Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Oh? Now this is quite interesting."

The final sentence the Witch added undeniably carried the tone of a fairy tale.

Yet neither she, the storyteller, nor Fu Qian, the listener, took it lightly.

"Other Shore?"

Clicking his tongue in admiration, Fu Qian went straight for the key point.

"Other Shore, a very explicit term."

The Witch replied with certainty.

Two bona fide higher entities were seemingly engaged in an earnest discussion over the word choice in a story.

"It sounds like even though the erosion started long ago, we ultimately still brought a bit of change to this world."

"You also think it's related to the Other Shore we were in before?"

Nodding slightly, the Witch knew the Knight shared her thoughts.

"Yes. And as to how that relationship came about, I think I have a faint idea."

The Furnace, the Angel of Comfort, the Other Shore—Fu Qian recalled a certain place he was deeply entangled with, the tragic fall of the Holy Grail Cult.

"Remember the last question I asked you? What would happen if the people in the Other Shore walked out?"

...

For a children's book, the term 'Other Shore' felt jarringly out of place.

So much so that Fu Qian had immediately noticed the anomaly, subsequently connecting it to his own recent experiences.

The core reason he could smoothly visit the Painting World this time was, naturally, the Witch's help.

With his inspiration gone and him unable to lock on, she had personally rushed over to invite him.

Given the insurmountable gulf between realms, the Witch's method of hurrying over had involved having him use that Bone Chain to sacrifice the flesh and blood of a suspected higher entity to provide an Anchor Point.

And ultimately, facts had proved that a certain place he chose, named the "Furnace," truly was the suspected remains of a Deity, successfully bearing this heavy responsibility.

After that, having successfully Descended, the Witch helped manifest the blood left behind in the Painting World at his request. This allowed him to lock onto the target without needing inspiration, and he ultimately crossed over.

Meanwhile, the Furnace—acting as a consumable, the "Other Shore" personally authenticated by Brother Zhao Ran—was completely annihilated.

The process was clear, and it sounded like there were no problems.

But looking at it now, a point he had been curious about back then seemed to have been verified.

That was the reason the Witch could Descend in a relatively good state—it likely had to do with the special properties of the "Other Shore" itself.

At the time, the Witch had also mentioned that she couldn't feel anything outside the Other Shore.

And it seemed this special nature wasn't merely limited to what was shown then; it had ongoing consequences.

He had verified a question with the Witch back then: what would happen if those inside the Furnace, who had already been branded with the "Other Shore" mark, left?

The Witch's answer was that, given the pure and extreme nature of the Other Shore's properties, such a situation would likely cause it to collapse entirely.

Because those branded with the Imprint would likely retain the property of their own information being erased even if they went out, to the point of affecting the definition of what was inside and outside the Other Shore, thereby forming a paradox—an inability to distinguish inside from outside.

As a dead object itself, it couldn't withstand such an impact.

Yet this scenario seemed to hold the subtle marvel of different tunes played with equal skill when compared to the sentence the Witch had just repeated—the Persuader had clearly returned to his hometown, yet still remained in the Other Shore.

The very phrasing of "leaving the Other Shore to return to his hometown" even made one wonder whether there was any relationship between the Nightmare Corridor and the Other Shore.

Returning to the previous question, aside from this similar paradox, if the Persuader had acted as a tool and a guide to successfully help The Prisoners of The Corridor erode the world before them, what did it mean that the place the Persuader now stayed was still the "Other Shore"?

What could have caused this—

It was simple. Brother Zhao Ran and the others had failed to escape from the Other Shore, but he and the Witch had gotten out.

And as successful cases, this right here was the side effect they had brought with them.

The Witch's deduction was correct. The two of them, tainted to a certain extent by the Imprint, had truly caused the paradox to appear.

And the final ripples left by the already annihilated Other Shore were so turbulent that they had even affected the Nightmare Corridor's judgment—and even the Warehouse's judgment.

That's right, even though he didn't know what special relationship existed between the Warehouse and the Other Shore.

But the way Fu Qian saw it, the direct reason the Warehouse had suddenly stopped sending letters and instead started domineeringly dragging people into missions just like the Bookstore World might not have been a recovery of its state.

Instead, it was because the Other Shore's paradox made the Warehouse treat this place as the Bookstore World as well.

His sudden ability to freely travel back and forth using the "Emissary" was due to the exact same reason.

...

He had to admit, it was still somewhat counterintuitive.

He believed the Witch felt the same way about this.

Even though the "Other Shore" had already been thoroughly sacrificed as a power source, the two of them coming out of it had somehow still managed to cause a fallacy.

It was precisely this unreasonableness that had kept them from immediately thinking in this direction after the strange situations arose earlier.

Mainly because it was truly illogical.

After all, besides the lingering power after its destruction, there was also the issue of its area of influence.

Just because the two of them made a round trip, it directly slapped an "Other Shore" attribute onto this entire world?

Even the legendary Great Definition Technique could do no more than this.

"The two of us are now people who have walked out of the Other Shore."

The Witch spoke up again at this moment, perfectly keeping up with the train of thought and easily guessing Fu Qian's speculation.

"If we want to explain this sentence in the book, this indeed seems like the only possible answer right now, but regardless, it still defies logic somewhat."

Immediately following that, the Witch also pointed out the unreasonableness of it.

"Such a crumbling ember shouldn't still possess this kind of power. Is it possible that the place you relied on to travel back and forth has some sort of connection with the 'Other Shore'?"

"Agreed."

Fu Qian agreed with perfect self-assurance.

"Even if we can't produce a definitive reason right now, just factoring in those few prisoners, the term 'Other Shore' feels very fitting."

"I have reliable information that they, locked inside, cannot break out of the prison by any means... Thinking about it carefully, is that really any different from what we saw inside the Other Shore?"

"Indeed. And if we want to prove this judgment, it seems we can focus on whether this place being defined as the Other Shore will affect their erosion behavior moving forward—making it more convenient, for example."

Patting the Book of Precepts in her hand, the Witch also had a clear train of thought.

"And the reaction of this world. It seems the necessity to keep paying attention to the great Nightmare fusion has also increased?"

Fu Qian gestured toward the big three, who were still caught in a time stop.

Once the connections started, they couldn't be stopped.

Since there was no rush to go back, they might as well do some manipulating while they were at it.

Nightmare Corridor, fusing Nightmares—just these two names alone seemed to suggest something ought to happen.

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