Eldritch Horror Theatre

As expected of a higher entity who had lurked for a millennium, he had actually managed to grasp secrets even at the level of the Night Watchers.

Levin’s revelations left Fu Qian clicking his tongue in admiration.

Picking a fight with a fully prepared higher entity in peak condition really wasn’t a good idea.

Without a doubt, the one who had marked him earlier and sent Levin to his door was none other than Blazing Rainbow.

With its power having infiltrated for so long, achieving this would hardly be a difficult task.

And from the looks of it, the trouble it had sent his way was calculated to absolute perfection—

First, a transcendent item operating strictly according to the rules could react in an instant.

Second, a level bordering on the Deity Tier guaranteed it could stop him in his tracks.

Furthermore, with an authority akin to a commandment, even if he threw caution to the wind and risked an attack, he might not find an opening; he practically had to outwit it.

Moreover, given Levin’s relationship with the Night Watchers, any subsequent chaos could likely be controlled with a bit of finesse, minimizing the fallout.Truly formidable.

His use of the Head Cage to shake off Old Man Henry must have caught it slightly off guard, but this instantaneous countermeasure was still executed flawlessly.

The most outrageous part was that even as a dying man, he still couldn’t pry a single detail about Blazing Rainbow out of Levin.

”Look on the bright side. At least you weren’t misled into attacking right away and wasting your energy trying to take off the cage.”

Despite the grim situation, Fu Qian still optimistically offered Levin a word of comfort.

”True, though mostly it’s because you were fairly polite and knew to respect the rules.”

Hmm?

Fu Qian thought for a moment before grasping Levin’s meaning. Was he referring to how he had still stuck to the building’s designated layout even while in the Blood Crusade State?

It really did pay to practice self-discipline even when no one was watching.

”In any case, this is a good development for both of us. I get to save a lot of trouble, and you aren’t unjustly wronged.”

Levin said, his tone laced with considerable satisfaction.

’This guy’s standard for judgment is truly bizarre. How can he tell I’m innocent?’

’Just a moment ago, you looked like you’d recognized an old friend. If I really were some ancient Divine Entity, wouldn’t I have at least something to do with faith?’

Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

”Don’t be surprised. My jurisdiction is extremely clear-cut,” Levin explained, adjusting the lens over his left eye as if he had read Fu Qian’s mind. ”It’s strictly limited to monitoring names associated with those buildings. Naturally, you don’t fall into that category.”

His meaning wasn’t hard to grasp. His duties strictly pertained to the faiths of the New Gods within the central district of Sacred Night Capital. Even if Fu Qian were genuinely the reincarnation of some ancient evil god, it still wouldn’t be his job to deal with it.

”Also, I figured you would ask—since the misunderstanding has been cleared up, why haven’t I handed the item over according to our agreement?”

”Hmph!”

Scoffing at Levin’s words, Fu Qian pointed to his own head.

”That’s because my memory has always been excellent. The agreement was to take off the Head Cage and answer your questions. That’s an entirely different concept from clearing up a misunderstanding.”

”You’re far more interesting now that you’ve changed your face!”

Levin had been listening with the utmost seriousness. At the end, he even set down his pen and applauded loudly.

”So listen closely now. The final question.”

Retracting his smile, he gave Fu Qian no further opportunity to ask questions.

”Blue or yellow?”

”Yellow.”

Fu Qian’s confusion and his answer surfaced at almost the exact same time.

Time was precious. There was simply no need to indulge his own hesitation on a multiple-choice question with absolutely no point of reference.

”Excellent!”

Levin looked practically thrilled by Fu Qian’s response speed. He nodded continuously while scribbling a few quick strokes in his notebook, then pointed out the window.

”Though I’m under no obligation, I feel I should inform you.”

”From now until the anomaly disappears, you will shine in the dark night in a very special form.”

”In accordance with your choice, I have equipped you in yellow.”

Levin said this with an earnest expression and a ’you’re welcome’ tone, pointing to a page in his notebook.

”You certainly aren’t within my monitoring scope, but the agreement also requires me to provide a little assistance when necessary.”

”So I figured that with these special developments, it is still necessary for them to know of your existence.”

...

’Choosing yellow was definitely the right call.’

As Levin waved goodbye, Fu Qian looked down at himself.

Over his original clothes, he was now silently draped in a long robe.

Although it appeared rather thick and heavy, it felt almost weightless.

It wrapped him up tightly, even obscuring the better half of his face.

But that didn’t mean it was inconspicuous.

Setting aside the pure, vivid yellow, Fu Qian could clearly sense this transcendent item’s sheer, ostentatious presence. At the same time, it was unspeakably sinister.

Levin’s description had been conservative. The level of attention this thing drew was comparable to being the only splash of color in a black-and-white movie.

Given the current situation, this was essentially begging for death.

Levin’s parting gift elicited a profound sigh from Fu Qian.

Although things outside seemed calm for now, he wasn’t so blindly optimistic as to believe the Night Watchers hadn’t noticed the anomaly. A covert investigation was likely already underway.

And that was assuming Old Man Henry didn’t call for backup.

Very soon, he would become the most eye-catching figure in Sacred Night Capital.

He couldn’t keep a low profile even if he wanted to. This robe had clearly been forced onto him by Levin via the ’rules.’ He had already tested it—even pulling down the mask caused it to instantly snap back into place.

There were only two small comforts. First, the overly ostentatious Yellow Robe completely stole the show, to the point that everything else blurred in the perception of others, effectively hiding his identity.

Second, the yellow actually looked pretty good. He had made the right choice.

...

By the time he finished sighing, Levin had quietly vanished. Wasting no time, Fu Qian picked up the segment of finger bone left behind on the spot.

He didn’t even try to crush it. A mouth split open directly on his palm and swallowed it whole.

If he was going to do it, he would do it thoroughly. Since it was forged from Residue to begin with, it was better to eradicate it completely. He might even see if it held any hidden miraculous properties while he was at it—it didn’t.

As the finger bone settled in his stomach and dissipated entirely into nothingness, Insight yielded absolutely no gains.

Of course, that didn’t seem particularly important. The far more serious issue was that no mission prompts appeared either.

It seemed the lucky Midas Golden Hand hadn’t lost the possibility of manifesting into reality just because the finger bone was destroyed.

’Did I pick the wrong target? Was the finger bone not the key?’

Fu Qian glanced up at the sky. The strange radiance was already almost indiscernible.

’Or maybe... after Levin stalled me for this long, Blazing Rainbow’s infiltration has progressed to the point where it no longer has to worry about me completing the mission and escaping?’

One piece of evidence was that as Levin vanished, the concealment he had been maintaining disappeared right along with him.

However, after sitting there for a moment, aside from the strange looks cast his way by the other patrons, no new trouble came knocking—wait, that wasn’t entirely true.

The very next second, a razor-sharp Curved Sword slashed straight toward his legs, passing through the adjacent window and wall as if they were nothing.