Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Where did this thing—come from?”

Like Professor Fu, Patches was clearly not the type to believe in coincidences.

Faced with the sudden anomaly, he almost instantly dismissed the theory about the wound, concluding that the problem lay with the Glove itself.

”Excellency Annalise gave it to me.”

Fu Qian raised his hand to inspect it, feeling the moisture.

He didn’t try to hide anything, directly stating the name of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan.

The anomaly had indeed appeared on the Glove, beginning the moment he completed his Insight and transformed into a Night Demon.

”Heh heh—you came fully prepared.”

It was hard to tell how genuine his surprise was, but in the blink of an eye, Patches switched to a smile and offered his praise.

Not only did he possess decisive execution and a clear head, but his reserve of resources was also astonishing. Could there be a more ideal partner?”It looks like your plan was correct once again. We seem to have already reaped some rewards.”

Without waiting for Fu Qian to act modest, he was already studying the Glove, appearing to have come to a realization.

”You suspected that mass was related to the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, so you’ve been trying to trigger a reaction?”

He also recalled what he had witnessed earlier.

Fu Qian had not only chosen those two as his initial breakthrough point, but he had even deliberately used his gloved hand to catch the swallowed thread.

”Yeah, though it’s a pity the result isn’t ideal.”

Fu Qian wasn’t in a hurry to ask what the reward was.

”Surprises always happen when you least expect them. It looks pretty good right now. I can confirm this blood came from them.”

Patches gestured toward the remaining threads inside the egg-like sac.

In just that brief moment, the atmosphere there had grown even more oppressive.

Lu Ming and the other person didn’t make a sound, but the threads stitching their limbs together were visibly becoming more active.

Although they didn’t shoot straight out or try to entangle Fu Qian as they swayed, Patches still concluded that this was directly linked to the anomaly on the Glove.

”It seems they should be called Corrupted Blood.”

Fu Qian shared a name he had gleaned through his Insight.

”Looks like you gained quite a lot from eating that thing.”

Patches clicked his tongue.

”You only just realized I gained a lot?”

Fu Qian shot him a glance, his response sounding a bit argumentative.

”Heh heh—I did notice that you seem to be tainting this place with your own aura. I originally thought you were planning to kill two birds with one stone and conveniently dispose of me, a hidden danger, along the way.”

Sure enough, Patches wasn’t displeased at all. He even put on a look of shame, admitting that he had been judging Fu Qian by his own standards.

One really couldn’t underestimate the paranoia of a veteran. He had obtained the Night Demon effect only a few sentences ago, yet the function of the Dream Polluter had already been detected.

Inside any dream, it would rapidly pollute the space and turn it into his own domain.

After discovering such a change, it was perfectly normal for old brother Patches to feel a bit worried.

”I understand. I know this is quite a popular trend in the circle.”

So naturally, Fu Qian couldn’t be overly critical, indicating that he also understood the popular trend of higher entities wanting to ’take it all’.

Of course, he wouldn’t make any meaningless promises about not disposing of him.

After all, the second popular trend among higher entities was that words were pale and powerless; they wouldn’t even believe their own promises.

”I’m glad to see you haven’t assimilated that quickly—so, can you confirm why this change happened? This thing suddenly took an interest in the Glove.”

Patches seemed to find the term ’circle’ quite novel, though he quickly returned to the main topic.

”I can’t be completely sure, but my guess is that this thing was supposed to react to Annalise’s aura all along, and just failed to recognize it earlier.”

Fu Qian seemed to have already been pondering the reason and answered almost instantly.

”And now, because your connection with the dream has grown tighter, it finally sensed it? It feels like there’s still a decisive causal link missing in the middle.”

Patches largely agreed with Fu Qian’s theory, but he still felt it lacked something.

”This place was originally Annalise’s dream. The fact that this thing has been desperately keeping the last sliver of this residual dream from dissipating should be because of that. It’s just a pity that Annalise left long ago, leaving behind only this thing, which might not even have much intellect left.”

Fu Qian recalled the process of his last mission here, feeling like everything was finally coming together.

”Now this dream is becoming mine, and since the master of the dream equates to the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, that finally activated certain switches in its cognition.

”It must have recognized the person first before recognizing the thing on my hand—or rather, it mistook the person first.”

Why was there still a dream residue in the Archipelago? The mission summary clearly stated that the White Tower Codex was thoroughly corrupted, and the higher entity that had cast its gaze had already looked away.

He had already guessed and verified that this lump of a thing should now be the existential foundation of this residual dream.

But how it had transitioned to this point was somewhat baffling.

Now, judging by its special reaction to Annalise’s relic, it seemed a reason could finally be established—it was chasing the aura of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan.

Perhaps this thing appearing in the Club’s inventory was just a coincidence, but the moment the White Tower Codex attracted that gaze, it seemed to have also become intoxicated by Annalise’s gaze.

So much so that when she disappeared, its unwillingness made it step up to maintain the illusion of her continued presence, leaving a stubborn tumor in the Archipelago that was difficult to eradicate.

In short, the theory sounded plausible, but there were still too many areas requiring proof. For example, why was this thing chasing Annalise? What made it so obsessed?

Judging from what he had gleaned from his Insight, its style was vastly different from Annalise’s lineage; it actually leaned more toward the aforementioned dream power.

”This causal relationship sounds much more reasonable. Following this train of thought, it seems I can also try to give it a hand.”

For Patches, however, this seemed to be enough.

Examining Fu Qian’s Glove with great satisfaction, he thoroughly approved of this line of thinking, and as a result, seemed to have found his own approach.

Without another word, Patches turned toward it and exhaled a long breath.

The action was so exaggerated that one could almost hallucinate him announcing, ”Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to witness a Miracle.”

Oh?

And an interesting scene truly did follow.

Even though the blood was merely seeping out from the Glove, under Fu Qian’s gaze, it was actually blown into rolling ripples.

Not only did it spread beyond the surface of the Glove in the blink of an eye, but the ripples were even becoming—humanoid?

Fu Qian noted that amid the churning, he could see humanoid limbs and even facial features, like tormented souls plummeting into a bloody hell.

It was just that they seemed to be suffering under an immense restraint, unable to crawl out no matter how hard they struggled.

”Is it because of the Codex?”

Seeing such a sight, Fu Qian asked for confirmation.

”Because of the Codex.”

Patches nodded. Even though he had stopped blowing, the ripples over there continued.