Eldritch Horror Theatre

The young woman wore a black evening gown. Her posture was noble and elegant, her neck white and slender as a swan’s.

A sweet smile still lingered on her severed head. Her body lay slumped over the table, blood trickling out to dye the fine printed tablecloth red.

The shocking scene burned itself into everyone’s minds.

After a deathly silence, terrified screams erupted across the restaurant. Someone stood up and bolted desperately for the exit.

”Shh!”

Grunt A stepped forward and made a hushing gesture.

The simple action carried tremendous intimidation. The screaming stopped almost instantly, and everyone froze.

”This was merely to show you all why you need to cooperate. Please do not panic, and definitely do not move. I guarantee that none of you are in any danger.”

Grunt A finished speaking as if nothing had happened, then signaled his colleague to put the head back.

At his words, the diners remained completely silent out of fear, not daring to raise a single objection. Only a few suppressed sobs could be heard.’Such is the prestige of the Night Watchers!’

Fu Qian sighed in admiration and returned his attention to the fine food in front of him.

Although the incident was sudden, he was already mentally prepared for it.

After all, his current mission was to prevent a disaster.

Even though he still wasn’t sure what the disaster would be, he never expected anywhere he appeared to be peaceful.

Besides, compared to his recent experiences, the scene before him was practically tame.

Smelling the faint scent of blood in the air, Fu Qian picked up another piece of food, popped it into his mouth, and chewed hastily with a look of complete satisfaction.

’You can’t let work ruin your quality of life.’

His movements were virtually silent, but under these circumstances, they were glaringly out of place.

Not only were the surrounding diners staring at him in disbelief, but Grunt A, who was single-handedly intimidating the entire room, also frowned.

Exchanging a glance with his colleague, Grunt A marched right up to Fu Qian under the watchful eyes of the crowd and glared down at him.

Fu Qian did not even raise his head, clearing his plate as if no one else were around.

Grunt A swallowed, and then fury flared in his heart. The surrounding temperature instantly dropped by another ten degrees.

”Name?”

”Fu Qian.”

”Age?”

”20.”

”Profession?”

”Expert.”

Having finished his food and in a great mood, Fu Qian answered the questions extremely cooperatively.

Unfortunately, after Fu Qian stated his profession, he clearly saw the questioner’s eyelids twitch.

”Expert... That is your profession?”

”Yep, a professional expert.”

Fu Qian blinked.

”You sit right here and don’t move.”

Grunt A’s face turned livid as he looked back at his colleague.

”I think this guy is highly suspicious.”

”In all my years, the thing I hate most is experts!”

Hearing this, the colleague hurried over. He looked Fu Qian up and down, his expression uncertain and suspicious.

’This is the gap in strength!’

Fu Qian sighed internally. This guy was clearly trying to evaluate his strength, but unfortunately, the gap between them was too vast for him to see anything at all.

To use gaming terminology, casting Identify on him would only return a string of question marks.

From this perspective, West Plain City shouldn’t be very large. At the very least, compared to the transcendents he had seen the last time he visited the Night Watchers Base, the strength of these two was completely watered down.

If the field agents were only at this level, their overall strength was likely a cause for concern.

Just as the situation reached a stalemate, Grunt B received a message.

After a brief exchange, he stepped forward, pulled his colleague aside to whisper, and occasionally shot Fu Qian stealthy glances.

Fu Qian had no interest in eavesdropping, but unfortunately, even though the two tried to suppress their voices, he could hear them with crystal clarity from this close.

”The captain wants us to control the situation. Keep everything exactly as it is, do nothing else, and wait until Executive Yama Su gets here.”

”Do nothing? Are we just going to stand here and watch?”

Grunt A was visibly displeased.

”That’s what the captain said. This is Executive Yama Su’s request. You’d better not mess around; I have no intention of offending that lady...”

”Fine.”

In the end, Grunt A reluctantly agreed, though the glare he shot at Fu Qian was full of indignation.

’That lady?’

Fu Qian immediately grew interested.

He knew the Night Watchers’ deployment structure in most areas.

Basically, in smaller places, the Night Watchers operated on the scale of a single squad—a captain plus a few official members, with the captain serving as the highest authority in that region.

Yet an uninvited guest had arrived, forcing the captain to cooperate fully and unconditionally?

Judging by their tones, those two were quite terrified of her as well.

Such an abnormal situation might just be related to his own mission.

Fu Qian, who had initially been thinking of a way to leave, decided to wait a little longer.

The minutes ticked by. In the dead silence, time seemed to pass especially slowly.

Even so, no one uttered a single complaint. Everyone sat obediently in their places, as well-behaved as elementary schoolers.

Finally, after a long wait, someone pushed the door open and walked in.

Fu Qian looked up and froze.

A narrow black hat and a slender Curved Sword.

Skin as white as snow, as delicate as White Porcelain.

’Uh... that is White Porcelain!’

Looking at that familiar half-face, Fu Qian recalled a certain ruthless person who had hacked him down three times in a row.

’I think her name was Su Gao?’

...

Logically speaking, it had only been a few days since he last saw her.

But it felt like it had been a long time ago.

Compared to their last meeting, her outfit hadn’t changed at all, and her face remained as expressionless as a wooden puppet.

It was just that the portion of her face covered in White Porcelain seemed to have expanded significantly, no longer completely hidden even by her high collar.

But that wasn’t the main point. The point was that this was the very first time he had encountered someone from a previous Containment assignment!

If he remembered correctly, at the end of the 2-133 Containment mission, neither Su Gao nor the captain had suffered any fatal injuries.

Standing there with her tall and slender figure, Su Gao didn’t bring any chilling currents with her this time, but an inexplicable murderous aura caused the restaurant to fall into an even deeper silence.

The Grunt duo carefully approached to welcome her, showing absolutely no sign of their earlier complaints.

Without needing any prompting from them, Su Gao walked directly over to the murdered young woman and examined her meticulously.

After a long while, she looked up, deep in thought.

”Executive Yama Su, besides the victim, we also found a suspicious individual here.”

The Grunt duo had been holding their breath in rapt attention, not daring to disturb her in the slightest. Now, Grunt A finally couldn’t help but speak up.

He pointed in Fu Qian’s direction as he spoke.

’Hm?’

Listening to the accusation against him, Fu Qian didn’t make a sound.

He was very curious to see Su Gao’s reaction when she saw him.

It represented the answer he cared about the most.

If she could recognize him, wouldn’t that prove, to some extent, that his previous experiences hadn’t been mere illusions?

And that they had left tangible, real traces in this world?

”Ah!”

Looking over in the direction Grunt A pointed, Su Gao let out a gasp of surprise.

Fu Qian keenly noticed that her wooden features turned vibrant for a split second, and a brilliant galaxy seemed to flash in her eyes.

”Mr... Fu?”