Eldritch Horror Theatre

[Task Evaluation: Destiny-Destroying Master Hand]

While the Jiang Clan was engulfed in fury, the chief culprit, Dayun Mingwang, had already shattered the void, hiding his achievements and fame.

[Growing up under the spotlight and burdened with high hopes, Jiang En had understood the heavy weight of this care from a young age.

Fortunately, drawing on his intellect and ambition, he had absorbed this pressure well and was not weighed down by it.

Even when facing bottlenecks, he viewed them as trials heaven bestowed upon those destined for great responsibilities. In fact, most onlookers shared the same view.

Unfortunately, as time passed, Jiang En’s willpower was put to the test.

He finally began to doubt himself, developing a profound disgust for those overly eager expectations.

Fortunately, right before this negative emotion could reach its breaking point, everything took a sudden turn.

A simple encounter allowed him to see his own future.

Even if it slightly deviated from his imagination, after careful consideration, his rationality triumphed over his worries.This thoroughly satisfied his guide—Daneta, the lucky one from a year ago.

When he first observed Jiang En, Daneta was drawn in by that mouth-watering scent. What was contained within the man before him was beautiful; the only problem was that it needed to rot before it could be shared.

Fortunately, through his eyes, his own guide was similarly attracted. Progressing layer by layer, a hidden chain began to coil, carefully weaving fortune.

Of course, what the chains didn’t know was that they were nothing more than a tool for foraging. They were the most insignificant segment of a massive body, capable of being discarded at any moment, and allowed to feed on only a bit of Residue.

High and mighty above them all, Wei believed he had transcended this fate, secretly controlling everything from a corner unknown to anyone.

Under the combined effort of three different perspectives, everything was so natural and beautiful. This should have been a good story.

Unfortunately, all of this was destroyed by a barbarian.

Even the return of the Dominator of Death suffered massive losses because of this.]

[Kills: Greed Worm*5]

[Reward: SAN Value +30, Crystallized Teardrop]

[Special Reward: Fool’s Idol]

[Current SAN Value: 88, Current inspiration: 99]

[Play event recap?]

What did it mean, barbarian?

As the person in question, Fu Qian obviously had some complaints about certain titles.

Did no one realize how exquisitely he had controlled his strength on this trip?

Not only had he shown mercy by not killing the person involved, but judging by the sheer number of idioms he had used along the way, he was undoubtedly a true man of culture, right?

Of course, regarding the overall task summary, Fu Qian was still quite satisfied.

Such detailed content once again verified his previous speculation: the more relevant exploration he did during a task, the more information he would ultimately reap.

There was ample reason to believe that if he had just barged in and slapped Jiang En to death without another word, there would likely have been no information related to Daneta or Wei at all.

And among all of it, the part with the most information felt like that very last sentence.

”The return of the Dominator of Death” definitely referred to the God of Death first of all, and the phrasing of ”return” was highly intriguing.

Return from where?

He had encountered quite a few Divine Entities looking for pawns before. Were they all in similar situations?

Suffering heavy injuries, imprisoned, and only having a fixed, brief period each year to find an opportunity to infiltrate a bit of influence, recruit minions, and accumulate strength?

If that was truly the case, it seemed he had once again deeply offended a very prestigious Deity.

Additionally, although the fight was spectacular, Brother A Wei being sent to the Unseen Hill clearly wasn’t classified as a kill.

As for the five Greed Worms that died, aside from Daneta’s trio, two more must have perished in the subsequent collateral damage.

To kill one or to kill five... Had he inadvertently made a choice in a trolley problem?

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian placed his focus back on the two rewards.

[Name: Crystallized Teardrop]

[Type: Consumable]

[Description: A teardrop-shaped, hard, and shining crystal. The radiant brilliance of the Transcendent Tier that should have brought about a morphological Sublimation sparkles within it, but unfortunately, this fortune is destined never to become reality.

The moment it is crushed, it can provide brief guidance on the supernatural path, limited to Mid Tier and below.]

[Note: Tears are the condensation of regret.]

This should be the normal reward for the task.

After checking the first one, Fu Qian silently offered his review.

No matter how he looked at it, this was the byproduct of him ruining someone else’s destined opportunity, which perfectly matched the theme of this task.

Moreover, its value itself was considered reasonable. After all, Brother Jiang En’s ritual would have only promoted him to Tier 4 at most.

This thing was undoubtedly useless to him, but that didn’t mean it was meaningless.

Stroking the elegantly shaped tearstone, which seemingly carried a bit of warmth, Fu Qian thought of Staff Officer Wen, who had offered advice and suggestions this time.

To be honest, Fu Qian didn’t think Wen Li needed this thing all that much either.

As the only person who knew the truth behind Wen Li’s promotion, Fu Qian had always been quite optimistic about her subsequent development.

What Fu Qian was curious about was what Wen Li would see if she crushed it.

Maybe he would give it to her later for a win-win situation?

After quickly confirming its use, Fu Qian checked the next reward.

[Name: Fool’s Idol]

[Type: Special Item]

[Description: A humanoid statuette clad in red bird feathers. It possesses no power, yet it is the God of fools.

Upon brief contact, it will completely strip away the supernatural power on the target and convert it into an equivalent amount of good luck. The higher the Rank, the longer the time required.]

[Note: Ignorance is luck.]

This...

Sizing up the palm-sized, beautifully faced statuette in his hand, Fu Qian once again marveled at the sheer weirdness of this reward.

Four arms, each in a different pose, poked out from beneath the bright red feather cloak.

He couldn’t sense any supernatural aura from it, and it weighed practically nothing. Yet, considering its effects, it felt inexplicably prickly while he held it.

Fu Qian had no doubts about its absurdly high Rank. The key question was: why would this drop?

Did he hit too hard and beat the God of Death silly?

Placing the second reward on the table, Fu Qian felt his logic was being challenged.

However, with this item, a certain idea he had before seemed like it could finally be put into practice.

The next time he saw Loretta and the other, he could ask if they were willing to give it a touch.

[Today’s work has been completed. You may now leave the Warehouse. Weekly work progress: 4/4]

Amidst his thoughts, the notification sound chimed again. Fu Qian stowed away the Crystallized Teardrop and directly put on the Emissary.

...

Another guest? And a Demigod Realm one at that?

On the Bookstore Second Floor, sensing the aura lingering outside, Fu Qian was momentarily dazed, almost thinking the task had restarted.

But immediately after, he realized that the person outside wasn’t Chief Yuan, but someone else.

Serana?

At such a critical juncture when her family’s survival was on the line, why wasn’t she running around trying to save them instead of coming here?

Fu Qian frowned for a moment.

This couldn’t possibly be the place she was running to for help, could it?

Her family suffered a disaster, forcing her to sacrifice herself and submit to the hounds of the Night Watchers in exchange for—Stop!

Slapping his forehead, Fu Qian drove the image—which had absolutely nothing to do with Serana—from his head.

Speaking of which, why was he so familiar with this trope? Was this the bitter fruit of reading far too many books?

Amidst his self-deprecation, he saw the gray-haired, red-eyed vampire of the Demigod Realm already knocking on the door without a word.