Eldritch Horror Theatre

Someone was definitely home.

In such a deserted place, an idling car—even for just a brief moment—was enough to draw attention.

Fu Qian had also noticed someone peering down from upstairs while the two of them were talking.

And Old Man Hake apparently knew who that person was.

"Not at work today, Ed?"

They got out of the car together. Almost as soon as they knocked, the door opened from the inside.

A burly, red-haired man in loungewear looked out, a hint of confusion on his face.

Hake, by contrast, wasn't surprised at all, tossing out a casual greeting.

"I'm off today. Is there something you need, Mister Hake?"

"We're looking for someone. Can we come in and talk?"

Hake maintained his usual style—emotionless, with a lazy look in his eyes.

Moreover, his reason for the visit was clearly a bit of a tactful understatement.

"The person we're looking for" could mean Rachel, or it could mean the missing youths.

Just as expected from someone with extensive grassroots fieldwork experience.

The missing car had to have been driven away by someone. Since Rachel's husband, Ed, was the one answering the door, the probability of his truant wife being home was quite low. Exactly what she had gone out to do was undoubtedly a delicate subject.

If an outsider accidentally blurted out the wrong thing, the consequences could be severe.

Although Fu Qian astutely picked up on this, he similarly had no intention of speaking out of turn.

"Of course, come in."

He looked a bit fierce, but Ed was clearly the easygoing sort, offering the invitation without a second thought.

...

It was indeed exquisite, and not just superficially glamorous.

Following along on the invited visit, Fu Qian fully maintained the leisurely demeanor of an entourage member, observing everything without asking a single question.

And he had to admit, the interior of this building was the most exquisite place he had seen so far.

Tables, chairs, counters, coat racks, and hanging lamps—evident thought had gone into every piece, and the layout was incredibly meticulous.

Even the wallpaper had clearly been carefully selected, perfectly harmonizing with the overall style.

If all of this had been arranged by Rachel, it was understandable why she wasn't very interested in working as a waitress.

She obviously had rather high standards for her quality of life. Even her physical appearance, according to Hake's description, was striking enough—and he hadn't been exaggerating.

Very quickly, Fu Qian found evidence to support Hake's claims. In a wooden frame on a cabinet sat a black-and-white photograph of the couple.

The man was clearly Ed, looking quite a bit younger.

The woman had slightly curled long hair and affectionate eyes. Even in a black-and-white photo, one could practically feel the rosy plumpness of her lips. She was indeed captivating.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Rachel?"

It was apparent that this charm was still effective on her husband. He had already been fraught with worry while leading the way, and almost as soon as they sat down, Ed couldn't help but ask.

"Not at all. I'm looking for two missing persons."

Sure enough, regardless of whether Ed knew anything, Hake had no intention of revealing that Rachel hadn't shown up at the breakfast shop. He simply steered the conversation naturally to business.

"Very young, a man and a woman, unfamiliar faces. Have you noticed them these past two days?"

...

Missing persons?

Ed was visibly bewildered.

Whether the news was good or bad, facing a sudden conversational reversal when already braced for something else would leave anyone a little stunned.

"I haven't seen any strangers lately... Is Rachel really okay?"

However, this didn't mean he completely believed Hake. After shaking his head subconsciously, Ed stubbornly pressed the issue.

Judging by his expression, it was hard to say if he had astutely picked up on something. It seemed more like a case where excessive concern clouds judgment, causing him to subconsciously link everything back to his wife.

He probably thought the so-called missing persons were just a casual fabrication and that Hake was lying to him with good intentions—especially with an unfamiliar face sitting right in front of him.

By the time he finished speaking, Ed was staring intently at Fu Qian, his gaze somewhat complicated.

Especially since this stranger might even be his wife's type, right?

Clichés were called clichés because they took absolutely no brainpower to understand.

The complexity in Ed's gaze, however, was something Fu Qian could easily parse.

And amid this relaxed attitude, his own eyes hadn't even shifted from Rachel's face in the photo.

...

Clashes of presence were exceedingly delicate, and when it came to stepping on people's toes, Fu Qian had always been remarkably efficient.

Very quickly, the fairly harmonious conversational atmosphere began stiffening by the millisecond.

Furthermore, because he hadn't made a sound earlier, theoretically no obvious fault could be found with his actions, successfully boxing Ed into a corner.

The ultimate consequence was that Fu Qian clearly heard Ed's breathing grow steadily heavier.

In the corner of his eye, even that red hair seemed to grow more vivid.

"The boy is only fourteen years old."

Just as something seemed on the verge of erupting from this standoff, Fu Qian finally spoke.

Spitting out the number coldly, he didn't even bother to look at Ed's face, projecting the sharp vigor of a young law enforcer.

"When it comes to taking care of oneself, I believe your wife is much more capable than he is. Care to search your memory again?"

...

The mode of communication suited for each person varied.

Though he was nowhere near as approachable as Old Man Hake, under Fu Qian's rhetorical question, Ed—who had seemed ready to explode at any moment—unexpectedly saw his aura reverse once more.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, even the red hair on his head seemed to lose its vitality. Ed's whole demeanor rapidly softened.

Of course, Fu Qian didn't attribute this entirely to himself. The two of them, with two completely different attitudes, appeared contradictory but had actually played a perfect good cop, bad cop routine.

In Ed's mind, the probability that they had teamed up to fool him dropped significantly, and the likelihood that the missing persons were real increased.

As for why he had "spoken out for justice"?

Although he still hadn't figured out the rules for entering the Inner World, Ed's mental state was clearly very dangerous.

Fu Qian had no intention of starting another tour of the Inner World right now, so he hadn't ever intended to actually drive Ed mad.

While provoking the man just now, he had actually been focusing more on Hake's reaction.

The facts proved that even when sensing Ed's negative emotions, the Old Man didn't react much.

He merely frowned slightly, seeming to ponder how to break the news that Rachel wasn't at the breakfast shop without triggering the man.

"You seem very worried about Rachel. Has she been having any problems lately?"

At this moment, the Old Man seemed highly satisfied with the shift in the situation, relaxing his posture.

"...It's nothing. She's just been a bit obsessed with painting."

After racking his brains under Fu Qian's prodding but clearly still coming up empty, Ed shook his head, stating that his wife was merely swept up in an art addiction.

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