Eldritch Horror Theatre

[Identity verification complete. Today’s work has begun.]

After a pleasant gathering with his slacker friends, Fu Qian put on his Work Badge right on time on Sunday morning.

To him, this was no longer just a job—it was a rare source of amusement.

At the very least, he couldn’t think of any other job that would make him willingly work overtime on a weekend.

[Warning: Containment Breach]

[Name: Angel of Comfort, Code: 1-003]

[Today’s work has been updated: Enter the Containment Scenario of 1-003 and complete re-containment.]

Unsurprisingly, a new breach had occurred.

Fu Qian was already used to this, but seeing the code still put him on high alert.

This was his first time encountering a breach involving an Item with a code starting with 1.He had always wondered what the prefix numbers on these Items actually meant.

Following basic logic, the numbers had to adhere to some sort of pattern—such as the smaller the number, the greater the danger.

If so, the difficulty of this containment wouldn’t be low. He needed to stay sharp.

Beyond the code, the visual anomaly caused by the Item’s breach inside the Warehouse was also a bit strange.

The phantom image projected by the breach was a white sphere about two meters in diameter.

Fu Qian examined it repeatedly and confirmed that it had no special features. It was just a sphere, completely devoid of any patterns.

[Entering the 1-003 Containment Scenario...]

[......1%...5%...10%...55%...75%...100%, Scenario loaded.]

[Eternity brings comfort.

Transcendents love to explore various forbidden domains, temper themselves, and seek advancement.

As a young transcendent on an exploration trip, you and numerous companions stepped into an unknown domain. The area was filled with Mist and ancient architecture, radiating a mysterious aura.

Unfortunately, what the explorers did not know was that not all roads have a return trip.]

[Skills: Air Bullet, Visceral Attack, Cat School]

[Weapon: Tyrant’s Fist]

[Containment Fulfillment Conditions: Escape the Furnace]

[Current SAN Value: 56, Current inspiration: 16]

Rows of explanatory text flashed by, and Fu Qian’s senses returned.

”Strange. Is this place on the map?”

Someone was speaking ahead. Fu Qian looked toward the voice and found himself standing in a field of ruined buildings.

A hazy fog hung overhead, obscuring the sun, moon, and stars.

A team was currently gathered in the ruins. They looked very young, mostly in their early twenties.

Despite their youth, they were by no means weak—at least much stronger than Eldest Young Master Ye Yang and his companions.

A few even possessed extraordinary vitality; he estimated they were at least around Tier 7.

More importantly, the group carried swords and sabers and was fully equipped with all sorts of gear. They were armed to the teeth.

An exploration team. Fu Qian recalled the introduction from earlier.

The person who had just spoken was a young man walking at the very front of the group. He frowned, signaling the others to stop.

”Another dead end. The layout of this place is too chaotic.”

He was right. Their path forward was cut off. A broken wall jutted out at an angle, its mottled stones looking incredibly old.

They could certainly climb over the wall, but it was hard to say what lay behind it.

It wasn’t just the broken wall. Looking further into the distance, one could see that this place was an absolute hodgepodge of architecture.

Spires, archways, and stone pillars—all kinds of chaotic elements were crammed together. At a glance, the sheer disorder was almost enough to trigger a physical sense of revulsion.

Right now, all these structures were shrouded in a pale gray fog.

The fog wasn’t overly thick, yet it possessed an inexplicable obscuring quality, making it difficult to clearly see anything beyond it.

”Liushuang, shouldn’t we stop?”

The young man glanced around and looked at another person in the team, seemingly asking for her opinion.

The person he called Liushuang was a young woman around his age, walking right behind him.

She had beautiful, picturesque features. Even dressed in practical clothing, her stunning beauty could not be hidden; she was in no way inferior to Wen Li, whom Fu Qian had met before.

”It is indeed a bit strange,” she replied.

The young woman furrowed her brows slightly as well.

”I’ve never heard of such a place being here, and there are no markings on the map at all. But judging from these architectural ruins, they date back a very long time.”

”There are too many branching paths here, and we’ve definitely gone too deep. Let’s stop and rest; there’s no need to rush.”

”Even though this is free exploration, it’s best not to stray too far from the other teams, or else Dean Li will have a hard time looking after everyone.”

The young man and woman were clearly the core figures of the team. As soon as she spoke, almost everyone agreed. The group tacitly took off their gear to rest, quickly setting up a makeshift camp.

A bunch of well-guided young transcendents on a fully prepared wilderness exploration.

Fu Qian quickly formed a judgment.

This team didn’t just possess solid individual strength; they also worked together in perfect harmony. They must have accidentally wandered into these ruins during some exploration mission.

His task was to escape the Furnace. Was this graveyard of architectural ruins the ”Furnace”?

Would the containment be complete as long as he got out of here?

Fu Qian swept his gaze around. He didn’t spot anything that might obstruct him, but moving around in a place like this would undoubtedly make it extremely easy to get lost.

Especially with the buildings that could have otherwise served as landmarks—their bizarre angles and stacked formations might easily create optical illusions.

Young people were always full of energy. From the group’s idle chatter, Fu Qian soon learned that Liushuang’s full name was Ji Liushuang, and the one who had spoken first was named Yuan Xin. They were the two strongest members of the team.

The entire group came from a place called the Academy, an institution dedicated exclusively to training transcendents.

Apart from this squad, there were two other teams, making thirty people in total. All were elites of the Academy, and they were personally led by the vice dean. It could definitely be called an all-star exploration team.

Unfortunately, this all-star exploration team currently seemed completely unaware that they had strayed onto a Road of No Return.

”Do you guys recognize what this is?”

At that moment, someone in the team pulled an object out of their backpack and held it up for the group to identify.

”All along the way, there have been practically no living creatures in these ruins. This is the only thing growing directly on the stones, so I gathered some while we walked. Oddly enough, the deeper we go, the more of it there is.”

The person tried tearing it with their hands.

”It’s as fine as hair but incredibly tough. It feels like it would make for a pretty good material.”

Everyone shook their heads. One of them smiled and pointed toward where Fu Qian was sitting.

”You can ask Fu Qian. He’s quite knowledgeable about weird things like this.”

He had inexplicably drawn their attention.

Fu Qian had already realized earlier that he was a marginal figure in this team and wasn’t very popular.

Not only did he walk at the very back of the formation while they were moving, but no one had even spoken a single word to him during their break.

But right now, he had undoubtedly drawn everyone’s gaze.

He watched as the person actually smiled and placed the object right in front of him.

Fu Qian took a glance at it.

”Hair.”