Eldritch Horror Theatre

Within seven steps, a gun was fast and accurate.

Against a fully alert gunman, Fu Qian had no confidence he could snatch the weapon barehanded.

Even a thrown knife wouldn't be faster than the other man's shot.

He also wasn't naive enough to think he could talk Stan out of shooting.

Because of his actions, this world was taking every opportunity to strangle him.

The perfect cooperation between the sheriff and Medea just now proved exactly that.

With such tacit understanding, it was impossible they hadn't been guided by prompts.

Of course, he had guided them as well.

From the beginning, Fu Qian's strategy had been more than just stalling for time.

The results proved it worked quite well.

Stan, Medea, and he himself had all seized the opportunity.

Dodging with everything he had while throwing the knife had undoubtedly crippled his arm, but Fu Qian was very satisfied with the outcome.

"See? I didn't lie to you. Here's the evidence."

After confiscating Stan's weapon, Fu Qian took a photograph from a terrified Medea and placed it in front of the sheriff.

"This is..."

With his sure-kill strike missing and his weapon gone, Stan's imposing aura had plummeted.

The fear of death made him press tightly against his wound, doing his utmost to stop the bleeding.

Even so, he couldn't help but look down at the photo Fu Qian had tossed over.

And that group photo of the three clearly delivered a severe Mental Shock to him.

The dead Joseph was with Daniel?

And even this woman?

"What exactly is going on?"

Unable to comprehend what he was seeing, he snapped his head up to look at Medea.

"I don't know... I don't understand..."

Unfortunately, Medea's mind was also a complete mess, unable to accept the scene before her.

"No rush. You two can take your time talking it out."

Dragging Medea back to tie her up again, Fu Qian tore his undershirt into strips and applied a simple bandage to his arm to stop the bleeding.

That done, he rummaged through his black bag and pulled out another rope.

Facing Stan—who was slowly bleeding to death from a vital wound—he showed no mercy either.

He hauled the man up and bound him to the Chair he had previously refused to sit in. Ultimately, Stan and Medea ended up tied back-to-back.

"Haa... Daniel... my most trusted subordinate is watching him."

Although he still hadn't figured out the photograph, Stan had somewhat recovered his senses and was beginning to struggle for his life.

"He's very safe right now, but my men only listen to me. They'll only release him on my orders."

"I believe you now that Joseph is dead. Take me back, and I'll have them release Daniel immediately. Then you can give the Warren Family an explanation."

"I appreciate the kind offer, Sheriff Stan."

Looking at Stan, Fu Qian smiled and shook his head.

"But looking at my current state, don't you think I'm past needing to answer to the Warren Family?"

...

"Let's talk about what happened back then instead."

Ignoring the despair written across Stan's face, Fu Qian walked to the side and sat down. Using his still-intact right hand, he fiddled with a small box.

With a practiced poke, the box clicked open, revealing several pieces of jewelry.

"That's mine..."

Because of the change in angle, Medea was no longer facing away from him, and she instantly recognized the item in his hands.

"It is indeed yours."

Fu Qian skillfully closed and locked the box as he spoke, only to open it again.

This was something he had casually picked up when leaving Medea's house earlier.

If there hadn't coincidentally been a Key in that door just now, he had originally planned to use this to destroy the world.

In fact, when he hid behind Medea earlier to confront Stan, he had already taken it out, which was why he had never stopped picking the lock.

"Let's continue our previous topic. After Edral was locked up, that door was never opened again, right?"

Fu Qian didn't explain further, speaking to Stan as he continued to toy with the box.

"As for Josel, even though he was the one who locked him inside, given his prior behavior, I suspect he lacked the courage to even look at the corpse."

"And as for you, it didn't matter at all whether the corpse was discovered, as long as Joseph kept his mouth shut."

"Since he forged Edral's transfer, he was in a rush to wash his hands of the matter. If the incident were ever exposed, as the sheriff, you could just rule it an accident or a psychotic break, and it would likely blow over."

"So you simply had Joseph keep an eye on the place, watching to see if anyone stumbled upon it so you could control the situation."

"When Daniel and I went in earlier, Joseph must have followed his usual procedure and notified you immediately."

"Even though you didn't pay it much mind, you still monitored the situation a bit out of caution."

"Unexpectedly, what happened next made you tense up at once—when you tried to contact Joseph, you suddenly realized you couldn't find him anywhere, right?"

"That's right."

With his back turned, Stan couldn't see Fu Qian's actions, so he listened to his words especially carefully. He responded in a muffled voice.

"Especially since one of the people who entered the collection room was Daniel Warren. That gave you plenty of room for imagination, so you decided to find me first to figure out the truth?"

"Yes."

Stan affirmed once again.

'So it had really started back then!'

With his guess verified, Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

He was more than ninety percent sure that Stan's attempt to contact Josel at the time had been influenced by the prompts.

Additionally, looking back at the course of events, what had brought fatal disaster upon Edral was his attempt to destroy the Anomaly Point.

In the end, that guy was simply unwilling to keep following the established routine.

Though in Fu Qian's view, his actions were reckless and brainless; he likely wouldn't have gotten his wish anyway.

"Very good. As for you, Ms. Medea."

Fu Qian did not continue his conversation with Stan. He lifted his head and glanced at Medea.

"Your behavior just now was a little irrational."

...

"Do you believe that after Sheriff Stan killed me, he would've taken the Kitchen Knife from my hand and immediately sent you on your way?"

...

Faced with Fu Qian's question, Medea just kept her head down in silence, clearly having realized this as well.

Click!

With a soft sound, the box in Fu Qian's hand sprang open once again.

There was still no reaction from their surroundings.

[Locked. A key is required to open it.]

'I've already gone this far. If you still can't find an opportunity, then that's just too unreasonable!'

Fu Qian didn't stop his movements. He locked it again while muttering inwardly.

As a mere mortal, directly shattering the void using this method didn't make Fu Qian feel optimistic.

He was merely creating an opportunity.

Judging from the previous anomalies, being thrown into the Furnace this time meant he had clearly been set up. It was far from a normal task.

At the same time, since the prompts for the Containment Conditions could reach his ears, it proved that the power of the Warehouse could still infiltrate this place and was trying to help him.

It was just that its power might be very weak, or even shielded.

And what he needed to do was create an exploitable flaw for it.

[Task failed. SAN Value decreased by 128]

Right at that moment, an icy prompt echoed in his mind.

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