Eldritch Horror Theatre

”There are two more?”

Ms. Tan had clearly offered an interesting piece of news right off the bat, and Fu Qian, frowning slightly, didn’t miss a beat as he followed up.

”That’s right. Did you really think our grasp of the situation was this shallow?”

With a cold smile, Tan Mingxue glanced at the documents resting nearby, her tone anything but polite.

Naturally, this arrogance didn’t stop her from spilling more details.

”Long before they arrived in West Plain, I already had their itinerary.”

She tapped her temple.

”He might still keep up appearances, but Huang Zhixun is having a very hard time right now. And since he has never been the type to just let things go, he’s bound to look for a new angle.”

”As for his two companions, neither is an ordinary person, either.”

”So he really came back for something on the Huang Clan’s side?”Fu Qian sounded surprised, lacking any awareness that the Blood Lion’s predicament had anything to do with him.

”More accurately, all three of them are. Nobody is an idiot. They obviously didn’t come all this way just to keep him company on a family visit.”

Her cold smile persisted. Tan Mingxue clearly had little affection for the trio.

”Understood.”

Fu Qian nodded in deep agreement.

Considering she was backed by the Night Watchers’ intelligence network, he had little reason to doubt what she told him.

Tan Mingxue’s meaning was crystal clear. After suffering a setback in Shangjing and being forced to leave, and having lost Gulade’s resources, Huang Zhixun had once again set his sights on something in his ancestral grounds.

Lacking the confidence to pull it off alone, the Blood Lion had even used this secret as bait to draw in two helpers.

”So what exactly is this thing?”

...

A moment of silence fell over the room after Fu Qian posed his question.

Clearly, even in a dream, a question that touched so close to the core still triggered her guard.

”Could it be related to the previous Ill Omen?”

Unfazed by Tan Mingxue’s stare, Fu Qian followed up with another question a second later.

”Why do you ask?”

Her gaze was sharp as a knife; Tan Mingxue looked more serious than ever before.

”That Huang Clan disciple displayed a very unique form of power. I’ve actually been wondering what it was.”

Fu Qian answered without hesitation.

”Strictly speaking, it might be...”

Unsurprisingly, Ms. Tan’s vigilance was quickly overwhelmed by the intense urge to confide dictated by the dream’s rules.

Giving a barely perceptible nod, she spoke slowly, weighing her words.

”But what I’m about to tell you, you must never tell a soul.”

”Understood.”

Naturally, Fu Qian’s attitude was perfectly proper.

”What they’re looking for should be a tree... Compared to the Huang Clan’s bloodline, what actually matters more is where they reside.”

Tan Mingxue took a deep breath.

...

”Where they reside... A tree?”

In that instant, Fu Qian played his part perfectly, murmuring to himself in sheer disbelief.

”Exactly. Most people never know what they are doing, or even where they truly are. Even a great family like this one is no exception.”

Seemingly quite satisfied with his performance, Tan Mingxue spoke a bit faster.

”If you look in that direction, what do you see?”

She gestured out the window toward the spot she had just been gazing at.

”I don’t see anything...”

And the ”deeply shocked” Fu Qian actually stood up, walked to the window, and took a look before answering.

”It’s the same for the Huang Clan, but the good thing is, you can imagine it.”

With a snort, Tan Mingxue remained seated, her gaze seeming to pierce through the wall to look into the distance.

”On that mountain peak, there is a giant tree reaching straight up to the heavens.”

The Night Watchers really did know quite a bit.

Staring at the bare mountain peak as she suggested, the image of that continuously rotting and blooming entity resurfaced in Fu Qian’s mind.

At the end of the previous Ill Omen incident, it was almost certain that aside from him, no one else had witnessed that tree.

Not even Su Gao, who had pursued the killer the whole way.

And yet, the Night Watchers knew of it in precise detail.

So, could that incident just be chalked up to a minor loss of control, happening under the watch of the Night Watchers who already knew about the tree behind it all?

And after Executive Yama Su cleaned up the mess, the newly appointed supervisor dispatched in the aftermath was logically briefed on this secret.

So Tan Mingxue’s presence here wasn’t due to an underestimation of the danger, but because everything was completely under control?

Her absolute certainty earlier now made perfect sense.

Although her Rank was low, she likely carried some specific countermeasures—such as that ragdoll.

”Was Huang Yuanchang influenced by the tree back then? But even if they can’t see it, the Huang Clan has been active around there for all these years. Didn’t they feel anything?”

”That tree exists in a form far beyond your imagination.”

Fully in her element, Tan Mingxue had become remarkably talkative.

”Whether they are ordinary people or transcendents, it is almost impossible for anyone to touch it.”

”The deceased Ill Omen, and even that Merchant he killed, most likely suffered corruption through sheer chance—such as a certain dream.”

Her deduction was spot-on. The Night Watchers truly had some capable experts in their ranks.

Having once conversed with the ”Merchant,” Lu Xingchang, Fu Qian knew the dream theory was correct. He couldn’t help but feel a moment of silent admiration.

”So you suspect that Huang Zhixun, just like them, also came into contact with that tree in the past?”

...

”Captain Qiao is smarter than I imagined.”

Most likely due to the dream’s influence, Tan Mingxue couldn’t help but shoot Fu Qian a look; neither her shocked expression nor her tone was particularly subtle.

”If you applied this kind of attitude to your work all the time, I might not have even needed to come here.”

Who was she trying to fool? Captain Qiao was basically a master chef asked to cook without ingredients, wasn’t he?

Fu Qian naturally scoffed at this claim.

He might not have been very proactive, but the previous personnel arrangement the Night Watchers had here was obviously the result of an unspoken agreement with the Huang Clan. Pushing the blame onto an individual was a bit shameless.

”Anyway, you’re exactly right. That is what we suspect.”

Perhaps sensing that her remark had been out of line, Tan Mingxue quickly steered the topic forward before Fu Qian could respond, fully validating his hypothesis.

”Before leaving home, Huang Zhixun might have had some special contact with that tree, just like the Ill Omen and the rest, only he didn’t answer its call.”

”And now that he’s cornered with no way out, he obviously has to reconsider every potential resource at his disposal.”

”Doesn’t that mean those three could transform into another Ill Omen at any moment?”

Fu Qian, who had been listening intently, showed no excitement at being validated. Instead, he looked deeply alarmed.

”Don’t worry, they won’t get the chance.”

Waving her hand with absolute confidence, Tan Mingxue smiled, her gaze sweeping over the cabinet from earlier.

”I am absolutely certain that ever since the incident back then, that tree has become increasingly impossible to touch.”