Eldritch Horror Theatre

Yasui Tokiyuki was certainly not a woman; his photograph could be found anywhere in the world.

Ruling out the possibility of some peculiar fetish, there was only one explanation: this wasn't Yasui Tokiyuki.

So Yasui had two Emperors?

He had to admit, that would be a bit of a stretch!

Fu Qian studied the figure sitting beside Su Gao, marveling inwardly.

This was a woman who could genuinely be called beautiful.

It was hard to pin down her exact age. Wearing a fitted white shirt and simple but exquisite makeup, her smooth brown hair pinned up, she looked highly mature and capable—the very image of a female researcher.

She currently sat with her legs crossed and her chin resting in her hand, studying Su Gao with great interest, her eyes exceptionally lively.

And it was obvious that neither Su Gao nor Sakura Asao were in the slightest bit aware of her presence, even here within a dream.

"I could tell at a glance that you were eager to try."

To avoid looking suspicious, Fu Qian didn't break his stride. In the blink of an eye, he had returned to his seat.

Meeting Sakura Asao's somewhat dazed gaze, he unceremoniously shoved all the items into her arms.

To actually force a Tier 2 Divine Envoy to reveal herself through a dream—this was undoubtedly a highly ideal outcome.

But even under these circumstances, Su Gao and Sakura Asao remained completely blind to this entity's presence. That meant he couldn't act as a behind-the-scenes Director; he had to take the stage himself.

...

Sakura Asao looked at the pile of items shoved into her arms. Smoothly pivoting to her previous excuse of offering help to escape, she didn't say a word and obediently set to work.

At this, the Goddess Envoy merely turned her head slightly to cast a glance, showing no other reaction.

She could freely observe Su Gao and Sakura Asao.

Sitting down calmly to wait for his tea, Fu Qian drew his first conclusion.

At the same time, he noticed her seat was positioned exactly between Su Gao and Sakura Asao, putting her at almost the maximum possible distance from him.

Furthermore, ever since his return, she hadn't so much as glanced at him.

After a moment's thought, Fu Qian deliberately reached out and grabbed an empty cup from the furthest spot.

The movement was somewhat exaggerated. The next moment, the Goddess Envoy naturally lifted her head and shot a glance in his direction, but it was only a single glance before she quickly turned away.

She could see him too?

He had to admit, this second conclusion caught him slightly off guard.

In his understanding, no matter what method this entity had used to achieve her current state, she shouldn't have been able to observe him so freely.

Especially while inside the Lucid Dream; he should have felt it.

Yet a moment ago, she had clearly reacted as if she saw him, but he hadn't felt the sensation of being watched...

Why was that?

Fu Qian furrowed his brows in thought. A moment later, he met Sakura Asao's confused gaze; she clearly didn't understand why he had taken an empty cup either.

Could it be...

An idea struck him. Fu Qian examined the cup in his hand and spoke in a critical tone.

"You haven't warmed the cups yet?"

"That's because I haven't reached that step yet."

Sakura Asao looked exasperated. Wasn't her treatment as a guest a little poor?

"Alright then, take your time. I'll have a glass of water first."

But before she could say anything else, Fu Qian nodded in acknowledgment. Showing absolutely no intention of lending a hand, he simply took the empty cup and walked off to the side.

...

Sakura Asao didn't say anything more, lowering her head to focus entirely on her tea ceremony.

Off to the side, Su Gao remained seated in absolute silence.

It was time to witness a miracle.

Arriving at his pre-planned spot, Fu Qian confirmed he was currently out of the line of sight of both Su Gao and Sakura Asao. Then, facing the Goddess Envoy's direction, he silently removed his outermost mask.

The Witch's Bestowed Mask, possessing a bizarre aesthetic, was exposed to the air.

No reaction at all.

Theoretically, he was within the Goddess Envoy's field of vision, and this change could undeniably be considered abnormal.

But even as he maintained this posture for a full three seconds, the Goddess Envoy did not react in the slightest.

So that was it!

No wonder she seemed oblivious to the change in her situation despite being at Tier 2.

Conclusion three: she could only see what her "hosts" saw.

In other words, while she appeared capable of observing her surroundings, she was actually only reading the visual information processed by her hosts.

This applied to that glance just now. Fundamentally, she hadn't been looking at him directly, which was why he hadn't felt it.

What a fascinating method. Looked at from this angle, didn't that mean this room had formed a closed loop?

He could see the Divine Envoy, the Divine Envoy could see Su Gao and Sakura Asao, and those two could see him.

Then again, he had experienced this kind of situation before.

Back in Dunis, he had once used a special method to parasitize an energetic young man.

At that time, his observation of the outside world had relied solely on spheres of light formed from gathered sounds; he hadn't even possessed visual images.

Was the Goddess Envoy in the same situation now?

No, it was different.

Fu Qian put his mask back on and quickly dismissed the theory. He poured himself a glass of water and returned to the table.

The victim back then had been an energetic young man, but the entity sitting over there now was a Demigod.

Fu Qian didn't believe that such a method could silently parasitize a Demigod, leaving someone like Su Gao completely oblivious.

Furthermore, how could she parasitize two people at the same time? Did she split herself in half?

That would be far too reckless. Wasn't she afraid of fracturing her own mind?

Wait a minute, mind...

Could purely mental parasitism take this form?

A possibility occurred to Fu Qian.

The Goddess Envoy's true body might not even be here. Her parasitism was on a purely mental level—akin to making her targets imagine her, cognitively constructing an avatar of herself out of thin air.

Through this method, she existed solely within the consciousness of her victims, inversely deceiving their awareness to achieve perfect concealment.

Were these the methods of a Divine Envoy?

He had to admit, this required far more technical finesse than what Ariel had pulled off.

After deducing this possibility step by step, Fu Qian was mildly shocked by his own theory.

If it hadn't been for Su Gao's special constitution, and if he hadn't been actively shunned, it would have been genuinely difficult to uncover this trick so quickly.

And all of his own secrets would have undoubtedly been scoped out without him ever realizing it.

"Done."

Sakura Asao finished brewing the tea and pushed it in front of Fu Qian with one hand.

Theoretically speaking, this was a rather rude gesture.

It seemed she wanted to use this to express her dissatisfaction.

Fu Qian naturally paid it no mind. He was pondering his previous question: why hadn't she parasitized him?

Overconfidence? Assuming there were no issues with him?

But this kind of parasitism—similar to a mental plague—should have been effortless.

Just then, having sat back down, Fu Qian caught the Goddess Envoy's gaze turning toward him again, carrying undisguised disgust.

Wait... Sakura Asao and Su Gao shared one incredibly obvious trait—they were both women!

Surely she wasn't doing this purely out of mysophobia?

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