Eldritch Horror Theatre

So the essence of this task was to prevent the Anjing Group’s testers from realizing that something had happened to Kisaragi Kana?

The problem was that barely an hour remained until six o’clock. In such a massive city, the daily death toll alone was incalculable. Finding a single corpse was like finding a needle in the ocean.

At the same time, even Kisaragi Kana’s elderly father had no idea of her whereabouts.

Things were a bit tricky!

Stepping away from the Kisaragi family’s doorway, Fu Qian looked thoughtful.

Additionally, the potion experiment mentioned by Mister Kisaragi was somewhat intriguing; it vaguely didn’t sound like any legitimate potion.

After all, according to him, Kisaragi Kana had ”applied” for the potion.

Was it some magic potion that transformed you upon drinking? Otherwise, it was hard to explain such enthusiasm.

He could look into that later; the top priority right now was finding the target.

While pondering, Fu Qian turned to look to his right.Over there, in the house next door to the Kisaragi family, a curtain was propped open a crack, revealing half a face staring in his direction.

The moment Fu Qian glanced over, that face silently withdrew.

It was good to have enthusiastic neighbors. As the saying went, a distant relative wasn’t as good as a near neighbor!

With a smile on his face, Fu Qian walked straight over and knocked on the door.

Unfortunately, after waiting a moment, no one responded.

Impolite, but that was a good thing.

Amid his musings, Fu Qian didn’t hesitate to deliver a kick, and the heavy security door flew open with a crash.

Now that was what you call skill!

Retracting his foot, Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction.

Thanks to his top-tier control, the force and angle of that kick were flawless. He had strived to minimize the noise while forcing the door open, effectively eliminating the side effect of disturbing the neighbors.

”What are you doing... I’ll call the police!”

A few meters behind the open door, the owner of that half-face from earlier was standing there rigidly.

His body was stiff and his voice trembled, making him look like a clam whose shell had just been smashed.

”Call them.”

During the man’s feeble threat, Fu Qian had already walked past him, sat straight down on the living room sofa, and made a casual gesture.

For someone who only dared to observe sneakily, the skill of making a frontal threat was far too advanced.

...

As it turned out, after hesitating again and again, Brother Clam ultimately didn’t dare to make the call.

”What do you want to ask?”

”Very good.”

Fu Qian expressed immense appreciation for this man’s ability to submit to circumstances.

He sized up the man, who was dressed completely formally even at home.

”What should I call you?”

”Takagi...”

”Alright, Mister Takagi. Kisaragi Kana next door—do you know where she went?”

”...How would I know that! I rarely interact with her. Why ask me?”

For some reason, after confirming that this murderous-looking man was here to look for someone, Takagi instantly let out a sigh of relief.

His relief was so immense that he even fired back the question rapidly in a tone laced with confusion and anger.

”Don’t be nervous. Interacting is one thing, but are you sure you haven’t been keeping an eye on her?”

Fu Qian blinked.

”I have no idea what you’re talking about. If it’s because I was watching through the window just now, I can only say I saw a suspicious person and observed for a bit out of safety concerns.”

”If there’s nothing else, please leave. I can at least promise not to notify the police—”

Before his voice could fade, Takagi saw Fu Qian stand up and take a step forward.

Seeming to sense the danger, he subconsciously shrank back while opening his mouth to call for help.

Unfortunately, before his vocal cords could vibrate at a high frequency, an iron-like hand clamped onto his neck.

Takagi, who was only slightly shorter than Fu Qian, had his feet lifted off the ground almost instantly.

As the assailant, Fu Qian didn’t utter any harsh words. He simply held Takagi up in silence, letting the man struggle.

In less than a minute, Takagi was nearly motionless. Fu Qian casually tossed him to the floor.

Pant... pant...

Sounding like a broken bellows, Takagi gasped for breath for a full half-minute.

”I... I, really—but I might know someone who does...”

He soon struggled to speak.

Fu Qian maintained his smiling expression and gave no response.

”Please come with me... I-I’m not going to call the police...”

Under the nearly tangible threat of death, Brother Takagi erupted with an intense desire to live, struggling to his feet from the floor.

After staggering forward two steps, he opened a nearby door.

Behind the door was, unexpectedly, a study. Its area wasn’t large, but it was decorated quite meticulously.

Without waiting for Fu Qian to urge him on, Takagi ran straight to the bookshelf, reached behind it, fumbled around for a moment, and then pushed the shelf aside with all his might.

The next moment, a hidden door opened on the pale green wall, and a faint glimmer of light seeped out from behind it.

”Please follow me.”

Takagi turned back to say this, though his eyes only dared to look at the floor.

”Alright.”

Fu Qian gave a casual reply. The scene before him came as no surprise.

He had already observed the house’s layout earlier; it was obvious at a glance that the study’s size was abnormal, making the presence of a hidden door perfectly natural.

Before Fu Qian could speak, Takagi took the initiative to step forward and turn on the lights. An ambiguous pink glow instantly illuminated the surroundings.

It was obvious that Brother Takagi had tried his best, turning on every available light. However, due to the room’s style, it only made the yellowish-pink illumination slightly more vivid.

On one of the walls, there was even a heart-shaped pattern formed by rose-red lights.

Unlike his formal exterior, this specially isolated space clearly represented another side deep within Brother Takagi’s heart.

”Kisaragi Kana?”

Fu Qian looked inside that ring of heart-shaped colored lights.

At a glance, it was completely full of photos.

The subject of all the photos was the same: a young woman with shoulder-length black hair. Judging from the angles, most were taken secretly.

Her facial features somewhat resembled Mister Kisaragi’s from earlier. This was definitely the very person he was looking for.

He had to admit she was indeed a beautiful woman, looking no older than twenty.

Although there were many similarities in their facial features, when put together, she was far more eye-catching than her older sister.

And clearly, the neighbor, Mister Takagi, was one of her admirers. In this private sanctuary unmentionable to outsiders, he had collected a vast number of her photos.

Fu Qian even saw a map marked with various dots and lines, which seemed to track her movements.

There were also skirts on the table.

For a moment, Fu Qian felt the sleaziness index in the air skyrocket.

”This... I really do interact very little with Miss Kisaragi... but I have collected some information about her.”

Seeing Fu Qian inspecting his collection, Takagi offered a feeble explanation from the side.

Before Fu Qian could say anything, he silently stepped forward and opened a nearby drawer.

Inside the drawer was a stack of file folders. He took them all out and placed them in front of Fu Qian.

”While collecting this information, I discovered some other people. Quite a few of them had close ties to Miss Kisaragi... I think someone among them might know where Kisaragi is right now...”