Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Could your analogy be any more disgusting?”

Expert Fu’s meticulous reasoning was undoubtedly reassuring, making him seem incredibly reliable and persuasive.

Yet the more that was true, the more his final finishing touch acted like silently nourishing all things, slipping naturally into her mind.

Even as she immediately cursed him in her head, she couldn’t stop her mind from re-examining the bizarre figure that had already vanished behind the building.

Are you sure a thing like that can even get diarrhea?

If it actually did, given its anatomy, would it spray that eerie green glow everywhere, or just leave a pile of bone fragments—Stop!

Holding her breath, Lisa fought the urge to slap herself in the head, deeply realizing just how terrifying mental corruption could be.

”Shouldn’t we hurry?”

The next moment, she gritted her teeth and prompted him, forcing her attention elsewhere.

”Yeah, especially since this place looks a bit deep.”Fu Qian remained as easygoing as ever, seemingly completely oblivious to having said anything inappropriate.

They had already reached the broken window. Lisa peered inside and realized he was right—the layout behind the window was slightly different from the rest. It was actually a narrow corridor.

That didn’t seem like good news.

”So that thing lingered in here for so long just because the path is longer?”

Lisa looked at Fu Qian, feeling a bit disheartened for a moment as she actively analyzed their grim situation.

”We can’t rule that out.”

Fu Qian nodded.

”Then should we still go in and take a look? I feel like even a lingering spirit wouldn’t be very likely to live in a place like this.”

”Of course. For one thing, even factoring in the distance, I still think it spent a bit too long in there.”

Agreement aside, in the face of Lisa’s uncertainty, Fu Qian instantly displayed the demeanor of a person in charge, gesturing toward the corridor with his chin.

”Besides, compared to the path we took down here, do you notice anything special about it?”

”...Other than being narrower, what else is there?”

Lisa frowned for a moment and scrutinized it closely, but unfortunately, there was truly nothing special about it.

It was similarly devoid of carvings or decorations, and the assortment of pots and jars stacked in the corner was completely ordinary, no different from the ones in the previous rooms.

”It’s the scattered clutter on the floor. Don’t you think arranging it like this makes the whole corridor feel less monotonous? I can almost sense a love for ordinary life radiating from it.”

Clearly noticing her gaze, Fu Qian looked over and offered his critique.

”I don’t...”

Confronted with such an excessively erratic description, Lisa felt her brain strongly rebelling against following his train of thought.

”Excuse the intrusion.”

Unfortunately, she clearly had no choice in the matter. As she muttered to herself, Expert Fu unexpectedly abandoned the idea of climbing through the window. Instead, he walked over to the adjacent door, knocked on it in absolute seriousness, and opened it.

...

The door wasn’t locked, and Lisa had no choice.

Forced to follow Fu Qian into the corridor behind the door, she even found herself genuinely examining the arrangement of the pots and jars.

Unfortunately, before she could glean any meaning from them, they reached the end of the corridor.

The end opened into a space far narrower than the adjacent rooms, and it was completely seamless, as though it had been hollowed out directly from the inside of a single stone.

At a glance, not only was there no sign of anyone, but the furnishings were also incredibly crude.

”Over here!”

This time, however, Lisa once again proved herself.

Based on her experience dealing with Fu Qian, his terrible personality was one thing, but the man clearly rarely did anything pointless.

So, the moment she saw the dead end, instead of rashly jumping to conclusions, her eyes were sharp, not missing a single corner as she searched.

And this diligence paid off. She soon managed to pull up a heavy floorboard in the corner of the room, revealing a set of steps leading down into an even smaller space.

Because it fit so perfectly, combined with the bizarre, ambient glow permeating the area, it truly hadn’t been obvious.

Accompanying her action, the special fragrance that had lingered from the very beginning abruptly intensified.

”There really is something...”

Merely peeking inside, Lisa turned back to the approaching Fu Qian and let out a gasp of disbelief.

...

The hidden space beneath the floorboard was no more spacious than the room above.

By the time Fu Qian followed her down, Lisa was already staring blankly in a direction slightly away from the steps.

This basement-like place clearly contained more furnishings than the room above, even including a miniature table and chairs.

And what Lisa was currently looking at was the scene gathered around that table.

There were actually two human corpses—one large, one small—slumped over it.

Though they were shriveled up as if utterly drained of all moisture, the long hair and clothing on the larger corpse still made it clear that she was a woman.

Yet that wasn’t the most shocking part.

Aside from these two who looked as though they had fallen asleep during dinner, there was actually another corpse on the other side of the small table—collapsed there in a bizarre posture, a pair of curved horns on its head highly conspicuous.

It was a goat.

Lisa was absolutely certain of that.

From the horns down, the corpse strikingly possessed not a single human trait.

Even though it was properly dressed in clothing.

The way they sat there truly made them look like a happy family of three.

”What do you think... is going on here?”

It was an incredibly bizarre scene, yet it inexplicably made one feel sad.

Seeing Fu Qian approach, Lisa suppressed this emotion and asked in a somewhat low voice.

”First of all, it looks like our guess was correct. That thing really was searching for corpses.”

Fu Qian didn’t deflect, first offering his own affirmation while carefully inspecting the room.

”True. And judging from that point, that thing really isn’t all that intelligent. It seems to operate on instinct.”

Breathing an inexplicable sigh of relief, Lisa agreed with Fu Qian’s view.

It now seemed that the White Bone Centipede had lingered here for so long because it had ’smelled’ something. Unfortunately, its own cognitive ability wasn’t enough to find the way down, so it ultimately gave up and left.

It made sense, but that no longer seemed to be the main point.

”So there really are corpses in this place, and they look like ordinary people... but what’s with this goat?”

”What’s so strange about that?”

Fu Qian, however, looked at her as if she were making a fuss over nothing.

”In some legends, people can naturally reincarnate as animals.”

”Maybe it’s a family, finally reuniting after death in this way.”

”...So you think this place really is the Underworld? Then what’s the deal with these corpses dying all over again?”

Reflexively suppressing certain bizarre associations forming in her mind, Lisa decisively threw out the unavoidable paradox.

”That’s not hard. It’s the exact same reason why the Gargoyle turned to stone—because the Underworld is dead.”

Yet, the special guest of this trip still answered without missing a beat.