Eldritch Horror Theatre

What a familiar scene.

The anomaly above Wen Li’s head looked almost like a reappearance of the King of the Abandoned Prison’s Calamity Eyes.

Unfortunately, that superficial resemblance masked a fundamental difference in nature.

Fu Qian knew perfectly well it wasn’t a manifestation of his authority.

The facts proved his earlier intuition right: the Nightmare Corridor’s status was ridiculously high.

After it corrupted him through his transformation into the Nightmare Worm, even his authority had been completely blocked out.

As for the thing hovering in front of him now, Fu Qian had a pretty good guess.

”Just a little trick. My current state is a bit special,” he said.

”So that’s how it is...”

With that answer, Wen Li’s brows instantly relaxed.Although her mind was a bit sluggish within the dream, she was sharp enough to grasp the underlying meaning behind his words.

For a true Divine Being like Mr. Fu, every action could easily impact the surroundings.

If his emotional state was unstable, rashly trying to sense it could end poorly for her.

And considering his injuries, that possibility was quite high.

He had noticed her arrival, proactively sealed off that aspect of himself, and guided her attention away.

It was perfectly logical.

After all, with Mr. Fu’s perception, noticing her in advance was entirely normal.

Having seamlessly convinced herself, Wen Li covered her mouth and chuckled, her doubts entirely dispelled.

”As expected, the people of Shangjing are still overly optimistic. With this trick alone, there is no way any newly emerged genius could challenge Dayun Mingwang...”

After that bit of joking, she made no effort to hide her curiosity.

”By the way, what kind of trick is it? I’ve never seen Mr. Fu use it before.”

Just as he expected.

At this moment, Fu Qian was staring at the top of her head, a certain guess in his mind confirmed.

As Eldest Miss Wen’s cognitive dissonance vanished, the speed at which the Illusory Eye opened rapidly slowed, and it even began to close in reverse.

It wasn’t his authority, but a prompt from the Warehouse regarding the stability of the dream.

”It’s simple. I advanced to Tier 2.”

Facing Wen Li’s question, Fu Qian gave a slight nod and casually replied.

...

In that instant, as Wen Li processed the information, the eye that had been on the verge of closing snapped open again, faster than before.

”You... You are already at Tier 2?”

Her actual eyes did the same, perfectly illustrating what it meant to be dumbfounded.

It was indeed an indicator of her wakefulness. The Warehouse had really put some thought into this.

Praising it inwardly, Fu Qian was highly satisfied with the test results.

The reason he revealed the information about Tier 2 wasn’t to make Eldest Miss Wen change her honorifics, of course; he just wanted to give her a fright.

As a rising star in the transcendent realm and someone with extensive connections, Wen Li clearly understood how difficult it was to advance beyond the Demigod Realm.

Under this unbelievable shock, the eye above her head opened at an even faster rate.

He could even sense the bizarre changes rippling through their surroundings as a result.

Faced with something that so excessively defied her understanding, Eldest Miss Wen’s suspicion regarding her own situation was skyrocketing.

In other words, she was realizing she was in a dream, and beginning the transition toward waking up.

And once she woke up, the dream built around her would undoubtedly dissipate in an instant.

As an evil god, he would lose an opportunity to wreak havoc on the human world.

Although there were no detailed mission guidelines, the Warehouse was still providing whatever assistance it could.

For example, to help him gauge his efforts appropriately, it had manifested the instability of the dream.

”I barely qualify in terms of rank, but my actual strength is far from it.”

Fu Qian didn’t let this good intention go to waste. Seeing the eye above Eldest Miss Wen’s head about to bulge into a perfect sphere, he casually added the clarification.

...

The Illusory Eye flickered, and its opening speed finally slowed down.

The shock on Wen Li’s face followed suit.

”But... it’s only been a few months!”

Although it still left her sighing, a Divine Emissary who had merely touched the threshold and was still lacking was slightly easier to accept than a rocket-like ascent to Tier 2—a legendary existence just beneath a Deity sitting right in front of her in the flesh.

Fu Qian’s supplementary explanation successfully put the brakes on her existential crisis.

Of course, her emotions were still turbulent. In fact, fueled by this agitation, her mind worked a little faster.

”Was this why Chief Yuan left earlier?”

”You saw an opportunity for advancement and asked her for help?”

She wasn’t exactly wrong, even if Chief Yuan hadn’t been entirely clear on her own role.

Fu Qian gave a slight nod, acknowledging Wen Li’s guess.

”Each generation produces new talents. You young people are progressing so rapidly; how could this seat dare to slack off?”

That is a completely different concept, okay...

Even though she was familiar with Fu Qian’s style, Eldest Miss Wen still couldn’t suppress the urge to complain inwardly.

Although Chief Yuan had evaluated her own progression speed as inhuman, advancing beyond the Demigod Realm was completely different from climbing the low and mid-tiers. She could only conclude that he truly lived up to his reputation as Mr. Fu!

...

Very good.

Fu Qian could see Wen Li’s emotions clearly and didn’t rush to soothe her further.

Shock was one thing, but disbelief was another. At this moment, the Illusory Eye above Wen Li’s head was slowly closing.

This meant that despite her shock, she had somewhat accepted the reality that he possessed the rank of a Divine Emissary.

And this wasn’t the only change.

Along with the recent emotional fluctuations, Fu Qian felt his control over this dream increase.

As a Dream Dominator who had poisoned the minds of countless innocents, he was highly sensitive to this.

Though he was far from being able to govern the dream completely, both the surrounding objects and the boundaries of the dreamscape had become much clearer to him.

It seemed that making deep contact with a dreamwalker while keeping the dream intact allowed his Imprint to gradually erode it, thereby increasing his control.

No matter how you looked at it, this change was a solid foundation for breaking through the barrier. At the very least, the dream’s ability to withstand disruption would significantly improve.

Silently savoring the sensations in his heart, Fu Qian recognized the logic behind this behavior that perfectly aligned with an evil god’s style.

Meanwhile, Wen Li, having finally resisted the urge to complain, actually looked much livelier.

”I’m glad to see that Mr. Fu can still make jokes. They say that as one’s rank continues to rise, their humanity gradually becomes insignificant...”

Was she actually in a good mood because of this?

Fu Qian blinked.

Theoretically, he should keep up the good work, but...

”Eve.”

The next moment, he spat out the name while flashing a bizarre smile.

Gasp!

Once she realized what he had said, Wen Li—whose emotions had just settled from the shock and who had built up quite a high resistance to Mental Shocks—instantly stiffened, her facial features freezing.

In a waking state, it might not have mattered much, but right now, while immersed in a dream, this name clearly triggered a massive, subconscious impact.

In his field of vision, the Illusory Eye that had been gradually closing snapped open to its absolute limit in an instant, and then shattered along with everything around it.

It truly lived up to the will that had resonated in her heart for years; Ms. Eve’s name was as effective as a safeword.

Faced with such excellent results, Fu Qian marveled inwardly but made no move until a certain familiar scene emerged before his eyes.

Before acting as an evil god, he might as well see an old friend first.

Brother Persuader’s performance today was a bit too low-profile.