Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What are you doing?”

Among all the screams, Madam Star’s voice was undoubtedly the loudest.

The question that followed was filled with shock and fury.

As for how much of it was for Adele and how much was out of fear for the team’s survival, it was hard to say.

Madam Qing and Death Row Inmate looked equally shocked, having already leveled their weapons at Mask in unison.

One moment he was offering kind advice, and the next, he struck to kill without warning. Having such a temperamental, dangerous figure as a teammate left them feeling utterly insecure.

Even Brother Red Dragon, who appeared the most mature and steady of them all, rested his hand on his Cyber Blade Spear.

The newly formed six-person squad instantly faced a crisis.

...

”Did you suspect she was lying?”Adele fell backward, terror still etched across her young face.

Red Dragon hesitated for a moment before offering an excuse for Mask.

He obviously did not want the team to fall apart so quickly.

”Not at all.”

Unfortunately, Mask did not appreciate the gesture in the slightest. He carefully reset his Hand Crossbow, flatly rejecting Red Dragon’s excuse.

”I think Adele was quite cooperative. She honestly shared the information she knew.”

”Then why kill her?”

Madam Qing’s voice betrayed no emotion. A short bow sat firmly in her hand, its gleaming triangular arrowhead ready to be loosed at the slightest provocation.

”Not lying doesn’t mean the information she brought is true... Fortunately, she can still help us test something.”

Having stowed his weapon, Mask shook his head with a mild tone. He completely ignored the imminent threats surrounding him, letting his gaze fall on Fu Qian.

This man had shown absolutely no reaction to the sudden turn of events, entirely denying the little cat Henry any chance to escape.

”What kind of nonsense is that—”

At that bizarre response from Mask, Madam Star could no longer contain her anger.

However, her voice was quickly cut off by a roar.

Along with that completely inhuman sound, Adele’s corpse in the pool of blood, which had only been twitching slightly, suddenly began to thrash.

Her hands pressed into the ground at bizarre angles, and in the next moment, she pushed her body up.

At the same time, something glowing surged from the hole in her forehead.

Swish!

The sound of something tearing through the air rang out as the bow in Qing’s hand shifted targets, loosing an arrow without hesitation.

Fired from a high angle, the arrow pierced straight through Adele’s right shoulder, pinning her body to the ground.

This reaction was undeniably decisive. Yet Adele exhibited distinctly inhuman traits; her body bent like a bow as she struggled without any sense of pain, trying to break free from her restraints.

Simultaneously, the glowing substance spilling from her head not only covered most of her face but even began to accumulate and cluster above her crown.

At a glance, it looked like a cluster of rapidly growing antlers.

”It seems the situation really isn’t as pretty as this young lady thought.”

Faced with this scene, Mask shook his head and clicked his tongue in amazement.

Madam Star was dumbfounded by the sight, but once she recovered her wits, cold light flashed in her hands. She threw two small throwing knives, pinning down Adele’s hands.

Bang!

Even the sound of a gunshot rang out.

The one who fired wasn’t Fu Qian, but rather the quietest among them—Death Row Inmate.

Clearly, the sudden mutation before him had convinced him. He realized that this color was not harmless and that some kind of mutation had already been building up inside Adele’s body.

However, even with the situation undergoing rapid flip-flopping, the group demonstrated their professionalism. Faced with an unknown, eerie contamination, they all opted for ranged attacks.

Although Brother Death Row Inmate’s shot was slightly off the mark, Adele’s corpse still lost nearly half of its face.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have much effect. Not only did the corpse not stop struggling, but the glowing substance in its head even looked ready to erupt.

Right at that moment, a piercing screech of friction rang out.

Brother Red Dragon, who clearly did not possess an Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon, refrained from rushing into close combat. Instead, he ran to the side, calculated the angle, and shoved a cabinet over, crushing it solidly onto Adele.

Under the heavy weight, her movements finally slowed until she gradually went still.

Even so, the glowing substance could still be seen through the cracks, spreading outward as if it had a life of its own.

”Although there are no obvious Transcendent Tier traits, its aggression is rather high. Given our current physiques, we probably wouldn’t survive an ambush from it.”

Mask, who had been the first to strike, had spent almost the entire time afterward as a spectator. Now, facing his teammates who had rapidly changed their stances, he offered his sluggish commentary.

”It seems this omnipresent color really is a problem. Adele shouldn’t have come back.”

Brother Red Dragon nodded at this, agreeing with his assessment.

”And we need to find its source.”

Mask’s next words directly confirmed that the group’s mission was indeed identical.

”According to the details Adele mentioned, she’s only been back for a few hours. That’s also the amount of time she was exposed to this kind of light.”

With her gaze landing on Adele’s ankles poking out from beneath the cabinet, Qing seemed to have adjusted her mindset, her voice somewhat heavy as she analyzed the situation.

”Which means we don’t have much time.”

”You have to look on the bright side. At least she didn’t suddenly act up while we were traveling together.”

Madam Star had also regained her senses by now, imagining the scenario that could very well have happened.

”Qing is right. We’d better move quickly.”

However, before she could finish speaking, her gaze went rigid again, staring blankly at Death Row Inmate.

After firing his short gun once, the latter had actually turned the muzzle, aiming it directly at Fu Qian.

”Why didn’t you attack just now?”

In the next moment, the man asked coldly.

Just because of that? That shouldn’t warrant this!

For a moment, everyone was quite taken aback.

Although this sixth member had admittedly been excessively calm just now, standing there petting a cat and watching the show, it didn’t warrant drawing weapons against him.

”Considering my codename is Guansi.”

Facing the dark muzzle of the gun, Fu Qian’s expression didn’t change as he casually spouted nonsense.

”With the five of you here, I figured taking a spectator’s spot would be enough.”

As he spoke, his hand had already gripped Mercy, and the sedatives were long tucked into his pocket.

From his observations just now, this guy’s shooting proficiency wasn’t very high. He could easily consider landing a delayed headshot.

Of course, Brother Death Row Inmate should be thankful for that. Had it not been the case, he would have caught a bullet to the head the exact moment he turned his gun.

”Alright, now is not the time to be picking fights with our own people.”

Faced with a situation that had suddenly become fraught with tension once again, Madam Star’s displeasure finally maxed out. She reprimanded them in a hushed voice.

”Who said I was picking a fight with someone?”

Brother Death Row Inmate simply let out a cold sneer, slightly shifting the muzzle of his gun to aim at the cat in Fu Qian’s hands.

”Adele has only been back for a few hours, but this cat has never left.”