Eldritch Horror Theatre

Su Gao spoke as little as ever. Seeing Fu Qian deep in thought, she kept quiet and said no more.

The other two Night Watchers had broken off midway to investigate the decapitated young woman's home, leaving just the two of them in the car.

Fu Qian took in the scenery outside.

He had to admit, the place was quite picturesque—antique buildings, bustling crowds, and people taking leisurely strolls in the warm sun.

It was hard to imagine any disaster befalling them.

They were on their way to the West Plain City Night Watcher Base.

Su Gao had mentioned earlier that the local Night Watcher Base had some files on Ill Omen and suggested Fu Qian take a look.

Naturally, Fu Qian couldn't have asked for anything better.

Since the Night Watchers were the undisputed number one organization in the world, getting target intel from them was absolutely perfect.

With her Curved Sword resting on her lap, Su Gao sat quietly, giving off almost no aura of a living person.

Less than a third of the original flesh on her face remained; the rest was exposed white porcelain-like bone, making her look almost like a broken life-sized doll.

But Fu Qian knew perfectly well that her strength had increased by far more than just a little since the last time they met.

It was hard to imagine what had happened in the interim.

Yama Enforcer—the title alone sounded murderous. Her status within the Night Watchers had to be quite high.

From the sound of it, she played a hunter-like role unconstrained by geography, traveling around to track down outlaws.

According to Su Gao, she had only applied to join this special department after their last incident.

It seemed the previous incident had affected her far more deeply than she casually let on.

But if she wasn't going to volunteer the information, Fu Qian wasn't going to ask.

"So you're in a hunter-like role now? Tracking down targets on the Night Watchers' list?"

"Yes."

Su Gao lowered her eyes and gave a slight nod.

"It just feels... like I'm better suited for this kind of work."

This kind of work? Hunting?

Then you're definitely one of the best!

Fu Qian touched his chest. If nothing else, this girl's swordplay was outright brutal.

Of course, this was entirely to his advantage.

A powerful teammate who was at least Mid Tier, and who belonged to a special operations department—she couldn't be more perfect for this mission.

As they spoke, they arrived at the West Plain City Night Watcher Base.

Unlike the imposing, ostentatious high-rise Qi Xue and his group occupied, this place was downright shabby.

It was a small, three-story building with a dark red exterior that looked like it had seen many years.

"Executive Yama Su, how is the situation?"

The moment they stepped through the door, someone came up to greet them.

The man looked to be in his forties with slightly graying sideburns, and he was dressed quite casually.

He was visibly surprised to see Fu Qian, unable to figure out how they had gained an extra person during their trip.

He turned his gaze to Su Gao, hoping she would explain.

"It was indeed the work of a transcendent, but we can't confirm it was Ill Omen yet."

Su Gao nodded.

"Captain Qiao, please fetch me the file on Ill Omen."

Captain? This guy was actually the person in charge of West Plain City?

Fu Qian sized Captain Qiao up. Judging by his aura, he was indeed a cut above Lu Jun and his partner—probably around Tier 7.

West Plain City wasn't large, but regardless, the Night Watchers' staffing here was embarrassingly weak.

Hearing that Su Gao wanted to see Ill Omen's file again, Captain Qiao was clearly a bit puzzled.

After a moment of hesitation, he gathered his courage and looked at Fu Qian.

"And this is...?"

"This is Mr. Fu."

Su Gao answered before Fu Qian could speak.

And then?

Captain Qiao stared at Su Gao for a few seconds, hoping she would elaborate. Unfortunately, she treated words like gold, merely staring back at him.

Captain Qiao finally caved under the pressure and hurried to the back to retrieve a file.

"Thank you!"

Su Gao reached out to take it, then handed it to Fu Qian without hesitation.

Captain Qiao's eyes practically bulged. That was classified information!

But recalling the rumors of her drawing her blade at the slightest disagreement, he held his tongue.

There really was barely any information!

Fu Qian thumbed through the few thin pages in his hand. The vast majority of it was simply Ill Omen's criminal record.

As for personal details about the man himself, aside from his gender, there was virtually nothing.

However, one could clearly sense a sadistic streak from the reports. Most of the corpses were mutilated and deformed. Some were even missing internal organs, accompanied by notes stating they were "possibly devoured."

"By the way, why is this guy called Ill Omen?"

Fu Qian finished skimming the file in seconds as a question came to mind.

"He named himself,"

Su Gao explained softly.

"The target left a similar message behind after a crime once, and everyone has uniformly used it to refer to him ever since."

"Looks like his targets are still primarily transcendents?"

He had noticed that the victims were still mostly transcendents; ordinary people were rarely involved.

"Yes, but there is almost no common ground between the victims. Right now, it looks like he kills entirely for the sake of killing."

"In fact, if you count the incident just now, this is already Ill Omen's second strike in West Plain City."

"The first victim was also a transcendent. It feels like the frequency of his attacks is escalating."

Hmm.

Fu Qian turned his head to Captain Qiao.

"Captain Qiao, could I see the list of transcendents?"

"The list of transcendents?"

Fu Qian's request caught Captain Qiao off guard.

"The list of all transcendents in West Plain City. I'm sure you have it."

"We do, but..."

Captain Qiao wanted to put up a token struggle, but the cold glance Su Gao floated his way instantly shut him up.

Huang Lezhan, Huang Jianyuan, Huang Zhaoliu...

Fu Qian flipped through the registry in front of him, his frown deepening the more he read.

"Why is everyone surnamed Huang?"

"You didn't know?"

Captain Qiao was equally surprised.

"The Huang Family is currently one of the top transcendent families. Although the West Plain Huang Clan is just a branch, their heritage goes back over a century. It's perfectly normal for them to have deep foundations."

"Plus, West Plain isn't very large to begin with, so the vast majority of transcendents really do hail from their family."

So that was it!

A local powerhouse like this could easily monopolize cultivation resources. Coupled with their bloodline heritage, seeing them dominate the registry wasn't too strange.

Members of the Huang Family made up more than half of all the transcendents in West Plain. Having operated here for a century, a family like this practically ruled the local area with an iron fist.

Could this be the reason the Night Watchers' lineup here was so shabby? Did the two sides have some sort of tacit understanding?

But that didn't matter. Having such a family around was truly—perfect!

A transcendent family entrenched in the local area for a century was bound to be extremely well-informed.

As long as they had the right motivation, their efficiency would definitely be incredible.

"Have you had any contact with them?"

Fu Qian looked at Su Gao, who shook her head.

"I only arrived not too long ago myself."

"In that case..."

Fu Qian mused for a moment.

"I'll find time to pay them a visit."

Not knowing Fu Qian's background, Captain Qiao frowned and warned him.

"While we don't need to defer to these local powers, you should still be careful when dealing with them. If they're willing to cooperate, it saves us a lot of trouble."

"Don't worry."

Fu Qian recalled Ji Liushuang and the others he had run into inside the Furnace.

"I have a wealth of experience dealing with their kind."

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