Eldritch Horror Theatre

Law, commandment.

The Witch had also said that the reason the Star Law reappearing in Laerdin exhibited incomprehensible distortions wasn’t its structure, but its essence.

It remained supreme and precise, but it had lost the foundation of its existence.

So could it be that this foundation had run off somewhere else?

For instance, to this world that was originally left with nothing but Residue?

This trip to the West Plain originated from his agreement with the Witch.

And the scene before his eyes, earned through hard work, truly made him feel that the trip had been worthwhile.

Was the connection between the two worlds even tighter than he had imagined?

As an imaginative professional, Fu Qian instantly untangled a possible sequence of events in his mind—

In some ancient era, something that could be called the core essence of law was taken from this world...After it was brought to the world where the Witch had not yet been born, it was used to forge the starry sky of Law, serving as a barrier for human survival...

The barrier was incredibly sturdy, but it ultimately failed to withstand the covetous eyes of numerous higher entities, and was shattered after countless years...

Then, born into the ensuing apocalypse, the Witch arrived at the Painted World Sanctuary...

However, it didn’t take long for some mutation to cause Yesterday Once More...

It seemed like the return of the Law, bringing vitality back to the entire world, but in reality, even the order of the apocalypse directly collapsed. History became reality, and reality became a Nightmare...

And at around the same time, a group in this world based on the power of the Law gained a new lease on life...

They no longer needed to patch together defective products using a mess of random things, like in his Fruit and Sugar Theory...

Because the core essence of law that had originally been extracted from this world had returned once again...

Everything seemed to align perfectly.

That even included what Excellency Patches had just said: that the Law had suffered from color loss for far, far too long.

And what Excellency Sha Ming firmly believed: that the radiance of order had reappeared.

Though he couldn’t determine for the time being whether this return was driven by subjective factors or if it was simply a scheduled reversion.

...

A great success in the scientific expedition.

Although it was just a hypothesis, it was enough to report back to the Pope, and even getting an outstanding evaluation shouldn’t be a problem.

Of course, this wasn’t the only possibility.

For example, the place of origin for this object representing the core concept of the Law could actually be that world, and this was merely the second time it had been snatched away.

But that didn’t matter. He could completely leave it to the Witch to verify certain things over there.

Besides that, he had also met numerous heroes and outstanding figures on this trip. Some weren’t even wandering outlaws, but rather had official standing, such as the one behind the cloth doll.

From getting his hands on the Record of True Transcription until now, everything had happened in a flash of lightning and stone spark.

Yet in his vision, the bloodstains on that rough cloth doll had already been completely absorbed.

And judging from its posture, it was clearly very dissatisfied with being struck by the oriole behind.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the only one dissatisfied, because someone had fallen victim to the oriole behind twice.

”Night Watchers...”

Only managing to clear Miranda’s fragments from his body at this moment, Sha Ming spoke through gnashed teeth.

It wasn’t strange at all that he recognized this look. Even if he hadn’t seen it before, there was no way Miranda hadn’t relayed what she saw during her surveillance to him.

And with his qualities as a behind-the-scenes mastermind, figuring out a few things by now wasn’t a problem at all.

The fact that his expression now carried traces of complex emotions in addition to anger was proof of this.

Playing the oriole behind in this manner far exceeded the bottom line that the Night Watchers always flaunted...

In fact, it was precisely this inherent perception that kept Sha Ming from considering this possibility too much earlier.

And now, being caught doing this sort of thing was certainly serious, but discovering the Night Watchers doing it was actually much more serious in nature...

Riiip—

Especially when the Night Watcher didn’t seem prepared to communicate with him.

Amidst the rather loud tearing sound, the cloth doll—which had previously been mocked for having only a mouth and no eyes—actually ripped open a vertical slit right down the middle of its head.

What gushed out was not cotton batting, but jelly-like flesh and blood.

”Quickly, give me the book!”

Almost at the exact same time, Sha Ming roared directly in his direction.

”I can’t sever the bond between it and us!”

...

He truly was a professional.

The cage had not been lifted, and the laws of the bond were still present; this was a conclusion he had drawn long ago.

But facing the cloth doll’s self-harming behavior, it would be hard for many to immediately realize its objective, especially since the ”chains” could no longer be seen right now.

After having the fruits of victory snatched away, the person behind the cloth doll clearly didn’t want to talk much.

Whether it was himself or Sha Ming, given the continuous string of casualties earlier—especially Miranda’s suicide—even though Sha Ming definitely tried to block it, a considerable amount of damage must have already accumulated in his body.

Stacking the cloth doll’s self-mutilation on top of that now was undoubtedly rapidly catalyzing the arrival of the final moment.

Moreover, the cloth doll didn’t just stop at opening an eye. Amidst continuous tearing sounds, it was actually using its clumsy limbs to dismember itself piece by piece, tossing out a storm of jelly.

”How about you tell me how to cancel it?”

It was a pity that even so, Fu Qian just patted the cover with his hand, ignoring the urging.

”Idiot! I’m the only one who can cancel it. Use your brain and think! If it wasn’t completely useless for you guys to take it, how could I have been so overconfident?”

Despite being somewhat flustered and exasperated, Sha Ming still explained rapidly.

”And don’t even think about using some method to take it away directly! There’s a rule in the underlying laws of the Record of True Transcription, which is that the book itself cannot undergo any form of spatial and temporal crossing!”

Sure enough, people could do anything when pushed to the brink.

Clear-headed and well-reasoned, Sha Ming completed the analysis of the current situation with exaggerated efficiency, signaling him to dispel any fantasies.

And this wasn’t a threat.

From the moment he obtained it, Fu Qian knew he was telling the truth. The instant the Record of True Transcription was grasped in his hand, the Homecoming on the Ring of Favor was already in an unusable state.

He figured that taking off his mask to return to the Warehouse was likely impossible now too.

Unless he threw the book away.

But if he did that, it seemed the situation would just revert to how it was.

Furthermore, if, as Sha Ming said, the inability to undergo spatial and temporal crossing was one of the core rules of the Record of True Transcription, then even if he did an invincible Hearthstone action like taking off his mask and ringing the Handbell, the probability of being able to take it along was likely not high either.

”Hurry up!”

While Fu Qian was evaluating this, Sha Ming couldn’t help but continue urging.

And in his field of vision, the cloth doll had almost hollowed out its torso and was grabbing its head to forcefully tear it into two halves.

Sigh...

Under such precarious circumstances, Fu Qian finally let out a long sigh, and at the same time, a finger gripping the Record of True Transcription twitched.

A unique ripple shaped like a swimming fish emerged from a rough, spiked, copper-colored ring, rushing straight for the Golden Codex.

Bronze Fishbone Hook.

An item he had never used once since obtaining it.

Its cooldown time was as long as seven days, and after firing, it could turn any creature it encountered into a ”fish.”

Excellency Patches had even said this book was alive, and the Thread of Attachment had already been proven effective on it, so it wouldn’t hurt to try it, right?

Not to mention that the place where he obtained this thing was originally a location where Law ruled over everything.