Eldritch Horror Theatre

Humans weren't the only ones who struggled to break through their innate limitations; Gods were exactly the same.

Fu Qian didn't even need to turn his head to know that the thing he had flicked away was yet another little Rom.

Unlike its brethren, however, it hadn't just postured fiercely—it had launched a genuine attack.

As for where it came from?

Naturally, there were no flesh-and-blood wounds of Rom's over there. But who said little Roms could only be born from a wound?

Never let anyone exploit your cognitive inertia.

When he had mentioned crossing paths with His Excellency Rom so often, he hadn't just been blowing hot air.

To Fu Qian, when it came to a veteran entity with such a rabid will to survive, he knew exactly what kind of shit it was about to take without it even needing to bend over.

That earlier display of Endless Generations of Descendants had certainly been imposing, exuding a do-or-die determination as if they might swarm him at any moment.

To draw his attention, for instance, to buy an opening for the true killing blow.

...

The little Rom's emergence was simple. It tore through the air as if ripping open a wound and leaped out of nothingness, utterly soundless from start to finish.

Needle-like threads of blood extended from every part of its tiny body, silently locking onto his vitals. Amidst that murderous aura, he could even sense a palpable greed.

If those threads had landed, even the Tyrant's physique wouldn't have been able to shrug them off so easily.

He had to admit, His Excellency Rom truly lived up to his reputation, still managing to adapt so quickly even when driven into a desperate corner.

It resorted to any means necessary, going so far as to milk its initial docile image for all it was worth to maximize the chance of a sneak attack—after all, what nefarious thoughts could a newly awakened spider groggy with morning crankiness possibly harbor?

What a pity. This adaptation was still too primitive; it needed to continue Overthinking.

Long before His Excellency Rom ignored his polite greetings, Fu Qian had already mapped out exactly what kind of sneak attack the entity would attempt.

If it wanted to exploit the Tyrant's cognitive inertia, it had to overcome its own first.

As for how he could accurately pinpoint the angle of a sneak attack without needing to turn his head, especially while lacking Transcendent Perception?

He saw it, of course.

As mentioned earlier, the vast majority of the platform beneath his feet had already crystallized.

While his ongoing research suggested this crystallization wasn't exactly a good thing, the visual effect was certainly striking.

Who said a shiny, glittering surface was useless?

Encircled by it, the area was essentially rigged with 360-degree cameras; the crystalline surface flawlessly reflected the surrounding scene, leaving zero blind spots.

So, even while he had been fully engrossed in studying the script, everything around Fu Qian remained entirely under his control.

...

As it turned out, His Excellency Rom knew how to take a hint.

With its lethal sneak attack casually flicked away, the frenzied posturing below ceased almost instantly.

And since its target hadn't pursued the matter, opting instead to lower his head and continue reading the script, the entity refrained from making any rash moves in the face of its increasingly desperate predicament.

It didn't even drop a parting threat, choosing to simply remain quietly huddled there.

Very good.

This was exactly why he liked dealing with smart people.

Fu Qian was naturally happy to see this development. After all, going by his previous experiences, overly chaotic scenes had a tendency to trigger premature scene transitions.

There were still plenty of pages in this notebook. Just because it only held five lines right now didn't mean it would stay at five lines forever.

Drawing a connection to All Fools' Day due to both sharing a five-act structure was perfectly reasonable, but he shouldn't let himself be boxed in by that detail.

Even if the chances were slim, what if he accidentally triggered another scene transition and the script in his hand vanished?

Though its contents were brief, there was still plenty worth analyzing.

The title of the second act, for instance.

...

[Light and Shadow Cannot Judge Each Other]

In comparison, this was far more obscure, its exact meaning somewhat ambiguous.

However, by picking out the keywords, it was easy enough to confirm the sequence was correct—this perfectly matched the Depth One scenario of his current operation.

Back then, he had been playing the role of the visitor from Moore, carefully studying the armory alongside Brother Receptionist.

And "Light and Shadow"—could that be interpreted as the Scavenger and the Scavenger's target?

As for "Judge," the reason that particular act had wrapped up so rapidly was entirely because he had gotten into a massive brawl with the Chief Judge.

Of course, this was merely a literal interpretation. He felt there were plenty of deeper metaphors hidden within, offering a multitude of ways to interpret the text—which, in itself, seemed to align perfectly with the overarching pattern.

Looking back at the All Fools' Day task, after fumbling his way through it and cross-referencing the final task summary, he was fairly certain that "correctly completing the script" meant piecing together the multi-layered plots of each act in a logical manner.

It wasn't about mere survival or tallying up kills; it was about assembling a winning hand, just like in mahjong.

Applying that logic to his current predicament, a title laden with multiple interpretations suddenly felt incredibly fitting.

Perhaps, if he wanted to leave this place and finally end this unending cycle of Etched Intellect, he would need to employ a similar method?

Thought of that way, even the blank third act began to make sense.

Although that act had concluded long ago, he still had total freedom over how to interpret it. There was even a pen conveniently provided right beside him.

Combine that with his upcoming opportunity to guide and summarize the fifth act's narrative, and he could absolutely try to gun for a winning hand.

...

So, how exactly should he guide it?

Refraining from immediately putting pen to paper, Fu Qian tucked the script away. He gazed toward Moore for a moment before finally turning to inspect the architecture beneath his feet.

He had to admit, although it wasn't moving, the two-headed whale—blending so seamlessly with the lake waters below that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began—possessed a rather lifelike charm from this angle.

This, in turn, created an even stronger parallel with "Moore in the storm," the miraculous creature bound to Death.

Furthermore, if his earlier theory held true and The Lake and the whale here truly represented the mighty power of His Excellency the Fool, didn't that mean this was the second time the latter had been linked to Death?

The artifact known as the Fool's Idol had also been obtained during a mission involving the Dominator of Death.

Back then, he had even wondered about the reason, questioning whether the Dominator of Death had been beaten silly.

The Fool. The Dominator of Death. Did these two higher entities—whose mere titles radiated terrifying power—share some kind of special relationship?

Furthermore, there was another point: what exactly was the relationship between Su Gao and the Fool?

...

This wasn't baseless speculation.

Earlier, when he first witnessed the surface of the lake invert, his mind had flashed back to Su Gao's ascension to demigod, simply because the visual similarities had triggered an intense sense of déjà vu.

And that wasn't his only reason. During the mission involving the White Porcelain Doll, he had ultimately obtained the White Ring—a ring seemingly forged from the exact same material—whose item description had read: [Purity is also a kind of power].

He hadn't felt as strongly about it at the time, but pairing that detail with the "pure transcendent" nature currently exhibited by the lake and the whale made it incredibly difficult to chalk it up to mere coincidence.

Not to mention the most glaring, in-your-face piece of evidence—the Fool Tree.

Within the Rotten Forest, that tree which had played an irreplaceable role in Su Gao's ascension to the Transcendent Tier had simply been named after His Excellency the Fool.

So, did the latter correspond to Su Gao's Divine Path? To be honest, the end of that road didn't look particularly auspicious.

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