Eldritch Horror Theatre

The connection was severed.

His reason for revealing the true identity of the King of the Abandoned Prison and the Bookstore Owner was precisely this simple.

He wanted to test whether Brother Taylor could resonate with the Abandoned Prison if he prayed to ”Fu Qian” instead of the King of the Abandoned Prison while using the original Emblem.

This was no idle whim. It touched upon a fundamental philosophical question: ’Who am I?’

Logically speaking, ”Fu Qian” was undeniably his core essence.

As established before, through the Warehouse’s specific authentication, his SAN Value was bound directly to the name Fu Qian.

Factoring in the Vacuum Flower and the SAN Value elements that appeared this time, one could deduce even further: the name Fu Qian was bound to certain core rules of the Bookstore World.

So, was Fu Qian bound to the King of the Abandoned Prison?

At first glance, the answer seemed obvious.

When he first seized the title, the act was explicitly described as donning a Divine Skin.Even after he progressed to become a hundred-and-twenty-percent King of the Abandoned Prison, his SAN Value Health Bar still dropped exactly when it was supposed to. That alone proved his fundamental essence hadn’t changed; he was still the outsider, Fu Qian.

But that brought an unexamined question to the forefront: why had ”Fu Qian” never received a prayer?

Indeed. Since even the Emblem of the King of the Abandoned Prison was ”Fu Qian’s” Emblem, then in theory, if someone harbored specific suspicions, couldn’t they summon him using both the Emblem and the name ”Fu Qian”?

Yet in all this time, that had never happened even once.

He could certainly come up with a few explanations for this.

For instance, the King of the Abandoned Prison corresponded to a true higher entity, while the False God ”Fu Qian” was theoretically only at Tier 2 right now.

Given the chaotic foundational rules of the Bookstore World, lacking the necessary Rank meant he wouldn’t hear the summons.

Even Fu Qian had to admit this was a hypothesis he couldn’t immediately disprove.

But he had never been the sort to settle for a mere explanation. Now that he had the perfect opportunity to test it, why not?

As for the specific method, he naturally intended to let the already-tempted Brother Taylor try it. By combining the Emblem of the King of the Abandoned Prison with ”Fu Qian,” he could see if the man could provoke a reaction from the Abandoned Prison again.

To make the results more convincing, the first step was obviously to sever the connection—which was exactly what he had just done.

What if he couldn’t return after the connection was severed, or what if Brother Taylor simply refused to play along?

There was no need to worry about that. This was a fateful showdown, after all.

Fu Qian believed that even if Brother Taylor woke up in the Real World with no memory of what had transpired here, some deep-seated impulse would continue to surge within him—or perhaps he was being overly optimistic?

Bolstered by that strong confidence, Fu Qian silently watched the empty circular platform left behind by Brother Taylor’s departure.

However, a considerable amount of time passed, and the platform remained completely empty.

...

”Where did you go? Are you running away already?”

True to his role as a fated rival, Jiang En seemed to sense the anomaly in the silence. After a while, he couldn’t resist adopting the posture of a victor.

”...You think you can escape? If it can curse me, it can certainly curse you too. Hiding like a coward is meaningless.”

However, without a defeated opponent to serve as a foil, that thrill didn’t last long. Soon enough, Jiang En spoke up again, mocking the very nature of Brother Taylor’s actions as nothing more than self-deception.

Unfortunately for him, even as his words grew increasingly venomous, no response came.

”Heh... To think a fine man like me actually shares a reputation with garbage like you.”

Eventually, he let out a cold sneer and delivered a classic line—

”You’re spouting nonsense!”

A classic was a classic for a reason. In that exact moment, it successfully provoked a response—it was Brother Taylor’s voice.

Yes, right as Jiang En spat out that last sentence, Fu Qian finally spotted a familiar silhouette within the turbulent ripples. He casually tossed a Scarlet Angel over, repeating the earlier resonance process.

In the end, although it took much longer than expected, Brother Taylor had returned to keep his appointment. He immediately roared at his fated rival.

”It’s completely useless, that so-called true name!”

However, judging by his tone, his anger didn’t stem from hearing Jiang En’s taunts, but rather from dissatisfaction with the test results.

It was apparent that despite returning from his departure, his cognitive continuity remained fully intact.

”Useless? How is that possible!”

Jiang En snapped right back to the main topic, utterly incredulous at the outcome of the test.

...

Just as expected. Had he tried using ”Fu Qian” first, discovered it was useless, and only then resorted to using the King of the Abandoned Prison to get back in?

Back when Brother Taylor was taking his time returning, Fu Qian had already largely anticipated the test results. Now, Brother Taylor’s words fully confirmed it.

It actually didn’t work?

Even though matters concerning his SAN Value could manifest within the Abandoned Prison, his true name—which was inherently tied to it—still couldn’t be used to summon him in place of the King of the Abandoned Prison?

Why? Was it really due to a lack of Rank, as he had theorized earlier?

Fu Qian still felt that explanation was somewhat dull. At the same time, he seemed to catch a glimpse of an ominous omen...

”Why wouldn’t it be possible? The name is clearly wrong... Even if you wanted to make an excuse, you shouldn’t have used one that was so easily verifiable.”

Brother Taylor didn’t seem confused about this at all. He readily reached a conclusion and threw a mocking jab at Jiang En in passing.

”Laughable. Why would I need to make up excuses? Besides, I wasn’t even the one who said it.”

Jiang En naturally wasn’t about to swallow that insult. He immediately shot back, warning Brother Taylor not to indulge in some pathetic spiritual victory method.

”That’s right. I was the one who said it.”

How could Fu Qian possibly shirk his responsibility at a time like this? He stepped forward once again, decisively steering the flow of the situation.

As he had noted, there really was no need to worry about the King of the Abandoned Prison’s true identity leaking.

Putting aside whether anyone would actually believe it, the Twin Prides of Shangjing had already rationally debunked the information in this brief exchange. Now, neither of them believed it anyway.

”I just realized I mixed him up with someone else. The true name of the guy in the Bookstore is Master Yuhun.”

After openly admitting that he was the source of the intelligence, Fu Qian shamelessly confessed that he had given them the wrong name, immediately supplying another title in its place.

That was right. He indicated that aside from the King of the Abandoned Prison, he had many other identities.

If ”Fu Qian” lacked the necessary Rank, surely the inner demon Master Yuhun would be sufficient?

If the contestants used this title in conjunction with the Emblem, would the Abandoned Prison receive the call?

Knowing the answer to that question would allow him to compare it against the ”Fu Qian” test, definitively confirming whether or not it was an issue of Rank.

The testing was far from over. This was a comprehensive, multi-step plan.

”Have either of you heard of him? This title is highly secretive. Anyone lacking extensive knowledge wouldn’t know of it.”

What if the two volunteers refused to cooperate? Fu Qian felt that was easily solved. With a wide smile, he simply proposed another competition.