Eldritch Horror Theatre

Fu Qian's current appearance naturally wasn't a random choice.

Ever since he lifted Teresa's skull, Fu Qian had been pondering the relationship between the Inner Eye and the See Me Faction.

In his view, the two shared quite a few similarities, even if their approaches were diametrically opposed.

Both literally involved opening up their heads. The See Me Faction, represented by Collins, leaned toward completely opening themselves up—abandoning subjective consciousness to accept the scrutiny and guidance of a Deity.

Claudio's Inner Eye did the exact opposite. Its core seemed to revolve around prying into the mysteries of a Deity.

In a sense, they could be called the I-See Faction.

And as everyone knew, heretics were far more detestable than heathens.

When they crossed paths, they were bound to be at each other's throats.

That was why Fu Qian had chosen to take on the guise of Baerluk's core figure—to test Claudio's reaction.

Li Min stared at him, dumbfounded, clearly not expecting Fu Qian's true face to be that of an old man.

As for Claudio, he was genuinely startled, his expression quickly shifting into a faint scowl as he gritted his teeth.

"Collins..."

"You actually recognize me. Should I be honored?"

Fu Qian replied with a smile, adopting the posture of an old friend reuniting after a long separation.

They did indeed know each other, and it looked like they had plenty of bad blood between them.

"I should be the one asking you that."

Claudio's expression, however, was laced with suspicion.

"You still possess the concept of 'I'? I thought you had long since abandoned your self-will and completely surrendered to domination."

"What do you know? That isn't abandoning self-will. On the contrary, it's leveraging a new perspective to achieve the Sublimation of self-will. It is absolute perfection."

"Without experiencing it yourself, you couldn't possibly imagine its wonders."

"Hmph, self-deception... So what are you doing here?"

Claudio clearly didn't want to dwell on the topic. After offering his critique, he narrowed his eyes and asked.

"Didn't I already tell you? Heretics must die!"

"Kill me? Is this the will your God bestowed upon you? Did He even strengthen your flesh for it?"

Seeing that Fu Qian wasn't joking, Claudio's heart sank.

"That's hard for me to explain."

Fu Qian rubbed his smooth, round head.

"You can assume that a certain entity did indeed bestow this will."

"Ignorant fool!"

Claudio gritted his teeth. The man in front of him radiated absolute killing intent—he definitely wasn't joking.

Although they hadn't crossed paths much in the past, conflict between heretics never needed a reason anyway.

Unfortunately, he was currently at a severe disadvantage.

"You couldn't possibly imagine everything I've gained over the years."

"It is hard to imagine. I just heard about someone murdering his own sister."

"I simply followed the revelation. The gifts I received afterward surpassed everything I previously knew."

So he was admitting it?

"Acting on a revelation? How is that any different from what I do?"

"Bullshit! Compared to cowards like you who abandon your sense of self, there is a fundamental difference!"

"Observe, pry, learn. Once enough knowledge is mastered, there will come a day when humanity can also become Deities."

"I would rather die than become a puppet without free will."

Claudio's speech was impassioned, carrying the aura of someone who faced death unflinchingly.

Unfortunately for him, Fu Qian only let out a mocking laugh.

"I have zero interest. You could never imagine the joy of a zero-point-one percent CPU usage rate."

...

Claudio was rendered speechless. Beside him, Li Min let out an uncontrollable groan of pain.

In just this short time, her body had become riddled with wounds, and the scent of roasting meat grew thick in the air.

Unable to hold back any longer, she stepped forward and stared intently at Fu Qian.

From her gaze, Fu Qian read a resolute determination.

She clearly wasn't going to let this chance for revenge slip away.

And since Fu Qian wasn't making a move, she couldn't wait any longer.

"Don't be nervous."

Fu Qian waved his hand, signaling for her to calm down.

In the next instant, his body blurred into a phantom. He appeared right beside Claudio and pressed his hand directly against the wound on the old man's back.

Visceral Attack!

Having already been ambushed, Claudio was far from agile—let alone against a sneak attack from someone at the Demigod Grade.

He didn't even have time to turn his head before blood splattered in all directions. The strike inflicted a devastating wound.

A moment later, an indescribable look of horror washed over Claudio's face.

Had he realized something was wrong? Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Fu Qian wasn't in a hurry to press the attack. Instead, he simply watched the man with a smile.

"How are you feeling?"

Killing the man wouldn't be difficult; what mattered was the method.

Before coming down here, Fu Qian had already made up his mind.

If his guess was correct and all of this was a ritual orchestrated by Claudio, then at first glance, the situation seemed completely unsolvable.

He needed to eliminate the Inner Eye, but Claudio wouldn't truly die.

But it wasn't entirely hopeless. Tempered by the Carnival of Wicked Desires, his upgraded Visceral Attack was now the absolute pinnacle of brute force.

Its ability to destroy everything internal was described rather conceptually, but Fu Qian figured that using it as a finisher here might just produce miraculous results.

Judging by Claudio's reaction, it seemed to have actually worked.

Following that single strike, all of the man's unflinching bravado had completely vanished.

Had that singular strike disrupted the ritual as well? And had Claudio realized it?

"You... wait!"

Various colored lights pulsed wildly across Claudio's body. It looked as though a multitude of transcendent items had been triggered, frantically trying to mend his grievous wounds.

The sheer number of them was absurd; they were presumably all gifts he had acquired previously.

"Don't kill me! I can share a ritual with you—one sufficient for you to advance to the Demigod Realm!"

Claudio blurted out quickly, looking genuinely panicked.

"You mean all of this?"

Fu Qian gestured to their surroundings.

"Exactly."

Fu Qian's words clearly startled Claudio, but he still replied without hesitation.

"Ever since I arrived in Percy, I've been preparing for this ritual."

Desperate to survive, his tone was incredibly earnest.

"The ritual itself isn't complicated. First, by sharing the revelation, you continuously trigger rituals in the surrounding area and connect them to more people."

"Once this Ritual Tide develops to a certain extent and can spread spontaneously without guidance, you arrange a logical death for yourself. You completely detach from the Real World conceptually, severing all connections to the Ritual Tide."

"One year later, you will undergo Rebirth, returning as an entity of the Demigod Realm."

Claudio poured all this out in a single breath, staring at Fu Qian with desperate expectation.

So that was how it worked.

Fu Qian looked thoughtful after hearing the explanation.

It was a good thing he had stopped Claudio just now, or this mission would have likely hit a dead end. Setting aside the problem of figuring out where to find this new Demigod Realm entity, he certainly couldn't just wait around in this Containment Scenario for a whole year, could he?

"Thanks for sharing, but unfortunately, it's not of much use to me."

But the next moment, Fu Qian rejected the man's offer.

"W-Why?"

Claudio's tone was instantly filled with despair.

"Because I'm already in the Demigod Realm."

Fu Qian blinked and completely released the suppression on his aura.

...

"Kill me quickly!"

For a split second, Claudio's thoughts completely froze. Once his mind caught up, he whipped his head around and lunged straight at Li Min.

Unfortunately for him, before the equally stunned Li Min could even react, another Demigod Grade Visceral Attack came crashing down.

This terrifying execution-style blow instantly annihilated his flesh, his spirit, and everything corresponding to his internal existence.

[Current task completed. Containment of code 2-102 successful.]

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