Eldritch Horror Theatre - Ch. 186: White Porcelain Doll (IV)
Looking at this, if they had been any later, the two of them might have grown together.
Seeing Mr. Luo casually separate the two, Fu Qian felt a sense of emotion.
The erasure of Life Boundaries? This concept was truly somewhat novel.
But this Mr. Luo was also a ruthless guy!
Others might not be clear, but he could see that after the two were enveloped by the dark light, although successfully separated, their life auras had both weakened to varying degrees.
Simply put, there was a high probability that he had cast a Curse, using accelerated aging to make the connected area lose its vitality.
Fu Qian had no comment on his solution, but one thing was certain: this man obviously knew a lot.
He probably had contingency plans ready for any potential problems.
...
Regardless, the painful lesson of that intimate fusion left a deep impression on the others.
Next, almost everyone used various methods to wrap themselves up tightly.
They walked cautiously, terrified of making any contact with others.
And amidst this tense atmosphere, the group began today's operation.
By now, Fu Qian had figured out the operation plan.
Yesterday's operation was merely a probe, aimed at luring those dolls out and taking one as a sample for observation.
According to Delin's explanation, the employer had strict requirements for the dolls' quality.
If the conditions weren't met, the commission would be canceled directly, with only a small fraction of the reward paid.
The continuation of the commission was originally a good thing, but after the bizarre scene that morning, it was hard to say if everyone still felt the same way.
...
On the way to their destination, Fu Qian unexpectedly received quite a bit of attention.
The reason was simple: he was the only one in the group whose hair hadn't grown longer.
For a moment, everyone couldn't help but glance at the top of his head.
Look at these people who have never seen the world!
As an expert in the power of flesh and blood, I have even reached the rank of Demigod now.
If I couldn't even control hair growth, Yuan Shan would die laughing if she found out.
As early as last night, Fu Qian had noticed the anomaly with his hair and casually made some targeted adjustments.
It wasn't that he paid much attention to his image; mostly, the dense forest was full of moisture, and long hair would be very troublesome.
"What do we call you, brother?"
With a hearty laugh, even the employer, Miyamoto, eventually came over to get close.
His hair had also grown quite a bit.
"Fu Qian."
Fu Qian glanced at him.
According to what the team members mentioned in their idle chatter, this Young Master Miyamoto was a wealthy second-generation heir of some minor family.
After living a life of ignorance and incompetence into his twenties, relying on a tiny bit of talent and family capital, he took control of a mid-sized company.
The company mainly operated in gray-area businesses and had decent relationships with several syndicates. He was the one who procured the passes for this trip.
To ordinary people, he was absolutely considered high and mighty, possessing vast resources and power.
But to the Beyonders in the team, Miyamoto's capital was merely a minor embellishment. His strength and his family's influence were far from enough to intimidate the crowd.
This was probably also why Delin had accepted this commission—in his eyes, this transaction was relatively controllable.
If the disparity between Party A and Party B was too great, the nature of the commission would become distorted.
"...Good name!"
After hearing Fu Qian's reply, Miyamoto froze for a moment before reacting, his laughter suddenly becoming even more exaggerated.
"Looking at so many people, you are the only one with the most extraordinary bearing."
Nonsense, it's just because I'm the only one who maintained my hairstyle.
"Speaking of which, how exactly did you do that?"
Miyamoto gestured toward Fu Qian's head, looking incredulous.
"Passive skill. I used to be a programmer."
Fu Qian said expressionlessly.
...
Miyamoto ultimately didn't probe further, returning to his own group amidst a burst of hearty laughter.
A bit strange!
After dealing with the employer, Fu Qian frowned slightly.
He felt that yesterday, this guy's personality wasn't this flamboyant.
It felt like staying here for too long was making everyone a bit abnormal.
...
It didn't take long for the group to arrive at their morning destination.
The area before them was the complete opposite of the dense forest; it looked entirely like scorched earth.
Dust covered the ground, and not a single blade of grass grew.
There was a clear boundary maintained between the two, distinct as black and white.
Compared to the dense forest, visibility on the scorched earth was excellent. Aside from the spiders from yesterday, bizarrely skeletal creatures could be seen moving about.
"Those dolls are extremely territorial. Any monster here that trespasses into the Oasis will be attacked."
Delin led the way at the front.
"Of course, correspondingly, they won't easily come out either."
"Next, we need to pick another monster to act as bait."
As he explained, he quickly locked onto a target—a crab-like creature that was a size larger than the spider from yesterday.
From the massive single claw resting horizontally in front of it, one could tell this thing was extremely ferocious.
Unfortunately, facing a group of superhuman tool-users, it was still somewhat lacking.
With a little luring, this massive, robust eight-limbed creature fell into the prepared trap and was tightly bound by a transparent net.
At Delin's command, the team members swarmed it, working intensely on its massive body, trying to turn it into a suitable bait as quickly as possible.
Perhaps because of his outstanding performance yesterday, Fu Qian was merely assigned to stand guard at a distance, ending up with the easy job.
Watching the lively struggle ahead, Fu Qian suddenly frowned. That feeling of being spied upon returned.
Looking at the impassive Mr. Luo, Fu Qian thought for a moment, stepped forward, and tapped Delin.
"Looks like we have a situation."
What?
Delin clearly hadn't processed it yet.
Fu Qian pointed behind him.
"It seems someone is watching us."
You're being overly paranoid, aren't you!
Although there was no sound, Fu Qian read that exact sentence in Delin's eyes.
"...Investigate further and report back!"
After a moment of silence, Delin gave Fu Qian an order.
"I can report it right now..."
Fu Qian exhaled and began a countdown.
"9, 8, 7... 2, 1, they're here!"
Ah!
As Fu Qian counted the final number, a miserable shriek rang out.
A guy who was vigorously subduing the captured beast suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground. When he looked down, one of his calves was already gone.
This sudden development startled the others. Assuming he had been injured by the giant beast's counterattack, they instinctively stepped forward to help him up.
And so, two more people fell.
By now, even the most slow-witted among them realized something was wrong and quickly stopped what they were doing.
Only then did they finally see clearly: right next to the giant beast, several petite dolls were strutting around triumphantly, hoisting the freshly torn legs.
Didn't they say these things wouldn't leave the dense forest behind them?
The entire group turned to look at Delin in unison.
The latter was full of astonishment and instinctively glanced at Fu Qian.
This is what happens when you don't trust the professionals!
Fu Qian sighed deeply in his heart.
"Why are you looking at me? Look forward!"
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