Eldritch Horror Theatre

'Talk about coming and going like a ghost!'

Realizing the Red-Clad Scarecrow had disappeared again, Fu Qian calmly withdrew his gaze.

In truth, this was far from the only bizarre thing.

In just this brief moment, the entire hotel was changing.

The corridor, straight and level just moments ago, now sloped downward as far as the eye could see, leading who-knows-where.

At the same time, strange patterns surfaced across the dark red carpet.

The stripes were nearly half a palm wide, noticeably brighter than their surroundings, and came in a variety of colors and shapes.

Spirals, sharp angles, and parallel diagonal lines—the bizarre designs defied imagination. Some even stretched up the walls on either side, creating a dazzling, disorienting effect.

'Is this the Magic Mirror's doing?'

The scene before him proved beyond a doubt that the hotel had grown highly unusual.

However, it was still impossible to tell whether the Magic Mirror opening the door had pulled them into another dimension.

But judging by the eerie sight ahead, the path forward was likely riddled with danger.

Surprisingly, Violetta didn't seem afraid at all. In fact, she looked quite fascinated by the changing corridor.

Without even calling out to Fu Qian, the little girl bounded ahead, hopping along the patterns on the floor.

Watching her skipping figure ahead, Fu Qian said nothing and simply followed.

Although he couldn't be certain whether moving forward or backward was the better choice, standing still was undeniably a terrible one.

Since Violetta was Snow White, he might as well put some faith in her protagonist's aura.

...

As he quickened his pace to keep up with Violetta, Fu Qian observed their surroundings.

The carpet beneath their feet was thick and plush, muffling their footsteps to near silence.

The doors to the rooms on either side of the corridor were shut tight, with no one else in sight.

It felt as though they were the only two living souls left in the massive hotel.

Combined with walking across the bizarre patterns, the sheer silence gave off the illusion of being swallowed by a giant beast and slowly digested.

Minute by minute ticked by. By Fu Qian's estimation, they had descended the equivalent of more than five stories.

Yet the corridor seemed endless, showing no signs of stopping.

This endlessly repeating scenery was bound to induce fatigue, and the dazzling patterns beneath their feet only added severe visual strain.

Just as Fu Qian was considering whether to change their approach, the skipping Violetta suddenly stopped in her tracks and stood perfectly still.

'Did she find something?'

The little girl clearly had astonishing stamina. She hadn't rested once during their long trek, yet now she had stopped on a dime.

Fu Qian followed Violetta's gaze and immediately spotted the reason for her halt—

Where another room door should have been, a strange object had taken its place.

It was a circular stone relief embedded in the wall. The material looked like white marble, and its mottled texture suggested it was quite ancient.

Surrounded by decorative carvings was a set of human facial features. The most striking detail was the wide-open mouth—a pitch-black hole with no bottom in sight.

'The Mouth of Truth?'

Fu Qian recognized the object in front of him almost instantly.

Highly legendary and featured in countless tales, it was incredibly easy to identify.

And the rumors regarding its powers were downright mythical.

From biting off a liar's hand to devouring them whole, the stories varied wildly.

But overall, it was essentially a manhole-cover-sized polygraph. Whatever you did, you must never lie in front of it.

However, in Fu Qian's view, the truly miraculous thing about this artifact wasn't whether it could actually detect lies.

Rather, it was the psychological effect it had—thanks to all those underlying suggestions, anyone who saw it couldn't resist the urge to stick their hand inside.

In fact, the very next moment, Fu Qian stepped forward and grabbed Violetta.

She was already on her tiptoes, her slender arm barely a dozen centimeters away from the mouth.

"What are you doing?"

Having stopped her, Fu Qian asked with a deadpan expression.

"Getting my reward!"

Violetta stared at him blankly, bewildered as to why he was holding her back.

"Reward?"

Fu Qian's frown deepened as he pointed at the Mouth of Truth.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Mhm!"

Violetta gave a crisp nod.

"Mother said this is called the Pinocchio Processor. When Snow White finds it, she can take a reward from its mouth."

'The hell do you mean, Pinocchio Processor!'

Fu Qian massaged his temples, not even knowing where to begin tearing into that logic.

From all the previous clues, it was obvious that this Snow White's royal mother took huge creative liberties when telling stories.

But straight-up calling the Mouth of Truth something like that was still breathtakingly absurd.

Still, Fu Qian understood her logic.

The Mouth of Truth was a death trap exclusively for liars. Since Snow White was a perfectly honest child who never lied, reaching inside and taking what she wanted would naturally be a breeze.

"So can I keep going?"

Seeing that Fu Qian remained silent, Violetta asked again.

...

Fu Qian stroked his chin.

Regardless of how confident Violetta was, sticking a hand inside was absolutely a risky move.

If her arm actually got bitten off, the situation would undoubtedly become incredibly tricky.

But given their current circumstances... He glanced down the seemingly infinite corridor.

After walking all this way, this was the very first abnormality they had encountered. It was highly likely that it held some sort of clue.

And looking at Violetta, convincing her to give up easily was out of the question.

"Go ahead."

Ultimately, Fu Qian chose to trust in her protagonist's aura once more, while silently reviewing how to bandage an amputated limb.

"Okay."

Fu Qian let go of her hand. Without a second thought, Violetta stood on her tiptoes and shoved her right arm right in.

"Answer my question..."

Almost instantly, a dull, mechanical voice echoed from the stone relief.

Judging by Violetta's posture, her arm had clearly been clamped firmly in place.

'It really is the Mouth of Truth!'

Even though he had expected as much, Fu Qian couldn't help but marvel from the sidelines.

Despite being trapped, Violetta didn't look panicked in the slightest, as if she had known this would happen.

"Ask away!" she said with utter confidence.

...

"Question... Are you the fairest of them all?"

The statue paused for several seconds before finally speaking in a sluggish drawl.

'Talk about protagonist's aura!'

The question left Fu Qian stunned.

'Could you make it any easier on her? Trusting Violetta really was the right call.'

...

To his surprise, however, Violetta's pale little face scrunched up upon hearing the question, as though she found it terribly difficult to answer.

"No."

Finally, after pondering it earnestly for a few seconds, she shook her head with absolute certainty.

The very next moment, her body visibly relaxed, and she slowly pulled her arm out.

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