Eldritch Horror Theatre

How did that saying go? How rare was it to have parents who didn't spoil the fun?

The bride had performed flawlessly, effortlessly defusing the groom's awkwardness to steer the overall atmosphere toward a happy family gathering. Yet someone just had to jump out and deliver an earnest, heavy-handed lecture.

At that moment, Fu Qian noted that the genuine warmth in the guests' smiles was visibly fading.

Meanwhile, certain dying flames suddenly flared back to life.

"It's not about giving up my name. That was never my name to begin with."

Sure enough, the young man's rebellious streak acted up again.

The groom, who had looked deep in thought, turned his serious gaze back to the crowd. Word by word, he reiterated exactly what he had said before.

And without a doubt, his defiance had skyrocketed.

"Oh? Then what was your original name?"

"I don't have a name. More accurately, I shouldn't be leaving any traces in this space and time."

Unfortunately, faced with a question that had suddenly sparked Fu Qian's anticipation, Old Man Ji decided to play coy.

Shouldn't leave any traces in this space and time? Considering the nature of an administrator's work, saying this wasn't technically wrong.

But to anyone else's ears, it would obviously be very difficult to interpret it that way.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fu Qian noticed several ladies could no longer hold back and were on the verge of standing up.

Even those forcefully held down by others were holding their breath, seemingly hoping the groom would leap from the altar and whisk them away.

As for why he only used the corner of his eye?

Very simple. As a clergyman, Camera Position 6 was maintaining his professional image in this discordant atmosphere, refraining from looking around wildly.

"What a pity. I am very certain you do."

Yet to His Excellency Jose, such evasive nonsense only proved a guilty conscience; it clearly wouldn't work on him.

He revealed a meaningful smile. His gaze seemed to bore straight into the groom to scrutinize his very soul as he spoke with absolute certainty.

"Is that so? Then it seems you won't object to what I'm about to do."

"Don Juan" smiled just as rebelliously, and his pen truly pressed down against the paper.

...

He really had a perfect grasp on the victim's reactions.

After uttering those baffling words, the groom actually prepared to sign his name while cornered. His actions undoubtedly drew everyone's eyes.

However, perhaps because too much pressure hit him all at once, or perhaps because the groom's personality was simply that terrible, the pen tip moved less than a millimeter before abruptly stopping again.

This scene was pure torture for anyone with a touch of OCD. The audience felt somewhat suffocated, unable to let out the breath they were holding.

But as the saying goes, insiders look at the craft. Even without the aid of Transcendent Perception, Fu Qian could still conclude that Old Man Ji wasn't to blame this time.

Although it was extremely subtle, Don Juan's entire body seemed to have been "frozen."

There was no need to guess who had made a move; it was His Excellency Jose. It seemed the claim of "not being himself" carried far graver consequences than signing the wrong name.

In truth, it was understandable. He had guessed earlier that this grand wedding might also be some kind of ritual for Jose.

And as the undisputed core figure of this ritual, the certainty of Don Juan's identity allowed for no margin of error.

Fu Qian's previous admiration had been aimed exactly at this. Old Man Ji seemed to have grasped His Excellency Jose's plans with almost excessive nuance.

People always loved to praise those who could predict things like a god, but when actually executing a plan, one would realize that a hair's breadth of deviation could lead to entirely different results.

Therefore, knowing how to adapt to numerous uncertain conditions was often the main focus of an administrator's work.

However, from a moment ago until now, Old Man Ji's operations could no longer be described as merely "just right"—the whole thing was practically like using a cheat code.

Take the scene before him. That was leaving aside the high probability that Old Man Ji hadn't wanted to sign anyway, which was why he had struck a pose earlier to bait Jose into acting.

There was actually another unspoken detail hidden within: if His Excellency Jose had discovered any clear grounds for suspicion, why would his probing methods be so gentle?

Yes, even as a Tier 2 or higher contender possessing the Face of Gods and Men, he seemingly couldn't see through Old Man Ji's disguise at all.

The "Don Juan" standing before His Excellency Jose was, to him, one hundred percent his own son. This was Old Man Ji's core reliance as he happily pranced around this entire time.

...

Invisible benefits were still benefits. It truly was worthy of the Warehouse's golden age.

Playing the insider for a moment only brought him more sighs of emotion.

Putting aside everything else, just this concealment ability alone was ridiculously overpowered.

Either Old Man Ji had obtained some special mission rewards, or the Warehouse had simply applied a direct rule to him.

Whichever it was, it unavoidably made one feel the disparity in treatment. By the time it was his turn, it seemed only an empty shell was left, and sometimes not even that.

As for that practically perfect grasp on applying pressure?

It was no longer a question of adequate adaptability. In Fu Qian's eyes, excluding minuscule possibilities, achieving this required either repeating the process far too many times with an absurd number of trial-and-error opportunities, or possessing an absurd amount of intelligence support.

Once again, regardless of which it was, it made one feel the superiority of his working conditions.

Of course, sighs of emotion were just sighs. To Fu Qian, this was undoubtedly good news; the probability of this mission ultimately concluding perfectly had increased once more.

"So you've changed your mind?"

Although he had been "frozen," the groom's tone was even more uninhibited, not even bothering to use honorifics with his father.

However, his ability to speak wasn't restricted, which essentially proved the earlier judgment once again.

Namely, His Excellency Jose truly couldn't see any flaws, which was why he had deliberately allowed the groom to continue communicating.

"How could I?"

Jose shook his head slightly, seemingly unfazed.

"I just wanted you to take a look. Is this the wooden doll?"

In the next moment, his right hand grasped at empty air. When he pulled it back, a new item had appeared in his palm.

...

So it wasn't just surveillance; could he casually snatch up anything within the entirety of Ehm Palace?

Faced with such a twist, even Camera Position 6 clearly had no way to maintain his reserve, immediately looking over.

And through the lens, Fu Qian could see it clearly: it was a rather exquisitely crafted wooden Doll.

Its body proportions were slightly uncoordinated, but its face was incredibly lifelike. It had clearly been carved to look exactly like the groom, and moreover, it was completely bare without clothes.

His Excellency Jose pinched the Doll's bare neck, asking the living groom to confirm whether this was the wooden doll he had just mentioned.

And no matter what Old Man Ji said, the answer, in Fu Qian's eyes, remained undeniably affirmative.

After all, he had been present for the entire process of it turning into a Doll. The clothes hadn't shrunk along with the person, and even that detail matched up perfectly.

"Yes."

Old Man Ji remained uninhibited, admitting it after only a single glance.

"I turned him into this and hid him away."

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