Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was obvious.

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian, as a professional, was undoubtedly an authority on access control.

With just a glance, he confirmed Eva was telling the truth.

He had already noted the building’s age, and this door served as perfect proof.

It was a very old-fashioned metal partition door. Though not heavily rusted by the years, the whole thing had turned iron-black.

The marks on the ground also showed it hadn’t been moved in a very long time.

The lock on the door was the same. To put it vividly, the first reaction upon seeing it was wondering if the Key could even be found anymore.

Of course, that didn’t change the situation at hand. This decrepit lock solidly blocked their path forward.

[Shouldn’t there be another way out?]

Admittedly, this type of lock was somewhat rare, but for Fu Qian, bypassing it was merely a matter of spending a few extra seconds recalling the mechanism.But this time, he didn’t rush to show off his skills, regardless of a young woman’s earnest expectation.

Of course, Fu Qian had no interest in pretending to be shocked either. He naturally took the pen from her hand.

Since her palm was already full of writing, he wrote directly on the back of her hand instead.

[Yes.]

She was visibly a bit disappointed, but Eva clearly quickly remembered this place was her home turf. She gave a rapid nod, glanced behind them, and immediately turned to leave, gesturing for Fu Qian to follow.

Of course, to Fu Qian, just that hint of disappointment already felt somewhat unusual.

Theoretically, he shouldn’t have much interaction with her. Even though it was the weekend after the party, they had most likely only met that once.

Why did it feel like she had this baseless confidence in him?

Was it because he had put on some astounding performance at the end of the party?

What a pity. The scenarios he was currently experiencing were fragmented. For him, there was no smooth transition from cause to effect.

And given the urgency of the situation and the difficulty of communicating, he didn’t seem to have a chance to confirm it with Eva either.

...

It was obvious that Eva had some background in dance.

There were no traces of snow outside, meaning the chill from the night of the party likely hadn’t accumulated.

Even so, in the early winter climate, the terrazzo floor beneath their feet remained bone-chillingly cold.

And although her socks were much thinner than his, Eva walked across it with a steady, unhurried rhythm.

After finding the path forward blocked, as she turned back, she had likely even abandoned the idea of using the elevator to minimize noise to the greatest extent possible.

Following her through a series of twists and turns, until they pushed open a door left ajar, a pitch-black staircase appeared before Fu Qian.

He had to admit the building’s layout was somewhat unusual. From the outside, it was hard to imagine an emergency exit in this spot.

Since there wasn’t a single window in sight when he looked up, the light in the stairwell was exaggeratedly dim. If they didn’t turn on the lights, they would have to worry about tripping with every step.

Clearly, Eva had no intention of turning on the lights, even though Fu Qian had already spotted the black switch.

But the question remained—

[Why don’t we just climb out a window?]

When Eva carefully closed the door and signaled for him to keep following, Fu Qian didn’t move right away. Instead, he pointed to the pen in her hand.

After taking it, he considered the poor lighting and wrote directly on her higher-contrast jacket.

This was what he had wanted to ask just now.

The building was old-fashioned, and the windows were high and small, but they weren’t permanently sealed shut.

Given their sizes, climbing out wouldn’t be a problem as long as they had something to stand on.

But in this fight for survival, Eva seemed to have completely forgotten about that option.

[No, we can’t climb out the windows.]

As it turned out, she wasn’t deliberately increasing the difficulty; there really was an underlying reason.

Eva clearly grew a little agitated. She snatched the pen back, writing with such force it felt like she was going to poke a hole through the jacket.

...

Oh?

Fu Qian didn’t deliberately ask for the pen back to express his emotions. He merely blinked.

[Anyone who doesn’t leave here through normal routes will die.]

Sure enough, without needing any prodding, Eva quickly scribbled another line.

What kind of school rule-based urban legend was this?

Even though Eva held her breath as she wrote, her expression full of absolute dread and solemnity, Fu Qian still frowned at the bizarre shift in tone.

They couldn’t climb out windows or take any other abnormal routes, otherwise they would die after leaving?

Your school’s discipline must be incredible, huh?

It was easy to spot the countless logical holes in that statement, but the agitated Eva seemed to have lost all patience for further explanation.

Nodding vigorously, she immediately took the lead and headed up the stairs.

Considering how easily sound echoed in this kind of space, Eva even specifically gestured for Fu Qian not to touch the handrail, likely worried about quality issues with some sections.

Since that was the case, Fu Qian didn’t push the matter and just followed behind her.

To his relief, they didn’t encounter any cliches like a ”never-ending staircase” or taboos like ”not looking back.” The two quickly reached the second floor.

The layout of this floor was even a bit different from the one below.

Eva continued to lead the way, guiding Fu Qian past several doors before they finally arrived in a similar Corridor.

Looking out the nearby window, dusk had nearly ended completely, and visibility even right below the window was plummeting.

The good news was that, even so, it was still not difficult to see that the iron door partitioning this Corridor hadn’t been pulled shut.

Taking a detour through here seemed feasible.

[Don’t count the room numbers.]

[If you hear the sound of a piano playing, do not step to the rhythm.]

However, Eva still didn’t breathe a sigh of relief, nor did she rush forward. Instead, she pulled Fu Qian to a halt once more and laid out two more taboos.

Though her warnings were sounding more and more abstract, given her good intentions, Fu Qian didn’t voice any doubts. He simply nodded to show he understood.

As long as conditions permitted, he completely didn’t mind having a professional take the lead while he coasted.

...

As they made their way down the Corridor, Eva’s body was visibly tense.

She kept her eyes straight ahead, maintaining a steady center of gravity and staying ready to adjust her pace at a moment’s notice.

It was a pity that even as they passed through the iron door and continued forward to the corner, Fu Qian still hadn’t heard any piano sounds, however—

The moment they rounded the corner, Fu Qian yanked Eva to a halt. As she stared at him in shock, he motioned for her to press her face against the edge of the wall just like he was doing, and peer back the way they came.

Far down the Corridor, a humanoid Shadow moved. Seeming to sense something in that moment, it quickly slipped into one of the doors.