Eldritch Horror Theatre

After a round of harvesting, the undercurrents swirling beneath the storms of Moore had grown noticeably clearer.

This newfound clarity made one particular event stand out: Gene's mysterious disappearance.

As a member of the Greed Worms' current operation, he had been active on the front lines despite having just recovered from severe injuries. He was highly likely the point of contact for their transaction with Anjing.

For someone whose faith wasn't particularly devout, he was undoubtedly a core figure in this operation.

Yet, by the time Fu Qian arrived in Moore, Gene had already vanished without a trace.

Considering his position on the front lines, he certainly faced considerable danger.

His surveillance might have been discovered by Solondil, or he might have been caught by Serana while she was Waiting by the Stump for a Hare. He could even have grown too attuned to this place and transformed into a Wise Dead inside a miraculous creature, never to return.

Unfortunately, as the situation had developed, these possibilities had been ruled out one by one.

First, Solondil was unlikely to be the culprit.

But even with their shared perception severed, the life link between the Greed Worms remained intact. Laurie and the others were still perfectly alive.

Second, Serana clearly hadn't caught him either. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been tricked by his impersonation at the start, and it would make no sense for her to take the risk of kidnapping someone from Siren's ship.

As for falling into the Realm of the Dead?

Setting aside why Gene would possess such exceptional aptitude when they were all bugs serving the God of Death, Serana had clearly searched that area extensively after falling in herself, yet still hadn't found him.

In short, this highly sensitive individual had somehow avoided crossing paths with any of the involved factions and simply evaporated on the spot. It raised the question of what kind of accident had occurred—or had there been no accident at all?

Fu Qian didn't mind giving this increasingly intriguing question a bit of attention, and he actually arrived at a conclusion.

The more complicated the situation, the more one's thinking needed to focus on returning to simplicity and true nature.

Since it looked like no accident had occurred, could the disappearance itself be a fake?

Gene truly wasn't in Moore; he had merely slipped away quietly on his own.

As for his purpose—fleeing before the battle?

Of course not.

...

It was a bizarre, dangerous job clearly meant for cannon fodder—so was there any way for them to carve out a little room to maneuver?

His earlier conclusion from the process of elimination seemed absurd, but once he used it as a premise, he actually found plenty of advantages.

First, it made them much harder to expose.

Serana had been able to track them all the way here, and she even knew Gene's name. This proved that the secrecy surrounding their transaction with the organization wasn't particularly tight.

Not to mention, Anjing itself was currently a complete mess internally.

Under these circumstances, Gene, as the point of contact, became the most easily exposed member of their team.

And no matter how well he hid, could it compare to simply not being there at all?

Second, it secured an information advantage for their side, granting them more room to maneuver.

The Greed Worms' operation in Moore involved at least one demigod, so showing weakness at the appropriate time was absolutely essential.

Fu Qian clearly remembered that the very first thing Old Man Laurie did upon showing up was take him to the ship to look for Gene.

After successfully discovering the man missing, a mysterious figure like him would inevitably demand an explanation and start imagining all sorts of threats lurking in the dark.

The Greed Worms, meanwhile, naturally morphed into victims, minimizing their own threat level while maximizing their ability to leverage outside strength.

It was an alternative empty city stratagem. Come to think of it, if not for this arrangement, Laurie might not have been so uninhibited about directly proposing a collaboration with the Rebirth Club.

As for the final point: he had noted earlier that Gene was just recovering from severe injuries. Treating him like a beast of burden would have been far too unsympathetic. This arrangement allowed him to serve a purpose while conveniently retreating from the front lines, which immediately added a much-needed touch of humanity.

In short, this was a masterful move by the Greed Worms, twisting and turning to survive in the narrowest of margins.

And it truly had worked. Otherwise, they almost certainly would have fallen into Serana's hands long ago.

As for Fu Qian, after running into her in the Realm of the Dead, he was basically certain that only a three-man trio of Greed Worms remained here in Moore.

Old Man Laurie's recent reaction effectively proved this point.

"What—"

"Gene has already left?"

The reactions from Laywoman Tooth-Throat and the other member showed that even they had been kept in the dark, and they were quite agitated.

"Right. We'll discuss the specifics once we leave."

Laurie's leadership shone through here; he coldly confirmed it, motioning for them to cut the chatter before swiftly turning to Fu Qian.

"We're leaving right now. Do you need us to handle anything else at the office?"

Fu Qian's reaction clearly made him realize that not only had his presumptuous offer of cooperation been met with a dimensional strike, but the other party's earlier stance had actually been rather mild.

In that moment, he returned the favor, handing over decision-making authority regarding their cooperation with Anjing to him.

"No need. After all, I do have some ties with Emperor Yasui. There's no need to destroy her office."

Fu Qian, however, acted with extreme compassion.

"Understood—Anjing?"

Old Man Laurie subconsciously agreed, but a second later he jolted in shock and whipped his head around.

"Who else? Siren evacuated all their people, leaving behind a seemingly useless office? And it just so happened to be discovered by Anjing? What were they plotting?"

Fu Qian casually threw out a soul-piercing question.

If that room truly belonged to Siren's people, then after a suspicious figure like him paid a visit, they should have passed at least some information on to Solondil so he wouldn't be so passive at every turn.

...

"Those are Anjing's people, and their only reason for being here is to die at our hands..."

A dead silence blanketed the area. A moment later, Laurie, older and more experienced in the ways of the jianghu, took a deep breath as he realized a bloodcurdling possibility.

"That's why Anjing casually tracked their movements. That's why they hid their identities and didn't react despite encountering a suspicious person. Their orders were very likely just to stay there...

"So the point isn't to kill them, but rather to ensure that when Solondil discovers something, transcendents will have died within the City of Moore."

Showing clear signs of complete enlightenment, Laurie rapidly pieced everything together.

"This is also why Siren's people fully evacuated. While they weren't certain what exact impact the deaths of transcendents would cause, it would clearly interfere with Solondil's exploration. They were eliminating that possibility...

"It's a pity Anjing's methods are more ruthless. They actually hid a group of their own people here directly. The ones who ultimately struck wouldn't even be affiliated with them, making them victims as well... Thank you for your guidance, Excellency. We will leave now."

Without demanding further explanation from Fu Qian, Laurie solemnly expressed his thanks and immediately motioned for the other two to follow.

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