Eldritch Horror Theatre

'How did these things get so massive? There is clearly nothing but wood to chew on down here.'

Staring at the massive bubbles that had practically filled the space in the blink of an eye, Fu Qian marveled silently.

They didn't even have hair. Assuming the meat was safe to eat, they would be incredibly convenient to barbecue.

"Just how long do you plan on watching?"

To his surprise, the seated figure turned its head and looked straight at him.

Impressive. Despite the distance, and without even glancing in his direction, the figure had still sensed his presence.

It likely had something to do with the synchronization he had mentioned earlier. The entire Underground had already forged a special connection with him.

"Run!"

Realizing they had been spotted, the Persuader spoke up almost instantly, his warning short and to the point.

Did he need to be told that? Anyone with eyes could see Liang Yuntian was getting completely thrashed.

Fu Qian scoffed inwardly, ignoring the warning.

Instead, he strode right in without an ounce of hesitation, rounding the pool to stand on the opposite side.

He could always flee, of course. This guy was busy dealing with Liang Yuntian and likely wouldn't commit fully to chasing him down.

But just as he had noted earlier, a bruiser like Liang Yuntian was one of the most valuable tools he currently had. He had to squeeze every drop of usefulness out of him.

Leaving him to die in there would be a severe waste of resources.

"Not bad. I thought you would run!"

Watching Fu Qian's approach, the seated figure wore a look of deep appreciation.

He looked Fu Qian up and down with a smile, but a moment later, his brow furrowed.

"You are quite a unique existence."

"Oh? How unique?"

Fu Qian asked, feigning curiosity.

"You clearly bear no blessing, yet you've managed to retain your sanity after the Tide of Spirituality. You even have traces of preliminary fusion on you. I find myself quite baffled."

"So that's what you find strange."

Fu Qian shook his head.

"Then I can only say your imagination is severely lacking. Tropes like that are a dime a dozen. Take this one, for example—'Child of Destiny: Starting Off With the Supreme Bone Dug Out.'"

"...What?"

The guy had clearly missed the reference.

"Never mind. Are you Qiu Chengyi?"

Fu Qian had no intention of dwelling on the topic.

"Qiu Chengyi?"

At the name, the seated figure let out another low chuckle.

"Names are nothing but titles. You may certainly call me that."

'I'll give that pretentious act an eighty out of a hundred!'

Fu Qian mused, continuing to size Qiu Chengyi up.

Outwardly, this guy was probably the most normal-looking person he had encountered so far. There was hardly anything off-putting about his appearance.

A buzz cut, a button-down shirt, and jeans. He wasn't tall and looked a bit scrawny—the absolute picture of an ordinary college student.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Fu Qian still felt a faint sense of wrongness.

"Speaking of which, why are you down here?"

Qiu Chengyi pointed toward the direction Fu Qian had come from.

"This isn't the sort of place someone just wanders into on their own, is it?"

"No 'normal person' would wander down here on their own, no."

Fu Qian replied casually.

"As for why I'm here, the reason is simple. I'm the mastermind behind the scenes."

He pointed over at Liang Yuntian.

"He came looking for trouble with you because of the information I provided."

"Fuck!"

The instant he said that, the Persuader's voice rang out.

"You really just can't help courting death, can you?! Could you go five minutes without drawing aggro?!"

The Persuader had clearly been racking his brain for a way to bluff their way out of this, only for Fu Qian to blow his cover right off the bat. He sounded absolutely exasperated.

"If you're riding my coattails, shut your mouth!"

Fu Qian snorted.

"Whether I court death or not, do you really think it changes the outcome?"

"This guy only has the patience to chat with me because he's waiting for Liang Yuntian to die. The second that happens, I'm next. It's a guarantee."

"...Even so, is there any need to piss him off right now?"

"Why wouldn't there be? This is the only way to squeeze the maximum value out of Liang Yuntian."

"Escalating the conflict early isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"We can glean a lot of meaningful information from his reaction."

...

"You really are honest..."

Fu Qian's blunt honesty clearly caught Qiu Chengyi off guard as well.

After a moment of marveling, he pressed a hand to his side and slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"But even though that guy is a mindless beast, he's still vastly stronger than you. What right do you have to call yourself the mastermind?"

'So that's what it was!'

The instant Qiu Chengyi stood up, Fu Qian's eyes lit up with realization.

He finally understood what had felt so wrong earlier.

In his every movement, there was an almost imperceptible stiffness. His entire body lacked coordination.

It hadn't been obvious when he was sitting, but the moment he stood up and moved, Fu Qian spotted it instantly.

Normally, Fu Qian might have just assumed the guy's legs had fallen asleep from sitting cross-legged for too long.

But given his own recent experiences, it was easy to deduce that this guy was likely dealing with the exact same situation he had faced earlier.

His perception had been twisted and displaced. Right now, he was operating entirely from the perspective of the parasite inside his body.

The only difference was that this guy hadn't realized there was a problem. He legitimately thought the parasite was his actual body.

This completely explained why he referred to himself as a Divine Child, and why he claimed Liang Yuntian was different from him.

It also explained his detached attitude toward his own name just moments ago—"You may certainly call me that."

This guy was clearly riding the high of believing he was the Chosen One.

"His condition is awfully similar to how I was earlier!"

"I didn't realize you were trying to set me up on the Chosen One route too."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I can't control the precise effects of Divine Corrosion..."

Prompted by Fu Qian, the Persuader clearly caught on to the issue, though he still jumped to his own defense.

"Let me phrase it differently, then. It seems your Divine Corrosion thinks turning into the Chosen One makes it easier to escape this place."

Fu Qian retorted casually, tilting his head up to look at Qiu Chengyi.

"You said it yourself. The guy is practically mindless right now. How hard could it be to manipulate him?"

"I suppose that's true."

Qiu Chengyi stared at the swirling mass of the Crimson Storm and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the frenzied swarm of rats fell completely silent. After a brief, dazed pause, they began diving back into the water, one after another.

Right in the center of the storm, Liang Yuntian had been rendered completely unrecognizable.

In just that brief span of time, the flesh and skin had been gnawed clean off his body. Nothing remained but a twisted, deformed skeleton, with half a face dangling limply from the skull.

And yet, despite the devastation, Liang Yuntian showed no sign of collapsing.

The second the swarm cleared, he lunged forward violently, slamming hard against the edge of the barrier.

His single remaining eyeball locked furiously onto Qiu Chengyi, his bloodthirsty craving almost palpable.

"How tenacious!"

Qiu Chengyi let out another low chuckle.

"It's a pity, though. Some things are fundamentally different."

"This is the gulf between a God and an insect."

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