Eldritch Horror Theatre

For a split second, the consummate professional, Doctor Kelly, looked ready to hit someone.

Especially when she turned around and met Fu Qian’s deeply skeptical gaze.

”You have to take it today—”

She stepped forward in exasperation, but before she could finish her sentence, the door slammed shut in her face.

Clearly, our friend Sam strictly followed doctor’s orders.

”Open the door.”

Narrowly avoiding getting her nose flattened by the door, Kelly instantly opted for brute force, demanding that Fu Qian use his professional skills to break it open.

”Relax. It doesn’t look like this one’s going anywhere, either.”

Unfortunately, the assistant physician had his own ideas.

Under Kelly’s wide-eyed glare, Fu Qian smiled pleasantly, then simply turned and walked away....

”You still don’t believe me?”

Having been forced to chase him all the way back, Kelly glared at Fu Qian and spoke coldly.

”Just my professional instincts. Nothing worth mentioning.”

Fu Qian wore a look of utter modesty.

”There is one small detail, though. If I remember correctly, you told me these patients had missed their scheduled follow-ups. But judging from our little chat just now, Sam was explicitly instructed not to come to the Clinic?”

”Just because of that? That’s a trivial detail. Loretta has never even been to the Clinic.”

Kelly scoffed.

”Yes, I was the one who sent Sam home. Once I realized something was wrong with Nancy, I cleared out the day’s patients as quickly as possible and told them to avoid the Clinic for the time being, just so they wouldn’t be further misled.”

”It was only later, when I went through the files, that I realized Sam’s condition was far worse than I had imagined.”

”So yes, you could certainly say it was my fault he missed his appointment.”

”I see.”

Fu Qian had clearly been listening with utmost attention.

The logic was reasonable enough, but hardly bulletproof.

”But he didn’t recognize your signature just now.”

Without missing a beat, Fu Qian raised his second doubt.

”I’ve only met the man once. It’s perfectly normal for him not to recognize my signature.”

Despite her defensive words, Kelly clearly looked frustrated by the fact.

”But he didn’t recognize Nancy’s, either.”

”...Doesn’t that just prove how severe his symptoms are? What exactly are you trying to say?”

Kelly sounded like she was on the verge of losing her temper.

”Nothing.”

Fu Qian had already climbed into the passenger seat.

”Let’s go. We’re going to see the patient who actually will recognize your signature.”

...

”To be honest, based on my conversation with Loretta, she’s vastly more stable than the rest of them. Is it really necessary to make her take the sedatives as well?”

Although Kelly hadn’t voiced any objections to his suggestion, her foul mood was palpable. After a brief silence, Fu Qian finally broke the ice.

”I was her Attending Physician. When it comes to her condition, I am the only one qualified to speak on it—more so than even she is.”

Faced with his doubts, Kelly shut him down with a stiff, uncompromising response.

”I don’t know how she ended up here, but once I confirmed it was Loretta, I quickly realized something was wrong. Her condition has clearly deteriorated.”

”Seems your effectiveness as her Attending Physician was rather average.”

Fu Qian offered his critique as he pointed straight ahead.

”We’re here.”

She didn’t really need the reminder; Kelly was already slowing the car down.

Clearly stung by his remark, she slammed the car door so loudly as she got out that she even startled Loretta inside the coffee shop.

Still seated at her table, the woman looked virtually identical to when he had left her.

However, the coffee cup across from her was clearly different. Since Fu Qian had drunk the previous one, she had probably poured a fresh cup for Bernard.

”Doctor Kelly...”

Glancing at the two guests walking through the door, and thanks to Fu Qian’s earlier introduction, she recognized Kelly immediately.

”Loretta. It’s been a while.”

Given the situation, Kelly slightly adjusted her mood and offered a polite greeting.

”Please, have a seat. The coffee’s gone a bit cold, so I’ll go heat it up.”

Inviting Kelly and Fu Qian to sit at the table, Loretta smiled as she picked up the coffee pot and headed toward the back.

...

As of right now, she had to be the most unique patient of the bunch.

Watching Loretta’s retreating back, Fu Qian mused to himself.

From the beginning until now, he had already interacted with everyone involved twice.

Aside from himself, using the most basic metric, everyone here could be split into two categories: doctors and patients.

The fact that Nancy had been proven to be a patient wasn’t actually that important.

The identity of ”doctor” was just a surface-level facade. What truly separated Nancy and Kelly from the rest was their cognition—they both had their own distinct perceptions of this world and wanted to push it along according to their own understanding.

Take the patients’ circumstances, for example. Both ’doctors’ clearly had their own explanations, resulting in two completely different narratives.

The remaining three individuals were just drifting along in a daze. As mere characters within the story, they lacked the ability to distinguish the truth or falsehood of these two narratives.

This was glaringly obvious in Sam’s case.

Neither doctor had denied Sam’s claim that a doctor told him to stay home, but their explanations for the order were entirely different.

Nancy believed he was simply an actor playing a role in her master plan, while Kelly claimed it was the direct result of her own instructions.

And since the information Sam was willing to provide was far too little, it was impossible to verify the authenticity of either claim.

He didn’t even recognize either of their signatures.

But what made Loretta different was that the information she provided directly contradicted the claims of both ’doctors.’

In Fu Qian’s view, this was very likely tied to her unique constitution.

That was exactly why Fu Qian had refused to force the medication down Sam’s throat and opted to come straight to Loretta instead.

He hoped to verify a bold idea with her help.

...

While he was deep in thought, Loretta returned carrying the coffee pot and two brand-new cups.

She placed the fresh cups in front of them. After they were filled one by one, Kelly was just reaching for hers when Fu Qian suddenly blocked her hand.

”Want to find out what coffee tastes like when spiked with sedatives?”

So blunt!

For a moment, not only Loretta, but Kelly as well stared at him in utter shock.

Neither had expected the assistant physician—whose attitude had been so ambiguous with the previous two patients—to be so aggressively decisive with the final one.

However, Fu Qian didn’t bother to explain himself. He simply handed over a paper bag in silence.

”Is there danger here?”

Loretta froze for a moment, her expression suddenly turning serious.

”Yes. It’s best if you leave as soon as possible.”

As he spoke, Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

He highly doubted that someone like Loretta, who had seen so much life and death, still possessed much of the emotion known as ”fear.”

Her deeply invested reaction just now was clearly her playing along to ”blend in” with the world.

”I understand. Thank you for the warning.”

Without hesitation, Loretta took the paper bag, pulled out the sedatives, and poured them into her cup.

She even genuinely mixed in an equal measure of coffee.