Eldritch Horror Theatre

'Could this thing be a "reward"?'

Staring at the suddenly mutated door and feeling an inexplicable urge to step inside, Fu Qian experienced a moment of clarity.

'So I'm "working hard" right now, and according to what was just said, I've received a "reward"?'

'Talk about words carrying absolute law, though the method is a bit twisted.'

'The design of this thing is so classic. It looks quite a bit like what I saw in the Nightmare Corridor.'

'I get the feeling that if I walk in, I'd probably see that human-faced bug right away and end up as its cellmate all over again.'

'It makes sense, I suppose. For a dream that is inherently sweet, extending into a deeper layer definitely counts as a reward.'

Right now, even though he could see people coming and going from the cabin completely unaffected, Fu Qian absolutely refused to test it.

In Fu Qian's estimation, his sweet dream state was completely different from everyone else's.

Fu Qian looked at the massive fish in front of him. Over a meter long, it had been dragged along the ground until its bones showed.

Its giant maw snapped open and shut, the sharp teeth inside inches away from his pant leg.

Behind it, radiating outward, thousands of fish were still converging on his position.

Pop.

The next second, that massive head was blasted to pieces by an Air Bullet.

'My abilities haven't been affected, at least.'

Looking at the motionless remains, Fu Qian nodded.

The reason he hadn't stopped them with a thought like "all the fish stop moving" was partly to test his condition in this special state.

On the other hand, Fu Qian figured that such wish-fulfillment results were inherently twisted.

Relying on that method to eliminate problems would likely just overwrite the original chaos with greater chaos. Forming a perfect closed loop was virtually impossible.

'Wait a minute, there still seems to be an issue.'

A moment later, having just verified the power of his Air Bullet, Fu Qian suddenly found himself engulfed in extreme joy, his mood incomparably bright.

'Is this... the emotional feedback of bloodlust?'

'It's absurdly intense!'

As the thought crossed his mind, the euphoria surged again.

'What a sweet Nightmare indeed!'

The positive emotional feedback gained from any action seemed to be amplified a thousandfold.

He had only killed a fish, yet it delivered the thrill of shattering a star with a single punch.

'In this state, just doing anything at random would probably yield the sense of accomplishment of saving all of humanity, right?'

But he didn't need to be a genius to know he couldn't indulge in this feeling. Otherwise, a single slip could leave him utterly lost, and the outcome would be no better than walking straight through that door.

As he pondered silently, Fu Qian could feel joy and confidence steadily accumulating inside him simply because he was successfully thinking, along with an intense urge to keep thinking just to obtain more of those feelings.

This change was even irreversible.

Fu Qian swiftly made his judgment.

If he tried to suppress it, the very success of that suppression would likely grant him even more euphoria.

It was just like the increase of entropy in an isolated system.

The only thing he could do was maintain a balance, allowing the process to inch forward at the slowest possible speed.

Meanwhile, as he thought, Fu Qian watched helplessly as the door on the distant Lighthouse changed color as well.

'Great. I bet it won't be long before all roads here lead to The Corridor.'

...

"Lotte, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

In the descending dusk, Veil looked at her younger sister and asked with concern.

To her recollection, her sister had been a bit out of it for a while now.

She had thought coming outside and being infected by the lively atmosphere of the crowd would cheer her up, but to her surprise, Lotte had just stopped dead in her tracks, staring off in a particular direction.

Following her sister's gaze as she asked the question, Veil spotted a figure sitting on a distant bench.

The most eye-catching detail was the half-meter-long Iron Cage balanced atop the figure's head.

The cage was visibly heavy, yet the figure beneath it sat perfectly motionless, like an eternal reef braving the wind and waves.

"What is it? Do you know that person?"

Although the getup was a bit bizarre, it wasn't extremely flamboyant by Clamor Festival standards. Logically, it shouldn't have drawn this kind of attention from her sister.

"No."

Seeming to snap out of it at Veil's words, Lotte subconsciously shook her head.

Looking away from the completely motionless figure, she quietly tightened her grip on a bell in her palm.

Both of them were wearing lavish, flamboyant clothing. Veil didn't notice her sister's little gesture, and seeing that Lotte was unwilling to say more, she decided not to press the issue.

"That's good. Let's head on ahead."

With a nod, she took her sister's right hand and pulled her along.

Veil knew her sister's left hand had undergone treatment, but it was still somewhat stiff, and she didn't like people touching it.

"Come on, try to have a little fun while we're out."

Pulling Lotte along, Veil fished out a small bottle and shook it.

"I've got something good for you!"

...

Accompanied by the long, drawn-out blast of a Horn, Clamor erupted across the sky.

The carnival of Dunis finally began on this very night.

Almost instantly, thunderous roars and cheers coupled together into an endless cycle, seeming to detach from their hosts to form an independent concept.

This concept was incredibly infectious. Whether elderly or young, gentlemen or delinquents, everyone was swept up in it without exception, venting their inner emotions to the fullest.

And from a certain point onward, the addition of roars from the Transcendent Tier allowed it to achieve a fundamental Sublimation, truly becoming a Tide of Clamor.

At the same time, the figure on the bench slowly stood up and began walking forward.

His pace was slow and steady, yet it gave off an extremely bizarre vibe. The shift in speed between lifting his foot and planting it back down wildly defied logic.

Not only that, the route he took was incredibly strange.

Even in empty spaces, he navigated as if moving through a maze, constantly changing directions as though dodging invisible obstacles, and even pausing every now and then.

Fortunately, the entranced crowd paid no attention to his odd behavior.

Except for one person.

Just as Fu Qian changed directions for the third time, a figure sprang into motion. Ignoring the massive object rising behind him, the person walked right up to him.

"Mister Lu, I don't know what kind of trouble you're experiencing."

Keeping a safe distance, Ariel spoke frankly.

"But believe me, the Council has everything you desire."

"Even the method for the Sublimation of the Commandment Power upon you."

As a Divine Emissary, he easily sensed the activated Commandment Residue on Fu Qian. From this, he confirmed that the man before him was indeed that member of the Rebirth Club with mysterious motives.

However, Ariel's answer was the crisp ring of a Bell.

Amidst the gunshot that followed, he found he had lost the ability to prevent the bullet from firing.

By the time the ringing stopped and his transcendent power swiftly returned, the silent figure had already lunged forward, crushing a Talisman.

Blasphemy brimming with divinity seeped into his body through the torn flesh.

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