Eldritch Horror Theatre

Compared to Ray, Cartman was in far worse shape. Not only was he covered head to toe in black soot, but he was also missing more than half his hair.

Even so, his demeanor remained completely composed.

At Jones's call, he tossed aside whatever he had draped over his shoulders. Instead of rushing to speak, he stared thoughtfully at the dense crowd fighting the fire.

Unlike Ray, he hadn't come out by choice, so he lacked the same mental preparation. He probably thought the fire had been set just to smoke him out.

"You've been on The Mountain this whole time?"

Jones showed no relief at the missing man's sudden appearance, his mind occupied by the conspiracy Ray had just mentioned.

There was no mysterious killer, only an infected person gone mad?

That meant this guy must have fled the room on his own. His appearance backed that up—aside from looking like a mess, he had no actual injuries.

...

Looking around, he finally spotted Mrs. Harold on the ground. For a moment, his gaze completely froze.

"Don't be nervous. Ray has already confessed to running over Mrs. Harold. You don't have to perjure yourself anymore."

Taking this in, Fu Qian offered a smiling reassurance.

"Of course, his mental state doesn't look too good right now, so you'd better stay away from him."

Out of everyone present, Fu Qian probably understood best why Cartman had fled.

Just as he'd deduced earlier, the back-to-back shocks had triggered Cartman's superhuman state.

He had only come for a vacation, yet on the very first day, his friend ran someone over and asked him to help cover it up.

That alone might have been manageable, but shortly after, his girlfriend—who was also in on the secret—bizarrely went missing. That undoubtedly caused his stress to skyrocket.

To make matters worse, the local sheriff was Ray's uncle. This series of events pointed to one obvious conclusion: Ray viewed everyone in the know as a liability and had asked his uncle to eliminate them.

Living under that threat, and forced to stay at Jones's house without being allowed to leave, Cartman's psychological defenses finally collapsed.

Entering his superhuman state, he made a decisive run for it. Since he couldn't leave town and didn't trust the police, his only option had been to find a temporary hiding place.

"Really?"

Fu Qian's words clearly caught Cartman by surprise.

"It's true. Now—have you been on The Mountain this whole time?"

Looking over coldly and shooting a glare to signal Fu Qian to shut up, Jones took back control of the questioning.

"...Yes."

"Did you leave on your own earlier?"

Jones pressed.

"...Yes."

"Did Ray hit Mrs. Harold with his car, clean up the scene himself, and then ask you all to keep it a secret?"

When this last question was asked, the onlooking crowd practically held their breath.

...

"Yes."

Cartman stared at Jones for a few seconds before finally nodding.

Hahahaha!

Ray immediately burst into maniacal laughter.

"Ask him again! How did he manage to escape just now?"

His emotional state was clearly far less stable than before; he looked almost crazed.

It wasn't surprising. Thanks to the fire, the superhuman state had transferred to Cartman, and Ray had long since reverted to his usual self—a reckless young man who had caused a disaster.

"How exactly did you escape from inside?"

Jones glanced at Ray before actually repeating the question.

"There are a lot of hidden passages down there. Once I noticed something was wrong, I followed them out."

"If they're hidden passages, how did you know about them?"

"...I don't understand it, but I just knew."

Cartman shook his head and tapped his forehead.

"It was like this when I left the house, so I found my way here easily. Things got blurry for a while in between, but now I remember everything again—"

"Am I right? Isn't it the same for him? You can all see it!"

Ray laughed again, pointing at the surrounding crowd.

"Do you have any other explanation?"

"Everyone is the same."

"Any of you could snap at any moment, turning into a cold-blooded beast who wouldn't hesitate to end another person's life, descending into inevitable self-destruction."

Countless whispers erupted in the wake of Ray's words.

And as the mastermind designated by Ray, Fu Qian inevitably became the focal point of their gazes once more.

"Is that really how it is?"

The first to speak up was Fran. She stared straight at Fu Qian, her voice filled with disbelief.

Over the past few days, Fu Qian's performance had been that of a perfect teammate; he looked utterly reliable from every angle.

However, the various bizarre encounters along their journey were now rapidly flashing through her mind.

It had to be said—Fu Qian's demeanor and mannerisms fit the image of a behind-the-scenes mastermind to a startling degree.

"Those pieces of information appearing out of nowhere... do they stem from some sort of special infection? Is this all a conspiracy?"

Hearing Fran ask this, Jones clearly realized something and held his tongue.

...

A conspiracy?

Facing Fran's questioning, Fu Qian silently sighed.

Not just her. Ray, Cartman, Jones, Mrs. Mary, and even the massive crowd of locals fighting the fire were all staring at him with wary eyes.

This scene really felt like the end of a movie, where the evil boss was finally exposed and forced to face righteous judgment.

Even though the actual plot was far from that, the power of human imagination was limitless.

First Ray, then Cartman, and now Fran. Although their methods differed, the statements from these three practically amounted to a relay race of accusations, seamlessly sketching out a villainous image for him.

From this perspective, it seemed Fu Qian shouldn't have emphasized to Cartman that Ray had turned himself in.

Once he realized Ray had confessed, the threat looming over Cartman was essentially lifted, virtually guaranteeing his full cooperation with police questioning.

As the mastermind, his "conspiracy" would be exposed even faster.

But that was only on the surface.

In reality, Fu Qian had said those words on purpose, and the reason was very simple—

'I am absolutely playing the part of the evil boss today!'

...

He knew Lasik was the Key to completing the task, so how should he be used?

Ever since guessing this possibility, Fu Qian had been considering this question.

What was so special about Lasik?

First and most obviously, he possessed memories of the samsara. He had accumulated a vast amount of information through countless attempts, even if that kind of samsara was meaningless on its own.

Second, at this very moment, although his true body no longer existed, he could briefly "manifest" in anyone through a special form.

Finally, his innumerable attempts had even caused errors between the cycles of samsara, causing things that shouldn't exist to bleed across them.

Things like the speeding ticket, or the marks under the picture frame.

These bugs transcending cause and effect were like mildew spots corroding a videotape—they amounted to cross-dimensional chaos.

So the question was... if he lent a hand and made the chaos more intense, would the mold become completely uncontrollable? To the point where it affected the tape's playback?

Fu Qian had already formed this plan before meeting with Ray yesterday.

And he had long since figured out how to escalate that chaos.

That was to let as many people as possible become "infected," ultimately turning this Small Town into a Hotbed where Lasik could perform a Descent at will.

As people continuously broke down under pressure and fear, it would allow him to switch between different hosts like a game of whack-a-mole.

In other words, making the conspiracy Ray spoke of a reality.

The interesting part was that accomplishing this relied precisely on the masses' fear of a conspiracy.

How did that saying go again?

The greatest fear is fear itself.

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