Eldritch Horror Theatre

When life didn’t go smoothly, one had to be good at finding the cause in others.

At first glance, the situation had indeed hit a dead end.

He had used the power of the Law to launch a dimensional strike to find someone, but the result only proved that the person truly wasn’t there. It seemed the only thing left to do was resort to burning zithers and cooking cranes.

The contents of the Key Codex appeared completely fine. He wouldn’t have remembered them wrong, and they were indeed taking effect.

This was exactly like applying a bunch of mathematical formulas and performing precise calculations, only to discover the only answer left to write down was ”no solution.”

And in the end, although this scientific expedition had yielded quite a harvest, it still lacked the most important Sublimation, meaning it could only be classified as a failure—or was it really?

Was the situation truly this hopeless? Had his ever-beloved logic personally killed this highly anticipated subject?

Someone else might have lamented that this was just how life was, but unfortunately, Fu Qian was clearly in no rush to do so. His calculations were flawless, yet the result was less than ideal. Why couldn’t it be that some evil spirit was causing trouble here?

Especially a certain evil spirit who particularly loved causing trouble.

The voice that suddenly rang out from behind him was both wretched and familiar. It belonged to none other than Excellency Patches, who had just recently used the Solitary King’s trio as fireworks.”There looks to be absolutely nothing up there.”

He hadn’t even bothered coming and going like a ghost. As he spoke, he plainly walked up to stand beside Fu Qian, mimicking him by looking up at the starry sky together.

He still maintained the image of a vile middle-aged man with a gloomy expression, though his attire had changed somewhat since last time.

A red floral shirt, knee-length beach shorts, and even a straw hat.

No matter how one looked at it, he was adapting to local customs, having specifically chosen the Archipelago’s popular outfit.

However, on his feet was surprisingly a pair of leather shoes. Judging from the texture, they were even ostrich leather, which instantly made his overall aura—somehow even more casual.

Indeed, who mandated that one had to wear beach shoes while walking on the beach?

In Fu Qian’s view, this mix-and-match culture perfectly aligned with the Archipelago’s ”all taboos are lifted” theme, fully reflecting Excellency Patches’s excellent mindset.

Of course, the same could hardly be said for anyone else.

With such a vile entity specializing in deception standing so close, normally speaking, even the Ancient Higher Beings wouldn’t have a good mindset.

”Yeah, which is why I wasn’t looking at anything to begin with. I’m just wasting time.”

Fortunately, Fu Qian had never considered himself highly respected. He didn’t even cast a sideways glance, casually answering the other’s question.

”Just wasting time—ha, haha—why is that?”

Patches wasn’t too surprised, but his threshold for amusement seemed a bit low today as he slapped his thigh loudly.

”To see if you would follow along and waste time too.”

It might have been contagious, but unfortunately, Fu Qian had no intention of slapping his thigh as well. He merely continued to clarify.

”You already knew I was here?”

His laughter subsided slightly. Looking at him, Patches still didn’t seem to doubt Fu Qian’s statement.

”It was only a possibility. After all, I haven’t encountered many so far who are capable of causing trouble with something like the Law.”

Fu Qian similarly didn’t deny the question, directly providing his reasoning instead.

Yes, this was exactly what he had mentioned earlier: one had to be good at finding the cause in others.

With the dimensional strike he had applied to find someone this time, considering the solemnity of something like the Law, ordinary people would clearly find it difficult to find room for shady manipulation.

Therefore, when suspecting that something had gone wrong, a few extraordinary individuals would undoubtedly come into focus very easily.

And among all the experts he had dealt with, Excellency Patches possessed an unquestionably verifiable track record.

Back during their chat in the West Plain’s Volcano, to repay Fu Qian for using the Miniature Universe Aberrant Color to pull him out to join the fun, Patches had not only impersonated Blazing Rainbow, but had even casually given that Golden Tree a hard time.

It had even been the true return of the Core of Law, the unprofanable Golden Tree.

”Hehe, there are far too few people like you who can remember a favor so well.”

Clearly stirred by the same memories, Excellency Patches wasn’t the least bit modest, directly stating that it had merely been an effortless favor.

”But is that the only reason?”

He didn’t even rush to deny the accusation of causing trouble, instead asking out of curiosity if there were any other reasons.

”Of course there’s more. Another point is that I felt you might be interested in this place.”

Shaking his head slightly, Fu Qian indicated that since they were both veterans of the trade, how could he easily make a judgment based on a single reason?

”Really now? Because you came to this place? I have to say, that’s a bit narcissistic.”

Having a pair of reasons seemed to finally satisfy Patches a bit, although he kept chuckling while questioning whether Fu Qian was feeling a little too good about himself.

”Yeah. On one hand, I came to this place.”

Yet Fu Qian simply felt that good about himself. With a light sigh, he repeated the other’s words.

”On the other hand, you seem to be paying close attention to the Progenitor of the Blood Clan.”

”Annalise? A very interesting person indeed, but truth be told, I’m not familiar with her.”

The leap in topic was quite sharp. Faced with Fu Qian suddenly bringing up the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, Patches’s expression finally turned somewhat meaningful.

Looking once again at the empty expanse of the sky that Fu Qian had been gazing at, he seemed to reminisce about an even more distant era.

”Honestly, I also find it hard to imagine that her relationship with you could be all that good,” Fu Qian said.

Fu Qian didn’t doubt it.

Perhaps those Ancient Higher Beings with overflowing divinity could still ignore the vile parts of this guy and pinch their noses to deal with him.

But the probability of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan—who had once been human and even possessed a certain degree of aesthetic taste—having any sort of friendship with this kind of trash was simply...

...infinitely close to zero.

Not just anyone possessed such high tolerance as Professor Fu.

”But it looks like you’re very interested in her things.”

Of course, tolerance was one thing. Fu Qian would never be easily fobbed off, and he casually gestured the shape of the Abyss Notes.

Yes, after the last mission ended, because the True Word Notebook and the Progenitor of the Blood Clan shared far too deep an origin, he had once raised a question.

Namely, whether it might not be a coincidence that such an important item had been delivered into his hands shortly after he arrived in this world.

”Hehehe—how did you know that I was the one who sent that thing?”

And it seemed there was no need to guess anymore. Smiling broadly, Excellency Patches magnanimously asked in return.

”To be honest, it really wasn’t easy to figure out. After all, we hadn’t even met yet at the time.”

Seeing as the other had practically claimed responsibility for the matter, Fu Qian briefly sighed in amazement once more.

”After realizing the appearance of that thing was a bit too deliberate, I looked back at my academic career and found there seemed to be a misunderstanding here similar to the previous one,” Fu Qian said, pointing a finger at his chest as if a watch were still hanging there.

”I might not have been familiar with you at the time, but you seemed somewhat familiar with me.”

”Because just a few days before that, we had even discussed topics like mechanical watches and successful people.”