Eldritch Horror Theatre

"I just think the prompts might be misread, too."

Meeting Medea's gaze—which clearly questioned his intelligence—Fu Qian offered a casual explanation.

"That's not a very clever excuse at all."

Unexpectedly, Medea recovered quickly from her initial shock and flashed Fu Qian a smile.

"I know you just didn't want to upset your teacher."

"Don't worry. I'm not that fragile."

"Speaking of which, did you look at everything in that folder?"

"I did."

Fu Qian didn't deny it.

Medea studied the photo of Fu Qian in her hand. By now, the portrait had fully developed.

Fu Qian followed her gaze and took a glance as well.

He had to admit, his high school persona didn't look out of place at all.

"I know it might be hard to understand, and it certainly seems highly immoral, but those are truly joyful memories that I cherish deeply."

"It's fine. Anyone who knows me considers me an absolute moral insulator."

Fu Qian motioned for her not to be overly sensitive, showing absolutely no guilt in admitting his own moral bankruptcy.

"Really?"

Medea looked overjoyed to hear this.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I kept your photo, too?"

"Not at all."

"That's wonderful!"

Medea stared at Fu Qian for a long while as she spoke, eventually revealing an unnerving smile.

"You should head back for now. Honestly... I'd really love to just eat you up right this second."

"Thank you for the appreciation."

Fu Qian replied politely, calmly taking his leave of the beautiful teacher.

Even after the door closed behind him, Fu Qian could still feel her gaze following him.

...

So... the people in this world completely regarded these rule-based prompts as part of the natural laws of the world.

Every single one of them!

They followed these extremely strict judgments and acted on them without a shred of doubt.

In a way, a world like this was pretty interesting.

With things that could be called "absolute" existing here, living such a life would surely offer a different kind of psychological experience.

Of course, it was even more different for him, because all of these were lethal weapons capable of massacring his SAN Value.

Outside Medea's office was a reasonably clean corridor.

However, the yellowing ceiling still gave away the building's age.

Walking all the way outside, he found that the school wasn't particularly large, and its facilities could only be described as ordinary.

Perhaps everyone was in class, because he hardly saw anyone else on his way out.

In truth, Fu Qian didn't care about that anyway. His current objective was to return home.

Judging by the sky, there was still plenty of time before sunset, but he had to account for unforeseen obstacles.

He had told Medea he wasn't feeling well earlier in hopes that she would write him a sick note.

It would have been even better if she could have just driven him home, considering he didn't even know his own address.

Unfortunately, she thought a little too highly of herself. She had completely misunderstood his intentions, mistakenly believing he was inviting her to his house.

Now he just had to figure it out himself.

Fortunately, judging by the size of the school, this place shouldn't be too big, and there were plenty of ways to find his way home.

Just as he was debating whether to take the main gate or hop the wall and play the delinquent, Fu Qian suddenly heard the sound of wind whipping past his ear.

He tilted his head, and a basketball brushed right past his scalp.

It had been aimed straight at his head!

What a familiar plotline. Was he about to become a victim of school bullying?

Fu Qian frowned and looked over, only to realize he had oversimplified things.

Daniel, who had run away earlier, was now making his entrance alongside two others in a standard schoolyard-bully formation.

The one trailing closest was a guy about a head shorter but roughly the same weight; judging by his posture, he was the one who had thrown the ball.

He had to admit, compared to the lackeys beside him, the blond, blue-eyed Daniel truly had outstanding looks. At the very least, it was more than enough to make him a campus star.

"Am I seeing things, or is our top student preparing to skip class?"

Daniel's face showed absolutely no trace of his previous panic as he spoke in an exaggerated tone.

"That was a very dangerous stunt just now."

Fully aware of why this guy was here, Fu Qian had zero interest in entertaining his provocations and instead emphasized the point with a serious expression.

Normally, a young man under twenty wouldn't suffer any real harm from being hit by a basketball.

But that was only normally. What if the setting dictated a forced health-drain from being hit by that thing? He would have taken a massive loss!

"Dangerous?"

Seemingly caught off guard by Fu Qian responding with such a tone, Daniel froze for a moment before his expression rapidly turned sinister.

"I'm afraid you have absolutely no idea what real danger is."

He spoke in a lowered, threatening voice.

"Do you think... you suddenly have the backing to talk to me like this?"

At his signal, the two guys beside him took a few quick steps forward, blocking Fu Qian's path.

"It's a pity, but your rare act of rebellion is going to be corrected by me. Now, you'd better come with me."

"Of course, you can try to refuse—as long as you can bear the consequences."

He laced the statement with a heavy dose of threat.

"No problem."

Fu Qian glanced at the two people flanking him and readily agreed to the coercion.

In truth, even though he was just an ordinary person right now, with his rich combat experience, taking down or killing these three wouldn't be difficult.

But considering they were currently inside a school, the fallout such a bloodbath might trigger was hard to estimate.

He had to remember that this current hassle blocking his way home was actually a Butterfly Effect born from failing his first mission.

If he ended up getting caught for fighting, his future itinerary wouldn't be up to him anymore.

In comparison, finding a private spot to have a nice chat and unearth some information was clearly the better choice.

However, in the eyes of Daniel and his right-hand men, Fu Qian's overly compliant behavior was undoubtedly a classic display of being fierce of face and faint of heart.

For a moment, all three of them smiled in deep satisfaction, clearly enjoying the sensation of shattering his facade.

"Then come with us, top student."

The ball-throwing guy didn't wait for his spiritual leader to speak; he directly stepped up.

The other lackey ran off to pick up the basketball.

With Fu Qian surrounded, the group walked into one of the buildings and finally arrived at a secluded corner.

The door in front of them was pushed open, and at Daniel's gesture, Fu Qian walked into the rather small room.

...

It was obviously a storage room, and one that hadn't been used in a long time. A classic musty scent drifted through the air.

He had to admit, they had picked a pretty good spot. It was clear at a glance that no one would easily wander by here, making it very convenient for doing whatever they pleased.

Showing zero awareness of being in danger, Fu Qian nodded while sizing up his surroundings.

For example, even if a bloodbath occurred here, it would be much better hidden than outside.

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