Eldritch Horror Theatre

A long silence fell over the Warehouse.

Fu Qian charitably interpreted this as the awkwardness of a capitalist. He sat steadily in his seat and waited patiently.

[Task Evaluation: None]

[Task Reward: None]

After a long delay, a series of notifications finally began to chime, though the content was so barebones it bordered on shameless.

[Current Event Review cannot be played]

Fu Qian remained unmoving.

[Special Reward: Void Erosion Scepter]

[Special Reward: inspiration +8, current inspiration 99]

Finally, toward the very end, something of substance appeared.No task evaluation, no summary, no regular rewards, and no playable event review.

Most absurdly of all, it hadn’t restored a single point of his SAN Value?

He had lost a full 160 points—he was just one step away from becoming a babbling idiot.

Fu Qian once again verified his guess: this event had truly exceeded the Warehouse’s control.

Shaking his head, he focused his attention on the two special rewards.

These had to be his targeted compensation.

An eight-point increase to his inspiration felt like a strange number. Could 99 already be the maximum value?

Fu Qian looked around, but didn’t sense any particular changes.

Setting that aside, he shifted his attention to the next special reward.

[Name: Void Erosion Scepter]

[Type: Weapon]

[Description: A fragment from the Flaring Ominous Star. By resonating with the main body, it can briefly establish a channel to pour out the infinite energy of the Blazing Entity.]

[Effect 1: Supergravity. Select a target and subject it to a powerful gravitational pull toward you.]

[Effect 2: Void. Form a brief absolute void erosion in a target area. Under its impact, all conceptual structures will be obliterated, including the laws of physics.]

[Note: Power originates from 1-005]

The Rank of this item was likely higher than anything he had acquired before.

Fu Qian examined the reward in his hands.

Its design was exquisite, and its weight was immense.

The most striking feature was the black-hole-like cluster of void erosion at the top of the scepter.

Though it was a state of near-absolute darkness, he could sense endless energy raging within it.

As for the two effects, Supergravity was fine, but Void carried a distinct flavor of absolute annihilation.

In Fu Qian’s eyes, this was absolutely a method that surpassed the Demigod Realm.

Speaking of its power originating from 1-005, did that mean a Warehouse item really had been causing trouble before?

And to compensate him, the Warehouse had repackaged it and given him a launcher?

Fu Qian broke his harvest down into the most straightforward terms.

He wondered if his dear friend Ariel could withstand a blast from this thing.

And as for the entity that initiated a Descent upon him... that all-dispelling light once again surfaced in Fu Qian’s mind.

Regardless, it was an excellent reward. He could see the Warehouse’s sincerity.

Fu Qian nodded. A moment later, he raised his hand and tossed the Void Erosion Scepter toward a massive eyeball.

The item was definitely good, but he still wanted to know who had been messing with him.

As for the killing, he preferred to do that himself.

...

The basketball-sized Starry Sky Prism was clearly under immense pressure.

Faced with a scepter that surpassed the Demigod Rank, it almost seemed to flinch.

But it eventually moved, slowly unfurling to consume the scepter and its dark void erosion bit by bit.

The process was agonizingly slow.

Fu Qian waited with ample patience.

After a long time passed, the translucent eyeball finally enveloped the scepter completely, and the latter began melting away like ice and snow.

Excellent!

Fu Qian stood up and pressed his eye against the opposite side of the Starry Sky Lens.

The bizarre pupil slowly shrank into a needlepoint.

The next moment, an expanse of cold, dead starry sky appeared before Fu Qian’s eyes. Beneath that sky sat a bizarre high platform.

Was that... a person?

Fu Qian keenly noticed a translucent humanoid silhouette sitting on the massive throne atop the platform.

Huh?

At a certain moment, just as Fu Qian was trying to make out the details, he thought he heard a voice. The figure on the throne shifted, and a pair of eyes looked right at him.

...

Huh?

Where was his Prism?

Where did that giant eyeball go?

Back in the Warehouse, Fu Qian straightened up and frowned at the table.

The Starry Sky Prism was gone. All that remained were specks of pulverized debris, slowly dissipating under the Warehouse’s flushing sweep.

He hadn’t seen anything clearly, and even his Hubble Space Telescope equivalent was destroyed?

He had sacrificed a scepter with heaven-defying effects for this!

Fu Qian blinked. Recalling what had just happened, he found the result hard to accept.

Was its digestive capacity limited after all?

It had struggled to swallow the thing, only to explode instantly? He hadn’t even had the chance to get a good look.

It was a Miracle he hadn’t been caught in the blast.

Miracle...

Fu Qian rubbed his temples thoughtfully, vaguely sensing that something was off.

He didn’t feel overly heartbroken about his special reward shattering into slag before he could even warm it in his hands.

The Void Erosion Scepter’s power originated from 1-005, and 1-005 was clearly problematic. He hadn’t had much trust in it to begin with.

What? The Warehouse had already processed it for him?

The place had been infiltrated like a sieve earlier; what made him think it would be foolproof this time?

Regardless, compared to his past tasks, he had suffered a massive loss this time!

Fu Qian sighed, eyeing his past harvests on the table.

Huh?

A moment later, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Bizarre phantom images had inexplicably appeared on almost all the items.

This familiar flavor... was it the final ripples of the Starry Sky Prism?

Had some of its ability remained on him after it exploded?

Fu Qian rapidly pondered the cause.

But even when he used the original, intact version before, it hadn’t been this clear. Was he just naturally gifted?

Because his inspiration was at 99?

An answer instantly sprang to mind.

A trace of the Starry Sky Lens’s effect lingered on him, and with the boost from his max-level inspiration, it allowed him to briefly see these phantom images?

Interesting!

Fu Qian observed for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward and picked up a massive solid silver goblet.

Inside the goblet, a dark red mist—so thick it had practically liquefied—was flowing.

The Mist of the Abyss, the very first trait he had obtained.

After studying it for a few seconds, Fu Qian suddenly did something utterly insane—he tilted the goblet, letting the red mist slowly pour into his palm.

Astonishingly, the moment the red mist touched his palm, an incomprehensible change began to occur.

Not only did it instantly lose its color, but it rapidly dissipated, leaving behind an indescribable presence in his palm that resembled solid shadow.

Within the shadow, specks of starlight could be seen undulating and blinking, as if both time and space were sealed outside of it.

It really was like this! So what he had seen just now wasn’t an illusion?

Fu Qian thought for a moment and grabbed a brilliantly radiant, water-drop-shaped gemstone.

This was Lie, another trait he had previously acquired.

With just a slight exertion of force, the incredibly pure gemstone decayed into slag, layer by layer.

At the same time, a solid shadow similar to the one before, carrying specks of starlight, flowed out from within it.

It really was exactly like this!

Fu Qian stared intently at this miraculous transformation.

There was a reason he had made such an insane move. Just now, while looking around with the Prism’s ripples, he had noticed an anomaly: he had seen nearly identical phantom images from two entirely different traits. They were exactly these starlight-blinking shadows before him.

At this moment, a cluster the size of a walnut had gathered in the palm of Fu Qian’s left hand.

What was this supposed to be? Trait Residue?

Aside from ruining two more Items, there didn’t seem to be any other significance.

Fu Qian considered it, then casually picked up a Golden Cup.

On one side of the cup was a bullet hole.

This was the Golden Cup that had a hidden effect last time.

After he damaged it with a gun, thanks to the Warehouse’s influence, its contents shouldn’t have entirely leaked out.

As he squeezed his hand, the cup rapidly began to deform and rot.

Transparent droplets rippling with waves slowly dripped from the cup. The moment they touched Fu Qian’s palm, they similarly transformed into solid shadow, causing the cluster to expand a little more.

[Type: Trait]

And just as the Golden Cup was about to be completely pulverized, it seemed to reach some critical threshold, and a new notification appeared.

[Upon fusion, the Demigod Form will solidify into the Original Sin Sage]