Eldritch Horror Theatre

Aren’t you supposed to have everything under control?

This seat followed the plan the entire time, so why does the situation look increasingly out of control?

The conversation between Master and Ibu was undeniably a bit abrupt, fast-forwarding straight to the verge of coming to blows the moment they opened their mouths.

But given his experiences and deductions along the way, Fu Qian didn’t find it difficult to understand.

First of all, the two were indeed well-acquainted. This wasn’t some scenario where Master returned to find he had tragically lost The Club and was forced to risk hiding in the Archipelago.

His presence, and even the welcome ceremony directed at Professor Fu, were tacitly approved by Ibu—the theoretical ruler of the Archipelago and a Demigod Realm expert.

As for the so-called asylum they spoke of, it was indeed political rather than a matter of strength.

Faced with visitors from the Academy, Old Man Ibu hadn’t failed to welcome them; he had simply found a proxy.

In short, everything looked exactly as he suspected, and even the motive was easy to grasp—this ever-present fragmented dream of a Deity was indeed a heavy stone weighing on Excellency Ibu’s mind.

Given his strong distaste for limb grafting, he had likely employed some violent measures, only to discover to his surprise that nothing could be done, leaving him with no choice but to seal the place off.If someone could help resolve this now, he wouldn’t mind turning a blind eye to certain things.

Even if the other party wanted to take the lead, it was negotiable. After all, for a leader, the courage to delegate was a display of leadership.

Unfortunately, the fly in the ointment was that after giving Master full authority to operate and locking onto Fu Qian as a convenient tool, the progress was far from ideal.

Specifically, not only did the Divine Dream look unresolved, but it even seemed to have been provoked into expanding across the entire island.

Under these circumstances, it was perfectly reasonable for the leader to furiously demand accountability.

”Say what? I don’t know anything either.”

Of course, the other party shirking responsibility was also standard operating procedure.

Faced with Ibu’s highly threatening words, Master appeared slightly flustered, but he absolutely refused to take primary responsibility.

”You know as well as I do that nothing can be seen once someone goes inside. We have absolutely no way of knowing what they do in there. Furthermore, that guy is exceedingly difficult to deal with and completely unpredictable.”

And one of the core principles of making excuses was undoubtedly emphasizing the sheer difficulty of the problem.

And so, in front of the entire Archipelago, Fu Qian’s character received high praise.

”And yet, knowing this perfectly well, you still insisted on letting him go in.”

However, Old Man Ibu was not so easily fobbed off; one could almost hear the cold sneer in his voice.

”Yes, I suggested and insisted on it, and then you agreed.”

However, how could the act of passing the buck ever stop just because the pressure was mounting?

On one hand, Master magnanimously admitted to it, but on the other, he directly dragged the other party into the mess, indicating that this had been a collective decision all along.

”Not to mention, to be safe, I insisted on giving him only fifteen minutes.”

So the time limit wasn’t because of any actual danger, but simply to tighten management and improve the project’s controllability?

As a member of the audience, even though his voice wouldn’t be heard, Fu Qian still maintained proper viewing etiquette, merely sighing inwardly like everyone else.

Of course, as mentioned before, this warning had been completely ignored the moment he entered. By now, he had vastly exceeded the limit.

After all, exchanging pleasantries with Brother Patches alone had taken ten minutes.

”It was a dangerous attempt to begin with. Since things have come to this, we should be thinking about how to resolve the trouble in front of us.”

Master’s stance on fighting for his own vital interests remained very firm. Faced with Ibu’s momentary silence, the buck-passing immediately entered its third phase—things were already like this, so what was the point of complaining? Better to figure out a remedy.

”Oh? So you have a solution?”

Facts proved that this three-hit combo was indeed incredibly powerful; the situation no longer seemed so tense.

But Old Man Ibu had held a high position for a long time and was clearly no pushover; he immediately fired back with a question.

Well said, but you’d better not just be rallying others to solve the problem.

If you want to turn danger into safety, you need to step up and contribute first.

”I don’t—but I think we should first figure out what happened. For example, whether this is currently a dream or reality.”

It was just that for a Peak Tier 4, such a thing was still a bit too difficult.

Master didn’t stubbornly bluff his way through. After decisively admitting his inadequacy, he valiantly offered a slight starting point. ”It’s a dream.”

Right amidst that intense exchange over there, Patches actually chimed in at the perfect moment, casually answering Master’s doubt.

Of course, these words were spoken to Fu Qian.

”I expanded the range of that fragmented dream a bit. The price is that it won’t last much longer before completely dying out.”

In his frankness, Patches also explained why there was a one-hour limit.

”It’s already pretty good. It was a bit too deserted before.”

Fu Qian nodded, indicating that this could be considered in line with the law of conservation of energy.

It was originally small but enduring; now that it had been sharply expanded, it would only enjoy a fleeting moment of glory.

”However, what I’m more curious about is, what will they be like when they wake up in an hour?”

Immediately after, however, he didn’t forget to ask about a certain detail.

Since it was a dream, there had to be a concept of waking up.

Even if it was suspected to be a Divine Dream, his last mission here had proven that it worked exactly like that.

Opening their eyes one day, only to find that all the events of the past were nothing but illusions—

”Heh heh—that’s hard to say. It depends on what they experience during this hour.”

However, this time, Patches gave a different answer, smiling sinisterly.

”The boundary between dream and reality might not be as clear as you imagine.”

Oh? It wouldn’t just feed back to the mental level—what happened here would even directly affect reality?

Brimming with malice, yet very easy to understand. The situation Patches described in that moment seemed to faintly break certain fundamental limits.

And for the people enjoying the Archipelago’s nightlife, this was undoubtedly bad news.

It meant that they wouldn’t just endure the mental terror of this moment; the aftermath of even the slightest action inside here could be imprinted on their flesh and blood.

”You sound like you’re very experienced with this?”

Without mourning everyone’s fate for even a second, Fu Qian was instead curious about Patches’s methods.

Expanding the dream was one thing, but this perfect grasp of scale and precision, along with the trick of snapping his fingers to directly force everyone into an online meeting, strongly implied that Patches was highly proficient in this area.

”Just a little bit—over all this time, have you ever heard of a controller of dreams?”

Patches was very modest, though, chuckling as he countered with a question.

”I have. That would be me.”

In contrast, the young man’s boldness was excessively dazzling.

Having repeatedly called himself the Dream Dominator, Fu Qian naturally pointed at himself.

”Ha—haha—that actually makes a bit of sense.”

For a moment, Patches was uncharacteristically stunned, before bursting into hearty laughter.

”Even in the earliest eras, the authority of the dream realm was shared among the Gods.”