Eldritch Horror Theatre

So she wasn’t counting on her child to do the cleaning after all? Still as considerate as ever.

Red Moon’s remark about cleaning up dirty things sounded a bit eerie, yet Fu Qian remained completely composed as he watched them go about their housework.

The Red Moon with the blood-red eyes—the one who had spoken last—instantly received the same treatment he had, becoming the focus of every gaze.

Hmm...

The one in question showed not a trace of panic over having a disguise seen through. Instead, she looked thoughtful herself.

Without even needing to look in a Mirror, she seemed to know right where the filth was. Silently, her hand rose to touch her face.

That gesture... could it be?

Seeing her part her index and middle fingers and press them against her two eyes, Fu Qian seemed to realize what she was about to do.

Squelch—

Sure enough, the very next instant, she gouged both blood-red eyes right out of their sockets.It was such a classic move that if Fu Qian didn’t know how hard it was for Red Moon to track him into a mission, he would have suspected she had been watching from the sidelines when he went AFK to challenge the Pure White Angel.

The phrase ”out of sight, out of mind” took on a whole new meaning right then—the moment those two blood-red eyes came out, all the Red Moons visibly relaxed in unison, filled with the satisfaction of a freshly cleaned house.

Even the one who had gouged out her own eyes was no exception.

Even with blood still spilling from the two hollow sockets, her face was filled with the relief of someone who had severed all mortal ties.

As for the eyeballs in her hand, they crumbled into dust in the blink of an eye and drifted away.

”There. Sometimes you really have no idea how dust gets inside.”

The entire process was as natural as breathing. Before Fu Qian even had the chance to take a closer look, the cleanup was already finished.

Meanwhile, the Red Moon sharing his seat had quietly turned her gaze back to him, smiling as she chatted about the annoyances of housework.

...

Not bad. Her emotional state was steadier than he had imagined.

When it came to dust, Fu Qian had plenty of experience himself.

More often than not, no matter how tightly you shut the doors and windows, if you left a room empty for a long time, you would still return to find a thin layer of dust on the table.

The fact that Red Moon could use that as a metaphor right now at least proved her mindset hadn’t completely crumbled yet. Just a moment ago, Fu Qian had genuinely been a little worried.

For instance, what if tearing out her eyeballs hadn’t satisfied her, and she had gone on to mince the rest of that body into ground meat while hunting for the source of the contamination?

That might have been a more cautious approach, though in Fu Qian’s view, it wouldn’t have accomplished much.

[Annalise is Tilanqi, and Tilanqi is Annalise.]

Those words were clearly operating on a much more transcendent level; flesh and blood were merely the final outward symptoms.

Still, spotting a flaw right while showing off a proud achievement to her child was bound to ruin her mood.

Given Red Moon’s fragile mental state at the moment, it was impossible not to worry.

”It really is spotless, but I have to get going now.”

Relieved as he was, Fu Qian agreed with her while decisively announcing that it was time for him to leave.

”So soon?”

She didn’t look all that surprised, though disappointment inevitably crept into Red Moon’s voice.

She hesitated, looking as if she wanted to say more, seemingly worried that the ”dust” just now had put him off.

”Yeah, I have a lot on my plate, and someone might already be waiting for me.”

In response, Fu Qian let out the weary sigh of someone attending to myriad affairs daily.

On one hand, he wasn’t making it up—as his status and authority grew day by day, saying he was bogged down with trivialities didn’t even begin to cover it.

On the other hand, it really looked like he had no choice but to leave, or else even more dust might start showing up.

Yes, as Fu Qian saw it, there was a good chance the problem cropping up in Red Moon had been catalyzed by his own arrival.

He lacked the specific background knowledge, yet it could still be boiled down to pure logic—

Going by his earlier deduction, this special production line had likely started running the moment he called out that name.

What were the odds, then, that Annalise’s contamination would begin surfacing during the brief window right after he stepped inside?

And if it wasn’t a coincidence, the biggest variable here was undeniably himself.

...

As one of the two Anchor Points, had his presence stimulated something from a particular angle?

That was the explanation Fu Qian leaned toward most. And if that really was the case, the current situation left him caught in a dilemma.

First, as noted earlier, leaving meant a vacuum period of nearly twenty-four hours.

He could barely imagine what kind of scene would greet him the next time he returned.

Conversely, there was the immediate problem: staying here would very likely act as a catalyst, accelerating Annalise’s ”contamination” across Red Moon.

Perhaps it wouldn’t change the fundamental outcome—meaning it wasn’t a case where Red Moon would have succeeded on her own and only failed because he showed up.

Even so, exposing that failure too early would be a devastating blow to Red Moon’s state of mind.

Her reaction just now was already about as ideal as he could hope for. If this dragged on, there would come a point where she couldn’t keep a lid on it anymore, and then everything would collapse in a chain reaction.

Faced with this dilemma, Fu Qian’s choice was simple and decisive: take his leave right now while Red Moon was still barely holding herself together.

If he waited any longer, she might not even be able to handle the news that her ”child was leaving.”

It sounded a bit complicated, yet anyone thinking rationally could see it was an easy choice to make.

After all, staying here offered no real leads, and brute force was clearly off the table.

Even if leaving made things inconvenient later, it still beat staying here, escalating the problem, and driving Red Moon mad in short order.

”All right. Feel free to look around before you go, and take whatever you can use.”

Seeing her ”child” in such a rush to leave, Red Moon finally seemed to have talked herself into accepting it. With a soft sigh, she made sure to remind him to help himself to anything he wanted.

”You’ve already given me plenty, and I’m not really short on anything right now.”

Fu Qian continued to turn down her goodwill, shaking his head as he looked around a home that didn’t even have four walls.

”Actually, now that I think of it, I brought something back for you this time.”

Switching tracks right after, Fu Qian tapped his forehead as if he had nearly forgotten something.

Locking his gaze onto the Red Moon who had gouged out her own eyes, he stood up and walked right over to her. He reached out toward her grisly eye sockets as if to soothe the wounds—and actually touched her.

Going any further was clearly impolite, yet Fu Qian’s right index finger didn’t stop until it had pushed straight into the socket.

It was a bizarre move. For a moment, it almost gave the impression that he felt Red Moon hadn’t scooped her eyes out cleanly enough and wanted to lend her a hand.

”All done. It might feel a little uncomfortable, so please bear with it.”

Fu Qian withdrew his hand an instant later, bringing nothing out with it.

”This is...”

Instinctively, the Blind Eye Red Moon started to reach up to touch it, stopping herself mid-motion only when she heard his warning. Instead, she cupped a hand carefully over her eye socket, as if guarding a gift thoughtfully prepared by her child.

And in truth, there really was one.

What Fu Qian had just done was simple: in the wound inside Red Moon’s left eye socket, he had genuinely planted something as a gift.

A ”Seed of Writhing” that could serve as a target for Extreme Hunger Infection.