Eldritch Horror Theatre

[Tortured by increasingly severe pain, traveling to a foreign land in search of a cure...]

[Hehe... Our medical skills here are one of a kind...]

[The moon is exceptionally warm today...]

[inspiration +1...]

[Patient]

People said memories carried a scent; in that moment, Fu Qian could almost smell the blood spraying from his own body.

Full Moon Garden?

Lose at sunrise and gain at sunset.

Although during his last exchange with Excellency Serpent of Destiny, the scene of waking up attached to an IV drip had never been proven to connect to his very first task.

But the Nightmare Corridor hadn’t let him down. It had finally manifested the ”starting place” right before his eyes.Fu Qian was now quite certain that the scene overlapping with the Small Chapel was the exact place where he had first experienced enlightenment.

The dilapidated wooden cabin, every blade of grass, every tree—everything seemed entirely unchanged.

Even the figure of Brother Werewolf, who had once shared a heart-to-heart with him, gradually came into focus.

It was as if his posture hadn’t changed at all. He was still staring up at the starry sky, still dressed in rags.

Fu Qian even felt a renewed sense of comfort from the object of his gaze—that massive full moon.

Old Man Scythe was right; the moon today really was exceptionally warm.

Though it seemed he no longer needed to look up at that heavy stone door beneath the moonlight.

With a single glance, he could see it was already standing open at an angle.

From his current position, a corner of those brilliantly blooming flowers directly caught his eye.

Under the moonlight, they still looked like flowing Mercury. Their radiance, however, could no longer affect him in the slightest, leaving him free to fully enjoy their beauty.

It was genuinely quite beautiful. No wonder the First Generation Dark Moon had liked it.

But the old man didn’t seem particularly fond of the scenery.

The cabin door was tightly shut now. The figure wielding a murder weapon wouldn’t be coming out to catch up.

It was incredibly quiet inside, as if whoever was in there hadn’t noticed the return of an old friend at all—or perhaps, because there had been no return.

Right. In the end, it was nothing more than an overlapping illusion.

Fu Qian knew perfectly well he was only seeing it. The Full Moon Garden in front of him wasn’t real.

The Witch was right; the stone statue really was somewhat special.

And his own guess seemed correct as well. Due to some of his special attributes, touching the stone statue had automatically connected him to a certain place.

It seemed there truly was a trace of the First Generation Dark Moon’s will inside the Full Moon Garden.

...

Indeed, wealth is found in danger. The Witch wasn’t the only one reaping a massive harvest this time.

A series of thoughts flashed through Fu Qian’s mind. Though theoretically only a few months had passed, looking at this scene still filled him with a bit of nostalgia.

Speaking of which, did that mean Dark Moon’s arrangements for the Warehouse went beyond just Disorder?

There were many strange things about the Full Moon Garden, and more than one moon had left its mark inside. That had been continuously confirmed all along.

However, the original Moon God had long since abdicated, the Red Moon had gone mad, and the Progenitor of the Blood Clan was confirmed to have fallen. It was hard to imagine that the three of them could have so keenly pinpointed his first day on the job as a new employee.

Therefore, Fu Qian had previously leaned toward it being the will of the Warehouse.

But now, seeing Dark Moon’s numerous backup plans—even a faint remnant in the Nightmare Corridor could so easily connect to the Full Moon Garden—one had to suspect the possibility that the Warehouse had been used as a pawn right from the start.

Even—

Fu Qian rapidly recalled the order of his missions.

It seemed it was right after the Disorder mission that the Warehouse had swiftly dispatched him to The Corridor for an extermination?

If he went by his previous deduction and that mission involved elements of the Dark Moon before him, wouldn’t that mean that after being played, not only was the corresponding Containment Object dealt with, but the Warehouse even came knocking on their door in retaliation?

Although the one ultimately targeted had been the Persuader.

Before, he could have called it pure coincidence. But looking at it from this angle, could the Persuader have taken the fall for someone else?

...

He had to admit, everyone had their purpose.

Brother Persuader’s experiences were indeed bizarre, but to be honest, up until now, Fu Qian hadn’t seen him serve any real function.

Plus, his presence here had been proven to be, in all likelihood, Dark Moon’s handiwork.

So acting as cannon fodder at a critical moment seemed perfectly reasonable, didn’t it?

Starting from this point, Fu Qian felt he could even map out the Warehouse’s mental journey—

It finally managed to recruit an employee, dispatched him to a trial ground, and he passed smoothly...

Yet after only a few missions, it discovered he had actually been abducted to the middle of nowhere...

And even after he successfully returned from the mission, he had been forcibly gifted a communicator...

In a rage, it annihilated the backdoor left by the lawbreakers, did some soul-searching, and discovered that even the initial trial ground had involved under-the-table manipulation...

By that point, it was utterly intolerable, so it directly sent someone to kick their door down...

Then, the ”culprit” was already waiting eagerly on this end. After handing them a brutal beating, the Warehouse left satisfied...

Not going to lie, it was actually quite smooth.

Of course, this didn’t rule out the possibility that the Warehouse, which looked like a massive sucker, was actually sitting on a higher level playing the fool to catch the tiger, and everything was the arrangement of Steins;Gate or something.

But honestly, it was playing the ”fool” far too miserably, practically being toyed with in the palm of someone’s hand from start to finish.

”Alright.”

Sympathy for his employer didn’t affect Fu Qian’s actions in the slightest. He simply pulled his hand back and turned to look at the Witch.

...

Time was precious; there was really no need for too much nostalgia.

Knowing that the First Generation Dark Moon in The Corridor could indeed establish a connection with the Full Moon Garden was enough.

Many doubts had already spawned their own speculations. Locating the real Full Moon Garden and physically exploring it would be tasks to tackle in passing later on.

He didn’t even need to waste time discussing this harvest right now.

”Okay.”

Although he didn’t need to explain, the Witch could tell he had gained quite a bit, and for a moment, she didn’t hide her relief.

”There doesn’t seem to be any movement yet. I think they’ve likely established some kind of blockade and are rapidly reinforcing it.”

Seeing that the Witch had already put away the scroll and made preparations to leave, Fu Qian surveyed their surroundings and offered his assessment.

Though the logic behind it sounded a bit abstract at first glance.

”There is indeed a barrier. It directly covers everything behind this door, and even Damon Moore has been locked in with us.”

However, not only did the Witch completely understand, she even followed up with supporting evidence.

It was perfectly normal. After he and the Witch had entered, they had been highly efficient the entire time, but they had still paused to observe and discuss in order to maximize their gains.

If The Prisoners still couldn’t locate them after all this time, they might as well drop the whole ’yearning for freedom’ persona.

Therefore, in Fu Qian’s eyes, there was an extremely high probability that The Prisoners were currently working feverishly to lay a trap.

If they couldn’t stop you from coming in quickly, they simply wouldn’t let you leave.

As for why there was no movement around them?

Naturally, it was because their blockade had been set up quite successfully.

You could only keep a low profile if you had the confidence to back it up. If the barrier still had obvious unpatched loopholes, then the moment he spoke, The Prisoners—who would no longer have any reason to lay low—would have had to make some noise to distract them and buy time to fix it—Drip!

As if in response, at that exact moment, a drop of rainwater fell from the sky and landed right at Fu Qian’s feet.