Eldritch Horror Theatre

Amplify the magnitude...

Ji Liushuang remained silent, her gaze fixed on Honma within the Pure White Sword Prison.

Thanks to Professor Fu's meticulous explanation, she had finally pieced together the missing link in the chain of logic.

An invisible driving force was indeed compelling Honma to answer the question.

The compulsion was so overwhelming that the moment he refused to comply, a terrifying amount of pleasure began to amass.

That was the source of the bizarre, twisted expression on his face.

A surging tide of pleasure was drowning Honma, and he was desperate to hide the fact.

Whether it was his proactive sharing of thoughts earlier or his feigned refusal to take the test just now, both were desperate attempts to maintain his cover.

Of course, he appeared to have one other option: providing a false answer.

Professor Fu truly never believed they could be cured.

Ji Liushuang let out a silent sigh.

Then again, deep down, she felt exactly the same.

From the moment she first came into contact with them, using her Lucent Sword Heart to sense their condition, she should have foreseen this utter despair. It was just that—

"Hope is a beautiful thing. But sometimes, its blinding radiance causes people to overlook everything else."

Professor Fu's guidance drifted over right on cue. He was watching the silent Honma with the exact same posture.

"In the pursuit of knowledge, it is best to only take it out to soothe yourself during brief moments of rest."

...

Was my judgment truly clouded by my personal inclinations?

As an attentive student, Ji Liushuang perfectly grasped the underlying meaning of her mentor's concluding remark.

At this moment, she could already sense it: beneath Honma's desperately maintained facade of calm, something else seemed to have come alive.

With every scorching breath, a jarring distortion fractured Honma's facial features.

Had she not subconsciously clung to the belief that they could still be helped, she might have sensed this much sooner...

"There's no need to belittle yourself. The academic spirit must be cultivated little by little. Haven't you noticed that despite her age, Professor Chang is equally unversed in this regard?"

In the midst of her silence, her mentor's comforting words arrived at just the right moment.

"Even I have only managed to avoid certain bad habits thanks to a wealth of accumulated practical experience."

A wealth of practical experience... Surprisingly, coming from him, that didn't sound strange at all.

Expert Fu's psychological counseling always yielded immediate results. The sliver of self-blame in Ji Liushuang's heart was instantly swept away by endless speculation.

Of course, the primary reason his counseling worked so well was his utter sincerity.

His claim about practical experience was no empty boast. In fact, an uncannily similar scene had played out with the exact same person in this exact same place.

Once upon a time, with his face shoved into a bowl of soup, Brother Honma had also violently struggled between his surging pleasure and his desire to survive, ultimately reaching the absolute limit of what he could endure.

Looking at Brother Honma's rapidly crumbling composure, Fu Qian naturally recalled the memory of him kicking his feet in sheer delight.

The biggest difference between the two encounters seemed to be the company he kept. This time, he had brought along an assistant rather than a supervisor, which saved him the trouble of taking action himself.

"And what do we do now?"

Here, the assistant's thoughtfulness shone through once again. In the blink of an eye, Classmate Liushuang had tucked away her emotions and sought confirmation for their next course of action.

"We wait. I've always had faith in Excellency Honma's talents."

Fu Qian had clearly made up his mind long ago, immediately signaling that they should quietly observe changes.

This wasn't empty praise. Back at the banquet, when Brother Honma had been boasting about himself, Fu Qian had deeply agreed with him.

Entirely self-taught at such a young age, transcending his primitive desires to discover a High Tier form of pleasure—when it came to being a pervert, the man was truly gifted.

In fact, that was exactly why they had sought him out in the first place.

Geniuses tended to be sharper. Putting that keen perception to use in testing the true effects of the orb in his hand couldn't be more perfect.

Unfortunately, it looked as though Brother Honma could no longer hear the praise.

From the lingering distortion on his face—a twisted expression he was desperately yet vainly trying to suppress—one could faintly sense that he was already drowning in endless pleasure.

"Alright."

Ji Liushuang voiced no objections. She even took a moment to double-check the stability of her Heart-Questioning Sword Prison, ensuring nothing would interfere with their plan.

To her relief, the prison was terrifyingly stable. It showed absolutely no signs of strain or abnormality from being overloaded.

However, within her line of sight, she was surprised to see Professor Fu frowning slightly as he surveyed their surroundings.

...

As expected, the nature of this space was rather special. He couldn't just casually manifest objects like he could on the outside.

Of course, having been infected by the tense atmosphere and adopting a far more serious posture, Classmate Liushuang could never have guessed the true reason behind Professor Fu's frown.

The reason for Fu Qian's reaction was incredibly simple. Since they were quietly observing changes, it would naturally be best to have a place to sit.

But when he attempted to manifest two Chairs within the Sword Prison, he ran into an obstacle.

The reason he had been able to forcibly muscle his way in earlier was very simple—Classmate Liushuang's Heart-Questioning Sword Prison was cast upon the foundation of a Lucid Dream, and he was the Dream Dominator.

Essentially, much like the control the Red Moon had exerted over his dream back on the Half-Step Moon, the Sword Prison also shared a portion of his own power as its foundation.

Given the circumstances, with a bit of careful manipulation, breaking through certain special restrictions was entirely worth a try.

And he had indeed succeeded. However, once he was truly situated inside the Sword Prison, a few additional restrictions cropped up.

For instance, trying to conjure something out of thin air was clearly a no-go. He could only feel deep regret.

Fortunately, Brother Honma didn't disappoint. As always, he was gifted, but not impossibly so.

Over the short period of time that followed, Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang watched as the twisted distortion on his face took root and aggressively multiplied.

And just as the ensuing wave of inhuman aura peaked, threatening to completely tear apart his "self," it abruptly shattered.

"I feel... incredibly good..."

Honma lowered his head, his hazy, unfocused gaze once again coalescing onto a single point, and suddenly answered Fu Qian's question.

As he stared intently at the Finger Orb in his hand, his voice carried neither pain nor relief. He had instantaneously slipped into a state of absolute indifference.

But the calmer he seemed, the more unnerving it felt.

His sudden transformation was like a balloon inflated to its absolute limit, only for it to pop and reveal absolutely nothing inside—neither air nor water.

Absolutely nothing at all.

So this time, without needing any prompting from Fu Qian, Classmate Liushuang realized on her own that something was horribly wrong.

However, just as she narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Honma's every micro-expression, she caught sight of Professor Fu making a hand gesture in her peripheral vision.

"Very good. What did you see inside that orb?"

At the exact same time, he posed a brand-new question.

"The White-Headed... Sanctuary."

Honma finally tore his gaze away from his hands. Looking up at Fu Qian, he answered slowly.

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