Eldritch Horror Theatre

Professor Lisa was extremely anxious, but there was a fair chance the situation was even worse than she thought.

When urging her not to panic, however, Fu Qian had kept that particular speculation to himself.

His reason was simple. No matter the scenario, his justification for holding their ground remained the same: Cass hadn't explicitly asked for help.

"Confidence" was an easy word to throw around, but in practice, it was difficult to navigate. After all, many people lacked a clear understanding of themselves.

Fortunately, despite their short time working together, Fu Qian still highly respected the Dean's leadership and personal abilities.

Urging Lisa to test the waters this time had proved quite rewarding.

Not only did it prove that Cass had likely run into trouble, but it also connected to the situation at the Benevolent Curse Institute.

The only question now was just how big that trouble was.

Fu Qian had seen plenty of cases where everything appeared normal on the surface, but a person's will had actually been distorted or even replaced by something else.

Even his direct reassurance to Lisa that she was fine could potentially be a distress signal.

After receiving such an evaluation, there was a high chance Lisa would overthink it, fail to reach a conclusion, and consequently come seeking him out.

In fact, regardless of what was said, the moment Lisa sensed something weird about Cass, she was almost guaranteed to come here.

In short, if Cass's will was trapped in some predicament and he couldn't convey a message straightforwardly, expressing it indirectly like this was a plausible choice—but only just plausible.

Given that Cass had been back at the Academy for a few days and had earnestly discussed academic issues with him, Fu Qian leaned toward the belief that the man could do more; he didn't need to take such a roundabout route.

Furthermore, Cass's words to Lisa reflected a much more confident underlying message: he could handle it and required no outside intervention.

As for why he hadn't just said so directly? It didn't really matter.

Once someone's mental state was called into question, anything they said amounted to, "I'm not sick."

Fu Qian's lack of urgency in rushing over stemmed from the same thought process. Given his own current state, it would be difficult to determine whether a Cass claiming to be perfectly fine was actually out of his mind.

If he ran over there under these circumstances, what could he do besides be a nuisance?

Verbally ask Cass what trouble he had run into and what help he needed?

Who could guarantee his answer wouldn't be distorted? Would Fu Qian follow those instructions or not?

Or not ask at all and just activate an aura like the Decree of Return on the spot to sterilize him?

Without knowing the cause, and with Cass himself acting off, how could he guarantee it wouldn't backfire and interfere with the man's own self-rescue efforts?

Taking all this into account, Fu Qian chose to place more trust in the leadership and wait for good news.

Of course, if too much time passed and Cass still didn't visit, the scales would tip the other way.

"What you're saying seems to make sense, but..."

Lisa seemed to finally be infected by this confidence. She slowly sat back down.

However, her expression still betrayed her restless anxiety.

"But isn't there something we can do while waiting around here?"

Fortunately, Professor Fu was always understanding. Not waiting for Lisa to finish, he gave a slight nod and gestured to the side.

"The research assistant is quite busy today. You come here often, so you should know where the drinks are kept?"

...

It took her a moment to process that Fu Qian was actually asking a guest to brew the tea.

Even though she did, indeed, know where the drinks were...

Lisa stared straight at Fu Qian. Unfortunately, unwilling to just head back and genuinely desperate for something to do, she ultimately failed to formulate the words to resist this tyranny and stood back up.

Her craftsmanship was definitely far inferior to Classmate Liushuang's, but he couldn't demand too much. Even Cass had probably never received this kind of treatment.

Watching Lisa busy herself, Professor Fu wasn't overly critical; he even tried to look for her strong points.

Though no matter what, her efficiency wasn't going to be very high.

[Warning: Breach Incident]

Glancing at the still-hazy weather, Fu Qian removed the mask from his face.

A new week had begun. Heaven rewards diligence.

Additionally, Warehouse tasks followed a certain principle of proximity. If Cass really was in some massive trouble, perhaps he could find an alternative way to help him from in there.

...

[Name: Grey Bed, Designation: 1-093]

[Today's work content has been updated. Enter the 1-093 Containment Scenario and complete re-containment.]

In the blink of an eye, the familiar Warehouse appeared before him.

And for this week's very first dispatch, the intensity seemed rather high.

Aside from that, Fu Qian sensed something bizarre about the Containment Object's name and designation.

This included the illusory clump of grey that had appeared in the middle of the Warehouse. Even though he had never seen it before, it still gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

[Consume 1 SAN Value to begin?]

[Yes]

While pondering the reasons behind this, Fu Qian responded decisively.

[Entering 1-093 Containment Scenario...]

[Current SAN Value: 214]

[Due to load limits, you cannot carry any additional items.]

[Due to load limits, most injuries will no longer be repaired after the task is completed.]

[Select the skill you wish to equip.]

The various prompts were quite standard. While there were no unexpected pleasant surprises, at least he wasn't going in entirely blank.

[...8%... 13%... 21%... 34%... 55%... 89%... 100%. Containment Scenario load complete.]

[Deep Avatar, humanity runs deep.

Beneath the prosperity lies dullness and numbness. The soul struggles, yet can never achieve Transcendence.

Carrying such memories, you embrace this place once more.

Are old friends still around, and where is fate heading?

Welcome to Unseen Hill.]

He knew exactly where that sense of familiarity came from.

The task introduction wasn't long, but in that moment, his suspicions were verified. Fu Qian marveled inwardly.

Unseen Hill... On one hand, it seemed this task hadn't coincidentally triggered the proximity principle; on the other hand, it was a rare chance for revisiting an old haunt.

He had just mentioned earlier that, given his current state, it was inconvenient to visit many places.

Yet immediately afterward, he had returned to the legendary deepest depths of the mind in this exact manner.

Besides, he had experienced different tasks in the same location before, such as in Shangjing.

But this time, both the designation and the name of the Containment Object seemed a bit special.

If he remembered correctly, during his first visit to Unseen Hill, the Containment Object had been [1-039; Hotbed].

As a competitor who had just witnessed the power of "Zero," Fu Qian found it hard to ignore the correlation between the numbers.

So, while the Warehouse's designations appeared chaotic, did they actually follow some hidden pattern?

Additionally, although "Hotbed" didn't leave a great impression, this "Grey Bed" clearly sounded even less pleasant.

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