Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was a textbook case of getting exactly what one sought.

Once they got a clear look at the thing crawling across the ground, Fu Qian and Hani instinctively turned toward Bella.

Unfortunately, the rebellious girl who had just been the picture of lazy misanthropy had gone rather stiff.

‘Lord Ye's love of dragons really is a universal trait, isn't it?’

Fu Qian mused to himself. Ignoring her reaction, he lowered his head to study the creature on the ground.

This supposed source of danger Hani had warned them about wasn't actually that large. Even including its tail, it was barely half a meter long. If not for its distinct crocodilian snout, it would have looked like nothing more than an oversized lizard.

Its jagged skin exuded an indescribable blackness, absorbing light so completely that it cast no reflections.

Its eight legs varied in length and thickness. Some were completely bare, lacking even a layer of skin, making it look deeply unnatural.

If the thing had approached from a distance, they definitely would have spotted it, but it seemed to have crept around from the boulder's blind spot.

Hani's breathing had grown shallow. She instinctively shrank back two steps, practically roaring in a suppressed whisper.

Yet her warning backfired. Roused by the shout, the frozen Bella shuddered and snapped out of her daze.

Glancing back at Hani, Bella gritted her teeth. Instead of retreating, she took a deliberate step forward.

‘What an inexplicable sense of competitiveness!’

Fu Qian rubbed his face, utterly unsurprised by this development.

Bella had been the closest to the crocodile to begin with, and that single step put her practically face-to-face with the creature.

The bizarre crocodile didn't appear capable of speech. It simply rolled its asymmetrical eyes and stared silently at the approaching girl.

The moment their eyes met, Bella's body jolted, and her expression visibly turned dazed.

Ah!

A few seconds later, witnessing the scene, Hani let out a sharp shriek and grabbed Fu Qian.

"Hurry, hurry!"

"We're just leaving her?"

Fu Qian asked, pointing at the unmoving Bella.

"She can't hear us anymore! And if we get too close, we'll end up exactly like her."

Hani shook her head, biting her lower lip.

"Then what happens to Bella if we leave?"

"She's already entered the fairy tale! She has to find an exit on the inside before she can wake up."

"We need to hurry and find Souffle to tell her what happened."

"What if she can't find it?"

"She wouldn't... Bella is very strong."

Faced with Fu Qian's skepticism, Hani didn't sound very confident.

"I'm saying what if. Besides, you saw it just now—Bella actively approached the thing. Maybe she doesn't even want to leave! What happens if she stays in there forever?"

"If she never finds an exit... the longer she stays, the fuzzier her memories will get. She'll forget a lot of things, and it will be harder to get out. She'll get lost inside..."

Hani's voice grew quieter and quieter.

"Sounds pretty dangerous."

Fu Qian looked at the unresponsive Bella, and the crocodile beside her.

"If we kill this thing, will she wake up?"

"Kill it...? I've never tried. I don't know."

Hani was clearly taken aback by Fu Qian's idea. Slow-witted as she was, she finally realized that something was very wrong with Violetta today.

"Then let's try it—hey!"

Giving Hani no chance to object, Fu Qian called out to the crocodile.

Partly, it was to save the rebellious girl, but he was also genuinely interested in the creature.

Even though Hani had described this thing as a source of corruption, that also meant it was an entity capable of crossing dimensions.

His mission was to escape this place; how could he pass up such a research subject?

The crocodile didn't play dumb. At his shout, it quickly swiveled its head toward him.

Fu Qian bore the brunt of its gaze. When those bizarre yellowish-brown eyes looked at him, he felt a heavy weight sink into his head, even from a safe distance.

The previous dizzying sensation of his consciousness sinking washed over him again, and he could even feel Violetta's consciousness becoming unstable.

‘Pretty impressive!’

As someone with rich experience in losing his sanity, Fu Qian immediately retreated two steps and snatched up the half cake on the rock.

Under Hani's pained gaze, Fu Qian simply pinched off a piece and tossed it over.

Smack!

The next moment, the cake plastered itself perfectly over one of the crocodile's eyes, crumbling apart.

The creature clearly hadn't expected to be ambushed by such a sugar-coated attack. It froze for a moment, then actually lowered its head to subconsciously lick the crumbled cake off the ground.

‘As long as it eats!’

Immensely satisfied by its reaction, Fu Qian didn't stop, tossing the remaining cake at it piece after piece.

The crocodile looked completely disinclined to dodge, and even actively opened its jaws to catch them.

‘Not bad at all. A good kid isn't a picky eater.’

While throwing the pieces, he quietly closed the distance. By the time he was almost parallel with Bella, Fu Qian smilingly pulled out the green Apple.

With the last piece of cake in hand, Fu Qian took careful aim and tossed it out together with the Apple.

The crocodile went to catch it out of habit, resulting in a direct hit.

Unfortunately, because Fu Qian had tossed it slowly to make it look more deceiving, the Apple actually didn't detonate upon entering its mouth.

The crocodile wasn't stupid. The instant the Apple entered its mouth, it sensed something was wrong. Not only did it not bite down, it subconsciously tried to spit it back out.

But Fu Qian didn't give it the chance. He immediately lunged at it.

Violetta's body weighed no more than forty or fifty jin; her physical strength couldn't be that great.

Fortunately, the crocodile was also miniature. The instant Fu Qian tackled it, he used every ounce of his strength to clamp its jaws shut.

Boom!

A muffled blast rang out as the Apple finally exploded inside the crocodile's mouth.

The crocodile's body thrashed violently, but it didn't let out a single cry, nor did any blood flow out.

At the same time, the heavy drowsiness in Fu Qian's mind dissipated significantly.

Looking beneath him, he saw a cobweb of cracks appearing across the crocodile's body, making it look like a cracked clay sculpture.

Yet this thing wasn't completely dead. The next moment, elongating along the cracks, its entire body broke apart into pieces.

Its various parts, including its tail and especially its eight legs, scurried away in different directions simultaneously.

"Watch out!"

Fu Qian scrambled to his feet and roared at Hani.

One of the legs was slithering directly toward her position.

Unfortunately, she had just been awed by his valiant display and was in a daze. Roared at like this, she only froze up even more.

The next moment, the leg was already wrapped around her own.

"Ah—!"

Only then did Hani react, letting out a bloodcurdling scream and kicking her leg frantically.

But the severed leg's strength was surprisingly great. The more she kicked, the tighter it seemed to constrict.

Fu Qian was just about to rush over to help when a strange, guttural growl echoed out.

When he looked again, Hani's body was bent downward like a shrimp. Sharp teeth were visible inside her wide-open mouth as she bit viciously into the severed leg.

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