Eldritch Horror Theatre

What?

Catching Liliana's final words clearly, Fu Qian was instantly intrigued.

Only a little left... don't take on any more tasks...

Those words left plenty to the imagination!

Could she be another predecessor?

Fu Qian naturally thought of Edral from the Heavenly Kingdom.

If that were truly the case, the role of Warehouse Manager carried some serious risks!

Compared to Edral, however, she seemed to have retained a shred of consciousness. He wondered if he could ask her for some workplace advice.

"Hello, Senior!"

As it turned out, she was still responsive to the outside world.

The moment the words left his mouth, her crying stopped almost instantly.

A second later, Liliana slowly lifted her face from her hands.

Unsurprisingly, it was an emaciated, withered face; at a glance, she looked like a living corpse.

Her most striking feature was her eyes.

The deeply sunken sockets were completely filled with that iridescent glass, which meandered down her cheeks and eventually flowed over her entire body.

Though it was obvious she could no longer see, for that brief moment, Fu Qian still felt as if she were looking right at him.

Not bad! At least this is a bit more peaceful than swiping a claw at me without a word.

Before Fu Qian could finish his critique, his consciousness surged violently. In his vision, the glass on her body shattered into a dazzling, chaotic array of colored stars.

At least Demigod Level!

Fighting the discomfort, Fu Qian instantly made his judgment.

If she really was a predecessor, he was curious what kind of task she had received. To think it could drain a demigod until she had only a sliver of SAN Value left.

Furthermore, judging from her intermittent crying just now, had she actively chosen to hide here?

Had her SAN Value dropped so drastically from running tasks that she feared turning into a mindless idiot upon her next failure, driving her to hunker down somewhere the Warehouse couldn't find her?

That would just be human nature. After all, not everyone was as diligent at courting death as he was.

But wasn't hiding a bit of an overreaction?

Judging from his own recent experiences, the Warehouse didn't seem to resort to overly coercive measures.

If you didn't want to do tasks, couldn't you just log out and never log back in?

Could it be that when she was an Administrator, the Warehouse had been at its absolute peak and wasn't so accommodating?

And by the time he joined, things had changed, so the requirements were no longer as strict?

It wasn't impossible. It would also explain those absurdly difficult tasks he had encountered—the Warehouse was now operating in a much higher state of chaos.

Perhaps the tasks these predecessors faced were much easier than his own.

Under those circumstances, it was understandable that Edral had the leisure to keep a diary during a mission.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Fu Qian looked forward to conversing with this predecessor.

Unfortunately, after he waited for quite a while, Liliana remained standing in complete silence.

"Hello, I am the department's new hire, Sage. I look forward to your guidance."

Without dropping his smile, Fu Qian continued to greet her enthusiastically.

...

"Has the pressure at work been a bit too high lately?"

Seeing that she still didn't react, Fu Qian adopted a thoughtful look and asked another question out of concern.

...

This time, Liliana finally reacted. A desolate whimper slipped from her lips once again, though the upside was that she didn't cover her face.

Just as Fu Qian was observing her intently, she let out a piercing shriek.

"I... won't work... anymore! I want to... go back to my hometown... and get married!"

...

He didn't know if the word 'work' had acted as a trigger, but her voice was loud enough to rupture eardrums.

That was no exaggeration. As Fu Qian leaped back, he realized something was trickling from his ear and reached up to wipe it away.

He discovered his hand was coated in a layer of dazzling iridescence, somewhat similar to the glass covering Liliana's body.

Upon close contact, the substance felt almost alive, yet it was extremely chaotic, even faintly corroding its surroundings.

Fortunately, the iridescence rapidly faded in the blink of an eye, and he felt that his own existence hadn't been significantly affected.

What immense resentment!

Fu Qian marveled at the sheer intensity of it, but a second later, he realized something was wrong.

Strange, why do I also want to go back to my hometown and get married?

Indeed, in that split second just now, his subconscious reaction was that this actually sounded like a pretty good idea.

This inexplicable urge felt as if it had been forcefully poured into his brain alongside her words.

Could the obsession of a Demigod Rank existence directly manifest as an impact akin to a mental brand?

If that were the case... Fu Qian suddenly realized something.

Wen Li had just returned to her hometown a couple of days ago and encountered unexpected pressure to get married.

Could she have fallen victim to this exact same effect?

"By the way, where is your hometown?"

Amid his thoughts, Fu Qian casually asked.

"Listen... to my voice... don't let no one... listen to me."

Unfortunately, he didn't receive an answer. What replied to him was a seemingly familiar sentence.

Why does it feel like her condition is barely any better than being dead?

"Don't worry, I'm listening."

Fu Qian replied, silently observing the changes within himself.

Following Liliana's words, he discovered a new impulse in his consciousness—an urgent desire to listen to her voice.

Are these truly words carrying absolute law? This ability is a bit overbearing!

Considering her rank, it might be related to her demigod profession.

At that moment, the voice—which felt capable of twisting the very soul—surged relentlessly inside Fu Qian's skull.

Even that unspeakable terror was transmitted alongside it.

Liliana seemed terrified of others ignoring her existence, and equally terrified of forgetting her own name.

Did she need to maintain her self-awareness through this method?

He now roughly understood why the sentence Wen Li had written down had disappeared.

The Ear Stud he had swallowed must have shared some sort of connection with Liliana.

Through that item, Liliana's jumbled obsessions and emotions managed to seep out slightly.

To most people, the influence might not have been obvious. But as a Mental System Tier 5 with extremely strong empathy, Wen Li had likely perceived some of that information on a subconscious level after accepting the gift from her father.

Such as the urge to "go back to her hometown and get married."

Normally, this wouldn't have been a big deal. She was a Mid-Tier Transcendent after all, with much stronger Mental Resistance than ordinary people.

The problem lay in Wen Li's abilities; she could influence the emotions and wills of the people around her to a certain extent.

Therefore, without realizing it, she might have turned into something resembling an antenna, broadcasting the matrimonial desperation she had absorbed.

The most severe victims were her father and her aunt, and those two naturally assumed she was the main character meant for marriage.

With this absurd boomerang effect, why did he feel like the only pure victim after it had gone full circle?

"My name... is Liliana!"

As he pondered, this predecessor's mental assault continued.

Fu Qian shook his head and pushed his willpower to the limit, firmly denying that his name was Liliana.

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