Eldritch Horror Theatre

Theoretically, it was entirely possible for that demigod with a poor reputation to be killed by a single gunshot.

But if Helom really had been killed by this revolver, where was his corpse?

Looking at Old Man Nate in front of him, Fu Qian fell into thought.

He had already observed their surroundings, finding no bloodstains or other residue.

Even if the scene had been scrubbed clean later, that was a demigod's corpse. It couldn't have vanished without a trace.

And on his way here, he hadn't detected the slightest aura of supernatural power in the entire manor.

Wait, that wasn't entirely true.

Strictly speaking, there was a faint trace right in front of him.

Fu Qian glanced at the white frost on the floor before his gaze shifted to the top of Nate's head.

"Do you drink?"

After exchanging a few words with Fu Qian, Old Man Nate's sanity seemed to have stabilized somewhat.

Slowly turning his body, he set the revolver aside and righted his wine glass, even offering Fu Qian a drink.

"No need. Help yourself."

Fu Qian gestured with his hand.

Nate didn't insist. With trembling hands, he grabbed the wine bottle.

He had barely poured half a glass of the golden liquid before eagerly bringing it to his mouth.

However, a moment later, he froze in the middle of drinking.

Hmm?

Fu Qian took one look and understood why.

In the brief moment it took to raise his head, the chill radiating from his body had frozen the wine inside the conical goblet into a solid lump. It wouldn't pour out at all.

Crash!

The next moment, the glass shattered against the floor.

Nate's head snapped around, his eyes already crimson.

"Why is there ice? Who are you? Did you kill Sean?"

His voice was hoarse and frantic. He had snatched up the revolver again, looking as if he might pull the trigger at any second.

"No."

Facing the suddenly enraged old man, Fu Qian answered calmly.

"You were late for the evening banquet, so I came to check on you."

"The banquet..."

Hearing the word, Nate's expression shifted to a brief spell of confusion before turning solemn.

"The luckiest thing this time is that he wasn't given a chance to poison it."

"I just can't figure out yet who would do such a thing."

Now was the moment!

Seeing the man fall back into character, Fu Qian remained silent.

He knew perfectly well that while in character, the old man was practically blind to his presence.

And this was exactly the opening Fu Qian was waiting for.

He stepped forward without hesitation and snatched the hat off Nate's head.

Even in the dim moonlight, the old man's bald forehead gleamed.

Nestled within his thinning hair, another human face clung to the top of his head. Its floating features were stretched and somewhat distorted.

[Current task updated: Eradicate the residual traces of Helom.]

So this was His Excellency, the demigod Helom?

Listening to the prompt in his ear, Fu Qian stroked his chin and nodded.

It was actually hard to glean much information from that twisted face.

But the updated task proved he had found the right target.

So Helom really had been taken out with a single gunshot?

Old Man Nate might as well change his name to McCree.

Judging from its current appearance, Helom's corpse must have undergone some special mutation after his death, eventually fusing with Nate's body.

That was also why no body had been found.

Moreover, the face looked completely lifeless. It hadn't made a single sound this whole time, nor had it reacted at all to the removal of the hat.

Helom's consciousness must have completely dissipated. This was merely the condensed power of his remains.

Speaking of which, his assigned task was quite interesting. Normally, after finishing the investigation, wouldn't he be asked to hunt down the killer?

But now he was supposed to eradicate the residual traces of Helom. This was basically telling him to wipe the guy from the face of the earth.

Which suited him just fine!

In Fu Qian's eyes, getting rid of a character like Helom could only be considered a public service, regardless of who did the deed or whether he was a demigod.

The problem was that eradicating those residual traces didn't feel like it would be that easy!

Fu Qian stared at Nate's shiny head. He couldn't exactly just scalp the man.

Given the uncontrollable chill that had emanated from him just now, the two were undoubtedly fused in some special manner. This was far beyond what a little surgery could fix.

Forget separating them and just destroy both at once?

Setting aside the fact that Nate was likely innocent, Fu Qian suspected that taking that route would result in a failed task.

He needed to eradicate Helom's traces, which meant wiping him out entirely.

While Nate was currently exhibiting some anomalies of supernatural power, it was still far too weak compared to the true remains of a demigod.

Coupled with the old man's unstable toggling between two states, Fu Qian reasoned that the special protection on Nate was likely suppressing the majority of the corruption.

If Nate died, what Fu Qian would have to face next would likely be a mass of even more troublesome corruption.

And if what Veil said was true, and the Night Watchers had been keeping an eye on Helom, then any anomaly might attract their attention.

Not to mention that this was a special zone where transcendents were barred from entering. If anything abnormal occurred, it would probably reach the ears of the Night Watchers in an instant.

He couldn't act rashly.

Fu Qian silently made up his mind.

"Assassin... wine..."

At this moment, provoked by Fu Qian snatching his hat, a look of disgust identical to Grace's appeared on Nate's face, and his words broke down into a chaotic ramble once more.

"Help yourself. A little drinking is good for you."

Fu Qian let go, allowing the hat to drop back onto the old man's head.

And as Nate struggled with himself, Fu Qian quietly slipped away.

For now, to complete this task, it seemed he had to find a way to completely destroy the corruption from the demigod's remains.

Unfortunately, based on past experience, this was clearly going to be difficult. Otherwise, Yuan Shan's Underground Sealed Zone wouldn't have ended up in such a mess.

Beyond that, there was another approach: figure out exactly what had happened to this group of actors.

Since the protection on Nate could suppress the leakage of the corruption to some extent, there might very well be a way to make it dissipate completely.

His next step would be to observe patiently and see how this group reacted to today's "assassin".

...

By the time he returned to Veil's place, it was almost midnight.

Seeing the covered plates lined up on the table, Fu Qian suddenly realized what he had forgotten.

He hadn't eaten a single thing since breakfast.

Forgetting food and sleep—practically a model worker!

Sighing with emotion, Fu Qian sat down at the dining table and uncovered a few of the dishes at random.

Whether Veil had left special instructions or not, the food tasted even better than yesterday's.

He had barely taken two bites when Veil pushed open her door and walked out.

Even after staying up all night yesterday, she still hadn't gone to sleep.

Watching Fu Qian gorge himself, the expression on her face inexplicably softened a bit.

"Do you want someone to heat that up?"

"No need. It's delicious."

Fu Qian waved his hand dismissively.

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