Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was obvious that the Small Town had been very peaceful last night, because Ray was still in his superhuman state.

His conversation with Fu Qian had undoubtedly drawn everyone’s attention.

”What exactly is going on here?”

Signaling his deputies to keep an eye on the two of them, Sheriff Jones was the first to speak.

”Why did you come down from The Mountain? Do you know how this fire started?”

”Of course I know.”

Ray’s laughter faded as he glanced at him.

”Because I started it.”

What!

The admission sent a shockwave through the crowd.The onlookers were stunned by his candor.

”Since you’ve confessed...”

Sheriff Jones clearly hadn’t expected that response, so he fell back on official procedure.

”No need to be in such a rush to arrest me.”

Ray burst into laughter.

”Because I’m not finished yet.”

As he spoke, he crouched down and pulled back the blanket covering the heap he had just dropped.

The sight underneath instantly drew a chorus of gasps.

It was a person, one who looked completely lifeless.

”Is that...”

Before Jones could finish, Ray turned the corpse’s face toward them.

”I also ran over Mrs. Harold, right on this very road.”

”No—”

Jones reached out just in time to catch Mrs. Mary before she collapsed.

Her lips trembled as she stared at her nephew.

”So you lied earlier. You didn’t just hit someone, you hid the body?”

Supporting his wife, Jones interrogated him with a cold stare.

”Yes.”

”And now you’ve burned down The Mountain?”

”Exactly.”

Ray’s answer was incredibly frank.

”Very well. Can you tell me why you would do something so insane?”

”You’ll have to ask the guy standing next to you.”

Ray pointed at Fu Qian.

”If this were before today, I would absolutely never admit to any of it. But just now, I finally figured out the truth behind everything.”

”Compared to what this guy has done, my actions aren’t even worth mentioning!”

”A massive conspiracy is enveloping this place.”

With a cold snort, Ray stared at Jones.

”Did the things I just admitted to feel even slightly unreal? Did you doubt whether I was actually capable of pulling them off?”

”An ordinary student runs someone over, yet manages to handle the scene with abnormal calm and terrifyingly professional methods.”

”To the point where even a professional like you couldn’t find a single clue, forcing you to invent a professional hitman to explain it all.”

Jones stayed silent, clearly conceding the point.

”And then surviving such a raging sea of fire and escaping completely unscathed—doesn’t that seem quite unbelievable too?”

”It does. So how did you do it?”

”Very simple. Because I’m infected.”

Ray pointed at himself.

What?

This time, it wasn’t just Jones. The entire crowd stared at him in bewilderment, unable to grasp what he meant.

”I can’t be completely sure if it’s a virus or something else.”

”But my guess is that it originated from that courtyard on The Mountain. Am I right?”

Ray glared aggressively at Fu Qian first, then looked at Jones.

”From what I understand, Fu Qian mentioned a guy named Lasik to you and even asked you to help find him, didn’t he?”

”That’s right.”

Jones didn’t deny it. It wasn’t exactly a classified secret; more than one officer knew about it.

”When he came to my place last night, he mentioned that name too. And he confidently told me that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be able to find him.”

”I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn’t understand what he meant. That is, until I snuck out, went back up The Mountain, and returned to that courtyard.”

”In that moment, I suddenly realized the problem—ever since I first entered that building, I had been a little different.”

”The old me would have never dared to go to a place like that all alone in the pitch black.”

”Yet right then, I easily overcame that fear, just like I did with everything else I’d done.”

”There is something in that courtyard. It caused incomprehensible changes in me, and because of it, I gained information I never should have known.”

”I knew the structure of every part of that courtyard, even every deeply buried tunnel beneath it. And one of those tunnels held Mrs. Harold’s corpse...”

”This incomprehensible phenomenon suddenly gave me an idea. The me standing here right now is Lasik, isn’t that right? Transformed by that invisible virus?”

”A virus. That is indeed an interesting metaphor.”

Around Fu Qian, the onlookers had instinctively backed away to create some distance. Fran, in particular, looked extremely pale, seemingly recalling her own similar symptoms.

It was actually an infection?

”Are you trying to say that the crimes you committed earlier were involuntary actions controlled by some special virus?”

Hearing this, the Old Man who looked like the mayor finally couldn’t help but speak up.

”To be honest, this is simply too unbelievable!”

”Unbelievable? Frankly, I felt the same way at first. But do you really think I’m the only one?”

With one hand, Ray rummaged through the corpse’s pockets and tossed out a small packet.

”Why don’t you go ask Harold in the hospital why his wife just so happened to appear in that exact spot?”

”I even found a special medication in this lady’s car. Doesn’t that sound a bit like Harold, who fell off the bridge?”

”If there was never a professional hitman to begin with, how exactly did that car accident happen?”

Seeing Jones and the mayor frowning deeply, Ray laughed uncontrollably.

”I’m just an outsider who occasionally comes here on vacation. How many of you have passed by that place? Or even gone inside?”

”In my view, over this long period of time, that virus has probably infected everyone already. It’s just that most people haven’t shown the symptoms yet. And this guy—”

He pointed at Fu Qian again.

”He knows all of this and treats this place as his testing ground. Everyone here is his observation sample. He watches coldly from the sidelines, sitting back as we have our outbreaks and turn into lunatics one by one...”

”That is also why I destroyed that building. Next, we need to find a way to lift this curse.”

”Is that really true?”

Having listened in silence, Jones stared intently at Fu Qian.

Admittedly, while Ray’s claims were absurd, they perfectly matched Fu Qian’s earlier behavior.

Heh.

Faced with these accusations, Fu Qian merely offered a faint smile, fully displaying the demeanor of a mastermind acting behind the scenes.

”I won’t easily believe such bizarre claims. For now, both of you are coming back with me—”

Watching him, Jones felt his fury surge, but as he spoke, Ray suddenly collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The tough guy who had casually walked through the fire just a moment ago instantly lost his edge.

Hmm?

Amidst the confusion, the nearby police officers reacted swiftly, immediately rushing up to pin him down.

However, right at that moment, another figure unexpectedly dashed out from the smoke and flames.

”Cartman?”

Jones almost instantly recognized the newcomer.