Eldritch Horror Theatre

She certainly didn't disappoint him.

The suspected Night Watcher was a stern-faced middle-aged woman.

After leaving the scene, her movements became conspicuously unusual.

Instead of rallying forces to search for the people involved or rushing back to report, she acted much like Old Man Sanhao had earlier.

She traveled with extreme caution, moving stealthily through several streets before finally slipping through the side door of an inconspicuous building.

Trailing quietly behind her, Fu Qian easily confirmed the place was just an ordinary, somewhat dated residence—not even remotely luxurious.

The stark difference in treatment was immediately obvious. Unlike Old Man Sanhao, who had been turned away three times, the stern woman received a warm, instant welcome and was ushered into a room.

Inside this place where the great recluse hides in the market, someone was already waiting. It was a somewhat familiar face—one of the three people who had fled when The Club was struck by lightning.

He was the relatively older one of the trio, his thick handlebar mustache already graying at the edges.

This was genuinely interesting. It made perfect sense for the Night Watchers to keep an eye on a secretive club involving transcendents, and planting an informant was entirely expected.

However, the fact that the informant was a transcendent himself was rather counterintuitive.

After all, betraying one's own class was never an easy thing to do.

You really had to hand it to the Night Watchers. Not only had she led him to Old Man Sanhao and the others, but she had also guided him to something far more intriguing.

Taking all this in, Fu Qian clicked his tongue in admiration. Without making a fuss, he let himself into an adjacent room, sat down, and listened to the conversation next door.

...

"What exactly happened?"

It was the classic communication style of the Night Watchers. The stern woman skipped all pleasantries and cut straight to the chase the moment she walked in.

"We aren't sure yet... That lightning strike was incredibly strange. As far as I can tell, it's virtually impossible for it to have been a natural weather phenomenon, but we haven't been able to catch any more traces."

The man didn't seem bothered by her bluntness, confirming her suspicions in a level tone.

"However, there was one highly unusual detail. Right at the moment the lightning struck, a visitor happened to show up..."

He was remarkably forthcoming, selling out Old Man Sanhao without a second thought.

"Oh? So he didn't just wander in by mistake? He came looking for you?"

The stern woman immediately perked up.

"Right... He obviously sneaked a look at Gregor's Manuscript and followed the clues hidden inside to find us. He even exchanged passcodes with us just now."

The mustached excellency's response contained a staggering amount of information.

So the clues Old Man Sanhao had extracted from those books really did point to this private club's address, and even included the secret passcode?

Which meant that the clues hidden in that archive were known not only to The Club, but to the Night Watchers as well?

...

Fascinating indeed.

The relationship between The Club and the local Night Watchers was undeniably delicate.

After just a few sentences, Fu Qian felt he had already gained a wealth of insight, deeply affirming his earlier choice to be helpful.

"That's not surprising. For a certain type of person, the things Gregor wrote hold a lot of appeal. Do you think he's connected to the lightning?"

The stern woman merely snorted. Despite her evident disdain, she seemed uninterested in pursuing this theoretical rule-breaking, focusing instead on the massive disturbance.

"The man called himself Sanhao. He was eager but cautious, and didn't reveal much about himself... Honestly, I don't think he has the power to trigger a disturbance on that scale. But the timing is far too coincidental. It happened at almost the exact same moment."

The mustached excellency continued to lay out the old man's background, making no effort to hide his own bewilderment.

It seemed the old man truly deserved his reputation for caution; he had even given them a double-encrypted alias.

"True. As much as I despise dealing with this sort of mess, it would be a dereliction of duty to ignore the possible connection... How do you think they might be linked?"

The stern woman agreed, falling into a thoughtful silence.

"That's exactly why I needed to meet with you so urgently. Mr. Sanhao provided one very specific piece of information. After he was denied entry to The Club, he was actually planning to leave, but someone intercepted him and gave him some pointers, urging him to try again."

Just from the sound of his voice, Fu Qian could feel the mustached excellency's deep perplexity.

"What? And then the lightning struck?"

"Exactly. Then the lightning struck."

...

"To think something like this happened..."

This final detail had clearly caught the visitor off guard.

After confirming this unexpected twist, the stern woman's voice dropped lower.

It was obvious that the Night Watchers didn't care much about a rogue visitor or two; such things happened all the time.

And while the lightning strike had been terrifying, they lived in the transcendent world—bizarre, inexplicable events were par for the course. The real problem was that this event did have an explanation, and it reeked of a conspiracy.

Some enigmatic figure pulling strings from the shadows? That elevated the severity of the situation entirely.

"Did Sanhao mention who this person was? It sounds like their encounter must have happened very close to your location, but I didn't spot anyone suspicious when I arrived."

The stern woman's instincts were sharp, and she quickly began reconstructing the earlier timeline.

"Neither did I."

The mustached excellency sighed softly.

"He only confessed this to me after we were in the car, but I had scanned the perimeter the moment I stepped outside. At the very least, I didn't detect any transcendents."

"According to Sanhao, the man wasn't very old. He was dressed like a local and had completely ordinary features. He sat on the street corner having a drink the entire time... The nearby vendors might remember him, mainly because he was completely bald."

It sounded like the old man had ended up giving a very detailed description of his mysterious benefactor after all.

"And the strangest detail of all—the man refused to give his name. He only called himself the Ancient King."

"Ancient King... Isn't that exactly the sort of thing your club is interested in?"

This final piece of information clearly caught the stern woman off guard, and her tone turned peculiar.

Oh? That worked out even better than I expected.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Fu Qian once again deeply appreciated the meaning of the phrase, "heaven rewards diligence."

Calling himself Lao Wang hadn't been some kind of twisted joke. He had simply been inspired by their tour leader, A Lian, and decided to borrow Anke Vinland's lore to play the part of a returning old king.

Assuming such a bizarre identity—whether anyone actually believed it or not—would undoubtedly do an excellent job of drawing attention toward the Inviolable.

After all, he was currently in the middle of a mission. It wasn't like he was actually here on a sightseeing tour to study the local customs.

The unexpected bonus was that The Club he had chosen as his entry point was apparently researching subjects perfectly aligned with his mission.

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