Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was true—keeping good company really did elevate one’s character.

Faced with Frankie’s crisp refusal, Fu Qian wasn’t the least bit offended. In fact, he felt deeply gratified.

In just a few short minutes of contact, his sincerity and efficiency had been perfectly understood and reciprocated. It was a textbook example of setting a new trend.

Meanwhile, the Transparent Skull resting on Frankie’s head proved its softness once again.

The moment they made contact, the skull seemed to come alive, rapidly spreading down from the crown of his head until it completely enveloped his face.

In the blink of an eye, the Fallen Star Clan leader’s appearance turned utterly bizarre.

Faint, bone-like structures surfaced across his flesh. Paired with the indistinct black Turbulence, he looked like an overly three-dimensional X-ray.

As for Madam Xia and the other two, though they were merely spectators, their expressions were extremely solemn.

”Watch closely, Excellency Grimshaw.”

Frankie’s voice rang out, though his eyes remained shut.”What follows might be hard to believe, but I hope you watch it to the end.”

Hmm... why did that sound so familiar?

Although Frankie’s tone was incomparably serious, as the target of this warning, Fu Qian struggled to suppress the urge to mock the clichéd lines.

Of course, this didn’t stop him from readily accepting good advice, standing motionless as he awaited enlightenment.

After all that guidance and cultivation, there was finally a result. How could he miss it?

As Frankie spoke his final word, a distinct change finally swept through the secret room.

The first thing to hit him was a heavy, beast-like panting.

...

The ambient light was clearly brighter, yet the sense of oppression felt even heavier.

Fu Qian silently critiqued the scene unfolding before him.

He was currently observing his surroundings from a tilted perspective. Although still in an enclosed space, he was clearly no longer in the previous Stone Chamber.

Tables, chairs, cabinets, pots, and pans—the atmosphere of daily life was much stronger here. As was the stench of blood.

That was right. Large swathes of this exquisitely decorated and warmly styled room were covered in spattered blood.

On the vase right at the forefront of his vision, the trickling traces of dark red were especially glaring.

As for the source of the blood, that was obvious too.

As his perspective swayed and righted itself, a bloody corpse came into view. Its head and upper torso had been ripped apart, and it lay slumped over the dining table.

From the surviving patches of gray hair, one could tell the victim had been quite elderly.

Looking further down toward the floor, there was another corpse, this one reduced to barely half a body.

Its head, however, was well-preserved, revealing the face of an Old Lady who seemed to have been the wife of the person at the table.

But regardless of which one it was, physical mutations entirely distinct from normal humans were visible on both bodies.

Crimson skin, bizarrely bulging necks, and even fine, fragmented scales.

The next moment, the perspective shifted downward, bringing a pair of blood-soaked hands into view.

That thick, heavy red was the most eye-catching thing in the entire room, aside from the two victims.

...

Entered the house to enforce the law, successfully completed the mission, but got knocked down by the targets’ counterattack?

A storyline rapidly flashed through Fu Qian’s mind.

Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, he could easily determine that the blood on those hands didn’t belong to their owner.

Coupled with the two slightly inhuman corpses, it was easy to recall the law enforcement scenes of the Order Hunters he had seen before.

There was even another point supporting this conclusion: the person whose perspective he was sharing was actually wearing a silver trench coat.

Interesting.

Fu Qian knew he was currently in a hallucination-like scenario.

This was what Frankie was sharing and letting him experience after putting on the Transparent Skull.

As for his true body, he was still standing in that underground secret room. With a single thought, he could freely break out of this vision.

This was probably why Frankie had urged him to watch until the end.

Naturally, Fu Qian wouldn’t end it early. Not only was he watching intently, he was also pondering the origins of this hallucination.

If this was a real event that had happened in the past, then was this Frankie’s perspective?

A reasonable deduction, but in that case, wouldn’t they have to add Order Hunter to this person’s resume?

While he pondered, the perspective moved again. It staggered unsteadily all the way to the door and violently yanked it open.

...

As expected, it was late at night.

Although there was a corridor ahead, the deep darkness surrounding the area was already visible.

Yet the owner of this perspective couldn’t even wait to walk outside. They immediately rushed to a small window, smashed it with a punch, and stuck their head out to look.

The Stars twinkled as if they were right before his eyes—yet his previously eager movements suddenly went stiff.

The Stars?

He could feel the violent psychological shock, and Fu Qian seemed to understand the reason behind it.

If this truly was an Order Hunter carrying out a purge, it seemed the experience from the recent operation had made him eager to gaze upon the source of his faith.

But facts proved that the supreme entity was completely unrecognizable.

At least to Fu Qian, what appeared in the field of vision right now bore absolutely no resemblance to the starry sky of the Law world.

Even though it was just an illusory image, he could still feel that sense of distortion and desolation.

If he really was a member of The Order, it was no surprise that he experienced this sort of system crash.

...

This freeze lasted for nearly a minute. By the time the perspective moved again, the person’s mobility seemed to have recovered somewhat, and their speed was much faster.

And their direction of movement appeared quite clear.

After bursting out the door, what lay outside was a terrifyingly silent street.

Sprinting all the way, a familiar building soon appeared under the starlight.

It really was The Order.

Fu Qian recognized it at a glance; it was the exact West District Church of the Celestial Sphere Cult that he had visited to offer guidance to multiple times.

It was just that at this very moment, the building seemed to be shrouded by a strange power.

As the perspective zoomed in, that towering silhouette was actually decaying rapidly, tottering on the verge of collapse.

Rumble!

But just as the owner of the perspective ignored the danger and charged to the base of that high wall, the frantic footsteps abruptly halted.

Behind the half-open doors of the front hall, a streak of fluid-like flesh and blood flashed by.

Even though it was only a fleeting glimpse, one could vaguely see various arms and legs of unequal lengths attached to it, along with far more than a single head, all converging together like the back of a centipede.

At the same time, wails mixed with joy, agony, and even depravity echoed all the way out from the depths of the building.

The once holy Church seemed to have degenerated into a den of wicked desires in a single instant.

And the final scene in the perspective was the person staggering to their knees, bringing those blood-stained hands back into view.

Yet in this short amount of time, the hands had actually undergone a bizarre mutation as well. Amidst the writhing flesh, it was as if numerous eyes were tearing at the skin, trying to open.

”This is a memory from my past.”

The image dissipated in the next moment, and Frankie’s voice immediately followed.

”My final memory regarding that Nightmare.”