Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Hm?”

In the silence, the crowd—already stunned by the Physical Mind-Purifying Universal Benevolence Deterrence—was struck by the patient’s answer once again.

Yet when they looked up, Pei Yanqing, who had instantly become the center of attention, genuinely wore a peaceful, relaxed expression. The smile on her lips was highly infectious.

”Just what exactly is going on...”

That profound look of complete enlightenment left Tan Ying, who sat closest to her, trembling with fear.

”I don’t know either... I just suddenly feel completely relaxed.”

Her enlightened aura vanished in an instant. Pei Yanqing narrowed her eyes in thought before finally shaking her head in confusion.

”It feels like all the anxiety from that dream has been swept clean away... along with the fatigue from my earlier exams.”

This...

Pei Yanqing’s tone and demeanor were clearly not faked. For a moment, everyone, Tan Ying included, turned to stare at their security consultant in unison.”Is this thing really that miraculous? A single tap on the head produces this kind of effect?”

Classmate Xiao Yu, whose worldview had clearly suffered the most devastating collapse, murmured with hollow, unfocused eyes.

”If that’s true, I think the hospital could open a whole new department just for you...”

”How could it be that simple? Proper technique is crucial.”

Seeing even Pei Yanqing looking over with a face begging for an explanation, Fu Qian let out a cold scoff, balancing the sedatives flat on his palm.

”If the force is off by even a fraction, it becomes something you mere mortals cannot withstand. The consequences would be unimaginable.”

Although his tone was dramatic, it was the absolute truth.

The sedatives worked by driving away inner frenzy through a strike to the head.

Fu Qian had merely been struck by a sudden whim, wondering if he could use them to help Pei Yanqing shake off the lingering negative emotions from her dream a little faster.

At the very least, he had tested them on himself beforehand and confirmed there were no side effects.

Yet even so, he had controlled his strength to be incredibly gentle—a textbook example of safety and security.

And the final result certainly hadn’t let down his careful execution.

”Then how were you able to control it so precisely?”

Of course, everyone present possessed perfectly functional logic. After a moment of thought, Tan Ying frowned and fired back her question.

”That’s simple... I was the one who caused her bizarre dream through evil methods to begin with. I am the mastermind pulling all the strings.”

As if performing a magic trick, the treatment tool in Fu Qian’s hand vanished in the blink of an eye.

He adopted a look of supreme arrogance and pointed his now-empty hand at Pei Yanqing, allowing his terrifying presence to shock the entire room.

...

Hahaha...

The first to break the stunned silence was Young Master Qin, whose roaring laughter quickly spread with infectious energy.

”So you used evil methods to give her a nightmare, all to earn an opportunity to pay for everyone’s lunch, right?”

It wasn’t even him who delivered the next critique, but Tan Ying, who pressed a hand to her forehead.

”I think I’ve also found a way to deal with evil.”

Clearly holding back a laugh, Pei Yanqing took a deep breath, solemnly picked up her cutlery, and eyed the table like a predator.

”Though there is a price to pay, and my weight might spiral out of control, I think it’s worth it.”

”Maybe we should find an old specialist for him after all.”

By this time, Young Master Qin’s laughter had finally died down. He looked toward Wu Qingyu, who was already buried in his food.

”Standing so close to money every day, it looks like he’s suffered some serious workplace injuries.”

Evidently, he still remembered Fu Qian’s famous words from when Madam Sissi visited.

”Don’t. Leave the old specialists a way out.”

Wu Qingyu didn’t even lift his head in response to the suggestion. Eating like wind sweeping away remnant clouds, he spoke with mock compassion.

”Their blood vessels are fragile enough as is. If you actually send this guy over, who knows what kind of havoc he’ll wreak on them.”

It was obvious that absolutely no one believed the ’source of evil’ explanation.

Just as he had mentioned before, stepping outside the bounds of consensus carried its own natural concealment effect, even when speaking the absolute truth.

And clearly, the anomaly that had occurred with Pei Yanqing was being rationalized through consensus into all sorts of logical, yet entirely incorrect, theories.

Such as extreme exam pressure.

Fu Qian didn’t mind this in the slightest. After all, Dayun Mingwang had always been a man indifferent to fame and fortune.

The only problem was that ever since they witnessed Madam Sissi hauling his payment over in a crate last time, no one worried about his financial situation anymore.

As a result, the group showed absolutely no mercy during lunch, making his wallet bleed heavily.

So, the old saying really did ring true.

In the end, as everyone parted ways thoroughly satisfied, Fu Qian looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.

When a man gained power and became an evil god, he was supposed to bring ruin to a region, summon a handful of female cultists for unbridled debauchery, and so on. He absolutely wasn’t supposed to do good deeds, like giving people physical examinations.

In any case, the hidden dangers had been rooted out.

Since it was a workday after all, once they had successfully extorted a meal out of him through an absurd chain reaction, Young Master Qin and the others quickly dispersed to attend to their own social obligations.

After sighing to himself for a moment, Fu Qian—having successfully concealed any physical abnormalities the entire time—returned home. He didn’t choose to stay and recuperate, but instead activated his Wrist Mark once again.

With everyone working so hard, it was obvious he should throw himself back into his career too.

Of course, before doing so, he conveniently performed a remote check on Madam Sissi to rule out any risks.

...

”Mister Fang, you look much better.”

Using the Warehouse as a transit point, he donned the Emissary and synchronized to the Bookstore Second Floor.

And almost as soon as he went downstairs to inspect the place, Wen Li looked up from behind the counter and greeted him with a beaming smile.

Since he hadn’t deliberately concealed himself, it wasn’t hard for someone of her current level to notice that the presence upstairs had vanished for a while.

But to the transcendent world, such an anomaly clearly amounted to nothing.

At the same time, this display of trust seemed to make Eldest Miss Wen quite happy.

Naturally, her polite greeting didn’t save her from the performance assessment.

With just a single glance, Fu Qian’s expression turned serious as he nodded and walked forward.

”Business doesn’t look as good as last time. Did you start slacking off the moment I was gone?”

As a conscientious employer, his words were by no means baseless.

Granted, the number of customers in The Bookstore wasn’t exactly small compared to when he was personally holding the fort.

But it was still far too quiet compared to the last time Eldest Miss Wen volunteered.

On the contrary, her posture was much more relaxed and carefree this time.

Hehe...

His interrogation couldn’t be called anything less than severe, yet Wen Li’s inherent capitalist nature seemed to give her a high resistance to it. She simply covered her mouth and giggled.

”I just felt this was more appropriate, in case we get visitors.”

She quickly lowered her voice to explain.

Sure enough, she had maintained this deliberately.

Voicing his praise, Fu Qian effortlessly plopped himself down into a seat beside her.

The visitors Wen Li spoke of obviously didn’t mean book-buying customers.

As the two masterminds behind the scenes, the kind of fallout the King of the Abandoned Prison incident would trigger in Shangjing was naturally information they couldn’t afford to miss.

Wen Li clearly understood the main purpose behind opening up shop today.

If the environment wasn’t quiet enough, it might disrupt any potential visitors, which wouldn’t do.

So, she used her abilities to keep the foot traffic at just the right level.

She was certainly putting a lot of thought into her volunteer work.

And as it turned out, that thoughtfulness didn’t go to waste.

”Then you’d better get ready; visitors could walk in at any moment.”

Casually grabbing a book, Fu Qian spoke as he flipped through the pages.