Eldritch Horror Theatre

[Today's work has begun. Entering Containment Scenario 1-029.]

[Current SAN Value: 97. Current inspiration: 99.]

[...4%... 6%... 10%... 18%... 34%... 66%... 100%. Containment Scenario loaded.]

'Tier 1 item restricting abilities? Not bad.'

Seeing it skip the loadout phase entirely, Fu Qian gave a silent nod.

He wasn't in peak condition anyway, so in a sense, this played to his strengths while masking his weaknesses.

Employing his optimistic dialectical thinking, Fu Qian straightened the clothes Professor Lanaya had sponsored on his way back. It made him look a bit more like a white-collar intellectual. Right then, the mission briefing appeared.

[Your eyes will deceive you.]

'Uh-huh?'

'Grade 1, an ability-restricting item, and the introduction is only eight characters?'

'As expected, the nightlife really gets a little too exciting if you aren't careful!'

Clucking his tongue in admiration, Fu Qian sized up his situation.

'Not great!'

The conclusion was obvious.

He found himself inside a structure enclosed by solid stone walls.

The space wasn't large. From the ceiling to the floor, the stone bore ancient, mottled weathering marks, and there wasn't a single window.

There was a door, clearly visible on the wall directly in front of him.

Unfortunately, it was shut completely flush. It lacked a handle from top to bottom, immediately ruling out any attempt to pry it open with brute force.

Meanwhile, an equally ancient stone table sat directly between him and the door, with a few items scattered across it.

'Looks like something I can only solve with my wits!'

Given the sheer lack of clues, Fu Qian swept his gaze across the room and walked straight up to the stone table.

'A sacrificial altar?'

He had good reason to think so. Arranged across the stone surface were exquisitely crafted metal goblets of varying sizes.

At the very edge rested a narrow, curved blade, roughly the length of a forearm.

In stark contrast to the metal goblets, the blade appeared to be carved from animal bone. Most of its surface was mottled with dark stains, as if it had been soaked in blood.

Even so, he could still sense its flesh-tearing sharpness.

'Now that is a classic design!'

Marveling at the setup, Fu Qian casually moved the items aside to reveal what lay beneath.

It appeared to be a piece of animal Skin. Stripped of all fur, it was littered with large and small ragged holes.

'Is this... a scale?'

The pattern drawn upon it was unusually crisp, however, and Fu Qian easily made out the main subject.

It was a classic set of balancing scales. On either side of the scales, exactly where the metal goblets had just been resting, six stars were painted—five on one side, and one on the other.

[Current mission updated. Break through the Puzzle Illusion Realm and rendezvous with the team members in the Real World.]

Just as he finished inspecting it, the mission prompt chimed perfectly on cue in his ear.

'A Puzzle Illusion Realm... So I'm not in the Real World right now?'

'Is this what the introduction meant by your eyes will deceive you?'

'It's not exactly subtle, but this puzzle of yours...'

Staring at the two sides of the scale, Fu Qian furrowed his brow.

'1+1+1+1+1=1?'

'I know eyes can deceive, but math doesn't! You can't just throw logic out the window for a puzzle!'

Faced with this brilliant Andir Conjecture, Fu Qian shook his head and simply lifted the tablecloth.

There was absolutely nothing beneath it. Not a single hidden clue.

'It seems these really are all the elements to the puzzle.'

The setup wasn't hard to interpret. Given the scene of a blood sacrifice, the tools to solve this puzzle clearly had to come from his own body.

Smoothing the tablecloth back down, Fu Qian picked up the sacrificial bone blade and held up a finger to measure it.

As a renowned academic pioneer, how could he possibly be stumped by addition and subtraction under ten?

'If a simple equals sign doesn't work, how about introducing the concept of sets?'

With five stars on one side, fingers were undoubtedly one of the first things that came to mind.

After all, even kindergarteners knew that fingers were crucial tools for solving math problems.

...

The bone blade was incredibly sharp. Without much effort at all, he sliced off his left pinky finger.

Blood seeped out, though not much, and the pain was a far cry from what it normally would be—further confirming he was stuck in an illusion.

Of course, for the average person, it would still be quite a stimulating experience.

Making a silent assessment, Fu Qian smoothly sliced off his remaining four fingers one by one, dropping each into a separate metal goblet.

Watching the bottoms of the goblets quickly fill with blood from his severed digits, Fu Qian exerted a bit more effort to chop off his entire left palm, tossing it into the single goblet on the opposite side of the scale.

With that done, Fu Qian placed the bone blade back in its original spot. He waited silently for a few seconds until the six painted stars lit up one after another.

Amidst a tremendously heavy grinding sound, the stone door on the opposite wall slowly opened.

'Done. Math really doesn't deceive you.'

Brimming with respect for knowledge, Fu Qian didn't hesitate to step through the stone door.

[Mission accomplished.]

[Current mission updated. Find the Blind Eye Holy Grail.]

Almost simultaneously, as the scene shattered around him, the new prompt chimed.

'Is this... the team I'm supposed to rendezvous with?'

The instant his vision returned, Fu Qian narrowed his eyes and sized up his surroundings.

Dim light, sickly pale Lighting Equipment, and stale, murky air—there was no doubt that even after breaking the illusion, he was still in a similar Underground space.

Within this space, which was only slightly larger than the previous one, nine people sat or stood in total silence.

But that wasn't the main point. The key issue was their attire.

Men and women alike wore identical, highly functional, and professional combat uniforms. In addition to that, each of them sported a piece of gleaming golden equipment on a different part of their body—such as a shoulder, helmet, arm, or thigh.

'Saints? Gold ones, even?'

For a moment, even Fu Qian felt a genuine sense of surreal absurdity.

He couldn't help it. This looked exactly like the loot you'd get from butchering a Gold Saint and dividing up the pieces.

He even had a piece on himself.

Looking down at his own matching combat uniform, Fu Qian noticed that his Left Hand—the very same one he had just used to solve the puzzle—was now encased in a cold Glove. The gleaming gold was practically blinding.

"We've already got one out."

Just as he was marveling at its excellent design and how surprisingly flexible his fingers still were, a soft chuckle echoed through the room.

It came from a female squad member who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

She looked to be in her thirties, and both her features and her hair were impeccably maintained.

Her golden equipment was a uniquely shaped breastplate that draped diagonally from her left shoulder down to her right waist, its surface etched with elegant patterns.

'It sounds like they already expected the Puzzle Illusion Realm?'

'And they seem a bit surprised that I broke out of it so quickly.'

"Nicely done, Left Hand."

As he silently analyzed the situation, the female squad member had already called out, smiling pleasantly.

"What kind of puzzle did you run into?"

'Just as I thought, they knew what was coming. But are these codenames really based on the equipment parts?'

'In that case, I really have to wonder what your codename is.'

'Amazonian Warrior?'

Confirming his theory, Fu Qian silently ribbed her in his head.

"It was actually pretty simple. Just a math problem you could solve by counting on your fingers."

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