Eldritch Horror Theatre

Laughable justice...

This was exactly why they said sincerity moved people.

Theoretically, since Ballard had been completely forgotten by everyone, Akasha shouldn't have heard this phrase.

Yet, faced with the word coming from the outsider's mouth, she didn't immediately mock him. Instead, she fell into a brief silence.

Of course, Fu Qian didn't think Akasha was actually pondering the concept of justice.

Anyone with half a brain could guess that she was only wondering one thing: 'Why is Andiel saying this?'

But regardless of how it worked, there was no denying its effect.

"I'm looking forward to it... So where exactly are we heading? Is it far?"

When she finally spoke again, Akasha's tone held no trace of suspicion. She even stood up with a bright smile.

The Spider Silk Queen certainly had some nerve.

Though he doubted her motives were that simple, Akasha's demeanor made it clear she had locked onto him. She was prepared to follow him wherever he went next.

Moreover, this approach of simply sticking to him without doing anything else seemed to confirm his earlier theory about their team's division of labor.

The plan was being driven forward by the others, so being short one person didn't matter.

From this perspective, the Black Doctor he encountered earlier seemed to be nothing more than outside muscle.

After all, mere mental sensing wouldn't be enough to convince someone like Akasha to take on such a dangerous duty.

He had, after all, just directly killed the Black Doctor. If she really had been monitoring him all along, there was no way she didn't know about it.

Frankly, Akasha's previously demonstrated survivability was slightly inferior to the Black Doctor's.

She couldn't be naive enough to think someone like him would be swayed by old sentiment.

In short, it seemed the Natives had a massive plan in motion. Their overt goal was to plunge this Unseen Hill into an eternal night.

To achieve that, aside from the enlightened Transcendent Tier beings causing chaos everywhere, there was even a well-coordinated team driving the scheme forward.

He couldn't even rule out the possibility that his old friend A Wei was part of this very group.

"Hard to say, but don't worry. We can take a carriage."

Fu Qian replied, turning to comfort Akasha while he sorted through the situation. He was in no rush to kill anyone.

Though that glance clearly made her a bit nervous.

"A carriage?"

Akasha froze for a moment before processing his words, glancing out the door in surprise.

...

"A carriage. Don't tell me the city's transit system is completely paralyzed."

Thinking her reaction was a bit overblown, Fu Qian casually clarified that he did indeed plan to catch a ride.

"Do you know where we can catch one nearby?"

During his previous mission, the Clown had mentioned that carriages were the smoothest and most boring things in the city. He had even targeted them with terrorist attacks just to vent his frustrations.

From what he had seen since, the city clearly operated a considerable fleet of carriages to maintain its public transit system.

True, the Natives—stirred into a frenzy by the Prophet's Death Rattle and the Gate of Freedom—had already destroyed a good number of them, and it was currently the middle of the night.

But on his way over, Fu Qian had still spotted a few stubbornly making their rounds.

As for why he insisted on taking public transit during such a critical moment—

"There should still be some running, but why would we do that?"

That exact question was fully voiced by Akasha a moment later.

"Weren't you worried about the walk being too exhausting?"

Fu Qian looked even more baffled, staring at her with the gentle concern one might reserve for an amnesiac.

"...I didn't realize you cared so much. It's truly surprising and touching."

Akasha finally gave up. After a moment of silence, she placed a hand over her heart and smiled radiantly.

"But I'm not too familiar with the transit routes around here. We might need to go out and look."

Her underlying meaning was clear: 'Since you don't mind wasting time, I'm more than happy to play along.'

"That's fine—do you happen to know?"

Fu Qian merely waved a hand. Looking like he had planned for this all along, he turned and asked Catherine directly.

As a trained restaurant waitress, knowing the local transit routes should be a basic requirement.

Not to mention she had literally been tailing a carriage just a little while ago.

...

"I think there are... but you might have to walk a bit."

Despite the oppressive aura of a predator, Akasha's humble act in front of Dayun Mingwang during their earlier exchange had evidently let Catherine relax just a little.

Unfortunately, the normalcy hadn't even lasted two sentences before the conversation veered back into absurdity. It took her a long time to process the question and spit out an answer. Her expression was completely vacant, as if her brain had simply given up.

"Can you point the way? Or were you planning on walking us there yourself?"

Fu Qian looked highly satisfied. He paused for a moment before tossing out the casual prompt.

"Ah—"

Catherine jolted, hastily pointing in a direction and rattling off the route. She didn't dare glance at Akasha the entire time.

"Thank you. Let's go."

Fu Qian didn't actually force Catherine to ride a carriage with a predator. With a casual thanks, he left her there to hold down the fort.

"Alright."

Akasha didn't push the issue either. As she smiled and followed him out, her gaze drifted between Fu Qian and Catherine a few times, clearly curious about their relationship.

In the blink of an eye, the usually busy night-time restaurant fell quiet once again.

Through the darkness, Catherine could be seen standing there numbly. With an entirely passive posture, she waited for the potential descent of the Darkest Night.

...

"There really was one."

Catherine's directions had been incredibly helpful. Fu Qian and Akasha barely had to exert any effort before their midnight transport rolled up.

Though the carriage driver looked even more hollow-eyed and lifeless than Catherine, at least he didn't refuse them a ride.

When the two eccentrically dressed passengers finally climbed into the empty carriage, Akasha celebrated their success by deliberately squeezing in tight against Fu Qian, her red hair draping over his shoulder.

"You smell quite nice."

Fu Qian made no effort to dodge her. A moment later, he even offered a genuine compliment.

"Thank you... What a sweet talker!"

Now it was Akasha's turn to be flattered. Still, she graciously accepted the praise, pressing her voluptuous curves even closer to him and intensifying the heavy, cloying sweetness in the air.

"But it's a different kind of nice smell from before. Is that why the crystal couldn't detect you?"

He took the enthusiastic display in stride, but quickly followed up, getting straight to the point of his critique.

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