Eldritch Horror Theatre

Dennis and Emily had truly walked a long way together.

Dennis didn’t put up much resistance to Fu Qian’s questions.

Following his directions, the black car drove straight out, eventually leaving the city behind.

The increasingly monotonous, desolate scenery almost made him wonder if a ”passive slowdown” warning would pop up at any second.

Fu Qian, however, clearly had no intention of turning back, even though Dennis himself didn’t remember the route well and had to constantly detour to get his bearings.

During the drive, Dennis actually seemed to regain some of his vitality. He even looked visibly nervous as they once again approached what he imagined was their destination.

”What are you expecting?”

Fu Qian naturally noticed this change.

”Expecting what...”

The light in Dennis’s eyes dimmed almost instantly.”People who aren’t expecting anything don’t get nervous.”

Fu Qian’s tone remained unchanged. Meanwhile, his eyes locked onto an incongruous patch of white in the distance.

”Uh...”

Perhaps he had originally wanted to argue, but a second later, Dennis clearly noticed it too, and his breath hitched.

...

How to put it? Given its age, this particular shade of white really wasn’t very appealing.

Fu Qian certainly wasn’t going to give Dennis time to mentally adjust; the car soon came to a smooth stop.

Resting in a roadside ditch—and intimately embracing a tree—was indeed a rather old white car.

”You drove this?”

Fu Qian glanced at Dennis.

”I drove it...”

Fallen leaves coated the car, and with its rear end facing them, it was difficult to see inside.

Beside him, Dennis didn’t dare look too closely either.

”This tree must be quite old.”

Fu Qian didn’t waste time indulging his hesitation. Emphasizing the damage to the tree, he simply opened his door and stepped out.

Even as he walked up to the white car, there was no movement inside. The driver’s seat was empty—because the person was in the passenger seat.

Knock, knock!

Fu Qian tapped on the window, looking at the female student slumped over inside.

She apparently hadn’t been sleeping deeply. Jolting awake, she whipped her head around to look outside.

Not bad. The resemblance to the Emily he’d seen at the hospital was striking.

”Open the door.”

From expectation to disappointment—in that moment, Fu Qian seemed to watch the fireworks die out in her eyes.

Faced with such a vivid reaction, Fu Qian withdrew his hand, pulled out his gun with its two remaining bullets, and tapped the window again with the barrel, smiling.

Click! Click!

The sounds of doors opening rang out almost simultaneously. One came from behind him; without looking, he knew Dennis was already sprinting over.

...

We call this efficiency.

Fu Qian had no intention of patiently guiding the two teenagers.

This action was undoubtedly the fastest way to bring them together.

Knock, knock!

Even after the two reunited, Fu Qian knocked one more time to snap them out of their disbelieving stares and make them realize the severity of their situation.

”You’re not a cop?”

Although the young man’s focus seemed a bit skewed, Dennis cried out immediately, his eyes locked on the muzzle of the gun.

”I am.”

Replying casually, Fu Qian withdrew his gaze from the driver’s side.

It was a pity. The ignition switch was empty.

”...Then why are you doing this?”

Dennis clearly didn’t believe him.

”Forgot what I just said? This tree is probably older than your grandfather.”

Emphasizing the destruction of public property once more, Fu Qian didn’t lower his gun. He merely motioned for Dennis to sit in the driver’s seat.

”Shouldn’t you be forcing us into your car?”

Dennis, however, was clearly at a loss. For a moment, he actually followed Fu Qian’s order and carefully climbed in.

At this moment, it became very clear who the person in charge was.

Turning a blind eye to the lethal weapon pointed at her, Emily—who had watched their conversation the entire time—had finally spoken up.

It had to be said, her voice and tone were strikingly identical to the Emily at the hospital.

”No rush. Do you have the Key for this car?”

Helping to close her door, Fu Qian sat down in the back seat as he answered.

”This is his dad’s car. Only he has the Key.”

She clearly didn’t understand the point of Fu Qian’s question, but having an armed man sitting directly behind her still exerted heavy pressure.

Even Emily hesitated for a moment before finally glancing at Dennis.

”But he took off his jacket and gave it to you.”

Unsurprised by this reaction, Fu Qian repeated Dennis’s testimony.

”...But I threw the jacket away.”

After a pause, Emily added coldly.

”But the Key wasn’t in the jacket.”

His tone completely flat, Fu Qian presented another finding from his investigation.

Heh...

Seeming to sense that Fu Qian was genuinely looking for the Key, Emily actually laughed out loud.

”Yeah, I took the Key, but I threw it away later. That place is so big, I’ve long since forgotten where I tossed it... What? Are you going to kill me if you can’t find it?”

...

When she encountered the Old Hunter, they must have had a similar conversation, right?

Emily’s attitude couldn’t be described as facing death with equanimity; Fu Qian’s analogy was simply that ignorance breeds fearlessness.

For most people, their perception of Death changes with age.

At this age, their cognitive understanding doesn’t yet produce an overwhelming fear.

Fueled by a certain paranoid restlessness, they might even view the confrontation as a source of amusement.

As for whether Emily possessed that kind of nerve—Fu Qian believed she did.

Not just because of that somewhat crazed look in her eyes, but more importantly, because the Old Hunter had likely already tested it for him.

The striking similarity between the two Emilys arguably proved once again that the Old Hunter had indeed caught up to her.

And either the car Key wasn’t the mission objective, or the Old Hunter hadn’t gotten any meaningful answers regarding it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have wasted his energy setting up a trap back there.

Which meant she had likely maintained this defiant posture even under torture.

Perhaps the Inner World amplified a person’s madness, but there was no doubt that Emily’s mindset was formidable.

But it didn’t matter. Just as he’d noted before, the Old Hunter’s problem stemmed from an overly arrogant perspective; unlike Old Man Hake, he hadn’t admitted his lack of understanding when it came to young people.

As someone with a much smaller actual age gap, how could Fu Qian make that kind of mistake? Wasn’t that exactly why he had brought along a prop?

”No.”

Fu Qian shook his head, pressing the muzzle of the gun against Dennis’s head.

”You won’t really kill him... If you kill him, you won’t be able to threaten me anymore. And if you won’t actually kill him, then you still can’t threaten me.”

His action seemed to finally make Emily’s eyes flicker, but she soon resumed her sneer, delivering her little tongue twister.

”Of course I won’t kill him. What kills him will be probability.”

Casually flicking open the cylinder, Fu Qian let Emily see the mere two bullets left inside, then snapped it back into place.

He had already checked earlier; a revolver of this design could still be used to play Russian roulette.

”Wait...”

And just as the muzzle pressed against that stiffened head once more, Emily finally averted her gaze from Dennis’s pleading look for the very first time.