Eldritch Horror Theatre

Young people.

Seeing Professor Lisa rendered completely speechless, the profound sentiment that ’it’s great to be young’ welled up in Fu Qian’s mind.

Even setting aside the fact that they were already quite a distance away, how could Linghui react even if they really heard it?

With their guest student and astonishing achievements, what could they possibly be dissatisfied with?

Even if their pride suffered a little sting, so what?

’I am motivating you; what does it matter to you?’

Without such an imposing attitude, how could our Apocalypse live up to its grand reputation in the Academy?

Just look at the Dean—he was smiling happily over there with absolutely no intention of glancing back.

’Teacher Lisa, you still have a lot to learn.’

Of course, it was never good to get carried away.Although Fu Qian didn’t voice these words of encouragement, Cass was laughing so wildly that he quickly drew a chilling glare, causing his laughter to come to an abrupt halt.

As someone with immense pride, Lisa was clearly dissatisfied with this string of encounters.

”Regarding the scientific expedition we participated in last time, Professor Lisa recently made a major breakthrough. Dean, you should definitely look into it when you have the chance.”

Seeing the leader in an awkward spot, Professor Fu naturally stepped in at the perfect time, steering the topic straight to the progress of Professor Lisa’s project.

”Is that so?”

Cass, who always placed great importance on scientific research, was overjoyed. His attention was instantly captivated.

”...Actually, I have to thank Professor Fu for his help.”

For Lisa, who heavily guarded her image as an academic, Professor Fu’s topic shift was a lethal blow.

After mulling it over a few times, she finally decided not to stoop to the Dean’s level.

”I only provided a little auxiliary support. The core work was all done by Professor Lisa.”

Professor Fu didn’t claim the credit; he simply stated the facts.

The appearance of that Bone Horseshoe Crab truly owed itself to Lisa’s flash of inspiration.

”Good, good! You both did excellent work. Shall we go take a look right now?”

Cass was clearly gratified by Apocalypse’s thriving academic atmosphere.

Ignoring the fatigue of their journey, he wanted to follow up on it immediately.

”Alright.”

Although she knew perfectly well it was a diversion, her minor lingering dissatisfaction was almost entirely washed away. Lisa gave a soft hum and agreed to go report on her work first.

”Is Professor Fu coming along?”

She turned to her project partner to ask.

”No, I have some project summaries to write up as well.”

Unsurprisingly, Professor Fu completely yielded the spotlight and took his leave.

”Here.”

Lisa’s expression didn’t change. She simply looked at him and casually tossed over a sparkling object.

Fu Qian caught it. It was exquisitely shaped like a gemstone.

She hadn’t forgotten their previous task, and she had even gone out of her way to pick a large piece.

”Thanks for your hard work.”

Idly playing with the gem, Fu Qian offered a smiling word of encouragement, then nodded in farewell to Cass.

...

Naturally, Fu Qian was quite interested in Professor Lisa’s findings, as well as the evaluation Cass would give after seeing them.

However, he hadn’t been lying earlier. He had other matters to prioritize.

Watching the two of them walk away, Fu Qian turned on his heel and headed straight back to the Laboratory.

It was completely empty. His research assistant and Wen Li were clearly still on their day tour of the Academy.

Fortunately, he hadn’t planned on looking for them anyway.

Dropping back into his designated seat, he noted that the channel—which required perception to activate—was currently in an unusable state. However...

Gazing out the window, enjoying the feeling of stealing a half-day of leisure from a fleeting life, he confirmed there were no unusual celestial phenomena in the sky before casually taking off the Emissary.

[Warning—]

Right as the Warehouse seemed about to speak, Fu Qian smoothly slipped the mask back on.

When the light brightened again, he found himself in a somewhat narrow space facing a much closer window.

The long-unseen Bookstore Second Floor.

With the Dean holding down the fort over at Apocalypse, there was no need to worry on that end for now.

As for the research project belonging to the Night Watchers’ Demigod, Aike?

Since they had just bothered Professor Fu over such a nonsensical reason, given that person’s pride, they likely wouldn’t come knocking again anytime soon unless the situation truly spiraled out of control.

Standing up, Fu Qian walked over to the window, leaning against the sill to gaze outside.

Time flies like a shuttle. Not so long ago, he had stood right here, nocking an arrow to his bow and blaspheming the sun in one fell swoop—

Spreading his hands, an illusory bow along with a rust-colored arrow materialized in Fu Qian’s grasp once again. Without a shred of hesitation, he let the arrow loose with a howling whistle.

...

Rust-colored light obscured the sky once more, leaving the sun as nothing but a halo of golden radiance.

Staring at this bizarre spectacle, along with the faint, ethereal outline of the Dark Moon that accompanied it, Fu Qian didn’t rush to speak.

Several breaths passed, yet no voice surfaced in his consciousness.

Just as he expected, his communication with the Pope had also been affected. Even adjusting his Rank hadn’t improved the situation.

At this point, it was highly probable that the Witch could only see his side of things unilaterally; she couldn’t actually transmit any messages to him.

Still, looking on the bright side, at least she could use this to confirm that her Knight wasn’t dead yet.

Their brief connection earlier had been abruptly severed; anyone would be wondering what had gone wrong.

”An interesting change has occurred.”

Raising his head to look at the Dark Moon, Fu Qian pointed at his own head, adopting a conversational tone.

”My perception has been temporarily affected. I’m currently looking for the cause and a solution, but suggestions are more than welcome—”

Before his voice even faded, Fu Qian lowered his head to study his hand.

This was...?

...

Without any warning, an object with a grayish-white base covered in dark red stains appeared in his left hand.

Neither metal nor stone, its texture somewhat resembled bone. Even the heart-palpitating red spread across its surface looked like the last traces of flesh and blood that hadn’t been licked clean.

On one hand, its density was so shockingly high that it felt far beyond the biological realm; on the other hand, its shape wasn’t much of a biological structure either.

It consisted of over a dozen segments in total. At first glance, they looked like sections of vertebrae, with curved Spikes jutting out along the edges.

But upon closer inspection, one would realize that every single piece, regardless of size, shared the exact same shape, hooking into one another through a unique structural design.

It felt more like a series of specialized clasps modeled after the concept of a spinal column.

Furthermore, within an identical groove on one side of each structural piece, there was a circle of astonishingly perfect curvature.

Yet, it was hard to view it as a symbol of the sun or moon, because inside those circles were human facial features—drawn with crude lines, but still neatly proportioned.

The mouth on the bottom-most face was stretched unnaturally wide, looking as if it were screaming, or perhaps trying to devour something.

In short, it felt more like the physical crystallization of some symbolic power. As for whether it had been born from flesh and blood, it was impossible to say for sure.

Finally, the most bizarre detail of all—this object, which interlocked into a long strip, could actually swing freely to a certain extent. This meant it could be twisted into any desired shape.

Yet, the moment it appeared in his hand, it had taken the shape of a bow.