Eldritch Horror Theatre - Ch. 127: Synchronization
[Task Evaluation: Unpredictable Madman]
[After efforts from multiple parties, the theft incident has finally concluded, adding another crime to the Primordial Council's ledger.
Night Watcher Henrik's innocence was proven, though whether there was even a shred of his own will during his final, ruthless slaughter remains unknown.
The Primordial Council lost their regional head in Shangjing. The most perplexing part for them is that they don't even know how he was lost, prompting them to pay close attention to this matter.
Driven by an urgent desire for ascension, Chen Xing ultimately chose to cooperate with outlaws, devising a meticulous plan and even sacrificing his own son, yet he still fell short.
The Blood of Thorns sprouted from a desecrated body. It is a dense coagulation of pollution and error, mistakenly believed by the ignorant to be a higher form of life.]
[Kills: Deng Feizhou, Chen Xing]
[Special Achievement: Completed the splicing of 3-0177]
[Rewards: Sanity Value +25; Inspiration +5]
[Special Achievement Reward: Usage rights for 3-0177]
[Current Sanity Value: 132, Current Inspiration: 36]
[Play event recap?]
What?
Amidst the string of notifications ringing in his ear, Fu Qian keenly detected an anomaly.
Quickly scrolling back, Fu Qian found the special achievement reward.
[3-0177, Envoy]
[Effect: Upon activation, completely synchronizes you to an anchored location.]
[Note: In this state, time will flow synchronously. If killed, you will face true death.]
Complete synchronization, true death?
Fu Qian frowned. He had never encountered a reward that granted him the right to use a Warehouse item before.
After some thought, Fu Qian followed the serial number and soon found the box for 3-0177.
He placed his hand on it, opened the box, and there lay the bloodstained white mask.
Fu Qian tried picking it up and found that while holding it, he felt a faint urge to put it on his face.
After a brief hesitation, Fu Qian put it back.
No rush to study it; I'll go back and eat first.
Although there was no repetitive grinding this time, it had taken quite a bit of time.
Fu Qian took off the Work Badge. His vision swirled, and he instantly returned to his familiar living room.
Taking the groceries he had bought from the fridge, Fu Qian leisurely prepared a meal for himself.
After eating rich food at Wen Li's place for the past couple of days, he had almost forgotten the taste of home cooking.
After eating and drinking his fill and taking a short rest, Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse and quickly located the box for 3-0177.
This time, without hesitation, he placed it directly on his face.
In that instant, Fu Qian felt a strange sensation, as if his connection to the Warehouse had deepened a fraction.
When his five senses recovered, Fu Qian found himself lying on a bed.
Glancing around, Fu Qian immediately recognized this as the second floor of the bookstore.
He instinctively touched his face; the mask was gone.
Finding the bathroom from memory, he looked in the mirror—it was unmistakably his own face.
Fu Qian manipulated his facial features, rapidly switching between the faces of Fu Qian and Fang Xun.
In this state, the mask didn't affect his ability to change his appearance at all.
The aura-concealing effect, however, was still active.
While investigating this, Fu Qian suddenly sensed someone downstairs.
Walking a few steps down the stairs, Fu Qian peeked his head out to take a look.
He didn't know when, but the bookstore had already been repaired, including a brand-new front door.
Wen Li, dressed in casual clothes, was sitting behind the counter, leisurely flipping through a book.
The next moment, seemingly sensing something, Wen Li looked up.
"Trespassing in a private residence is immoral."
Fu Qian strolled down the stairs and walked up to the counter under her gaze.
"Mr... Fu?"
Wen Li's face lit up with pleasant surprise as she stared at Fu Qian's face.
"You're back?"
"Yeah."
Fu Qian nodded and asked casually, "Have I been gone long?"
"More than a month."
Wen Li smiled, closed the book in her hands, and pointed around.
"And I'm not trespassing, you know. I'm helping out with some renovation work."
"I received so much help from you and couldn't repay it, so I thought I'd fix this place up as a small token of my appreciation."
"Take a look, are you satisfied?"
Fu Qian looked around.
It was evident Wen Li had put a lot of thought into it.
All the damaged areas were completely repaired while maximizing the preservation of the original look.
That was far more troublesome than just building a new bookstore.
"Very nice, thank you!"
"I waited at the Night Watcher Base for a long time. Later, Chief Yuan said you had matters to attend to and wouldn't be returning, and had someone escort me home."
Seeing that Fu Qian didn't mind, Wen Li looked delighted and began to chatter away.
"I was worried you had an accident at the time, but Chief Yuan seemed to be in a good mood, so I felt a bit relieved."
"However, something seems to have happened to Uncle Deng. His residence was sealed off by the Night Watchers, and I never saw him again after that."
"What about the patriarch of the Chen Family?"
"Elder Chen was probably overcome with grief. After returning, he completely refused to see guests. Later, he issued a statement saying he was going into seclusion to stabilize his condition, and hasn't shown his face since."
That makes sense.
Fu Qian nodded.
It wasn't easy for the Chen Family to produce a Demigod, only for him to disappear right after. It must have been very hard for them to accept.
Refusing guests, going into seclusion, wandering the world—going through this routine would at least maintain their bluff for a while.
"Mr. Fu, are you here on another secret mission this time?"
Wen Li suddenly thought of something and looked at Fu Qian cautiously.
Not this time.
Fu Qian glanced at her; it seemed his tendency to bring trouble wherever he appeared had left a shadow on the poor girl.
"No, just taking a look around the shop."
Fu Qian shook his head.
"I see!"
Wen Li looked pleased to hear that. After chatting for a bit longer, she left with a smile.
Fu Qian looked around, casually picked up a book, and started reading.
Time flowing synchronously... Could that mean that entering in this way causes time in the real world to flow simultaneously?
Does this mean I can seamlessly switch to the life of a bookstore owner from now on?
If so, if I stay in here too long, won't I become a missing person?
But then again, it didn't really matter.
With his social circle, disappearing or not made little difference.
At most, Qin Mingze and the others wouldn't be able to find him, but he occasionally pulled disappearing acts anyway.
He relaxed until the sun went down, then took off the mask and returned to the Warehouse once more.
After putting the mask away, Fu Qian was about to head home when he noticed an anomaly.
Wait a minute, where's my Work Badge?
The Work Badge around his neck was actually gone.
This...
Sensing something, Fu Qian raised his left hand and noticed a sparkling pattern had appeared on his wrist.
It merged with me?
Fu Qian recalled the feeling of a deepened connection just earlier.
Not bad, actually. It's more convenient than before.
Fu Qian tried focusing his attention on it and issued a mental command to deactivate it.
The next moment, he was back in his bedroom.
Fu Qian immediately looked outside and found that the sun had indeed set.
Sure enough, time flows synchronously between the two worlds!
Just as he was marveling at his discovery, the phone on his desk rang right on cue.
Fu Qian picked it up and saw it was Qin Mingze calling.
Before this, there had already been several missed calls.
"Are you home?"
"Yeah."
"Coming to find you. We'll be there soon."
"Why are you running over here now?"
Fu Qian was a bit puzzled.
"Rumor has it a UFO was spotted near your place. Xiaoyu and I agreed to go check it out together."
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