Eldritch Horror Theatre

The blow was undeniably heavy.

The more confident the Black Doctor sounded, the stiffer Amber's face became.

As the first recorded High-Tier Transcendent to step through the Gate of Freedom, his words carried real weight.

The most direct conclusion to draw was that Akasha hadn't entered after him.

Stripped of the hope of rushing toward freedom, Amber's chances of actually finding her now seemed just as slim.

"Keep your logic rigorous. Couldn't Akasha have arrived even earlier than that? You deduced as much yourself."

But the blow wasn't absolute just yet.

Dayun Mingwang spoke up a moment later, offering a rare word of comfort backed by sound logic.

"Heh... an outsider?"

"An outsider."

Treating others with his usual sincerity, Fu Qian nodded.

"No wonder. Otherwise, you would've appeared in this pile of mud with the rest of us."

The Black Doctor looked even happier, almost vibrating on his heels.

But the man was not to be underestimated; that single sentence proved his mind was exceptionally sharp.

They had just discussed the issue of spawn points. Because he was an outsider, Fu Qian lacked a "true self" within the great cauldron.

That was why his first stop after entering the gate had been Yuan Fang's apartment.

In contrast, whether it was the goat-headed demon from before or Excellency Crystal's Nascent Soul, "Amber," they both mapped instantly onto their "true self" inside the cauldron.

If the Black Doctor had genuinely been holed up here this entire time, it would obviously be easy for him to notice Fu Qian's anomaly.

Furthermore, judging by his questioning tone, he seemed somewhat unfamiliar with Fu Qian as a person. He likely hadn't participated in the restaurant ambush back then.

For him to skip such an important operation—one personally organized by the Prophet and concerning the safety of the entire Unseen Hill—showed exactly what a thorn in the side he was.

Coupled with the title "Black Doctor," his allegiance leaned heavily toward the criminal camp.

"Looks pretty good to me. Not damp at all."

Considering his own image wasn't exactly stellar either, Fu Qian held no grudges on that front. He even looked around, emphasizing that this place really wasn't that bad.

"Heh... Such arrogance, standing on the shore and looking down on us."

Living up to Fu Qian's mental assessment, even the Black Doctor's lament sounded educated.

Fu Qian had to admit the mockery made sense. No matter how much empathy an outsider could muster, standing there and discussing how dire the situation was couldn't help but feel performative.

"Yep. Don't you see I'm keeping my hands clean? I just have other people do the looking for me."

The only problem was that Dayun Mingwang had always been immune to moral accusations.

Without wasting a single second on excuses, Fu Qian openly admitted his sense of superiority and even pointed toward Amber.

...

"You're right, haha... You're right..."

The Black Doctor froze for a moment, but then, as if some switch had been flipped, he rocked back and forth with laughter.

"Interesting. Now I don't even feel the need to ask why you came here... Tell me, what do you want to know?"

He acted quite generously toward Fu Qian for bringing him such joy, well aware that idle chatter came with a price.

"So, what do you think are the chances that Akasha arrived here before you did?"

Even so, Fu Qian's question clearly took him by surprise.

"You actually care about that?"

Evidently not viewing Fu Qian as the sort to harbor humanitarian concerns, the Black Doctor stared at his dignified mask, seemingly trying to see through the mysterious outsider's mind.

"Unfortunately, the probability is practically zero. I am fairly certain no one discovered that door before I did."

Trying to read Fu Qian was clearly a futile effort, and the Black Doctor soon gave up, choosing to answer his question head-on.

"I see."

Fu Qian glanced at Amber. This time, the blow hit hard enough.

When the question was asked, the Black Doctor hadn't been the only one surprised—Amber had been, too.

Despite the confusion, Amber was clearly paying close attention to the answer, only to suffer another heavy blow straight to the head.

If the Black Doctor's claim was true, it meant the door had been under his surveillance the entire time. Akasha's disappearance could no longer be explained away like that.

"What about the Prophet?"

It was just a pity that Dayun Mingwang seemed to be asking purely on a whim, looking entirely unconcerned as he smoothly changed the subject and glanced toward the shore.

"...I didn't see him enter either. He was already here when I arrived. Perhaps he left the door behind, or perhaps he didn't even come through it at all."

The Black Doctor hesitated slightly this time, but ultimately answered.

"That really can't be ruled out—"

And Fu Qian agreed with his assessment.

For one thing, Yuan Fang's behavior had always been extremely mystical. For another, one couldn't forget that his current location was different from everyone else's—he wasn't in the cauldron, for instance—

"We can't even rule out the possibility that he's also an outsider."

Before the Black Doctor could say anything, Fu Qian dropped an explosive conclusion.

...

He wasn't intentionally trying to scare anyone. Upon careful thought, there weren't any major logical flaws in that theory.

Dayun Mingwang hadn't woken up in the cauldron, proving his status as an outsider. So could anyone confirm right now that Yuan Fang had woken up in it?

Even if the Prophet had offered guidance over the long years, who was to say an outsider couldn't do the same?

Habitual thinking had to be broken.

Not to mention, from Fu Qian's perspective, there seemed to be a strong supporting reason: if the Prophet was truly that genius of the Yuan Clan who passed away in meditation, didn't that mean he had originally come from the outside?

He was fundamentally different from the innate wills born within the Unseen Hill.

"It seems you're quite sure the name coincidence you mentioned to him earlier is true."

Without needing a prompt, the Black Doctor seemed to have arrived at a similar reason. He looked toward Yuan Fang, making no secret of having eavesdropped on their earlier conversation.

"I actually don't care much about that. What I'd rather know is why you're so certain that no one discovered that door before you did?"

Unfortunately, before Fu Qian could express that great minds think alike, Amber finally recovered from the barrage of information and questioned the earlier claim.

It wasn't surprising. For one thing, the claim was indeed a bit vague; for another, the answer to this question was obviously crucial for finding Akasha.

"Simple. I had been staying in that building for a long time prior to that and never saw Akasha visit the Prophet. Later, when I heard the Prophet's message, I rushed over immediately."

The Black Doctor merely sneered in response. Turning to Amber, he gave an undignified wag of his eyebrows.

"Who do you think wrote that line of text?"

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