Eldritch Horror Theatre

It feels like something happened.

Don't tell me instead of getting taken out, they took someone else out?

Watching the trio step out of the car one by one, the thought crossed Fu Qian's mind.

"Jessica!"

Hearing the noise, the hardworking female classmate came out of the house.

The heavy, depressing atmosphere clearly didn't give her pause; she greeted them cheerfully.

Her voice rang out like a morning bell. Snapping out of their daze, the three of them instantly regained their focus.

While the blonde named Jessica pulled her into an affectionate hug, the two men gathered themselves and started unloading things from the car.

Their movements were surprisingly coordinated, though there was nothing obviously wrong with them.

Everything looked perfectly normal, except the car had been wiped down a little too clean.

[Current task updated: Find Lasik]

As he observed them, the task prompt finally rang out in his mind.

Looking for someone again?

With only a name to go on, this feels like it's going to be hard work.

Fu Qian pondered this silently, his expression unchanged.

Looking on the bright side and using the process of elimination, Lasik obviously wasn't any of the people right in front of him; otherwise, the task would have already been completed.

Though that also meant he would have to go down to the town to find him.

And as the introduction had mentioned, this place was far removed from normal life. Finding someone in an unfamiliar place was still going to be a bit troublesome.

...

With everyone pitching in, lunch was quickly prepared.

Looking at the table full of junk food, Fu Qian took a large gulp of soda, his posture relaxed and carefree.

I have a smart, hardworking employee to exploit, and I get to go on vacation anywhere, anytime.

This is what they call living the good life.

By the time lunch was over, Fu Qian had already grasped the group's general dynamic.

The muscular guy in the sleeveless T-shirt was Cartman, who was dating Jessica, the girl with the sunglasses.

Having recovered his energy, Cartman was noticeably active and seemed to be the core of the group.

As for the bespectacled guy, Ray, he was the one mentioned in the character introduction. This weird house was considered his family's ancestral property.

From the sound of it, he was the one who had proposed this vacation, and he was clearly somewhat displeased that the overly flamboyant Cartman was stealing his spotlight.

As for the female classmate who had stayed behind to clean, her name was Fran. She was Jessica's good friend and had tagged along at her invitation.

Like himself, she was considered a fringe member of the group.

Speaking of which, Fu Qian couldn't help but marvel once again at the Warehouse's miraculous power. Among this group, his name stood out like a sore thumb, yet none of them found it the least bit strange.

Fed and watered, the group quickly settled into a vacation mood and chatted merrily.

Cartman and Jessica were already sitting together.

"You cleaned up nicely!"

Ray glanced over at the couple, quickly looked away, and then, seemingly to establish his position as the host, seriously praised Fu Qian and Fran.

"I can't take the credit."

Fu Qian pointed at Fran, declining the praise.

"I just did some casual cleaning."

Fran chuckled, looking faintly proud of herself.

"Then what did you do here?"

Observing Fu Qian's demeanor, the bespectacled Ray seemed to sense something off and couldn't help but ask.

As soon as the question was asked, Fran's expression stiffened, and she subconsciously glanced over.

"Me? I walked around."

Fu Qian remembered Fran mentioning that Ray didn't allow people to wander around.

"And I found something interesting."

Ignoring her shocked gaze, Fu Qian continued.

Although he could treat this as a vacation, the task still had to be done.

The current situation was unclear. Given their strange behavior earlier, he figured he might as well probe a little.

He might even be able to instill a sense of crisis in them.

...

Sure enough, the moment Fu Qian spoke, Ray's expression turned serious.

Even Cartman and Jessica stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"What did you find?"

After staring at Fu Qian for a few seconds, Ray finally spoke, his face cold.

"Nothing much, just an old set of torture instruments."

Fu Qian dropped the shocking statement without hesitation.

...

"I believe I told you not to wander around?"

"Sorry, it was an accident."

Despite his words, Fu Qian's face didn't show a hint of apology.

After staring at him for over ten seconds, Ray's expression finally softened, his gaze no longer as sharp and aggressive.

"Where did you find it?"

In the end, he didn't fly into a rage and kick Fu Qian out. Instead, he took a breath and asked.

"Just in one of the rooms down below. If you're interested, we can go take a look."

Fu Qian pointed.

"Alright, let's go take a look together."

Without another word, Ray stood up and took the lead.

The rest of the group had varying expressions. Fu Qian noticed that Cartman and Jessica looked even more solemn than Fran, seeming quite concerned about Ray's emotional shift.

It seems it wasn't an illusion. Something really did happen when they went out.

And the three of them reached some sort of tacit agreement to pretend nothing happened.

...

Heading down the stairs, the group quickly gathered in the Underground storage room where Fu Qian had woken up, and they were successfully startled by what was inside.

It had to be said, the Iron Maiden was very visually striking.

Even someone who had never heard of it could intuitively feel its brutality.

After the initial shock passed, all eyes immediately turned to Ray.

"Is this yours too?"

"I don't know..."

Ray gritted his teeth as he stared at the terrifying object.

"The last person to live here was my grandfather. I have no idea why he would have something like this..."

"No need to be so nervous. At the end of the day, it's just an antique."

"Do you actually believe this thing was used to execute people?"

This was Cartman speaking up from the side.

To lighten the mood, he even tried to grab the rusted spikes.

"Judging by the length of the spikes, as long as you stand still, they shouldn't pierce you. Want to go in and try?"

"They really won't pierce you. I've tried it."

Hearing this, Fu Qian chimed in with a smile.

This was the truth. Aside from being slightly slimmer, his build wasn't much different from Cartman's.

"...You've been inside?"

Realizing what Fu Qian had just said, Cartman's voice went stiff.

"Yeah, otherwise why would I say it's interesting?"

Fu Qian looked as if this were perfectly natural, and even pointed at Fran.

"She can testify to that."

Uh...

Faced with everyone's gazes turning her way in unison, Fran was at a loss. In the end, she simply nodded and murmured in agreement, without mentioning his earlier joke and the ensuing turnabout.

The pressure suddenly fell on Cartman.

Courage had always been an important component of masculinity.

Although he was joking just a moment ago, since someone had casually stated they had been inside, backing out now would make him look cowardly.

But to actually go inside...

He stared at the sharp, reddish-brown spikes.

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