Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was truly a series of pleasant surprises. As expected, launching this scientific expedition immediately was the right decision.

The new discoveries were terrifying to think about. Inside the Deity Burial Ground, it seemed some incredible changes were taking place.

Based on everything they had learned during their explorations, combined with what he had seen and heard in the Ash Sea, the true nature of the Deity Burial Ground was no longer hard to grasp.

First, these were undoubtedly traces left behind by higher entities. In fact, there was more than one.

Tormented by a never-ending Long Night and battered by ceaseless destructive storms, this group of beings—who theoretically stood at the very pinnacle of the universe—had gathered together in the form of remains. They were resisting complete crystallization to preserve a final, genuine trace of their "selves."

This behavior could easily be described as huddling together for warmth, yet strict boundaries clearly existed between them.

Whenever he entered a new bubble, the entire atmosphere and style completely changed.

But looking at it now, that principle seemed to be breaking down.

Senior Liliana had carefully chosen this hiding place. How could the scent of the Blood Lake seep into such a peaceful sanctuary?

Fu Qian thought of the storms that periodically flared into violence.

Back when he first discovered the Blood Lake, he had actually tracked a "scent" carried on the wind all the way to its source.

Therefore, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that the storm had subtly changed this place over time.

Still, the timing was far too coincidental. It happened right after the incident at the Inverted Lake, not to mention this doomsday melody—Crack!

Fu Qian squeezed his hand, crushing the tiny fragment to pieces.

Along with an even sharper stench of rot, the sensation against his palm could only be described as bursting with liquid.

Undeterred by the mess, Fu Qian sifted carefully through the remains with his fingers until he locked onto a specific object.

A thin, white nematode with a slippery exterior.

...

Sure enough, this thing was here too.

Although it was incredibly tiny, Fu Qian instantly recognized its familiar shape.

It was exactly the same type of creature that had gone swimming through his flesh and blood during his first dip in the Blood Lake.

He still remembered how the Red Moon, while residing on the Half-Step Moon, had nearly flayed his Skin off just to help him deworm.

Now that he had confirmed the presence of this thing, there was even less reason to doubt that the Blood Lake was invading this place—a massive and alarming shift.

Were the boundaries being breached?

And that wasn't even the only pessimistic angle. If he remembered correctly, the nematodes in the Blood Lake included some special 'mutants.'

According to his speculations back then, they were different from these natural 'creatures.' They likely functioned as detectors left behind by some major figure, most probably a powerhouse from the Night Watchers.

That was actually the reason he had kept such a low profile back then, simply letting the bugs drill and bite into him.

Right now, although these bugs were still tiny and sluggish, he had to consider the same risks.

After all, the Night Watchers had already invited him over for a chat. If he fired back with an invitation of his own in this manner before even attending their banquet, it would be easy for them to misunderstand.

In short, he at least needed to stop casually vandalizing the architecture.

Fortunately, he considered himself a technical player. He didn't have to rely on such simple, crude methods.

Having just finished his vandalism, Fu Qian tossed aside the debris in one hand and used the other to strap the Ribbon over his face.

...

Interesting.

The moment he pulled the Eldest Son's Vision off his face, Fu Qian's gaze fell on a nearby corner, and he clicked his tongue in wonder.

Although this thing was magical, it was far from being able to replace Transcendent Perception.

A big reason he had brought it along was that it had no side effects anyway, so it couldn't hurt to try it out.

And yet, in that brief moment, he seemed to have genuinely spotted something special...

Fu Qian walked forward step by step until he stood exactly where he had been looking.

There was nothing under his feet. He was absolutely certain that when he had visited Senior Liliana back then, she hadn't even walked over to this spot, but—

Fu Qian paused to search his memory for a second. The next moment, he stood perfectly straight in that spot, slowly adjusting his orientation as if trying to align himself with a pair of invisible footprints on the floor.

This strange behavior lasted for about the span of a single breath. Seemingly satisfied at last, he shifted his weight to his heels and took a step backward into the gloom.

...

It should be here.

His movements were somewhat eerie. Coupled with his overall demeanor, he wouldn't have looked out of place in a horror movie.

However, Fu Qian walked in total earnestness. After taking another step back, he carefully compared his position with something in his memory.

This wasn't a random whim. He had just seen this exact scene while looking through the Eldest Son's Vision.

It was just that, much like Classmate Liushuang's three Swords in the Stone, it had appeared in a rather abstract way.

Trying to translate it into language was full of fallacy; even trying to process it as a thought yielded the same result.

Throughout the entire process, Fu Qian only knew that something extra seemed to have appeared within his empty field of vision.

As he slowly processed it step by step, he realized that the thing appeared to be the very concept of 'footprints.'

Exactly. It wasn't the presence of a person, but rather the traces a person had left behind.

...

Whose footprints were they?

That impromptu glance had undoubtedly yielded an astonishing discovery.

As for why there were 'footprints' here, thinking it over revealed only two possibilities.

First, they belonged to Senior Liliana. Before he had come to bother her, she might have just liked to stroll around in her free time.

It was just that during his previous visits, he hadn't yet acquired the Ribbon he now held, so he hadn't been able to see them.

This scenario couldn't be completely ruled out yet, even if it was incredibly dull.

The second possibility was that the footprints were new, and had absolutely nothing to do with Senior Liliana, who had already vanished into ash.

This scenario was much more alarming. It would mean that this completely dead and silent place had been visited by another 'person' after he had left.

Who was it? What were they here to do? And why could their footprints only be seen using the Eldest Son's Vision?

Was it related to this doomsday melody? Or was it related to the blurring boundaries between the bubbles?

A whole series of questions naturally popped up in response.

To find the answers, Fu Qian was currently trying to trace the footprints back to their source.

One, two, three...

Walking backward the entire time, Fu Qian's figure soon passed through the doorway, stepped onto the spiral staircase, and ascended to a higher level—Oh?

At a certain point, Fu Qian finally stopped walking, arriving at what he remembered as the end of the footprints.

As previously mentioned, this spot was impressively an entire floor higher than where Senior Liliana had stayed.

More importantly, the vantage point was absolutely perfect. Fu Qian didn't even need to crane his neck to look down from above and take in the entire scene below.

It was safe to say that this was the perfect audience seat to watch a weeping Liliana, all while making it very unlikely to disturb her.

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