Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Did... did you kill this person?”

Daniel froze for about five seconds. Once he processed the meaning behind Fu Qian’s words, his face instantly drained of color, clearly terrified.

In truth, Fu Qian hadn’t meant to scare him.

A corpse had appeared Inside the Door of the school’s strange storage room.

No matter the world, an incident like this would be explosive news.

Regardless of how the news broke, it was bound to trigger a massive reaction. Once it did, it wouldn’t just be the school administration showing up.

But for him, the top priority right now was completing his task—returning home before sunset.

If this blew up, never mind skipping class, he’d be lucky just to leave school on time.

Unless this guy voluntarily kept his mouth shut and turned a blind eye to it all.

So, Fu Qian chose to just take the blame for the murder.”You could take it that way.”

Facing the shocked Daniel, Fu Qian wore a bizarre smile, looking every bit the part of a deranged killer.

”Also, I don’t recall giving you permission to ask questions.”

As he spoke, he even pulled the baseball bat out of the guy’s mouth.

Daniel’s expression instantly turned even uglier.

Fu Qian’s current demeanor was a stark contrast to his usual self.

A loner facade hiding a violently ruthless nature perfectly fit the image of a psychotic murderer lurking in the school.

He had actually stumbled upon a real killer’s hidden identity and dumping ground!

Completely buying into Fu Qian’s implication, Daniel felt his blood run cold, yet he forced himself to swallow the urge to scream for help.

”Now do you believe I really have no interest in working with Medea?”

Fu Qian stared down at him with a pleasant smile.

”I think this is a misunderstanding.”

Under the pressure of the crisis, Daniel’s brain had clearly regained its agility. He seized the opening and spoke rapidly.

”I’ll keep everything I saw today an absolute secret. I’ll pretend it never happened, I swear.”

”Oaths are the most unreliable things.”

Unfortunately for him, Fu Qian merely jutted his chin toward the corpse on the ground with a profound tone.

”Why do you think he ended up here?”

He had already taken a look earlier. Although the corpse on the floor was nearly decayed to the bone, the remaining scraps of clothing were standard high school attire.

Yet, according to Daniel, the school hadn’t actively inspected this place in a long time, which also meant no students had gone missing recently.

The two facts were clearly contradictory; there had to be a hidden story here.

However, Fu Qian had little interest in these bizarre campus mysteries and no desire to uncover the truth.

...

”Steve and the others are still outside.”

Seeing Fu Qian brimming with murderous intent, Daniel’s heart sank, prompting him to speak up again.

”That’s fine. I’ll have Steve and the others come in to keep you company.”

Fu Qian maintained his nonchalant tone.

”What exactly do you want?”

When Fu Qian remained entirely unmoved, Daniel let out a low growl, sounding on the verge of a breakdown.

He hadn’t completely lost his mind, though, and chose not to scream for help. Given how efficiently this guy had taken him down just now, calling Steve and the others in wouldn’t change a thing. In all likelihood, all three of them would share the same fate.

As for yelling at the two outside to fetch backup, that was even more pointless. By the time anyone arrived, he would most likely already be dead at the hands of this psycho.

”Are you confused about something? It’s my turn to ask questions.”

Fu Qian gestured for him to stand up straight.

”First question: aside from you three, who else knows you came looking for me?”

This...

It was obvious this question left Daniel deeply conflicted.

He hesitated over whether to tell the truth and win some goodwill, or use a lie as leverage to intimidate him.

Amidst his hesitation, he recalled their earlier conversation and finally gritted his teeth.

”No one knows. I called them out in secret.”

”Very good!”

Fu Qian nodded in appreciation of his honest attitude.

”Second question: what is my home address?”

This...

This second question clearly caught Daniel even more off guard, and he quickly offered a panicked defense.

”Please believe me, I really didn’t have any other intentions—”

However, halfway through his explanation, he wilted under Fu Qian’s scrutinizing gaze. After a brief pause, he quickly rattled off an address.

He actually knew it.

Fu Qian was quite satisfied with this outcome.

Daniel never would have guessed that the second question was the only one Fu Qian actually cared about. The first had merely been to set the mood.

As for the address, Fu Qian had estimated there was a fair chance this guy knew it.

After all, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. Since this guy could casually drop a word like ’family’ into the conversation, he wasn’t from an ordinary household. He had likely been steeped in his family’s culture and teachings from a young age.

And indeed, his methods proved to be quite ruthless. To prevent the possibility of failing to corner Fu Qian at school, Daniel had acquired his home address in advance.

He could only say it was an excellent move; it had saved him a lot of trouble.

”Good. Close the door.”

Fu Qian glanced at Daniel, who stood there as if awaiting a sentence, and gestured with his chin.

Huh?

Never expecting him to ask only two questions, Daniel felt as if he’d been granted a royal pardon. He swiftly closed the door, even forcing down his disgust to clean up the traces of the corpse.

”Can I go now?”

Having done all this, Daniel stared cautiously at Fu Qian’s face.

”Sure.”

Fu Qian smiled, his tone extremely easygoing.

”Also, I thought one of your earlier ideas was pretty good. I need a sick leave note.”

”If I don’t show up tomorrow, hand it in for me. Any problems?”

”No.”

Seeing himself finding a way out of a desperate situation, Daniel’s spirits instantly lifted, and he spoke much faster.

Unfortunately, he received no further praise this time. Fu Qian ignored him, pulling the door open and stepping outside.

...

Let him go!

Seeing Fu Qian walk out completely unharmed, Steve and the other guy guarding outside were clearly stunned.

Just as they instinctively moved to block him, they saw Daniel’s figure appear at the storage room entrance, frantically gesturing at them.

Though completely bewildered, the two of them confirmed the signal, stopped in their tracks, and watched Fu Qian walk away.

...

A minor hiccup, but still quite a rewarding harvest!

After that brief delay, it was already approaching evening. Fortunately, there was still some time before sunset.

Following the address Daniel provided, Fu Qian didn’t need much effort to find his residence: a rather old residential building.

Using the Key he found on himself, Fu Qian easily opened the door in front of him, proving the address was correct.

After getting the information he wanted earlier, Fu Qian hadn’t wasted any more breath, much less listened to Daniel’s oaths.

One major characteristic of humans was their fickleness. No matter how many oaths this guy swore, Fu Qian didn’t believe he could truly keep the secret for long once he was safe.

Instead, acting completely indifferent to whether he snitched or not would leave the guy hesitating to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase, helping him stick to his principles for a little while longer.