Eldritch Horror Theatre

What perfect timing!

With a familiar flash of light, Fu Qian found himself back in the Interrogation Room the next moment.

"Can you hear me?"

Fu Qian looked at Kelly, who had asked the question, and Brooke beside her. He nodded.

"It seems I don't need to introduce myself?"

Kelly studied his demeanor and visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"No need, Dr. Kelly Landa."

Fu Qian even drawled out her full name.

"Your memory is finally coherent this time."

"Did you find anything?"

"I actually did."

Fu Qian didn't hide anything and recounted his encounter at the museum.

"Are you trying to tell me that the source of this disaster wasn't a virus, but some invisible bug?"

As she listened, the smile faded from Kelly's face, while Brooke directly slammed his pen onto the table.

"Only a possibility!"

Fu Qian's tone was rather modest.

"Hard to believe?"

"You should be able to tell that for yourself, shouldn't you?"

Kelly's face had grown completely cold by now.

"If this isn't a prank, we might need to evaluate your mental state again."

"Of course, you did get one thing right."

The next moment, Kelly picked up the medical file, dumped out a few photographs, and placed them in front of Fu Qian.

They were photos of several desiccated corpses.

"We found these in the museum. Unfortunately, there were no survivors inside."

"And I believe you're quite familiar with one of the deceased."

"Shen Yuan. I know."

"Good. In that case, I imagine you won't deny that you went there together?"

"To be precise, she was my driver."

"...So your colleague and driver was decapitated shortly after entering the museum, while you wandered around outside, completely unharmed, for quite a long time?"

"This isn't your so-called 'other evidence,' is it? Isn't that a bit too hasty?"

Fu Qian frowned at the two people across from him.

"Still refusing to admit it, huh!"

Brooke slammed the table again.

"Even without direct evidence, who else besides you has the motive to do such a thing?"

"What motive? Let's hear it."

Fu Qian looked curious.

"You've harbored feelings for your colleague for a long time, and when she rejected your advances, you killed her in a fit of rage!"

Brooke practically blurted it out.

Such a vivid imagination. What exactly do you do in your spare time, old man?

After showing a conflicted expression, Fu Qian shifted his attention elsewhere.

"So are you investigating me for murdering my colleague? Or for spreading a virus?"

"Besides, the evidence you have is far too flimsy. Looking at this incident alone, I certainly have motives I can't easily wash away. But if I'm guessing right, didn't Fenghou City experience a massive riot during the accident? A bunch of people acting like maniacs, killing and mutilating themselves?"

"Wouldn't it be more reasonable to count her death as just one case within that large-scale event?"

As he said this, Fu Qian kept his eyes on the photos in front of him. In truth, he was quite puzzled himself.

That's actually the problem here. Isn't it a bit too much of a coincidence?

If my previous hypothesis is true, then that means the ruined world is the real one. Logically, my interaction with Shen Yuan would have just been an association triggered by seeing her corpse. It shouldn't have been this realistic.

For a moment, Fu Qian felt even deeper suspicions about his current situation.

Yes, ever since a moment ago, he had suspected that this place wasn't real either, but rather a special Mind Space.

The people and objects before him were merely constructs he was using to clarify his thoughts, a place to explain all of this through realistic means.

This was also why, despite the event being so obviously bizarre, the two people across from him firmly insisted there were no supernatural elements involved.

This idea was indeed a bit crazy, but Fu Qian wasn't completely without proof.

Right now, in the palm of his left hand, a soft, squishy object was squirming, trying to break free from his grasp.

It was the small, transparent bug he had kept earlier.

After finishing his test, he hadn't thrown the thing away.

Instead, when he noticed the crying fading away, he had directly gripped it tightly in his hand.

This was undoubtedly a dangerous move, but the facts proved that not only had the bug not devoured his flesh and blood, it had even been brought in here with him.

What did this mean?

If I've been locked in here the whole time, how did something from the illusory world get brought in?

Fu Qian looked around, his gaze passing over Kelly and Brooke.

It was a completely enclosed structure, with absolutely no view of the outside.

Or perhaps—there's nothing outside at all?

"I understand. In fact, if it were just a single incident, we could believe it was a coincidence. But combining your medical file with this bizarre crime scene, one can't help but resort to Overthinking."

"That I understand."

Fu Qian nodded.

"And I believe I've already explained that just now."

"Your female colleague suddenly slit her own throat in front of you, the surroundings suddenly turned into ruins, and then you found an opened secret passage?"

"Do you think there's any credibility to a story like that?"

Kelly repeated what Fu Qian had just said word for word.

"Well said. In fact, I find it quite unbelievable myself."

Unexpectedly, Fu Qian actually agreed with her suspicions.

"That's why I need to summarize, deduce, and compare to confirm which memory is real."

"Tell me the current time. How long has it been since the accident?"

Fu Qian stared fixedly at Kelly.

Perhaps intimidated by Fu Qian's composed demeanor, Brooke, in a rare instance, didn't swear at him.

"It's been less than a month since the accident. We found you a week after it happened."

"There are no survivors in Fenghou City?"

"None. We have no idea how that thing spread. By the time the warning went out, it was already too late."

Kelly's tone was absolute.

"No wonder you're paying so much attention to a mental patient like me."

Fu Qian gave a slight nod.

Come to think of it, if this place represents my reliable memories, then the timeline should be accurate, right?

It's been a month since the accident?

"Mr. Fu, our evaluation of your mental state is complete."

Just then, Kelly's tone suddenly changed.

"Overall, although there is a bit of instability, you possess basic logical reasoning skills and can communicate relatively normally."

"Moving forward, we hope you will genuinely assist us."

"Evaluation? So the previous one didn't count?"

Seeing Kelly's sudden shift in attitude, Fu Qian understood what she meant and pointed at the photos on the table.

"They're already dead anyway. The whole point of arranging for you to investigate the museum was to confirm whether you would actually follow our orders."

At this moment, Brooke also dropped his volatile temper, speaking in a rather cold tone.

"Understood. Let's hear your plan."

Fu Qian casually toyed with the bug in his hand, somewhat curious about what these two were truly planning.

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