Eldritch Horror Theatre

"That's easy. Leave it to us."

As expected, Xiaozhi's dim gaze instantly brightened.

Since she had likely caused trouble by accident, she was naturally eager for a chance to make amends.

Of course, she didn't believe Chief Yuan would actually make things difficult for her over this, but out of sheer respect, making whatever compensation she could was only proper.

"How far should we go?"

The middle-aged man also seemed to cherish this chance to redeem himself.

"No need for too much trouble. Just make sure he can't keep following me."

Fu Qian's attitude was actually quite lenient.

"I don't want anything interfering with this operation."

The middle-aged man nodded in understanding and exchanged a glance with Xiaozhi.

A moment later, the two of them stood up almost simultaneously and walked toward Brother Gray Hat.

The latter had undoubtedly been watching them this whole time, so he became instantly alert.

However, his combat-ready stance crumbled the moment Xiaozhi flashed a peculiarly shaped Badge.

Just as expected, there wouldn't even be a conflict.

Watching from the sidelines, Fu Qian nodded silently.

Although Brother Gray Hat's strength was likely no weaker than either of theirs, in Fu Qian's eyes, a fight was completely out of the question.

As long as those two revealed their identities, Brother Gray Hat wouldn't dare make a move even if he were given eight hundred times his normal courage.

Such was the prestige of the Night Watchers.

After a brief exchange, the three of them stood up together and left the train car.

From beginning to end, Brother Gray Hat maintained an incredibly respectful posture, not even attempting to run away.

And seemingly taking Fu Qian's low-profile style into account, the two Night Watchers clearly had no intention of bothering him again.

Even when the train finally pulled into its destination, the three of them hadn't returned.

...

Though the distance wasn't particularly far, night had already fallen by the time he got off the train.

Revisiting an old haunt, given the scale of Fenghou City, Fu Qian didn't have to spend much effort locating one familiar scene after another.

Yuan Shan's intel was right; the city really did look peaceful and serene.

There was only one slightly strange detail.

Even though it was already the pitch-black dead of night, scattered individuals were still wandering the streets.

Based on what he had seen during his last mission, Fenghou City hadn't seemed this lively even during the day.

Sighing in reflection, Fu Qian headed straight for the museum.

In his current state, feeling tired was quite difficult.

The late hour didn't affect his operation in the slightest; it even saved him the cost of an admission ticket.

Ah!

Soon, the familiar silhouette of the museum appeared before his eyes.

Unsurprisingly, Fu Qian noticed that someone here was also still awake.

Inside the pitch-black museum stood a solitary figure.

Fu Qian easily recognized him. It was the same staff member from his last visit—the one who had ended up tearing his own face off.

Even though the man was staring wide-eyed toward the door, slipping past an ordinary person would require no effort at all.

After a moment's thought, however, Fu Qian chose not to hide his movements. He simply pushed the slightly ajar door open and walked in.

"Did you buy a ticket?"

Sure enough, the man was not unconscious.

He asked the question almost the very second Fu Qian stepped through the door.

"No."

Fu Qian answered with complete honesty, looking forward to the man's reaction.

"Very well. But there are security cameras everywhere in the museum."

The staff member revealed a distinct smile and stepped aside.

'Completely illogical, but this feels seemingly familiar!'

Fu Qian noted inwardly.

During the previous mission, this was exactly how the man had warned him and Shen Yuan.

However...

It was obvious that, while he wasn't sleepwalking, his mind was currently far from clear.

'Aftereffects of that special Nightmare?'

Fu Qian thought of the people wandering outside.

It seemed that even though the Nightmare had dissipated, it still left a certain psychological impact on these people.

Deep in thought, Fu Qian walked past the staff member, only to see that the man was no longer paying attention to him. Instead, he was rubbing the right side of his face and muttering to himself.

"A little itchy."

The man was rubbing his eye with such force that blood was already beginning to seep out.

'Okay, so the psychological impact seems to have seeped into the physical body.'

Fu Qian shook his head and walked right past him.

Soon, he found his way to the space beneath the stairs, exactly where he remembered it.

The moment he stepped onto it, Fu Qian confirmed that his memory was correct. There really was something abnormal underfoot.

Crouching down, Fu Qian knocked on the floor beneath him, then applied a bit of force.

With a muffled crack, he yanked one of the floor tiles straight up.

A seemingly familiar black passageway appeared beneath his feet.

'Looks like I'll have to take another trip down.'

Fu Qian shook his head and, without hesitation, jumped straight down.

The staff member, who should have been watching him, was still scratching at his right cheek, which was now a bloody mess of dark red.

'Seems empty?'

After taking barely two steps, Fu Qian realized something.

The inner walls of the passageway were exactly as he remembered—built from those same black stone blocks covered in peculiar patterns.

But unlike last time, Fu Qian was currently at full strength. He could easily sense that his surroundings were filled with a true, absolute dead silence.

Reaching out to touch the wall, he confirmed there were absolutely no invisible bugs present.

'So this is just an ordinary abandoned underground project now?'

'Were those things in the mission just hallucinations?'

Fu Qian frowned.

It was a reasonable explanation, but not the one he wanted.

He soon reached the bottom of the passageway.

Looking at the space that was just as empty as last time, Fu Qian fell deep into thought.

Honestly, the absence of those bugs didn't surprise him much.

Based on his two experiences entering the Nightmare Corridor, this bizarre existence seemed to be made up of several distinctly different powers, much like the doors Brother Persuader had pointed out to him.

The bugs most likely represented one of the more unique types of power among them.

Now that the Nightmare had faded, it was perfectly normal for the powers related to The Corridor to no longer exist.

What Fu Qian had come here to see wasn't this, but rather the reason why.

Why had those bugs gathered in this specific place?

Why was it sealed off? What on earth was so special about it?

These were the questions he actually cared about.

Of course, as things stood, it seemed he wouldn't be getting an answer.

From any angle, the place was completely empty, without the slightest hint of abnormality.

'Very well!'

Faced with this dead end, Fu Qian simply offered a silent critique.

The next moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tattered notebook along with a pen.

'A clear, irrefutable dead end. It'd be an absolute waste not to use this!'

[I am currently in an excavation site.]

Turning to a blank page, Fu Qian picked up the pen and wrote down the first sentence.

After waiting a moment and seeing that the handwriting hadn't disappeared, Fu Qian added another sentence below it with satisfaction.

[The object causing the anomaly in the excavation site has already been taken away.]

However, as if rubbed out by an invisible eraser, mere seconds after he finished writing, this line of text vanished without a sound.

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