Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was almost certain that the Linghui Courtyard harbored no malicious intent toward Wen Li.

Right after an incident like that, they were already a focal point for the Night Watchers. Even if they’d lost their minds, they wouldn’t be that stupid.

They had even deliberately targeted a rising star of the transcendent realm, as if afraid people hadn’t heard of her.

Given the situation, it seemed those arrogant, conservative traditionalists were finally willing to lower themselves a bit and pay attention to civilian rogue cultivators.

Besides, they didn’t necessarily have to recruit her. All Psychic Types in the world were one big family, after all.

As long as they kept an open mind, achieving some mutual success with Eldest Miss Wen would at least salvage a bit of their reputation with the Night Watchers.

In short, Eldest Miss Wen’s fateful opportunity had arrived, even if it wasn’t a massive one.

And as someone who always loved helping others succeed, how could he arbitrarily deprive her of that?

As for safety, honestly, the fact that Eldest Miss Wen had survived this incident in one piece largely proved she wasn’t being specifically targeted.

Right now, this was just routine protection.Wen Li could obviously figure this out as well. Bringing up the Invitation Letter right now was essentially a proposal on her part—

Staying here any longer was pointless and would only put an extra drain on Yuan Shan’s and his own energy. She might as well take this chance to visit the Academy. There were plenty of experts there, so she wouldn’t have to worry too much about her safety.

It was a very smart and considerate choice. The only problem was that he himself seemed to be one of those ”experts.”

This time, it really wouldn’t be appropriate to bother Professor Lanaya to keep an eye on things again.

The drunkard, who had originally been full of passion for life, had practically been squeezed dry by him.

As for the risk of losing his alternate persona over this?

He used his real name and true face over there, after all, and Wen Li was quite familiar with both. It wasn’t a problem in the slightest.

He was so confident not because he had some special method to hide his identity, but because it wouldn’t matter if he were exposed.

Some alternate personas were just meant to be dropped.

...

Just like how he had frankly confessed to Li Weixuan and the others that he was an Archipelago Assassin. It was a minor detail, and he had already been laying the groundwork for it.

He could never count on others being fools. If Wen Li would recognize him on sight, wouldn’t Yuan Shan—who hadn’t seen him over there yet—also grow suspicious?

Just as Cass had said before, it was perfectly normal for a High-Tier Transcendent to adopt an alternate persona when roaming the world.

With a reclusive demigod of unknown origins suddenly appearing here in Shangjing, wouldn’t Yuan Shan make a few connections in her spare time?

If he wanted deeper exchanges with the Night Watchers to leverage more of their power, getting them to feel they knew his background inside and out was a basic prerequisite.

And his status as a professor at the Academy had the personal endorsement of a highly respected old dean. It was undoubtedly the most suitable identity to cultivate as his core persona.

Now, after his relentless efforts, his reputation at the Academy was practically bordering on worship, and his Merit Value was overflowing.

His actions in the archipelago could entirely be classified as righteous deeds.

Under these circumstances, what was the problem with merging those three identities into one?

Then there were those evil entities outside.

The Dark Moon Masters and Disciples, the King of the Abandoned Prison, Grimshaw, and their ilk—he could just take this opportunity to cut ties with them cleanly.

With Burning Frost serving as a special counter to higher entities, pulling this off wouldn’t be difficult at all.

All in all, with such a righteous group as the Night Watchers around, how could he not properly improve himself and look for opportunities to befriend them?

”Alright... Then I’ll let Wen Li do as she pleases. Before she goes, I’ll do my best to help her recover. She suffered a heavy toll as well.”

At this moment, Chief Yuan instantly proved his point about them being a righteous group, indicating that she couldn’t bring herself to ruin someone else’s fateful opportunity.

”Thanks for the hard work.”

Fu Qian casually thanked her on Wen Li’s behalf.

”It’s a minor matter. Speaking of which... how are you holding up?”

Waving her hand, Yuan Shan seemed to remember something and looked Fu Qian up and down.

”Couldn’t be better.”

Casually refilling his tea, Fu Qian solemnly straightened his collar.

...

It seemed Chief Yuan’s visit this time—aside from asking for his opinion on the Invitation Letter—was also out of concern that his previous exertion might have caused him some issues, wanting to confirm his condition while she was at it.

She didn’t stay much longer. After discovering that the Bookstore Owner was starting to slack off and had turned the tea service into self-service, Yuan Shan quickly left in a huff.

Watching the leader’s departing back, Fu Qian silently summarized their conversation.

He couldn’t blame Chief Yuan for having such worries; his appearance yesterday had indeed been excessively gruesome.

But she should be much more at ease now, especially after learning that he had been working the night shift straight through until now.

Once Wen Li left later on, this conflict could basically be considered closed.

What followed would be arduous reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance work.

In light of this, the necessity of keeping The Bookstore open for the rest of the day seemed rather low.

Even Chief Yuan had taken the initiative to mention that he could go get some rest.

What a pity... Between Apocalypse and the Academy, who knew how many projects were resting on his shoulders. The title of interim spokesperson wasn’t something he could bear so easily.

With a long sigh, Fu Qian washed the guest tea set one piece at a time. After putting it away, he looked around this hall of knowledge and took off the Emissary.

...

The Warehouse was naturally completely silent, enjoying peaceful years.

However, he didn’t linger to enjoy the peace. Fu Qian quickly grabbed his special reward for this run, returned, and activated Homecoming.

With the Chair given to him by the Red Moon, traveling back and forth between the Academy and The Bookstore was much more convenient than before.

It was just a pity that the latter had entered a quiet state once again, making no response to his visit.

Returning to the Half-Step Moon, he studied the Chair that the Red Moon had once sat in. Gripping the special reward in his hand, Fu Qian didn’t sit down. Instead, he walked back to the spot he had occupied last time.

After leaning there and waiting for a moment in this uniquely quiet place, a few small heads quietly poked out from behind the rubble. They peeked in his direction with hollow eye sockets, like little mice checking if a person had left.

They could be considered old acquaintances—the group of skeleton messengers who had run errands to deliver things to him more than once.

It was just a shame that he currently had nothing good to give them in return.

Greeting them with a smile, Fu Qian stood up and looked at the Umbilical Cord in his hand, which hadn’t changed at all.

The Red Moon didn’t seem interested in it.

That was right. Returning to the Warehouse specifically to grab it wasn’t because he planned to take it to the Academy for research; he had just wanted to bring it over and show it to the Red Moon.

An Umbilical Cord connected to an Ancient Higher Being. Even though its power seemed mixed, the first thing Fu Qian wondered upon obtaining it was whether the Red Moon would have an appetite for it.

It was just a pity that tastes couldn’t be forced, after all.

After putting the Umbilical Cord back in the Warehouse, he activated Homecoming once more. Waving goodbye to the little messengers who had been frightened away by his movements, Fu Qian finally sat down in the armchair.

In a mere blink of an eye, the desolation was gone, replaced by a beige tablecloth with a unique pattern right in front of him.