Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What’s the rush?”

In that moment, Excellency Lu Yi seemed rather displeased.

Not only did his expression turn suddenly icy, but the Punishment Hall itself seemed to respond to his mood.

The physical manifestation of this was the agonizing brands beneath their feet and all around them, which flared as if doused in stinging oil.

As they churned wildly, they not only sent out waves of suffocating pressure, but the childish cries that had been echoing earlier abruptly grew louder.

”I’ve got quite a few projects waiting for me over there. Many even involve inter-departmental collaboration. I’ll need to go requisition some lucky bastard’s seat in a bit.”

Even while immersed in a scene dangerous enough to threaten any Tier 1 combatant, Fu Qian’s heart remained firmly set on the advancement of supernatural research, and he explained himself with complete sincerity.

......

He didn’t mind admitting his affiliation with the Academy in the slightest, and this frankness seemed to deliver a bit of a shock.

In the next moment, not only did Lu Yi snap his mouth shut, leaving only a dead-set glare, but the surrounding waves of agony began to subside.”You...”

In this rare moment of quiet, Nepheli finally seemed to react, slowly raising her head.

”If you have something to say, say it.”

Being stared at by those empty eye sockets was, undeniably, a bizarre sensation.

Yet even as he met her gaze, Fu Qian’s urging remained entirely unapologetic.

Hmm...

Nepheli’s posture didn’t change. Amidst the silence, Lu Yi just stood blankly beside her, completely motionless.

”There are actually many possible reasons for leaving that eye behind.”

When she finally spoke again, her voice was no longer quite so hoarse.

”True.”

Fu Qian nodded, completely agreeing with her statement.

”Triggering its resonance at this exact moment also carries many possibilities.”

”Indeed.”

”Even the vision you saw after answering the call can be interpreted in several ways. Until now, there has been absolutely no hard proof as to whether I initiated this, or if they did...”

”Yeah.”

”Then why are you so certain? If this really is a trap, even you would have a hard time escaping... Don’t tell me you’re just gambling. I don’t believe you would lightly make such a meaningless choice.”

His three consecutive agreements only made Excellency Nepheli more uncertain, prompting her to spill out a long string of words in one breath.

The one somewhat comforting thing was that her voice had become completely smooth.

”It’s simple. I was the one who invited you to initiate it in the first place.”

Fu Qian’s gaze fell upon Lu Yi’s frozen body. Faint traces of icy killing intent still lingered between the man’s brows.

It just seemed the temperature had dropped too low, freezing the man solid right where he stood.

Snap!

As he spoke, Fu Qian snapped his fingers. A wisp of golden flame flared to life at his fingertips, helping to drive away the bone-chilling cold.

”It really was you——”

Unfortunately, the effect wasn’t great. Excellency Lu Yi still didn’t move, and Nepheli’s previously calm voice finally broke, grinding out through clenched teeth.

......

”Good work. Highly efficient.”

Fu Qian had always been completely immune to emotional contagion. Even though Nepheli’s already hideous face grew even more terrifying as her temper flared, his tone remained perfectly steady, not forgetting to offer a word of encouragement.

It was impossible for Nepheli not to recognize this golden flame.

After all, back inside The Ark, she had even mentioned a specific Miracle called the Tyrant’s Boon, which was accompanied by fire of the exact same color.

And by showing it off again now, he was primarily answering Lu Yi’s initial question: didn’t the King of the Abandoned Prison warn you?

Of course He did. this seat was indeed a minion of the King of the Abandoned Prison, and even wielded His bestowed flame.

And the reason Lu Yi had asked that question wasn’t purely for the sake of mockery——

”I knew it... No one else would do something so detrimental to others without gaining anything themselves...”

It was obvious that Fu Qian’s praise had done absolutely nothing to calm Nepheli down.

”Why did you do that? There’s no way you didn’t foresee the consequences.

”With another puppet suddenly popping up out of nowhere, even if it proved he wasn’t Ariel, it made it almost impossible for me to clear my name.”

A rapid string of questions poured out of her, brimming with so much resentment it practically overflowed.

”Didn’t I just say that I enjoy hurting others without benefiting myself? Do I need a reason to do it?”

Unfortunately, all that answered her was Fu Qian’s feigned surprise.

......

What was more entertaining than slinging mud and leaving your opponent completely unable to defend themselves?

Slinging two buckets of mud at the exact same time, leaving both victims entirely speechless.

During the mission involving the Solitary King Court, due to the guidance he received, Fu Qian had decisively chosen to play the role of Ariel all the way to the end.

The most direct result of this action was framing the Origin Council with the Frenzied Flame of the King of the Abandoned Prison, right in front of the Night Watchers.

But that was only one of the effects.

There was another glaring issue that almost none of the participants could possibly ignore——

Regardless of which one was the real Ariel, neither side actually seemed human.

As he had emphasized back then, the most impactful aspect of his actions was the absolute lack of any motive.

Disregarding all consequences, ignoring life and death, gaining no visible benefits... No matter how you looked at it, it was hard to imagine that being the behavioral pattern of a normal human.

Taking it a step further, with just a little thought, both the Night Watchers and the Origin Council—who understood Ariel’s form of existence far better—could easily arrive at a terrifying conclusion: even if one wasn’t Ariel, both of them were puppets.

And as everyone knew, Ariel was Nepheli’s proudest masterpiece, and the latter even wielded a Miracle related to the golden flame.

Furthermore, during that particular operation, Nepheli had handed over control and hadn’t appeared to participate at all.

Under these circumstances, when a puppet—one that appeared abruptly at a critical moment, seemed to know the Origin Council’s movements intimately, tirelessly exposed them to the Night Watchers, and completely disregarded its own life—suddenly showed up, whose work would people assume it was?

If all the Origin Council’s efforts to clear their name by the end of that operation had ended in complete failure...

...then the mud slung at the former dean of the Benevolent Curse Institute would immediately plunge her into the absolute despair of trying to prove her innocence.

How could an experienced veteran of the jianghu like Excellency Nepheli fail to realize this?

From the very moment that incident occurred, there would no longer be any place for her within the Origin Council.

And suffering under such a grievous false accusation, could she figure out who had slung the mud? Of course she could.

Not too long ago, when they were drinking tea together, he had explicitly asked her about the golden flames.

After taking it out of the Warehouse, Fu Qian had been looking forward to the reaction of the Eye of the Punished Consort for a long time.

”I’ve actually been trying this whole time, but the connection seemed to be cut off...

”So you were specifically waiting for me right now? This must finally have a purpose, right?”

As the saying goes, honesty goes a long way. Faced with Fu Qian’s ”innocent” gaze, Nepheli finally abandoned her moral condemnation and spoke in a low voice a moment later.

”I do.”

Fu Qian continued to nod.

”I just thought of a new question I wanted to ask you.”