Eldritch Horror Theatre

It wasn't on the table either.

The coin was left inside? That was quite a high level of interactivity.

The coin-tossing game was certainly meant to build atmosphere, but taking the opportunity to run a small test hadn't hurt.

The result: he had returned, but the item he handed over remained in the Inner World.

The probability of this being a mere mental influence or hallucination now seemed even lower.

This also aligned with what his body was telling him.

He hadn't suffered any superficial frostbite, but he could still feel a lingering discomfort in his lungs with every breath.

His body had genuinely endured devastation. Escaping had provided a degree of relief, but a few more trips like that would undoubtedly leave him with chronic ailments.

"Indeed. It doesn't taste quite as good as I imagined."

While it was still difficult to confirm exactly how the two layers of the world were coupled together, it seemed time on the outside didn't completely freeze while he was in the Inner World.

Arriving at another minor conclusion, Fu Qian tallied his gains from the trip so far. Just having a simple breakfast had escalated the situation to a terrifyingly grim degree.

The bizarre overlapping of worlds, a competitor who might still possess Transcendent Tier powers, and the ever-present threat in any ordinary setting of a force capable of crushing him into dust...

A while had passed now, and Jean, who had retreated to the back kitchen, still hadn't reemerged.

Fortunately, there were hardly any other customers, and the pancakes smelled quite good.

Setting the milk down, Fu Qian focused on enjoying his breakfast.

Regardless of whether Old Man Hake was innocent or not, his attitude toward food was worth emulating: a delicious meal should never go to waste.

"It seems there's no need for you to send flowers. If Rachel were here, she'd likely be more than happy to serve you."

Having watched his actions this entire time and seeing that Fu Qian truly possessed a hearty appetite, Hake finally let out a soft sigh and offered his assessment from across the table.

...

Although Hake phrased it tactfully, the image of this Rachel was becoming increasingly vivid.

Old Man Hake truly had no intention of treating him. In the end, Fu Qian paid the bill himself under Maggie's meaningful gaze.

Once again sitting in the driver's seat and navigating according to the old man's directions, Fu Qian found Hake's final comment leaving a deep impression, allowing him to reverse-engineer a mental portrait of Rachel—

Good looks, a poor work ethic, and a distinct preference for men with strong personalities... It was hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for her husband's married life.

Of course, given how terribly cliché this sort of drama was, it barely even qualified as novel gossip.

Knowing when to stop, Old Man Hake showed no intention of continuing the topic during the drive.

So, how exactly did the Old Hunter get out of the Inner World?

More than happy with the silence, Fu Qian took the opportunity to peacefully resume pondering his earlier question.

The missing coin proved that the two layers of the world weren't completely insulated from one another; they could accommodate a certain degree of interaction.

While Jean had never come back out before they left—depriving him of a chance to confirm if she had a clear memory of her experience in the Inner World—that behavior in itself was an answer.

"Losing a life-and-death bet, narrowly escaping death as if in a dream, and being allowed to return to her boring life"—if those memories were still intact, what kind of sheer willpower would she need to resist peeking out at him?

After all, the incredibly eccentric customer from her nightmare was still sitting right outside.

Therefore, in Fu Qian's view, it all perfectly aligned with her previous behavior. Just as Jean hadn't initially recalled Mister Hake's early arrival, the memory of the gun-toting thug from the Inner World similarly hadn't surfaced in her conscious mind.

Without a specific stimulus, Jean would find it just as difficult to recall the incident.

In fact, it seemed somewhat similar to the female nurse Tia's reaction.

When the latter had tried to recall why she put on that special uniform, she had looked as though she'd seen a ghost. Could it have been for the exact same reason?

At the same time, the Inner World experience didn't leave zero impact. The lukewarm milk Jean had served him, Tia's nurse uniform—were these both physical manifestations of the aftereffects?

It was still just a theory, but if it held true, it meant the earlier memory lapse Jean experienced regarding Hake's arrival was absolutely an event that had taken place in the Inner World.

In other words, his opponent, the Old Hunter, had very likely entered that layer before he had. So what was his method for going in and out?

By choosing to interact while disguised as Hake and going through the motions of buying breakfast, the man's style appeared relatively subtle.

Jean had turned around and vanished. Could he have used this method to distract this dangerous figure so he could find an opening to escape?

If that was the case, his opponent's brute-force methods might pale in comparison to Fu Qian's own, but one absolute truth remained: he had discovered the Inner World before Fu Qian did.

Given that, no matter how flawlessly he played his role in this layer, the longer this dragged on, the higher the probability that his actions would be exposed.

And there were many ways to win a competition—including directly eliminating the opponent.

Was this not just a competitive game, but a full-blown game of Road Rash?

Although it was merely a deduction of the worst-case scenario, it was something he absolutely had to guard against...

"It seems our luck isn't so good."

Amid his thoughts, Old Man Hake's voice rang out again, signaling for Fu Qian to pull the car over by the curb outside a perfectly ordinary-looking house.

"Their car isn't here."

...

"Originally, I was just going to have you drop me off, but now, let's go take a look together."

Not in a rush to get out, Hake simply shook his head as he surveyed the property from the window.

"So what was I supposed to be doing?"

Rachel and her husband didn't live in a shabby place. The two-story structure boasted clean white exterior walls and an array of lush potted plants on the terrace, making it look far more exquisite than the similarly built houses surrounding it.

Though, if anything, the stark contrast only heightened the heavy sense of desolation hanging over the neighborhood.

As they observed the house together, Fu Qian casually asked about Hake's original plan.

"To meet a bunch of artists... Remember that abandoned prison I told you about? After it emptied out, it suddenly started attracting 'art creators' one day.

"They flocked there from all over, renovating the place and producing their art inside, which only drew in more people... Out of everyone in this town, they're the crowd I understand the least."

Offering a rather unusual answer, Hake made sure to heavily emphasize the term "art creators."

"You suspect the two missing youths went there?"

Naturally, Fu Qian had no memories regarding any Art Prison. Still, for a town decayed to such an extent, sprouting this sort of "flower on a rotting corpse" actually didn't feel out of place.

"I don't know for sure, but young people are always drawn to the bizarre and macabre... That's why I thought I'd have you check it out. It's also why I suggested you wear plainclothes today."

Hake sounded thoroughly candid.

"Cops aren't exactly a welcome sight among their crowd—but let's get out first. Someone's home."

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