Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Going to such great lengths just for a single question?”

Nepheli obviously found it hard to believe Fu Qian’s excuse.

Yet even with a heavy dose of skepticism, the outrageous logic of his claim was enough to stoke anyone’s temper.

Exhausting every method and forcing the innocent into prostitution just to get someone to light a cigarette? Wasn’t that resource investment a bit extravagant?

”What question...”

Despite her intense emotions, Nepheli knew displaying them to the man in front of her was entirely pointless.

After taking a moment to calm down, she didn’t interrogate him like a victim. Instead, she played along with Fu Qian’s premise and asked.

At the same time, the surrounding commotion died down completely.

Not only did Lu Yi remain motionless, but even that tender crying was fading away.

”Is Excellency Rom not doing too well?”Sensing the fading of this vitality, Fu Qian sighed, showing some concern for another old acquaintance.

”...Not too well.”

This time, Nepheli hesitated even longer before finally nodding.

Exactly. If that entity were perfectly fine, who would dare impersonate them?

A higher entity was always acutely sensitive to concepts related to themselves. Weren’t they afraid that fabricating a fake might accidentally turn it real halfway through?

Fu Qian thought to himself.

That’s right. The highly oppressive rain of blood, Lu Yi, and even Excellency Rom—in his eyes, they simply couldn’t escape the suspicion of being mere props to set the mood.

This could even serve as evidence, allowing Fu Qian to immediately confirm that his guidance had succeeded.

In the battle of the Solitary King Court, brother Patches had undoubtedly become the final victor hiding in the shadows.

And under His arrangements, the ensnared Rom, combined with the Goddess of Sins and the Solitary King, had blossomed into quite a spectacular disaster.

No matter how you looked at it, not much time had passed. Did Excellency Rom truly have the strength to come over and start a fight right now?

Don’t forget, His repeated resource investments prior to this had been substantial, and all of them had gone completely bankrupt in the end.

To sum it all up, in Fu Qian’s judgment, even if the Origin Council sought Rom’s help, whether that entity could even respond was highly questionable.

Not to mention that with Excellency Nepheli’s insight, she most likely wouldn’t be naive enough to believe that such a pledge of loyalty could save her career in the Origin Council.

Therefore, the moment Rom appeared, despite the sudden surge of surface-level oppression, Fu Qian felt his sense of immersion actually drop.

Of course, he had to admit that Excellency Nepheli’s performance as the ”Punished Consort” was quite dedicated.

As for why she put in so much effort?

”Did you ever consider what would happen if I failed to grasp the deeper meaning of this masterpiece and just attacked based on its surface meaning?”

Fu Qian gestured at their surroundings.

...

”It wouldn’t cause me any substantial harm, because my true body isn’t here.”

Logically speaking, the scenario Fu Qian mentioned was undoubtedly a highly probable outcome.

However, Nepheli appeared completely unconcerned, her response calm and confident.

At the same time, however, she realized that certain acts were no longer meaningful. As she spoke, the painful imprints on her face completely faded away.

Eventually, even the fleshy gills within her eye sockets slowly shifted and reassembled.

”And as for me, it just means I wouldn’t be able to verify a few theories.”

Accompanied by the clashing of metal, the chains that had originally pierced her palms peeled away.

Standing up without the slightest hindrance, her reformed eyes locked onto Fu Qian.

”That makes a lot of sense, and then I would also lose my chance to get an answer.”

Although her appearance was far more familiar now, the loss of that grotesque novelty was somewhat regrettable. Fu Qian gave a soft sigh and nodded.

Previously, while inside The Ark, she had already admitted that the ”Dancy” on Ye Island was also her.

Thus, Excellency Nepheli’s masterful disguise techniques had been witnessed long ago.

Under these circumstances, Nepheli clearly wasn’t worried that he would question her claim about her true body not being here.

Of course, young people were still too young.

She didn’t know that for the Lord of the Frenzied Flame standing before her, the absence of a true body sometimes wasn’t an obstacle at all.

”So what exactly is your goal? If the Night Watchers wanted to deal with the Council, they wouldn’t need to find lame excuses at all, and I don’t think they’d be overly friendly to the King of the Abandoned Prison, either.”

Fu Qian kept those demoralizing thoughts to himself, but Nepheli still felt deeply invested in the situation and couldn’t help voicing her doubts once more.

...

”Rest assured, it’s purely a coincidence. There was no tacit agreement with the Night Watchers in that matter. Moreover, I’ve already stated my purpose once before.”

Knowing exactly why Nepheli specifically mentioned the Night Watchers, Fu Qian simply chuckled.

Obviously, appearing before her alongside Su Gao last time had indeed created a highly misleading impression.

After Nepheli returned, on one hand, it wouldn’t have been hard for her to connect Boss Fang, Professor Fu, and the human fiend Dancy together. On the other hand, she had clearly woven a conspiracy theory around numerous events.

For example, when the King of Ye Island fell, he and Su Gao were present...

During Chen Xing’s Demigod Plan in Shangjing, he was also present...

Ariel, who came to investigate and returned in defeat, was also bested by his joint effort with the Night Watchers... and so on.

This made the seemingly outrageous things he had once said to Ariel appear somewhat credible—a collaboration between the Rebirth Club and the Night Watchers?

Had they truly abandoned their ideals to become the lapdogs of a violent organization?

Then, combining that with the recent incident involving the Solitary King’s new offspring, it was impossible not to fall into Overthinking.

But the problem was that the more one engaged in Overthinking, the less sense it made.

”...Alright, I believe you. Now you can state your question.”

She couldn’t figure it out, but the person involved didn’t seem to have any reason to continue lying about such a thing.

Nepheli fell silent for a moment, ultimately accepting his ”seeking answers” excuse and gesturing for Fu Qian to ask away.

...

Now this was a cultured person. Truly someone molded by the Academy.

Fu Qian undoubtedly appreciated this straightforward and open attitude, and he didn’t hold back.

”How much do you know about the plan for Chen Xing’s ascension to the Demigod Realm in Shangjing? Were you involved in designing the process?”

”...You just wanted to ask this?”

Although it was highly relevant to current events and involved a high degree of technicality, Nepheli clearly felt like she was doubting life itself in that moment.

Her slightly hesitant tone made it obvious that she was reluctant to connect this entire series of events to such a simple question.

”Just asking in passing. If there’s a non-disclosure agreement, forget it.”

Of course, this wasn’t the core question Fu Qian wanted to ask. Don’t forget, this was a project established just tonight, while his impersonation of Ariel happened long before that.

He waved his hand honestly, indicating that he was just taking the opportunity to chat about it since it came up, and it was fine if she didn’t want to answer.

”...I did design it. However, I was busy with other things at the time, so Deng Feizhou handled the operations on my behalf.”

The shock to her worldview eased a fraction. After a brief silence, Nepheli finally accepted the topic.

When she spoke again, she was completely honest, directly stating that she was the first author.