Eldritch Horror Theatre

With the appearance adjustments complete, Fu Qian meticulously inspected Cha Soon-young's remains.

Unfortunately, the man's earlier transformation had reduced his clothes to a pile of tatters, leaving absolutely no valuable clues.

The rest of the office was the same.

Fu Qian carefully examined each workstation, confirming that Cha Soon-young had indeed just been using a group of people to put on an act.

The phones on the desks weren't even plugged in, and the notes were nothing more than meaningless squiggles scribbled by the group.

It seemed he wouldn't be gleaning any clues from here.

Fu Qian was mentally prepared for this, so he wasn't particularly disappointed.

Checking his reflection in a mirror, Fu Qian found that masquerading as the man in his current attire felt perfectly natural.

The only issue was his build. He hadn't adjusted his body shape to match, so there was still a noticeable difference between him and the original Cha Soon-young.

Think about it—for someone who had just transformed from an ordinary person into a transcendent, a slight change in appearance actually made more sense.

Having a completely identical appearance but the aura of a totally different person would be much more suspicious.

After roughly disposing of Cha Soon-young's mutated corpse, Fu Qian quietly left the office.

He made no special effort to cover up the scene; he was sure it wouldn't take long to be discovered.

From now on, he was the midnight capitalist, Cha Soon-young.

Slipping into the role, it seemed the first things he needed to do were celebrate and skip town.

Thus, as he left, Fu Qian kept a low profile, pulling on a hat and doing his best to conceal his aura.

Since Cha Soon-young had known a little, but not much, the information about those thin flakes and the strange ritual most likely came from someone else.

If that guess was correct, news of the man's successful advancement should hold some significance.

If his actions were being monitored, the first person to come knocking would very likely be the one who fed him that information.

...

In fact, his visitor arrived even faster than expected.

After leaving the office, Fu Qian wandered through the night for a long time before eventually walking into a 24-hour fast-food joint.

Fast-food joints in the dead of night were actually much livelier than most people imagined.

Modern society had no shortage of nocturnal creatures. Half the seating area was cordoned off, but the remaining section was practically full.

Aside from being a little quieter and more dimly lit, it was barely any different from the daytime.

Even at the empty seat Fu Qian chose, a wet ring left by an iced cola cup still marked the table.

Yet almost the instant he sat down, a crushing weight bore down on him.

Fu Qian reacted immediately, swiftly standing up on reflex.

But less than a second later, he felt as if an excavator had been dropped onto his shoulders—and its mass was rapidly increasing.

Was this the legendary Universal Pull?

Fu Qian glanced around. The customers in this Midnight Diner still sat quietly in twos and threes, lightly tapping away on their phones. Everything looked entirely normal.

Without a doubt, this was aimed squarely at him.

Honestly, this level of enhanced gravity couldn't even count as weight training for Fu Qian.

But against a newly ascended transcendent, it would be enough to suppress them completely, leaving them unable to move an inch.

Therefore, Fu Qian cooperatively stayed perfectly still, listening to the floorboards groan as his feet slowly sank into the ground.

Even so, the gravitational pressure continued to increase.

In response, Fu Qian fully displayed the ruthless composure of a sweatshop capitalist.

Showing no panic whatsoever, he simply narrowed his eyes and warily observed his surroundings.

It wasn't until he had sunk almost to his ankles that the puddle of water on the table suddenly began to move.

The water quickly slithered and traced an outline, soon forming a distinct shape.

Fu Qian had a good memory for these things. He quickly realized it was the exact same shape as the thin flake Cha Soon-young had crushed earlier.

This time, Fu Qian finally reacted. After a moment of shock, without a word, he pulled his feet free and walked toward the exit, bearing the mountain-like pressure.

Right at that moment, the door to the fast-food restaurant was pulled open, and someone walked in.

It was a tall, thin man with brown hair, dressed in well-tailored clothes. His blue eyes revealed a sense of laziness and arrogance; he looked nothing like the sort of person who belonged in a fast-food joint.

The instant he entered, he looked at Fu Qian with a smile and walked straight toward him.

"Mister Cha."

He didn't stop until he reached Fu Qian, unceremoniously taking the seat across from him.

"Don't be alarmed, and please refrain from any irrational behavior."

The man spoke with an air of complete confidence.

"I know you have many questions right now. You only need to understand one thing: I have all the answers. Furthermore, I know many things beyond those answers."

"If you want to clear up your doubts, why not sit down and have a proper chat?"

...

Fu Qian remained silent after the man's speech, simply staring at him with flickering eyes for a few seconds as if evaluating the risks of killing him right then and there.

The man paid it no mind, casually allowing Fu Qian to scrutinize him.

A long moment later, Fu Qian ultimately made no aggressive move. Stepping forward, he tried to bend down and take a seat.

However, the mountain-like weight bearing down on him made the simple act of sitting incredibly difficult.

"Apologies, I completely forgot about that."

Seeing this, the man tapped his head with a look of self-reproach, then fiddled with a ring on his finger.

The next moment, the crushing pressure on Fu Qian abruptly vanished.

"That should be much better, right?"

"Also, I haven't introduced myself."

Before Fu Qian could answer, he extended a hand with a smile.

"Rolden."

"Cha Soon-young."

Fu Qian looked at Rolden with an inscrutable expression and finally sat down, but he didn't shake the man's hand.

"It's a good thing your reflexes are sharp, otherwise we'd be having this conversation standing up. Getting me to sit down twice in a row in a place like this is absolutely out of the question."

Rolden withdrew his hand from the air. He wasn't annoyed by the slight in the least and even cracked a joke.

"No need to beat around the bush. I don't know you, so let's keep it simple. Are you spying on me?"

Fu Qian asked, keeping his voice low.

"Your guess is far too conservative. In fact, I'm monitoring more than just you. There's also this..."

He tapped his own head.

"On a certain day recently, some strange, crazy images suddenly appeared in your mind. At first, you didn't pay them any mind—after all, everyone has intrusive thoughts like that occasionally."

"But these images carried a bizarre allure, leaving you unable to resist acting them out."

"And the most shocking part was that the first time you followed them, you found that you actually received some kind of strange gift."

"You can read other people's memories?"

After quietly listening to Rolden finish, Fu Qian's expression gradually darkened.

"How could it be something so low-level!"

Rolden let out a low chuckle.

"Those memories came from me in the first place."

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