Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Thank you for your hard work."

The third unfamiliar face hurrying over was the only woman from the Benevolent Curse Institute Fu Qian had seen so far.

Judging solely by her appearance, she looked even more mature than Nepheli.

Her gaze carried a hint of uncertainty and shock. She had likely been searching separately, only noticing the commotion a little late before rushing over.

Fu Qian merely offered a slight nod in acknowledgment and walked past her.

"The snow doesn't need to stop."

He called back to the people following him.

...

The snow indeed did not stop.

The tutors who followed him all the way didn't raise a single question about why he had made such a request.

"We kept everything exactly as it was, but we genuinely haven't found anything."

Boyd explained softly, adopting the tone of a technician once Fu Qian halted before the traces Ah Kai had left behind.

"Including that special corruption effect? Did it show any unusual signs here?"

It wasn't entirely unchanged. For instance, the previously mentioned spiderwebs looked as if they had been scorched, slightly singed around the edges.

But considering the intensity of the tutors' tests, remaining in this state was already quite rare. Fu Qian gave a slight nod and continued his questioning.

"Yes. To be exact, this place is no different from anywhere else in the Academy."

Boyd's tone grew certain as he offered a far less optimistic assessment.

"We can't even determine whether Ah Kai had a problem during his Miracle test, or if he encountered something after walking out of here. Even these manuscripts... His talent is astonishing, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to decipher anything from them yet."

Pausing to look around the room, Boyd finally let out a long sigh.

"Understood. Thank you for sharing."

Glancing over the others, Fu Qian saw several tutors looking ashamed, offering no objections to Boyd's conclusion.

As the expert lineup recommended by Lanaya, their Rank might not be high, but they were likely the most reliable figures the Benevolent Curse Institute had to offer.

Talent was truly withering. That meant if the Academy had investigated this incident internally, they would have reached almost the exact same conclusion.

However, he couldn't entirely blame the people in front of him. Even if their form of power was unique, their Rank was still what it was.

Furthermore, the thing Professor Ah Kai had courted death to touch seemed exceptionally strange...

At that moment, Fu Qian reached out his hand, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

When he pulled his hand back, their eyes widened in absolute shock.

In his previously empty hand, there was suddenly a tender green leaf.

...

There was no profound secret to it; it was simply a matter of a long reach.

Brimming with life, the leaf Fu Qian had grabbed naturally belonged to the snow tree, which remained lush even in winter. Even the gesture he used to gently twirl it was exactly the same as His Excellency Master Yuhun's back then.

As for how he did it, that was also simple. If Rob and the group stood in his exact spot, they would be able to look past the corner of the windowsill and see that the thickest leaf was missing from an extended snow tree branch.

That's right, he really had just reached out and taken it.

The reason he could do so unhindered, even crossing space, was because in his current field of vision, these concepts were no longer so absolute.

Replicating Master Yuhun's action was merely superficial. The core lay in the abstract perspective he had once shared—the world interpreted through Chan.

Overlapping layers, chaotic intersections. The concepts of time and space were no longer clear. Various elements clustered together in a highly abstract manner, and even reality and dream lost their distinct boundaries.

After activating the Burial Scroll, Fu Qian's connection with his inner demon had been established once more.

Using his inner demon as the core, he effortlessly slipped into this alternative perspective, beginning to examine the King of the Abandoned Prison and everything around Him.

It was truly a peculiar sensation, especially with his Transcendent Perception restricted.

It was even different from the first time he saw it. The abstraction and chaos remained, but those interwoven elements were strictly limited to his line of sight, to the point where gaping voids seemed to appear in certain places.

Fortunately, there was a snow tree within his field of vision. Otherwise, striking this pose wouldn't have been easy.

As for his purpose...

At that moment, Rob and the group exchanged glances. They held their breath, ultimately not daring to ask.

Amid the silence, the leaf in Fu Qian's hand turned snow-white in more than one place.

...

It really did change color upon encountering snow—even invisible snow.

The snow tree had earned its name because it exhibited a special reaction whenever snowflakes fell upon it.

Fu Qian naturally remembered this piece of local trivia that Classmate Liushuang had shared.

There were even more specific details—namely, that this reaction was strictly limited to the Academy's premises.

Combining various pieces of information later on, they had gradually come to refer to Melia as the Snow Tree Goddess, and these leaves were Her symbol.

Of course, theoretically speaking, they were his symbol now.

If it weren't for the fact that, judging by Master Yuhun's past appearance, Melia lacked a clear gender distinction, this would have felt a bit weird.

Fu Qian remained silent, twirling the leaf until it became completely crystal clear.

He didn't bother adjusting his features to actually make himself look like Melia.

Such superficial changes were meaningless. The core concept behind this operation was that Master Yuhun had already digested Melia.

Based on his understanding of Master Yuhun's Chan, that meant the concept of Melia now pointed entirely to him.

After all, on the one hand, the battle record was verifiable. On the other, its extremely idealistic nature determined that Master Yuhun couldn't afford to have any flaws in this regard. Otherwise, he likely wouldn't have been able to complete the refinement.

In summary, Fu Qian's purpose for activating the Burial Scroll this time was simple: to examine his surroundings under the identity of "Melia," and thereby figure out Professor Ah Kai's whereabouts and what might have happened to him.

Unfortunately, he still hadn't found anything yet.

That's right. Even through the abstract perspective of Chan, he still couldn't see any trace of Ah Kai.

Just as Professor Boyd had said earlier, they couldn't even be sure if the man had left this place.

And his previous theory—that Ah Kai had fallen victim to this peculiar state of disappearance because the Miracle he tested was related to Melia—was clearly left unproven.

But it didn't matter. True experts never focused solely on visualizing good outcomes.

What Fu Qian was doing right now was eliminating possible causes in response to this suboptimal situation.

Due to the absence of his Transcendent Perception, this approach undoubtedly required tackling the issue from a logical angle.

For instance, finding other elements related to Melia and attempting to link them together, proving that he truly was "Her"—truly.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!