Eldritch Horror Theatre

[Current task completed. Containment of Anomaly 1-433 successful.]

Before the torrential rain could strike him, the task completion prompt finally rang in Fu Qian’s mind.

It seemed that after losing the Golden Needle, Loretta could no longer maintain the stability of this nightmare.

So, sometimes being a bit oblivious wasn’t a bad thing.

If Loretta’s will had been just a bit firmer, and the nightmare just a bit more stable, he feared he would have had no choice but to kill her.

As the scene shifted, Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse once more.

[Mission Evaluation: Dream Destroyer]

[On the verge of breaking down, Loretta found a spiritual refuge in Fenghou City.

For this long-lost peace, she was willing to endure any suffering.

Of course, the true price behind it still far exceeded her imagination.For the first half of her life, Loretta had always believed herself to be a lucky person.

Unfortunately, fate’s gifts always have their prices marked in advance.

Originally, the moment her talent upgraded, she was destined to be replaced by the Awakened entity inside her.

Fortunately, the high-level power corresponding to this talent had long since been completely annihilated, causing that special Awakened existence to die instantly, allowing her consciousness to be preserved.

Often, when you feel unfortunate, you simply do not realize that an even worse possibility has already been eliminated.]

[Killed: Yule]

[Reward: SAN Value +25; inspiration +5; Eternally Lucid Mind]

[Current SAN Value: 221, Current inspiration: 86]

[Play event recap?]

It actually worked like this?

The contents of the mission summary immediately sparked endless speculation in Fu Qian’s mind.

The Nightmare Corridor was undoubtedly a highly unique existence. So far, not only did the two missions related to it both begin with a ’1’, but they had also posed a nearly fatal threat to him.

Naturally, this summary brought Wen Li to mind.

When that girl was promoting to Tier 6, a consciousness named Eve had appeared, nearly possessing her without a sound.

Now it seemed she really wasn’t the only exception.

According to what Loretta had said earlier, her situation was identical to Bernard’s. Both had seen their talents suddenly vanish after reaching a certain point of growth, followed immediately by the endless torment of nightmares.

Combined with the mission summary, the reason for this was that ”the high-level power corresponding to the talent had been completely annihilated.”

Taking these two points together, it was easy to deduce that the Nightmare Corridor was related to a superior power, only its state was extremely unique—essentially akin to death.

This caused the Awakened consciousnesses inside Loretta and Bernard to die instantly the moment they promoted to Mid Tier and prepared to take over.

From then on, their talents were no more, and they became connected to the Nightmare Corridor, falling into a painful cycle.

How truly bizarre. He wondered about the origins of this Nightmare Corridor.

Fu Qian clicked his tongue in marvel.

Now that the Golden Needle was destroyed, Loretta was undoubtedly beaten back to her original state. He could only express sympathy for that.

He had to admit, to be able to discover this point, Yule could be considered a genius.

While lost in thought, Fu Qian quickly flipped to his rewards section.

The next moment, a palm-sized, iridescent bell appeared in his hand.

[Name: Eternally Lucid Mind]

[Type: Special Item]

[Description: A bell made of a special material that possesses the effect of repelling the mysterious. Once rung, it creates a brief Miracle centered around the user, weakening the presence of supernatural powers. The higher the target’s Rank, the shorter the duration of the effect. Can only be activated once every twenty-four hours.]

[Note: Eternity is nothing but a fool’s fantasy; even sanity is a mere delusion.]

It wasn’t a waste of effort after all!

After reading the description, Fu Qian almost threw his head back and laughed.

Although it was slightly vague, suppressing supernatural powers could essentially be understood as an area-of-effect silence, couldn’t it?

If that was truly the case, Fu Qian could think of a pile of applications with his eyes closed.

After all, for a melee-focused combatant like himself, even if some special effects were disabled, he would be among those least affected.

It was truly an excellent tool for home, travel, murder, and robbery.

...

”Little Qian, what’s that?”

In the living room, Qin Mingze pointed curiously at the nearby cabinet. Sitting on it was a Silver-White Mask, its features soft and distinct.

Beside him, Tan Ying and Wu Qingyu each held a game controller, battling it out gleefully on the screen.

Or rather, it was a one-sided beating. Tan Ying clearly had quite the talent. The skills Wu Qingyu was so proud of were utterly defenseless against her, and he was currently having his character’s guts ripped out while she smiled brightly.

In fact, the reason Young Master Qin was idling on the sidelines right now was that he had just had his own guts ripped out moments ago.

Ever since learning that Fu Qian had gradually pulled himself above the poverty line, Qin and Wu felt increasingly justified in coming over to bother him.

Today, not long after Fu Qian returned from the Warehouse, these two had shown up at his door.

”It’s a mask. Can’t you tell?”

Fu Qian replied lazily.

”It has a wicked sort of beauty to it.”

Young Master Qin clicked his tongue.

The mask he pointed at was exactly the gift Fu Qian had received from the Witch after establishing contact last time.

Aside from concealing a transcendent aura, the item didn’t seem to have any other negative effects, so Fu Qian had casually placed it in his home.

”And what about this?”

After admiring the mask, Young Master Qin pointed at the transparent bell next to it.

”It’s a Handbell. You can pick it up and give it a try,”

Fu Qian said impassively.

A Handbell...

Qin Mingze furrowed his brow slightly.

He had a decent eye for things and could naturally tell this was by no means some mass-produced handicraft.

He looked at the bell, then back at the mask.

”You haven’t actually switched careers to become a mage, have you?”

”Is that not allowed?”

Fu Qian shot him a glance.

”It’s a bit weird! But since it’s you, it somehow doesn’t feel all that hard to accept. By the way, where’s that Mirror you brought back last time?”

Before Fu Qian had time to answer, Tan Ying, who was right beside them, turned her head and glared at Qin Mingze icily.

Uh!

Qin Mingze instantly shut his mouth.

Not only that, the murderous look she then shot at Fu Qian made it clear she was still brooding over the haunted house incident.

”Which is why I’m so curious. How did you guys end up bringing her along?”

Fu Qian pointed at Tan Ying.

Ever since her mental defenses were shattered at the haunted house last time, she hadn’t shown up for quite a while.

”She insisted on tagging along,”

Qin Mingze sighed.

”Said she wanted to witness the depraved lifestyle of shut-ins.”

”Considering she has a huge problem with you, I didn’t try to jump on the grenade for you.”

”Understood,”

Fu Qian said casually, though his eyes were fixed on the bell in Qin Mingze’s hand.

He had just brought the item out with him in passing.

As Qin Mingze casually shook it, a melodious chime rang out.

In an instant, Fu Qian sensed a change. The connection he had with the people in front of him—that feeling of being called upon—had been severed.

It must be noted that this mental connection had only appeared after he promoted to the Demigod Realm.

In other words, this bell known as ’Eternally Lucid Mind’ could not only be activated by anyone, but it could even nullify Demigod Level effects.

The duration was about eight or nine seconds.

It wasn’t very long, but that was for a Demigod.

Moreover, in actual combat, eight or nine seconds was enough time to accomplish a great deal.

Fu Qian silently evaluated his spoils of war, extremely satisfied with its performance.