Eldritch Horror Theatre

In the end, Fu Qian opted for a slightly gentler approach.

After a short wait, Gan Zuoxun finally rose from his seat and took an unhurried walk toward the restroom.

Ah, the sorrow of a middle-aged man!

Fu Qian mused, completely unsurprised.

As the saying goes, a man has two things that should never swell: his ego and his prostate.

And given this man's age, the latter was rather hard to avoid.

Calculating the time, Fu Qian figured it was about right. He slipped forward and smoothly activated Lucid Dream.

Past experience dictated that when someone was pulled into this fabricated dreamscape, their mental state would be affected, rendering them far more honest than usual.

...

Gan Zuoxun had been adjusting his appearance in the mirror, but a split second later, he sensed something amiss.

He turned to find that another person had silently appeared beside him.

"An old traditional doctor."

Fu Qian answered the man casually.

"...Is this because of those rumors?"

Gan Zuoxun stared blankly for a few seconds before realization seemed to dawn on him.

"Are you with the Night Watchers?"

"No, but you're quick on the uptake,"

Fu Qian praised.

"Heh. Ordinary people can delude themselves, but I can't."

Gan Zuoxun smiled and shook his head, looking around.

"Am I in reality right now, or is this all an illusion?"

"Relax, you aren't in any danger. I'm just here to get a read on the situation."

Fu Qian gestured for him to relax.

"Alright, I will fully cooperate."

"I thought you'd try to verify my identity first."

"Is there any need?"

Gan Zuoxun smiled knowingly.

"This is City Hall. The fact that you could get in here and hold this conversation with me means I am completely powerless against you."

"I am keenly aware of that massive gap in capability."

"Those words don't quite suit your status."

"A person should be honest with themselves."

Gan Zuoxun looked at Fu Qian.

"Do you know how I could tell at a glance that you weren't a regular guard?"

"Oh? How could you tell?"

Considering he was here to provide psychological counseling, Fu Qian played along.

"We live in a wondrous world. Given my position, I've always had to walk on thin ice, making me extremely sensitive to such things."

"Whether or not a person is a transcendent, there is a fundamental difference in their demeanor."

"It's a sense of superiority baked right into their bones. It can't be concealed by mere posturing."

"Of course, sociologically speaking, we are all still defined as 'human,' so most are reluctant to make it too obvious."

"But there are many times when I can sense a highly restrained superiority even in the eyes of my own guards."

"It truly is a strange feeling. They obey you, watch over you, and revolve around you, yet they consider themselves infinitely nobler than you."

"I see. It sounds like you've always felt surrounded by a pack of wolves,"

Fu Qian nodded in understanding.

"Of course, I'm not going to lecture you about fundamental equality or anything like that."

"Superiority among humans isn't limited to a single metric. Take your non-transcendent guards, for example—there is an equally insurmountable gulf between you and them."

"Transcendents simply have a soft spot for violence."

"I suppose I really can't deny that."

Gan Zuoxun paused briefly before letting out a laugh.

"Getting back to business, what do you have to say about the rumors regarding yourself?"

It was as if Fu Qian had just remembered his actual purpose.

"Do you have any way to prove you don't actually have a problem?"

"I'm sorry, but that might be something you have to tell me. I can't confirm whether I have a problem myself."

Gan Zuoxun shook his head with utmost honesty.

"Understood. Tell me about your symptoms."

Fu Qian's demeanor really was that of an old traditional doctor.

"I've been feeling a bit off lately. The most specific symptom is that at a set time every day, I feel as if I'm enveloped in darkness. It's a sensation of both body and mind being imprisoned, leaving me with a desperate craving for light."

"Sometimes I even need to bask in the sun for a while just to dull the sensation."

'Is that so.'

Fu Qian pondered briefly.

"When does this happen?"

"I don't know if I'm currently in an illusion, but going by normal time, it should happen in about an hour."

'So this guy had it all planned out? After finishing up at the hospital, he ran straight back here just to bask in the sun?'

Fu Qian nodded.

An hour wasn't long. As an old traditional doctor, the four diagnostic methods of looking, smelling, questioning, and pulse-feeling were essential.

Since the man said so, he might as well wait a bit longer.

...

'Has it already begun?'

A short while later, Fu Qian observed Gan Zuoxun by the window.

After deactivating Lucid Dream, Fu Qian had waited quietly nearby, successfully catching the "abnormal" episode Gan Zuoxun had mentioned.

Right now, the man's eyes were vacant, and he was bathing in the sunlight with a look of pure intoxication.

For a municipal officer, this demeanor could hardly be considered normal.

But to Fu Qian's senses, aside from the man's body being somewhat stiff, there was nothing particularly abnormal about him.

However, if he remembered correctly, the True God that had previously executed a Descent onto Ariel appeared to be the conceptualization of the sun.

And before he came here, Yuan Shan had specifically brought up this very point.

'Could he really have been affected by Ariel, making him this reliant on the sun?'

Out of professional ethics, it seemed necessary to run a little test.

'So the question is, how should I test him?'

'Lock Gan Zuoxun in a dark room?'

'Not only would it be easy to discover, but it's hard to say how thorough the isolation would actually be.'

Fu Qian gazed at the scorching sun hanging like a fireball in the sky, and an idea formed in his mind.

The next moment, he simply took off the Emissary Mask.

The scenery shifted. Returning to the Warehouse, Fu Qian picked up a crystal-clear bow from the table.

Blasphemous Embrace. This was an item he had obtained a long time ago.

Its effect was the ability to seal away the sun with a single arrow.

He had used it to scare people twice before, and it had been left sitting here ever since. This time, it seemed it could finally be put to proper use.

Taking the Blasphemous Embrace, Fu Qian didn't waste any time slipping the mask back on.

Waking up on the Bookstore Second Floor, Fu Qian quickly hurried back to City Hall.

Sneaking back into Gan Zuoxun's office, he found the man still sitting in his chair basking in the sun, looking exactly as he had when Fu Qian left.

Fu Qian didn't stand on ceremony. He placed his hand on the nearly transparent bowstring and slowly drew it back.

An arrow formed from converging rust-colored tentacles slowly took shape, aimed squarely at the sun in the sky.

The arrow whistled through the air. A few seconds later, a thick, heavy expanse of rust color exploded over the sun's position.

The sun was rapidly swallowed up until only a bright rim remained, plunging the entire sky into shadow.

'This should isolate the connection quite thoroughly.'

'Hmm?'

However, just as Fu Qian prepared to observe Gan Zuoxun's reaction, a voice rang out beside his ear.

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