Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Come closer.”

Inside the small shop, the sheer might of a Tier 2 Transcendent dominated the room.

This was evident when, as Fu Qian’s expression turned solemn, the Blood Clan Demigod Serana stepped forward without complaint, holding her palm up until the emblem was practically touching his nose.

A dignified demigod naturally wouldn’t have trouble seeing across such a short distance.

But that was exactly why Serana was so willing to cooperate. Judging by his reaction, she wouldn’t be leaving empty-handed this time.

”Taylor told you he got this from a dream?”

Fu Qian clearly ignored her rising excitement. His gaze never left the emblem.

”Yes, and in great detail. He saw it on the face of a Dayun Mingwang played by Jiang En.”

Rarely seeing him in such a posture, Serana answered almost instantly, her tone firm.

”Dayun Mingwang, played by Jiang En...”As Chief Yuan’s First Poison Strategist, Fu Qian couldn’t be bothered to pretend he didn’t recognize those names. He coldly repeated the phrase without even raising his head.

”How much of it do you believe?”

”One hundred percent.”

Serana radiated an imposing, unstoppable momentum.

”Taylor might be an idiot, but he wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

”Excellent. I trust your judgment of your own people. In that case...”

He gave a slight nod. The next moment, Fu Qian reached out, his index finger creeping toward the emblem until it finally pressed against it.

Naturally, there was no reaction. The emblem itself clearly contained no special power; otherwise, Serana would never have dared to manifest it on her own body.

”I’ve seen this before.”

But now there was a reaction. At Fu Qian’s words, Serana’s gaze sharpened instantly.

...

”Where did you see it?”

His gesture with his finger was a bit odd, but taken in by his imposing aura, Serana forced herself to ignore it and focus on the main point.

Way too many places... Fu Qian thought in response.

The emblem was perfectly fine, of course. Genuine goods, one hundred percent.

Brother Taylor had clearly put a lot of effort into faithfully recreating it.

As for the purpose of this little performance—

”But you might be mistaken. This isn’t some Emblem of the King of the Abandoned Prison. I’m not entirely certain, but it should belong to an existence similar to the Dominator of Death.”

”Oh? So where exactly did you see it?”

Such a secret clearly piqued Serana’s interest even further, and she immediately pressed for the root of the matter.

”On a swarm of Carrion-eating bugs that recently fled Shangjing.”

Fu Qian let out a cold laugh.

”If I’d known they were this interesting, I would have paid closer attention and kept a few of them from leaving.”

Recently fled...

”The group that framed Gulade?”

Serana’s comprehension was reliable. A few seconds later, she gasped in realization.

”You were involved in that investigation too? No wonder it wrapped up so smoothly!”

”Heh... I merely offered a bit of advice.”

Recalling how he had instigated Chief Yuan into dumping all the blame onto the Greed Worms, Fu Qian finally pulled his finger back from Serana’s palm and shifted to stroking a nonexistent long beard on his chin.

Paired with his understated tone, he looked every bit the mastermind strategizing within the command tent—all he was missing was a feather fan to wave.

”I did see similar traces on that group, as well as mentions of the Death Boundary. I just didn’t notice any supernatural fluctuations from them, so I didn’t pay it much mind.”

”Now it seems those scoundrels truly do have some formidable existence behind them.”

”So... Taylor really did have a meaningful dream?”

Given her past life experience, Serana clearly didn’t dare blindly trust Demigod Fu’s words—though she certainly didn’t dare dismiss them, either.

”It seems those bugs place quite a bit of importance on your family’s young prodigy.”

Fu Qian gave a slight nod, agreeing with her statement.

”Taylor was likely induced into making contact with something, which is why he saw these things in his dream.”

”But there’s no need to worry. The related issues have already been resolved. There is no earth-shattering conspiracy hanging over Shangjing.”

...

Coming from a professional strategist, the analysis certainly sounded well-founded.

Serana lowered her gaze for a moment, digesting today’s harvest.

”So... why exactly did you call them Carrion-eating bugs?”

When she spoke again, her thoughts seemingly sorted out, she began focusing on the details of what he had said earlier.

”Based on the situation at the time, that group seemed to be a roaming outfit. After locking onto a target, they would induce a hunt, and ultimately pull the person into their ranks.”

Recalling that interesting auction, Fu Qian spoke with easy assurance.

”As for why I described them that way, I came into brief contact with them, and the entire group felt completely lifeless. I couldn’t see any signs of them advancing further on the transcendent path.”

”For a group like that to trick a young prodigy into joining them... who knows, maybe they were planning to practice some sort of harvesting art?”

Although his phrasing was bizarre, the meaning wasn’t hard to understand.

She had to admit, while the mental image was unthinkably filthy, the logic actually made a fair amount of sense.

”But it seems the Night Watchers still let them run away.”

Unable to find anything to refute for the moment, Demigod Serana frowned slightly and simply pivoted to holding them accountable.

”We wrapped up a corpse-looting case that had already cleared the falsely accused, plus we were perceptive down to the smallest detail in stopping a crime in its tracks. Aren’t you all a bit too hard to satisfy?”

Fu Qian gave her a look like he was dealing with an unruly mob.

”Anywhere else, if we had only reacted and made arrests after Brother Taylor had been twisted into their shape, it still would have been considered fulfilling our duty, wouldn’t it?”

...

”True... Please rest assured, I will help keep this secret.”

When it came to steamrolling others with logic, Fu Qian rarely had any rivals.

After a brief moment of thought, Serana finally stopped questioning it.

”On Gulade’s side, today’s discussion will be known only to me and Grantham.”

”Also, regarding the hunt for that group... does Mister Fang have any other suggestions?”

Regardless of her motives, it was clear she had no intention of letting this matter drop.

”Tracking down a group of Mid-Tier Transcendents solely focused on staying hidden is going to take some effort. But I do have an interesting premonition...”

Fu Qian pointed to the emblem, which was already gradually fading from Serana’s palm.

”Since this thing was still able to seek out your people in a dream, then those bugs might do the same and come knocking again.”

”You might even consider carving it into your flesh to increase the probability.”

”...I’ll pass on that. But it’s certainly a unique angle.”

She rejected Fu Qian’s tattoo suggestion instantly, but judging by her thoughtful expression, Serana didn’t completely dismiss this guess.

What she didn’t know, of course, was that this was fundamentally no guess at all.

Fu Qian lowered his head and looked at his own index finger.

Just a moment ago, the scene of a great being bestowing the emblem upon a Divine Being had already been transmitted out in reverse through the calling of the Greed Worms.