Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sure enough, she wasn't here.

When searching for something, it was best to immerse oneself in the scene. The weather was poor, but it perfectly matched yesterday's conditions.

As Fu Qian shut the door behind him, the view out the window was intimately familiar.

And by the time he sat down in the Chair in the middle of the room, it felt completely identical.

There was clearly nothing wrong with the location. This was exactly where Excellency Serana was staying.

Unfortunately, after he sat quietly in the dark for a long time, no one appeared to crack his back.

She really was gone. Hopefully, she hadn't abandoned the partnership they'd just negotiated.

Fu Qian didn't try to turn on the lights, feeling quite pleased that their partnership was still intact.

As for why he didn't assume his partner had noticed something amiss and decisively gone into hiding?

They were well acquainted by now, and Excellency Serana wasn't the type to back down from a challenge.

Setting aside their division of labor, she likely hadn't even had the chance to witness his actions on the ship.

Even if she had been extremely cautious and lingered after sending him onto the ship, the fire stoked by the title 'Dominator of Death' wouldn't be so easily extinguished.

Realizing she'd been deceived was one thing, but his performance—whether in words or in combat—would likely only heighten her interest.

She might not rush to show herself, but she was definitely keeping a close watch, waiting for a chance to test the waters—oh?

His analysis was clear and systematic, yet right at that moment, Fu Qian sensed something and turned toward the window.

The storm raged in the darkness. Pitifully few lights remained outside, yet a strange radiance seemed to flash by.

...

Did the slap in the face come this quickly? As expected of Excellency Serana, who fought on despite repeated defeats; she had finally earned her moment of vindication.

Fu Qian was certain he hadn't imagined it. Something really had flashed past just now, and it was no ordinary thing.

And that radiance was fire burning upon it.

Crash—

He didn't even have time to stand up before a crisp shattering sound rang out, followed by the sudden, piercing shriek of the wind.

Another streak of light flashed by, this time smashing a hole straight through the glass.

The cozy scene of sitting and listening to the rain was instantly ruined as the storm ravaged the room in the blink of an eye.

As for the culprit behind all this...

Fu Qian looked down at his feet. The object that broke the window had rolled right up to him.

Fangs, membranous wings, red eyes... This was why he said it was no ordinary thing. It was clearly the shape of a bat.

It just looked terribly ancient. Not only was its body emaciated, but parts of it seemed rotten, and its ruined frame lay motionless after hitting the floor.

As for the fire from earlier, it seemed to have ignited from those rotting spots on its body, rapidly burning out until it was now barely visible.

Seeing such a thing on a night like this—let alone having it smash right at his feet—was undeniably ominous. A dead fish biting the hook couldn't be worse than this.

That wasn't even the main point. Considering the symbolic meaning bats held for the Blood Clan, it was hard not to associate this with Excellency Serana.

He had just reasoned that she would likely find a chance to test him unless something had happened to her. And now, a test had arrived immediately?

If this was true, Excellency Serana had truly mastered the essence of a direct slap in the face.

The key point was that it really didn't look fake.

Fu Qian bent down and picked up the bat, feeling its cold flesh, which seemed to have been dead for a long time.

It was already absurd that such a thing could still fly, let alone that so many of them were flying.

Right at that moment, visibility abruptly increased as dozens, perhaps hundreds, of lights flared up outside.

...

Thud! Thud!

It was no exaggeration. The remaining glass on the window was completely obliterated in the blink of an eye, followed by bat after bat hurtling inside and splattering onto the floor.

Some didn't even die immediately upon impact; their struggles, paired with the unextinguished flames on their bodies, actually looked somewhat dazzling.

This was indeed a ripple from Excellency Serana; there was almost no doubt about it.

With a sigh, Fu Qian finally stood up.

That was about right. Given her temper, it was hard to imagine her keeping her cool for this long.

Could it be that she hadn't met with a mishap, nor was she testing him after sensing something amiss, but had instead reaped an ideal harvest?

In the time he had been out for a stroll, had she not only stirred up the situation in Shangjing and exposed the Greed Worms, but also made a discovery in her own investigation?

Had Serana discovered traces related to the Dominator of Death?

What a great partner. He just knew he hadn't misjudged that youngster.

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian didn't even use the door, directly leaping backward out the window.

...

This wind was a bit hostile.

In just the short while he had stayed inside, the weather had somehow grown even more severe.

So much so that as he jumped out the window, Moore amidst the storm almost felt alive, forcefully trying to shove him back inside.

Fu Qian naturally wouldn't be deterred so easily. Landing steadily, he merely watched the bat corpses being swept up into the air once again.

They looked truly dead this time, and no new ones appeared.

It made him feel that if he had arrived a step later, he might have missed this spectacular scene.

Given the atrocious weather, not a single trace would have been left behind.

From this perspective, it seemed he really should have hurried over here right away?

Chatting with the Greed Worms had certainly been pleasant, but he could have very likely missed out on crucial information?

Then again, not necessarily.

There was a saying he had once used to sharply critique Laywoman Tooth-Throat, and Fu Qian naturally wouldn't forget it himself—never easily trust unprovoked coincidences.

Rather than believing he had arrived just in time to catch the bats' appearance...

Fu Qian was more willing to believe that his sitting there was a prerequisite for such a commotion to occur.

In other words, even if he had arrived a little later, he probably still wouldn't have missed it.

But the question was—why?

His analysis sounded reasonable, but it inevitably brought up a more profound question.

Their partnership was genuine, but as a character who was supposedly locked on the ship forever, passively waiting to see if Excellency Serana would come collect her harvest, why would she leave traces for him?

It was a textbook case of winking at a blind man.

Did Serana suspect, or even know, that he had escaped the ship, and thus did this?

That was even more absurd. He looked like an utterly untrustworthy scammer no matter how you sliced it, yet she specifically left a message?

After a series of logical deductions, the situation actually seemed harder to explain—excellent.

Hard to explain meant the scope had widened, revealing more factors beyond his current understanding.

Regardless of how much subjective intent was involved, Excellency Serana truly seemed to have left a surprise for him.

Brimming with optimism, Fu Qian glanced back.

The window he had just jumped out of had silently decayed into dust.

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