Eldritch Horror Theatre

There was no reason to waste such hard-won medical resources.

Fu Qian knew perfectly well that the moment the dreamscape unfolded, Dorian was nervously watching his every reaction, ready to deal with the fallout if things turned hostile.

Dorian knew he harbored ulterior motives, but didn't know exactly what those motives were.

Dorian was clearly quite curious about his motives. Yet, given their tacit understanding without words, certain reactions were simply impossible to predict.

Especially since Fu Qian so obviously knew a thing or two about the Dolls. It was only natural for Dorian to be a little tense.

But whatever his motive, Dorian's ideal scenario was dragging him onto his home turf—the dreamscape.

So how could he disappoint him?

Though it was hard to optimistically assume his previous success in escaping the dreamscape could be replicated.

"Are you here for me, outsider?"

Fu Qian looked toward the sound, not at all surprised to see the familiar Stone Chamber.

The lighting, the Incense, the black veil—without a doubt, the figure sitting in the dim light was Hilaria, exiled beneath the Church.

She was even wearing the outfit Dorian had designed.

He himself still had one last step to descend, looking as though he had just come down from the Church above.

Under these circumstances, the kindhearted Saint Hilaria had warmly beckoned him.

"Hilaria?"

Despite the high Rank, Dorian's Healing Dreamscape appeared to have a very simplistic setting.

Evaluating the scene in his head while observing her, Fu Qian didn't forget to check his own condition.

His earlier feeling had been spot on; this dreamscape really was powerful.

Even though he had entered the dream voluntarily, his perception of his physical existence in the outside world had blurred to an abstract level.

He could certainly distinguish between reality and the dreamscape, but casually pulling out was impossible. Not to mention, his true body back in the Clinic had its perception compressed to a mere ring around him; even his form had grown hazy, giving off the sensation of only seeing a Health Bar instead of a person.

And that Health Bar was still depleting, because the Heart Strike had never stopped.

...

"That's right... Come here, sit closer."

Regardless, a person still had to be good at finding the beautiful things in life.

Though his situation was far from ideal, Hilaria was at least as generous as ever, acknowledging her identity in a soft voice while spreading her arms open.

Her liquid eyes and full chest all seemed to call him into her embrace.

And the unique fragrance radiating from her carried an immense allure, making him involuntarily want to stop thinking and experience it with his entire being.

This was clearly the complete version of the Healing Dreamscape—a segment the Warehouse had skipped entirely when he entered the mission.

While he had no real interest in actually being hugged, stumbling across the uncut version always felt a bit more rewarding, didn't it?

It was even an enhanced edition.

"Come here, outsider... You're walking the wrong way."

Almost the moment the Hilaria in front of him finished speaking, another voice drifted in from behind.

Fu Qian turned his head and saw another figure sitting in the corner, keeping watch over a burner of Incense.

It was another Hilaria.

The same outfit, the same posture, completely indistinguishable—until now.

Seeing that Fu Qian had heard her call, Hilaria II gave a slight nod of greeting. The next moment, she raised her hands, grabbed the lower edge of her veil, and slowly pulled it up to cover her eyes.

She wasn't even done. She soon turned around, parting her pale lips to lightly press the tip of her tongue against the adjacent stone wall—right over the engraved Emblem of Akons, the God of Insight and Wisdom.

"Are you sure that ignorant, broken husk can be of any help to you?"

As she finished her ambiguous and profane lick, a profoundly undignified smile curled the corners of her mouth. Her tone was dripping with mockery, intensely aggressive.

...

So this was how the enhanced medicinal effect manifested?

Suddenly faced with a choice, it was a good thing Fu Qian had never suffered from indecision.

He didn't even cast a second glance at Hilaria II's far more seductive display.

Earlier, when Dorian asked if they should use both Dolls, Fu Qian had imagined what the resulting scene might look like.

Now it seemed the connection between a Doll and the actual person went beyond a simple violation of portrait rights.

And the way Dorian participated in the dreamscape was vastly different from Fu Qian's own usual methods.

If his previous judgment was correct, and his actions truly had no effect on Akons, then Hilaria II's blindfolded look could only have come from the settings provided by Dorian.

Because that scene had never happened prior to this, and he had just offered suggestions for the Doll's styling.

He also remembered that in the previous dreamscape, Dorian had never made an appearance.

It seemed he engaged with the dreamscape exclusively through these Dolls he had crafted.

He gave them specific personas, then manipulated them like marionettes to control and guide the direction of the entire dream.

None of this was hard to deduce, but at the same time, there was one easily overlooked detail—

Hilaria had only exhibited the mental state currently displayed by the second Doll after Fu Qian broke her down—a fact he hadn't shared with Dorian.

So theoretically, unless Dorian had nothing better to do than sneak into the Church to spy on her, he shouldn't have been able to give the two Dolls such precise and vivid personas, even if he wanted to.

From this perspective, there was likely some special kind of mapping between the Dolls and their original owner.

And within this Healing Dreamscape, Dorian's control over them probably wasn't absolute down to every specific word and gesture. He likely gave them a baseline persona command, and then they acted automatically according to their nature.

And that nature was projected straight from the original owner.

If this hypothesis held true, it basically explained their prior behavior both inside and outside the dream. But that raised a new question—if there were two Dolls, how did the mapping work?

Two identical replicas, or—schizophrenia?

It seemed the answer was already right in front of him.

The two Hilaria Dolls seemed to have automatically mapped onto different facets of her, showing an extremely stark contrast.

It naturally made Fu Qian wonder—if he ran a few more laps around Akons and hoarded an entire row of Hilaria Dolls to surround him in the dreamscape...

...just how fragmented would the styles of the various Dolls become?

Even with just two, it was already incredibly lively down here.

"What are you doing?!"

Faced with Hilaria II's actions, Hilaria I's voice was practically trembling, her tone brimming with "What utter blasphemy!"

"And what do you think you're doing? Are you not being blasphemous?"

Hilaria II instantly shot back with a sneer.

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