Eldritch Horror Theatre

Dry and rough. He didn’t even need to look to know that, just like the people outside, he had become a White-Faced Man.

It brought a sense of belonging, as if he had officially joined the organization. Did this mean he was one step closer to the Solitary King?

Of course, it wasn’t just a visual effect. In that moment, beneath the skin that had already burned away, Fu Qian could feel the leeches—which should have vanished with it—becoming more active than ever.

They were not only rapidly swelling in size, but also spreading fast.

More radiance was definitely shining on him now.

Recalling Brother Leech’s earlier explanation, Fu Qian mused inwardly.

Of course, the most important takeaway was the confirmation that what he had encountered back in Akons really was the Solitary King’s Blade—Fracture Cleaver.

Fu Qian’s memory of it was perfectly clear—it was the single word the White-Faced Man had spat out back then.

Now that he thought about it, could that be the Solitary King’s era name?

It might seem a bit absurd, but the term was undoubtedly highly representative in certain ways—namely, of bloodthirstiness and plunder.And now, it seemed possible to piece everything together—

This place was indeed a realm similar to Akons, and their target for this trip, the Solitary King, was its master.

However, the title felt somewhat misleading. The Solitary King wasn’t solitary at all, and was even on the verge of adding a new member to the ranks.

The White-Faced Men represented the power of the Solitary King, seeping out in all directions to plunder and slaughter.

And the origin of these White-Faced Men appeared to be the wills of humans who had accidentally wandered into the depths of the psyche.

Except, after passing a strict selection process and being granted entry, they were illuminated by the Solitary King’s radiance and underwent a specific mutation—much like what the Night Watchers were doing to him right now.

That was right. Fu Qian didn’t believe that the sudden snowfall before him was merely a symptom of his worsening infection.

One had to be adept at finding the cause in others.

First of all, it was almost certainly not the Origin Council’s doing. If even he knew the Night Watchers’ gaze might still be fixed on him, how could they not?

With the situation teetering on the brink of losing control, their most pressing priority had to be going all out to complete their long-standing scheme.

And how could the core of such a plan possibly be an unfamiliar intruder?

Therefore, everything he had been doing up until now was essentially setting the stage and waiting for the Night Watchers to make their move.

Given the impeccable timing, there was every reason to believe that they had played a highly active role in driving this change.

So, what exactly had the Night Watchers done?

Fu Qian lowered his hand. The next moment, he stood up, pushed the door open, and stepped out into the flurry of red snow.

...

It wasn’t cold.

Even though it looked like classic snow, it felt completely different as it fell on him.

There was no bitter winter chill. On the contrary, it felt remarkably like the unity of heaven and humanity.

It was as if he were being embraced by some abstract concept, becoming increasingly inseparable from this place...

It was obvious—the Night Watchers were helping him integrate into this realm.

It seemed that emerging victorious in the interview was merely the First Step. After being granted entry into the Solitary King Court, there was still a gradual promotion procedure.

It wasn’t surprising; he had already seen two examples of this.

Brother Leech and the white-collar trio. Although their actions had been vastly different, the core principle was identical—getting closer to the Solitary King.

Now, it seemed to be his turn.

Of course, what mattered more was that he had given the Night Watchers an opportunity to exploit, and they had used it for this.

There was a massive amount of information hidden behind that choice. According to his earlier deductions, the Night Watchers’ goal for this operation was most likely to verify the Solitary King’s status.

Could this state help them find the Solitary King?

He had to admit, it made some sense. After all, he was now ”closer to the Solitary King.”

But looking at the current setup, he could still spot something fishy—weren’t the Night Watchers working a little too hard to find their target?

Logically speaking, the entity’s lair was right here. Could locking onto a criminal really be this difficult?

It seemed they still hadn’t found their target even now—Fu Qian had to admit that among the people weaving through the snow along the way, he hadn’t detected a single shred of a ”kingly” aura.

Not only that, the pedestrians seemed completely oblivious to the snow falling on them, showing no reaction whatsoever.

...

Were they just used to it?

Was he the only one curious because he had just been promoted and hadn’t seen enough of the world yet?

Never breaking his stride, Fu Qian casually sensed his surroundings.

It was no exaggeration to say that it was hard to dismiss this red snow as a mere illusion.

True, the moment the falling flakes drifted onto him, they miraculously faded back to white, making his already deathly pale face look even whiter.

But at the same time, once they hit the ground, they melted just like real snow, turning into puddles of bloody water everywhere.

And his other ”colleagues” walking through it were completely oblivious to the ground beneath their feet. They didn’t dodge the pools of blood, nor did they go out of their way to stomp in the puddles.

This made it easy to fall back on his earlier explanation.

To Fu Qian, however, there were still glaring inconsistencies.

The most obvious was simply that there were too many people.

The population density he had seen along the way wasn’t any lower than what he had encountered before.

With the Solitary King being so close to so many people, wouldn’t it be far too noisy for him?

Furthermore, the area he was walking through remained exactly the same as before. He hadn’t spotted anything remotely resembling a royal court—so could it be that he was the only one who had changed?

A new thought quickly surfaced in Fu Qian’s mind.

Rather than believing the pedestrians were turning a blind eye to it all, was it possible they genuinely couldn’t see it? Just as he couldn’t previously?

Perhaps one could only see more of the world’s truth after reaching a certain level of closeness to the Solitary King?

That would easily explain the behavior of the people around him.

It also explained the Night Watchers’ actions.

If there truly were this many subjects so close to the Solitary King, potential pawns would be a dime a dozen.

Using the precious opportunity he had given them on something like this would undoubtedly be a massive waste.

...

So, capitalizing on their grasp of this realm’s properties, the Night Watchers had expended a great deal of effort to push him to this level?

Even though it seemed the Solitary King still hadn’t made an appearance.

He wasn’t sure if this was part of their plan, but after everything he had seen, Fu Qian maintained his earlier conclusion: he still hadn’t spotted anyone with the aura of a great emperor—himself included.

That was right. What was the absolute limit of getting close to the Solitary King?

Would an entity that even a suspected Tier 1 Night Watcher struggled to locate really be so hard to find just because it was exceptionally good at hiding?

Was it possible that the Solitary King’s form of existence was inherently abstract? Abstract to the point where the Night Watchers didn’t just need someone to help them ”see” it, but actually needed someone to act as a physical vessel for its manifestation?

To put it bluntly, they wanted to orchestrate the Solitary King’s Descent onto his body.

With so little evidence to go on, it was practically pure speculation, but Fu Qian had never overlooked this risk—or the opportunity.

After all, his mission was also to find the Solitary King. In that regard, his goals significantly overlapped with those of the Night Watchers.

If that truly was their plan, then as the vessel, he would undoubtedly have far more opportunities to manipulate the target.

It was just a pity that the commotion was still a bit too small.

The only good news was that, even though he hadn’t discovered anyone with the bearing of a great emperor, he seemed to have sensed Ariel’s location once again.