Eldritch Horror Theatre

Speaking of which, thanks to his own tireless efforts, the Rebirth Club had recently skyrocketed to prominence, earning a reputation far and wide.

Having shifted back into Cha Soon-young’s appearance, Fu Qian marveled to himself as he retraced his steps.

His reason for using Old Man Lu’s appearance just now hadn’t entirely been out of a twisted sense of humor.

First was its recognizability. With Old Man Lu’s classic look, Andrew would easily discover he was a key figure in the Rebirth Club just by running a casual background check.

Furthermore, while it wasn’t an explicitly banned organization, the Rebirth Club was definitely on the Night Watchers’ radar.

For a core figure of such an organization to show up in Percy in that manner would undoubtedly trigger endless speculation—such as whether some sort of cross-border collaboration was underway.

With that being the case, the Night Watchers would have no choice but to take the matter seriously.

...

By the time Fu Qian hurried back to his original location, the colors in the sky had grown as thick and vivid as an exploding hemorrhoid.

Along the way, the pedestrians seemed relatively normal, yet they were in a peculiar state of excitement, evidently influenced to some degree.Fu Qian didn’t waste any time. Following Li Min’s previous route, he walked straight into the building complex.

He had a vague suspicion now, one he felt was highly necessary to verify.

Such a conspicuous ritual had been going on for this long without being completed. Regardless of whether it was simply too difficult, it was impossible for Li Min not to realize the danger involved.

Under these circumstances, Li Min’s persistence with the ritual allowed Fu Qian to catch a whiff of something amiss.

Since it was so difficult to complete, was it possible she had never intended to complete it in the first place?

Entering the building, Fu Qian casually strolled around and quickly locked onto an aura directly above him.

The architecture was quite classical, topped with several pointed Tower Buildings. The aura was located within one of them.

Without hesitation, Fu Qian darted up the stairs and soon reached his destination.

The door wasn’t closed. Almost immediately, he saw a familiar face.

Bathed in the iridescent light piercing through the glass, Li Min seemed to hear his approach and looked over with a bewildered expression.

”Mister Cha, why did you come up? Is something the matter?”

”Yes, but it’s already been resolved.”

Fu Qian replied calmly, looking completely in control.

”Hm?”

Li Min frowned upon hearing this.

”What happened?”

”A Night Watcher searched this area just now.”

Fu Qian answered with a smile.

”But please rest assured, he has already been smashed to pieces.”

”Smashed to pieces?”

Li Min looked quite shocked.

”...Regardless, there was no need to kill anyone, right? Going against the Night Watchers is completely unnecessary!”

”Don’t worry. Even though he was smashed to pieces, he didn’t die.”

”Smashed to pieces but didn’t die?”

Li Min was momentarily dumbfounded by Fu Qian’s description.

”That’s exactly it. So, I regretfully came up to inform you that we need to evacuate.”

...

Li Min stared at Fu Qian in disbelief, speechless for a moment.

”If you aren’t sure how to answer, how about asking your bestie?”

Meeting her gaze, Fu Qian said unhurriedly.

”What do you mean!”

The conflicted Li Min abruptly raised her head, unable to hide the shock on her face.

”I’m saying, if you—Ms. Rachel—aren’t sure what to do, you might as well inform your good friend Li Min of the situation and let her make the decision herself.”

...

As Fu Qian finished speaking, the expression on the Li Min in front of him grew increasingly twisted. A few seconds later, she froze, completely motionless.

At the same time, a distortion rippled in a corner, revealing another figure.

Rachel, sporting a head full of multicolored hair, stared at Fu Qian with the same look of disbelief.

”How did you tell?”

She seemed quite unable to accept being exposed.

”I have to say, this trick is pretty good.”

Fu Qian ignored her question, instead pointing approvingly at the frozen Li Min.

”To actually be able to mimic her aura to some degree, you guys must have spent a lot of effort.”

Indeed, Fu Qian had realized right away that this lifelike Li Min was essentially just something akin to an illusory projection.

And the source controlling and sustaining her was Rachel, who was hiding off to the side.

It seemed Li Min had used a special method to leave a sliver of her own aura on the illusion, creating this highly realistic smokescreen.

”Of course.”

Rachel merely scoffed at Fu Qian’s praise, the wariness in her eyes undiminished.

”You couldn’t have come up here just to dish out compliments. What exactly do you want?”

”Didn’t I just tell you? You didn’t think I was joking, did you?”

Fu Qian put on a surprised expression.

”By my estimation, in less than ten minutes, more Night Watchers will show up nearby.”

”And this time, the nature of the situation will be extremely dire, because I beat that guy to within an inch of his life, and he knows I have accomplices.”

”Are you out of your mind!”

Upon hearing this, Rachel looked like she wanted to hack someone to pieces.

”Why would you do something like that!”

”A moment of impulse. But now isn’t the time to fuss over that, is it? Where is your bestie?”

”She...”

Rachel subconsciously glanced in another direction.

”Are you sure?”

Fu Qian followed her gaze. It was the spire of another Tower Building.

”This was a plan we made in advance. If a situation arose, I could stall for a bit on my end.”

Rachel offered a brief, frosty explanation.

”It seems you don’t consider me an interference. Should I be flattered?”

”If Li Min hadn’t explicitly ordered me never to clash with you, I wouldn’t have shown you any courtesy.”

Rachel’s answer was exceedingly blunt.

”You can go find her now and explain the situation.”

After saying this, she didn’t forget to issue a warning.

”Don’t try anything funny. I’ll be keeping my eye on you.”

”Don’t worry. When I make a move, it’s never a small one.”

...

Watched by Rachel, Fu Qian walked right out of the Tower Building. Not long after, he reached his destination.

Compared to where Rachel was stationed, this place seemed much more concealed and inconspicuous from the outside.

It truly was a good spot to exploit the darkness under the lamp.

There really was something wrong here!

Standing outside and sensing the aura inside the Tower Building, Fu Qian basically confirmed his suspicion.

The next moment, he unceremoniously pushed the door open.

Though it looked wholly unremarkable from the outside, the interior of this Tower Building was far more dazzling than Rachel’s side.

Within the modestly sized space, a transparent crystal the size of a fist sat in the center. At this moment, it was emitting a brilliant array of colored light, faintly echoing the anomaly in the sky.

But none of that was the main point. The main point was that amid this dazzling wash of colors, Rolden was staring back at him with a wary expression.

”What happened?”