Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Who are you leading the way for?"

Persuader's mocking tone carried a sharp edge. Unmoved, Fu Qian turned his head and suddenly fired back a question of his own.

"For me, of course... Are you not going to let me follow?"

Persuader froze, furrowing his brow. He seemed entirely confused by the situation.

"Who are you?"

Fu Qian's questioning wasn't over.

"I introduced myself a long time ago. You can call me God Corroder, or Persuader..."

The interrogation was bordering on the absurd, yet Persuader maintained a rare degree of composure, bracing himself to answer.

"So are you God Corroder or Persuader?"

"...What exactly are you trying to say?"

The unusually good-tempered Persuader finally looked like he had reached his limit. Refusing to answer further, he threw a question back instead.

"What I say isn't important. The key is who I'm saying it to."

Fu Qian merely shook his head, standing there at ease.

"Think a little harder. Who are you leading the way for?"

...

The air seemed to stagnate. Persuader's withered human face stared intently at him, looking as though he might storm off at any second.

Naturally, Fu Qian turned a blind eye to this oppressive atmosphere. He was actually quite pleased that the other party had at least taken a few seconds to think it over.

"For me, of course... Who else? For that idiot?"

Amid his anticipation, Persuader finally spoke slowly, at first practically repeating his previous answer.

But immediately afterward, his tone shifted dramatically, his choice of words carrying a distinct sense of dissociation.

"Not bad. Which idiot?"

Looking extremely satisfied with this development, Fu Qian nodded and pressed on.

"That idiot in your imagination, the clown who gets played for a fool every single time... It's not surprising, of course. If I were you, I'd want to see him too."

By now, "Persuader's" tone had completely transformed. Not only was his earlier enthusiasm gone, but even the friendliness he had shown upon their first meeting had vanished.

His attitude toward the person he was describing was palpably disdainful, as if he considered it a disgrace to be associated with him.

Combined with this relaxed, cards-on-the-table posture of someone whose cover had been blown, it was easy to draw a chilling conclusion: this character, who looked exactly the same and even shared the same memories, was not the original Persuader.

It wasn't just the visible ruin stretching across The Corridor; certain specific changes had also been quietly taking place in the background...

"Is it really okay to talk about yourself like that? I thought you were going to mock me for being fooled by your disguise all this time."

Unfortunately, this newly established tension was ruthlessly shattered by Fu Qian the very next moment.

Having used his keen Insight to deduce that the other party was an imposter, Fu Qian engaged in his rapid flip-flopping once more, suddenly acting as if he were conversing with the real Persuader again.

...

"What do you mean, talking about myself..."

"Persuader" looked a bit dizzy by now.

His brain could perhaps barely comprehend what Fu Qian was trying to say, but his emotions simply couldn't keep up with the rhythm, leaving his expression exceedingly stiff.

"The 'clown' from before was just an act, and this right now is your true face. Isn't that what we've been talking about this whole time?"

He truly had flipped back. Fu Qian's tone was entirely matter-of-fact, as if he hadn't been the one to place such special emphasis on the question of "who are you leading the way for" just moments ago.

"Because of what I said earlier... you came to that conclusion? If that's the case, I must express my regret."

Nevertheless, using the brief moment it took Fu Qian to explain, Persuader finally managed to adjust his emotions slightly, allowing him to calmly organize his words.

And the words he organized were undeniably quite aggressive.

"With such a massive incident occurring, it's not surprising you've suffered some psychological shock. To be honest, compared to coming in and finding you still playing innocent over there, I actually find this much more normal."

As the target of the attack, Fu Qian not only didn't mind in the slightest, but even pointed at his head as he spoke, displaying a powerful capacity for empathy.

"Including giving yourself that kind of self-evaluation, which is equally reasonable. Under hardship, people grow, but they also often loathe their pre-growth selves."

...

Within His Excellency Arakiel's Deep Residence, "Persuader" was completely silent at this moment, seemingly putting all his effort into judging whether the words he had just heard were sincere.

Fully understanding this sentiment, Fu Qian did not interrupt him.

As for whether he was being sincere—why wouldn't he be?

That was right; Fu Qian didn't actually believe this was some sort of cloning trick.

Persuader's appearance this time was undeniably abnormal.

So much so that unless someone were excessively dense, it would be impossible not to notice the discrepancy.

At the same time, if someone were even slightly less dense and interrogated him like he just did, the resulting answers would easily trigger conspiracy theories.

Namely, the theory that his old friend from before was no longer around, and the entity before him was merely an imposter.

Not to mention that "Persuader" had practically admitted to it in a roundabout way by immediately shifting into his second phase when questioned.

For Fu Qian, however, cognitive inertia was something he always did his utmost to eliminate.

Jumping from one extreme to the other was also a form of that inertia.

And right in the middle of those extremes, there was theoretically a much simpler explanation, one that didn't even require overly exaggerated supernatural elements—such as multiple personality disorder?

Upon returning to The Corridor this time, the very first question Fu Qian was curious about was: since there was a high probability they hadn't escaped, where exactly had The Prisoners gone?

After searching all the way down, the current situation seemed to provide an answer. That is, The Prisoners hadn't run off anywhere; rather, they had collectively fallen into a strange state.

A state of "I am in you, and you are in me." They had gone from inmates maintaining their boundaries to an alternative kind of extreme intimacy.

It might be hard to pinpoint exactly how this situation came about, but it was obvious that with this emotional Sublimation, the state of affairs was even more chaotic than the last time he was here.

And for Fu Qian, the first thought this sparked was concern for Brother Persuader's situation.

As mentioned before, being trapped in here for so long with at least five higher entity prisoners, it was hard to imagine he would only be influenced by one of them.

So much so that in this free-for-all among at least five individuals, the role Persuader played was quite spectacular just to think about.

...

"Heh heh... From the very first moment the changes occurred, I knew you would come."

For instance, after the brief silence just now, Persuader was also making adjustments. He quietly shifted into yet another cards-on-the-table tone, and even the expression on his face turned familiar.

"I originally wanted to switch to a slightly more interesting welcome ceremony, but unfortunately, you weren't very cooperative."

And his subsequent words sounded quite unabashed, seemingly acknowledging Fu Qian's speculation once again.

"So, you are Persuader?"

Faced with such an elegant mood, Fu Qian listened and gave a slight nod.

"Since it's already been guessed, it seems pointless for me to keep insisting otherwise, doesn't it?"

Persuader chuckled.

"Then which Persuader are you exactly? Do you belong to Arakiel, the Serpent of Destiny... or one of the remaining ones?"

Fu Qian, however, wasn't done asking. He pressed on.

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