Eldritch Horror Theatre

So it wasn't a psychological aversion to filth, but a biological one?

It didn't choose men because they couldn't bear children?

The mutation occurred rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the entire outer layer had taken on the appearance of a placenta. Even the most oblivious observer would have recognized it.

Faced with this transformation, Fu Qian's first reaction was to try to make sense of the axe's earlier double standard.

There was a reason it had no interest in him. The serpent head hadn't wanted to devour flesh; it was looking for a vessel for gestation.

Following that logic, if this to some extent represented the Hand Axe's effect... was this thing actually a fertility tool? Whoever it chopped got pregnant?

That explained why it hadn't worked when Sissi's hand was chopped off. She had been far too young at the time.

The fact that it rejected men proved the axe still respected basic biological anatomy, so it likely screened for the mother's age as well.

However, this raised a question: did its tendency toward the law of convergence with the Ji Clan still exist?

If that were true, the conspiracy behind Ji Xue's encounter back then became much more sinister.

Why had she suddenly taken an interest in it?

It hadn't been some fateful, unseen resonance. She had likely been under some kind of psychological suggestion.

As for who had done it, the answer was easy to guess.

After falling victim to it, she had become deeply unsettled, suffering from hallucinations and delusions before eventually leaving the Ji Clan. The biggest beneficiary of that outcome was undoubtedly the current acting family head.

As for the second possibility: the Hand Axe didn't just have a fertility effect; it truly possessed a special convergence effect with the Ji Clan.

Ji Xue's sudden interest back then, as well as his own sudden interest recently, were both proof of this effect. After all, the ultimate result of the latter was that the axe had ended up with Classmate Liushuang.

While the first theory made perfect logical sense, Fu Qian was much more interested in the second.

After all, while induced pregnancy was bizarre, he had never forgotten his original motive for doing all this: tracing the footsteps of his senior, Ji Feng.

And assuming the second possibility was true—that everything had been arranged by that senior—what was his goal?

...

The ancestor of the Ji Clan forcing his descendants to have children. Honestly, thinking about it carefully, the vibe was surprisingly reasonable. Plenty of people encountered similar pressure when going home for the New Year.

Although he had asked Classmate Liushuang earlier and she had never heard of such a person, Fu Qian firmly believed that the senior had deep ties to the Ji Clan.

It was the transcendent world, after all. Hiding one's identity was hardly difficult.

Moreover, this was an old Ji Clan tradition. In the task where he first met Classmate Liushuang, things had kicked off with an Antimeme right from the start.

Not to mention that Old Man Ji Feng—whom he suspected to be the Warehouse Senior—had supposedly dealt with the Laria Family hundreds of years ago.

The question now was: what was the point of forcing childbirth? Bloodline continuation?

It wasn't impossible, but wasn't that line of thinking a bit too old-fashioned? Did they have a throne to inherit? Wait—they actually kind of did.

Nodding to himself, Fu Qian admitted he couldn't rule out the possibility.

While they didn't officially hold the title, given the Ji Clan's power in this world, calling the position of family head a throne wasn't much of an exaggeration. It made sense if the old man truly wanted a dynasty that lasted for generations.

But if he looked past the superficial and searched for a more transcendent reason, he could dig even deeper.

Based on his experience at Silver Mist Manor, the abilities flowing through the Ji Clan's bloodline seemed permanently linked to the Unseen Hill.

And the old man seemed to have been trapped there for a long time, and in poor condition to boot... Was he using this method to leave himself a chance to return?

That was equally logical. Furthermore, combined with the warning left in the Circlet, these arrangements seemed to prove that Ji Feng had been pessimistic about his future for a very long time.

...

Everything seemed to be getting clearer. Now came the next question, which was the core of this scientific research:

How did the old man establish the law of convergence between this fertility tool and the Ji Clan?

Examining the axe in his hand, Fu Qian didn't easily settle for his current findings. He decisively touched upon the most abstract issue.

This undoubtedly involved the significance of bloodlines to the transcendent.

When he had discussed this topic with Professor Lisa earlier, using the Laria Family as an example, she had mentioned Cass's perspective.

That perspective was that bloodlines definitely held meaning. The reason unreasonable anomalies appeared was simply because the true laws hadn't been understood yet—laws involving a factor perhaps even more abstract than flesh and blood: the family head.

At that moment, Fu Qian realized something and discreetly glanced at Classmate Liushuang beside him.

The latter remained completely unaware, her pale face locked onto the now unmistakably classic shape of the placenta.

It was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, tiny fingers were already visible.

...

He couldn't blame her for her reaction. For Ji Liushuang, who knew more of the inside story, certain connections were all too easy to make.

If the mutation before them truly was the result of a scratch from the axe, then her mother's experience back then was practically identical to the Virgin Mary conceiving through the Holy Spirit.

On one hand, it certainly proved her background was extraordinary. But on the other hand, didn't it mean that the biological father she had longed for all these years didn't actually exist?

She was still young, after all. It was perfectly normal for her to be a little shocked.

Understanding her turmoil, Fu Qian didn't interrupt her, instead instantly returning his focus to the subject at hand.

The family head...

The Ji Clan did indeed have an ancestral mandate regarding the succession of the eldest that was so strict it defied reason, applying equally regardless of gender. Many of their internal conflicts stemmed directly from this.

Did this unreasonableness have a sufficient underlying cause?

Was that element—more abstract than common sense—not a special chromosome or something similar, but rather this strictly defined concept of a family head?

Was this why such a specific fertility tool existed?

And was this why the tool had forged a connection with Ji Xue and Ji Liushuang that could only be described as destiny?

The Hand Axe's purpose was to allow the concept of the family head to successfully extend another generation at the right moment, thereby maximizing the chances of ensuring this fragile thread didn't snap...

If that were true, he could only call it truly "abstract."

At the same time, the intensity of it all went far beyond mere bloodline continuation. The probability that Old Man Ji Feng had left this as a backup plan for himself had significantly increased.

As for why it exclusively targeted women, aside from the biological limitations mentioned earlier, there was another potential reason: female heirs were indeed more prone to controversy and unexpected complications.

It seemed the old man had thought things through rather thoroughly.

It was just a pity that in the test just now, neither of the two excellent surrogate snake heads had been within reach. Having no other choice, this versatile mass of Divine Flesh was forced to turn hermaphroditic and fertilize itself.

"This thing can create life?"

At that moment, Professor Lisa finally seemed to realize what was happening, her face filled with disbelief.

"I'd prefer to call it induction."

Sighing softly, Fu Qian chose the most accurate wording possible.

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