Eldritch Horror Theatre

'She really does care about this question after all!'

Seeing Su Gao's flawless expression, Fu Qian sighed inwardly, increasingly certain of his earlier guess.

Because of the Fool Tree, Su Gao had forgotten many things from back then. Realizing that Laige and Delin might also have been involved, she was now trying to use them to fill in the missing pieces of her memory.

When Laige had first visited and mentioned Delin, Su Gao's reaction was partly to maintain her persona, but it hadn't been completely devoid of her own ulterior motives.

The key problem, however, was that Laige and the others didn't know much about the overall incident either. His own final countdown, in particular, had simply scared them away.

'Wait—they know of my existence!'

Fu Qian cast a glance at Su Gao.

'Could this be the information she wanted to confirm?'

Unable to piece together the specific outline of the entire incident, was she struggling to make sense of certain things? Did she feel that some decisive driving force was missing?

"Thirteen years."

Delin didn't notice anything unusual about Su Gao's question. Instead, he let out another deeply emotional sigh.

"That encounter is still vivid in my mind to this day. I could never forget it."

"Looking back on it now, it's still somewhat unbelievable that we managed to make it back alive."

Beside him, Laige also wore a look of deep nostalgia.

"Thirteen years..."

Su Gao repeated softly, her eyes sparkling.

To Laige and Delin, she seemed simply moved by their story, but Fu Qian knew she had just matched up the timeline.

"What kind of crisis was it, exactly?"

A few seconds later, Su Gao continued her inquiry, just as expected.

"I'm sorry, but we were ordered to keep the details strictly confidential. All I can tell you is that the incident took place on Ye Island."

Delin exchanged a look with Laige and refused quite firmly.

"So we have no way to satisfy your curiosity."

"Truthfully, you wouldn't want to know those details anyway."

"All right."

Su Gao was noticeably a little disappointed, but she politely refrained from pressing the issue.

"Actually, I can imagine the kind of experience that would make both of you give up adventuring at the same time..."

A moment later, she exhaled.

"So in that incident, only the two of you survived?"

"Uh..."

Faced with Su Gao's seamless follow-up question, Delin furrowed his brow slightly, his tone hesitant.

"In fact, I'm not certain if we were the only two who survived. At the time, some incomprehensible entities appeared..."

"Honestly, if it hadn't been for one of those entities, we likely wouldn't have survived at all. But the Night Watchers never confirmed anything with us afterward."

"I understand. Thank you for patiently answering my questions."

Su Gao thanked him earnestly, sparing Delin any further discomfort.

"You're too polite. For a young person like you to be willing to listen to our old stories is already a rare treat for me."

Delin clearly appreciated Su Gao's tactful behavior.

"Mister Dancy, do you have any questions?"

The next moment, he looked at Fu Qian and asked in a rather perfunctory manner.

'Questions, huh...'

Surprisingly, Fu Qian actually began to ponder the matter with total seriousness.

"I heard you have a daughter, Mister Delin?"

In that instant, the air seemed to freeze.

The originally warm and harmonious courtyard tea party instantly grew so cold it felt as though frost would start forming.

No, frost was actually forming.

Looking at the white mist condensing around Laige, Fu Qian naturally recalled the frost arrows the man had fired in the Rotten Forest.

And his reaction wasn't even the most intense. At this moment, Delin was already slowly standing up, silhouetted against the sunlight.

Under the pale golden light, his entire face looked like rusted bronze.

His swollen, elongated features arranged themselves in a bizarre manner, radiating an indescribable sense of impact.

'Not bad. To think this guy has also reached the Mid Tier.'

'Is this the legendary phenomenon of letting go of one's obsessions only to encounter a pleasant surprise?'

'I recall that during our last meeting, Delin could only transform his two arms.'

While Fu Qian marveled inwardly, he watched the giant blue-black hand stop right before his eyes—less than twenty centimeters away.

Delin had once used that hand to effortlessly tear apart a monster's giant pincer.

"Calculating from the time you retired, she should be in elementary school by now, right?"

Faced with such a threat, Fu Qian turned a blind eye and simply continued speaking.

...

As soon as those words left his mouth, it was as if someone had hit the pause button on the extremely tense situation.

First, the frosty aura around Laige surged. Then, Delin showed obvious hesitation; glancing at the seemingly frightened Su Gao, he finally stopped his movements.

The rapidly shrinking giant arm had been just a hair's breadth away from crushing Fu Qian's forehead.

"Yes."

Delin, whose face had returned to normal, finally spat out a single word.

"How are her grades? What's her rank in class? Have you signed her up for any tutoring classes?"

Next, Fu Qian skillfully fired off a barrage of questions.

"Do you want me to recommend some good teachers? You absolutely can't let your child lose at the starting line!"

...

Delin didn't look prepared to answer these difficult life questions.

Staring coldly at Fu Qian, his body finally returned entirely to normal as he sat back down in his seat.

"She's doing all right... she's just starting to get a bit rebellious."

In the stifling air, Mrs. Delin looked slightly confused, but she still forced a smile and answered.

"The pastries have gotten a little cold. I'll go heat them up."

...

'Their motives aren't so pure!'

After Mrs. Delin left with the plate of pastries, Fu Qian felt the somewhat strange atmosphere and sighed inwardly.

After his buddy Laige had left yesterday, what he had discussed with Delin probably wasn't as simple as just receiving guests.

Delin's attack just now had been a bit too decisive for someone who had washed his hands in a golden basin years ago.

'They probably had this planned out all along.'

The direct purpose of today's visit was certainly to fulfill Su Gao's wish and help her establish a relationship with a big shot like Delin, serving as a minor deterrent against him.

At the same time, Laige knew there was a high probability he would tag along, so it wasn't out of the question that they had conveniently set a trap for him.

'For example, a retired Transcendent father returns home, discovers his daughter is being coveted by a human fiend, and kills him in a fit of rage?'

Although the Night Watchers had extremely strict operational standards, this story felt like one that could easily be spun to them.

'When the time comes, Laige would help pull the strings and make my actions—ones provoking the wrath of gods and men—public...'

'Even though Delin is retired, he certainly hasn't lost his drive to eliminate threats for the people.'

'Speaking of which, ever since these two brothers narrowly escaped death last time, they both seem to have gained some enlightenment.'

'Should I consider this my merit for guiding them?'

As for why he still made such dangerous remarks despite knowing it might be a trap, the reason was very simple: the persona had to be maintained.

Not his own persona, but Su Gao's.

Laige had run into Carlos, a high-ranking member of Anjing. Given such an obviously abnormal situation, no matter how flawless Su Gao's performance was, it was inevitable that there would be some suspicion.

Under these circumstances, the more distinct his image as a human fiend became, the more solid Su Gao's image as an ignorant young girl would be.

'This is the power of high contrast.'

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