Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sure enough, everyone had their limits. Brother Peeker still wasn't paying enough attention to the details.

"It grew from the inside? What the hell is going on? Is that guy crazy?"

Fortunately, he had some sense. After Fu Qian revealed the hidden space behind the portrait, he finally grasped the painting's true meaning—and promptly expressed his utter bewilderment.

"You've never been inside?"

Fu Qian asked casually, his eyes carefully scanning the passage's layout.

"I didn't even know this thing existed..."

Yet, Fu Qian's casual demeanor seemed to frighten the man even more. Brother Peeker's voice trailed off as he answered, his gaze darting as if he faintly foresaw his own fate.

"Then you have the chance to appreciate this masterpiece today."

Sure enough, a moment later, Fu Qian pointed toward the hole, signaling for him to crawl inside.

After all, this seemed to explain why the two youths hadn't been seen again after coming inside.

Even if they hadn't gotten lost down there, tracking down this Ivan—who might have crossed paths with them—seemed well worth the effort.

Not to mention that his handiwork was one of the few things actually worth looking at in this Art Prison.

"...Should we go back and grab a light first?"

Fu Qian had already put his gun away, but his intimidating presence hadn't diminished in the slightest.

Brother Peeker opened his mouth, ultimately suppressing the urge to refuse, and tried offering a suggestion instead.

"There's one right next to you."

Fu Qian simply kept pointing.

...

There really was.

Turning around instinctively, he saw a lamp resting in the shadows just a little way inside the passage.

It even came with something to light it with—likely left behind by the creator.

Marveling at the other man's observation skills, Brother Peeker finally ran out of excuses to stall. Resigning himself to his fate, he bent down and crawled into the bizarre opening.

Fortunately, while it was extremely narrow at first, it opened up after just a few steps.

In the blink of an eye, the passage became spacious enough for a person to walk upright. Though the lamp in his hand was dim, it cast just enough light to illuminate the path underfoot.

"...What exactly are we looking for?"

Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't oppressive. Unlike a typical tunnel, it was a constant descent, carrying them further and further beneath the surface.

The resulting unease quickly grew unbearable, prompting Brother Peeker to break the silence and ask for some clarity.

"Looking to see what's here."

Fu Qian answered quickly, but unfortunately, the response was so open-ended that it only brought a surging wave of bewilderment.

Walking single file, the two soon reached a depth where one might expect to hit groundwater, yet the passage still showed no signs of ending.

Not only that, but forks in the path began to appear.

"It really looks like tree roots, but how could..."

Stopping in his tracks to study the divergence ahead, Brother Peeker looked as if he had lost the courage to press on.

Along the way, there had been some signs of human excavation, but the raw, untamed feel of the tunnel was undeniably stronger.

At this particular split, the angle between the two paths was irregular. Even though a vermilion door had been installed, it still looked exactly like a branching root.

Fascinating indeed...

As of yet, there was no sign of the missing youths or Ivan, but that didn't mean they were coming up empty-handed.

At the very least, a scene like this was something most people had never laid eyes on.

This time, Fu Qian didn't prod him forward. Instead, he stepped past Brother Peeker, walked up, and directly chose one of the paths.

A men's jacket, meant for a relatively slim build.

The next moment, he crouched down and picked the item up from behind the door.

It still looked fairly new and hadn't gathered much dirt, though it had been tossed into an inconspicuous spot.

Furthermore, its style was somewhat youthful. The odds of it belonging to that artist were quite slim.

Had the fourteen-year-old boy been here? That seemed much more likely—Click!

Right in the middle of this inspection, another sound echoed out, coming directly from behind him.

This was followed by the abrupt extinguishing of the lamplight.

"Hahaha... You can just search for whatever's down here all by yourself."

Along with a familiar laugh.

"Friendly reminder: I won't be calling the police. And no matter how loud you scream down here, no one above will hear you. Hope you enjoy the fun!"

...

The door had been locked.

Without a doubt, that was Brother Peeker's voice. By the time Fu Qian turned around, it was easy to spot the sliver of light leaking from beneath the vermilion wooden door.

The lamp hadn't actually gone out. He had simply been locked behind the door while examining his find.

The entire process had happened completely silently, and the door looked incredibly sturdy.

Most importantly, before the light vanished, Fu Qian had seen it very clearly: the lock was on the other side.

Brother Peeker had picked the perfect moment, bringing a villain to justice in one fell swoop.

Unless he wanted to use his relatively low-caliber police pistol to try blindly shooting through the wood and destroying the lock in the dark, his only option seemed to be venturing deeper down to find a way out—and without a light source, at that.

"So you have the key to this place?"

Despite seemingly being trapped in a dead end, Fu Qian wasn't the least bit angry. He merely stared at the flickering sliver of light and confirmed.

Not only was the lock installed on the other side, but it was clearly the type that required a key to secure. And just a moment ago, the keyhole had obviously been empty.

"I do... what about it?"

His calm reaction seemed to disappoint the other man. Brother Peeker hesitated, the lamplight lingering outside instead of immediately moving away.

"How did you get it?"

Fu Qian's tone remained as placid as ever, even carrying a hint of gentle coaxing.

"Why should I tell you?"

At that moment, Brother Peeker finally seemed to come to his senses, realizing he was no longer under any threat.

"Anyway, it's just—"

Bang!

Unfortunately, his explanation was abruptly cut off by a deafening gunshot.

"No one above will hear the sounds down here."

Having fired a shot directly through the door, Fu Qian watched the swaying light and repeated the man's earlier words.

...

Though the flame hadn't died, the lamp had undoubtedly hit the floor; the shifting play of light and shadow made that easy to tell.

Just now, relying on that very judgment—coupled with the directional source of the man's voice—he had locked onto Brother Peeker's head within a certain margin of error.

Judging by the sound of a body collapsing right after the gunshot, the margin of error had been completely acceptable, except—

"You... you lunatic! You actually dared to shoot!"

A mere few seconds later, Brother Peeker's slightly slurred voice drifted through the door again, dripping with utter disbelief.

Of course, that was just an emotional outburst without any real substance. The crucial detail was the changing height of his voice; one could almost picture the man slowly climbing up from the ground, step by step.

He was even swaying slightly.

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