Eldritch Horror Theatre

Professor Lanaya was going to have her hands full again!

Having snuffed out yet another of the Academy’s geniuses, Fu Qian surveyed his surroundings with deep satisfaction.

He had been highly efficient, but the final clash had still been intense.

Right now, not a single intact object remained in the entire room.

With this level of destruction, there was no way those outside had missed the commotion.

Even the guy he had plastered against the wall earlier had probably peeled himself off and run to report the incident by now.

In fact, his perception had already picked up more than one presence rapidly closing in on the location.

The rest was up to Lanaya.

When he returned next time, whether he would be hailed as a heroic professor who had eliminated a public menace or as a fleeing murderer would entirely depend on her professional competence.

Amid Fu Qian’s musings, the scene before him shifted, and the familiar Warehouse appeared.[Mission Evaluation: Temperance Faction]

[That door at the bottom of the human heart has always existed; it merely lacked an Invitation Letter.

The essential nature of desire is that it can never be satisfied. Once it comes alive, it will seek to multiply at any cost until cognition shatters into utter chaos.

This brings an irresistible pleasure. Most importantly, even from a rational standpoint, you cannot prove it wrong.

Most of the time, that ecstasy is even mistaken for the true self.

After glimpsing this incredible power, Yi’an conceived various models in an attempt to grasp the operational laws of ecstasy.

Following endless efforts, he realized he needed a special emotional beacon, and he ultimately selected the young Lily.

This woman was in the prime of her life, her heart full of romantic fantasies. To him, she was utterly perfect.

To Yi’an, manipulating emotions was as easy as drinking water, whether they were the emotions of others or his own.

And once that door was pushed open, the mysterious ecstasy was so intoxicating that Lily quickly passed the point of no return.

Yi’an fulfilled his promise, allowing his beloved to experience unimaginable joy.]

[Kill: Attendant of Ecstasy]

[Reward: SAN Value +25; inspiration +5; Carnival of Wicked Desires]

[Current SAN Value: 218, current inspiration: 76]

[Play event recap?]

He would pass on the recap; some of those recent scenes hadn’t exactly been pretty.

Fu Qian sat in his seat, tapping lightly on his forehead.

Although he had suffered some visual trauma, today’s mission had overall been a walk in the park.

As expected, kill missions were always his favorite.

Even though it involved a Level 2 item, the difficulty truly hadn’t been high. It fully lived up to the standard of a bonus round.

There was even a special reward.

He scrolled up, and a moment later, a yellowish-white object materialized in his hand.

It was a skull missing its lower jaw.

Although it roughly retained a human shape, its curved canines resembled a beast’s, and its overall contours were warped in a highly asymmetrical distortion.

Several spots even bulged outward, as if something were trying to bore its way out from within.

[Name: Carnival of Wicked Desires]

[Type: Special Item]

[Effect: This is a conscious carrier formed after an audience with a Deity, hence its unstable state. Upon activation, it can form a ring in a local area, planting a Seed of Ecstasy in all intelligent beings within it. Disappears after one use.]

[Note: Can be shattered. Once shattered, it serves as a medium allowing you to look directly upon a Deity’s true body. This may yield unexpected benefits, but it is an extremely dangerous act.]

If it’s extremely dangerous, then don’t even write it out!

Fu Qian roared internally after reviewing the reward.

Looking at the effects, this reward was fairly average.

Though it was a single-use consumable, its effect was certainly nothing to scoff at.

However, its indiscriminate area-of-effect limited its use somewhat, making it barely better than nothing.

But that final note genuinely left an itch in his mind.

Given his previous clash with Ariel, Fu Qian naturally understood the danger of directly perceiving a Deity.

Yet, this seemed perfectly poised to answer his earlier question—what did Brother Yi’an’s path look like when pushed to its absolute limit?

During their prior exchange, Fu Qian’s assessment had been quite sincere; in his eyes, this was indeed a viable path.

Of course, the path being viable didn’t mean the man didn’t deserve to die.

So now came the question.

To look, or not to look?

After deliberating for about three seconds, Fu Qian tightened his fingers and squeezed.

Naturally, there was a reason for his decisiveness.

Based on past experience, the danger of directly perceiving a Deity primarily manifested as a drop in SAN Value.

Not to mention he was currently in excellent condition, his SAN Value having once again crossed two hundred.

He also held another advantage—he was inside the Warehouse.

The last time he had looked at the True God descending upon Ariel, he had faced it directly, with a physical distance of barely a few dozen meters.

Over this period, he had basically confirmed that the Warehouse possessed quite a high Rank. If he did it here, it could likely have a certain buffering effect on the impact, undoubtedly reducing the danger by a margin.

Under these circumstances, it was absolutely worth a try.

Crack!

Quickly, the first fracture appeared on the skull in Fu Qian’s hand. An instant later, it seemingly came alive, transforming into a slender, writhing worm that rapidly slithered across the bone’s surface.

Ignoring this bizarre sight, Fu Qian remained expressionless and continued to apply force.

The slender worms multiplied at a visible rate, quickly weaving into a writhing net.

A few seconds later, the object finally failed to resist and shattered into pieces.

[Carnival of Wicked Desires has been destroyed]

The next moment, accompanied by a shriek on the level of the soul, something punched through time and space to hook directly into Fu Qian’s consciousness.

A mass vast enough to blot out the sky appeared in the starry void an infinite distance away.

At the exact same time, an indescribable pleasure flooded Fu Qian’s heart, and something began to sprout rapidly.

[SAN Value -5]

[SAN Value -5]

[SAN Value -5]

......

A continuous stream of notifications arrived.

Yet, the pleasure in Fu Qian’s heart actually deepened by a fraction—the rate of his SAN drop was noticeably lower than during the Ariel incident.

The Warehouse really did have a filter effect!

For a moment, the ever-reckless Fu Qian was in no rush to sever the connection, instead choosing to observe closely.

If forced to describe the thing before him, it roughly resembled an inverted Stomach.

And every bulging vein upon its surface was a Tree of Ecstasy that had evolved to its absolute zenith.

At this moment, countless Trees of Ecstasy chaotically intertwined with one another, starved to the extreme, yet filled with pleasure to the extreme.

Cough, cough!

The instant those chaotic emotions washed back along his observation and crashed into his consciousness, Fu Qian directly severed the connection.

Even so, he still found it hard to suppress a fit of coughing, spitting out a large mouthful of bloody flesh fragments.

[Visceral Attack has been enhanced]

The next moment, a notification rang in his ears.

[Your Visceral Attack is no longer limited to destroying the physical body; it will now simultaneously destroy the body’s interior, the interior of the interior, the interior of the interior of the interior...... as well as all conceptual domains belonging to the target.]