Eldritch Horror Theatre

This should be quite convincing.

Expected, and entirely reasonable.

Fu Qian was highly satisfied with the task prompts that continued to appear.

When the Burlap Doll first appeared earlier, he had felt something was slightly off; it simply didn't fit his impression of the Needle Witch's style.

Even as a window display, it seemed a bit too high-profile for her.

Fortunately, carrying this doubt to the present, the scene before him seemed to provide the answer—that wasn't the Needle Witch at all, but the handiwork of the Origin Council.

His behavior during the interview—announcing his background to try and build rapport—seemed to have directly attracted the main party.

Though the main party's method of response was also extremely subtle.

He was impersonating the Origin Council, while the Council was impersonating the Night Watchers. What on earth had happened to this society? Was there any sincerity left?

When villains held sway, one had to be even more villainous than they were.

Despite lamenting that human hearts are no longer pure, Fu Qian actually understood the Origin Council's successive actions.

True, at first glance, it might seem a bit abstract, perhaps even bordering on the irrational.

But toward this old rival, Fu Qian found it much easier to exercise his capacity for empathy.

First, reacting before the Night Watchers proved that whatever the Origin Council had planned this time, it was likely long premeditated. They had meticulously controlled every aspect, allowing them to immediately spot the candidate named Ariel.

In fact, that was the core purpose of his attempt back then.

As for appearing in the form of a Burlap Doll—an act of impersonating law enforcement—it seemed like a move that would invite sheer trouble once exposed.

But considering their track record from Shangjing to Ye Island, this group had always preferred hiding behind others to get things done.

Even when testing a suspicious character like him, borrowing the prestige of Excellency Needle Witch wasn't strange.

Of course, there was a rather sensitive issue here: given the ambiguous relationship between the Needle Witch and them, why didn't they avoid suspicion?

The nature of that relationship was truly severe; one could imagine Excellency Kelin wouldn't want anyone to know about it.

Simple—feigning substance when empty, Making the Real Look False. Not avoiding suspicion was actually the greatest way to avoid it.

Being so bold as to openly impersonate her—such an action, in the eyes of the Night Watchers, could almost be considered vouching for her innocence.

......

If they could detect his arrival immediately, why couldn't they detect the Night Watchers?

That interview process everyone had to go through—a seemingly unskippable entry mechanism—could obviously be used for intelligence gathering if the Origin Council had been operating here for a long time.

Not to mention the mark that fused into the palm after the interview was completed.

In short, based on the currently available information, the three-way standoff before him was likely like this—

The Night Watchers were here to investigate the relationship between the Solitary King and the Flame of Frenzy; they were completely unaware that the Origin Council was planning to stir up trouble.

Meanwhile, thanks to the task prompts, he had grasped some information about the Origin Council, but when he entered, he hadn't known the Night Watchers were also present.

Finally, there was the Origin Council, whose true purpose remained unclear. Thanks to their early preparations, they possessed maximum control over the overall intelligence landscape.

They knew the Night Watchers were present and boldly imitated Kelin's methods without avoiding suspicion.

They also knew a suspicious person like him had slipped in, so they immediately made a move to test him.

Even their choice of testing method killed three birds with one stone—

First, impersonating the Night Watchers—the entity most capable of intimidating scoundrels—applied maximum pressure to make him slip up and expose his real purpose for coming.

Second, it indirectly cleared the name of their suspected partner.

Finally, based on his reaction, they could even reverse-probe whether Kelin's relationship with them had been exposed.

He could only say they were worthy peers capable of wrestling with his Rebirth Club. Besides strength, this insatiable, scheming nature that always sought to take advantage was truly the mark of kings.

Of course, the above was all speculation as to why they initially impersonated Kelin to probe him. Next came the most important question: why did they jump out again now?

Originally, he and the Night Watchers were out in the open, while they controlled the board from the shadows.

Now, they had exposed themselves directly beneath the Night Watchers' noses. No matter how you looked at it, they were throwing away a massive advantage for nothing—because they had no choice but to throw it away.

They couldn't bear the cost of having the Flame of Frenzy forcibly pinned on their heads.

The Origin Council likely also knew some information about this golden flame, well aware that no matter how suspicious his own behavior was, the Night Watchers couldn't possibly ignore it.

......

Slinging mud was also a profound discipline. In fact, while laying the groundwork step by step, Fu Qian had pondered who should ultimately receive the grand prize of being labeled the source of the Flame of Frenzy.

After thinking it over, the Origin Council was undoubtedly the most fitting choice.

The truth behind the Flame of Frenzy involved an Ancient Higher Being who had formally taken action not long ago; it could no longer be described as merely "highly consequential."

Small sects and minor factions simply weren't enough to shoulder the blame for such a feat.

So if he wanted to keep muddying the waters, the Origin Council absolutely had to be dragged in.

Not to mention that standing behind them was already a higher entity named Rom, who went around digging up graves and snatching corpses.

So the moment the task objective appeared this time, Fu Qian knew the time had come.

One of his main goals in decisively borrowing Ariel's name was to dump this mess—which was on par with nuclear wastewater—onto them at the right moment.

Applied to the situation before him, it was very simple.

Because of his own egregious behavior right under the Night Watchers' noses, the Origin Council had weighed their options and decided they would rather risk exposure than take the fall for this.

The core purpose of the second doll jumping out was to unleash this surging storm of light to prove that it was the real Ariel.

Perhaps doing so would cost them dearly, and their original plan would inevitably be disrupted.

But careful thought made it clear: if he, the fake Ariel, put on a show and then simply dusted off his hands and hid, they would face double the pressure from the Night Watchers—both for coming here with malicious intent and for being involved with the Flame of Frenzy.

There was no other way; this mud was simply too dirty.

Since they were going to be caught like rats by the Night Watchers either way, it was better to jump out directly. Using this highly representative ability, they could show everyone who the real Ariel was and point out that he himself was no saint either.

This would not only clear them of the Flame of Frenzy issue but also give the Night Watchers an additional target to divide their attention.

Honestly, such handling could be considered decisive—but did they really think they could wash off Professor Fu's mud just because they wanted to?

What did they think was the purpose behind this seat's diligent honing of empathy?

The battle between the true and false Ariel had only just begun.

Within the yet-undissipated Sea of Light, Fu Qian coldly scoffed in his mind.

Facing an opponent desperately trying to prove their identity, aside from standing up because the stool beneath him had vaporized, he actually did nothing at all.

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