Eldritch Horror Theatre

It made sense; it was indeed a bit early to be drinking.

Wen Li directly stepping in to stop the prisoner from drinking didn’t strike Fu Qian as strange.

They had just analyzed the risk of him being silenced, not to mention how blatant the situation was.

Under these circumstances, letting the prisoner drink a beverage of unknown origin that had been poured long before?

Even someone courting death wouldn’t go about it like this.

What made Fu Qian sigh in admiration was how tactful Eldest Miss Wen remained even in her refusal, actually bothering to find an excuse.

Combined with her prior silence, she likely wanted him to take a little initiative in valuing his own life.

What a pity this refinement—saving face even for a prisoner—was ultimately wasted.

”True, it’s still a bit bright out.”

His wine glass confiscated, Fu Qian tested the returning sensation in his arm, slowly resting it on the table before opting for a classic move: taking his anger out on someone else.”What’s going on? Didn’t you say it was about to get dark?”

He frowned at Professor Lisa, immediately expressing his dissatisfaction with her scheduling.

”It should be soon...”

Regardless, she had indeed been the one to claim it would get dark.

Although Lisa felt rather wronged, faced with such a righteous interrogation, her voice unconsciously dropped a notch.

”Should—”

Fu Qian wasn’t so easily brushed off. He repeated her wording with a sneer.

”Is this how you usually reach conclusions? Relying on ’should’ for everything? What if it shouldn’t happen in the end?”

...

Wasn’t the tone a bit off? Were things always this blatant?

The power of his Three-Stage Questioning was immense. Met with this overwhelming reprimand, even Professor Lisa, who had spent years steeped in academic circles, couldn’t hold her ground. Her expression rapidly turned ugly.

Yet the strongest reaction didn’t even come from her. The others who had hitched a ride with Fu Qian seemed equally stunned by the exchange.

Everyone held different stances, and each harboring their own motives was perfectly fine. Among them, the one with the clearest stance was undoubtedly this prisoner.

Surely no one liked being chained up like this; you had to figure out a way to escape, right?

And as for this group suspected of helping him escape—even if their behavior was a bit unrestrained, shouldn’t he at least try to run interference so their intentions weren’t so painfully obvious?

Instead, he reprimanded her on the spot without a second thought, even escalating the matter to an ideological level?

As non-academics, the group felt a slight shock, feeling the sheer weight of his knowledge—Splash!

Amidst that shock, a streak of blood-red suddenly flashed. The candlelight painted the surroundings in a scarlet hue as it splattered outward.

This...

The situation had changed abruptly. More than one person let out a low gasp and rapidly retreated, showing absolutely no intention of lending a hand to Fu Qian at the center of the crimson spray.

The reason was simple: for one, his popularity was indeed lacking; for another, the splashing red was accompanied by the heavy scent of alcohol.

That was right. Someone had indeed launched a sudden attack, and the target was none other than a certain infamous academic leader.

However, that splash of red wasn’t the result of a blown-off head, but half a glass of fine wine thrown directly at him. It drenched more than half his face.

”Is this your attitude?”

The victim sneered and wiped his face, looking utterly unwilling to let the other party off.

”Did you think offering a toast would end this?”

...

Putting it that way didn’t seem entirely wrong, either.

The one who threw the wine was naturally Professor Lisa. Faced with the overbearing Fu Qian, she finally dropped the restraint she had shown at the Academy. Instead, she bravely expressed her emotions, treating the leader to half a glass of leftover wine.

Just from the motion of tossing the wine, one could almost feel her immense satisfaction.

Her control was also impeccably precise. She hadn’t thrown it dead-on, but at a slight angle, so that while it drenched the victim’s face, it barely touched Wen Li sitting right beside him.

As the saying went, character was revealed in the details, and this meticulousness actually paid off.

Untouched by the splash, Wen Li didn’t intervene. She chose to watch coldly, letting the academic oligarch be humiliated.

But there was a reason he was an academic oligarch. Even after taking a face full of wine, nothing could stop Professor Fu’s quest for truth. He cared even less about this minor offense than Wen Li beside him.

”Either make it get dark right now, or figure out a way to prove why it hasn’t gotten dark yet. Otherwise—”

Seeing Lisa stripped of her momentum, standing speechless with the glass in hand, Fu Qian pointed toward the door. He signaled that the old professor wouldn’t fall for this trick; if she couldn’t produce an explanation, this wasn’t over.

Yet before he could state the consequences, the light suddenly dimmed out of nowhere.

As if in response to his words, visibility under the already gloomy sky plummeted. In the blink of an eye, it became impossible to see the scene outside.

Such a thing actually happened?

Without a doubt, this was the darkness Professor Lisa had spoken of. For a moment, even Fu Qian clicked his tongue in wonder.

It certainly wasn’t his doing. His current physique clearly had nothing to do with feats like swapping the sky and altering the sun.

He could only conclude that Professor Lisa had a bit of dumb luck, actually surviving the regular meeting in this manner.

”...I said it was only a possibility.”

After a brief moment of shock, she even regained her poise.

Casually setting the wine glass back down, Lisa sat down again with a sneer, emphasizing that she had never claimed the sky would definitely turn dark.

”Does Your Excellency want to go out for a stroll to confirm whether there really is Turbulence?”

...

He was actually quite interested, but unfortunately, as he had mentioned before, he was bogged down by trivial matters. Sitting in this position, he rarely had many opportunities for exploration anymore.

Lisa’s words were naturally meant as sarcasm, but little did she know that an academic leader would never care about such a petty squabble. In that moment, Fu Qian merely glanced at the chains on his wrists and sighed inwardly.

A true academic worker explored both the world and themselves.

So far in this mission, there was already enough evidence to prove that this place was some sort of special space constructed with him at its core.

If there was a chance to explore its mechanics and experience more of its elements, Fu Qian felt it would truly be a beautiful thing.

What a pity that his physical body was not only weak but completely devoid of freedom. Given the current situation, getting Eldest Miss Wen to help undo his restraints wouldn’t be easy.

”Let’s wait until there’s an opportunity.”

With a soft sigh, Fu Qian leaned back in his seat in a rather melancholy posture and turned to glance at Wen Li.

The latter remained expressionless, naturally showing no pity, and indeed had no intention of picking up the conversation.

”It sounds like you arrived here the earliest?”

Not forcing the issue, Fu Qian casually continued chatting with Lisa, bringing up what she had just said.

Although it lacked credibility, just from the description of pouring the wine, one could tell that the original three—Lisa and her group—hadn’t arrived together.

”Not much earlier. After all, I haven’t been here for very long either.”

Because two negatives make a positive, after that chaotic exchange, the atmosphere had inexplicably normalized a bit.

Frowning as she answered, Lisa watched helplessly as Fu Qian took that previous glass of wine from Wen Li’s hand and took a sip.