Eldritch Horror Theatre

The Nightmare Corridor!

In that instant, Fu Qian finally realized why that door felt so familiar.

During another task starting with the number 1, he had reached a long corridor and encountered a human-faced insect.

At the time, Brother Persuader had been standing right beside a door.

According to the late Brother Persuader, the door was an exit from the Nightmare Corridor, and there were several identical ones.

The feeling those doors gave him was very much like the one he had just seen.

"When did you start doing this?"

As he pondered, Fu Qian held the needle up to his head, examining it with clinical meticulousness.

"It hasn't been long. Just over a month."

"That's why I didn't give it to you right away."

"Although it worked perfectly when I tried it, I haven't been using it long enough to be sure it's completely harmless."

"I wanted to test it for a bit longer and confirm there were absolutely no issues before I..."

"Don't worry. I'm not ungrateful."

Fu Qian waved off the explanation.

In truth, that wasn't what concerned him at all.

His attention was completely focused on Loretta's answer—just over a month ago.

Based on the information he had gathered earlier, his own symptoms had flared up shortly after that.

It also lined up perfectly with the timing of the incident in Fenghou City.

So the Golden Needle wasn't the issue. Loretta was the real key to the problem?

But the ultimate goal of his task was Transcendence from the Nightmare.

Could it be that ending the Nightmare plaguing Fenghou City required him to kill this poor woman who had just escaped her suffering?

Fu Qian scrutinized Loretta thoughtfully. She seemed entirely unaware of the danger hidden in his gaze.

"How do you feel now? I have to say, your performance just now was unbelievable."

"I remember the first time I tried it. I only pierced the skin a tiny bit, and I nearly collapsed."

"If my fear of the Nightmare hadn't provided such a powerful driving force, I definitely wouldn't have been able to push through."

"I feel great. My thoughts are much more peaceful, as if I've finally recognized my true self."

Fu Qian nodded with a smile, his mind racing.

Killing Loretta to end the Nightmare was a highly probable deduction.

But that presented a problem: why?

Why would a Nightmare enveloping all of Fenghou City emerge just because this woman stabbed herself in the head with the Golden Needle a few times?

There had to be a connection between the two. Perhaps the original owner of the Golden Needle knew something?

"I'm glad it works."

Loretta smiled in relief, looking genuinely happy for him.

"You'd actually make a wonderful example."

Then she thought of something else.

"Once your condition is under control, you can use your experience to persuade Bernard."

"Say, do you think he told you to come here just so you could test it out for him?"

As she spoke, Loretta covered her mouth in shock, startled by her own thought.

"Probably not."

Fu Qian gestured for her not to fall into the conspiracy trap.

"From what I know, the guy might have a terrible personality, but he isn't lacking in guts. He most likely wouldn't stoop to using someone as a guinea pig."

"You certainly know him well!"

Clearly not expecting Fu Qian to say that, Loretta chuckled softly and sighed.

"True. The one thing he isn't missing is the courage to face death. Unfortunately, in that kind of Nightmare, death is far from a release..."

So no matter what, a highly likely opportunity to complete his task was sitting completely defenseless right in front of him.

While Loretta lamented, Fu Qian's thoughts continued to churn.

Loretta was undeniably fragile. Even as an ordinary person right now, snapping her neck would be effortless.

"I'll give this back to you for now. I don't think I can do that again today."

Fu Qian took a step forward and returned the Golden Needle to Loretta.

Suspecting nothing, Loretta took it, carefully looking down to wipe it clean before placing it back in its box.

As she did so, her slender, emaciated neck was completely exposed to him.

Haa...

Fu Qian stared downward and took a deep breath.

In the next moment, the slender neck, Loretta, the Golden Needle, and even the entire room vanished completely.

...

"What happened? How did it suddenly deteriorate to this extent?"

"Is something bothering you?"

Just as The Monastery disappeared, the light before his eyes instantly brightened, and a familiar voice rang out.

"Think carefully. Don't worry about how to phrase it—just say whatever comes to mind."

Fu Qian raised his head and looked at the doctor sitting across from him, confirming that he had returned to Doctor Kelly's clinic.

Sure enough, what seemed like an opportunity was a trap—had there been eyes on him the entire time?

Fu Qian recalled the recent string of events, silently summarizing them in his mind.

During that scene just now, he hadn't actually intended to snap Loretta's neck.

It was a test.

The purpose of the test was simple: Fu Qian wanted to see what would happen if he showed such an intent.

So he had subtly made those movements—movements a bystander could easily misinterpret.

The results proved that he lost the chance to harm Loretta almost instantly.

Although it could be explained away as a coincidence, if it wasn't, it proved at least two things.

First, someone was watching him through means he didn't understand, and they absolutely did not want Loretta to get hurt—not even the slightest hint of a threat was permitted.

Second, that person had the ability to send him into a Nightmare at any given moment.

Getting results from his probing was a good thing. However, if the method for Transcendence from the Nightmare really was killing Loretta, the difficulty was absurdly high!

It was like playing Super Mario to save the princess, except the dragon guarding the gate used map-hacks to know exactly where you were, and could snap its fingers to teleport you anywhere at will.

"What is it?"

Kelly's voice was starting to sound confused.

"Can't remember? That's fine. Don't force it."

Fu Qian looked up at the patiently guiding doctor.

"A baby's cry."

He spoke up directly a moment later.

"A baby's cry?"

"Yes, I just heard a baby crying. It gave me a very specific feeling, and my mental state was affected by it."

"Wait a moment."

Staring at Fu Qian for a few seconds, Kelly stood up. After fiddling with something, she brought up an audio clip.

"Like this?"

"Yes."

Listening to the baby's cries coming from in front of him, Fu Qian closed his eyes, concentrated on the sound, and let his consciousness sink.

"How is it?"

Through the haze, Kelly's voice rang out again.

Fu Qian didn't rush to answer. Instead, he opened his eyes and looked forward.

Across the stainless steel table, Doctor Kelly and Officer Brooke were both craning their necks, staring right at him in perfect unison.

"Quite a rich harvest."

Looking at the two people in front of him, Fu Qian nodded.

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