Eldritch Horror Theatre

Did the Shangjing Night Watchers really have this much talent to spare?

To think a Demigod had come personally to question him.

Captain Qin Feng from earlier had only seemed to be Tier 7.

Had they found something wrong with him and prepared to put him down?

If so, coming here was practically throwing himself into a trap.

In truth, according to the mission description, he and the Night Watchers were competitors.

Snooping around a rival’s turf for information naturally came with risks.

Fu Qian suppressed his physical reactions, showing nothing out of the ordinary.

Inside, however, he kept his guard up.

It was still uncertain just how effective the mask’s disguise really was.If he failed to fool her and his deeply layered alternate persona was exposed, it would be incredibly difficult to explain.

At that point, he might end up having an intimate confrontation with a Demigod.

Taking on the Night Watchers Base single-handedly would be an undeniably steep challenge.

”Mister Fang.”

Fortunately, the alluring Demigod had been quite polite since walking through the door.

Not only had she greeted Fu Qian with a smile, but she had also addressed him courteously.

Her eyes, however, observed his every reaction, refusing to miss a single detail.

”Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

”Go ahead.”

Fu Qian naturally didn’t mind. He had come here specifically to gather intelligence.

”Thank you.”

”First, allow me to introduce myself.”

The female Demigod spoke in a gentle tone, her demeanor calm.

”I am Yuan Shan, director of the Night Watchers in the Shangjing Region.”

Director? She was actually the boss of the Shangjing Night Watchers!

In that case, her being at the Demigod Realm made perfect sense.

By his count, this was the second Demigod he had encountered up close.

Compared to Ebu on the Archipelago, her aura was nowhere near as sharp.

For her to question him personally, the lost Blood of Thorns had to be no small matter.

Fu Qian thought to himself, though his face remained entirely impassive.

”An honor to meet you.”

Out of politeness, Fu Qian offered the completely insincere pleasantry.

Yuan Shan simply smiled, not minding in the slightest.

”A colleague of mine met with an accident in your shop today while carrying out an investigation... Could you describe the situation at the time in detail?”

”I already explained the situation to those two.”

Fu Qian frowned, putting on a reminiscent expression.

”I’m not really sure what happened myself.”

”Captain Qin Feng came to my door and brought up a few of my regulatory violations.”

Fu Qian still knew very little about this current identity, forcing him to be vague in many areas.

Fortunately, Yuan Shan didn’t seem to care about those details.

”I offered a sincere explanation, but unfortunately, Captain Qin didn’t seem to believe me. As we spoke, he grew somewhat agitated.”

”And then?”

”And then... then his head exploded.”

”It just exploded? Could you be a bit more specific?”

”If you want specifics...”

Fu Qian looked as though he were organizing his thoughts.

”After his tone grew heated, he yelled at me a couple of times. Before I could even respond, his expression suddenly twisted in agony. His head swelled to three or four times its normal size, and then it just blew up.”

”Are you certain his head swelled three or four times its size?”

Yuan Shan asked, her expression serious.

”Very certain.”

Yuan Shan fell silent, slipping into thought for a brief moment.

”Yet you were unharmed?”

After mulling it over for a few seconds, Yuan Shan asked another question.

They really were colleagues; they asked the exact same questions.

However, Fu Qian astutely noticed that when Yuan Shan asked this, her voice carried a peculiar underlying rhythm.

It sounded as comforting as a spring breeze and as intimate as a whisper in his ear, making one instinctively want to sink into it and spill their deepest secrets.

She had launched a mental attack without showing a single sign. Had Thug not bolstered his Mental Resistance, he might have carelessly fallen for her trick.

The crux of it was that she hadn’t used it at all earlier. Whipping it out now felt incredibly natural, making it impossible to guard against completely.

This woman was a formidable character!

”Uh, the main thing is that I didn’t fully trust Captain Qin... I’m a fairly guarded person and had some doubts about his identity, so I kept a close eye on his movements. The moment something looked wrong, I...”

Fu Qian deliberately steered the narrative to imply he had fled to Shangjing to escape enemies elsewhere.

His layered alternate persona was already a suspicious point he couldn’t easily explain; blaming it on hiding from enemies actually sounded reasonable.

To increase his credibility, he maintained a pensive look while he spoke, matching her cadence and letting his eyes glaze over slightly.

...

Fu Qian’s answer cast a heavy look over Yuan Shan’s face.

She stayed silent for a moment. Just as she was about to speak, a knock sounded on the door.

Yuan Shan waved her hand lightly, and the door opened in response.

A man with a Poker Face stood outside, giving her a nod.

As expected of the Night Watchers’ stronghold—it was packed with experts.

This man was at least Tier 4.

Fu Qian looked at the middle-aged man outside, figuring his rank in the Shangjing base wasn’t low either.

Yuan Shan glanced back and saw the shift in the man’s expression.

”I need to step out for a moment.”

About half a minute later, Yuan Shan pushed the door open again, looking at Fu Qian with a somewhat complicated expression.

”I apologize for my subordinate’s lack of manners earlier. A few sudden incidents today caught us off guard.”

”It’s fine.”

She had clearly still been suspicious of him a moment ago, but now...

Fu Qian keenly sensed the shift in Yuan Shan’s tone.

What new information had Poker Face brought her?

”Please take a look. Was this Qin Feng’s reaction right before he died?”

Poker Face stepped forward and turned on the device in his hand.

Fu Qian took a look. It appeared to be surveillance footage, but the camera quality was mediocre, leaving the image rather blurry.

Even so, he could make out a figure sprinting at top speed before his head abruptly swelled several times over and detonated with a bang, leaving a headless corpse to crash to the ground.

Sure enough, another incident had occurred.

”That’s right, it looked exactly like that.”

Fu Qian blinked.

Yuan Shan and Poker Face exchanged a glance.

”Thank you for your cooperation. You may leave.”

Yuan Shan said nothing else. She waved her hand, and a sharp, heroic-looking young woman quickly walked in.

”Escort Mister Fang downstairs.”

”Understood!”

The young woman answered crisply, turning back to gesture toward Fu Qian.

”Please come with me, Mister Fang.”

Other than confirming another casualty, he hadn’t gleaned any other valuable information yet!

Fu Qian stood up slowly and walked out under the unblinking watch of the young woman.

As things stood, the Night Watchers had undoubtedly reacted strongly to the theft, casting an inescapable net to find the culprit.

But his mission description explicitly stated he needed to secure the Blood of Thorns before they did.

That meant he had to find the thief before they did, or the mission would most likely fail.

Unfortunately, despite clearing his name, Yuan Shan and the others remained highly guarded, with no intention of leaking anything in front of him.

But that was fine.

This was where the true value of a painfully average alternate persona came into play.

Fu Qian maintained his casual pace out the door, all while pushing his five senses to their absolute limit to parse every scrap of surrounding information.

Very quickly, Yuan Shan and Poker Face’s voices drifted over.

Just as he expected.

At this distance, neither of them had considered the possibility that a Tier 8 Transcendent could hear their conversation.

Although it was faint, he still caught a few location names. Yuan Shan seemed to be instructing him to heavily monitor those areas.

The one she spoke of in the lowest whisper was a place called Houhai Manor.

Common sense dictated that the quieter the whisper, the more important the subject.

Houhai Manor. Memorized.