Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Why are you asking about that?”

The moment Fu Qian asked the question, Yuan Shan was instantly on high alert.

It seems there really is something going on in Fenghou City!

Fu Qian mused.

”How do you know about that place?”

Yuan Shan looked him up and down as she pressed for an answer.

Fu Qian already had an answer prepared for this.

”I offended a major faction, didn’t I? I’m planning to head out and lie low for a while.”

”I happen to have an acquaintance there I can stay with, but I need to make sure it’s safe first.”

Who the hell was he trying to fool!Yuan Shan looked as if she wanted to spit a mouthful of blood right in his face.

Lying low... For most people, offending the Gulade Family made this a perfectly logical move.

But coming from his mouth, the tone felt completely off.

”Rest assured, it’s back to peaceful years there right now. It’s very stable.”

After a long silence, Yuan Shan finally spoke.

”However, our people recently carried out an operation there to capture a fleeing transcendent criminal.”

”So, did you catch him?”

”No. To be exact, we found absolutely nothing. The guy vanished as if he evaporated from the face of the earth.”

”I see!”

Fu Qian blinked, deep in thought.

He already knew that the interwoven Nightmare was the ’absolutely safe hideout’ Yuer had prepared for his escape.

And from Yuan Shan’s description, even though the Nightmare was utterly chaotic, everything appeared completely normal from the perspective of the Real World.

But based on Yuer’s account, the Real World could actually only be considered a certain layer of the Nightmare now.

Yuer could freely traverse these overlapping layers, allowing him to easily evade the Night Watchers’ pursuit.

Unfortunately for him, while the Night Watchers had failed to find him, he ended up running into Fu Qian.

The Night Watchers would likely never find a single trace of him for the rest of their lives.

”You don’t happen to know that Yuer, do you?”

Yuan Shan had been watching his expression. Seeing his thoughtful look, she couldn’t help but frown.

”Yeah, a friendship of severed heads.”

Fu Qian nodded and answered honestly.

What the hell was a friendship of severed heads?

Yuan Shan was genuinely taken aback this time.

”You actually know him? That guy is an absolute scumbag.”

”Don’t worry, we’re not the same type of people. We’ve barely spoken more than a few words to each other.”

Fu Qian gestured for her to calm down.

”Alright.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be faking it, Yuan Shan shook her head and decided not to dwell on the issue.

Although this guy had a terrible personality and loved to do whatever he pleased, he was fundamentally different from someone like Yuer.

”It’s a good thing if you want to leave town for a bit. There’s already been too much going on in Shangjing lately. Rest assured, I’ll arrange for someone to keep an eye on your store.”

”If you spot any traces of Yuer over in Fenghou, remember to contact the Night Watchers.”

”Understood.”

...

Bidding farewell to Yuan Shan, Fu Qian headed straight back to The Bookstore.

Whether coming or going, he made no particular effort to hide his tracks.

Unsurprisingly, on his way back, he spotted at least three people pretending to mind their own business as they tailed him.

Brother Taylor seemed calm, but he was actually getting anxious!

It seemed the consequences of losing the Abyss Notes were too much even for him to bear. So, while he hadn’t resorted to taking it back by force just yet, he refused to let Fu Qian out of his sight.

Considering this high-profile treatment, Fu Qian clicked his tongue in amusement.

Of course, what the man didn’t know was that he was about to get even more anxious.

Casually locking up and closing the shop, Fu Qian went upstairs and dumped out his latest haul.

With a clatter, bullets of various colors and patterns instantly piled up across half the table.

Although they were standard-issue products, they were the Night Watchers’ reserves, after all.

Compared to the ones made by that craftsman, the workmanship on these was clearly much more refined.

It wasn’t surprising. That craftsman might have had great ideas, but a crude workshop was always limited in many ways.

As he thought about this, Fu Qian pulled out his newly acquired reward—the revolver, Mercy.

Opening the cylinder, Fu Qian selected different bullets and loaded them in one by one, still following his old habit of leaving one chamber empty.

Once loaded, he took a few more bullets of each type and stuffed them all into the holster he had swiped from Yuan Shan.

This kind of shoulder holster was easily concealed under a jacket, which would effectively avoid a lot of trouble.

As for the rest, considering the transcendent aura on these bullets was too weak, bringing them into the Warehouse would probably cause them to instantly turn to ash. He could only leave them here for now.

Besides, Chief Yuan had already promised to keep an eye on the place for him.

After finishing his preparations, Fu Qian didn’t waste any time and headed straight back out.

He hadn’t asked Yuan Shan for news about Fenghou City out of sheer boredom.

Even now, he remembered that mysterious basement in the museum.

It wasn’t just those bizarre transparent bugs. He was also deeply impressed by that black stone channel, which was extremely similar to the one in the Rotten Forest.

From the late Mister Luo’s words, he knew that the channel in the Rotten Forest belonged to some ancient and mysterious organization that had been excavating something.

If that was the case, could the same be true for the underground area of the Fenghou Museum?

He had been pondering this question all along.

With Yuan Shan’s personality, if she didn’t want to answer, she would most likely just refuse outright. She wouldn’t go as far as lying to him about something like this.

And since the Night Watchers had come up empty-handed, it meant that the basement had most likely not been discovered.

Of course, it was also possible that the basement had never existed in the first place, and was nothing but an illusion.

Regardless, it was still worth the price of a train ticket to go explore it.

Having just earned his first pot of gold, he needed to spare no effort to go big and reach new heights.

Considering that a place like the Ash Sea was currently difficult to explore, Fenghou City was still a viable destination.

He didn’t even need a return ticket; a one-way trip was enough.

...

The trains in this world were quite comfortable, too.

Leaning back in his plush seat, Fu Qian looked around with interest.

Fenghou City wasn’t too far from Shangjing, so he had ultimately chosen the train as his mode of transportation.

The train was about to depart, and the seats around him were already packed with all sorts of travelers.

Businessmen resting with their eyes closed, noisy families, ambitious young students... Compared to the world he was familiar with, there didn’t seem to be much difference.

However, Fu Qian knew very well just how fragile this scene before his eyes truly was.

The behemoth that was the Night Watchers certainly hadn’t squandered their status and resources. They had accomplished something quite remarkable.

But apart from that, somewhere on the platform, there was a guy with a conflicted expression staring blankly in this direction.

Fu Qian knew without even looking that the guy’s hidden communicator was active and reporting the situation. This was the tail Taylor had assigned to him.

In all fairness, this guy in the gray hat had rather seasoned tracking skills. He had acted completely professional and composed the entire way.

Following him all this way, the man clearly believed Fu Qian was going to use a crowded place like the train station to shake him off, holding that belief right up until Fu Qian bought a ticket and boarded the train.

It was a pity that with the train about to depart and Fu Qian still not getting off, the guy was obviously dumbfounded.