Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Are you... alright?”

Trembling, Ji Liushuang asked cautiously as she watched Fu Qian struggle onto the shore.

Fu Qian completely understood her reaction. Anyone would lose their composure after seeing a fellow human swell several times their normal size and sprout mouths all over their body.

”Never better!”

He replied in a relaxed tone, successfully provoking a chorus of curses.

”Shameless boasting! Your death approaches—your body and soul will be utterly obliterated! Hahaha...”

”Idiot, you’ll ruin our last shred of hope!”

”Young man, don’t be impulsive...”

”Who are they?”

Ji Liushuang subconsciously shrank back. She had already recognized Feng Yunhong’s voice.”You can call them seniors across the board, though whether they’re actually respectable is hard to say.”

Instantly, the cursing doubled in volume.

”Can you... save them?”

Seeming to grasp a sliver of Fu Qian’s situation, Ji Liushuang subconsciously took another step back, then remembered the others still trapped in the blood pool.

Of the Arrogant Five, Huang Zhaoyan had vanished without a trace. Yuan Xin only had half a face exposed and was on the verge of suffocating.

”No.”

Fu Qian refused outright. The eyes of the three still standing dimmed, and Yuan Xin struggled in despair.

”Are you coming?”

”You’re going to send me out?”

Ji Liushuang’s dim eyes instantly lit up.

”No.”

Fu Qian shook his head.

”I’m giving you a chance to watch me leave.”

...

The scenery shifted. Before long, the edge of the ruins came clearly into view.

Ji Liushuang wasn’t sure what to make of her own mindset.

After Fu Qian’s remark, she didn’t even feel angry. In fact, she had actually followed him all the way out.

Perhaps she had been trapped in despair for too long. Even if she wasn’t the one escaping, she just wanted to watch someone break free.

She made an excuse for herself.

The two of them walked one after the other, still following the path they had taken to get here. Along the way, they even saw the palm monster Li Weixuan had injured, as well as a few lush piles of hair.

But their reactions were bizarre. They had clearly spotted the two of them, yet they only watched from afar, too afraid to approach.

It feels like holding court!

Fu Qian marveled inwardly, knowing these things weren’t necessarily afraid of him.

More likely, as entities completely assimilated by the Furnace, they were unwilling to touch someone like him, whom the Furnace itself was actively rejecting.

The barrier was close at hand.

The closer he got, the more Fu Qian felt the maddened surges of power struggling within him.

The reversed blood flow was nothing now. His muscles and bones were groaning, and the chaotic energy made it almost impossible for him to walk, while the howling in his head grew increasingly deafening.

”Stop! You’re really crazy...”

”Young man, don’t be too arrogant...”

”Brother, you’re still young. Don’t go down the path of giving up on yourself...”

...

Fu Qian didn’t respond to any of this. With an unchanged expression, he controlled his body, walked firmly step by step to the edge of the barrier, and reached out his right hand.

It felt like pressing into a thick layer of jelly. The once-indestructible invisible barrier was easily pierced.

It really works!

Fu Qian blinked and looked back at Ji Liushuang.

She was staring fixedly at his right hand reaching outside the barrier, her eyes complex.

”Do you have any last words?”

Last words?

Hearing this, Ji Liushuang froze for a moment, then lowered her head.

”It doesn’t seem to hold any meaning anymore, does it?”

”If things really are as you said, even if I tell you my last words now, the moment you get out, all information related to me will be wiped away.”

”You’re not stupid! Theoretically, that’s indeed the case, so the pressure is on you.”

Fu Qian looked at her.

”If you don’t want to waste this chance, you need to think of last words that I won’t forget.”

Last words that won’t be forgotten...

Ji Liushuang blanked out for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up.

”Do you know Silver Mist Manor?”

”I do.”

Fu Qian nodded, frowning.

Even though it was bizarre, he just knew it.

The moment Ji Liushuang mentioned the place, a grand architectural estate bathed in sunlight naturally surfaced in Fu Qian’s mind.

He was absolutely certain this was the place she meant.

But the problem was that he had never been there. He wasn’t even from this world.

Fu Qian thought about it for a moment and guessed a possibility.

His mind had been contaminated by the consciousness of the other transcendents. These were their memories.

In fact, starting just a moment ago, his head had been overflowing with all sorts of chaotic images—a mishmash of absolutely everything.

It seemed his current form brought more than just physical instability!

This was not good. Fu Qian suddenly had an ominous premonition.

”On the easternmost side of Silver Mist Manor, there is a cedar forest.”

Seeing that Fu Qian actually knew the place, Ji Liushuang felt a surge of joy and spoke rapidly.

”Beneath the cedars grows a type of flower that only blooms at night. Under the moonlight, they are as white as frost and form a beautiful expanse. You can go see them when you have time.”

”There’s a woman named Ji Xue who likes to walk there at night. If you meet her, you can say hello for me.”

”Understood. If I get the chance, I’ll go take a look.”

Looking at Ji Liushuang’s pleading eyes, Fu Qian didn’t ask about her relationship with this Ji Xue. He simply nodded in agreement.

The next moment, his entire body plastered against the barrier, squeezing out amid countless wails and curses.

[Incomplete soul state. Containment Failure.]

Almost the instant he regained his freedom, a prompt rang in his ears.

As expected, it didn’t work!

Though he had vaguely sensed something was wrong when he noticed the jumbled memories, actually facing this outcome still made him sigh.

The meaning was clear enough. His method of forcing a qualitative change through sheer quantitative accumulation had allowed his physical body to cross over, but his soul had been damaged in the process, so it didn’t count as a ”complete” escape.

This mission really has some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Intense pain washed over him, and Fu Qian looked down.

Patches of blood exploded all over his body. His skin was crowded with agonized faces, and his flesh was disintegrating at a rapid pace.

Amidst the howling, the scenery before his eyes rapidly shattered.

Returning to the familiar Warehouse, Fu Qian didn’t rush to curse. Instead, he closed his eyes and tried with all his might to recall Ji Liushuang’s appearance.

But in just a few seconds, it had already blurred entirely.

At the very least, it proved his deduction correct once again.

[Mission Failed]

[Evaluation: Merciless Blood Bracer]

[Kill: Zhao Ran]

[Special Kill: Feng Yunhong, Li Weixuan, Chi Hesheng, Luo Binhai, Shui Jing, Grimm Wood, Belozov...]

[Special Kill Reward: Lucid Dream]

[Special Kill Reward: Feast]

[Current SAN Value: 55]

[Play event recap?]

After reading the series of summary messages, Fu Qian blanked for a good while before realizing who Zhao Ran was—that unfortunate assassin guy!

As for that string of names on the special kill list, Fu Qian deliberately scrolled down and counted them. There were actually a full twenty-seven people.

Needless to say, this group was the transcendents who had been ”eaten” by Feng Yunhong over the years, the very same bunch who had just been frantically trash-talking him.

That guy Feng Yunhong had merely beaten them down to critical health without taking the final blows, ultimately spoon-feeding Fu Qian two and a half Godlikes!