Eldritch Horror Theatre

This had to be the ultimate ocean-view room, right?

Looking up at the bizarre sight, Fu Qian—having once again fallen to the back of the group—let out a heartfelt sigh of admiration.

But clearly, the unbelievable sight White had mentioned earlier was not the scene before them.

Whether it was a prison, a Holy Temple, or a shrine, no one in their right mind would construct a building like this.

It looked as if a massive chunk of the place was simply missing.

The seawater that should have rushed in was frozen in place, forming an absurdly high, crystal-clear black wall.

Just as the legends claimed, not a single living creature could be seen inside it—nothing but dead silence.

In short, looking from this angle, it felt as if the entire area had sunk into some unknowable abyss.

"Which direction... are we supposed to go?"

Even someone as unfailingly proactive and resilient as Jill sounded somewhat hoarse.

The first to snap back to reality, her immediate, subconscious reaction was to deny that this was their planned exit.

"It is this direction..."

Unfortunately, White, jolted out of his daze, kept his eyes glued to the wall as he delivered that despair-inducing answer.

"It shouldn't be like this. Why..."

Normally calm, collected, and fully in control, he muttered to himself, his dao heart seemingly on the verge of collapse.

"Is there another way?"

Perhaps extremes breed reversals. Driven into a corner, Brother Scholar actually seemed a bit calmer, taking the initiative to look for a new way out.

"No. This was supposed to be a special tunnel..."

Unfortunately, optimism was often useless. White's reply plunged them back into despair.

His words also confirmed that their earlier judgment was correct: this place was originally where the architecture connected to the island, but some strange transformation had occurred.

It wasn't just a simple blockage or collapsed path. The entire back half had simply vanished.

It was as if this section of the underwater prison had been forcefully plucked out of reality. There were no reference coordinates in sight.

At the same time, a lethal curse was spreading among them, even compounding and growing stronger.

Ever since he got a general grasp of the situation, Fu Qian had doubted they would leave this place easily.

Still, the situation was getting truly grim.

...

"Regardless, it seems we were wise not to force a path forward earlier."

After a rather long silence, the Scholar spoke again, his tone much calmer as he tried his best to find a silver lining in the scene before them.

"This patch of sea isn't simply frozen. It contains even more bizarre transcendent elements. If we rashly went upward, who knows if we'd trigger some special backlash? Even if we didn't, we might not find the surface at the expected height."

"It looks like this path is a dead end. We'll have to slowly look for a new way out."

Although it sounded a bit like self-comfort, he had genuinely found a takeaway and proposed a course of action, fully living up to his title as the Scholar.

"Slowly look? Do you not know our situation, or do you actually think you have the luxury of taking it slowly?"

Unfortunately, not everyone respected academia these days.

Almost as soon as the Scholar finished speaking, Li—who had been completely silent until now—let out a cold sneer.

"Have you considered that even if the few of us can't hold on anymore, you guys would still have the ability to move freely in here?"

As he asked this, Li pointed consecutively at himself, Jill, and finally White.

In the end, not only did he successfully render the Scholar speechless, but the rest of the group also shifted their gazes, each harboring their own motives.

The reason his words were so persuasive was undoubtedly because the logic behind them was simple and clear.

What had struck a nerve with Li was clearly Brother Scholar's suggestion to 'slowly look.' The three people he had pointed to were the ones most deeply infected by the Crimson Frenzy.

They might be the core founders of the team, but their time was running out much faster than the others'.

Even the sound of Li's voice proved this to a certain extent. Compared to earlier, it was much more haggard and raspy, grating uncomfortably on the listener's nerves.

That was the crux of the problem. The Scholar's proposal wasn't technically wrong, but if those three really collapsed, it was hard to say if the rest of the team would have any capacity left to defend themselves, let alone continue exploring.

"We would."

Meeting the multiple gazes cast his way, Fu Qian nodded.

Li's question might have been sharp, but the drive for survival was powerful. Everyone had clearly arrived at the answer one after another—it didn't seem entirely impossible.

The strength Sinner Excellency had displayed just now was obvious to all. Although his motives were ambiguous and hard to gauge, he was at least a factor worth considering.

Thus, one by one, everyone—eventually even Li—couldn't help but look over at him.

...

"How much longer do you really think you can hold out?"

Bald and confident, Sinner Excellency's stance was undoubtedly as eye-catching as his appearance. At that moment, Student Athlete Li could no longer bother to respect the aged and honor the wise, asking in a cold tone.

"More than two hours, I'd say."

However, Old Man Lu didn't take offense at the disrespect. After a brief moment of introspective calculation, he actually gave a serious answer.

This figure wasn't pulled out of thin air; it was a conservative estimate reached after careful observation.

This special curse was indeed quite unusual.

Just as he'd mentioned previously, even for a Tier 2, the corrosion of the Crimson Frenzy was not to be underestimated.

Of course, all of this was based on the premise that he didn't actively try to purge it.

If he directly activated Mythical Form like last time and anchored the corruption with the perspective of a Deity, Fu Qian didn't think purging it would be difficult at all.

"But I won't be able to help them."

The Scholar's eyes had brightened for only a second before Fu Qian immediately continued.

This was also an honest assessment.

There was more than one reason to consider the Crimson Frenzy special.

He had just attempted to activate the Decree of Return, and the results proved that even the upgraded version had no effect on the Crimson Frenzy.

"...Saying something like that right now, aren't you worried we might gang up on you?"

As the rest of the group was left speechless, it was ultimately White who assumed the role of team leader, giving voice to a dark thought.

"Or perhaps you could tell us exactly what your purpose is in being here, aah—"

White immediately changed the subject, his attempt at hitting the date tree whether there are dates or not to find a breakthrough abruptly cut short by another scream.

In fact, the scream had come from his own mouth.

Madam Ann, who had stayed out of the discussion the entire time despite the grim situation, suddenly and silently wrapped her arms around him from behind, burying her face tightly against his back.

But the most horrifying sight of all was the streaks of crimson bloodlines that instantly pierced out of her slender body and connected directly to White.

As White struggled, those bloodlines—which were already impossible to hide—rapidly tangled together.

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