Eldritch Horror Theatre

Lotte’s reaction was undeniably extreme the moment she realized the identity Fu Qian was hinting at.

In her shock, she stood up abruptly, completely disregarding how she blocked the view of the audience behind her.

Meanwhile, Fu Qian’s actions and her younger sister’s reaction allowed Veil, sitting beside her, to put the pieces together once her initial shock faded.

Lu...

Her sister had clearly shared at least some of her experiences in the Rebirth Club with her.

Coupled with the man’s earlier words and the way he had touched his own arm, it was hard not to make the connection.

Veil naturally had zero goodwill toward an organization that deceived ignorant girls; her expression frosted over almost instantly.

”Don’t worry, this old man absolutely bears no ill intent this time.”

Fu Qian chuckled. His tone was indescribably carefree and magnanimous, making him look exactly like an expert on the verge of shattering the void.

”You must be Lotte’s older sister, Veil, right? I sincerely apologize for any past offenses.””I’m sure you can tell that I am nothing but an ordinary old man now. I absolutely lack the ability to harm your sister anymore.”

That was indeed true.

Veil finally gave an imperceptible nod.

Although the man before her wore bizarre clothes, he truly lacked even a trace of a transcendent’s aura.

Being this close, she was at least confident in that judgment.

If he truly possessed the ability to hide all traces of his power from her, he wouldn’t need to resort to deception to do them harm.

”Mister Lu, we’re disturbing others here. Let’s step outside to talk.”

But if the man in front of her was truly a big shot from the Rebirth Club, Veil naturally wasn’t going to trust him so easily.

Seeing that her sister was in no mood to continue watching the opera, Veil’s reaction was quite decisive. Tugging Lotte along, she made the suggestion directly.

”Sure.”

This suggestion undoubtedly played right into Fu Qian’s hands, and he naturally complied, readily accepting good advice.

...

”So what exactly do you want with us, Mister Lu?”

The trio had barely stepped out of the performance hall when Veil pulled her sister to a halt, turning back to stare at Fu Qian.

She clearly had no intention of following this mysterious figure anywhere overly secluded, thereby avoiding the potential danger that might bring.

”A warning.”

Fu Qian seemed keenly aware of how unwelcome he was, getting straight to the point.

”First of all, don’t worry. I wasn’t following you. I merely came to listen to the opera today. You saw the rest of the audience earlier, so you should know this is a perfectly normal hobby for an old man.”

”Unfortunately, the play turned out to be more boring than I expected. When my mind wandered, I accidentally spotted some familiar faces. Thinking of certain past events, I felt compelled to come over and offer a warning.”

”So what exactly is this warning?”

Hearing this, Veil’s brows furrowed tightly.

”You aren’t Dunis locals. You must be here for the Clamor Festival, right?”

”Yes.”

”What I want to say is that something dangerous is happening in Dunis. I suggest you leave as soon as possible.”

Hm?

Now it wasn’t just Veil who was surprised. Even Lotte, who had been as stiff as a board, finally reacted, a hint of subconscious opposition flashing across her face.

Clearly, she was still quite looking forward to the Clamor Festival.

”Thanks for the... warning, but what exactly is the danger?”

She hadn’t expected the man to actually just be here to warn them. After a moment of inner conflict, Veil asked out of caution.

’I’d fucking like to know that myself.’

Fu Qian screamed internally, then answered with complete self-assurance.

”I don’t know!”

”...You don’t know?”

”Exactly. I’m not certain what the danger is, but I have a very bad feeling. It seems like something is about to happen.”

This was just too...

Veil’s face immediately twisted in conflict.

”Thank you for the warning, but it took us a long time to get here. We can’t change our plans just because of your baseless intuition.”

”That’s fine. I’ve done what I came here to do. Believing me or not is up to you.”

Despite being questioned, Fu Qian just laughed aloud, completely unfazed.

”You look much more pleasing to the eye than before.”

After laughing, Fu Qian looked the once-again silent Lotte up and down.

This chuuni girl, who hadn’t hesitated to chop off her own hand to gain power, now had all four of her limbs fully intact.

It wasn’t surprising. There were many transcendent powers in this world, and the two sisters were clearly well-off. Finding someone to help regenerate a severed limb shouldn’t have been a big problem.

Yet at the same time, one could still tell that one of Lotte’s hands was noticeably stiff.

The previous limb grafting had ultimately caused some irreversible damage.

Realizing where his gaze was focused, Lotte subconsciously hid that hand behind her back.

”Farewell, you two!”

Having delivered his assessment, Fu Qian was brisk. With a hearty laugh, he turned and walked away, maxing out his posturing.

...

”That person from the Archipelago?”

Watching Fu Qian leave the theater without a backward glance, Veil looked at her sister, weighing her words carefully for fear of triggering her.

”Yeah.”

Lotte nodded, speaking in a muffled voice.

”How could this be...”

Veil was entirely baffled for a moment. After all, according to her sister’s account, that Lu Ming clearly possessed a high Rank, while the man before them was completely ordinary.

Furthermore, though his hands were clad in Gloves, one could still tell they fell within the normal human range; they weren’t the deformed limbs from the rumors.

And even if he really hadn’t died, it was hard to imagine such a person offering a kindhearted warning.

Was a crisis truly brewing in Dunis?

Chewing over Fu Qian’s words, Veil wore a deeply conflicted expression.

...

Outside the theater, the sky had already grown dark.

Looking up at the Stars in the night sky, Fu Qian was thoroughly satisfied with how things were developing.

Whether the Veil Sisters listened to his warning or not actually had no impact—it wasn’t meant for their ears in the first place.

As long as that Demigod inside heard it, that was enough.

The content of his warning was indeed a guess based on known information.

Judging by the current situation, something had clearly happened to make the Night Watchers increase their scrutiny on transcendents, especially outsiders.

At the same time, the situation wasn’t so severe that they needed to take extreme measures, such as rounding up all the transcendents.

This matter was currently being kept confidential; after all, Veil’s reaction clearly indicated she hadn’t heard any such news.

What Fu Qian wanted to know was very simple—what exactly had happened.

So the purpose of his little performance just now was to pretend to be an insider and see how the Night Watchers would react.

Of course, getting the intensity exactly right was a delicate matter.

The current Dunis truly felt like a powder keg, and the Combat Power displayed across the board was absurdly high. Fu Qian didn’t want to provoke them too much, which was why he chose such a charlatan-like way of speaking.

He chose to gamble on the arrogance of that Demigod.

Just like how they hadn’t bothered to spare him even a moment of scrutiny earlier, Fu Qian guessed there was a high probability the Demigod wouldn’t strike out against someone they deemed to be an ordinary person.

The most likely outcome was that they would find someone to keep an eye on him, probing his background in passing to see if he actually knew anything.

And that was exactly what he wanted.