Eldritch Horror Theatre

"What was that just now..."

Inside The Bookstore, Serana clutched the sphere, her expression blank and her mind seemingly short-circuiting.

"Your Progenitor."

Fu Qian didn't even look up, entirely focused on examining his left arm.

The moment he broke free from that place, his flesh had regained some of its vitality. Pink granulations were already sprouting from the wound.

Even so, it would take quite some time to fully recover.

"I know it's the Progenitor, but why was she the only one there?"

Serana's condition wasn't much better. The wound on her back was still a bloody mess.

However, she clearly wasn't in the mood to care about her injuries. At Fu Qian's response, she muttered softly to herself.

"So you admit that really was your Progenitor?"

...

At Fu Qian's ruthless reminder, Serana stood frozen in place for a full five seconds.

Ultimately, drawing on a will tempered over centuries, she steadied her mind and accepted reality.

"That's right. Although it was incredibly unexpected, everything we saw confirms it was a remnant image of the Progenitor."

Taking a deep breath, Serana spoke slowly.

Admitting this wasn't easy. Unfortunately, Fu Qian seemed completely indifferent to her internal struggle; he had already moved behind the counter.

"So it comes back to the same question. The Progenitor obviously went to meet someone, so why was she the only one in the room? And yet she was talking to someone."

Serana was not one to give up so easily. She immediately pressed the issue, refusing to let it go.

Very good. Very persistent.

Fu Qian gave her an appreciative look and gestured for her to take a seat.

The only problem was that true persistence meant racking one's own brain for the answer, rather than relentlessly pestering someone else—though he actually did have an explanation in mind.

"Don't be so rigid. That was a future Divine Entity."

"And?"

Serana couldn't quite follow his train of thought.

"Would such a chosen one be limited by mere dimensions?"

Fu Qian pointed at Serana, and then at himself.

"Are you saying the Progenitor discovered us early on and deliberately found an opportunity to interact with us?"

Serana finally grasped his meaning, but this unorthodox interpretation filled her with a faint sense of dread.

"Personally, I feel that she's essentially just an afterimage within the Ancient Recollection. At the very least, I couldn't sense the Progenitor's aura from her. Could such an existence really pull that off?"

She was clearly taking this seriously and quickly offered a counterargument.

"Furthermore, if the Progenitor had spotted us early on, why go through all that trouble? Why specifically close the door?"

"Not bad. You're finally willing to use your brain."

Faced with this well-reasoned rebuttal, Fu Qian looked deeply gratified.

"But we can broaden our perspective even further. That last question did indeed cross dimensions, but it wasn't necessarily directed at us."

"Is it possible that the question was aimed at another version of herself?"

Watching Serana's eyes light up, Fu Qian continued.

"Annalise sealed away her pre-ascension self through special means. Setting her exact motives aside, after becoming your Progenitor, wouldn't she occasionally look back at her once naive, foolish self to reminisce about her past hesitations?"

"And stuck repeating the very day she learned she was the reincarnation of a Divine Entity, wouldn't Annalise feel somewhat lost about the future?"

"Would a desire to communicate arise between these two versions of her?"

"So she was talking to her ascended self... That does make more sense. A Divine Entity would certainly have a way to answer her, especially since the number of people who even know this thing exists is incredibly small..."

Serana let out a long sigh, voicing her agreement with Fu Qian's speculation.

"Unfortunately, it looks like she hasn't received a response in a very long time,"

Fu Qian added.

"Mm."

Serana nodded. Remembering Annalise's final sigh, she felt she had a deeper understanding of the emotion behind it.

However, this time was slightly different. The man before her ignoring her objections and forcing the door open could certainly be considered a response of sorts.

"Regardless, thank you very much. Without your help this time, I imagine it would have been very difficult to gain anything."

Serana knew how to appreciate a favor. Though she might not have liked the outcome, she still offered her earnest thanks.

"I'll have to trouble Mister Fang to continue keeping this safe for me."

She even handed over the Ancient Reminiscence, showing no intention of using this chance to take it back.

"I'll teach you the complete method to break free from it in a moment."

"An effortless favor."

Fu Qian accepted it without hesitation, his words carrying a double meaning.

The item was genuinely intriguing; he didn't mind holding onto it a little longer.

Moreover, he felt he fully deserved Serana's gratitude.

Although luck had played a part, if he hadn't tagged along, this straightforward vampire would likely have needed another eighty to a hundred years of trial and error to uncover the gossip between the Progenitor and the First Blood Clan.

...

Dusk had already fallen, and Serana soon took her leave.

Fading into the darkness, her silhouette looked even more desolate than the last time.

Sometimes, knowing the truth wasn't necessarily a good thing.

But for Fu Qian, even though they hadn't found any concrete information on the Red Moon, witnessing the rise of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan was already well worth the price of admission.

First, it appeared that the Moon God had already met with some mishap even before that Long Night. The reasons behind it were well worth investigating.

At the same time, where did the divine oracle regarding Annalise come from?

Convincing a group of devout believers of something like that was no easy feat.

The implications behind all of this truly left one's imagination running wild!

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian went upstairs and changed clothes.

Judging by his recovery speed, he would be playing the one-armed swordsman for a little while longer. There was no need to rush back and scare Young Master Qin and the others just yet.

Instead, continuing his previous plan to go scare Eldest Miss Wen was undoubtedly a highly appropriate choice.

Tossing the Ancient Reminiscence into the Warehouse and securing the Crystallized Teardrop, Fu Qian left The Bookstore.

...

"What happened to you..."

A short time later, looking at Fu Qian and his empty, dangling sleeve, Wen Li looked as if she were questioning reality itself.

Due to her special identification mechanism, she didn't doubt his identity at all.

And that was precisely why she was so shocked.

Whether it was Jiang En or Taylor, how could they possibly have inflicted such an injury on Mister Fu!

To her knowledge, Fu Qian had simply gone out that morning to stir up trouble as Dayun Mingwang before returning. It was impossible not to link the two events.

"A trivial matter. I merely lost an arm, but Serana had her precious faith utterly shattered!"

Fu Qian spoke with profound gravity, glancing down.

With brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and various masks spread out, she was actually in the middle of replicating Dayun Mingwang's mask.

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