fools' Day?]

[No]

...

[Is there any danger on the second floor?]

[Do not count the room numbers, do not walk following the sound of the piano]

...

[Why is Salma so popular?]

[Because she is upbeat and cheerful... is a bitch... warm, friendly... because... bitch!]

[Die]

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