Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was actually a rational choice.

Though his sensations in that moment were incredibly vivid, as the innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, Fu Qian didn’t find Madam Number Seven’s actions all that hard to understand.

Going tit-for-tat also required an appropriate method. Everyone here was a veteran; anyone with a shred of maturity knew that exchanging a few blows and completely burning bridges were two different things.

Faced with the aggressive Wen Li, she clearly wasn’t willing to blindly back down.

If I take off my veil just because you tell me to, what if you demand a kiss next?

But expressing that refusal required tact. Slapping her right back would undoubtedly make her the first to stick her neck out in this complicated situation.

As the only person who had brought a captive, Wen Li needed to establish dominance to dispel any inappropriate thoughts the others might harbor. That meant she absolutely wouldn’t hold back in their first conflict.

Under these circumstances, directly attacking Wen Li herself was truly a bit unnecessary.

It was better to find a proxy target for a civil exchange of moves—it vented frustrations while leaving some leeway.

The target wasn’t completely irrelevant, nor was it a direct attack on the person involved. She even used mental techniques, trying her best to preserve the possibility that they could laugh away old grudges later.As it turned out, Wen Li was very cooperative. Seeing her opponent actually attack her captive, she immediately met the attack head-on without batting an eye, demonstrating her own methods on the captive as well.

”Truly not bad.”

Even a moment of mutual praise was indispensable. Wen Li immediately won her opponent’s approval.

After Fu Qian was casually injected with adrenaline, Madam Number Seven let out a cold sneer from under her mask, seemingly surprised by how skillfully her opponent operated.

”Then what about this?”

But leaving it at that was obviously impossible. That was just a greeting.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Madam Number Seven surprisingly snapped her fingers as well, then grabbed her own throat and choked out a string of bizarre sounds.

...

Every single one of you is imitating this seat now, huh? Have you paid the patent fees?

Madam Number Seven’s actions were undoubtedly bizarre, and as the arena for their competition, Fu Qian instantly felt the impact—or rather, Suffocation.

The buzzing in his head seemed to ease slightly in that moment, but the sounds coming from her throat struck him directly, even acting straight upon his flesh and blood.

Fu Qian clearly felt that in the same spot on his own body, his flesh and blood seemed to have developed a mind of its own and was freely expressing itself.

It reached the point where its original functions were somewhat abandoned. His breathing was instantly obstructed, and the sensation was spreading rapidly.

It felt as if tentacles were extending from that lump of flesh, reaching step by step into his gastric acid—but that wasn’t real.

Fu Qian didn’t try to massage his throat to manually clear the blockage.

Perhaps his Transcendent Tier constitution was gone, but he wouldn’t be easily frightened.

It was easy for him to confirm that the flesh there hadn’t actually shrunk into a lump.

Madam Number Seven’s second move fundamentally still belonged to the category of mental attacks.

It was like planting an invisible seed on a mental level, which then fed upon the ”self.”

It merely made his body believe that the area had come alive, thereby disrupting its original functions. It was a completely different matter from the Seed of Writhing he was so adept at.

Of course, clarifying this point only reduced the need to take physical action; the pain wasn’t alleviated in the slightest.

In the blink of an eye, not only had his breathing been forcibly stopped, but Fu Qian also seemed able to feel the joys and sorrows of his Adam’s apple.

However, even so, his primary focus remained on the issue of these two people plagiarizing his actions.

Snapping his fingers before making a move—had this casual habit actually unknowingly sparked a wave of imitation?

”Filthy, depraved... but an interesting technique. And sure enough, you don’t know what you are doing.”

It even seemed that Wen Li was moved by this, her gaze actually falling more upon the hand the other woman used to snap her fingers.

While slowly offering her critique, she extended a single finger and pressed it against her captive’s throat.

”Some things are not for you to meddle with.”

...

Whether it was the dialogue or the action, it seemed easy to cause misunderstandings.

Only Fu Qian, as the person involved, knew deeply that Eldest Miss Wen was truly instructing Madam Number Seven.

Accompanied by a light tap of that slender finger, his windpipe immediately felt lighter beneath a cool touch, and the Suffocation vanished.

Madam Number Seven’s imposing second move seemed to be instantly cracked once again.

Of course, if it were merely that, this condescending lecture would still be a bit much.

The reason for such an imposing manner was that the ”flesh and blood” that had come alive hadn’t actually disappeared.

Fu Qian could continue to feel it. Wen Li’s finger strike was so precise that it actually split the lump into four equally sized pieces, which wandered up and down to various parts of his body.

For instance, one of them already felt as though it was happily rolling around in his gastric acid.

Rather than saying it hadn’t been cleared away completely, Fu Qian preferred to believe it was due to precise control.

Even though it was clearly the opponent’s technique, Eldest Miss Wen acted as if the woman had stumbled into her area of expertise.

Even Madam Number Seven’s reaction seemed to prove this point.

No longer possessing her previous momentum, the latter merely remained silent, even dropping her hand from her throat.

...

Great techniques, you two, but have you considered the feelings of the arena?

As the saying goes, insiders look at the craft. In this fast and low-key exchange, it seemed a victor had emerged in the blink of an eye.

And it concluded with Eldest Miss Wen’s victory, utterly suppressing the other party’s aura.

The only problem was that neither of them seemed to know the meaning of lenient treatment for captives.

Although Eldest Miss Wen’s finger strike successfully shocked her opponent, it was undoubtedly a case of different tunes played with equal skill compared to the previous operation—namely, it didn’t alleviate his pain.

It wasn’t even as simple as splitting the pain into four and distributing it evenly across his body.

The effect far exceeded a simple one plus one equaling two. In that moment, Fu Qian clearly felt what it meant for joys and sorrows to not be mutually understood.

Just as one might say, his eyeballs were screaming, his gastric acid was singing, and his shoulder blades wanted to fly away... Combined with the already chaotic noises ringing in his head, all these wondrous sensations would have probably made anyone else drop to the floor drooling by now.

Of course, looking on the bright side, this perhaps represented everyone’s recognition of Professor Fu’s constitution.

”What’s going on? What happened to you?”

Even before the confrontation between Wen Li and her opponent ended, Yuan Shan—who was originally the first to strike up a conversation with Madam Number Seven—couldn’t help but express her surprise.

”It seems you truly no longer possess any Transcendent Tier attributes. How was this done?”

How was it done... This matter goes a bit deep. If I actually told you, you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Compared to the actions of the other two, Yuan Shan’s words could almost be understood as humanitarian care.

But facing her confusion, in that moment, Fu Qian still only sighed in his heart.

After all, this time it wasn’t just the Warehouse, but also the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison; it was the result of the combined efforts of two giants.

He also wanted to know exactly what reason caused the Warehouse to insist on turning him into an ordinary person before he could carry out the mission.