Eldritch Horror Theatre

Wasting no time after leaving the center of the Small Island, Fu Qian walked straight over to the white tree.

According to Mister Luo, it should be called the Fool Tree.

He had to admit, the name fit perfectly in both form and meaning.

The Fool Tree's power lay in its ability to divide a single entity along various bizarre conceptual lines.

He had just experienced its effects firsthand. The tree didn't merely influence the physical body; given enough time, even the mind would fracture into disparate, yet strangely connected, parts.

In layman's terms, staring at it for too long induced mental dissociation.

Even now, with his strength at its peak, Fu Qian still felt his mind involuntarily slipping into a daze as he stood before it.

Perfect!

The next moment, instead of retreating, Fu Qian stepped forward and pressed his hand directly against the trunk.

Even his individual thoughts seemed to spring to life. No longer a cohesive whole, they began to attack one another, throwing his mind into total chaos.

The effect really is quite something!

Muttering to himself, Fu Qian pulled his hand back, and his mind immediately cleared significantly.

This won't work. My current Mental Resistance is simply too high; I recover too quickly.

Fu Qian looked off into the distance and estimated the time.

Snap!

With a crisp sound, he snapped off one of the Fool Tree's hand-like side branches. Beads of azure liquid immediately seeped from the fracture.

Testing its flexibility, Fu Qian gently bent the branch. With a few deft twists, he wove it into a Circlet.

He placed it on his head. His mind immediately grew heavy, and that chaotic fracture of thought returned.

Perfect!

The various "Fu Qians" took a collective breath. Stepping off the island, they headed straight back to the previous battlefield.

...

The scene was virtually identical to how he had left it.

Severed limbs and shattered remains littered the scorched, rotting earth. Delin and Brother Archer had clearly not returned.

The girl hadn't even moved from when he first departed. Still perched on one of Ai Lei's branches, she was rhythmically patting the trunk and softly humming a song to the old man.

With half of his body destroyed, Ai Lei appeared to be slipping deeper into madness.

He thrashed his head back and forth incessantly, while a blood-like sap oozed steadily from his horrific wound, giving off a putrid stench.

The girl, however, seemed entirely oblivious to it all.

So it really is like this!

Fu Qian sighed inwardly as he looked up at the girl in the tree.

To think I completely missed such a glaring discrepancy before.

This girl possessed no Transcendent Tier abilities, nor was she physically robust. She practically had zero survivability. So how exactly had she managed to stay alive in a place like this?

It certainly wasn't old Ai Lei hunting for her meals out by the door.

Furthermore, the last time he saw her, she had been holding an unfinished floral wreath.

He had found it faintly odd at the time, but now he finally understood why.

Generally speaking, weaving a wreath was done with a specific wearer in mind.

Yet the size of that wreath had been incredibly awkward—too small to be a Bracelet, but far too large to be a Ring.

Now, he finally knew exactly who it was meant for.

Right now, a multitude of distinct viewpoints existed within Fu Qian's fractured mind.

From one perspective, he saw the girl sitting there all alone.

But through another, he saw an exquisitely crafted White Porcelain Doll perched squarely on her left shoulder. Resting atop its head was the completed floral wreath.

It really wasn't easy to finally catch a glimpse of you!

Fu Qian "stared" at the Doll, marveling inwardly at the revelation.

The girl wasn't just some ordinary mortal. On the contrary, she was the one who had manifested the exact Perfect Doll he had been searching for.

It was just that this Doll possessed a unique ability—a form of cognitive deception akin to psychological invisibility.

This caused everyone to turn a blind eye to it, leaving them completely oblivious to its existence.

This was also why his task hadn't triggered the first time he tracked the girl back to her house.

Because even though his target had been sitting right in front of him, he simply couldn't perceive it.

However, when he returned from the Small Island the last time, he retained a lingering trace of that mental dissociation due to his close-quarters contact with the Fool Tree.

The girl and the Doll had been hiding up in the tree at the time. When he reached out to touch Mister Luo's Frenzied Spirit, that tiny, fractured splinter of his psyche had actually spotted the Doll.

That was why the task had been completed!

Unfortunately, because that splinter personality was so incredibly weak, it hadn't been enough for his main consciousness to register the discovery.

But now? Now he could see it.

Does one truly have to descend into madness to see the reality of the world?

Fu Qian was suddenly reminded of an old saying.

Hm?

Up in the tree, the girl suddenly frowned. As Ai Lei thrashed about, a stray drop of sap had flung through the air and splattered across the Doll's face.

She reached out a finger and meticulously wiped the Doll clean. Only when its face was pure, flawless white once more did she reveal a satisfied smile.

Just as she was about to resume her humming, she finally noticed Fu Qian standing at the base of the tree.

"You're back?"

Her voice carried a faint trace of pleasant surprise as she hopped straight down from Ai Lei's branches.

"Yeah."

Fu Qian replied with a warm smile.

"Did you kill that person?"

Looking him up and down, the girl suddenly asked.

"I did. It's been handled."

Fu Qian made a crisp, throat-slitting gesture.

"Then are you... going to leave now?"

"No rush. I still have some unfinished business."

Fu Qian said, his smiling eyes fixed on the Doll perched upon her shoulder.

Following his gaze, the girl suddenly realized what he was looking at. She stumbled backward, all the color draining from her face.

"Don't panic! I'm not a good person."

He repeated the exact line he had used when they first met.

"So, I have a few questions to ask you."

"...Okay."

The girl stared at him for a long time before finally nodding.

"Did this Doll manifest from you?"

"...Yes."

She gave a soft, quiet murmur of agreement.

"Was it like this from the beginning?"

"Yes."

"And aside from you, nobody else ever knew about it?"

"...Mother knew. I told her the moment it happened. She told me I had to keep it a secret and absolutely never tell anyone."

I see!

Fu Qian nodded. He could completely understand her Mother's reasoning.

Given the fanatical nature of those Pilgrims, it was hard to imagine what sort of hell the girl's life would have become if the Doll had been exposed.

"What else did your Mother say?"

...

The girl fell silent for a moment before pointing at her own face.

"Mother also told me I had to paint these on carefully, and that I could never wash them off."

WTF?

Fu Qian followed her finger. He suddenly realized that the patches of coral-like mildew on her skin were actually painted on!

It really was a case of pity the loving hearts of parents everywhere!

Fu Qian let out a long, inward sigh.

"I'm sorry, but I still have to dispose of your Doll."

"Why?"

The girl cried out in alarm, instantly wrapping her arms protectively around the Doll.

"Lady Madeleine has never done anything bad!"

It actually has a name!

Fu Qian stared at the wreath-wearing Doll.

Unlike the others, this one seemed incredibly quiet—so quiet that it almost looked a little sluggish and vacant.

"I'm telling the truth! Lady Madeleine has always just stayed by my side. She doesn't even take part in the free hunts!"

The girl's expression grew more and more frantic.

"I believe you."

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