Eldritch Horror Theatre

His tone was flat, his movements resolute.

As Fu Qian's right arm continued to swell, he could clearly sense the terror radiating from the man across from him.

In a matter of seconds, the arm stretched to twice the length of his body. Hideous Spikes interlaced along its surface, culminating in a grotesque, massive claw.

Furthermore, the half of his body connected to the giant claw was now encased in thick bone armor covered in red marks.

He had actually borrowed this half-and-half transformation concept from Su Gao, and the visual impact was proving quite effective.

"You... monster!"

The middle-aged man bearing the brunt of the pressure spoke with a parched voice.

The man clearly had a good eye and could recognize the gap in strength between them.

Part of his dread stemmed from the pressure of that disparity, while the rest came from the discomfort of his established worldview being shattered.

"Let's drop the self-deception. What transcendent isn't a monster? Physical appearance is merely the most trivial part of it."

Faced with the middle-aged man's lament, Fu Qian merely snorted, his expression arrogant.

"What is your name, anyway?"

"...Andrew."

Although he had no idea why Fu Qian was asking, the middle-aged man answered subconsciously.

"Excellent. Witness this glorious evolution, Andrew!"

...

Fu Qian's current posture undoubtedly put Andrew under immense pressure.

The man before him clearly had no intention of letting him leave alive.

But Andrew was a Night Watcher after all; he wasn't one to shy away from reality.

Andrew took a deep breath and steadied his emotions.

The next moment, light swelled in his hands, rapidly taking the shape of a Silver Greatsword.

He clearly understood that turning his back to flee from an opponent like this offered no chance of survival.

"What exactly is your goal?"

Having adopted a stance to fight to the death, Andrew still asked indignantly.

"Didn't I just tell you? Everything is for the sake of evolution."

Fu Qian looked up at the sky. The colors filling the heavens had grown even more vivid. They were no longer orderly as before, but were now swirling together in a bizarre blend.

"Don't you think it's a very interesting thing to let more people witness the transcendent?"

"...You've crossed the line."

"Crossed the line? Is it so easy to cross because you're the ones who drew it?"

"Don't play word games with me."

Andrew sounded like he was gritting his teeth.

"I will never allow you to continue."

Oh?

Fu Qian raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"But it seems you can't stop me, can you?"

"Once I get back—"

"It also seems you won't be going back."

...

Fu Qian's voice was flat, yet it carried an indescribable persuasiveness.

Andrew's heart sank uncontrollably.

The fact that the other party was speaking so openly meant he was absolutely determined not to let him go.

The key issue was that the gap in their strength was so large it induced despair.

Before Andrew could even steady his emotions, Fu Qian made his move.

Flashing black and red, leaving almost zero reaction time, the hideous giant claw swiped right in front of his face.

Andrew only had time to block with his Greatsword, avoiding the fate of having his heart pierced by the claw.

At the same time, silver light splashed outward. In a single blow, the Greatsword he had materialized was smashed to pieces.

"I still don't understand. What benefit does this possibly give you..."

Using the force of the impact, Andrew barely managed to dodge Fu Qian's follow-up claw strike, his voice now laced with despair.

"Benefit... Hahaha!"

Fu Qian laughed arrogantly.

"There are benefits, naturally. Why don't you think back carefully? Recently in Percy, haven't quite a few transcendents been progressing at lightning speed?"

"I knew it..."

Regret bled into Andrew's voice.

"Many things that looked like coincidences had someone orchestrating them from the shadows. What a pity we didn't realize it sooner..."

"Some things are a pity, yes. Like the Clock Tower—I actually quite liked it."

"...You guys were behind that too?"

"Were we? Hehehe!"

Fu Qian countered with a question, letting out a string of completely unrefined laughter.

"You reckless bastards will pay the price for this."

Unexpectedly, Andrew's tone shifted dramatically the next moment, completely stripped of his previous panic.

Hmm?

Fu Qian's smile faded as he narrowed his eyes at him.

Without hesitation, his giant right claw surged forward again, wrapping directly toward Andrew's neck.

Yet, facing this far more lethal strike, Andrew showed none of his former dread. He didn't even dodge, allowing his neck to be grabbed.

At the same time, he crushed something in his hand, and a cloud of black mist instantly enveloped his body.

"What made you think a Night Watcher could be eliminated so easily?"

"And thank you for your honesty."

The next moment, before Fu Qian's giant claw could even tighten, the man's head abruptly exploded.

Not just his head—his entire body detonated in a split second, bursting into palm-sized chunks that splattered rapidly in all directions.

Mid-flight, those chunks sprouted wings, transforming into a swarm of black-and-red bats.

What kind of lifesaving artifact had he just triggered?

Being part of an official organization really was different; they were loaded with gear.

Fu Qian frowned. Sweeping his giant claw, he instantly shattered over a hundred bats to pieces.

However, the bats were extremely fast. A good number of them dodged the strike and instantly flew far away.

Watching this scene expressionlessly, Fu Qian made no further attempt to pursue them.

It was almost certain that Andrew had taken severe damage from that blow, but thanks to that artifact, he had successfully escaped with his life.

This was really... exhausting!

After confirming there was no one left around, Fu Qian's facial features shifted rapidly the next moment, once again resuming the appearance of Cha Soon-young.

This should be enough to whip up a storm of blood in Percy, right?

As an external operations consultant, he had no real motive to kill the Night Watchers.

The reason he had been terrifying the man so much was, naturally, for another purpose.

For the past few days, Fu Qian had been pondering the various rituals he had witnessed, and he vaguely had a guess.

He strongly suspected that Rolden had lied to him.

Whether it was Madam Huang or the Cha Soon-young he was playing, they very likely had initially received their revelations simply because they had accidentally participated in a certain ritual—namely, that shipwreck incident.

Rolden had merely discovered later on that Cha Soon-young had actually received the gift, which prompted his subsequent guiding operations. His attitude toward Madam Huang somewhat illustrated this point.

And if this guess was true, it undoubtedly meant a very serious situation.

As long as someone was dragged into a ritual, it was possible for them to receive a revelation.

That meant, as various bizarre rituals continued, this Deity's knowledge was undoubtedly spreading in an uncontrollable manner, and it had been doing so for quite a long time.

Although he couldn't confirm the purpose just yet, it was obviously tied to that group of wildly imaginative guys.

And if possible, Fu Qian was more than happy to cause a little trouble for them.

Earlier, when Andrew feigned a suicidal stand to bait information out of him, he had simply played along. Now, that man shouldn't harbor much doubt about the authenticity of the information.

With things this way, once Andrew "luckily" escaped, the Night Watchers' reaction was truly going to be something to look forward to.

It was another long day, forcing him to redefine morning...

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