Shen Qingqiu backs away slowly, reaching into his sleeve for a piece of talisman paper. "I'm sorry," he says regretfully. "I don't have anything for you." Whatever is on the other side of the door, his chiefest worry is that it will break the door down or raise some kind of an alarm. If that happens, his best recourse will be to seal its prison off with a silencing talisman and finish his investigation of the lighthouse as quickly as possible. Informing Cerrit that Elias Coldwood is keeping some kind of eldritch beast in his cellar should be enough to justify an official investigation -- assuming Elias doesn't just kill the beast or move it elsewhere. He'd like to find something he can actually remove from the lighthouse himself if he can.

Of course, if the beast begins speaking to him and proves itself a rational being, he'll have to recalculate everything.