Eldritch Horror Theatre

A deep inspection revealed no hidden dangers in her consciousness.

At the same time, not too far away, Fu Qian silently reached his own conclusion.

That less-than-pleasant dream had, naturally, been orchestrated entirely by him.

The desperate urgency the dream’s protagonist felt to find the bug was part of the rules he had established to end the dream.

Of course, Student Pei hadn’t succeeded.

In the end, the dream shattered only because the Sovereign manually dispelled it.

His purpose for setting this up was extremely clear.

After confirming her body showed no physical anomalies, Fu Qian wanted to rule out the possibility of purely mental tampering.

It was exactly like his own strategy for escaping this time.

Although the probability was low, if His Excellency Arakiel had actually copied him and simply implanted ”knowledge,” it would be far harder to detect.However, judging by the current situation, even under extreme emotional distress, Pei Yanqing’s subconscious showed no abnormal mental traces.

It was basically confirmed that His Excellency Arakiel hadn’t adopted the attitude that ”among three people walking together, there is always one who can be my teacher.”

The risk to her, the person most susceptible to such a trap, was officially cleared.

Of course, her chance to sleep in was completely ruined.

”Hello—”

Shaking his head, a deeply apologetic Fu Qian was just about to cut the connection when he noticed she had already stepped outside her dorm. After quietly closing the door, she made a phone call.

Feeling agitated and needing someone to talk to?

Considering the oppressive force she had just endured, this was just human nature.

Even so, she hadn’t dragged her sleeping roommates out of bed to talk, which was remarkably considerate.

Fu Qian didn’t make a habit of eavesdropping on phone calls. Since he had already ruined her morning sleep, he cut the connection with a word of silent praise.

...

Having basically confirmed that his few acquaintances were unaffected, Fu Qian finally stood up and went into the bedroom to tidy himself up.

After this brief rest, his physical appearance had mostly recovered, even though the internal deficiencies remained. At least he didn’t look terrifying anymore.

For example, his eyeballs could roll around nimbly, driven by his muscles, but they didn’t actually possess any visual function yet.

Almost the exact moment Fu Qian finished changing clothes, the phone he had just turned on in the living room suddenly rang.

Of course, it couldn’t be Student Pei calling him, or the delay on her end would be ridiculously exaggerated.

Walking over to take a look, Fu Qian was genuinely a little surprised.

It wasn’t Student Pei, but Tan Ying.

Given how barren his contact list was, he naturally recognized the number at a glance.

The real questions were: first, why was she looking for him? And second, how had she timed it so perfectly?

He had barely been back. Wasn’t her sense of smell a little too sharp?

”You’re really here!”

His pondering didn’t delay him from answering. Almost instantly, Tan Ying’s excited greeting rang out.

...

To think something like this would actually happen!

Unsurprisingly, Tan Ying really was calling because of Pei Yanqing’s ordeal. The latter must have gone to her for a heart-to-heart.

As for why she had sought him out...

”What Yanqing said sounded pretty scary. Considering you’re an expert in this area, I suggested she ask you for advice.”

Not long after, Tan Ying sat across from Fu Qian and said exactly this.

After confirming over the phone that he was home, she hadn’t bothered to explain further. She simply drove straight to his building.

”It does sound quite eerie, but how did I suddenly become an expert in this area?”

Having listened to the victim’s account, Fu Qian nodded thoughtfully, indicating he completely understood her feelings before voicing his own confusion.

”Aren’t you a professional security consultant?”

Beside them, Pei Yanqing’s cheeks reddened slightly, clearly finding the way things were developing a bit bizarre. However, the question obviously didn’t stump Tan Ying, who simply blinked and fired it right back.

”Although it seems like it was just a dream, after hearing her describe it, I figured you could offer some advice... at least as to why she would have a dream like that.”

I suppose I really do know that...

Faced with this well-reasoned argument, even someone as mighty as the Newly Ascended Evil God had to marvel at the profound mysteries of karma.

...

”But I’m still curious. Why was the first thing you said on the phone, ’You’re really here’? Did someone tell you I was back?”

Gesturing for Pei Yanqing to take a seat, Fu Qian scrutinized her up and down. While silently confirming once again that she was fine, he didn’t rush to interpret her dream on the spot. Instead, he brought up the other matter.

”Since I wasn’t sure of your whereabouts, I actually called Young Master Qin first.”

Tan Ying answered casually.

”And he told you I was back?”

Fu Qian’s shock only deepened.

To effortlessly grasp the whereabouts of the King of the Abandoned Prison... Young Master Qin possessed methods that even ancient higher entities couldn’t match. It was truly eye-opening.

”Yeah, he said he believes in a woman’s sixth sense.”

Tan Ying wore a bizarre expression when she said this.

”His exact reasoning was that since we suddenly sought him out to ask about your whereabouts, it meant you must have returned.”

...He had to admit, having been friends for so many years, Young Master Qin had actually picked up a bit of Zen-like wisdom. His grasp on the threads of karma was truly exquisite—

”You really are here? I told them to trust a woman’s intuition.”

Before Fu Qian could even finish his silent lament, a new call came in.

He didn’t even need to say anything; Young Master Qin was already praising the power of karma on his own, declaring that he would be there immediately.

”I thought you guys would be busy today.”

Hanging up the phone, Fu Qian found it profoundly amusing how the situation had escalated to this point.

However, as a principled evil god, he had no intention of interfering with the free will of those who enjoyed his VIP treatment.

”We are busy, but how could I pass up a chance to witness the methods of a professional security consultant?”

Tan Ying smiled slyly. She even clasped her hands over her heart, putting on a look of sheer reverence.

”Understood. Then let’s wait until everyone is here so you can witness it together.”

Seeing that Pei Yanqing had completely relaxed, and knowing full well that there were no lingering threats whatsoever, Fu Qian simply gestured for them to sit tight while he got up to find something to serve his guests.

...

”Ah, you didn’t prepare anything?”

He had said ”immediately,” but Young Master Qin was clearly attending to myriad affairs daily. By the time he finally strolled in, it was already nearing noon.

And the very first thing he did upon walking through the door was stare at the three chatting people in utter shock.

”Prepare what?”

To this, Fu Qian merely offered a superficial smile and tossed the question right back.

”It’s practically lunchtime. Did you really think you’d get away with sending these two ladies off on empty stomachs?”

Without waiting for an invitation, Qin Mingze familiarly plopped himself down and pointed at Tan Ying and Pei Yanqing.

”Why else did you think I said I’d be here immediately?”

”All I know is that your ’immediately’ took quite a while. But since that’s the case...”

Seeing the two women merely cover their mouths to giggle, making no move to deny it, Fu Qian finally let out a long sigh and stood up.

”Let’s go. My treat.”

”You’re not going to show off your culinary skills? In front of two lovely ladies?”

Fu Qian’s choice seemed to puzzle Young Master Qin.

”Aren’t we still missing someone?”

Fu Qian shook his head.

”Xiao Yu? I’m afraid he really can’t spare much time at noon.”

Realizing who Fu Qian was talking about, Young Master Qin clicked his tongue, as if he couldn’t even bear to describe the sheer misery of Student Wu’s life.

”Which is why we’ll head over near his turf.”

However, Fu Qian already had it all figured out.

He had originally planned to just do a remote follow-up check. However, thanks to a bit of a spider effect, three of them had already shown up at his door. He might as well turn it into an offline group interview.