Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What did you see?”

Although Wen Li had confirmed her gains, her expression was noticeably odd, prompting Fu Qian to ask out of curiosity.

”Create an Emotional Ripple and have it successfully reverberate multiple times between two Divine Beings.”

Wen Li furrowed her brows, clearly hesitant as she introduced the ritual’s requirements.

Hearing the details, Fu Qian somewhat understood her hesitation.

”Are there any requirements for the type of emotion?”

”No.”

Wen Li shook her head.

This ritual seemed to test one’s social connections.

Fu Qian rubbed his chin, lost in thought.The requirement was bizarre, but not exactly difficult.

Divine Beings were simple enough to find—Demigods fit the bill.

And the requirement was merely to influence them with an Emotional Ripple, not to kill them.

In fact, Wen Li’s Beautiful Girl Kaleidoscope had already proven capable of influencing his own emotions.

The difficulty seemed to lie in the numbers: she needed to find two Demigods willing to cooperate with her.

For a character with terrible social skills, that would indeed be a bit challenging.

”Is there anything else?”

Fu Qian thought for a moment before asking.

”Did it mention needing to consume any heavenly treasures or special materials?”

”...No, nothing else.”

It was just as he had expected. Her process of advancing to Tier 4 was clearly similar to Jiang En’s: she didn’t need to consume anything, only complete a ritual.

In truth, his own promotion to Thug had been exactly the same.

Of course, from what he currently understood, this was not a universal phenomenon. There were still many who required the aid of materials, not to mention the poor bastards who hit a bottleneck early on.

The reason Wen Li had reached her current state was that she had practically ”digested” Eve—a creature hard to strictly define as human...

Faced with all these varying manifestations along the chaotic path of Transcendent Tier advancement, Fu Qian felt he was faintly grasping something.

...

”Emotional Ripples—you should be able to manipulate them now, right?”

While deep in thought, Fu Qian casually asked Wen Li, who was pursing her lips as she waited for instructions.

”Yes.”

She nodded in confirmation and quickly explained her ability.

”It’s like an independent, outward wave. It takes a heavier toll on me than directly influencing a crowd, but once it forms, it will spread on its own even if I don’t guide it.”

”Of course, it degrades significantly in the process, especially against targets who are already aware of it.”

”That means if someone has a prior concept of what I’m doing, the effect will still be very poor, even if they aren’t subjectively resisting.”

”Additionally, I’m not sure to what extent I can affect Divine Beings.”

It seemed she hadn’t been slacking off lately.

From her words, he could tell she had been putting considerable effort into her daily practice.

That was likely why she had instantly recognized the difficulty of this ritual.

It required the cooperation of two Demigods—unintentional cooperation, at that—otherwise, the slightest slip-up would cause the ripple to dissipate.

”Don’t worry, we’ll know once we try.”

Offering her a word of comfort, Fu Qian stood up.

”Have them prepare dinner. Make it a lavish spread. With any luck, we’ll have another Divine Being coming over to freeload.”

...

Wen Li’s greatest virtue was her clear understanding of her own situation.

In the presence of a more seasoned professional, she decisively swallowed her amateurish worries and followed his instructions to the letter.

After a short period of preparation, the absurdly extravagant dinner began.

”Are we waiting for Chief Yuan?”

Wen Li, who had a rather poor appetite, watched Fu Qian enjoy the food for quite a while before she finally couldn’t hold back the question.

After thinking it over, she had clearly formed a guess about the Divine Being he had mentioned.

”Indeed.”

Fu Qian was being quite particular about his table manners today. He sat perfectly straight, only speaking after swallowing the food in his mouth.

”But does Chief Yuan really have the time to come over? ...While she did mention before that she would coordinate with your actions, and now you’ve sought out both Taylor and Jiang En, there’s been so much happening in Shangjing lately. She might not have the time to visit in person, right?”

”Normally, yes. After all, this is just some low-level fooling around. However, if Chief Yuan’s sense of responsibility is strong enough, and she’s been keeping a close eye on Gulade’s upper management, she will know that Serana came looking for me earlier and left in a worrying state.”

Fu Qian tapped his shoulder.

”A state not much better than mine.”

Since Eldest Miss Wen was the one undergoing the promotion, he needed to minimize her confusion as much as possible, so he didn’t beat around the bush.

”With that factored in, I believe her urge to satisfy her curiosity won’t be so easily suppressed. It only makes her arrival more probable, but it’s already worth looking forward to.”

”To be honest, even if Chief Yuan is willing to cooperate, I’m still not confident at all. I’m a little worried about wasting your hard work.”

Wen Li nodded, though her smile turned bitter.

”Relax. We’re just going to go with the flow to verify the effects of the ritual.”

”Besides, we don’t need Chief Yuan to be a willing participant this time. Just wait for my signal later—I’ll drop my glass as a cue.”

”...Alright.”

Realizing that Fu Qian intended to have Yuan Shan participate unknowingly to increase the ritual’s success rate, Wen Li nodded in partial understanding, unable to figure out exactly how he planned to pull it off.

But the next moment, she watched helplessly as Fu Qian’s facial features shifted into those of a complete stranger.

...

”What in the world are you doing?”

As it turned out, Chief Yuan had an excellent nose for a free meal.

Right as Fu Qian was digging into his third serving of grilled fish, she successfully arrived.

Judging from the way she barged in without waiting to be announced, aggressively demanding accountability with her very first sentence, she certainly hadn’t been having a relaxing time lately.

However, a split second later, the scene inside the room left Yuan Shan utterly dumbfounded.

At the dining table sat a man with a face completely different from what she had expected, unhurriedly savoring the meal.

Opposite him, Wen Li, the host, sat in complete silence, looking heavily burdened with worry.

Yuan Shan, well aware of Fu Qian’s shape-shifting abilities, wasn’t surprised to see him take on another appearance.

This look, however... a significantly aged face, a missing arm, and a left eye that was murky and dim, resembling a stone.

Ancient Reminiscence... Yuan Shan immediately recognized the thing lodged in his eye socket.

”Please take a seat, Chief Yuan. I’ve been waiting a while for you.”

In response to her arrival, Fu Qian merely swallowed the fish in his mouth, used his single arm to wipe his mouth with a napkin, and then greeted her with a warm expression.

”Want to try some of this? The skills of Wen Li’s chef have been getting better and better lately.”

”Mister Fang... mind explaining what’s going on here?”

Realizing that the situation was far from simple, Yuan Shan took a deep breath, actually accepted his invitation, and sat down between Fu Qian and Wen Li.

”Of course.”

Fu Qian thoughtfully shared a portion of grilled fish with her.

”In fact, you can call me Herbert now.”