Eldritch Horror Theatre - Ch. 118: The Hunter Desires Blood (18)
That's getting down to business?
Sure enough, rules are only for ordinary people.
Although Fu Qian believed that, given necessary reasons, the Night Watchers wouldn't fear making a move against anyone.
But the probability of them finding trouble with him over such trivial matters was too small.
Moreover, apart from possibly catching a cold, that brother Zha Yingjun was almost completely unharmed.
"Small frictions between Beyonders are very normal, we can't cover everything."
Yuan Shan's tone was also quite matter-of-fact.
"Besides, didn't you save someone at the banquet?"
"Since you put it that way, I also feel it's fair and reasonable."
Fu Qian nodded.
"However, there is one question I am more concerned about."
Yuan Shan changed the topic.
"That is—why?"
"You just said you needed to attend the banquet, why did you need to? I believe you must have a special reason."
Of course there's a reason, but I can't tell you.
Fu Qian blinked; he had prepared for this.
He pointed outside.
"I was once entrusted by someone to protect the safety of the person outside."
"Wen Li?"
"Is she really that famous?"
"The vast majority of Beyonders have records within the Night Watchers, and Wen Li belongs to a rather special category. The Night Watchers have always been paying attention to her and are glad to see her grow smoothly."
"Paying attention... or taking precautions against?"
Fu Qian still remembered the words of the Night Watcher Qi Xue; the higher-ups of the Night Watchers clearly had an ambiguous attitude towards Wen Li.
Including her promotion, they basically held an Observe Quietly attitude.
"You seem to know quite a lot."
Yuan Shan's smile faded, and she looked deeply at Fu Qian.
"For someone who is entrusted, it's not that much. For example, I only know you are guarding against her, but I don't know exactly why."
"This question, if you really want to know the answer."
Yuan Shan pressed a certain switch by her hand.
"Then follow me."
Silently, the wall on the side of the office moved.
A hidden door opened, revealing a small elevator inside.
"So hidden, your private elevator?"
"Yes, being a leader always requires some privileges, otherwise what's all this hard work for."
Yuan Shan waved her hand and beckoned Fu Qian to enter together.
The elevator descended steadily. Judging from the speed and time, they should have arrived underground.
Sure enough!
When the elevator doors opened, outside was a gloomy corridor, with familiar lights flashing overhead.
This aesthetic, he had just seen it not long ago!
Fu Qian sighed inwardly.
"This passage, by calculation, has existed for a hundred years."
Yuan Shan walked nimbly ahead and casually opened the door at the end of the passage.
A familiar foul stench hit his face.
Even though he was mentally prepared, Fu Qian's brows still furrowed.
Ahead was impressively the Sealed Zone he had visited before.
Although it felt somewhat alleviated compared to the last time he was here, it was still quite unpleasant.
"This is the Sealed Zone, I believe you have heard of it."
"Yes, in some recent rumors."
"The rumors are mostly true. Henrik used to stand guard here for many years."
Yuan Shan walked ahead expressionlessly.
"Guarding the Sealed Zone is a perilous job. Although Henrik was not the strongest in terms of power, he was definitely one of the most dutiful personnel. I deeply regret his plight."
"When you saw him today, his condition should have already been very bad, right?"
Yuan Shan asked.
"It depends from what angle you speak. In terms of consciousness, he felt like he had almost collapsed, not even knowing how to snipe heads from afar anymore; his killing method turned into pure hand-to-hand combat. But at the same time, his life intensity has increased, roughly reaching the Demigod level."
Fu Qian answered while observing his surroundings.
Compared to his last visit, the veins on the wall were still there, but they felt somewhat subdued; it seemed they had been temporarily suppressed.
Not far away, a white-haired old man opened his eyes, scrutinized Fu Qian for a moment, and then continued resting with closed eyes.
Another Fourth Tier.
Fu Qian recognized him; this was one of the three people beside Yuan Shan the last time he was here.
He actually is the guard here!
Sigh!
Yuan Shan sighed faintly.
"Do you know the origin of the Sealed Zone?"
"I heard it's used to store contaminated Beyonder corpses?"
"Correct. Then do you know how the contamination comes about?"
"I truly don't know about that."
Fu Qian honestly shook his head.
"Contamination involving the supernatural level actually comes in many varieties, for example, over here."
By now, the two had walked past a corner, and ahead of them was that damaged room.
At this moment, the thing inside still hadn't settled down. Although wrapped in layers of black cocoons, it was still struggling slightly.
With a wave of Yuan Shan's hand, a black stripe appeared out of thin air and reinforced the black cocoon, suppressing the latter's range of motion even further.
"This corpse belongs to an ancient Beyonder. He had a very special ability: he could increase his strength by devouring the flesh and blood of others, causing massive casualties at the time. By the time he was eliminated by the Night Watchers, he had already advanced to the Demigod tier."
A Ghoul Demigod? How many heads must he have eaten!
The scene of Henrik devouring people surfaced in Fu Qian's mind.
"Let me guess, did he also specifically like to eat Mental Types? Feels a bit discriminatory?"
"Mental Type, Physical Type—that's truly too simple and crude a classification."
Yuan Shan shook her head.
"Supernatural abilities are ever-changing, how could they be summarized so simply?"
"In short, this person's ability brought him power, but also brought contamination. After he was finally killed, his body was immediately sealed here. However, over so many years, the contamination inside the corpse not only didn't dissipate, but instead began to continuously grow, even to the point of—blossoming and bearing fruit."
Blood of Thorns!
When Yuan Shan said "blossoming and bearing fruit," Fu Qian's first thought was his mission target.
"The thing that grew from the corpse is extremely secretive. Anyone in contact with it for too long will unconsciously be affected, becoming bloodthirsty and berserk, craving fresh flesh and blood."
"We attached great importance to it and took strict precautions as much as possible, but we didn't expect Henrik to still..."
Yuan Shan sighed.
"I understand the part about contamination, but you showing me this, is it out of concern that Wen Li..."
"All the corpses sealed here carry various kinds of contamination. Although most are not as strong as this one, once left unchecked, they will lead to various adverse consequences. It is a pity that up until now, we still cannot determine the specific cause of the contamination, so we can only become doubly careful about certain special abilities. Wen Li's ability is somewhat special, so she was listed as an observation, or rather, a surveillance target."
I see!
"In fact, many anomalies have occurred here recently, not just Henrik being contaminated and then stealing dangerous items. The day before yesterday, someone even attempted to break in here and injured three Night Watchers members."
When Yuan Shan said this, she cast an intentional or unintentional glance at Fu Qian.
"Oh, that was me too!"
Fu Qian nodded again with a look of pure frankness.
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