Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was just like he’d always said—never underestimate the human will to survive.

Fu Qian naturally watched their reactions with clear appreciation.

Uniting in the face of adversity required prerequisites.

First, Difficulty 1 could not induce absolute despair; second, the team had to be able to replenish a Health Bar.

Unfortunately, the rules here—allowing only descent and never ascent—had blatantly turned the Health Bar into a strictly solo attribute.

Losing even a single drop clearly meant their hopes of survival were draining away.

Simple stamina drain was one thing, but if conflict broke out, the foundation holding these six people together as a team would completely vanish. Only a lingering inertia kept them united now.

And even that inertia was tottering on the brink of collapse.

”You think we don’t know our priorities? If we don’t take you out first, you’ll just ambush us from behind later, making our chances of escape even slimmer.”

This held true even with Brother Lezhan trying his absolute hardest to salvage the situation.”Makes sense. Please, go right ahead.”

Fu Qian didn’t offer a single word of rebuttal. Instead, he affably made a gesture of invitation.

...

The imagined thunderous eruption of fury never materialized. Even Huang Lezhan merely threw a glance over his shoulder before quietly withdrawing his pressuring gaze.

No one else met his eyes; they were all subconsciously looking elsewhere.

Madam Miranda, standing off to the side, subconsciously distanced herself slightly from the rest of the group. This only further validated Fu Qian’s earlier deductions about their team dynamic.

She had clearly lost all faith in Huang Lezhan’s leadership and was no longer willing to keep up superficial appearances.

Not that Huang Lezhan’s words lacked reason.

Trapped in a perilous situation with no way back, they were confronted by a stranger who had appeared out of nowhere. Factoring in the previous disappearance of another person here, the threat warranted absolute caution.

So, theoretically speaking, eliminating this risk made perfect sense for everyone.

The only problem was that if he truly wanted to push for this mutually beneficial outcome, Brother Huang Lezhan needed to take the lead.

A demonstration carrying enough weight to break the current stalemate was entirely necessary.

Unfortunately, this double flower red pole didn’t end up drawing his weapon.

”So, how long have you guys been digging?”

Seeing this, Fu Qian casually escalated things, bluntly asking for more details.

”For about... half an hour.”

Now that they had a deeper understanding of their current predicament, the group finally abandoned their previous stance that silence is golden.

Under Fu Qian’s watchful gaze, the man who had just been toiling in the deepest part of the tunnel hesitated for merely a moment before lowering his head to answer.

He didn’t even glance around to seek help from the others.

Aside from being covered in dust, the man held a tool that resembled a dual-layered wheel.

The two wheel layers could shift off-center. If Fu Qian remembered correctly, the man had just been pressing this device against the rock, spinning it forcefully to generate a unique power that shattered the stone like tofu.

It was obviously a transcendent item, and a fine tool for excavating mountains and clearing terrain.

The group had likely been taking turns operating it to carve out an escape route. Thanks to its relatively quiet operation, the digging hadn’t produced any excessively loud noises.

This perfectly illustrated what had been said earlier: the rescue team had made ample preparations.

Yet at the same time, it proved those preparations were still severely lacking.

The most obvious flaw was its size. The diameter of the ”wheels” was barely the size of a bicycle wheel meant for a child under ten.

It might have been suitable for simple wall-breaching or clearing obstacles, but for the serious task of tunneling through a pile of solid rock, it lacked the necessary scale.

Of course, the most critical issue was one he didn’t even need to point out—

Even if they were digging in the right direction, and even if there were no bizarre spatial anomalies at play, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t hit one of those invisible barriers halfway through.

Such pessimistic expectations were all too easy to arrive at. It was undoubtedly the reason why, despite their active efforts, their faces lacked even a sliver of the Light of Hope.

”That’s not bad progress at all. So did you guys also pass through that room completely covered in mirrors earlier?”

Acknowledging their initiative, Fu Qian continued his questioning.

”Yes. To improve efficiency, the team decided to split up and explore within a set perimeter.”

”Unfortunately, we suddenly found ourselves in that place. With no way back, we had no choice but to blindly fumble our way down here.”

As the saying went, everything was much easier after the first time.

This time, the man holding the excavation tool barely hesitated before spilling the team’s secrets.

Just as expected, Brother Huang Lezhan’s furious glare lasted for barely a second before he reined it in. He didn’t even bother to utter a single threat.

Just as no one believed he would willingly risk his life to eliminate a threat for the group, no one believed he would waste his Health Bar on delivering a Chastisement to a team member.

...

From the sound of it, those uniformed Saints hadn’t even bothered to show up and greet this group?

Sure, Fu Qian knew his own sheer presence was vastly superior, but wasn’t this a bit too blatant a double standard?

”It seems you guys spent quite a long time hesitating around here, then.”

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian didn’t forget to pry into the mental journey of this little survival squad.

The logic behind his statement was simple. Reaching this location shouldn’t have taken them very long, and they had only been digging their escape tunnel for half an hour. The missing chunk of time had likely been spent hesitating over their predicament.

The squad members’ ensuing reactions confirmed his hypothesis.

Every single one of them remained dead silent, showing absolutely no intent to deny it.

”So you have a better idea, then?”

Breaking the slightly awkward atmosphere, the sole woman in the group finally spoke up after assessing the situation.

Cold and ruthless as this mysterious stranger appeared, nothing he said was wrong.

More importantly, no matter how you sliced it, he was clearly trapped in the exact same predicament as the rest of them.

Just as he had verbally reminded everyone not to take any damage, he certainly didn’t want to take damage himself—and he would be just as eager to find a way out.

Oh?

It was a pity, however, that while Fu Qian turned to look at her upon hearing this, his only response was a slight smile.

”...I’m Miranda.”

Taking a few seconds to realize what he wanted, she finally answered the question she had left hanging earlier.

”Good.”

Nodding in satisfaction, Fu Qian finally answered her earlier question. As he spoke, he even cast a glance back toward the long flight of stairs.

”The situation looks pretty grim, I’ll admit, but I still think your method has a very low success rate.”

...Was this the classic ’I don’t have any ideas myself, but I still think yours is garbage’ routine?

Was he really employing that kind of bastard logic at a time like this?

The atmosphere grew even more awkward, but driven by their sheer will to survive, everyone—Miranda included—pricked up their ears, unwilling to miss a single word from this mysterious figure.

Because of this, Fu Qian’s response triggered a powerful reaction.

”I have a method, of course. The real question is, what price are you willing to pay for it?”

Before they could even voice their indignation, however, Fu Qian casually added that final sentence, unleashing his charlatan’s Domain Expansion.