Eldritch Horror Theatre

Since everyone was reflected here, and the Greed Worms had taken over the office, where did the original occupants go?

Given the examples already laid out before them, putting the pieces together wasn’t difficult.

If someone could turn into a literal corpse or a tombstone, why couldn’t they turn into an accident report or even an obituary?

The Greed Worms’ original goal had been to deal with them anyway. Now that the worms had become office workers processing reports, it made perfect sense, didn’t it?

Deciphering a report had always been an art form. For Fu Qian, the difficulty this time was incredibly low, answering his earlier questions in one fell swoop.

”What is it? Does it contain the enlightenment of the Dominator of Death?”

Unfortunately, Excellency Serana was far more pragmatic. She was mildly dissatisfied with Fu Qian’s delay in taking action, annoyed that he was just standing there reading reports.

”Strictly speaking, it looks like it actually does. These are all major accidents.”

Fu Qian had already found a second report, agreeing with her as he read.

”Of course I know that. It’s just a pity these are far too classified. There aren’t even any names.”It turned out Serana wasn’t so careless after all; she had inspected some of the documents too.

”Yeah, no company name either.”

Fu Qian continued to agree, casually tossing the second report aside.

”Why make so many redactions?”

Except he tossed it directly in front of Brother Shulan. A moment later, he even adopted a questioning tone, sounding exactly like someone dissatisfied with the quality of the work.

”All operations must be kept strictly confidential...”

Surprisingly, he actually got a response this time. Brother Shulan spoke slowly in a numb voice.

...

It sounded quite reasonable.

It not only fit his current identity but also aligned with their mission on the other side.

Just like Laywoman Tooth-Throat, Brother Shulan was quite wooden, paying almost no attention to the conversation the two of them just had.

However, he didn’t have the glazed-over eyes of someone slacking off at work. Fu Qian preferred to call it focus.

His posture as he sat there was even a bit rigid. Brother Shulan’s entire mental weight seemed concentrated on the concept of ”being at work,” even if he didn’t seem to know what the work actually entailed.

It was simply the highest realm of office work.

Serana was right. They were maintaining a very specific mental state.

It even brought to mind what the old man had described: most of the dead lacked inner strength and peace, so they always needed certain concepts to rely on.

”It seems that even for such minor matters, their sense of confidentiality remains quite high.”

Although Fu Qian had pondered a lot just now, a bystander clearly felt differently. Serana’s tone was still unreadable, but no matter how one looked at it, she was mocking him.

Mocking his petty trick—attempting to play along with the other party’s current role to extract information, only to fail completely.

”Is this how you got them to state their names back then?”

Fu Qian naturally wasn’t capable of feeling embarrassed. Without changing his expression, he casually verified what Serana had done previously.

”Yes. They actually aren’t that sensitive when it comes to personal information. They didn’t even bother using fake names... Do you want to try confirming it?”

Serana admitted it without the slightest hesitation.

”No need. I don’t even know his real name.”

To her suggestion, Fu Qian delivered a truly shocking response.

Glancing at Brother Shulan, Fu Qian stated bluntly that he had no idea what the man’s name was. Even if Brother Shulan gave a fake name, he wouldn’t be able to tell.

...

At first glance, Fu Qian’s response was a glaring flaw in his established persona.

As a fellow retainer of the Dominator of Death, he actually didn’t even know their names? Who would believe that?

”They truly are insignificant to you, aren’t they...”

Fortunately, Excellency Serana was a smart woman. Her thinking was far from shallow.

After a moment of silence, she let out an ambiguous laugh. She clearly had a much deeper understanding of the persona Fu Qian was projecting.

This ”Wei,” favored by the Dominator of Death, was actually so arrogant that he couldn’t even be bothered to remember the names of these low-level retainers.

”You can’t really say that. I’ve had some dealings with them. It’s mostly just that my memory is terrible. For instance, I don’t know her name either.”

Fu Qian pointed at Laywoman Tooth-Throat behind him, emphasizing that he wasn’t quite that cold-hearted.

He had dealt with them and still didn’t know their names? That just seemed even more arrogant.

Unfortunately, his defense fell flat. Excellency Serana didn’t even bother to respond.

”Excellency...”

That was fine, though; someone else responded.

Old Man Laurie, who had been left out in the cold since they walked through the door, finally seemed to have his focused working state disrupted. He couldn’t help but look up, staring at the uninvited guest, Fu Qian.

...

In a place like this, that title was actually a bit inappropriate.

The sudden movement was undoubtedly a bit startling. However, compared to Serana, who turned her head and faintly slipped into a combat stance, Fu Qian’s attention was entirely focused on the title the old man had used.

It just went to show that a person’s aura could truly be influenced by their environment.

Old Man Laurie had white hair and a white beard, giving off the ethereal air of an immortal. Even though his appearance and attire hadn’t changed, as he sat rigidly at his workstation, he had inevitably been tainted by a hint of the office worker vibe.

And the effect of that vibe was terrifying to this degree. At a glance, the octogenarian could no longer exude much of his transcendent aura. Instead, looking at him immediately made one think about pensions—and a meager one at that.

Although he didn’t mind his own age and used honorifics when addressing a visitor, a good attitude simply wasn’t enough. Such a jianghu-flavored title was obviously unsuited for a high-end corporate environment like this.

From that alone, his lack of professional business acumen was completely exposed.

”He seems to have recognized you...”

At that moment, Excellency Serana had a sudden flash of insight, seeming to realize something.

”I think so too.”

Fu Qian nodded.

That was right. There was a reason for his lack of professionalism.

Since the old man had used such an inappropriate title, the most likely possibility was actually quite obvious—his office worker persona was subtly starting to break down.

He truly lived up to his role as the person in charge of the Greed Worms. Even as a Reflection of death, his was much stronger than the others.

Though, given their current situation, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The balance of life and death was clearly the underlying logic of this place. Once it started to tip, a single moment of carelessness could result in him sharing the fate of the old man from before.

”Interesting...”

Unfortunately, Serana clearly lacked any such compassion. Seeing Fu Qian confirm her theory, she offered a meaningful remark before actually stepping forward, walking right up to Laurie.

”How should that Excellency be addressed?”

Completely dropping her earlier observant stance, she pointed back in this direction and asked Laurie a soft question, trying to confirm Fu Qian’s identity with him.