Eldritch Horror Theatre

The Workshop seemed to have successfully relocated to its new address.

To Fu Qian, it was easy to tell that the final frozen frame they had just witnessed wasn’t the result of teleportation.

That fragile, ancient place had simply assumed a new form of existence.

It might even be a form closer to its true essence, granting it a far more stable nature.

And the foundation of this transformation was a certain chaotic creation representing the concept of ’self-binding.’

He had to admit, there was a certain Zen-like quality to it.

Judging by how the Workshop had survived up to this point, the Witch’s attitude toward the place was quite clear: she had no intention of interfering too much with its fate.

She brought no unstable elements inside, nor did she go out of her way to maintain it.

The core reason she had taken action this time was the appearance of the Persuader.

One could only say that fate was like falling dominoes; His Excellency Arakiel’s suspected erosion of the Workshop had instead pushed it to transform into a more stable state.Of course, this brought a new problem. To a certain extent, through this Book of Precepts, His Excellency Arakiel had successfully established some kind of connection with the Precept Angel.

No matter how weak or restricted it might be, it still provided another conceptual channel for invasion.

”This is more convenient.”

The Witch wasn’t in a hurry to leave this time. Withdrawing her gaze from the deep pool at her feet, she glanced at Fu Qian.

”I also think it’s more convenient.”

It was a somewhat abrupt statement, but Fu Qian completely understood it.

How could the Witch not have anticipated such an obvious hidden danger before dealing with it?

But just as she said, this approach offered much greater convenience.

After all, the Book of Precepts was directly in her hands. No matter what plans The Prisoners in the Nightmare Corridor were hatching, their only known channel was now effectively under constant surveillance.

It was clear that before doing this, the Witch had already mentally prepared herself to shoulder this trouble.

However, the question remained: what exactly was that trouble?

Rustle.

The Witch indeed acted with swift and resolute action. Not only was she in no hurry to leave Inner Laerdin, but a moment later, she directly opened the Book of Precepts to share it with the Knight.

Even a single glance confirmed it was very close to their previous suspicions: the empty spaces originally outlined among the flowing patterns had been completely filled in.

The only problem was that the contents filling those empty spaces were similarly abstract patterns.

...

So a decoding process was required first?

He remembered that the last time he did this kind of work was right after he first joined the warehouse.

Their efforts had ultimately yielded results, but it seemed that defining exactly what they had obtained would require a little more work.

It wasn’t perfectly smooth, but this was ultimately just a minor interlude. Fu Qian still had a great deal of confidence in the Witch.

Even though it seemed like they ought to change venues first.

Fu Qian turned his head to glance at the three people beside them.

Indeed, the Three Giants of the Fallen Star were still there, and once again locked in time.

Judging from all three of their expressions, this intense dispute had ultimately avoided a more tragic outcome.

Even the Female Magnate, the most active among them, wore a visibly subdued expression now.

She looked unwilling, yet ultimately paralyzed by fear.

As for Frankie and Xia, their complexions were visibly ashen, and their moods seemed quite suppressed.

The Witch had explained this method of handling things earlier. It wasn’t any genuine Space-Time Authority; she was simply using her control over the Nightmare to forcefully freeze them.

Both the range and the duration were limited.

Which was exactly why he thought they ought to move somewhere else.

Even after hearing Xia’s story and going through an intense brainstorming session, given the Three Giants’ current mood, they might not harbor much hostility or wariness toward the Dark Moon Pope and the Templar Knight who had suddenly appeared in the Sacred Land.

But decoding work always required a quiet environment. Once the Nightmare’s frozen time ran out, whether they rushed up in anger to attack or rushed up crying for help, it would still be a bit of a clamor, wouldn’t it?

”Strange.”

The Witch, however, seemed entirely unconcerned about this. Her gaze remained locked on the pages, and a moment later, she displayed a rare look of surprise.

...

Oh?

Fu Qian naturally didn’t think the Witch was just slow to react, only just now realizing there was follow-up work to do.

On the contrary, her reaction instantly made him realize another interpretation of the current situation.

”It might be due to your inspiration. Logically speaking, your connection to this book shouldn’t be any weaker than mine.”

Sure enough, the Witch looked over the next moment and explained.

So that was it.

”You can directly perceive the contents inside?”

Fu Qian sighed inwardly at that moment.

Indeed, the Witch wasn’t surprised because she dreaded the decoding work, but because of the contents themselves.

The process of forming this book had involved both his and her participation.

Judging by her wording, if there hadn’t been an issue with his inspiration, he would have been able to read the book directly as well.

This, of course, raised a serious question: what exactly was inside that could surprise even the Witch?

”I can.”

As expected, the Witch nodded the next moment, confirming the difference between them.

”It is indeed exactly as we guessed earlier. It’s a simple story—the kind told to toddlers—and the characters are the ones we’ve already seen.”

”On the one hand, their appearances aren’t as twisted as the ones we saw. On the other hand, the thing we were looking for really did show up. A character I wasn’t previously aware of has also appeared in the story.”

Caressing the pages, the Witch frowned, her gaze drifting into the distance.

She could clearly understand it, and she could read it without even turning the pages, forming a sharp contrast with a certain individual who had undergone Mechanical Ascension.

”It even seems that he’s an important character in this story. It wouldn’t be complete without him.”

”And not only does his appearance match the human-headed insect body we just saw, but he is even called the Persuader.”

The information the Witch continued to provide sounded astonishingly consistent.

So, even in his ’homeland,’ the Persuader had ultimately failed to regain his true appearance?

The erosion inflicted by a Deity was definitely no joke.

At that moment, Fu Qian couldn’t help but sigh inwardly for his old friend, though he wasn’t too surprised.

Anyone who wasn’t overly naive would easily figure out that this consistency most likely didn’t represent the Persuader’s resilience—

it wasn’t as if he originally looked this way and had managed to maintain his sense of self after being trapped in the Nightmare Corridor for so many years.

On the contrary, it represented exactly the scenario he had discussed with the Witch earlier: the suspected cross-dimensional pollution from Arakiel and the others.

A certain character within the story had already been warped into the appearance they had bestowed upon him.

”No other names?”

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian continued to verify.

The situation she described was certainly unusual, but in his view, it still wasn’t enough to provoke such a reaction from the Witch.

”There are no other names, including Arakiel. However, within the description of the Persuader, there is a very peculiar sentence—”

The Witch shook her head.

”The ugly creature walked and walked, finally leaving the Other Shore to return to his homeland... However, he woke up one day only to suddenly realize that he was still on the Other Shore.”