Eldritch Horror Theatre

An actual harvest? The effort hadn't been in vain.

Getting something new on the fourth coin toss was a rather friendly result in Fu Qian's eyes.

Even if this new item lacked any aesthetic appeal.

Even from a foodie's perspective, an empty shell covered in bristly spikes was hardly a delicacy.

Whether it was connected to the anomaly they were looking for would require a thorough investigation.

"Very unstable."

Even before he could act, the Witch had made her move.

Before the bug shell could hit the ground, it drifted straight toward her hand.

Yet even with this treatment, a split second before landing in the Witch's grasp, the bug shell dissolved completely without a trace.

Unbothered by the loss, the Witch casually offered her conclusion.

"It looks like your guess was right. This place really does possess a special sensitivity that reflects certain changes."

Fu Qian offered his own thoughts in response.

Failing to obtain it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. According to the Witch, the previous rewards had existed for years, and when they hit the ground, they physically remained there.

That difference alone was enough to prove the bug shell's unique nature.

That sort of finding was a far greater harvest than simply holding the item to examine its shape.

Had some strange change truly occurred in the world because of his previous actions?

But barely any time had passed. Wasn't this place a bit too sensitive?

His original intention had been to solicit the Witch's opinion, yet her suggestion had proved surprisingly effective. He had to admit, this was turning into a thoroughly exhilarating scientific expedition.

"Continue."

In the wake of such a victory, there was no reason to rest on his laurels. Fu Qian immediately gestured for her to proceed.

Ding—

Not only did another fingernail genuinely pop out, but the Witch even divided her attention, snatching something else out of thin air.

Boom—

Fu Qian didn't waste a single second. His Calamity erupted immediately, crushing the latter entity into dust.

...

Was this adapting to local customs? It actually felt a bit like working on an assembly line.

Having helped the Witch obtain two more fingernails, Fu Qian waited quietly for the next prize to be revealed, finding their seamlessly coordinated combo rather amusing.

Thinking back, the Pope had clearly done all this work alone, running the entire process without taking a single break.

"An old item, but one is missing from the sequence."

While he was lost in thought, the Witch announced the next result.

The box had popped open for the fifth time, and the item inside was even more eye-catching than the last.

It was a mask painted in alternating black and red, bearing an exceptionally hideous design.

It sounded like something the Witch had seen before. It behaved completely normally, too, just tumbling straight out of the box.

"So out of the eight gifts, one has been replaced?"

The Witch's statement about one missing from the sequence meant something very simple.

Between the Metal Bear and the mask, there should have been another toy following the normal sequence.

This meant the bug shell hadn't just been inserted into the lineup; it had directly replaced the missing item.

One could only say the implications were much more severe.

"Yes, but we can test it a few more times to see if the order was just scrambled."

Even without a degree from the Academy, the Witch's thought process was clearly rigorous. She signaled for them not to jump to conclusions.

Ding—

And another fingernail popped out.

...

"It was definitely replaced. What do you think could be the reason?"

Reaching the new conclusion hadn't taken long. A moment later, the Witch turned her head, confirming the results of their extended testing with Fu Qian.

There were indeed eight items in total. They had already started to repeat, looping in the exact same sequence.

"Based on our previous speculation about how this place was formed, does this mean some foundational power in this world has genuinely changed? But you didn't seem to notice anything overtly different?"

Staring at the ever-ravenous Deer Cart, Fu Qian was deep in thought.

"Nothing overt. When you handled those things just now, you didn't feel anything strange either?"

The Witch replied with certainty before turning the question back on Fu Qian.

"No. My abilities weren't weakened, nor were they distorted."

Fu Qian gave an equally certain answer.

The Witch hadn't asked him to help execute those things just to save her own strength.

Not to mention, the Knight was still crippled.

Fu Qian easily realized that the Witch was using the opportunity to let him test his abilities.

As an outsider, he was excellent test material himself for probing the abnormalities of this world.

Fu Qian entirely agreed with this approach, which was exactly why he had been so proactive in his strikes.

However, the facts proved that everything appeared perfectly normal. Wielding the authority of the King of the Abandoned Prison was completely seamless and unobstructed.

"Then we need to start from more specific causes—how this thing actually came to be."

As he spoke, Fu Qian stepped closer.

Matching his movement, the Witch handed him one of the fingernails.

"This place looks like a toy workshop. We can treat that as its original state. Then, the absence of a specific element twisted it into its current form. As a result, the Natives inside also began to turn into dolls in a very particular way."

Accepting it naturally, Fu Qian inspected the rather macabre prop.

It wasn't just a blade-sharp fingernail; torn flesh and blood could faintly be seen at the root, as though it had been violently snapped off a greedy hand.

So what were they greedy for?

The item had clearly already been taken away.

...

"In that world, I've seen a somewhat similar example. During the Long Night I mentioned before, the entire nature of a certain town changed, and it even plunged into a unique dimension."

Fu Qian was, of course, referring to Akons.

To a certain extent, the two situations were indeed similar.

The mental state of the Natives in Akons was slightly more normal, while this place seemed closer to reality.

The reason the former had sunk into the depths of a dreamscape was due to the faith tied to the God of Insight and Wisdom.

In the absence of its object, the faith that should have collapsed was instead preserved in a bizarre manner. Even thinking about it now, it was nothing short of miraculous.

Strictly speaking, the faith had actually collapsed. Not a single true believer remained among the surviving Akons Natives, creating a contrast akin to a dark comedy—wait.

As he spoke, Fu Qian seemed to catch a fleeting thought.

"Because something was taken away, the order built upon it should have collapsed. But the world instinctively tried to maintain its original state, so something was drawn in by inertia to fill the vacancy?"

He blinked the next moment, putting forward a hypothesis.

If understood this way, it wasn't just the dark comedy of Akons—to some extent, it could even be compared to the Fruit and Sugar Theory.

It was just that the power level of this place was still too low. Using "sugar" as an analogy was a bit of a stretch.

Perhaps it was better described as a plastic bag wrapped around a piece of fruit with "Very Sweet" scribbled on it.

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