Eldritch Horror Theatre

Not bad. Immediate results.

The tiny face was hideous, but at that moment, locking eyes with the Burlap Doll—which only had a mouth—Fu Qian felt genuine relief.

He wouldn't mistake it. This was an item belonging to a Tier 2 Night Watcher. A new element had appeared in this iteration of Etched Intellect.

Factoring in A Fei's earlier feedback, the laughter likely came from this thing as well. Given its size, calling it a child was perfectly accurate.

To sum it up, they had struck gold right out of the gate. A Fei had helped find traces left behind by the Night Watchers.

Granted, the main reason was probably that the content of this Etched Intellect was richer. If he had knocked on every door himself, there was a good chance he would have found it too.

But on the one hand, he might not have been able to strike directly at the core so efficiently, and on the other, the core itself might not have been this lively—

"Heehee... heeheehee..."

A moment later, Fu Qian heard the laughter A Fei had described.

Such precise manipulation.

Fu Qian could easily tell there was no audio-visual desync; the smiling face and the laughter matched perfectly.

Yet, the more seamless it was, the thicker the eerie horror became.

The researcher's body now felt entirely like a marionette controlled by the Burlap Doll.

It wasn't just upending the natural order; its movements were so incredibly smooth it almost invited praise—something like "one minute on stage takes ten years of practice."

Swish—

Unfortunately, ruining the aesthetic seemed to be the trend these days.

Faced with such a brilliant performance, A Fei's only reaction was to step forward and slash out with his vicious weapon.

...

Blood Saber, Remnant Step, Soul Splitting.

There was blood on the blade, but it was his own.

His mangled limbs lacked strength, and his footwork was staggered and twisted.

Yet the combined might of this single strike pressed forward undaunted, aiming straight to tear the soul apart—

In plain English, A Fei had locked onto the doll perched on its shoulder, not the humanoid puppet.

True to a will chosen by an evil god, no matter how mangled his body became, A Fei always seemed like an unsheathed blade.

Slaughter was his essence, regardless of how much he had rusted.

This purity was so infectious that Fu Qian felt his own language-processing skills had been slightly affected, making him particularly fond of short, fragmented sentences.

In short, faced with this sudden demonic monstrosity, A Fei didn't hesitate to unleash a slaughtering strike to bully the small.

Furthermore, this attack carried no intention of saving the puppet. Even if the target hadn't reacted, the blade's trajectory was enough to lop off the researcher's arm along with it.

Heehee...

Naturally, it wasn't going to just sit there. Amidst another string of laughter, the Burlap Doll vanished.

...

Bloody light erupted.

Ultimately, it was just a slash from a Mid Tier combatant. It didn't possess high-end effects like soul-locking.

As the target disappeared, that extreme, brewing cruelty instantly succumbed to color loss.

However, the residual momentum he couldn't pull back in time effortlessly tore through half of the researcher's shoulder.

The tissue exposed in the aftermath proved it was still a body of flesh and blood, not some lifelike prop.

Moreover, A Fei didn't seem like the type to enjoy one-sided torture. He didn't continue butchering the man, immediately pulling his weapon back and shifting into a defensive stance.

Clink—

This combat style practically saved his life. Almost in the very next moment, as he slashed his weapon behind him again, an unusually crisp sound rang out, like stars shattering in the night.

Dim light truly scattered and burst outwards, as if a Stardust Spear had been flying right at him—and indeed, there had been.

As a tentacled bystander, even though the attack was incredibly stealthy, Fu Qian still noticed it easily, even deliberately stepping aside to stay out of the way.

And A Fei had indeed withstood the test. He guarded against the hidden arrow, his long blade indestructible.

This vicious sneak attack failed—Clink!

The same went for the second sneak attack.

People tend to drop their guard after narrowly escaping death, and the second Stardust Spear was even less conspicuous than the first, seemingly preying on that exact human weakness.

Unfortunately for the attacker, it was still precisely blocked by A Fei.

It wasn't surprising.

Witnessing this scene, Fu Qian felt it was only natural.

A Fei obviously wasn't devoid of emotions, but whenever he held a blade, he seemed entirely stripped of them.

Once a person became pure, they naturally grew immune to certain things.

The previous tactic was indeed somewhat sinister, but to Fu Qian, A Fei detecting the ambush was entirely expected.

Not to mention, the laughter had even come from that direction.

That was right. Equally childish yet brimming with malice, the laughter was already echoing from somewhere outside the door when A Fei's blade missed.

...

The hunter seemed to have met a formidable opponent.

Unpredictable Blinks, puppet domination, and ranged killing moves.

For most melee fighters, just thinking about an enemy like this would induce a headache—let alone for someone who was already crippled and heavily injured.

Hiss—

Just as Fu Qian was analyzing the grim situation, a new development occurred.

The researcher remained seated, but his chest bulged high as he sucked in an exaggerated breath.

The puppet was still functional in this state?

Anyone seeing this would realize he was preparing to do something drastic.

Having lost the initiative and facing attacks from both front and back, A Fei would find it difficult to stop him even if he tried.

Whoosh—

Amidst his vigilance, that breath was exhaled... but wait?

For a split second, even A Fei seemed somewhat confused.

Either it was just a bluff, or the skill's visual effects had glitched out.

Let alone exaggerated ice, fire, lightning, or poison, even the airflow sounded incredibly ordinary. It was barely stronger than a yawn—

Clatter!

Fortunately, this confusion ended in the blink of an eye. A moment later, all sorts of equipment violently flew into the air, converging on the seated researcher and making a further mess of the already cluttered Laboratory.

Gravity Breath?

It was an incredibly bizarre sight, but as a bystander and a breath-attack specialist himself, Fu Qian easily came up with a comparison in that moment.

The researcher truly hadn't exhaled anything visible; you couldn't even smell his breath.

However, given his actions, his orientation, and the range of the affected objects, one could easily imagine him spewing some sort of negative effect this way.

And the specific effect was applying a strong pulling tension to everything caught in its range, drawing it all in front of him. It made Fu Qian think of a certain concept that the Stargazers were undoubtedly familiar with.

Interesting. It felt like the whole world was becoming abstract.

Moreover, while it lacked cool visual effects and direct lethal power, its appearance at this moment was definitely not a parlor trick—

Crack!

Even though he kicked a stone platform to pieces to brace himself, A Fei still couldn't stop his body from being pulled, dragging him further away from the door.

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