Eldritch Horror Theatre

”You’re too polite, old man.”

The abandoned house fell silent once more. Kadon had completely closed his eyes.

For his very last words to be an explicit expression of gratitude made Fu Qian feel deeply honored for a moment.

But that wasn’t the only thing worth marveling at. The old man’s response regarding euthanasia had been nothing short of astonishing.

”You can do it whenever you feel it’s necessary.” The phrasing seemed casual, but the confidence behind it reached the level of arbitrating across eternity alone.

Being completely defenseless and unable to react was something virtually every living creature instinctively loathed.

Even the higher entities he had encountered so far—regardless of how strong or weak their current state was—had always displayed at least a faint trace of subjective agency.

Yet the implications of Kadon’s words had seemingly transcended all of that. It was unrestrained to the extreme.

He was not only open to euthanasia, but willing to let it happen at any time Fu Qian deemed appropriate.

Paired with his explicitly acknowledged plan to die, it projected absolute confidence.It meant that regardless of who Fu Qian was, what his motives were, or what abilities he possessed... even after factoring in the risks of all those variables, the old man still granted him complete discretionary power, entirely convinced it would not affect the final outcome.

For a brief moment, Fu Qian felt he could almost empathize with that legendary sense of release in the face of death—that state where everything was permitted.

And it wasn’t just a feeling. He could clearly see that the breathing of the old man lying before him was steadily slowing down.

...

Such high efficiency. As expected of a sleepiness saved up over decades.

The breathing, the muscles, and even the subtle movements of the eyeballs—even without his most convenient perceptive abilities, Fu Qian could easily recognize the physical changes a body underwent when entering sleep.

And the old man lying there right now undoubtedly fit all those criteria.

After completing so many bizarre items on his Checklist, he seemed to have relinquished his very last lingering attachment to this world, freely and gracefully passing away right on the spot.

Theoretically, this meant that Fu Qian only needed to slap him dead right now, and the task would be complete.

As the final task of the week, it would truly be a relaxed and effortless conclusion.

Unfortunately, that was only in theory. This sleepiness built up over decades was still a bit too gentle.

Fu Qian didn’t move; he simply sat there in silence, mentally evaluating the situation.

For a transcendent, adjusting one’s body to simulate sleep was hardly a difficult feat. These physical changes were nowhere near enough to serve as a reliable standard of judgment.

More importantly, it seemed there was no standard to judge by at all right now.

Kadon’s final wish appeared ordinary, but it was fundamentally quite tricky to handle.

Part of that was naturally because Fu Qian had temporarily lost his identity as the Dream Dominator. Even though Kadon’s body was ”asleep,” his mental state was effectively a Black Box, completely impossible to probe.

The other issue was that, aside from attempting to probe him, there were very few actions Fu Qian could actually take.

Take, for example, the question he had casually tossed out earlier—could he help with ”euthanasia”?

Despite asking it, Fu Qian judged the actual feasibility of doing so to be incredibly low.

All the items on Kadon’s Checklist for this trip were clearly not just about making peace with his life; they served a very specific purpose.

That purpose had not only been entirely omitted from the mission briefing, but Kadon himself also firmly believed that revealing too much would actively ruin his plan’s chance of success.

The end result was that, despite chatting at length earlier, they had never once touched upon the core issue.

At present, his only basis for making any sort of judgment was the contents of the Checklist itself.

In any case, theoretically, completing this final item would allow Kadon’s ”true purpose” to be fulfilled.

That was exactly why he had bothered to ask that extra question. Trying to guess the truth from these surface-level requirements was no easy feat, and having one more point of reference was always a good thing.

However, the answer Kadon had given was laced with an underlying despair hidden beneath its casual tone.

Telling him he could euthanize him at any time meant that this action—which seemed like the only viable option he had left—would actually have absolutely no impact on the final outcome.

...

To be completely honest, the danger level of this mission so far had been remarkably low.

Kadon, the sole transcendent involved, hadn’t shown any intention of attacking even after realizing there was something seriously wrong with his ”driver.”

In exchange, however, the level of sheer hassle was quite high.

The old man gave off such a peculiar vibe that Fu Qian suspected even someone skilled in manipulating dreams would struggle to brute-force this final Checklist item.

In all likelihood, one would have to rely on constant probing and deduction, unraveling the logic and purpose behind the Checklist in order to complete it through the intended, normal solution.

And Kadon’s style of communication was somewhat similar to the Warehouse—the more you already knew, the more he would tell you.

Normally, given how Warehouse missions worked, this would have been very easy to handle—

Failing once wouldn’t matter as long as new information was gained. Then, on the next attempt, one could chat more with the old man and uncover even more clues...

Unfortunately for Fu Qian, his permissions were currently locked into an All-In upgrade. This required him to clear every mission on the very first try, or instantly abandon it at the cost of 5 SAN Value.

While that rule prevented him from ever getting hard-stuck on certain missions, it made this specific type of scenario incredibly tricky to navigate.

Fortunately, he had always been a highly adaptable person.

Euthanasia was the only action he could take, but it wouldn’t mean anything? Fine, then he just wouldn’t do it.

Kadon’s breathing was still slowing down, now reaching the point where it was as faint as a thread. Faced with this sight, Fu Qian finally made a move.

However, he didn’t do anything to the old man. Instead, he reached out and unzipped a palm-sized cloth bag beside him.

That’s right. Even when he had gotten out of the car earlier, he hadn’t forgotten to bring along the items he had purchased from the small shop.

Once the first aid kit was open, he didn’t grab the hemostatic gauze to bandage any wounds. Instead, he dug out a small bottle, popped it open, and gave it a sniff.

Generally speaking, packing liquid rubbing alcohol into such a small kit wasn’t the brightest idea, as it was prone to breaking. But right now, it was incredibly convenient.

A second later, Fu Qian placed the small bottle of medical alcohol right at the head of the old man’s bed.

While it might not be full of complex flavor profiles, he couldn’t find a better substitute on hand to serve as a farewell drink.

Along the way, the old man had certainly been uncooperative on more than a few occasions, but Fu Qian didn’t hold any dissatisfaction toward him.

This mere Mid Tier transcendent was acting just like a wallfacer, carrying out a task that even the Warehouse wanted to assist with.

As for there being only one bottle? That wasn’t a problem either.

Pop!

With a light flick of Fu Qian’s finger, a glass bottle cap went flying. He lifted the bottle and chugged a mouthful of the light green liquid inside.

Don’t drink the drive, and don’t drive the drink. Traffic safety was very important.

This bottle of apple juice was the one he had swiped from Brother Raymond’s shop earlier.

It was just a pity that it tasted exactly like coffee. That vibrant color symbolizing a Green Apple obviously contained far too much artificial food coloring—drinking too much of it made one legitimately worry about spontaneous mutation—Riiip!

In the very next moment, that incredibly expensive outfit he was wearing genuinely burst open in more than one place.