Eldritch Horror Theatre

It wasn’t that he had discovered some lost divine artifact again.

This wasn’t some hero-and-demon-king game. You didn’t just stumble across free loot every two steps.

He simply thought the design was quite nice.

Madam Sissi’s late mother certainly had a good eye for aesthetics.

”I knew you would agree!”

On the other end of the connection, Sissi was clearly very satisfied with Fu Qian’s prompt response.

”But the fact that you didn’t even ask for the rules first makes me even happier.”

”I’ll explain them now, but we need to change locations first.”

With a crisp laugh, Sissi turned and jogged off with a light step.

...Though not colossal, it was still enormous.

No wonder she had cultivated such an unconventional aura. Madam Sissi’s family clearly wasn’t newly wealthy.

Following his clattering employer upstairs, Fu Qian took a brief tour of her mother’s former residence.

His verdict was that this was absolutely not a place for ordinary people.

The architecture was old and complex, brimming with history. The maintenance costs for a place like this would also be astronomical; her mother’s side of the family was clearly exceptionally wealthy.

”This is my grandfather.”

Just as Fu Qian offered his mental praise, Sissi came to a sudden halt and introduced a member of that very family.

Naturally, it wasn’t the living person.

The room she was currently in had slightly better lighting, but it wasn’t very large.

Judging by the matching desk and wooden shelves, it was easily identifiable as a long-abandoned study.

The person Sissi was introducing hung on the wall to the side.

It was an old man in a formal suit.

His hair was sparse and reddish, and he sported a heavy beard. He bore no expression, yet carried an inherent sense of authority.

At a glance, he and Madam Sissi... barely shared a passing resemblance.

Fu Qian had often read tropes about instantly recognizing an ancestor’s demeanor in their descendants.

But honestly, forcing a young woman to look like her maternal grandfather was exaggerating the power of genetics a bit too much.

As a pragmatic man, Fu Qian’s assessment was that both had decent facial features and faintly showed signs of a shared bloodline.

Judging by Madam Sissi’s demeanor, she didn’t seem too close to this grandfather of hers, either.

”He was always very strict when he was alive. I was terrified of him as a child, so I always resisted when my mother brought me back here... Fortunately, we didn’t visit too often.”

Perhaps out of lingering intimidation, Madam Sissi’s posture grew even more respectful as she spoke.

”But sometimes I would still sneak into this study. Do you know why?”

Her voice was a soft murmur. Without waiting for an answer, Sissi walked to the side and dragged over a wooden chair.

”I was never obsessed with reading, but out of all the rooms, this window is the best for viewing the snow mountain—even though I don’t particularly like looking at snow mountains, either.”

Amid her continuous twists in logic, Sissi repeatedly checked the floorboards’ texture before finally finding the right spot for the chair. She sat down, then raised her head to look at the portrait again.

”From this angle, the mountain outside is clearly reflected on the glass. The snow-covered peak is especially prominent, and it perfectly covers his beard.”

Sissi gestured at her grandfather’s face and slumped down a bit to lower her line of sight.

”And at sunrise, the snow turns pale pink.”

...

So the dignified grandfather gained a pink beard?

He could easily empathize with a child’s mindset.

For Fu Qian, adjusting to the exact same perspective as Madam Sissi was incredibly simple.

Having not interrupted her story, he casually verified it for himself.

It proved to be a wondrous angle; even the shape of the mountain peak matched the beard in the portrait perfectly.

”So, here come the rules.”

Even though Fu Qian hadn’t made a sound, Sissi was clearly certain he was still listening, and she now proposed her request with a smile.

”I know it’s a bit late right now, but can we turn back time again and return to sunrise, just like last time?”

...

She did remember, after all.

Fu Qian naturally knew what incident she was referring to. His actions back then had been overly impactful, evidently leaving a deep impression on her.

Furthermore, Fu Qian didn’t think Sissi was making this request just to be difficult. Calculating the time since she left Lincheng, she likely couldn’t have made it here before the morning glow faded, which also explained why she had been catching up on sleep.

Considering his employer had come all the way to Lincheng just to deliver something to him, shouldn’t he agree to this tiny request?

”Understood, but isn’t the time gap a bit large?”

”Last time, you just woke up a little late. Now it’s about to get dark.”

Stuffing another bite of bread into his mouth, Fu Qian finally replied, first emphasizing the task’s arduous and complex nature.

”...So you can’t do it?”

After a moment of silence, Sissi’s tone carried a sense of disappointment that was hard to gauge as genuine or fake.

”I can.”

...

”However—”

Without waiting for his employer to rejoice, Fu Qian perfectly replicated her conversational twists.

”Isn’t the snowline a bit too high? It’s not just the time of day that’s wrong; your season is off, too, isn’t it?”

It was no blind guess. Although the reflection on the portrait’s glass perfectly matched the beard’s shape, the snow clearly only covered half of the chin.

When Madam Sissi visited in the past, it must have been during a colder season.

”So... you can do that too?”

A moment ago, he had been complaining about the time gap from morning to evening, and now he was directly offering to adjust the season as well. The consultant’s sheer power was clearly exerting a bit of pressure on his employer.

”I can.”

It wasn’t like he actually had to drag the sun back out. Activating the Lucid Dream to swap a background texture was a trivial matter; placing the snowline wherever he wanted was no big deal.

”...Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

...

It truly was an interesting sight.

A moment later, Fu Qian appraised the face full of pink whiskers in the frame, marveling at how children truly possessed a keen eye for discovery.

And a beard really could change a man’s aura.

At this moment, the formerly dignified elder instantly gave off the vibe of a breakdancing Colonel Sanders. The disenchantment effect was maxed out.

”...Thank you.”

As for Madam Sissi, who was inside the Lucid Dream, she clearly felt a more complicated mix of emotions about this. Only after staring at the portrait for a long time did she softly offer her thanks with a peculiar smile.

”Congratulations on winning your prize, Mr. Consultant, but... would you like to raise the stakes?”

”Sure.”

Swallowing another mouthful of bread, Fu Qian displayed an astonishing level of easygoingness.

”Hehe... it’s actually just a question.”

Seemingly unsurprised by his attitude, Madam Sissi wasted no time.

”Do you remember when I said I could tell we were the same kind of people at first glance?”

”Of course.”

”Why do you think that is?”