Eldritch Horror Theatre

Unbelievable. To think a freelancer like you actually went legit and joined the establishment!

Hayami Suzune had also returned, clearly doing exactly what PR Sakura had done—calling for backup.

After suffering continuous setbacks, she had finally reached her breaking point.

Given that Kunio had died here last time, she had undoubtedly reported the incident when she went back.

It made no sense for the Night Watchers to hire outsiders; Brother Archer had clearly been recruited into their ranks.

It wasn't impossible. Although he had participated in that operation years ago as a mercenary, his group had been nothing but clueless cannon fodder. The chances of the Night Watchers letting that slide were quite high.

Fu Qian sized up the long-unseen Brother Archer.

He wasn't deliberately ignoring the man's real name; it was just that after a bit of mental searching, he realized he genuinely didn't have that information in his memory banks.

The man had been in his prime when they last met. More than a decade had passed since then, but he hadn't aged all that much.

Setting that aside, his strength had seen a considerable boost. From the looks of it, he had already reached the Mid Tier.

He wondered how Delin, who had also survived, was doing these days.

While Fu Qian observed him, Brother Archer was doing the same to the four people in the living room. His thoughtful expression suggested he recognized Carlos.

"Captain Laige, it's been a while!"

Bumping straight into the Night Watchers was clearly a situation Carlos hadn't wanted to see.

Faced with members of this top-tier violent organization, Carlos didn't dare act dismissively, even though his own Rank was much higher. He decisively took the initiative to greet them, helpfully supplying Fu Qian with a few bytes of missing information in the process.

So Brother Archer's name was Laige, and his position was captain. That made him Hayami Suzune's superior.

"Carlos, what are you doing here?"

Laige was clearly accustomed to the Night Watchers' way of doing things. Despite facing someone three Ranks higher than himself, he didn't lose an ounce of momentum, delivering a blunt interrogation.

What were they doing here...

Faced with the Night Watcher's penetrating question, the eyes of everyone in the group instantly darted around.

"Just doing a routine anomaly check."

Carlos finally gave a vague reply, keeping a close eye on Fu Qian's reaction as he spoke.

Unfortunately for him, Fu Qian showed no reaction whatsoever.

Gritting his teeth and not daring to play with fire any longer, Carlos quickly elaborated.

"One of our test subjects, Kisaragi Kana, didn't yield the expected results. We wanted to see if there were any outside factors at play."

"Considering that she had quite a bit of contact with Mister Dancy during her testing period, we came to have a quick chat with him."

Kisaragi Kana...

While it was highly unlikely that Laige didn't recognize that name, he was a seasoned veteran of the jianghu and wasn't going to be fooled so easily. His expression didn't change in the slightest.

"So, did you find anything?"

For someone of Carlos's caliber, a routine anomaly check on a test subject wouldn't warrant a personal visit. Even the bizarre death of one of their employees wouldn't be worth his time before the matter blew up.

He was obviously lying, or at least not telling the whole truth.

"Not as of yet."

Carlos sighed.

"It was nothing more than a faint glimmer of hope to begin with. The facts have proven that miracles don't happen."

"I see."

Laige let out an "Oh," his tone entirely conversational.

"I assumed that eating people would affect the potion's efficacy."

...

In that instant, a dropped needle could be heard in the living room.

Hayami Suzune's immediate reaction was to look at Su Gao's face.

'See? It's not just my word against his this time. You're not going to stay willfully blind to this, are you?'

Hmm?

Although Su Gao didn't cry out in surprise, her expression grew noticeably more solemn. She stared blankly at Fu Qian.

However, despite Hayami Suzune's eager expectations, Su Gao ultimately said nothing. She simply lowered her head slightly, not even attempting to distance herself from Fu Qian on the couch.

'Have you completely lost your mind?!'

Witnessing this scene, Hayami Suzune almost exploded with anger.

Unlike Kisaragi Kana, it was incredibly hard to associate Su Gao's demeanor and temperament with cannibalistic tendencies.

Subconsciously, Hayami Suzune interpreted the glance Su Gao had given Fu Qian as one filled with tender affection.

And so, in her mind, Su Gao's behavior became the quintessential manifestation of someone blinded by love—'he may be awful, but he's different with me.'

She couldn't come up with any other explanation.

'Beautifully done!'

Fu Qian was absolutely certain that he wasn't the only one silently praising Su Gao's acting skills right now.

After all, in Carlos's eyes, Su Gao had seamlessly transitioned from the mastermind behind the scenes into a pure and innocent maiden—and she had done so flawlessly.

"Captain Laige must be joking..." Carlos said. "But honestly, when it comes to the effects of consuming human—or even transcendent—flesh on power awakenings, I really am quite curious."

The tone of Carlos's sentence shifted dramatically halfway through.

It was obvious that as the highest combat power beneath the Demigod Realm, he wasn't going to provoke the Night Watchers, but he wasn't going to stand there kissing their boots, either.

"However, the Anjing Company never oversteps the rules. Everyone knows this, which means I can only suppress my curiosity."

"Hearing you say that makes me suspect you aren't here for an anomaly check, but rather an anomaly observation."

Unfazed, Laige replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

By deliberately calling out Fu Qian's cannibalism, he obviously wasn't acting entirely out of compassion like Hayami Suzune.

His primary motive had been to observe everyone's reactions.

Based on the previous situation, there was clearly some sort of tacit understanding between the Anjing Company and Dancy for reasons unknown to him.

An understanding that had even cost a life.

Laige absolutely didn't believe that this was a service bought with mere money.

No matter how rich Dancy was, the most he could buy was a Death Mark to scare people.

A transcendent had died, yet the matter had ultimately been smoothed over by the mutual understanding between the two parties.

The whole situation reeked of weirdness to him, yet he couldn't put his finger on any obvious anomalies.

"For those of us in research, maintaining a sense of curiosity is a basic requirement."

Carlos didn't even deny the accusation.

"I see. So, is your observation finished? I have business with Mister Dancy."

Without any solid evidence to use against him, keeping Carlos here was pointless, so Laige bluntly told them to leave.

"Of course. We were just about to leave."

Carlos was quite agreeable, showing no intention of overstaying his welcome.

He had come here with two main objectives: to sound out the situation and to deliver a slight warning. He was confident he had achieved both.

Furthermore, judging by the posture of Fu Qian and Su Gao, neither of them wanted their true identities exposed. In Carlos's eyes, the risks were still within a controllable range, which left him in rather good spirits.

Sticking around now was completely pointless.

"Mister Dancy, we'll be taking our leave."

With a slight bow toward Fu Qian, Carlos gestured for Sakura Asao and headed for the door.

The living room fell quiet once more. The loudest thing in the room was now Hayami Suzune's furious glare.

"Captain Laige, Madam Hayami Suzune, please take a seat."

"I'll go grab another teapot."

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