Eldritch Horror Theatre - Ch. 78: Cleaning Up the Aftermath
Amidst the aunties' increasingly strange looks, Fu Qian carried the person all the way back to his apartment and carefully placed her on the sofa.
How should he handle this?
Looking at the unconscious Pei Yanqing on the sofa, Fu Qian fell into deep thought.
If her mind had genuinely been wiped clean, wouldn't his actions be tantamount to murder on a mental level?
But as for how to save her, he really didn't have many methods in this area.
Whip her twice with the Tyrant's Fist to fight poison with poison? It would most likely just add snow to the frost, not to mention her frail body definitely wouldn't survive it.
Should he lean into the mistake and use the idiot aura on her for a few more hours, turn her into an absolute fanatic, and then issue an order for her to live like a normal person?
This kind of "matryoshka doll" logic that only worked in theory was even more ill-advised. Besides, it was essentially deceiving oneself, which wasn't his style.
Fu Qian always believed himself to be a reasonable man.
To describe it in his own words: everyone is out here hustling, and everyone must take responsibility for their own actions.
If he really broke this girl's mind because of his mistake, he definitely had to figure something out, regardless of the difficulty.
After sleeping for a full two hours, Pei Yanqing's body twitched, and she took a deep breath.
She was waking up.
Fu Qian stayed silent, quietly observing her reaction.
Pei Yanqing's eyelashes fluttered. First, she groggily opened her eyes, then subconsciously looked around. Upon realizing it was an unfamiliar environment, she frowned.
A change!
Seeing a hint of liveliness return to her eyes, Fu Qian sighed in relief. As long as she could be saved.
The next moment, he moved the ring on his hand.
Lucid Dream activated once more, enveloping the two of them.
"Name?"
"Pei Yanqing."
"Age."
"21."
"Address?"
"Lin University Student Dormitory 9, Room 207... Wait, who are you?"
She really was a student!
Fu Qian looked at Pei Yanqing, who had finally learned to ask questions, with a gratified expression.
This kid should be saved.
"You can call me Mr. 'No Money Needed'."
Remembering her line from earlier, Fu Qian threw out a casual joke.
No money needed...
After staring blankly at Fu Qian for a few seconds, Pei Yanqing's gaze began to lose focus again.
Still not completely cured, huh!
Fu Qian was startled. He hadn't expected a casual joke to almost trap her mind again.
It seemed some of the mental imprints hadn't been completely erased and still needed time to heal.
Fu Qian snapped his fingers to draw Pei Yanqing's attention back, stopping her from zoning out again.
"Where is this? Why am I here?"
Slowly coming back to her senses, Pei Yanqing remembered her initial question.
Good question! The events of these past few hours really weren't easy to explain.
Fortunately, he had already decided to blame everything on a dream.
"Why is there a UFO in the sky?!"
Fu Qian shouted suddenly, pointing out the window.
UFO...
Pei Yanqing subconsciously turned her head to look.
Fu Qian carefully controlled his strength and delivered another chop to her neck.
Pei Yanqing, who wasn't fully awake to begin with, crisply and cleanly fainted once more.
Fu Qian had learned his lesson this time. He directly called a car to wait downstairs and helped her into it.
"Brother, is your girlfriend not feeling well?"
Looking at the unconscious Pei Yanqing, the middle-aged driver couldn't help but ask.
"Just my fan."
Fu Qian said flatly.
Fan...
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the driver gave an even more meaningful smile.
"Understood, understood. Your fan was feeling unwell, so you helped 'treat' her, right?"
Public morals are degenerating day by day; people are not what they used to be!
Looking at the overly imaginative driver, Fu Qian let out a cold snort. His legendary tyrannical aura instantly filled the entire car.
The driver shivered, suddenly feeling out of breath and his legs trembling. He didn't dare to make any more jokes and focused entirely on driving straight to the destination.
Speaking of which, Pei Yanqing's current state really wasn't suitable for others to see.
After lightly intimidating the driver, Fu Qian also realized this was an issue.
It was fine outside, but arriving at a university wearing her work uniform while being escorted back by a stranger... even if he explained that she fainted at work, it would still be hard to avoid gossip.
If you're going to help, help all the way. The destination was soon reached. After helping Pei Yanqing out of the car, Fu Qian took out his phone and called Young Master Qin.
"What do you need?"
On the other end, Young Master Qin's voice still sounded a bit unnatural. It seemed the previous black dress incident had left quite a shadow on him.
Combined with the guy currently calling him, how had he, a perfectly upstanding young man, somehow become a magnet for disasters?!
Fu Qian couldn't help but shake his head.
"Do you have Tan Ying's contact info?"
"Tan Ying?"
Qin Mingze froze for a moment before reacting, his voice turning hesitant.
"... That girl might have some grievances against you lately. Are you sure you want to contact her?"
"Mm-hmm, I need her help with something."
Exactly. After thinking it over, Fu Qian realized he actually didn't know anyone who could help him with this.
If he remembered correctly, the Lin University Art Academy was also on this campus. Tan Ying, whom he had only met once, was ironically the most suitable candidate.
"Alright."
Qin Mingze was clearly busy. Without saying much else, he forwarded Tan Ying's contact information.
Fu Qian dialed the number. It rang a full four times before someone picked up, and Tan Ying's confused voice came through.
"Who is this?"
"Fu Qian. We had an in-depth discussion about art not long ago."
...
"A female student from your school fainted. Could you help escort her back to her dorm?"
"Fainted? A female student?"
Tan Ying finally spoke, her voice laced with horror.
"Did you knock her out?"
*I actually did knock her out, though not in the way you're thinking.* Fu Qian thought to himself.
But he obviously couldn't say that out loud. He didn't care about his own reputation, but the victim was a different story.
"What do you take me for? She collapsed from exhaustion during her work-study job, and I just happened to run into her."
"... Fine, wait there!"
Not long after hanging up the phone, he saw Tan Ying's car drive through the campus gates. It pulled right up in front of him and screeched to a halt.
When Tan Ying saw Pei Yanqing next to Fu Qian, her eyes went wide.
"Do you know her?"
"Nope, just acting like a good Samaritan. What, do you know her?"
Fu Qian didn't even blink.
"Sort of."
Tan Ying snorted, looking back and forth a few times. She clearly couldn't quite comprehend the scene before her.
"You didn't do anything to her, did you?"
"I did something to a girl, and then brought her to find *you*?"
Fu Qian shot back with an incredulous look.
Uh!
Tan Ying thought about it; that logic was indeed a bit absurd. She stopped obsessing over it and immediately helped load the girl into the car.
As Tan Ying's vehicle drove off, this trouble was finally brought to an end.
By the time Pei Yanqing woke up in her dorm room, the narrative in her head would basically be that she fainted at work and was escorted back by a kind stranger and a classmate, interspersed with some messy, chaotic dreams.
Finally done cleaning up the aftermath. Staying at home really is much simpler!
Fu Qian sighed deeply once again.
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