Eldritch Horror Theatre

This was even worse than startling a witch!

Right now, staring into Liliana’s dazzling eye sockets, Fu Qian couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

He could feel it: the instant he startled her, he was locked onto, establishing some kind of special connection.

The resulting Mental Shock was countless times stronger than the murmurs Wen Li had unwittingly absorbed.

Forcibly pressing a mental brand into someone’s brain like this was far more brutal than simply tearing into them with claws.

Amidst a sudden wave of numbness and itching, Fu Qian watched as the surface of his skin flickered with color. Granules swelled and eventually coalesced into a glassy glaze, identical to the substance covering Liliana.

”Xiao Li, the Work Unit truly understands how you feel.”

Yet, faced with this bizarre mutation, Fu Qian didn’t retreat. Instead, he took two steps forward and crouched directly in front of Liliana.

At the same time, he spoke with profound earnestness.

”I can fully empathize with your feelings.””But you can see the situation for yourself. Work is tight, tasks are heavy, and we’re already short on manpower.”

”If you take leave to go home and get married right now, it will be even harder to get things done. What will happen to our year-end quotas?”

”Besides, everything has to follow objective rules. To go home and get married, you at least need a boyfriend first, right?”

...

Perhaps Fu Qian’s ideological counseling worked. Although Liliana remained facing him, her weeping slowly stopped.

At the same time, the wave of homesickness in Fu Qian’s mind faded slightly.

”That’s the spirit. Long live mutual understanding.”

Extremely gratified, Fu Qian pressed his hands to his knees and stood up.

”Thank you for listening to my rambling. If you run into any difficulties in the future, feel free to report them to me—”

The next moment, his earnest lecture was cut off by an inhuman roar.

”I! Don’t! Want! To work—”

The roar hit with the force of a crashing tsunami, blurring Fu Qian’s vision with hundreds of unidentified flying objects.

Beneath the swirling, vibrant lights, a throbbing dizziness gripped his brain, leaving him feeling almost intoxicated.

Well, at least she had a new line.

Even if it was just a rearrangement of her previous vocabulary.

Feeling an overwhelming sense of passive slowdown rising in his chest, Fu Qian didn’t put up much resistance. He simply allowed the chaotic thoughts to surge wildly, letting them twist his will.

And this state seemed to feed back to Liliana.

”My name is Liliana.”

”Staring” at Fu Qian, her weeping gradually ceased, and her speech grew much smoother.

”The state of my consciousness body is unstable. I must convert into a physical entity as soon as possible to resist the tide...”

After re-emphasizing her name, she suddenly broke into mutters again.

Tide? There was a tide in this place?

Fu Qian instinctively glanced around, examining the patches of colorful, swirling light.

Was this why Liliana had ended up like this? She was in some non-physical state, her consciousness washed into a blur by this tide?

”Convert into a physical entity—”

Right then, a high-pitched shriek echoing from the depths of her soul interrupted Fu Qian’s thoughts.

He felt like he had been locked onto by a wild beast. In the next instant, Liliana’s body swelled silently in his vision, expanding into a massive phantom.

Unfortunately, the streaks of glassy glaze on her skin didn’t expand with her. Pulled taut, her entire form contorted into something grotesque. Her head even sank all the way down to her chest.

Despite the bizarre shape, the phantom moved incredibly fast, pouncing toward Fu Qian almost instantly.

It looked like he wouldn’t be getting any more information. Her consciousness was truly shattered into pieces!

At the same time, Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

The only reason he hadn’t put up much resistance and let the mental brand wreak havoc was to see exactly how much of Liliana’s consciousness remained, hoping to find some valuable information.

Unfortunately, her consciousness had clearly been worn down to nothing long ago. All that remained were a few lingering obsessions.

Even after all his efforts, all she could piece together was the urge to seize his body.

”Do not mess with my Dao heart!”

Facing the phantom that instantly unfurled around him and engulfed him whole, Fu Qian gave a cold snort and raised his hands.

”Work makes me happy!”

tendril barrage devastator!

The next moment, an overwhelming tide of black and red tentacles erupted from his body, indiscriminately blasting in every direction. They crushed everything they touched, including the seemingly intangible phantom.

After the phantom disintegrated like bursting foam, the tentacles showed no signs of stopping, continuing to extend upward.

Ultimately, amidst a deafening, chaotic crash, rubble flew into the air as walls collapsed and pillars snapped.

A massive corner of the ancient, magnificent building caved in.

Through the wreckage, he could see a vast, sprawling expanse outside the building, bathed in flowing, chaotic radiance.

Just as Fu Qian studied the scene, the sensation of being watched returned.

This time, both the intensity and the sheer number of gazes had spiked drastically. The oppressive force was so crushing that Fu Qian could feel his body undergoing a rapid, subtle loss of balance.

What a dangerous place.

Sighing inwardly, he used a tentacle to snatch an object from the ground. Locking onto the faint trace of his main body’s presence, Fu Qian chose to return.

...

The scenery warped around him, and the dizzying loss of balance soon faded completely.

As his vision cleared, the first thing Fu Qian saw was Wen Li outside the counter.

Her face was etched with confusion as she stared down at her own hand through the Head Cage.

The flow of time between the two realms seemed to be different; it felt as if only a few breaths had passed on this side.

Seeing that Wen Li didn’t look impatient, Fu Qian gave a light cough and nodded.

”It’s time to witness a Miracle.”

He slowly uncurled his closed fist. The Ear Stud was nowhere to be seen.

In its place lay a perfectly flat, polygonal thin sheet. Its surface was as smooth as a Mirror, seemingly capable of reflecting all information.

This...

Ever since she put on the Head Cage, Wen Li had subconsciously avoided anything that might reflect her appearance.

She never expected to end up staring into a Mirror here. The sudden sight of her own bizarre getup reflected back at her made her cringe; she could barely bear to look at herself.

”It has a sort of prison aesthetic. I actually think wearing this suits you better than the Ear Stud.”

Fu Qian offered his deadpan critique from the side.

Ugh!

Just as Wen Li opened her mouth to say something else, her phone suddenly rang.

Her expression instantly sharpened, and she quickly answered the call.

But after only a few short seconds, she looked bewildered again, though her expression relaxed.

”My father and aunt went swimming together. They seem to be in much better spirits.”

Lowering the phone, she looked at Fu Qian and murmured in disbelief.

”See, what did I tell you? It’s just normal anxiety.”

Fu Qian looked entirely unsurprised.

”Adults must have self-knowledge. As the saying goes: stay at home for three days, and even the dogs will despise you.”