Eldritch Horror Theatre

There was a certain beauty to this sudden burst of inspiration.

Watching the brain react violently to the sudden disturbance, Fu Qian clicked his tongue in admiration, refusing to miss a single detail.

Madam Sissi, of course, did not seem to share the sentiment.

She stumbled back several steps. Having already expressed her absolute disgust moments ago, she now looked as if she had completely run out of adjectives.

At the same time, however, she maintained a final shred of stubbornness. Despite looking like she was about to throw up, she chose to stare straight ahead rather than look away.

’Not bad!’

Noticing this, Fu Qian did not withhold his silent praise.

She was an ordinary person, but with this kind of mental fortitude, if she ever entered the transcendent world, she would probably go mad very quickly.

Fortunately, whether because it was an illusion or not, the bizarre entity in front of them hadn’t exerted any direct mental influence yet.

”Is this thing alive? Is this really your so-called infinitely growing brain?”Madam Sissi finally recovered her ability to speak.

And as she spoke, the brain swelled slightly larger than before, stretching certain areas entirely out of shape.

”Close enough,”

Fu Qian said casually.

”But strictly speaking, it’s actually ’these’ things that are alive.”

’These?’

Seemingly infected by Fu Qian’s unwavering confidence, Madam Sissi’s emotions settled slightly, though she still failed to grasp his meaning.

Fortunately, she got her answer the very next second.

Stretched to its absolute limit, the brain could finally hold out no longer. Amidst its violent convulsions, a fissure tore open across its surface.

A seemingly familiar lump of flesh squeezed out of the crack bit by bit.

’So that thing went inside? Were those lumps what was churning inside the brain just now?’

’The question was, how did they get in there?’

Instantly realizing the truth, Madam Sissi watched helplessly as the fallen lump of flesh let out a shrill, piercing scream.

As for her final question, it was also quickly answered.

The screaming lump of flesh reacted exactly as it had before. It scrambled frantically toward the giant brain, madly squishing and burrowing against the surface as it tried to force its way back inside.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem quite that easy—and this was only the beginning.

Barely a moment after the first fissure appeared, the surface of the giant brain became completely riddled with holes, and identical lumps of flesh began raining down from it.

Their reactions were identical without exception. The moment they hit the ground, they shrieked, thrashed, and swarmed around the brain, desperate to crawl back inside.

”Ugh—”

Madam Sissi, who had been on the verge of vomiting earlier, finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. Slapping a hand over her mouth, she bolted to the side.

”...Setting aside how this was even done, I’m a bit curious. What exactly is the existence of this thing supposed to represent?”

After a brief moment of recovery, the resilient woman returned, making no effort to hide her utter revulsion.

’Represent what?’

Faced with a question that belonged in the realm of artistic appreciation, Fu Qian pondered for a moment.

”The inclusivity of thought and deep communication?”

In a purely physical sense, of course.

...

Fu Qian’s answer left Madam Sissi speechless once again.

The scene playing out before them was simply too grotesque, but regardless, their initial question had been answered.

”So the head you’re looking for is right here. What are you going to do next?”

”Good question.”

Fu Qian showed considerable appreciation for Madam Sissi’s ability to maintain her logical reasoning despite the situation.

”The situation seems fairly clear. For some unknown reason, the mind of this brain’s owner continued to grow, attracting the people below to seek deep communication with him at all costs.”

”Their desires were so intense that their heads detached from their bodies, flocking here to join him, unwilling to be parted for even a second.”

”So the purpose of coming here is to extract this enticing thought from the brain.”

While his phrasing was a bit eccentric, this was genuinely Fu Qian’s assessment.

So far, this peculiar illusion hadn’t presented any overly complex elements, and its underlying intent was quite obvious.

At the same time, crucially, as the grotesque mutation before them intensified, he could feel their current space becoming unstable.

So no matter how you looked at it, the giant brain was the core of this illusion.

And if the mastermind behind this wanted to hide something in here, it was almost certainly right in front of them.

Heh.

Unfortunately, Madam Sissi did not look entirely convinced.

”I can tell they’re quite passionate... but I am curious about how you plan to extract it. Are you going to burrow inside as well?”

’Burrow inside?’

Fu Qian said nothing more, simply taking a step forward.

The swollen brain seemed to block sensory perception, so its exact internal structure was not entirely clear.

But if something was truly hidden inside, the simplest method was simply to slice it to pieces and see what was left.

The crux of the problem, however, was that judging by the impact the brain and those lumps of flesh were having on the illusion, everything before them would likely shatter and disappear before he could even finish cutting it apart.

But if he didn’t do that, was he really supposed to find an opening and crawl inside like those lumps of flesh?

The sheer revulsion was one thing, but it felt like the illusion still wouldn’t hold up long enough for that anyway.

’A fragile treasure. This is slightly tricky!’

...

’Let’s look at this from another angle. If I were the one who set all this up, after using the previous methods to filter out a transcendent, how would I want them to retrieve the secret left inside here?’

’Its fragility means brute force is off the table to a certain extent. In other words, the imagined Fated individual might need to use their brain a little.’

’A brain in the context of the transcendent world... a Psychic Type?’

Listening to the tide of chaotic shrieks echoing in his ears—which faintly wove into a bizarre series of ravings—Fu Qian thought back to the changes that occurred after putting on the helmet, and suddenly realized something.

’So before, the process was fully automatic, and now it’s manual?’

’Do these sounds need to be guided and consolidated into meaningful information?’

’So that voice at the very beginning was even a hint!’

He quickly formed a theory, but unfortunately, as Fu Qian saw it, this was of little help to his current predicament. The reason was very simple—he wasn’t a Psychic Type.

So if his guess was correct, theoretically speaking, he was exactly who was meant to be filtered out.

’That conclusion really isn’t too friendly... wait a minute. Who says I don’t have Psychic Type methods?’

The next moment, Fu Qian did indeed suddenly realize something.

There was a reward he had never used since acquiring it, and according to its description, one of its core functions was a massive Mental Shock.

Gospel Shockwave.

Although the force might be a bit too intense, making it hard to say if the illusion could be maintained, it was a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive anyway.

Not to mention he had already expressed his willingness to spread the gospel on their behalf. Right now was a perfect opportunity.

With that in mind, Fu Qian hesitated no longer. He raised his hand and pointed straight at the chaotic mass.

”Insolent monster, reveal your true form at once!”

Accompanied by his thunderous roar, an invisible shockwave of far greater intensity slammed mercilessly into the giant brain.