Eldritch Horror Theatre

It really felt like luck was on his side lately.

To think a simple illegal break-in could actually reveal information about a Divine Trait.

That was exactly it. In that fleeting moment, Fu Qian suddenly realized the connection he felt was remarkably similar to what he had experienced during his previous state of Overthinking.

This discovery prompted a decisive choice: he would burn another 10 SAN Value just to take a look.

Though he wasn't a true Deity, the Pseudo-God Incarnation scattered the chaotic gazes within the tide, drastically slashing the oppressive pressure.

This allowed Fu Qian to isolate that sliver of information with far greater clarity.

This overwhelming sense of destiny didn't seem to be an illusion after all.

Executing a Blink, Fu Qian immediately sprinted after that faint thread of connection.

There was no way he would abandon such an unexpected lead.

He even activated the Decree of Return along the way.

Past experience told him this ability effectively dispelled anomalies; it was worth seeing if it could counteract the imbalance caused by the tide's scouring.

It turned out to be somewhat effective—the compounding loss of control eased up slightly.

...

It really was pure chaos.

As time passed, Fu Qian grew increasingly convinced that this place really might be the absolute taboo zone Old Man Chaumont had spoken of.

The state of space-time here was clearly warped. As he sprinted, he tried to use the Ruins behind him as an anchor point, only to find that once he put some distance between them, their relative position began jumping wildly.

The further he got from the Ruins, the more severe the spatial chaos seemed to become.

Reaching this conclusion quickly, Fu Qian didn't slow his pace.

Chaos wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

If the distortion was severe enough, traversing this seemingly vast expanse might not take much time at all. And it really didn't.

An incredible sensation washed over him the very next moment, as he somehow crossed the vast remaining distance in a single step.

Fu Qian felt as if he had pierced through some invisible barrier, plunging into a void.

Yet the tide didn't stop. At the same time, a bizarre, kaleidoscopic phantom projection unfolded before his eyes, resembling a cluster of overlapping soap bubbles.

The myriad fragments of "information" carried by the tide were seeping directly out of this projection.

At the same time, his body seemed to undergo a bizarre transformation.

Fu Qian found that he could clearly see every one of his veins and meridians, down to the cross-sections of his flowing blood.

It was as if his entire being had been flattened into two dimensions, spread out evenly so he could slip through the gaps between those soap bubbles.

And while these bubbles looked illusory, they also seemed to harbor something genuine—spaces one could physically step into.

This wasn't just a baseless guess; the very place he had just come from now appeared to be one of those bubbles.

"They can't all be dangerous," he murmured. "Otherwise, the Night Watchers would be completely overwhelmed."

Rapidly tracking that faint thread of connection, Fu Qian sensed that only a small fraction of these bubbles were actually leaking that oppressive pressure.

Unfortunately, once he locked onto his target, the suspected location of the Divine Trait happened to be one of those dangerous bubbles.

Still, he should be able to manage a quick look.

Weighing the situation and doing some quick mental math on his remaining time, Fu Qian made a snap decision and took a step toward his target.

...

Encountering no resistance whatsoever, Fu Qian smoothly broke free from that flattened state, and the kaleidoscopic sky vanished in an instant.

It was replaced by a thick, omnipresent scarlet haze and a vile stench that utterly defied the imagination.

At the same time, his footing felt hollow and yielding, as though he had sunk into a pool of viscous liquid.

"What a picturesque scene of absolute putrefaction."

Easily finding his balance, Fu Qian surveyed his surroundings and sighed.

First, confirming his tactile feedback, he was indeed standing in the middle of a boundless, thick, scarlet Lake.

As far as the eye could see, several pillar-like structures towering several stories high jutted out of the water, alongside other bizarre shapes formed from the same flesh-like material.

Without exception, their surfaces were completely covered by flower-shaped splotches of crimson rust.

And that stench—one that far surpassed the mere concept of a "bad smell"—was wafting from every single surface here.

Even though he had immediately sealed his breath, the lingering aftertaste still made him feel as if his lungs were rotting away in his chest.

The Rank here was incredibly high. Was this really a Deity who had been beaten to a pulp and dumped here?

Naturally, Fu Qian's thoughts drifted to today's field expedition.

Like any rigorous academic, when faced with those overlapping phantoms earlier, he had kept an eye out for the aura of the Spirit Ash Institute Sacred Site, but he hadn't sensed anything.

Considering how much easier the latter was to enter, he deduced that it must be a relatively separate, independent space.

In any case, this place gave off a somewhat similar vibe to those high-Rank remains. In fact, it also seemed to house creatures that fell into the category of living biology.

Fu Qian lowered his head, staring into the utterly opaque Lake.

The high Rank of the area, combined with the extreme coagulation of chaos, meant that even in his Pseudo-God Incarnation state, his perception of what lay beneath the surface was incredibly blurred.

Even so, Fu Qian was absolutely certain there was something alive down there. As for why...

In the very next moment, a black-and-red tentacle broke through the water's surface, lifting into the air.

This was the appendage he had initially morphed to stabilize his footing.

He had to admit, after trying out a multitude of forms, this tentacle structure remained the most versatile and effortless.

Yet now, several slimy white worms of varying lengths were clinging to that tentacle.

These creatures were clearly the Natives of this Lake, and their foraging speed was nothing short of unbelievable.

As for how they had detected him as "food"?

Fu Qian lifted one of his actual feet this time.

Despite his main body being far tougher than the conjured tentacle, the submerged portion of his foot had already corroded so badly in some spots that bone was visible.

Some of those same white worms were even burrowing merrily through the ruined flesh.

Given his current Rank, trying to endure this place with purely physical resistance was pushing it way too far.

With a light leap, he landed on a nearby protrusion. With a sharp snap, both of his legs broke off cleanly, leaving the tainted flesh and bone in the water for the Natives to gorge themselves on.

He severed the tentacle in the same manner.

Propping himself up with a newly morphed tentacle as his legs rapidly regenerated, Fu Qian observed the feasting Natives without the slightest intention of disturbing them.

The reason was simple: thanks to the effects of the Pseudo-God Incarnation, his perception remained completely insulated from interference.

Right now, although these worms looked identical on the outside, a few of them gave off a bizarre vibe, making him suspect that they weren't all actual Natives of the Lake.

After all, if he really had found the right location, the most dangerous threat in this exploration wouldn't be the monsters, but any potential alarms planted by the Night Watchers. He couldn't afford to be careless with any anomaly.

The reason he had used the duration of Pseudo-God Incarnation as his time limit—rather than how long his physical body could hold out—was precisely to maintain his ability to detect these sorts of anomalies.

In fact, to minimize any disturbance to his surroundings, the instant he stepped inside, Fu Qian had even immediately deactivated the Decree of Return.

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