Eldritch Horror Theatre

Fu Qian had long wondered exactly how Old Man Sage would meet his defeat in this contest.

To his surprise, it happened in such a simple, brutal manner.

Those five Two-Dimensional Living Corpses from earlier had almost no chance of achieving anything once Knowledge Infusion failed to restrict the group's movements.

Their greatest purpose was to make everyone believe the threat had been neutralized, coaxing them to confidently press forward.

In reality, every single eye in the chamber could be infused with those replicated abilities.

Aiming them still took time, but not enough for the group—already standing in the center of the hall—to turn around and escape.

It was a sinister trap, but Fu Qian's reason for calling it crude was simple: no matter how you looked at it, these eyes had forcibly evaded Old Man Sage's Insight.

As far as Fu Qian was concerned, this was no longer mere scheming. It was a dimensional strike.

It meant the Holy Grail possessed "knowledge" completely beyond Old Man Sage's comprehension.

In the face of a dimensional strike, how could a fish already in the net possibly escape back the way it came?

Of course, Fu Qian perfectly understood the choice Old Man Sage and the others had made. The stone statue couldn't block every angle. Hiding beneath it would only turn them into sitting ducks; they might as well fight for a sliver of survival.

Fu Qian's reason for not leaving was just as simple. The stone statue couldn't seal off every angle, but what if he added a shield?

A shield bolstered by a Transcendent Tier enhancement, at that.

During the group's brief moment of silence earlier, he had successfully finished switching his equipment.

...

Faced with the sudden crisis, Fu Qian's final countermeasure was to press his back against the stone statue's leg and use the shield to guard his only exposed angle.

It proved to be the right choice.

The willpower-consuming shield proved exceptionally potent; the seemingly fierce beams of light were entirely and firmly blocked.

The price, of course, was the sensation of heavily armored warhorses trampling furiously through his brain.

Fortunately, in just a single breath, almost all the eyes on the vaulted ceiling had dimmed.

Furthermore, Old Man Sage—now departed for the Heavenly Kingdom—had left behind a crucial piece of information: the Holy Grail was connected to this stone statue.

Now that he had weathered the storm, all he needed to do was investigate a little further—

[Containment Failure, SAN Value -1]

[Play event replay?]

The next moment, the entirely unexpected voice rang in his ears, instantly freezing his thoughts.

The final image in Fu Qian's mind was the beam from the single remaining illuminated eye slamming into his shield.

His previously sturdy shield, despite its enhancements, was sliced open like butter without offering the slightest resistance.

...

Again?

Are you an intellectual or a thug?

Sitting in his chair within the dim Warehouse, Fu Qian felt as though the sensation of his brain being burned straight through hadn't quite faded.

First, it used a hidden killing move completely outside their comprehension to deal with Old Man Sage.

Then it turned around and unleashed an unstoppable instant kill on the lone survivor?

Was it just turning on its cheats one by one?

I originally wanted to beat you fair and square, but I guess you just don't know what's good for you, huh?

...

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Fu Qian thoroughly vented his desire to complain.

In theory, of course, his gains from this trip couldn't be considered small.

Despite knowing nothing about the situation beforehand, he had almost found the mission objective and had even forced the opponent to reveal two of its trump cards in succession.

But as military strategists say, the greater the harvest, the less you actually gain.

After seeing these two trump cards, his most prominent realization was that he still had no idea how many more were left.

The Holy Grail seemed to be maintaining a perfectly calibrated death trap, absolutely refusing to expend a single extra ounce of effort.

Theoretically, his next step was to re-enter the mission, carry this experience of failure with him, help the team bypass the lethal trap, and touch the mission objective that was only a step away.

Unfortunately, he had a nagging feeling that the mission objective was far more complicated than being just a single step away.

...

Looking at the illusory shape of an eye in the darkness, Fu Qian finished analyzing the situation and casually reached out to touch it again.

[SAN Value -1, entering the Containment Scenario]

[Current mission updated: Crack the puzzle illusion and rendezvous with the team members in the Real World]

The exact same prompts echoed. Fu Qian surveyed the familiar secret room, and after confirming there were no anomalies, he walked over to the table by the door once more.

A Bone Blade, six cups, and even the animal skin pressed beneath them still bore the drawing of a scale.

It was identical to the first time, yet somehow felt even more ominous.

Being so lazy that it didn't even randomize the test meant it had absolute certainty it could make you fail in other areas. This perfectly aligned with his deduction that it wouldn't expend an extra ounce of effort.

After inspecting everything and confirming that the patterns, the wear and tear, and even the angles of placement had not changed at all, Fu Qian picked up the Bone Blade. He slowly mimed slicing his hand, but was in no rush to make the actual cut.

He already had the situation outside completely under control. This time, he could change his approach to answering the riddle.

...

Time ticked by minute after minute. Although he wasn't sure if time here synced perfectly one-to-one with the outside, Fu Qian now understood why Old Man Sage consistently stated he had waited so long.

As time dragged on, the urge to open the stone door before him and leave this place seemed to continuously inflate and accumulate. The pressure to hold back and do nothing kept mounting.

Was it actually a bit like a Lucid Dream? Did the ending rules constantly urge you to take action?

Sure enough, for a cognitive trap like this to remain stable, the prerequisite was precisely having a clear method of escape, wasn't it?

There was actually a hint of Zen to it.

For a moment, Fu Qian even felt a flash of enlightenment.

Those two team members who had died right at the start must have been driven by this exact pressure. They were forced to constantly try different things, ultimately accumulating enough errors in a short time to cross the threshold and turn their faces into fishbowls.

Otherwise, they could have just taken their time and slowly tested their options.

Speaking of which, given the time that had passed, the last guy was probably dead by now too.

Estimating that enough time had gone by, Fu Qian repeated his old trick, severing his fingers one by one.

...

"You're awake?"

As he tossed his bare left palm into the final cup, the stone door opened, and Fu Qian freed himself once again.

The very instant his vision returned, a voice sounded beside him, slightly astonished.

It was Brother Charlotte's voice.

Was he surprised that Fu Qian could still wake up after being out for so long?

Having immediately identified the speaker, Fu Qian remained silent and chose to scan his surroundings first.

The same positions. The same two faces with shifting, wandering facial features.

Sure enough, it was the same two who had died.

Not only that, but he could even smell the same stench of vomit in the air.

Clearly, Charlotte still hadn't withstood the psychological impact. Fu Qian just didn't know if Scrooge had provoked him again this time.

Of course, it didn't matter.

"What is that smell?"

The next moment, Fu Qian frowned and asked directly.

He could do some provoking of his own, after all.

In the somewhat suffocating atmosphere, Scrooge's laughter was exceptionally grating.

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