Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Yes."

Faced with Fu Qian's confusion, Chaumont answered bluntly.

"When I first explored this place alone, I discovered this kind of entity."

"Your senses were correct. This power, born in the wake of Death, is miraculous beyond imagination."

"It seems to naturally dispel chaos and decay."

"I see. So you each used one just now—what sort of chaos were you trying to dispel?"

Fu Qian's memory was sharp, immediately questioning them about his recent discovery.

"Apologies, but I cannot tell you that."

Chaumont's voice, however, suddenly turned cold.

"Which makes me wonder. After luckily escaping death just now, why haven't you tried to run away?"

"Could it be because it wasn't luck?"

Faced with the threat, Fu Qian dialed his sarcasm up to the maximum.

"How will you know if you don't try?"

Beside them, Stoss clearly couldn't bear to listen any longer, teetering on the edge of an explosive outburst.

"You could certainly try, but the price would obviously be quite steep."

Showing no sign of panic, Fu Qian mimed crushing a Talisman.

"Against a mere demigod like me, what if you finally land the kill only to find the cost outweighed the gain?"

"Also, a friendly reminder: you might want to leave."

"What do you mean?"

Chaumont asked the question instinctively before suddenly realizing the implication.

"You called the others here?"

"Don't think so little of my sincerity."

Fu Qian waved his hands repeatedly.

"To repay your information from earlier, I can reveal a little something too. In the Unseen Hill, there is an entity known as the Prophet who can sense the state of all demigods. Of course, it's ineffective against an outsider."

"But you aren't..."

Chaumont clearly had a quick mind. For a moment, he practically gnashed his teeth.

"Exactly. Which means you could be surrounded at any moment. Naturally, if you're confident enough, you could consider this an opportunity delivered right to your doorstep."

...

Confident enough?

The Hunting Squad fell silent.

If they were truly confident enough, they wouldn't have gone through so much trouble.

Their side might have two Divine Emissaries, but they also had a sick patient with them. This place was perilous at every turn; they couldn't afford to be careless.

The man in front of them was an absolute menace, but just as he said, they couldn't be certain of killing him, and the price of attempting it would be tremendous...

Seeing their conflicted expressions, Fu Qian's demeanor grew increasingly relaxed.

Although the reasoning behind his words was complete nonsense, the conclusion was entirely true.

Just moments ago, the mark he had left on Akasha had begun moving rapidly toward this location.

If that wasn't proof enough, the broken claw he had obtained from Akasha had even twitched.

From a scientific perspective, it might just have been fresh enough for the neural reflex arc to still be firing.

But Fu Qian preferred to interpret it as a large group of demigods surrounding the area, with one of them attempting to establish a connection to her severed remnant to quietly confirm whether a certain outsider was inside.

As for why they had found this place so quickly, Fu Qian could think of a likely reason: the Clown.

The Prophet wouldn't necessarily pay attention to a Mid Tier like the Clown, but Ballard might.

As a chaotic element, Fu Qian suspected that the Clown, much like Catherine, was highly likely on Ballard's blacklist and closely monitored.

In fact, this was one of Fu Qian's goals in suggesting the Clown come to the bar. If a brawl really broke out with the Night Watchers, he could potentially use the Clown to draw out the local demigods. That was his backup plan.

As it turned out, it was highly effective.

...

"I have never feared threats."

It was clear that Old Man Stoss didn't tolerate any nonsense.

While Chaumont hesitated, the old man sneered and was the first to speak.

"Oh."

Fu Qian's tone remained flat.

"Aren't you afraid of Logan out there, either?"

"Hmph!"

At that instant, the air pressure inside the bar felt as if it had surged tenfold.

Not only was Ellie petrified, but even Chaumont stared fixedly at Fu Qian as if questioning reality.

"How... did you know?"

Stoss asked, practically enunciating every single syllable.

"Apologies, but I cannot tell you that."

Fu Qian opted to plagiarize Chaumont's words for his reply.

He was relatively certain that the person inside the carriage outside was Logan.

But revealing it at this moment was the result of careful consideration.

Without a doubt, this would discount the credibility of his previous statement and raise further questions about whether he was an outsider.

Given the current circumstances, however, the next time they met would undoubtedly be a kill-on-sight scenario without a word spoken; it couldn't get any worse.

Instead, it was better to make them overthink things, increasing the possibility of an information exchange the next time they crossed paths.

...

No one could see Fu Qian's expression, but anyone could easily imagine how thoroughly obnoxious it was.

The Hunting Squad was clearly not used to being toyed with. Every strand of Stoss's beard looked like a twitching welding rod, ready to ignite at any second.

Why were there so many hot-tempered old guys among the Night Watchers' higher-ups?

Fu Qian sighed inwardly as he watched.

Living up to expectations, despite Stoss's volatile temper, he still possessed a sense of teamwork.

Even with his rage built up to its peak, he still glanced at Chaumont first.

And the latter decisively stopped him with a look.

"What is it?"

Stoss was highly dissatisfied.

"Someone's coming."

Chaumont's answer was brief.

"There's a reaction from the carriage."

What a ruthless guy, using a sick patient as an alarm?

Fu Qian clicked his tongue in admiration.

He had to admit, Chaumont indeed had many tricks up his sleeve; relying purely on perception, Fu Qian himself hadn't noticed anything unusual yet.

"Here's to us both achieving our goals for this trip."

Facing Stoss's murderous glare, Fu Qian repeated his toast to cheerfully see his guests off.

As an esteemed senior figure, his bad temper was one thing, but he still knew how to prioritize.

Realizing he couldn't make a move, he let out a heavy snort and simply followed Chaumont out.

In the span of a single breath, the Hunting Squad vanished from the bar.

"How do you feel?"

Fu Qian didn't move, instead looking at the Clown beside him.

The man had been sitting there in silence the entire time.

"Not good."

Despite narrowly escaping death, the Clown's voice carried no hint of excitement.

"I understand. Being too clear-headed must be a little painful for you."

Fu Qian, however, wasn't surprised.

"You must have caught some interesting information in that conversation just now. Any thoughts?"

"Are you referring to some sort of special flame that might be the key to escaping this place? I can confirm that I've never heard of anything like that. If anyone in here might know, it would probably be the Prophet."

The Clown seemed to know what Fu Qian was getting at, answering directly.

"It might be interesting information, but I'm not sure if I'll still remember it the next time I wake up."

"That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Human nature requires a bit of chaos; when everything is too clear, life gets boring."

Fu Qian waved a hand.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye—"

The Clown didn't get to finish his farewell before high temperatures devoured his vocal cords, followed by his head and body.

Within two seconds, he was reduced to a bright torch.

Perhaps they couldn't do anything to Fu Qian, but after he heard so much, it was impossible for the Hunting Squad to let the Clown live.

Not to mention that causing a larger commotion could effectively attract attention.

In fact, following this wave of Transcendent Tier fluctuation, more than one demigod had already appeared in Fu Qian's perception.

After a brief moment of thought, he picked up Akasha's broken claw and tossed it into the flames consuming the Clown.

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