Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Doesn’t that mean we actually found the right place just now?”

Madam Star’s words sparked an immediate, intense reaction. The group exchanged sudden glances.

”If I had a choice, I’d rather that weren’t the case.”

But Red Dragon slowly shook his head, his smile bitter.

”Confirming the target’s location is great, but if it really is there, it means there will always be a bunch of guys blocking the path...”

To be able to see it but unable to reach it meant the mission would forever remain incomplete...

Red Dragon’s logic was easy enough to follow, and the atmosphere instantly grew heavier.

”Wait a minute.”

Qing suddenly realized something. She rushed to the window, leaned out, and immediately went rigid.

”There really are people outside. They look just like the ones we ran into earlier...”She turned back a moment later, gritting her teeth.

Didn’t that mean escaping wouldn’t make much of a difference?

The news Qing brought was undeniably shocking. Refusing to believe it, three others immediately rushed over to look.

Even with the considerable distance to the ground and the dim lighting, they could still make out individual figures moving along bizarre paths below.

”It looks like we’re well and truly trapped.”

Human adaptability was truly astonishing. Upon pulling back, Red Dragon seemed to have already accepted the possibility Fu Qian had outlined.

”First of all, even if we gave it everything we have, I don’t think there is even the slightest chance we could fight our way back onto the top floor.”

”And while the fluorescence is spreading slowly, it is undoubtedly deepening. Staying here is just waiting to die.”

But accepting it was one thing; he still appeared incredibly pessimistic about their current situation.

”There’s really no need to be so tense. There are still plenty of things we can try. For instance, we could chug a few bottles of the stuff from the safe and gamble on the power of genetic mutation.”

Fu Qian didn’t look particularly anxious; he pointed at the Death Row Inmate closest to the safe.

In fact, after returning from the window, the Death Row Inmate’s gaze had intentionally or unintentionally lingered on those reagents in deep thought.

”Is it possible you’re all overcomplicating the problem?”

Seeing their morale plummet while the instigator, Guansi, continued to spout nonsense, Mask finally couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke up.

”Why does this color shift have to be tied to our actions? Could it just automatically change when it hits a certain time? What if it merely happened to coincide with what we were doing?”

”That’s also a possibility...”

Red Dragon listened intently, but his hesitant posture showed Mask’s words weren’t entirely convincing.

”It’s the most likely possibility.”

Mask, however, was surprisingly firm. When he finished, he even pointed at Fu Qian.

”I believe Guansi also agrees with this.”

Hmm?

This remark was undeniably strange, and the group immediately turned back to look at Fu Qian.

”Guansi... where is your cat?”

A moment later, Qing finally realized what he meant.

The words served as a wake-up call. Red Dragon and the other two suddenly realized that the cat this guy had insisted on keeping—even at the cost of fighting his teammates—hadn’t been in his hands for a while.

Earlier, when picking the lock, he had slung the cat from his waist. But right now, there was clearly nowhere on his body to hide it.

”You only noticed after being reminded. That’s not good! You must always remain wary of the people around you!”

Facing their suspicious glares, Fu Qian sighed in lament and delivered a meaningful line.

”It disappeared right before I stuck my tool into the keyhole.”

Right then...

Right then...

Red Dragon and the others exchanged bewildered glances.

Their attention had been almost completely focused behind the door at the time. Accustomed to relying on Transcendent Perception, they genuinely hadn’t noticed the change.

Most crucially, when such a bizarre change occurred, this guy hadn’t shown the slightest abnormality. In fact, only Mask had noticed it the entire time.

”Don’t blame yourselves. Technical personnel have never had much of a presence anyway.”

Fu Qian consoled the group in his own unique way.

”And right then, I happened to notice that this unique color started shifting at the exact same time.”

”If that’s the case, then there really is a high probability that the timer was up, and it had nothing to do with our actions...”

As she spoke, Qing’s eyes lit up.

”Which means if we wait here, the blue might return...”

”And if we move a little faster this time, it’s very likely we can get inside that door before it shifts.”

Star took over the conversation, her eyes growing brighter with every word as the fire of hope reignited.

”We can’t rule that out. But beyond that, we have another chance.”

Sizing Fu Qian up with a meaningful look, Mask continued.

”If we aren’t any different from the guys outside, doesn’t that mean once we’re infected to a certain degree, they’ll treat us as their own kind and leave us alone?”

”In that case, even if the color hasn’t changed back, we could just walk straight through them and head inside...”

The light in Madam Star’s eyes instantly grew even brighter.

”It sounds good in theory, but just because we don’t feel anything now doesn’t mean we’ll be fine once the corruption deepens.”

This time, the Death Row Inmate was the first to catch on.

”We don’t even know to what degree we have to be corrupted before they stop attacking.”

”There’s a significant chance we’ll need to stay here until we’re just as crazy as they are before we’re considered their kind.”

”You’re right. To put it bluntly, it’s just a hypothetical time gap that would be extremely difficult to time properly... but we aren’t entirely without options.”

In the face of the Death Row Inmate’s doubts, Qing seemed to already have a plan in mind.

”It might require taking a bit of a risk—or rather, taking risks in batches, just like during the initial exploration.”

”As soon as the guys outside become slightly less aggressive, we head out in batches to try and enter the top floor, rather than waiting until they completely stop attacking.”

”That way, we can maximize whatever benefits the corruption might bring while avoiding going completely insane cooped up in here.”

...

Qing’s point was easy enough to grasp, but this time, no one rushed to agree with her.

Theoretically speaking, her plan was indeed an arrangement that could maximize their success rate.

But the problem was that team spirit and self-sacrifice were two entirely different things.

If nothing else, the risk for the first group to head out would be far too great.

”I don’t think the situation should be that extreme yet. We can wait a bit longer and see.”

Even Red Dragon offered a relatively conservative stance after a brief pause.

’This veteran always gives off the impression that he doesn’t work very hard!’

Fu Qian thought to himself.

Judging by everything so far, Red Dragon was fundamentally an optimist—or at least, he preferred not to assume the mission would be particularly extreme.

But for Fu Qian, the Warehouse had been far more shameless than this on plenty of occasions.

”There’s no time to lose. I’ll go first!”

Amid his silent laments, he gave a cold snort and stepped forward, leaving the entire room staring in existential doubt.