Eldritch Horror Theatre

Those short five seconds had ultimately produced a few side effects.

Looking at Young Master Qin, Fu Qian couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Just yesterday, relying on the Five-Second Reverse Za Warudo, he had dodged Yasui Tokiyuki's Longevity Equal to Heaven and Earth.

He had originally estimated that, despite his unstable condition at the time, pulling back his consciousness to the absolute limit should have kept Young Master Qin and the others from being caught in the crossfire.

Yet just a moment ago, Tan Ying's slightly abnormal behavior had caught a sliver of his attention.

And now, Young Master Qin was confirming that suspicion.

Something had affected them after all.

"Xiao Qian, tell me honestly. Are you involved in something dangerous?"

Qin Mingze obviously had no idea what Fu Qian was thinking. After exchanging pleasantries, his expression had quickly shifted to dead seriousness.

Fu Qian gave him a curious look.

"If I had a specific guess, I would've found a way to confirm it by now."

Young Master Qin snorted.

"I just have this feeling. You aren't secretly maintaining world peace while pretending to be an unemployed drifter, are you?"

"Spot on."

Fu Qian nodded without missing a beat.

"Keep it a secret for me. I wouldn't tell just anyone."

Ugh.

Faced with this kind of attitude, even someone as capable as Young Master Qin was left utterly helpless.

He knew perfectly well that if this guy didn't want to share something, that information was practically locked behind an Antimeme.

"Relax. Rein in that wild imagination of yours."

Watching Qin Mingze scratch his head in frustration, Fu Qian offered the casual advice and pushed a tray across the table.

"Here, have a cup of happy water."

"Why did you order so much?"

Qin Mingze stared at the two massive cups of cola in front of him, clearly puzzled.

"It's already ordered. What you need to worry about is which one to pick."

Fu Qian's tone remained entirely flat as he pointed to them in turn.

"Do you want this century-old legacy, the classic-flavored, sugar-overloaded health killer? Or this technological marvel with a slightly inferior but unique taste, balancing both health and happiness?"

In the end, it's just regular or sugar-free. Why make it sound so dramatic?

Faced with this grand explanation, Qin Mingze couldn't help but complain inwardly.

"Either one is fine."

"Then just pick one."

Fu Qian's smile didn't fade.

"You're acting a bit weird today..."

Unable to decline, Qin Mingze shook his head helplessly and reached out for a cup.

However, his casually extended hand inexplicably slowed down the closer it got to the target.

Faced with the two cups of cola, the simple act of making a choice seemed to cause him incomprehensible distress.

Even his subconscious urge to just abandon the decision was rapidly extinguished by some indescribable driving force.

For a moment, he actually couldn't tear his eyes away from the condensation-covered exterior of the cups.

"No rush."

Meanwhile, Fu Qian had already leaned back in his chair, picking up his own cup to take a sip.

What nearly broke Young Master Qin's mind was that Fu Qian's cup was actually a glittering Golden Cup he had never seen before, entirely devoid of any recognizable logos.

Did they even make cola cups like this?

Young Master Qin's deep confusion was soon washed away by the urgent compulsion to make his choice.

...

Of course there were no cola cups like that; it was the crystallized wisdom of the Holy Grail Cult.

Shortly after Young Master Qin had sat down, Fu Qian had casually activated Lucid Dream.

His habit of constantly pondering the 'why' of things was a vice he could never break.

Any minute hidden danger had to be brought to justice.

Making Young Master Qin choose a cola wasn't some sick prank, either; it was because Fu Qian had finally confirmed the answer.

He knew exactly where the problem with those five seconds lay.

At the time, he had repeatedly checked his own condition and even focused his mind in advance. There were no issues with that.

But one unexpected factor had only revealed itself later: the divine distortion radiating from Yasui Tokiyuki.

Because Fu Qian had forcibly elevated his own Rank, the King of Ye Island's proudest technique truly hadn't taken effect.

But it was a Deity-level move after all. When it followed him into self-isolation, it still existed.

And during those five seconds of The World, it might have unleashed a bizarre effect.

After noticing the anomaly just now, Fu Qian had tried opening the dreamscape, primarily to examine the details as a Sovereign.

To his pleasant surprise, after facing his inner self, even though he wasn't truly at the Divine Emissary Level, Fu Qian discovered that his Deity Level Insight seemed to manifest within the Lucid Dream as well.

This allowed him to pinpoint what was wrong deep within Young Master Qin's will without much effort.

It was an extremely faint trace of a paradoxical thought process, or an obsession that could not be logically deconstructed.

Because of its clearly superior Rank, however, this deformed core acted like a vortex, warping his will and behavior.

The earlier situation with Tan Ying was likely the exact same thing.

As for the specific cause, working it out retroactively wasn't difficult.

Fu Qian didn't think Yasui Tokiyuki's technique could defy him; the key lay in its independence.

During those five seconds, his main consciousness had essentially completely sealed itself off.

Under those circumstances, it was possible that another will—one that amounted to nothing more than a speck of dust—had become slightly active.

Of course, it had still completely complied with his will; it didn't want Young Master Qin and the others to hear any sounds either.

But it might have radiated that intent outward by establishing a connection with them.

Simply put, it was like holding a megaphone and screaming, "Listen up! Do not listen to my voice!"

And obviously, these victims had absolutely no resistance against such unhinged behavior from a higher will.

Even though it seemed like only a sliver of influence, over time, it would probably manifest as some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Or perhaps that was how OCD started in the first place? From the occasional brain spasms of certain Higher Existences?

Amid his whimsical thoughts, Fu Qian felt he had finally understood the madness of looking directly at a Deity from a completely different angle.

Of course, the most important thing right now was saving these victims and sparing them from OCD.

Fortunately, that wasn't a problem at all.

"Have you made a choice?"

Looking at Qin Mingze's frozen expression, Fu Qian offered a slight prompt.

Exactly. The condition to dispel this dreamscape was for Young Master Qin to choose either cup of cola.

Which one didn't matter. What mattered was making the choice itself.

Using his increasingly sharp Insight, Fu Qian had attempted to link that paradox to the colas.

He made the paradox correspond to the mutual negation between the two choices.

Young Master Qin and the others weren't just observation subjects.

Using Rank suppression to resolve Rank suppression wasn't a perfect method; their inner strength had to be stimulated.

"I need to think this through."

He rarely faced such situations, but right now, Young Master Qin demonstrated considerable resilience, pursing his lips as he stared hard at the two cups.

"This one."

After a lengthy deliberation, he finally made his choice—with difficulty, but firmly.

It's so good to be young!

Fu Qian sighed without surprise.

As the dreamscape shattered, he pushed the already-purchased health killer over.

After eagerly grabbing it and taking a deep gulp, Young Master Qin looked indescribably relieved.

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