Eldritch Horror Theatre

He really was a leader—his reaction was incredibly fast!

Fu Qian watched Lynn, whose body now flashed dark red, with a look of admiration.

In truth, it only took a moment’s thought to realize that the second the black-clad man collapsed, no one else would step forward.

They had only banded together out of fear. The only reason they had the courage to act was because they thought they could easily dispose of someone like him.

But after he showed his hand, counting on anyone to charge forward wave upon wave to their deaths in a human-wave tactic against an overwhelmingly strong lunatic indifferent to life or death was simply impossible.

And the reason he hadn’t just blown the black-clad man’s head off directly was because handling it this way carried three benefits.

First, he could avoid being tainted by the Sin Fire; second, it solidified his persona as a lunatic indifferent to death; and finally, it guided people like Lynn into doing exactly what he just did, creating a demonstration effect.

Of course, faced with Lynn’s actions, the others were nowhere near as calm as Fu Qian.

”What are you doing?”

Looking at the decapitated black-clad man, Natalia’s eyes split with rage, her killing intent fully exposed.Yet Lynn merely glanced at her before turning without a word and walking out.

Everyone around them seemed lost in thought. No one tried to stop him.

...

In the end, she suppressed her urge to attack. Only when Lynn’s figure finally disappeared did Natalia withdraw her gaze, her heart sinking.

”Clang!”

With a crisp ring, a flash of cold steel was deflected away from Elena.

Cross held his Heavy Hammer high, having stepped in front of Elena at some point.

His chilling, murderous gaze was now fixed on a female prisoner in the opposite corner.

But Cross had learned his lesson this time. He didn’t leave Elena’s side to retaliate.

Seeing this, the woman turned and left without looking back.

This scene seemed to flip a switch. Everyone snapped out of their daze at once, filing downward one after another.

They kept a subtle distance from one another, remaining hyper-vigilant and on guard.

After staring at Fu Qian for a long time with a gaze full of hatred and sorrow, Natalia finally followed the crowd out without a word.

She knew very well that no matter what anyone did, this fragile alliance could no longer exist.

From here on out, everyone was a blood-soaked opponent.

And it was all thanks to this lunatic.

”Why...”

Even though Cross repeatedly signaled her to leave, Elena remained rooted to the spot, looking at Fu Qian with an expression she didn’t quite understand herself.

The fear of death, baffling confusion, and the sheer disappointment of falling short at the very last step—a myriad of emotions surged in her heart.

Only now did she realize she didn’t understand this man at all.

Her previous plan to invite him into their group to monitor and use him seemed incredibly laughable now.

Even his so-called consensus for cooperation was likely just a unilateral judgment based on his own perceptions.

Overwhelmingly powerful, moody and unpredictable, and completely indifferent to life and death—logically, she should have gotten as far away from him as possible the moment she had the chance.

But she still couldn’t resist asking that one question.

”Most of the time, the answer is meaningless; the choice is what matters.”

Fu Qian said, stepping away from the divine statue.

Cross subconsciously stepped in front of Elena to shield her.

Given the monstrous strength this man had just displayed, Cross had zero confidence in stopping him.

Yet Fu Qian ignored him completely. Leaving those words behind, he walked straight past Cross without breaking his stride.

They stared at his retreating back, feeling a profound sense of loss.

...

Once outside, not a single person was in sight.

As for why he hadn’t stayed to guard the divine statue and prevent them from returning?

What a joke. After what had just happened, even with a knife to their throats, those people would never offer up their Sin Fire again.

Once trust shattered, rebuilding it was exceptionally difficult.

The strategy of driving a tiger to devour a wolf had failed; the Sin Fire was now their only lifeline for survival.

Going forward, all these people would do was try their absolute best to avoid being killed, while seizing every possible opportunity to obtain the Fire of Sin.

Lynn truly proved himself as one of the organizers of this alliance; he had realized this almost immediately.

Before anyone else could react, he had outright taken the black-clad man’s life, securing a portion of the Sin Fire.

That very action marked the complete collapse of the consensus among them, which was why Lynn had fled the trouble spot right away.

Of course, if he was smart enough, he would hide somewhere to ambush whoever came out later and sinisterly claim another head.

Fu Qian took a deep breath, opening his five senses fully to perceive any movement around him.

A few breaths later, a scream rang out from a certain direction, quickly followed by dead silence.

Without hesitation, Fu Qian darted in that direction.

Given the efficiency and how clean and decisive it sounded, the odds of Lynn being the killer were at least fifty-fifty.

And Fu Qian had something he needed to confirm with him.

...

Just as he thought.

Quickly arriving at the source of the sound, the first thing Fu Qian saw was a corpse floating in the water, along with Lynn, who was sorting through the body’s belongings.

At Fu Qian’s arrival, Lynn stiffened and swiftly spun around.

”What exactly is your goal?”

Lynn’s expression was more solemn than ever; he clearly did not want to see Fu Qian.

But he didn’t attack right away either. Instead, he tried to talk.

”If you’re just doing this for fun and completely disregard life and death, then I don’t understand why you’re specifically targeting me.”

”Don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to kill you.”

Fu Qian looked at Lynn with a smile, even spreading his hands to show he wasn’t holding a weapon.

”Then what do you want?”

Although he didn’t quite believe Fu Qian, Lynn’s tension eased slightly, though he remained confused.

”I just have a question for you.”

Fu Qian pointed at Lynn. After killing a new target, the dark red Fire of Sin clinging to him had grown a fraction more intense than before.

”Does it hurt?”

That was exactly what Fu Qian wanted to confirm.

He remembered it vividly. During their first meeting, this man had mentioned having ”deep personal experience with the pain of the Sin Fire,” which meant Lynn had definitely been tainted by it before.

And back then, there had been no dark flames on him. He had clearly already received the purification of the Goddess of Sins, placing him squarely in the third scenario Fu Qian had hypothesized earlier.

But just earlier, when he chopped off the black-clad man’s head, Fu Qian had noticed a very strange phenomenon.

Even though the Fire of Sin had ignited on him, Lynn hadn’t shown the slightest expression of pain, nor had any obvious burn marks appeared on his body.

Even now, having killed at least two people, the Sin Fire on him burned stronger, yet he still didn’t look like he was suffering.

”I don’t know what you mean.”

Though he tried his best to hide it, the momentary unnatural shift in Lynn’s expression didn’t escape Fu Qian’s eyes.

”So it really doesn’t hurt, huh...”

Fu Qian didn’t reply to him, instead lowering his head and muttering to himself.

Looking at it this way, the purification of the Goddess of Sins wasn’t as simple as just wiping the Sin Fire clean.

The crux of the matter likely lay in that act of ”making contact.”

Did the connection with the Goddess, established through that special gesture, cause a fundamental change in the body after purification?