Eldritch Horror Theatre

Fu Qian was never one for blind optimism. Realizing the colors before him were shifting again, he shot a quick glance at his own reflection, memorizing the position and size of the fluorescence.

The next moment, he picked up Henry the cat, sat back down, and rolled Oliver faceup.

If this was another color transition, he wanted to see what this guy would turn into.

The change in their surroundings was blindingly obvious now. The red faded rapidly, replaced by a glaring, incandescent white light as bright as breaking dawn.

However, things didn’t unfold quite as ideally as he had imagined. The intensity of the white light grew to an absurd degree, quickly flooding his entire field of vision and rendering him completely blind.

The instant his vision completely vanished, Fu Qian kicked out without hesitation.

Empty air. Just as expected, Oliver was already gone.

...

A few seconds later, the white light slowly receded, and Fu Qian’s vision gradually returned.

Unsurprisingly, though he was still seated, he was no longer in the Laboratory.Orderly rows of seats, dim lighting, and a massive screen—it was a classic layout. He was clearly sitting inside a movie theater.

Another shift in space and time, just as expected? Though this one seemed slightly different.

Fu Qian looked down. His left hand was hooking a heavily worn leather collar.

Hanging from it, head drooping, was the cat, Henry, who weighed at least ten jin. He looked utterly listless, as if he had just woken up.

Back to normal.

Fu Qian’s mind stirred. Judging by the cat’s appearance and demeanor, he reached that conclusion and simultaneously formed a vague guess about his current situation.

”Angelo, did you finally find your friend or not?”

Almost simultaneously, a voice rang out from behind him.

Fu Qian glanced back. His first reaction was that a wall had suddenly appeared behind him.

It was an exceptionally burly middle-aged man, likely over two meters tall. His bulging muscles stretched his jacket taut.

Having such a presence glare down at you from less than a meter away—especially with an expression as hostile as his tone—carried a considerable amount of pressure.

”Are you talking about him?”

Fu Qian turned sideways, revealing Henry in his hand.

”Good.”

The wall of a man took a quick glance, though a hint of disappointment flashed across his face.

”You were fairly quick this time, but I’d prefer it if you did your job properly and stopped this little beast from finding chances to sneak in.”

”Otherwise, like I told you before, if even one more customer complains about stepping in cat shit, you can pack your bags and go home!”

”Understood.”

Faced with this fierce reprimand, Fu Qian was thoroughly satisfied. The information within the scolding made it easy to deduce his current situation.

His current identity was clearly no longer that of a trespassing adventurer; he was now a cinema staff member.

And the man in front of him was evidently some sort of supervisor.

Adele had mentioned earlier that, aside from running off to the Laboratory, the cinema was another of the cat’s regular haunts.

Because of its habit of leaving ”landmines” of shit, this supervisor had flown into a rage and ordered him to find the cat and throw it out.

It was a bit miraculous. Under the white light, he had directly become a character within this scenario.

Reassuringly, things like the Merciful Sedative were still on his person. It seemed he had merely assumed the role of a character recognized by these Natives.

”Alright, throw it out right now. When I come back later, I don’t want to see a single cat hair in here.”

While Fu Qian was lost in thought, the wall of a man issued his final order. Without another glance at Fu Qian, he turned and aggressively stormed off.

”Slept well, huh?”

Watching his boss walk away, Fu Qian glanced at Henry, who was yawning, and casually greeted him. Unfortunately, the cat clearly couldn’t care less.

”Angelo?”

Just then, the door unexpectedly opened again. This time, the voice calling his name belonged to a woman.

It even sounded seemingly familiar.

Looking at Adele in her soft red hat, Fu Qian actually wasn’t all that surprised.

Judging solely by the fact that the cinema staff still had the leisure to hunt for cats, it was easy to guess that this scene took place before the incident occurred. Naturally, Adele was still alive and well.

This wasn’t exactly bad news. In theory, it meant he had more opportunities to hunt for clues, piece together the entire event, and ultimately identify the Origin of Colors.

Moreover, going by Adele’s tone, she was obviously very familiar with his current identity.

”Henry, did you run over here again?”

Adele had drawn near by now. Seeing the cat in Fu Qian’s hand, she paused slightly.

”No wonder Sergei looked so awful.”

So his boss’s name was Sergei?

Fu Qian studied the cat lover in front of him—who had died a tragic death not long ago—and shook his head.

”Adele, you look pretty awful yourself.”

”That’s not surprising.”

Fu Qian’s words caught Adele off guard for a moment before she offered a bitter smile.

”That thing you mentioned before... were you really just joking?”

Huh?

Fu Qian maintained an impassive expression.

”What thing?”

”The disaster you foresaw!”

Adele sounded somewhat frantic.

”When I first heard you say it, I thought you were just joking. But now a lot of people outside are spreading it. Tell me honestly, you didn’t just dream that up, did you?”

”No.”

Fu Qian shook his head confidently, a wave of realization washing over him.

To think that his current identity was actually one of the sources spreading the omen of disaster?

”Then who told you?”

Fu Qian’s frankness left Adele a bit stunned.

”I don’t know.”

Yet the next moment, facing her expectant gaze, Fu Qian’s answer pulled a complete one-eighty.

Which was also the truth.

...

”Alright.”

Adele stared at Fu Qian for a few seconds. Rather than getting upset, she hurriedly continued.

”I came over to warn you. Regardless of whether you started it or not, absolutely do not bring it up again.”

”Word is that because it’s spread so widely, the Laboratory—the source of the chaos in the rumors—is already hunting for the rumor-monger.”

She actually came all this way just to warn him?

Solving the problem by taking out the person who pointed it out. Sure enough, no matter the time or space, that was standard operating procedure.

Fu Qian praised the logic inwardly, completely unsurprised.

”Anyway, just watch your back. I’ll take Henry for now.”

Seeing Fu Qian fall silent, Adele shook her head and reached out to take the cat.

However, Fu Qian merely lifted his hand, leaving her grasping at empty air.

”Sergei just threw a fit. He made it clear he absolutely doesn’t want to see him around here anytime soon. I think it’s better if I hand him over to Paul, so his master can keep a close eye on him.”

”Um... alright.”

Adele was visibly reluctant, but couldn’t find a reason to object.

”Then I’ll go with you.”