Eldritch Horror Theatre

This night was proving to be both lively and interesting.

Even after progressing this far, there was still no sign of the Checklist ending.

But Fu Qian wasn't the least bit bored. On the contrary, he was genuinely curious about the next item.

Providing end-of-life care for a dying man... Compared to his previous assignments, this task offered a rather unique experience.

Although his hands were stained with blood and he had sent plenty of people on their final journeys, very few of his victims had actually possessed this sort of mindset—facing death head-on.

As for Kadon, not only was he thoroughly permeated with that twilight aura of old age, but one could palpably feel him gazing straight at death, trying to figure out how to bid this world farewell.

This was exactly what made Fu Qian so curious. It was hard to imagine the Warehouse expending the effort to send him here just to perform hospice care.

The old man's farewell gestures inevitably carried some deeper meaning, along with their own set of difficulties.

He had already reasoned it out earlier: his presence here meant that completing Kadon's Checklist wouldn't be simple—but where exactly did the difficulty lie?

That included the recently completed Reflection.

He had even messed around quite a bit during the process, yet the old man hardly seemed to mind, and no mission-failure notification had popped up either.

This practically proved that the task's specific details weren't strictly enforced. The true difficulty lay elsewhere.

So what exactly was Kadon trying to do? Fu Qian grew increasingly eager to learn more about the contents of his Checklist.

Even the time spent so far hadn't been wasted. He had already gathered some understanding of the old man—

He was a transcendent leaning toward the mental domain. It seemed he had undergone his Awakening decades ago, right in the middle of a visit to this place...

But that process had caused him to miss checking in on his father and seeing the cat...

Years later, he had returned, seemingly treating this place as the final stop in his life and drawing up a Checklist to make up for his regrets...

He appeared to dislike his own transcendent nature, to the point that the Checklist's contents seemed deliberately scrubbed of any supernatural elements—was it possible that this was what Kadon truly wanted to do?

Exactly. Formulating a hypothesis alongside a question had always been one of Fu Qian's good habits.

So when he realized just how conservative the old man was about displaying his supernatural power, he naturally entertained a rather specific thought—

Could the old man be aiming for returning to simplicity and true nature before he died, wanting nothing more than to be an ordinary person?

...

The theoretical possibility existed. For instance, the Fool's Idol currently in his possession.

Fu Qian had always prioritized combining theory with practice.

At this very moment, an item lay quietly inside the Warehouse that could wipe a transcendent completely clean, turning them into a blank slate.

But the chances of that were incredibly slim. Even though he hadn't yet figured out the meaning behind the power of the "Fool," Fu Qian highly doubted an effect like that was as common as cabbage in a market.

This very contradiction instantly highlighted the importance of the Checklist.

Don't forget the requirements of the Containment Conditions. No matter how mundane it looked, that alone was enough to prove the Checklist was the key.

In short, Fu Qian was very much looking forward to what came next—

"Go back to the motel. This will be the final item."

The result was a pleasant surprise. From the backseat, Kadon not only gave a clear directive in an instant, but outright declared it was the final task.

Efficient.

Fu Qian offered silent praise, already steering the car onto the road.

"Do you know what I did back there?"

Though Fu Qian hadn't asked any further questions, Kadon took the initiative to speak, diving straight into the sensitive topic.

"I saw it, but that's still a bit removed from knowing."

Fu Qian didn't change the subject, casually responding.

...

He saw the action, but didn't entirely understand what it meant.

It was a direct response, and the meaning was expressed with crystal clarity.

Fu Qian's honesty made Kadon fall silent for a moment.

With those words, the suspicion he'd held from the start was essentially confirmed, rendering certain past actions rather laughable...

"And back at the Old Warehouse..."

It wasn't until the car turned onto the main road that Kadon finally spoke again, predictably seeking confirmation about another location.

"Don't worry. I don't mind that this thing was pried off a corpse."

Fu Qian responded by flashing the pendant in his hand.

"I really can't comprehend it, but... thinking about it carefully, this is actually quite nice."

Kadon stayed silent for much longer this time. Though he eventually let out a long sigh, he didn't seem terribly upset.

"...I don't know the man's real name. He called himself the Unrighteous One."

Without explaining why he found it nice, the old man abruptly shifted to reminiscing about the past.

"Remember when I told you that some people used the Old Warehouse as a place of prayer? He was one of them. A core figure, even.

"I was never sure what they actually believed in. According to what the Unrighteous One told me, they didn't pray to any higher Deity. Instead, they prayed to themselves—their true selves."

...

"So the meaning behind 'Unrighteous One' implies he wasn't yet his true self?"

Since the old man was being so generous with his information, Fu Qian naturally wouldn't be rude. He offered a brief commentary on the shared lore as he drove.

When it came to some of the more abstract thought processes out there, he did possess a fair bit of empathy.

"Exactly... I feel like if it were you, he would have gladly invited you to join as well."

Staring intently at the back of his driver's head, Kadon not only agreed with Fu Qian's assessment but even bestowed a remarkably high compliment.

"So he invited you back then?"

Fu Qian didn't let the praise get to his head, continuing to extract key information.

"Yes, but I refused."

Kadon replied quickly this time, his tone taking on a peculiar edge.

"Why refuse?"

As the conversation hit its stride, Fu Qian didn't hold back.

"Because I didn't believe their philosophy could achieve the results they wanted."

The old man was surprisingly answering every question asked.

"Why couldn't it?"

"Because I achieved it."

...

Oh?

Plain yet utterly domineering. Kadon's words instantly sparked a myriad of possibilities in his imagination.

"So when I was asked to kiss his hand, I took the opportunity to verify my own gains and gifted him a Sublimation."

Before Fu Qian could even ask another question, Kadon continued his rapid confession, openly admitting to the murder.

"But it was precisely because of those gains that I didn't go to my appointment at Lucy's house. And that same night, I spent the entire time sitting in my car watching my father—just like I am now."

So back then, he hadn't just heard Mister Dickens moving around from next door; he had been watching him directly through the car window?

Clicking his tongue in amazement, Fu Qian parked the car and glanced at a window not far away.

Indeed, the drive had been incredibly short. The car had already arrived in the parking lot of the abandoned motel.

"The contents of the final item are actually very simple. I want to die in my sleep."

From the backseat, Kadon ended his reminiscence with equal decisiveness, revealing the exact details of the final item on the Checklist.

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