Eldritch Horror Theatre

Only preying on an outsider? How principled.

Though Fu Qian didn't think Dorian had made this choice out of some deep-seated hometown sentiment.

"Locals can't be transformed into Dolls that way?"

Don't forget that the Containment Conditions explicitly singled out the identity of the Natives.

Their significance to Akons was clearly different from that of an outsider.

So, as Fu Qian saw it, this differential treatment was more likely forced by objective limitations.

"Yes... I can observe and mimic them to craft a Doll directly, and the Doll will even form a slight connection to the actual person. But the dreamscape doesn't affect them. To them, it's just an ordinary dream."

Sure enough, Dorian instantly confirmed this. From the sound of it, he had clearly tried it before.

"Understood. And what about that?"

It was broad daylight outside, but he trusted that this man who possessed the Transcendence of Akons knew exactly what he meant.

"It... I'm actually not sure if it truly exists."

Dorian didn't disappoint. He grasped the implication immediately and responded after only a moment's thought.

Unfortunately, compared to the ordinary populace, this higher-tier observer's answer was surprisingly vague.

"Through the dreamscape, I really can sense more than others. But precisely because of that, I can confirm that some of those who disappeared weren't attacked at all. They simply vanished."

"As for the screams and such—I'm sure you've noticed there are barely any sane people left here?"

Dorian looked at Fu Qian, offering a bluntly pessimistic assessment of Cold Mountain's current state.

"True enough."

Recalling his experiences along the way, Fu Qian fully agreed with this view.

"For a crowd like that, bizarre behavior is actually nothing strange."

Dorian gave a cold chuckle before abruptly shifting his tone.

"Of course, at the same time, there are definitely exceptions among them. Some truly seemed to suffer horrifying torture before they vanished."

"But even so, I've never actually laid eyes on 'it'. I can only summarize a rough set of rules—very specific, strict rules."

"For example, it only appears at night. It never enters a room. It spends a considerable amount of time torturing its target before killing them... and once day breaks, it leaves absolutely no trace behind."

"Furthermore, it never actively enters my dreams."

...

Truly peculiar.

Although Dorian's description was a bit abstract, Fu Qian easily understood the reasoning behind his conclusion.

Sometimes, the more information you possessed, the harder it was to make a hasty judgment.

Coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace, never showing its true face, committing fierce acts while remaining rigidly inhuman—it was indeed an elusive entity.

However, there was a small question here.

"But it's passively appeared in your dreams more than once, right?"

Fu Qian blinked.

Given how skilled and meticulous his psychological suggestions were within the Healing Dreamscape, there was no way that was his first attempt.

And he trusted that most people wouldn't be nearly as uncooperative as he was.

"That's correct."

Sure enough, Dorian readily confessed to his actions.

"And the form I saw this time was quite concrete. Even its weapon had a name—Fracture Cleaver. I assume you weren't the one who named it?"

Recalling the ash-bathing appearance of the figure he had faced earlier, Fu Qian continued asking.

"Of course not... I'm not capable of that level of suggestion. The only concept I can give them is that of a terrifying monster prowling through the nights of Akons."

Unable to stop himself from looking up at him, Dorian showed a flash of surprise that was hard to suppress even under these circumstances.

"But you did hit upon a special point. Despite the vagueness of the information I provided, every single person who shared a dreamscape with me imagined this exact same entity. There was no difference at all."

The keen intuition the other man displayed clearly deterred Dorian from trying to hide anything.

"This consistency also deepened my suspicions that 'it' genuinely exists. It was as if our actions summoned it, allowing a portion of its power to project inside."

"Although before you came along, no one had ever communicated with it..."

...

"A reasonable deduction."

Although the information provided earlier had lacked detail, considering the immense psychological pressure Doctor Dorian was under, Fu Qian obviously wasn't going to hold it against him.

It was obvious that he had spent a great deal of time pondering this issue himself.

Although it only amounted to a minor detail and couldn't definitively prove anything.

But for entirely different dream subjects to conjure up the exact same result out of thin air... there had to be a reason for such consistency. The projection theory made a certain amount of sense.

"You can't participate in this process?"

Naturally, Fu Qian didn't forget to continue confirming the details.

"No. It is indeed my dream, but my form of existence is quite unique. It's akin to only managing without being able to participate. Every action must be executed through other characters."

Dorian admitted frankly.

"Understood. I have another small question—what happens if someone actually gets killed in the dream? I assume they wouldn't be lucky enough to just wake up?"

"No... The dream will simply restart. They will have no memory of the previous events, but they will inherit the prior terror."

...

No wonder he had a reputation on the level of a divine healer. This treatment plan was truly flawless.

Death could not offer an escape; it could only make everything start over from the beginning, carrying the terror of being brutally murdered.

No matter how strong a person's will was, it would be enough to be thoroughly crushed in these repeated experiences, leaving them yearning even more for that embrace.

It was very reasonable. In addition, with Doctor Dorian's help, a rough outline of Akons could finally be drawn.

But there was a very important issue here—his actual business didn't seem to have advanced at all?

It seemed he hadn't reaped any core gains from this treatment?

Where was the opportunity to break the boundary and truly touch Akons?

True, many incredible things had appeared in the dream, some even rivaling the status of a Deity.

But just as he had assessed them at the time, their own existence remained devoid of true Transcendence. They were merely projections of a chaotic reality.

And the White-Faced Man—the entity both Dorian and he had pinned their hopes on—after appearing only after ten thousand calls, had delivered an utterly dismal performance.

Not only was his Rank vastly inferior to the ones before him, but the moment he tried to tap into a sliver of his inner potential, he couldn't endure it and exploded on the spot.

To sum it all up, looking back from the start of the task until now, every effort he had made seemed solely meant to prove that the mission was unsolvable.

No matter how he thrashed about, it seemed he would eventually remain trapped in this self-entertaining parallel dimension until the moment of failure.

Was that really the case? Of course not. The failure notification hadn't popped up yet.

Faced with this pseudo-dead end, he might as well attempt some anti-human, purely logical deduction.

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