Eldritch Horror Theatre

'I gave you so many opportunities, and yet there still isn't a dialogue option?'

He fully understood His Excellency the Chief Judge's urgency, but in that moment, Fu Qian still couldn't hide his disappointment.

It was hard to say whether the corruption had seeped into his brain or if it was simply because he was a projection. From earlier until now, this entity had displayed more of an animalistic nature—

Discover the target, instinctively trail them in secret, and launch a sneak attack.

Get discovered by the target, and immediately turn tail and run without a second thought.

Sense a crisis of survival, and return without hesitation.

Regain temporary control of the situation, and instantly act wildly right on the spot.

Since that was the case, he only had the utility of an animal.

Fu Qian shook his head. Foregoing any further greetings, he casually deactivated Finger Pulp.

The golden-orange hue dissipated, instantly rendering his field of vision plain and unadorned.

As a player who wielded similar abilities, Fu Qian believed the Chief Judge could perfectly sense this shift.

Even though the latter's movements merely paused for a fraction of a second, he still didn't turn his head.

Focused and confident. However, it did make sense.

Fu Qian rested a hand against the adjacent wall, once again phasing right through it.

Obviously, the conviction effect placed upon him didn't rely on Commandment Residue being active.

The previous changes in visual effects were merely an indicator, making it easier for him to feel his own penalty.

It was quite reasonable. Otherwise, it would be far too easy a loophole, which didn't align with the other party's current level of intellect.

Only, with things like this, the situation seemed somewhat troublesome.

While dealing with His Excellency the Golden Tree previously, he had already experienced the might of a true Power of Law.

It could be said that within a defined domain, it was the rule itself. Clashing against it head-on was extremely difficult.

The sparse few he had shattered head-on were merely counterfeits lacking the support of a Core of Law.

To sum it up in a single sentence: it was irresistible, leaving him only to figure out ways to evade it or exploit loopholes.

But this was also where the difficulty lay. The effect of Unpardonable was clearly an inescapable lock. It targeted his very person, meaning that simply running farther away would be completely useless.

As for exploiting loopholes?

Didn't you see that even the top-tier loophole-exploiter, Excellency Patches, only managed to grant the victims a quiet euthanasia when he took action back then?

All in all, it was easy to say but clearly difficult to execute—and difficulty was exactly what he wanted.

Fu Qian snapped his fingers and activated Finger Pulp once more. The golden-orange light reappeared.

Then, his body expanded...

Then, the gold grew increasingly resplendent...

Then came the unadorned Decree of Return.

...

No matter what he did, there didn't seem to be any conflict?

In the blink of an eye, Four Rings were fully unleashed. Fu Qian's personal image had truly become something no one dared to look at directly.

While admiring the special effects swirling around him with great relish, Fu Qian noted that what was even more astonishing was the compatibility between the five effects.

If he had previously tested and proven that Four Rings could be activated simultaneously, what made Fu Qian deeply curious now was that every single one of them seemed not to conflict with the penalty he was suffering.

Theoretically, this was somewhat unbelievable.

Finger Pulp's pure chaos-causing nature was one thing, but the Decree of Return and Resplendent Tyrant possessed highly destructive properties toward certain effects. Any way you thought about it, they were perfect for a prison break.

On one hand, the lack of suppression proved that his Counterfeit Law Core didn't seem to lose out when facing the genuine article.

On the other hand, Fu Qian felt absolutely no reduction in his sentence.

To use an analogy, it was as if these five commandments had been written into the exact same legal code, coexisting in perfect harmony.

...

Fascinating. How was this achieved?

For the long-awaiting Fu Qian, such an effect was undoubtedly worth deep contemplation.

Normally, the "nothing exists outside the mind" effect of the Decree of Return should naturally mutually exclude any bindings placed upon his body.

Under what circumstances would these two not contradict each other? Abnormal ones.

Fu Qian was evidently dissatisfied with explanations like profound of the profound.

The moment he quickly defined the problem, he actually deduced an answer purely from a logical standpoint.

If things that should conflict didn't, was it possible that the issue lay not within the code itself, but externally?

The commandments couldn't be wrong, and they certainly wouldn't contradict each other. To maintain this, would they even go so far as to inversely redefine the environment?

Just like how, normally, the sum of a triangle's interior angles was 180 degrees. But if one absolutely had to make "the sum of a triangle's interior angles" coexist with "200 degrees," the surrounding environment would be forced into non-Euclidean geometry.

In that case... Fu Qian turned his head to examine his surroundings, noticing a Shadow staring back at him.

Not bad, it seemed His Excellency the Chief Judge had also been somewhat provoked.

At the same time, this current Fallacy Spacetime seemed to be growing increasingly bizarre and surreal.

"Heinous—Sin!"

For the second time since their encounter, Fu Qian heard the Chief Judge's voice.

...

The King of Angels was very angry, and the consequences would be severe.

Perhaps he still hadn't escaped the penalty, but it was clear that His Excellency could no longer ignore him.

Moreover, after that round of self-"purification" just now, this entity's condition appeared to have improved somewhat.

Fu Qian noted that in the second penalty pronounced against him, he could actually hear an underlying anger.

Putting himself in the other's shoes, he could understand it. The prisoner had already been sentenced to prison yet still refused to behave, stirring up social unrest through unconventional means. Such a terrible attitude toward rehabilitation was enough to make anyone bristle with rage.

Furthermore, this new accusation was definitely not just venting frustration.

At that moment, the rings of light revolving around him changed color once more. As they flickered, it was as if a holy fire had ignited.

Fu Qian was absolutely certain that new clauses had been added to the legal code.

This time, it wasn't just imprisonment. The dancing holy flames truly brought an unbelievable heat that enveloped his entire body.

It wasn't just scorching the Mechanical Tyrant's parts; it was even burning the very concept of the King of the Abandoned Prison itself.

Without needing Transcendent Perception, Fu Qian could realize that he was truly being burned to ashes—

[SAN Value -1]

[SAN Value -1]

[SAN Value -1]

...

The ensuing prompts seemed to prove this point.

At a frequency far more exaggerated than before, that unconventional Health Bar was being rapidly depleted—yet the six laws still coexisted in harmony, displaying an astonishing level of tolerance toward one another.

As for his body being on the verge of incineration, how could "nothing exists outside the mind" still hold true? How did this new penalty not conflict with the Decree of Return?

Simple. The outside was disappearing even faster.

The hypothesis that the environment would change if the legal code couldn't was also seemingly confirmed in that instant.

Fu Qian observed that in his line of sight, this ancient building was not only bizarre but had even started to collapse rapidly, as if invisible fires were burning within it.

Through this method, the contradiction between the Decree of Return and the holy fire was bypassed.

...

Full of bestial nature in the end, His Excellency the Chief Judge.

Fu Qian sighed deeply in his heart at that moment, noting that the other party was indeed acting purely on instinct, incapable of making overly complex judgments.

This stress-induced reaction, apart from granting him deeper insights, could be said to be counterproductive, exacerbating the collapse of the Etched Intellect. Since that was the case—

Fu Qian raised his right hand. A glittering Bell had already appeared within it.

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