Eldritch Horror Theatre

A bottom line was always crossed step by step, and his earlier behavior fell exactly into that category.

Once he confirmed the other party harbored intentions to use him, his first move was to demonstrate his value—such as offering to organize a search for the missing youths.

At the same time, however, he had let certain oddities slip, making him seem not quite like a standard police officer.

The sudden chill in Emily's eyes just now felt almost like a conversation taking place across space.

It gave the impression that, while the guidance she received might not have explicitly contained a term like Racing Mode, she remained highly vigilant against potential competitors.

It was just a pity that people always had their limits. After a brief internal struggle, she clearly failed to realize the flaws in her earlier acting and chose to play the role out to the end.

To be fair, of course, while her talent might not have been exceptional, she was certainly putting in the effort.

She even exposed another piece of information in the process—there was a high probability that she had conversed with the real Emily.

This wasn't hard to imagine.

Not to mention that, based on what was known of Emily and Dennis's behavior so far, their mindsets seemed to remain strictly within the realm of ordinary people, regardless of whether they had acquired any special abilities in the Inner World.

Entering the Inner World, they were like ignorant children strolling through a demonic realm.

For the Old Hunter, the greatest obstacle in finding them likely lay with the Natives of this town.

Such as the wildly imaginative Ivan, along with the many characters devoured by Brother Peeker.

Of course, this was merely a guess. There was actually another reason for this line of thought: Fu Qian didn't believe the Old Hunter could impersonate a young girl to this degree all on his own.

The mental journey of running away, her feelings and evaluations regarding her companion, and even her tone of voice and facial expressions... it all suggested that an original prototype had likely been used for reference.

As for why Emily would be willing to help?

Judging from what had been done to Dennis's corpse, Fu Qian certainly didn't think the Old Hunter was the soft-hearted type.

If he was convinced those two were connected to the White Key and had finally managed to capture one alive, he surely wouldn't mind using considerable methods to ensure he obtained as much information as possible.

Just like Dennis, Emily's outcome likely wasn't very optimistic.

Of course, this was in the Inner World, a nightmarish projection of a place.

In the Real World, their situation might be entirely different.

And this was also what Fu Qian was curious about: was there a White Key in each of the two worlds?

Was the Old Hunter being too active in the Inner World?

...

It was understandable that the two tormented youths had been projected into the Inner World only after entering this "dying" town.

So, what exactly was the nature of the White Key tied to them?

To put it bluntly, this was the core purpose of attending this Hongmen banquet.

Did one exist in each world, or was it only found in the Real World? Did the boy and girl, regardless of which side they were on, merely provide the clues to find it?

When he first saw the task, Fu Qian was arguably leaning toward the latter.

But after flipping coins with Jean at the breakfast shop and discovering the interactivity of Items between the two worlds, he slightly adjusted his inclination. It could exist in either world, not necessarily only in the "reality."

Yet it didn't end there. During his subsequent explorations, it was easy to discover that his competitor seemed rather extreme in this regard.

Not only were his traces scattered everywhere across the Inner World, but even the venue for their conversation was here.

Was it because he possessed the constitution of an ordinary person in the Real World and didn't want to risk it?

It counted as a plausible excuse, but was there a more natural one?

For example, just as the town's Natives who lost their Anchor Point could no longer enter the Inner World, could he, due to certain restrictions, inversely be unable to enter the Real World?

Once this was taken as a premise, some things seemed to become much more reasonable.

The breakfast shop, the Art Prison, the hospital... the search process in his eyes was different from his own.

From start to finish, he could only drift between these gloomy locations in the Inner World, which was why he had relatively retained his Transcendent power.

That was indeed fairer.

It did not even hinder explaining why he had been able to set up this trap.

For one thing, the traces left at the Art Prison in the Inner World alone were enough to guide someone to this place.

For another, referencing the mental states of Jean and Brother Peeker after they entered the Inner World.

A brief conversation with them was all it took to deduce the existence of a parallel world—one that expelled the mystical, and where order had not collapsed in all aspects.

He might even have been able to find out that someone else was also searching for the missing personnel.

From there, he could lay a trap and wait by the stump for a hare.

The premise here was that he might not be able to head to the Real World himself, but he possessed the ability to alter the properties of an area and make someone drop in.

And if that were truly the case, he obviously wouldn't be allowed to get away easily this time.

Though this was not the issue Fu Qian was worried about—if the Old Hunter could only operate in the Inner World yet still had a possibility of finding the White Key, didn't that imply there was at least one White Key in the Inner World?

It was even possible that there was only this single one between the Real World and here combined, meaning he would need to dig it up from this place?

This was the true worst-case scenario.

"Understandable. The troubles of youth often arrive a bit later."

The more he deduced the situation, the thornier it seemed. However, Fu Qian showed nothing on his face. He merely commented on Emily's assessment of Dennis before following up with a rather sharp question.

"So, do you think if you were the one who went missing, he would have come running to look for you like this?"

...

"I think Dennis would. That's also what I'm worried about... Not only did I fail to find him, but he also didn't show up here..."

The question was somewhat piercing, but after a moment of silence, Emily ultimately chose strength and trust.

Why don't I think so?

Although in response to her answer, Fu Qian only said this inwardly.

"How moving. Now for the final question. You can leave once you answer it."

Nodding slightly in praise, Fu Qian offered a special reminder.

"During your search along the way, did you happen to come across a rather shady Clinic?"

And his question was even more peculiar.

"Very dilapidated, very old, and with extremely poor hygiene. Even the IV bottles weren't washed clean, to the point the insides looked reddish and bloody?"

Fu Qian had never forgotten that scene from the start of the task.

Even though more and more subsequent information proved that the situation at the time had been perfectly reasonable, the sense of déjà vu was simply too strong.

It was hard not to be reminded of the Old Man, the very first person who had told him to go out and bask in the moon.

"Hey... it wasn't that bad, was it?"

See? Even Tina instantly made the association and expressed a severe protest against this kind of insinuation.

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