Eldritch Horror Theatre

Fortunately, this chain was long enough.

Wen Li's reaction, of course, was born of the excellent upbringing ingrained by long habit.

It might have been slightly inappropriate for the occasion, but anyone could sense its natural grace.

The only problem was that she seemed to have forgotten the person currently standing shoulder to shoulder with her.

In that moment, Fu Qian adjusted his posture just in time to avoid being dragged into a bow alongside her, scoffing inwardly.

As a dignified member of the Apocalypse Academic Clique, he wasn't going to bow so easily—even if Professor Lisa had connections to the Dean.

Hm...

Instead, the one actually affected was Professor Lisa.

Seemingly surprised to receive such courteous treatment, she remained silent for a moment, taking a second look at Wen Li before her gaze dropped to their chained hands.

Entirely lacking the self-awareness of a prisoner, Fu Qian maintained his air as an academic leader. Passing by Lisa, he tossed out the question with the casual tone of a pop quiz.

"...You can easily run into Turbulence and accidentally lose your way."

She technically had no obligation to answer, but the atmosphere inexplicably demanded it. After a brief thought, Professor Lisa replied earnestly under their watchful gazes.

...

So that was it. The sense of déjà vu was only growing stronger.

Day and night alternated, and once it grew dark, you had to hide indoors.

Could it be that they'd also run into a Pyramid Head blocking the road inside the Turbulence?

Then again, ending up here this time really did seem to be the result of being blocked by a "triangle."

You could never tell what was going through an old professor's mind as they haphazardly mashed various elements together. Nodding with absolute poise, Fu Qian stepped past their greeter and entered the interior of the Dark Sanctuary.

Wait a minute—were there really Dark Templars here?

When the interior scene unfolded before him, even someone as experienced as Professor Fu was momentarily stunned.

Two other figures besides Lisa were present, one standing and one sitting. Their faces were securely covered by veils, and one of them even had her hair wrapped up in a peculiar headdress, revealing only her eyes.

If this was a rescue mission, wasn't this a bit too blatant?

It could no longer be described as merely having a wild style. Anyone seeing such getups would undoubtedly raise their guard.

Sweeping his gaze over them, Fu Qian confirmed that the remaining two were also women, sighing inwardly.

He had wanted to say it earlier: if they were truly here for him, this should theoretically be a top-secret rescue operation.

Not only was this entirely within Yuan Shan's expectations, but their various maneuvers were also incredibly reckless.

The vehicle at the checkpoint could still be understood as a decoy, and Professor Lisa showing her bare face could be explained by the fact that few people recognized her.

But now, walking in to find two characters dressed like this, it was a bit hard to justify.

So much so that one couldn't help but lean toward Chief Yuan's second guess: this wasn't a rescue, but a mission to silence him.

Not to mention, it perfectly aligned with the classic traitor trope.

For example, even though the slender figure who only had her face covered was sitting far away, Fu Qian could recognize at a glance that she was his laboratory assistant, Classmate Liushuang.

On the other hand, the standing figure was slightly unfamiliar. Unless she had even altered the shape of her eyes, she didn't resemble anyone he knew from the Academy.

"Sit over there."

It wasn't just Fu Qian; the others were clearly evaluating the scene before them just as he was.

After her gaze swept over the two masked figures, Wen Li didn't rush to react. She merely gestured toward the long table in the center, prompting Fu Qian to follow her over.

...

What a pity, there was no Emblem of Excellency Stomach or anything similar.

Taking a seat in the somewhat familiar layout, Fu Qian looked around.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the insignia shaped like a Finger Orb that had been in the White-Headed Sanctuary earlier.

There were no curtains hanging from the ceiling either; the interior as a whole was somewhat bare.

In short, apart from the overly oppressive color scheme and the light from the Candlestick being swallowed up before it could reach very far, the overall setting was a bit more grounded than that white version.

Right on the table in front of them, there were multiple glasses of red liquid giving off the scent of alcohol.

They even had drinks?

Even with the constitution of an ordinary person, Fu Qian could easily confirm that the blood-like liquid was indeed wine, and it even smelled to be of good quality.

Holy communion?

So much so that even though there was no food besides the wine, it inevitably led Fu Qian to draw certain associations.

If nothing else, it fit the current atmosphere quite well—for instance, the participants each harboring their own motives.

Though he had to admit, there was also an element of comedy to it.

For example, two of the three people already inside had their faces covered, making it hard to associate their outfits with eating or drinking.

"Care for a glass?"

At that moment, Professor Lisa, who had followed them over, seemingly noticed Fu Qian's movements and suddenly asked.

"Were you drinking just now?"

Testing his vocal cords, Fu Qian confirmed that Wen Li had no intention of stopping this level of conversation and asked out of casual curiosity.

"To be exact, it was just me. They didn't seem too keen on things dug up from a place like this."

Lisa shook her head, sitting down directly opposite him, and gestured toward a wine bottle in the corner.

That was very bold.

Looking at the dust on it and the completely bare, label-less bottle, Fu Qian understood their hesitation perfectly.

It was absolutely a sketchy product with no guarantees. Hearing that it was dug straight out of this "Dark Sanctuary," drinking it with peace of mind certainly required a certain level of tolerance.

He could see that one of the glasses in front of them had indeed been drunk from, seemingly proving that Professor Lisa was telling the truth.

"But there are only three of you?"

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian pointed out a discrepancy.

Because he could clearly see at a glance that there were undeniably four metal goblets.

"It's simple. I poured out all the wine in the bottle, thinking someone might want to share a drink."

Lisa, however, clearly didn't think it was an issue, explaining with a hint of regret.

"What a pity. Although the two of them came in one after another, neither seemed thirsty. Do you want a taste?"

As she spoke, she even made a show of carefully selecting one before finally pushing a glass over.

"Sure."

Fu Qian looked down. Smelling the increasingly rich fruity aroma, he gladly agreed and reached out to take it.

However, the very next moment, his motion of bringing it to his mouth suddenly froze, and he couldn't move it any further.

"It does look like good wine."

The reason was simple: in that moment, his entire arm suffered the same fate as his vocal cords, feeling as if it no longer existed.

Then, long, fair fingers pinched the glass and gently slipped it from his grasp.

Wen Li, whose expression hadn't changed from start to finish, swirled her wrist. Her gaze fixed on the sloshing liquid for a moment before she finally placed it back on the table and gestured out the window.

"But it's not dinnertime yet."

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