Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Bastard! I, Fang, possess exceptional talent and the blessing of providence. What good fortune isn’t prepared for me?”

The owner of the tail hadn’t played dumb. Immensely gratified, Fu Qian swore to demand an explanation for this so-called heaven-condemned aptitude of his.

Boom!

As it turned out, he got his explanation—just delivered in body language.

Before his words even faded, the long tail whipped the exact spot where he had just been standing.

Not a normal tail at all, as expected. It can stretch this long?

Having managed to dodge less than half a meter away, Fu Qian stared at the resplendent long chain in awe.

Stretched to this length, its structure of linked, colorful beads was glaringly obvious. It really didn’t look like a normal biological organism.

Even more shocking, of course, was the massive tree crashing down behind him.

An entire row of these absurdly sturdy Ash Sea creations had been violently felled by that single lash.Combining the sheer momentum of that strike with the slightly clearer perception he’d caught in that instant, Fu Qian felt fairly certain of one thing.

It’s actually a Divine Emissary. Apologies for the disrespect!

A moment ago, he had thought singing at the top of her lungs in such a dangerous place was far too high-profile. Now, it seemed a dignified Divine Emissary humming a tune while lounging at home was nothing to bat an eye at.

”To think an expert such as Your Excellency would exist in such a desolate land. It seems this seat’s arduous efforts were not in vain.”

With that thought in mind, Fu Qian let out a hearty laugh and offered a one-handed salute.

This wasn’t out of the arrogance of a fellow High-Tier Transcendent; it was mainly because his other hand was still recovering.

That was right. Since he hadn’t used Blood Crusade to dodge, the entity’s strike—which had been so fast it defied the equations of motion—had incidentally vaporized his entire left hand while felling those trees.

That was also why he had stared at that long chain in awe.

It wasn’t just its inconceivable speed. The moment it struck his body, every single bead on it seemed to undergo a high-frequency oscillation.

Working in tandem, they possessed an edge of absolute indestructibility.

”So, what did you come here to do?”

Just as the saying went, greeting with words of hardship surely marks the jianghu. Although the entity didn’t seem to be of his kind, after Fu Qian’s display of long-held admiration, she was principled enough to hold off on attacking immediately.

She hadn’t even retracted that stretched tail. Instead, she left it completely motionless, forming a distinct sort of deterrence.

”A ship full of people and I are trapped in this miracle, supposedly called the Shattered Crown. We’re looking for a way out, and I came over to take a look when I heard the singing.”

Fu Qian spoke with complete sincerity this time, even throwing in a preemptive introduction for Lane and his group.

”I thought I might find a way to leave here, but you don’t seem to be in any hurry.”

”Shattered Crown... Miracle...”

The voice in the cave fell silent for a moment before repeating the words in a bizarre tone.

”The name is quite fitting. But why would I want to leave?”

”What serves as a cage for you might very well be a sanctuary for others.”

”That’s quite a philosophical statement,”

Fu Qian praised, simultaneously extracting the most valuable piece of information from her words.

”So this miracle has actually existed for many years already?”

”Far longer than you could imagine...”

Although she had struck rather ruthlessly just a moment ago, she surprisingly seemed somewhat intrigued by Fu Qian’s question and didn’t refuse to answer.

As expected—

And her answer made Fu Qian sigh inwardly.

He had already found it strange earlier.

If every maritime area within the Shattered Crown was randomly snatched from the Ash Sea, the appearance of this group of fishmen was far too peculiar.

It could certainly be explained away as their happy home being scooped up entirely, and that through sheer adaptability, they had quickly embraced their roles, discovered his group as fellow victims, and begun to hunt them.

Comparatively, however, Fu Qian was much more inclined to interpret their previous behavior as the reaction of natives toward invaders.

That implied one specific scenario: the Floating Island Area his group was currently in was a new fragment added during one of the Shattered Crown’s expansions.

The answer from the Divine Emissary in the cave undoubtedly confirmed this.

Which naturally led to another question—why?

For this kind of change to happen right after he had run amok, it felt a little too targeted.

”I see. By the way, my name is Fang Xun. How should I address Your Excellency?”

Amidst his thoughts, facing such a cooperative Divine Emissary, Fu Qian immediately introduced himself to show his sincerity.

”Vivian...”

However, this simple question seemed to evoke some sort of special emotion from her. Only after a long while did she finally speak.

”Alright, Madam Vivian. Could I ask for a bit more insight? What did you mean earlier when you said this wasn’t a place I should have come to?”

”Honestly, my journey over here was quite smooth.”

”It is quite simple. You are human. The race I originally intended to guide is far more interested in the singing.”

”Mermaids?”

Fu Qian’s eyes lit up.

”The legendary voice that lures mermaids into the Ash Sea—that wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

”Heh... Do you really think they are ’beautiful’ mermaids?”

Vivian let out a string of mirthless laughter, answering with a question of her own.

”I simply returned to them what was meant to be theirs in the first place.”

...

To think a character straight out of legend had actually appeared before his eyes in the flesh.

Regardless of her tone, Vivian’s answer made Fu Qian even more intrigued.

”And then they turned into fishmen? Meaning that massive swarm outside?”

No wonder her singing had such a suppressive effect on those creatures. She was actually their lead plastic surgeon.

”There seems to be one problem with that, though. The creatures in the Ash Sea are said to be ephemeral, yet the legend of mermaids being lured away has circulated for many years.”

”Isn’t that quite simple?”

Vivian’s laughter grew increasingly desolate.

”I am not a creature born from the ebb and flow of the Ash Sea!”

She’s actually a true senior?

Fu Qian looked entirely surprised.

The meaning behind those words couldn’t be clearer. Just like his group, Vivian was an outsider trapped within this miracle.

”You’ve been trapped here a long time?”

”Why else do you think I would end up like this?”

With Vivian’s final words, the long tail beside Fu Qian finally began to move. It slowly retracted into the cave and slithered deeper inside, as if she were turning her body around.

A few seconds later, a familiar face slowly poked out of the cave.

Sure enough, it was absolutely identical to the one he had crushed earlier.

Fu Qian nodded.

The only problem was that this face was a hundred times larger.

That exquisitely gorgeous face actually grew upon a neck of equal thickness.

Further down was a layer of wet, bruised-blue skin and robust hind limbs covered in bulging warts.

A frog?

Confronted with an appearance entirely at odds with a mermaid, Fu Qian frowned and took an extra glance behind her.

Although she seemed to be hiding it, whether intentionally or not, he could still catch sight of a section of a resplendent tail, bloated and clustered together in the back.

This appearance, and those beads... That wasn’t a mermaid’s tail at all. Those were frog eggs?

’’’