Eldritch Horror Theatre

This was just too much of a coincidence!

The group from the Origin Council was just about to stir up trouble, and then something happened over here in Dunis.

And since even someone like Marco knew the risks were high, Fu Qian refused to believe Wehle and the others weren’t keeping a close eye on the situation.

Or perhaps this beast-transformation disease was actually a side effect of Wehle’s plan? A necessary risk they had to take?

After all, from the look of things, although the Night Watchers were on edge, they hadn’t gone so far as to cancel the Clamor Festival.

If it was only to this extent, it meant everything was still within Wehle’s control, so the fallout wouldn’t be too severe.

Unfortunately, based on past experience, the odds of completing a mission just by sitting back and doing nothing were truly quite low.

And given that Wehle and his group were keeping their exact method for pulling chestnuts from the fire and hunting a Deity a closely guarded secret...

Fu Qian felt it was absolutely necessary to further confirm the current situation of his mission.

So, after briefly analyzing what he had picked up from his reverse eavesdropping, he quickly settled on his next course of action—figuring out the origin of the beast-transformation disease.Swallowing the cornbread in a few bites, Fu Qian turned around and looked at his distant watcher with a smile.

Since Jimmy had just gone off to find a place to report, Old Joe was the only one left over there at the moment.

...

Did he notice me?

Admittedly, seeing Fu Qian suddenly turn his head, Old Joe was somewhat startled.

It wasn’t that he sensed any danger; it was simply the instinctive reaction of a hidden observer suddenly being noticed by their target.

Of course, this guilty conscience of a thief was quickly suppressed. No matter what, the other party was just an ordinary human. Spotting him from this far away would be truly absurd—was he really discovered?

As Old Joe’s pupils contracted again, he realized that the surveillance target wasn’t just pretending not to see him; instead, the man was walking straight over.

”Hello!”

Fu Qian hadn’t even put on his mask, greeting him quite politely.

”Hel...lo.”

Old Joe replied subconsciously.

”Excuse me, are there any cult gathering places nearby?”

...What?

After processing what Fu Qian had just asked, Old Joe couldn’t quite believe his ears for a moment.

”Please don’t misunderstand, I’m just a little curious.”

”Cities with this much historical accumulation tend to breed peculiar things.”

”And considering I used to be a part of something similar, feeling this heavy festival atmosphere couldn’t help but remind me of it.”

Fu Qian continued to explain with a smile.

Remind you of what? The lively atmosphere of gathering with your fellow cultists?

Fu Qian’s explanation was undeniably full of holes. His head swimming with questions, the Night Watcher Old Joe couldn’t help but scrutinize him carefully.

He really was just an ordinary old man. He had even lost all the hair on his head, and with a full three Rings worn on his hand, combined with his dubious remarks, he gave off the vibe of an undignified elder.

But for some unknown reason, faced with this blatantly absurd question, he felt an uncontrollable urge to answer it.

”My apologies, but while Dunis may have quite a long history, everyone here is simply interested in art and culture. There are no evil faiths.”

The next moment, the man answered righteously with a straight face.

”Is that so.”

Fu Qian nodded thoughtfully.

Naturally, Old Joe wasn’t being this cooperative just out of a desire to respect the aged and honor the wise.

On his way over just now, he had casually activated Lucid Dream.

After multiple tests, he was already quite familiar with it.

Given that this man was merely at the Mid Tier, he fell for the trick with almost no reaction.

And as the Dream Dominator, the release condition Fu Qian set for Old Joe was very simple—answer three of his questions.

Although he wasn’t a Psychic Type combatant, there were still plenty of roundabout ways to gather intelligence.

Besides, it wasn’t that Fu Qian didn’t want to ask more; it was because the feedback from the dream told him that setting the number any higher would very likely cause instability.

Facts proved that, driven by the motive to free himself, Old Joe displayed considerable hospitality and a strong desire to maintain his hometown’s image.

”Please don’t be nervous. Perhaps my wording was a bit inappropriate,”

Fu Qian continued with a smile.

”I’m actually just more interested in certain special studies.”

”You know how it is. When people get older, they always develop all sorts of eccentric hobbies.”

”Although I haven’t been in touch with them for a while, for certain reasons, I suddenly found myself interested in these things again just now. Where can I find this kind of special enthusiast group?”

...

Amidst the Night Watcher Old Joe’s conflicted expression, Fu Qian asked his second question and greeted Jimmy, who had just returned.

What is going on...

Freshly drawn into the dream, Jimmy clearly found his brain a bit short-circuited upon seeing Fu Qian and Old Joe engaged in such a cordial conversation.

However, out of trust for his senior, he didn’t immediately shout out. He merely stared at Old Joe, trying to get the man to tell him what exactly had happened.

Where to find special enthusiast groups...

Old Joe clearly knew that the scene playing out before him was somewhat bizarre, yet Fu Qian’s question still surfaced uncontrollably in his mind, forcing him to ponder the answer.

”Hello, I am Lu Ming.”

Sensing the internal struggle and the resulting dream disturbances it caused, Fu Qian felt quite satisfied for a moment and introduced himself to Jimmy amicably.

One dream, three questions.

Naturally, he wasn’t going to squander an opportunity like this lightly.

The first question just now was actually a preliminary test.

Even though the target of this mission was an ancient Deity like Hamadus, Fu Qian wasn’t certain that the beast-transformation disease was necessarily related to a special faith. Still, it never hurt to try.

And considering the current situation was highly delicate, it was impossible for him to directly ask what the beast-transformation disease was all about.

The man in front of him was a Mid-Tier Transcendent, a genuine Night Watcher operative. If he really asked that, not to mention the likelihood of the other party growing alert due to the sensitive question and causing the dream to become unstable...

Even if he got the answer he wanted for the moment, once this guy woke from the dream, there was no way he wouldn’t realize the abnormality of his own behavior.

When that time came, there was no doubt that he would be marked as a highly suspicious individual with special transcendent methods who was interested in the beast-transformation disease, thus successfully drawing Wehle and his group’s attention.

Taking the fishiness of that group into account, Fu Qian didn’t think this was a good idea.

”Hello...”

With their surveillance target introducing himself so magnanimously, and more importantly, his name matching their previous suspicions perfectly, Jimmy’s confusion surged drastically. He kept looking at his senior, hoping the man would tell him what the hell was going on.

”According to regulations, the special enthusiast groups here in Dunis do indeed need to be uniformly registered, and their daily activity locations must be recorded.”

Unfortunately, his senior didn’t respond to him, but instead continued discussing things with the suspect.

”In fact, the Old Theological College not far from here serves as a gathering place for quite a few groups.”