Eldritch Horror Theatre

Ah, life!

Fu Qian leaned back on the bench, watching the diverse crowd passing before him.

A woman in a business suit took two heavy pulls from her milk carton, tossed it into a nearby trash can, and hurried toward an arriving bus...

A child wearing a backpack almost half their height gestured to a friend, skipping and bouncing down the street...

An old man who looked as though he had entirely outgrown the need for sleep strolled aimlessly at a leisurely pace, leaning on his cane...

It was a perfectly standard morning in the mortal world. Sure enough, no matter the universe, the daily lives of ordinary people all looked much the same.

Just as Fu Qian was musing over this, the movements of the crowd halted for a split second.

One by one, people tilted their heads to look at the sky. Gasps of amazement rippled through the crowd.

"Is that a rainbow?"

"Why is it round?"

The cause of their reaction was a dazzling halo of light that had silently appeared directly above them.

With its overlapping layers of color, it looked very much like a rainbow at first glance. Unlike a normal rainbow, however, this formed a complete circle.

From the outer edge to the center, rings of colorful ribbons converged inward in a breathtaking display.

Seeing such a spectacle first thing in the morning undoubtedly shocked the crowd. Even after squeezing onto the bus, the woman in the suit couldn't resist craning her neck through the throng of passengers to stare out the window.

This was quite a commotion. Was this why Li Min had been so hesitant?

Fu Qian withdrew his gaze and glanced behind him.

Behind him stretched a row of classical buildings. They were clearly quite old, but still in active use.

Just before sunrise, Li Min had gone inside and asked Fu Qian to stand guard, relying on him to handle any sudden developments and ensure she wasn't disturbed.

Not long after she entered, this spectacle had unfolded above them.

Fu Qian wouldn't believe for a second that the two were unrelated. In all likelihood, this magical scene was part of the ritual.

Of course, the awe-struck masses didn't know that. They would only treat it as a miraculous morning encounter.

Perhaps that was the essence of life. Everyone rushed about with great self-importance, but very few actually knew what was truly happening.

Even the few who knew they were controlling the situation didn't truly understand the situation they were controlling.

...

As expected, Li Min proved extremely efficient despite Rolden's warnings.

After just one short day, her ritual had officially begun.

As the other party in this sinful transaction, Fu Qian had naturally come to help according to their agreement, just as Shang Shiming and the others had.

Even so, Li Min had taken secrecy to the extreme.

Though the ritual had formally started, she still hadn't told Fu Qian the full plan.

Judging from what he knew, she hadn't told anyone the complete plan, only informing them of their respective duties. She had truly maxed out the mystery.

Regardless, the area before him was undoubtedly a critical location. Li Min had been extremely serious when giving her instructions.

At this moment, as the sun climbed higher, the circular rainbow did not fade; instead, it grew even more brilliant.

It even created a faint illusion that everything on the ground had been dyed in multicolored hues.

Unfortunately, a rainbow appearing on a perfectly clear day was a bit too strange.

After all, the weather in Percy had been wonderful yesterday. If Li Min had been willing to wait and pull this move after a rainstorm, it certainly wouldn't have drawn so much attention.

However, she seemed to be in a rush.

And rushing meant bearing the consequences. It would be very hard for such a bizarre phenomenon to escape the notice of the Night Watchers, especially right after the Tower had just collapsed.

Thus, it was entirely foreseeable that trouble would soon come knocking.

In fact, Fu Qian could already sense a strange aura approaching.

He glanced in a certain direction.

Judging from that undisguised, arrogant presence, it was highly likely a Night Watcher.

Li Min's request was for him to do his best to ensure she wasn't disturbed.

To handle the current situation, there were undoubtedly two strategies.

One was to swat them dead one by one as they came, until Li Min came out and the ritual ended.

But that method was a bit too violent, and it likely went against Li Min's original intentions, easily escalating matters to an unmanageable degree.

In contrast, luring them away was undoubtedly a more viable strategy. In fact, this was also Li Min's suggestion.

And so, before that arrogant aura could close in, Fu Qian turned off the Lucid Dream he had been running for a while and walked away.

That's right. While idling earlier, he had used the Ring's effect to help the surrounding people catch some extra sleep.

Such an obvious anomaly was the perfect bait to draw attention.

A few seconds later, the aura charging his way hesitated slightly before locking onto him instead.

Fu Qian didn't even look back; he simply kept weaving through the crowd.

The person behind him had clearly marked him as the target and pursued closely.

However, this Night Watcher clearly didn't want to overly disturb the public, so he didn't attack directly, instead opting to maintain his distance as best he could.

Ultimately, as one fled and the other pursued, Fu Qian quickly overfulfilled his task, luring his pursuer quite a distance away.

Now that their surroundings were empty, Fu Qian's speed abruptly spiked.

Yet to his surprise, the speed of the pursuer trailing him also surged in an instant. Not only did the distance between them fail to widen, it actually shrank further.

It seemed this person had also been intentionally hiding his strength earlier, all for this moment of surprise.

Just as the gap closed to under twenty meters, light flared from the pursuer's body. A silver-white spear formed in his hands and swiftly locked onto Fu Qian.

"Stop! Or I'll attack."

The man who had caught up to him was none other than the middle-aged man who had appeared at the scene of Teresa's death.

To his surprise, after that shout, the person ahead actually stopped with considerable cooperation.

"Turn around!"

The next moment, the figure ahead slowly turned around, revealing a weather-beaten face.

...

Seeing the completely hairless head before him, the middle-aged man was visibly taken aback.

The next moment, his gaze shifted downward, locking onto Fu Qian's right hand.

Though he had tried to conceal it, it was still obvious that this was not a human hand, but a terrifying black claw.

"Limb grafting? Just who are you?"

The middle-aged man suddenly realized something and asked in a deep voice.

"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that we have no intention of conflicting with the Night Watchers."

Fu Qian looked at the man amicably, though unfortunately, Old Man Lu's face looked somewhat menacing no matter what he did.

"Your actions say otherwise!"

The middle-aged man snorted and pointed at the sky.

"Whether you believe it or not, there's no malice in this action. It's just that some things are hard for people to accept, like this—"

Fu Qian raised his right hand and gazed at it with deep affection.

"You don't need to sell me the Rebirth Club's rhetoric."

The middle-aged man was clearly immune to Fu Qian's sales pitch and interrupted him directly.

"Regardless, you need to come back with me and explain everything clearly... and bear in mind, not just about what happened today."

"First of all, I won't be going back with you."

Faced with the man's demand, however, Fu Qian's tone was calm and resolute.

"Secondly, to prove that we hold no malice, I've decided to leave your corpse intact."

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