Eldritch Horror Theatre

So this time, it wasn’t just the full service of application, approval, and sampling—it even came with door-to-door delivery?

Both host and guest parted highly satisfied. Watching Professor Fu’s retreating figure, Lisa couldn’t calm her racing thoughts for a long time.

There was no helping it; academia was just like this. A little success didn’t mean one could stop moving forward.

Demonstrating through his actions that scientific research never rested, Fu Qian didn’t look back once. He had complete faith in Professor Lisa’s comprehension.

It was already noon outside the laboratory. There was no sign of Classmate Liushuang and her companion; it seemed they had already rushed off to their respective tasks.

Professor Fu was naturally quite satisfied with this flourishing ambition, turning to head straight for his own laboratory.

Accidentally losing a chunk of his Health Bar during a mission was one thing, but his responsibility to his academic career was no joke.

Although he had told Professor Lisa he wouldn’t stay long, there was no harm in holding down the fort for a bit before truly setting off for the Ash Sea.

He could also make some preparations in the meantime—such as waiting for Professor Claudora’s flesh and blood to arrive.

He quickly reached his destination. In the same deserted quiet as his last visit, Fu Qian comfortably plopped into a seat.The Academy was thriving, Linghui had set things back on the right track...

The Prison Archangel had been executed, and the Night Watchers had all returned to report on their missions...

He had a pending invitation with no strict time limit, he could sit back and watch Excellency Stomach take a beating... and even the consumed Golden Candlestick had been fully replenished.

Looking at the gaudy golden glow reflecting around him, Fu Qian felt a momentary sense of peaceful years—that is, if the apocalypse hadn’t happened nineteen years and three months ago.

......

Prosperity was fleeting. At the height of glory, it was hard not to think of Excellency Nepheli’s words.

Though their few meetings had been brief, he was likely one of the people in the current Academy who best understood the possible reasons for her departure back then.

Just as Professor Ah Kai had said, the former Dean possessed stunning, peerless talent on the path of Miracle.

Her insights into the essence of Miracle, in particular, were profoundly concise and thorough.

”The story of the Deity”—this theory had already found some validation during the Tyrant’s fall and subsequent return.

Yet, someone with such boundless prospects had chosen to leave precisely when the Academy’s talents were withering. Understandably, many found this baffling.

From Fu Qian’s perspective, the blow from Master Yuhun might have played a part, but it clearly wasn’t the core reason.

In the fading twilight of the apocalypse, something monumental had happened at the Academy nineteen years ago. Discovering that terrifying secret was likely her main driving force.

Furthermore, the ”Apocalypse Reproduction” Miracle he had personally experienced was, according to Ah Kai, created by Nepheli. At the time, Fu Qian had wondered if she had discovered something while traversing those past lives.

Of course, this alone didn’t rule out the possibility that Nepheli had suffered qi deviation from her intensive research and ultimately scared herself away.

However, putting aside his recent discoveries that chipped away at the world’s sense of reality one by one, Fu Qian noted there was another easily overlooked detail—the timeframe of his missions.

The Warehouse might be slow-witted, but it simultaneously displayed astonishingly mighty power, resembling the struggling will of the world often spoken of in legends.

Yet, as the actual executor, aside from catching a glimpse of That Long Night a thousand years ago through The Ark, the timeframe of all his other missions in this world had almost never extended past that apocalyptic boundary.

Relatively speaking, the mission during Su Gao’s childhood already counted as fairly long ago.

As for the time he synchronized into this world using the Emissary, that span was even shorter.

One could easily write this off as the current Warehouse being too weak to temporarily interfere with events too far in the past. But given the premise of the apocalypse, this data inevitably seemed a little strange.

It was as if an invisible line had been drawn right there.

This led to an even more terrifying conclusion: what if the Warehouse wasn’t struggling to survive in adversity, but was merely a state of self-anesthesia following its own annihilation?

After all, he had just been chatting with Kadon about euthanasia earlier.

He could only admit that it was somewhat sensational. He wondered if Excellency Nepheli, having been granted the Frenzied Flame, would be able to provide more evidence later.

Of course, as an academic professional, he couldn’t just rely on others.

Amid his musings, Fu Qian directly took off the Emissary.

......

Returning from his trip, he found the Warehouse even more steeped in peaceful years than the outside world; it didn’t even offer a word of greeting.

Fu Qian didn’t bother with pleasantries either. He casually picked up a tangled mass of soft tissue from the table.

The Entwined Umbilical Cord. Holding it granted one the status of an Ancient Higher Being.

After taking it along for his tour of the Burial Ground of the Gods last time, he had simply tossed it here.

He had yet to reach a conclusion regarding the strange resonance he encountered back then, nor the parasitic infection that reminded him of the White Porcelain covering Su Gao.

However, that wasn’t today’s topic of study.

Without even putting his mask back on, an incredibly textured, red-and-black-patterned ring appeared in his hand the next moment.

It was assembled from countless tiny components that constantly shifted and locked into new shapes as they rotated. Toying with it, Fu Qian gave it a twist according to a specific pattern.

The scenery before his eyes began to move.

A moment later, the gloomy, orderly Warehouse vanished. In its place was a desolate wasteland where time itself seemed to have frozen.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but rolling molten sand.

Abandoned Prison.

Fu Qian didn’t make a sound. He quietly observed this realm, which seemed to be cheering and jumping for joy at his arrival.

Indeed, the ring was the Tyrant’s Mechanical Fist, a key he had casually forged when leaving this place last time.

This was his first time using it since then, and it had clearly proven its worth.

But more importantly, the Abandoned Prison had also proven its status.

Just like the Half-Step Moon under the Red Moon’s control, as long as he was inside the Warehouse, he could synchronize straight here without even wearing the Emissary.

......

Did this mean that, relative to the entire Bookstore World, this place was a location similar to The Abyss?

Slumping into the Ruined Throne in a rather inelegant posture, Fu Qian continued to toy with his masterpiece.

Everyone was working hard to study mysticism. As an academic pioneer, it seemed only right that he take on the more difficult tasks.

There were tests he had wanted to run for a long time, but with his recent busy schedule, he was only just now finding the time.

Now that his attempt had succeeded, the first question to answer was regarding the true nature of the Abandoned Prison.

Theoretically, as the King of the Abandoned Prison, this place naturally served as something akin to his own divine kingdom.

Just by arriving, he could already feel the recovery rate of his Health Bar accelerating.

Unfortunately, as a mechanically remade body with his inspiration zeroed out, he couldn’t truly perceive its finer nuances.

But regardless, he hadn’t forgotten that a barrier existed around the Bookstore World—one that entities like the Mother of Gospel were constantly trying to squeeze their way through.

Since he was able to synchronize here so effortlessly, was it because the Warehouse was simply that omnipotent... or was the Abandoned Prison located inside the barrier?