Eldritch Horror Theatre

Honestly, Ariel's probing tactics were quite impressive, and his acting was remarkably good.

As expected, only someone who can control their emotions makes a true actor!

Unfortunately for him, Fu Qian had also thoroughly studied the actor's craft.

Stowing Mercy away, Fu Qian snorted.

Language was inherently inefficient at conveying information. Even without deliberate deception, it often carried various interfering factors—emotions, cognitive limitations, misdirection from others, and so on.

In Fu Qian's view, automatically analyzing and dissecting every spoken sentence to filter out valuable information and judge its credibility was the basic quality of a task runner.

Therefore, even if he hadn't known Ariel's background, he would never have fully believed that performance just now.

There was more than one possible reason for the man to act this way.

Not to mention, Fu Qian actually had a decent grasp of Ariel's background and knew full well that everything the man did served a specific purpose.

Even taking a step back—if Ariel truly stood with the Night Watchers against him, he would have attacked directly without wasting breath.

The man had no psychological need to vent. It was safe to assume that his sole purpose in saying anything was simply to ensure Fu Qian heard it.

He wanted to make Fu Qian believe he faced certain death, thereby baiting out his true stance on the plan and confirming his threat level.

Unfortunately, the phrase 'guilty conscience of a thief' had never been in Fu Qian's dictionary.

As such, Fu Qian chose to play along with the scheme.

...

And the facts proved that no matter what Ariel claimed, he clearly didn't want to cause too much of a commotion.

From this point alone, Fu Qian could largely confirm that Ariel hoped the plan would proceed smoothly.

This was a good thing. It meant he didn't need to preemptively figure out a way to kill a Divine Emissary.

That would have been an incredibly taxing endeavor, and actually doing it would likely cause a massive uproar.

"So, is this beast-transformation disease actually the work of you and Raven Feather?"

Fu Qian looked at the erratic, rapid flip-flopping Ariel, speaking in a tone that suggested he was weighing the risks.

"First of all, I can assure you it isn't me."

Ariel seemed to have anticipated the question and answered with a smile.

"However, this plan was originally organized by Raven Feather. Whether it remains within his control, I cannot say."

Was he hinting that there was no need to worry about the current situation spiraling out of control, and that everything was well in hand?

Fu Qian nodded, continuing to interpret the information he had gathered.

"Honestly, I don't care what you actually are, whether Camus or the Sage has the upper hand, or if you're prepared to risk your life to reach the Demigod Realm. My only demand is that no variables arise in the plan."

Yet in the next moment, Ariel's smile vanished, and his voice was stripped of all emotion.

"Do your own job, understand?"

Was this oppressive aura of a higher entity a mix of suggestion and intimidation?

It was probably meant to ensure he stayed at the Phoenix Palace creating Talismans, rather than rushing over to help.

Did he really want to prevent him from interfering that much?

"That's for the best. I will only do the part of the work that is within my capabilities, and I won't ask to know any more."

Fu Qian nodded, seemingly having finally made up his mind.

"Very well."

Seeing this, Ariel offered a satisfied word of praise. A moment later, he sat back down in the chair, resuming his original posture.

"May our operation go smoothly."

The tone was a clear dismissal.

Witnessing this, Fu Qian readily accepted the good advice and left without another word.

...

If the whole world turned into something like this one day, what kind of scene would it be?

Strolling effortlessly through the interior of the ancient Divinity Academy, Fu Qian mused leisurely.

There was no doubt that the earlier confrontation, while seemingly casual and relaxed, was actually fraught with danger.

Had he made a single mistake in his responses—causing Ariel to deem him too great a threat to the operation—he likely would have instantly resorted to combat.

Too bad for Ariel that, thanks to his flawless execution, Fu Qian had not only bypassed a fight that would have brought negative consequences, but had also managed to extract some highly valuable information from the elite monster.

For a moment, Fu Qian felt in excellent spirits.

As he left, he also casually paid attention to that background extra from earlier.

"...I can't figure out the point of having us do this here... Wouldn't it be fine to just have the police help lock it down? There's no problem on paper anyway... Honestly, these people must have holes in their heads, constantly pulling this kind of crap!"

Judging from the complaints drifting over, this Night Watcher was perfectly normal and retained zero memory of what had just happened.

This wasn't surprising. After all, Ariel had already pulled the exact same trick in Shangjing.

The person before him wasn't even on par with Yuan Shan's Secretary Xiao Ming. Facing a Divine Emissary, he was utterly outmatched and completely crushed.

Speaking of which, he had found it strange last time. Wasn't the type of power Ariel displayed a bit too chaotic?

Judging from the True God that had utilized Descent on him previously, if his progression path corresponded to the legendary sun as a higher Deity, shouldn't his power be something along the lines of purity and purification—or at most, vaporization?

This kind of imperceptible brainwashing and psychological suggestion, especially the way he had just tried to mislead Fu Qian, felt somewhat twisted.

The Deities of this world seemed to have some rather major issues.

...

Talk about surging undercurrents!

Stepping out of the Old Theological College, Fu Qian looked back at the colossal structure and sighed with emotion.

Of course, the flow of people was surging just as violently.

It was already past midnight, yet the streets were still bustling with pedestrians. Every now and then, someone would belt out a song, filling the air with the festive atmosphere of an approaching holiday.

But while a bit of liveliness was certainly nice, it often brought problems at the same time—such as a proportional increase in street thugs.

In fact, Fu Qian hadn't taken more than a few steps before he realized he was being tailed.

Two young men, definitely no older than twenty, were trailing him shiftily from a considerable distance.

What was the world coming to!

Even an introverted, face-concealing homebody dressed as a plain old man would get targeted by criminals?

No matter how one looked at him, he didn't have anything valuable on his person—okay, the Lord of the Rings was a bit eye-catching.

Touching his finger, Fu Qian lamented internally while continuing forward as if nothing was wrong, admiring the night scenery of Haicheng.

This place would do.

Before long, Fu Qian stopped on a somewhat lengthy arch bridge, admiring the winding water below. He paid absolutely no mind to the two stalkers who were quietly closing in from behind and observing him with wary gazes.

A starry night, an arch bridge... once upon a time, this was such a familiar scene!

Recalling those eventful years of the past, Fu Qian instead looked toward the other end of the arch bridge.

Amid the darkness, a familiar silhouette was stepping forward.

"Camus Greda."

The newcomer spoke out as he walked, his tone carrying a hint of smugness.

"Doing alright?"

It was actually Brother Marco.

Fu Qian nodded nonchalantly, simultaneously noticing that the two energetic young men behind him had quietly slipped away.

Truly, realizing the wolf feigned sleep to lure the enemy.

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