Eldritch Horror Theatre

Did it really possess the properties of both dream and reality? Then why did it seem so purely one-sided?

Excellency Patches had naturally vanished without a trace. Taking in the scene before him, Fu Qian could only conclude that the deceiver was up to his old tricks again.

A battered door, a rusted lock, that familiar design—now that the remnant dream had faded, he was somehow right back in front of the main gates of the Laboratory.

This was the exact spot where he had leaped inside earlier to seek out the surviving treasures of the Rebirth Club.

And that wasn’t even the main point. What mattered most was that the main gates were actually still there.

The Laboratory, reduced to ruins just moments ago, stood tall once more as though that catastrophe had never happened at all.

All in all, it looked entirely as if he had touched the remnant dream right at this spot, and everything afterward had simply played out inside his head.

That ran completely counter to what Excellency Patches had described.

Crack, snap. Was that really the case, though?

In no hurry to doubt the veteran, Fu Qian waited patiently for a single second.Then a faint, distinct sound rang out, as if something were cracking apart.

Drawing on his wealth of experience in destruction, Fu Qian locked his gaze instantly onto a window to the side.

Sure enough, fine, dense cracks had appeared out of nowhere across the remaining intact panes of glass.

Crash. The very next moment, the glass gave out completely.

And that was only the beginning. Before the shards even hit the ground, a chorus of tiny fracturing sounds had already blurred together into one continuous din.

The fairly grand building before him seemed to have lost the very foundation of its existence, crumbling into dust in a relatively understated manner.

So that was how it possessed the properties of reality?

At first glance it might look unchanged, yet everything suffered inside the dream was swiftly projected into reality upon waking.

This former technical center of the Rebirth Club couldn’t escape its doom after all—how dare they bully our Rebirth as if we had no one left!

Lamenting inwardly, Fu Qian advanced instead of retreating, plunging once more into the falling rubble and dust.

How could the collection our Rebirth Club built up over so many years simply be buried like this?

Fu Qian’s goal was crystal clear, and it even lined up perfectly with the commission from Excellency Sha Ming: sweep through the place and carry out a salvage excavation of the Rebirth Club’s surviving treasures.

Unfortunately, even at his speed, those transcendent limbs that had seemed almost godlike in the dream hadn’t left so much as a lingering ripple behind.

As for the spot where Excellencies Lu Ming and Kikuchi had appeared—nothing there either?

Fu Qian came to an abrupt halt, surveying the empty ground beneath his feet.

It really was the hour of waking. Never mind that bizarre fetus-and-egg form; there wasn’t a trace of Old Man Lu and his companion left at all.

Had the two of them long since come to rely entirely on the dream to survive, vanishing right along with it when it collapsed?

Were all their grand ambitions and imperial designs nothing more than flowers in a mirror, moon on the water in the end?

Calling to mind the scene years ago when Excellency Lu Ming had first inducted him into the trade, even Fu Qian couldn’t help breathing a quiet sigh.

Snap. Of course, he had never been one to give up easily.

The next instant, he snapped his fingers, and a Ring on his hand flashed with blue light.

Lucid Dream—an Item he hadn’t used in quite a while.

He still remembered the first time he had used it in the Archipelago, when it had been forcibly suppressed by the might of the Divine Dream.

Naturally, Fu Qian wasn’t the type to get sentimental about how the tables had turned. On one hand, he was doing this because the Burial Scroll still had a bit of time left on it.

On the other, it served as the next step in his salvage excavation.

They had faded away with the Divine Dream, so they couldn’t be found in reality?

Fine then, he would just look for them inside a dream again—wait, what was this?

This time, Lucid Dream finally got its moment to shine, free of any shackles.

Yet right as the sense of unreality swept outward once more, Fu Qian immediately made a fascinating discovery.

Old Man Lu and his partner had stood up?

Was this the true meaning of ”You must always have a dream—what if it comes true?”

Dominating the dream once again, Fu Qian easily locked onto a figure not far away.

It was easy to recognize, too.

Two hands and four feet, plus two grotesque beast heads and two grotesque human heads—it was none other than the combined form of Elder Lu and Excellency Kikuchi.

Only, unlike before when they had been hunched and cowering, they were now standing there quietly with a rather fearless air about them.

At the same time, the limbs that had previously been so loose and scattered were now fitted tightly together.

It was as if the workers had finally clocked in and assembled all the parts properly.

Even the sense of flesh and blood had grown much thinner, replaced by the cold hardness of something inorganic.

As for the original stitching, while faint traces of it were still visible, it clearly no longer held that distinctive sheen.

Mottled black and red, it looked more like straw rope twisted from dried-out tendons.

It looked as though the final lingering trace of First Apostle Herbert had thoroughly dissipated at last—or had it?

Fu Qian’s gaze traveled upward until he met the eyes of the two seniors.

From the moment they appeared until now, the pair hadn’t uttered a single sound, looking rather disinclined to chat.

That didn’t matter, though. Vacant as those four eyes were, they were at least open.

So open, in fact, that it was easy to spot how one eye on each of the two heads gleamed with a crimson hue.

The favorite color of Blood Clan Progenitor Annalise.

Snap.

Fu Qian snapped his fingers again.

Hmm, the effect was striking. All four eyes actually moved in unison, tracking the hand Fu Qian had snapped his fingers with the entire way.

Still not making a sound? Could it be—

As the King of the Abandoned Prison, a Night Demon, and a Dream Dominator possessing Transcendent Perception—and standing right inside a dream of his own making, no less—Fu Qian was quite certain Old Man Lu and his partner weren’t playing dumb.

Yet if they weren’t playing dumb, acting like this meant their minds really were gone.

Snap. Fu Qian snapped his fingers a third time, switching hands for this one.

As it turned out, they had already developed a tolerance. All four eyes merely flicked over for a split second before turning right back to where they had been looking: his right hand, which wore Annalise’s Lies.

It seemed that really was the case—

Old Man Lu and his partner had actually attained the same state as Employee No. 001, Excellency Sha Ming—not a person grafting limbs, but the limbs grafting the person?

Fu Qian clicked his tongue in wonder.

Aside from the First Apostle, who else could possibly be this fixated on Annalise’s Lies?

Hadn’t it turned out just like he had said earlier?

The wronged victim enduring humiliation all the way, only to erupt in triumph at the very end, mostly existed only in stories?

After cowering all the way to the finish line, the greatest achievement of Elder Lu and Excellency Kikuchi had probably been keeping their own parts intact, only for the stitching to turn the tables and usurp the host.

Those discolored eyes were the proof.

Of course, Excellency Herbert’s mind had long since been pulverized into nothingness. Even if the stitching had usurped the host, there was probably no chance of having a quick chat with him.

”Herbert?”

Though his expectations were fairly pessimistic, Fu Qian still tried calling out to test the waters.

Sure enough, there was no response.

”First Apostle?”

Silence, same as before.

”Go look around and see if there are any leftover transcendent parts.”

Unbothered, Fu Qian gestured behind the Two-Headed Demon.

It remained completely silent, yet almost the instant the words left his mouth, the figure glided into motion.