Eldritch Horror Theatre

What he held in his hand was indeed the Ring, the one he had personally crafted in the Abandoned Prison.

Although his primary goal at the time had been to forge a Key to the Abandoned Prison, Fu Qian hadn't compromised on its artistic or technical design.

To fully capture the theme of a mechanical remake, he had put a lot of effort into creating this complex, constantly moving structure—much like a clock.

That was right. Fu Qian's current tinkering served a very simple purpose. He had just mentioned a good way to manage the Etched Intellect: carrying a timing device.

Honestly, considering the usual wear and tear his clothes suffered, things like wristwatches and Pocket Watches simply weren't stable or reliable enough.

So Fu Qian's first thought was to make a minor adjustment to the Ring in his hand to integrate that function into it.

He didn't need to actually carve out a watch face; he only needed a way to represent time, so the difficulty wasn't high.

And by now, he was practically finished, though Professor Lanaya wouldn't have been able to tell even if he had held it right under her nose.

"Your research results?"

"Yes."

Fu Qian admitted proudly.

"...So you plan to use this thing to find Ah Kai's whereabouts?"

Unable to quite stomach his expression, Lanaya frowned even deeper as she tentatively guessed at Fu Qian's purpose.

"No. It might look amazing, but it's actually just a clock."

Surprisingly, Fu Qian continued to shake his head. Rubbing the Tyrant's Mechanical Fist, he offered a straightforward explanation.

...

"Regardless, you must have some idea about Professor Ah Kai's situation, right? I refuse to believe you'd just let those people run wild."

Taking a deep breath, Lanaya forced herself to look away from the object and spoke through gritted teeth.

It was obvious that after dealing with him so many times, regardless of his terrible attitude, she shared Professor Rob's opinion on one thing: his reliability.

Faced with this sudden accident, and sensing that the matter was far from simple, she refused to believe Fu Qian would just make a passing arrangement and then leave it at that.

"I have a few half-formed ideas that still need testing."

Fu Qian wasn't bored enough to deliberately deny it. He nodded, confirming that he really did have a plan.

"But that's a matter for tomorrow. Right now, it's time to rest."

Following this sudden twist, Lanaya's expression visibly relaxed, brimming with the relieved sentiment of 'as long as you haven't thrown in the towel, everything is fine.'

But before she could even catch her breath, Fu Qian dropped that follow-up sentence, successfully freezing the atmosphere once again.

"Are you really going to sleep?"

Seeing that Fu Qian was already putting away the Ring as he spoke, his rapid flip-flopping left Lanaya sounding thoroughly helpless.

"I really am. But if there's any progress, you can come find me anytime. I told Professor Rob the same thing."

Not only did Fu Qian confirm her words, but he also made a very obvious show of seeing his guest out.

Um... why are you saying that with such absolute conviction? Those should be my lines, shouldn't they? Is it really that hard to just enjoy a quiet evening?

Lanaya certainly got the hint, but it was clear she was full of complaints regarding Professor Fu's words and actions.

However, given her wealth of experience in dealing with him, she knew perfectly well that things like moral condemnation were completely useless against the man in front of her.

Soon enough, Lanaya stopped wasting her energy. She withdrew her gaze and let out a long, world-weary sigh.

Regardless, as long as this guy wasn't slacking off, it was fine.

...

He really did have a plan, but he also really was going to rest.

Watching yet another visitor depart, Fu Qian finally stood up and stretched his back.

Everything he had just said was the absolute truth; he hadn't meant to deceive the head of the Disciplinary Department.

Not only was Professor Ah Kai's situation far from optimistic, but in Fu Qian's view, there was a high probability that the newly developed Miracle he was attempting was related to Melia.

Yes, that non-existent Ancient Higher Being.

The power format of a Miracle might be bizarre, but Fu Qian had never liked engaging in profound of the profound speculation to overcomplicate everything.

His reasons for making that judgment were not only simple, but also numerous—

First of all, one couldn't forget that Professor Ah Kai had been a member of The Ark exploration team. Even after successfully returning, he still suffered from some negative effects.

And during their previous investigation, one of the conclusions was that the reason The Ark had appeared in the Underground of the Benevolent Curse Institute was likely due to a specific territorial concept, corresponding to the connection between Melia and the Academy.

So wasn't there reason to suspect that The Ark was also involved with that mysterious higher entity?

Consequently, the possibility of Professor Ah Kai being subjected to harmful influence due to those negative effects had increased.

Secondly, and more directly, the person in question had specifically sought out Rob for a mushroom and clearly used it in subsequent tests.

And just now, by actively swallowing the fungus to test the toxicity himself, Fu Qian's series of actions had led to a speculation: it couldn't be ruled out that the Fungal Emperor and Melia were the same person.

Therefore, it still connected back to Melia.

Lastly, Professor Ah Kai had mysteriously disappeared and couldn't be found no matter what—just like Excellency Melia.

It was so classic and straightforward that it was utterly impossible to ignore the similarities.

So much so that, in Fu Qian's view, if they could find him later, it might just serve as a good breakthrough point for understanding that ancient secret.

All in all, his actions had never strayed off-topic, and the situation was gradually becoming clear.

As for why, upon returning, he suddenly had time to tinker with a clock here and was even preparing to go to sleep?

It certainly wasn't because he had lost his train of thought. On the contrary, it was because his plan for the follow-up operation was already clear—the Burial Scroll.

Miracles were inherently bizarre, and now that they were related to a particularly mysterious Ancient Higher Being, it seemed at first glance that there was nowhere to start. But he couldn't forget his inner demon.

Master Yuhun was Melia. He had personally demonstrated this to him.

Rounding things up, didn't that mean he himself was Melia?

The unique power format of Master Yuhun theoretically gave him a real chance to make some moves and attempts regarding Professor Ah Kai's predicament.

The only problem was that he could only connect with his inner demon while the Burial Scroll was activated.

Considering the cooldown time, he would have to wait until at least daybreak.

Since that was the case, and having just educated Classmate Liushuang and Eldest Miss Wen on the importance of balancing work and rest, he might as well take this opportunity to set an example for them.

Of course, there was one more thing he couldn't forget—

Fu Qian lowered his head, staring at the constantly turning Ring.

No problem. Time was flowing normally.

Professor Lanaya from just now had truly been her very responsible self.

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