Eldritch Horror Theatre

Without a doubt, this was an invitation to come inside for a detailed chat.

Click!

Despite being rejected once again, Fu Qian firmly believed he was making obvious progress. He pushed the door open.

A glance inside revealed the lights were off and the curtains were drawn tight, keeping visibility quite low.

Jenny stood in front of one of the curtains with her back to him, as if gazing off into the distance.

Even the gloom couldn't obscure her exceptional curves.

The Rebirth Club Badge he had handed over earlier sat on a nearby cabinet.

"You're still here, aren't you?"

Fu Qian didn't stand on ceremony. He walked right up, picked the Badge up to toy with it, and let out a world-weary sigh about the passage of time.

Back then, in this very place, Ji Ping and the woman before him had tried to recruit him.

"I'm sorry, but I have nothing to do with that anymore."

Jenny was clearly unwilling to dredge up the past, looking as though she had completely severed all ties to it.

"So that's why you gave up your career as an idol to make a living with your own two hands?"

Fu Qian didn't argue. He even kindly offered up a point of proof for her.

"...Do you really call that being an idol? I was nothing more than a novelty plaything."

The twists and turns of her artistic career had clearly struck a nerve with Jenny.

After a slight hesitation, she finally turned around, looking at Fu Qian with a faint, half-formed smile.

"That's what I called it the first time we met."

Her gaze was somewhat sharp, but Fu Qian remained perfectly at ease as he casually brought up the past.

...

Memories instantly flooded his mind.

He didn't know if Jenny felt the same, but Fu Qian was extremely confident in both his memory and his sense of aesthetics.

Her styling back then had been a bit unconventional—an ultimate, super-deluxe goth-punk disaster—but upon their first meeting, he had expressed his heartfelt appreciation from a purely aesthetic standpoint.

He had even pointed out the one minor flaw: her lack of a tail.

"That is indeed what you said back then... but you didn't accept this at the time."

Jenny was fairly straightforward about it, no longer pretending she didn't know him.

When she spoke again, she not only acknowledged the past but even gestured toward Fu Qian's hand.

It was clear that she remembered the details quite vividly.

"At the time, I hadn't fully grasped The Club's philosophy. Later, as I saw more, I realized it was actually quite interesting sometimes."

Spreading his hand and holding it up, Fu Qian manipulated the Badge—which was one size smaller than the authentic version—letting it tumble across his palm.

Given its serpentine shape, his miraculous sleight of hand gave it a faint semblance of life.

He had made a knock-off rather than a one-to-one replica partly because it was easier to hide beneath a stack of banknotes, and partly because Fu Qian genuinely had no intention of deceiving anyone by claiming he had joined the organization through other channels.

As it turned out, the effect was excellent. It even gave him a bit of common ground with Jenny, who had already left the organization.

"Interesting..."

Jenny looked like she wanted to laugh, but her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the movements of Fu Qian's hand.

"It's a pity. Perhaps that's just a lingering regret. When some things are still around, you aren't interested, and by the time you are, they're already gone."

Ultimately, she managed to tear her gaze away from the Badge and gestured in a certain direction.

"On my way over, I saw that the Laboratory was still there. It just looked completely deserted."

Fu Qian knew exactly where Jenny was looking and smoothly voiced his curiosity.

"Because it has been completely sealed off, including everything inside."

Jenny's voice betrayed no emotion.

"No one is allowed to go near it."

...

It had turned straight into a leaden coffin?

Sure enough, old man Yibu still hadn't forgiven the Rebirth Club.

It was easy to picture the scene Jenny described. Recalling the former prosperity of the place, Fu Qian couldn't help but sigh.

Not only did it hold the years of accumulation from the Rebirth Club, but the popularity of the Archipelago itself was, to a certain extent, gathered around the Grafting Laboratory.

Yet, for such a core location, once the new person in charge took over, their handling of it was tantamount to just tearing it down.

Then again, didn't he bear a share of the blame for that?

"Everything inside has been sealed off" obviously included Old Man Lu's group, along with that massive pile of limb materials, right?

Back then, in his attempt to feint to the east and strike to the west, he really had made the scene quite explosive.

Old man Yibu must have spent a hell of a lot of effort cleaning up the aftermath.

It was completely understandable that he later just sealed the whole thing up—out of sight, out of mind.

"Did everyone leave as well?"

Fu Qian gestured toward the entrance of the bar.

"This place is no longer friendly to our kind of people. Although the rules don't directly exclude us, anyone who still wanted to make progress has indeed already left."

Clearly understanding that Fu Qian was referring to the three-handed security guard, Jenny confirmed he was right.

"As for the people I didn't get to see, I'm not sure where they went... All in all, it's a shame, but The Club is no more."

Despite claiming it was a shame, her expression carried an almost gloating air.

She also didn't seem to care much whether Fu Qian was telling the truth or not.

"But you still stayed in this place."

Fu Qian didn't resort to sarcasm. Instead, he casually pointed out that the bar she was steadfastly running had once been an important venue for The Club.

...

"Stayed? In this state?"

After a brief silence, Jenny laughed out loud, gesturing at her own outfit.

With just that small movement, glimpses of pale skin were revealed.

It seemed this clothing style hadn't been chosen at random. Even though she was no longer an idol, she had been forced to expose a much higher proportion of her skin, and the class of her look had plummeted dramatically.

"I was just familiar with this place, so I bought it outright."

She didn't complain about business being tough, though. Jenny inadvertently showed off a bit of financial clout, making it clear she had no desire to be seen as a lingering remnant of The Club.

"If you're interested in The Club, the only place you might find anything is in that sealed-off area—provided you have the skills to get inside. It's almost impossible to find traces of The Club anywhere else... Or maybe you could just build one yourself."

That last sentence was undisguised mockery. Jenny even reached out to make a gesture of seeing her guest out, signaling that the conversation was over.

"Good idea."

Fu Qian truly didn't press the issue. He nodded and tucked the Emblem away.

"...You still have to leave the money outside."

Jenny seemed to think her own suggestion was so ridiculous that Fu Qian's agreeable response actually made her feel a bit guilty. She hesitated for a moment before emphasizing that this was a paid consultation.

"Of course. Nice handiwork, by the way."

Having already stepped out the door, Fu Qian turned back to offer one last compliment. He didn't even leave the way he came, instead walking off in an entirely different direction.

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