Eldritch Horror Theatre

Conclusion one: Scrooge had already mocked him.

Conclusion two: Charlotte hadn't built up an immunity to it, and was instead even more triggered.

Having delivered that final blow, Fu Qian silently reached these conclusions as he watched Charlotte, whose face had contorted even worse than the first time.

It was just a pity that he was the last one to "hand in his paper," so he genuinely didn't know "what it tasted like."

"Left Hand, I'm very curious about what kind of puzzle you encountered that took so long."

Staring daggers at him, Charlotte's face visibly shifted from red to livid. However, he didn't blow up in the end; instead, he opted to poke at sore spots, zeroing in on Fu Qian's stalling.

That was exactly what I was waiting for.

Fu Qian furrowed his brows, as if recalling something, and turned to look at Old Man Sage.

"Sage... could there be a puzzle that is completely impossible to understand?"

This question clearly surprised the Sage, who had been observing him. For a moment, the winged ornament on his Golden Staff spun, but he didn't rush to answer.

"What do you mean? If it was impossible to understand, how did you come up with the answer?"

Ignored once again, Charlotte's anger was faintly bubbling out of control. He was clearly unwilling to let Fu Qian crack jokes and banter his way out of this.

"Trial and error."

Faced with the interrogation, Fu Qian's response was serious and straightforward.

"Only problems that people can understand have any binding power. The situation you described theoretically shouldn't exist. Describe the problem you encountered."

Having finished his observation and seemingly confirmed that Fu Qian hadn't gone mad, Old Man Sage finally spoke up.

"I can't describe it."

Fu Qian shook his head, his answer just as crisp.

"It was different from any puzzle I've encountered before. It was like a kind of 'knowledge' that transcended comprehension."

"In the end, out of desperation, I cut my own hand and performed a ritualistic action, which allowed me to solve it by a stroke of luck."

Honestly, this answer wasn't very convincing, but Fu Qian wasn't trying to convince anyone to begin with.

...

"You could at least find a better excuse."

Faced with Fu Qian's half-truth, the first to question him wasn't Charlotte, but Scrooge, who didn't get along with him.

"As a puzzle-solving expert, how could Charlotte believe such a boring explanation?"

Unfortunately, in the face of these seemingly supportive words, Charlotte's expression only worsened.

In the end, he snorted, wearing a look of disdain, and said no more.

Impossible to describe...

Old Man Sage's expression showed no visible change, though he probably didn't put much stock in Fu Qian's answer either.

That was fine. He had only wanted to relay the concept of "knowledge that might exceed the bounds of understanding" to the old man. Sowing just a tiny seed of doubt was more than enough.

Prodding too hard might make the man overly cautious, which could be detrimental to the operation.

"The more you know, the more you sometimes discover your own ignorance. It isn't surprising."

It proved that, with the right amount of pressure, Old Man Sage's initiative was successfully stimulated to the maximum.

Faced with the slightly odd atmosphere, he chose mystic-sounding rhetoric to steady the team's morale.

And after that vague, empty platitude, he even remembered to praise Fu Qian's performance.

"Well done! Even if it was luck, this calmness and perseverance to hold out until the end are precisely the important virtues needed in the pursuit of knowledge."

"Of course, I will need you to do even better moving forward."

He pointed toward the exit with his Golden Staff.

"Our path is still long."

"Naturally."

Nodding in agreement, Fu Qian sensed that sliver of doubt within Old Man Sage.

It was hardly surprising. Human instinct was to understand the world within the bounds of one's own cognition.

Rather than accepting that something beyond comprehension existed within these Ruins of the Society, suspecting oneself was the most normal reaction.

"The Holy Grail is my sole purpose for this trip."

Reaffirming this point, Fu Qian used a sigh and a slightly fanatical look in his eyes to help solidify that doubt in Old Man Sage's mind.

...

In Fu Qian's judgment, they might be fully prepared, but as long as this team operated within conventional frameworks, they wouldn't be a match for the Holy Grail.

Because their opponent's scope was clearly much greater.

Under these circumstances, aside from sharing the experience of their previous failure, he also needed to provide a bit of mental stimulation to push the team to operate at a hundred and twenty percent.

"As expected, a serious man is the most charming!"

As the Sage's expression grew even heavier, laughter rang out from the side.

Even without directly addressing him, Ais's perfectly measured tone conveyed her admiration to the fullest.

"That's a shame."

Noticing out of the corner of his eye that both Charlotte and Scrooge looked slightly uncomfortable, Fu Qian chose to directly respond to a line most would have deemed better left untouched.

"I always thought you were the most charming one in the team."

Staring unabashedly at Ais's face, his gaze even drifting down to her Sacred Cloth, Fu Qian smiled and delivered a line that bordered on flirting.

In his peripheral vision, Charlotte and Scrooge's expressions grew even more unnatural.

"Thank you... but right now, the most charming person needs your help holding this."

Ais was clearly unaccustomed to such a slightly passive position. She blanked for a moment, then offered a sweet smile and tossed over the Golden Belt she had taken from their fallen team member.

Catching it single-handedly, Fu Qian merely glanced at it before casually tossing it into his bag.

"This style really doesn't go with what you're wearing right now."

...

This shouldn't have let Old Man Sage down, right?

Seeing that even Brother Round Shield couldn't help but look over, and Ais and the other two were momentarily speechless, Fu Qian was quite satisfied with this development.

After such a provocation, the team's initiative must have spiked by at least fifty points, right?

"We can move out."

Uncertain whether he had grasped Fu Qian's painstaking efforts, Old Man Sage finally announced that they would continue.

And Fu Qian, as the center of attention, consciously took the vanguard position without needing to be told.

...

"Left Hand."

A moment later, they were in the same familiar position, using the same familiar stance.

As the Sage called his name, a golden Resonance Spike had already condensed in Fu Qian's hand.

With his previous experience and insights, it only took him a fraction of a second to re-establish a connection with the Glove and master the Mind Calamity.

An inheritance spanning across time and space—this was exactly why they said knowledge was the most precious wealth.

Amidst his internal praise, the golden Resonance Spike had already blown the head off the first living corpse.

As the living corpse shattered like an eggshell, the illusory aroma of brains appeared once more in Fu Qian's consciousness.

Having mentally prepared himself well in advance, however, he perfectly controlled every single muscle and didn't show the slightest abnormality.

Of course, this tough-guy act definitely wasn't meant for Lady Ais to see.

In the corner of his eye, when he successfully condensed the Spike, the Sage seemed to relax slightly.

But at this moment, the old man's expression grew even more solemn.

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