Eldritch Horror Theatre

”I’m not going.”

A tenth of a second after Tan Ying finished speaking, Fu Qian flatly refused.

”Why?”

Although Tan Ying had clearly braced herself for a rejection, she was still taken aback by his sheer bluntness.

”I’m not interested.”

Fu Qian’s expression remained completely unchanged.

Even as a child, he had never been interested in haunted houses—places built purely for people to pay to scare themselves.

Not to mention that most operators severely lacked imagination and only knew how to splash fake blood everywhere.

And now?

As a battle-tested veteran, he was thoroughly desensitized.The painstakingly arranged scenes had less visual impact than one of his own skills.

Going to a place like that felt akin to watching a trashy B-movie, which was why Fu Qian refused so definitively.

...

Given Fu Qian’s stance, the atmosphere temporarily ground to an awkward halt.

Tan Ying’s classmate clearly hadn’t expected him to be so blunt either and stood there somewhat stunned.

Beside them, Jiang Yuanliang was completely dumbfounded.

He was actually acting this high and mighty while being the one pursued?

This guy was something else! A true role model for their generation!

Huu!

In this tense atmosphere, Tan Ying took a deep breath.

However, just as everyone thought she was about to explode, she reached out and grabbed Fu Qian’s hand instead.

”Don’t be like that!”

Tan Ying’s expression turned pitiful, making her look as if she were on the verge of tears.

”We’re all friends here. It’s such a creepy and terrifying place, I really wouldn’t dare go in by myself!”

Since the hard approach failed, she was trying the soft one? She really knew how to adapt!

Fu Qian shook his head.

A pretty girl acting coquettishly was undoubtedly pleasing to the eye, but as a professional-grade consultant with piercing golden eyes, he had long since seen through her ulterior motives.

She looked pitiful on the surface, but when she mentioned the haunted house, she didn’t show the slightest hint of genuine fear. Instead, she was brimming with eagerness. Her fragile act was completely faked.

Fu Qian could easily guess her true goal.

It was a well-known fact that men were not inherently braver than women when it came to ghosts.

Those guys who glared and acted like they wanted to punch the staff in haunted houses were mostly just putting on a show because their girlfriends or other attractive young women were around. If you actually checked on them, many of their legs would be trembling.

Tan Ying’s enthusiastic performance had absolutely nothing to do with fear. More than likely, she just wanted to trick him into going inside so she could watch him make a fool of himself.

”Sorry, but it’s rare for my business partner to visit. I still need to show him around.”

Who the hell was he trying to fool? A moment ago, he had looked ready to kick the guy out!

”Then he can come with us! We don’t have enough people anyway.”

Tan Ying was visibly gritting her teeth as she practically shoved Fu Qian forward.

”I don’t really like those kinds of places...”

Jiang Yuanliang raised a weak protest.

”Oh, come on! We’re all young here; we need to be brave and challenge ourselves!”

Not enough people? Interesting!

Seeing how persistent she was, Fu Qian raised an eyebrow and, readily accepting good advice, agreed.

”Sure.”

...

”Are you sure? We’re going right now?”

At that exact same time, the two girls who were out shopping came to a halt. He Xian stared at Pei Yanqing with wide eyes.

”Haven’t you always been too scared to go?”

She had been itching to visit the newly opened haunted house nearby and had constantly tried to persuade her roommate to go with her. She never expected Pei Yanqing to take the initiative today.

”I don’t know either. I just suddenly felt like going. Young people need to be brave and challenge themselves, right?”

Pei Yanqing playfully blinked her eyes.

...

”Since we’re finished with business, would you care to grab a cup of coffee?”

Inside the brightly lit room, Qin Mingze glanced down at the stocking-clad foot in a high heel rubbing against his pant leg, before looking back up at her face.

It was a pity. While this client certainly possessed plenty of charm, it wasn’t nearly enough to make him violate his professional ethics.

Speaking of which, wasn’t the employer Xiao Qian worked for as a security consultant supposedly a stunningly gorgeous, wealthy woman too?

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Qin Mingze suddenly felt that working overtime on the weekend was an absolute crime against humanity.

After politely declining the young woman’s invitation, he walked out the door and immediately pulled out his phone to call Fu Qian.

”What’s up?”

The call was answered almost immediately.

”Are you at home?”

”Nope.”

Fu Qian gave him the address.

”If you’re interested, you can come over and challenge yourself too.”

”I guess that works...”

Qin Mingze considered it for a moment before readily agreeing.

”Young Master Qin says he’s coming too. Should we wait a bit?”

Fu Qian asked as he looked at Tan Ying, his expression neutral.

In that short amount of time, they had already arrived at their destination.

The building in front of them was significantly larger than he had imagined.

Judging by the design of the entrance, the boss had clearly put a lot of effort into this place. It was no wonder it had made a name for itself.

Even Tan Ying, whose original intention might have been to prank him, looked genuinely eager after seeing the venue in person.

”...Alright!”

Although Tan Ying was a bit annoyed, she couldn’t find a good reason to refuse.

The group didn’t have to wait at the entrance for long before Young Master Qin arrived.

”Why the sudden interest in something like this?”

Qin Mingze looked at Fu Qian with curiosity.

”It’s not me. She’s the one who’s in high spirits.”

Fu Qian pointed at Tan Ying.

”By her own admission, she’s easily scared but still loves doing it.”

”Alright, count me in then.”

Qin Mingze shrugged noncommittally.

Hmph!

Off to the side, Tan Ying sneered at Fu Qian.

”I already checked. It’s six people to a group. Even with Young Master Qin here, there’s still a spot for you.”

”Is that so?”

Fu Qian replied evenly. Suddenly, he waved at someone in the distance.

”You’re all here...”

After recognizing that the person waving was Fu Qian, Pei Yanqing hurried over.

”Yanqing, why are you here?”

Tan Ying looked rather surprised the moment she saw her.

”She suddenly threw a fit about coming here to play.”

He Xian was the first to explain, not even giving Pei Yanqing a chance to speak.

”It seems this place really is famous!”

Fu Qian smiled meaningfully from the side.

”Yeah! I heard people talk about it before. The production value here is supposed to be really good. They even say that all the props were blessed by an eminent monk.”

Tan Ying’s classmate nodded repeatedly.

Haunted house props blessed by an eminent monk.

Girl, do you even know what you’re saying?

”Don’t tell me you guys are here for it too?”

Pei Yanqing finally realized what was happening.

”...Yeah.”

Tan Ying nodded stiffly.

”I remember you just said there was a six-person limit, right?”

Fu Qian looked at her with a beaming smile.

”I guess I won’t be going in then.”

”Well, not everyone is interested anyway.”

Tan Ying wasn’t going to give up that easily, however. She shot a cold glare at Jiang Yuanliang.

”Mr. Jiang didn’t seem to like these kinds of places, did he?”

You were the one who dragged him here in the first place!

Fu Qian shook his head, though he had already prepared for this.

”Actually... I’m pretty interested in going now.”

Unexpectedly, despite facing Tan Ying’s murderous glare, Jiang Yuanliang’s expression twisted in struggle before he weakly raised his hand.

...

What the hell was wrong with everyone today!

Tan Ying was completely speechless.

He looked terrified just a moment ago. Where did he suddenly find the courage?

But since things had already reached this point... A deeply reluctant Tan Ying ultimately had no choice but to follow the group inside.

As the mastermind behind all of this, Fu Qian was in no rush to leave. Instead, he started chatting with the boss at the front desk.

Naturally, there was no such thing as a perfect coincidence. He had simply responded to a few desires in their heads and provided a little subtle guidance.

In fact, as a Demigod who respected the free will of others, he generally refrained from doing such things, with the sole exception being when he had intimidated Xu Meng recently.

Yet after trying it today, the results were surprisingly good. He had easily assembled a six-person team for Tan Ying, thereby saving his own life from being wasted in a haunted house.

While chatting with the burly, bald boss, he even learned that the claims of ’blessed’ props were borderline false advertising—not all the props had been blessed, only a select few.

The boss had spent a great deal of effort tracking them down from various places, and they truly did possess some supernatural quirks.

”Even I don’t know what might happen to people once they go inside.”

The boss’s expression was dead serious. Playing along, Fu Qian clicked his tongue in mock amazement.

Ultimately, their exaggerated conversation was cut short by a piercing scream from Tan Ying.