Eldritch Horror Theatre

The situation in Shangjing was proving a bit perilous!

He had barely settled in, and someone was already knocking at his door.

Wen Li’s daily movements had likely been under surveillance for a while.

Fu Qian looked at the maid standing outside the door.

She was in her twenties or thirties with a relatively delicate appearance, but right now, her expression was slack and her eyes blank. Something was obviously wrong with her.

What a profound sense of déjà vu!

Fu Qian suddenly recalled the person who had previously fed Wen Li poison, sighing inwardly.

Being a maid in Wen Li’s household was truly a high-risk profession!

He would have to suggest she raise their salaries next time.

”Sure. I’ve always loved playing games.”Fu Qian replied with perfect composure.

The maid remained silent for a few seconds before responding in that same mechanical tone.

”Excellent. I hope you can maintain this optimism.”

With that, she walked stiffly into the room, coming to a stop right in front of Fu Qian.

She raised the tray in her hands and lifted the cloth covering it.

Inside the tray sat two small, transparent glass bottles. At the bottom of each rested a differently colored capsule.

Almost simultaneously, a cloud of red mist materialized out of nowhere, enveloping Fu Qian.

A heavy sensation crashed down on him. It felt as if his entire body had been cast in red concrete.

”One red, one green. You need to choose one of these two capsules.”

The maid stared straight at Fu Qian.

”One is poisonous and the other is safe. The woman will feed your chosen capsule into your mouth, then swallow the remaining one herself.”

”If you pick the harmless one, the woman will die, the bindings will lift, and you will be free from your current predicament.”

”Otherwise, within an hour at most, you will turn into a true piece of Amber.”

Just pick either one?

Fu Qian looked at the maid.

From this distance, he could clearly see trickles of blood seeping from her pores. The blood rapidly evaporated into red mist, continuously gathering around the two of them.

The red mist was obviously using her blood as fuel.

”A quick reminder: nothing you say here can be heard outside.”

”Therefore, I suggest you give up any futile struggle and calmly make your choice. Red—or green?”

”According to you, if I choose the non-toxic one, this woman will die and the confinement will vanish?”

”Exactly. Your only way out is for this woman to die.”

”That is exactly what makes this game so interesting.”

”Of course, you could also refuse to choose and sacrifice yourself to save her. Though if you actually did that, I could only express my profound admiration.”

So it was this kind of game.

Fu Qian stared at the two capsules for a long time before finally letting out a sigh, his face filled with disappointment.

That’s it?

And here I thought there might be something interesting.

”Do you find it too simple? You should know that sometimes the simplest games are the most fun.”

”You had better hurry. My patience has limits.”

The voice began pressing him to act.

Did you really think you were being clever?

Fu Qian looked at the bleeding maid.

”I choose the blue pill.”

...

The maid froze for several seconds.

”You don’t seem to be taking this game seriously. There are only red and green options here.”

”No, there’s a blue one.”

Fu Qian rolled his shoulders. Accompanied by the sound of shattering ice, he slowly lifted his right leg.

He had originally planned to play along just to see if this person had anything interesting up their sleeve, but it turned out to be a complete waste of emotion.

Only this binding ability was somewhat interesting, and it was clearly tailored against physical fighters.

If he were only at Tier 6, breaking free really might have been a bit troublesome.

”I originally wanted to interact with you as a Tier 8 Transcendent, but all I got in return was this half-assed attempt.”

”You probably don’t know this, but when I play games, I absolutely loathe pretentious designs. It’s like choosing between shit-flavored chocolate and chocolate-flavored shit. It serves no purpose other than highlighting the designer’s brain atrophy.”

”As far as I’m concerned, people like that should be sent back to kindergarten to see if they can salvage a tiny bit of their pathetic imagination.”

”...You’re much stronger than you appear. What is your true purpose here?”

The maid remained expressionless, but clear emotional fluctuations rippled through the voice.

”Take a guess. Also, do you know what the blue pill means?”

”...Enlighten me.”

”In layman’s terms, it means reaching right through the screen and slapping a pretentious dumbass across the face.”

...

”Don’t blame me for not warning you. This woman is just an ordinary person. If you intend to attack me by hurting her, it will only be an exercise in futility, and an innocent person will die a miserable death because of you.”

The maid’s mouth opened and closed rapidly.

”Die a miserable death because of me? All right, I get it.”

Fu Qian casually replied, his movements not pausing in the slightest.

He lifted his foot, pivoted, and stomped.

The blood-red Amber shattered with a resounding crash.

Fu Qian shot forward like a bolt of lightning without a moment’s hesitation.

Almost simultaneously, the maid doubled over like a shrimp and vomited a glob of bloody flesh.

The instant the flesh hit the ground, it quickly twisted into the shape of a long, slender rabbit.

This rabbit didn’t have a single strand of fur on its body, leaving its bright red flesh completely exposed to the air.

Despite this, its movements were incredibly agile. The moment it landed, it bolted off at an absurdly fast speed.

Naturally, Fu Qian wasn’t going to let it escape so easily. He gave chase without hesitation, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

Gauging the distance to the rabbit, Fu Qian suddenly raised his hand. His middle finger instantly elongated into a spear, piercing right through the air.

The skinless rabbit leapt up in a flash, dodging the fierce strike.

Yet before it could even land, a bloody light flashed across Fu Qian’s elongated middle finger, extending it another length.

A Crimson Long Whip lashed out through the air, smacking the rabbit and sending it tumbling into the dirt amidst a spray of bloody light.

The rabbit displayed astonishing vitality. After hitting the ground, it rolled over and stood right back up.

Just as it tried to flee once more, it suddenly went into convulsions and lost its balance.

The mind-breaking effect of the Tyrant’s Fist had triggered.

”Just... who the hell are you!”

The rabbit’s abdomen rapidly swelled, and a hoarse voice rang out from within.

Only this time, the tone was laced with an intense sense of chaos.

At the same time, its body violently distorted, no longer able to maintain the shape of a rabbit.

”You can call me—Proxy.”

Fu Qian stomped down, denying it any chance to escape.

Amidst the splattering flesh, an agonizing, ball-crushing shriek tore through the air.

Having done all this, Fu Qian looked down at the gore on the ground.

It must have been something akin to a clone or parasite, lurking in the woman’s stomach to control her actions and spring that trap just now.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so fragile against the Tyrant’s Fist, verging on collapse after a single strike of the whip.

As for the identity of the true mastermind behind this, it remained unknown.

Regardless, this was good news.

After striking the grass to startle the snake, movements from all factions were starting to pile up.