Eldritch Horror Theatre

Click!

When Fu Qian settled into his familiar seat, the next sound was rather unusual.

After the rather unrefined title of "Butcher's Cleaver," what followed wasn't the specific mission summary, but a strange noise.

Accompanying the sound was a scene that suddenly flashed before his eyes.

It looked a little familiar; no wonder it had sounded familiar, too.

Fu Qian didn't move, silently observing this rare occurrence during the evaluation—

The sunlight was decent, but it bathed a desolate street. At a glance, almost every door was shut tight, giving it the feel of a ghost town.

Even a place of relaxation like the bar in front of him remained closed.

That's right, this was the exact place where he had finally confronted the Serpent of Destiny.

Old Man Hake, his face calm and his gaze seemingly unfocused, had clearly just opened the car door to take a look. After finding nothing, he casually closed it, noticeably controlling his strength.

...

So this was how things developed over there after the mission was completed?

Had the summary changed from a text format to an audiovisual one?

He had to admit that anything involving the Nightmare Corridor easily made missions bizarre.

Readily understanding the situation before him, Fu Qian felt curious but not anxious, simply sitting back to enjoy the show.

It wasn't surprising that the old man had found his way here. When he had left the breakfast shop, he had explicitly asked Jean and the others about this place.

Disappearing after leaving Rachel's house certainly made things suspicious, but a seasoned veteran like him most likely wouldn't just sit there and wait foolishly.

As long as he did a little investigating and found the breakfast shop, Maggie and the others definitely wouldn't hide anything about his situation.

Judging from the old man's expression, he clearly felt things had grown even more bizarre, prompting him to hurry over.

Although he was still a step late, he had obviously raised his guard.

After walking away from the black car, the old man stood quietly in front of the bar, not rushing to take any further action.

Touched by a bit of destiny's wonder, the bar had miraculously survived the clash between two higher entities.

But as a veteran police officer capable of "feeling the town's pulse," it shouldn't be hard for Hake to spot the anomaly—the door was actually open at this hour.

And there wasn't a single sound coming from inside.

Click!

Another soft sound rang out. After a slight hesitation, the old man unexpectedly pulled out a handgun of a slightly different style, handled it with a touch of unfamiliarity, and kept a vigilant watch on his surroundings.

Once he was ready, and with still no movement from within, his hand finally pressed against the ajar door once more.

Admittedly, his movements were quite heavy, as if there was something inside that would destroy his perception of reality—which, in fact, there was.

Although it wasn't quite an omniscient view, Fu Qian's current state was distinctly detached.

The specific manifestation of this was that, on one hand, he could feel the old man's apprehension, while on the other, he could directly see the scene behind the door.

A person was sitting there.

Emily?

It was indeed a familiar face, one he had just dealt with not long ago.

Although in Fu Qian's view, they should probably be called the "Old Hunter."

The moment this thought surfaced, that teenage face began to change rapidly.

Greying temples, a lazy demeanor—in the blink of an eye, it had become a face exactly identical to the old man outside.

...

That was quite a lot of information to process.

Watching the changes happening "inside" the bar while the old man hesitated outside, Fu Qian found it deeply fascinating.

From the beginning to the end of the entire mission, it could be said that he and that senior opponent never had a truly direct interaction.

Including over at the hospital, Emily's true identity was only deduced through logic.

This meant that despite the fierce competition, which could almost be described as a life-and-death struggle, his grasp of the situation was never truly clear.

It was understandable that this was the result Excellency Serpent of Destiny wanted to achieve—various possibilities, various suspicions.

Always lacking clear grounds for judgment, with no absolutely trustworthy information or people, thereby maximizing the chances of trapping him inside.

The direct consequence of this was that Old Man Hake, as a suspect, was never completely cleared of suspicion.

And now, the situation seemed even more delicate.

Given this face-altering technique, there was little doubt left that the person in the bar was the Old Hunter.

Just as he had guessed, the opponent had indeed retained the ability to alter their appearance.

And earlier at the hospital, they were indeed impersonating Emily to mislead him, attempting to play the oriole behind.

But changing from Emily to Hake spoke volumes—was his suspicion of Old Man Hake actually not an entirely baseless conjecture?

If this was them restoring their original appearance, then the opponent he was facing was actually playing Hake in the Inner World?

It sounded bizarre at first, but thinking about it, it wasn't impossible.

Since it was an administrator executing the mission, the Warehouse would naturally provide a persona.

"Hake of the Inner World," to put it bluntly, was also just an identity.

He himself could be a new police officer in the Real World, so why couldn't his opponent be Hake's Anchor Point in the Inner World?

In that case, the coincidences he had felt regarding the investigation route—such as Hake directly suggesting he go to the Art Prison—seemed to have an additional explanation.

If the "Old Hunter" could, like other Anchor Points, exert some subconscious influence on their Real World self, then even if Old Man Hake was innocent, some of his intuitions likely contained the will of the competitor.

Such a "good guy" identity would be even more deceptive.

...

"Destiny" was truly fascinating; that entity had really gone through a lot of trouble.

Watching the two perspectives inside and outside the door, Fu Qian felt he had gained a deeper appreciation for the patience and restraint of higher entities at that moment.

As for why the Old Hunter had actually come to the Real World, was his previous assumption wrong?

Did the act of altering their face even seem to break the restrictions banning the Transcendent Tier?

It wasn't broken. The reason was actually very simple—Inside the Door wasn't the Real World.

That's right. At this very moment, Fu Qian gained a more intuitive understanding of his opponent's actions back at the hospital, namely the ability to drag the Real World down into the Inner World.

A very clear boundary was drawn, separating the inside and outside entirely.

Specifically here, the door acted as the boundary. As long as the old man walked into the bar, he would briefly be unable to touch the level of the Real World, falling into the Inner World instead.

It was still a scene identical to the Real World, making it extremely deceptive.

To sum up, it seemed the "Old Hunter" could indeed only pull people in; they couldn't come out themselves.

He just didn't know what would happen in this situation if their persona really was the Inner World's Hake, and then the original Hake fell in.

He felt it definitely wouldn't be anything good for the real Old Man Hake. His current caution and hesitation were perfectly normal—Click!

With the third soft sound, Hake, having completed his mental preparation, pushed open the door.

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