Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What did you do!”

Though that ripple swam incredibly slowly, there came a moment when Fu Qian felt the object in his hand grow prickly.

The smooth cover of the Golden Codex was rapidly transforming into a series of spiked rings. It even began struggling with tremendous force, its ”living” attribute manifesting like never before.

Amid Sha Ming’s existential roar of disbelief, Fu Qian clearly realized that the effect of Homecoming was now available.

Even considering that Red Moon had been rather quiet lately, Fu Qian prioritized taking off his mask.

”Heheh... Not bad at all.”

As the scenery abruptly shifted, a string of delighted laughter followed him.

Having stayed to watch the show until the very end, Patches seemed incredibly satisfied with the tumultuous conclusion.

”But how could someone as interesting as you choose to do such boring work?”

It was accompanied by an underlying pity over casting a pearl into darkness.”Take a guess. Heheh...”

Fu Qian replied with an identical style of laughter.

”No wonder they say catching a big fish makes it easy to lose your way home...”

In the next moment, he was sitting at a familiar desk. Unable to hear Patches’ voice anymore, Fu Qian suppressed the thrashing force in his hand and silently agreed with that particular piece of life experience.

...

Turning gold into copper—he had actually managed to accomplish this legendary feat.

Right now, there was absolutely no trace of the Golden Codex in Fu Qian’s hands.

In its place was a fish formed entirely of interlocking, ring-sized copper loops.

In his grip, it thrashed vigorously like a real, living fish.

That was right. It shared the exact same shape as one of the three Sacred Relics of the Fallen Star Clan, which had appeared during the mission where he encountered the Nightmare Proxy.

Of course, there were differences. For one, the copper loops were visibly damaged and incomplete.

Furthermore, its surface was dotted with streaks of crimson, looking as though it were bleeding from those very imperfections.

Naturally, that was only an illusion. In reality, it was his own blood.

The reason he had successfully brought this thing back was naturally due to the incredible effect of the Ring. The Record of True Transcription had been forcibly distorted, thereby nullifying its rules.

And fading alongside those rules were Excellency Patches’ deceptive methods.

The end result was that the accumulated trauma across his entire body was now erupting all at once.

”Miserable” was far too simple a word to describe the scene.

That ragdoll was clearly extraordinary, making him deeply suspect that it had a way to utilize the Law to a certain degree, much like Sha Ming.

Coupled with its decisive and brutal methods, Fu Qian didn’t even need to look to know that his skull was still cracked open.

The rest of his body was in an even worse, fragmented state. Missing limbs aside, more than one piece of equipment stored within his flesh had actually fallen out.

The only comforting thought was that the damage had only erupted after he returned here, meaning he could still pick them back up.

Moreover, despite the intense visual shock of his condition, this was not his most pressing issue.

He was a flesh expert, after all; this was hardly his first time enduring this level of damage.

The key problem was that the fish in his grip remained highly unstable—even here inside the Warehouse.

...

Its thrashing was only superficial; the entity was desperately trying to break free from its ”fish” state.

Fu Qian was acutely aware of this, even sensing a rapidly accumulating hostility from the process.

To be honest, this resistance did not surprise him much.

The fact that the Ring had successfully broken the deadlock to this extent was already a pleasant surprise; expecting more would be overly demanding.

In Fu Qian’s original plan, if he managed to bring it back to the Warehouse, the dimension itself might have helped suppress the object a bit.

Unfortunately, the dimension—so heavily despised by Brother Sanxun—showed no intention of clearing its name right now. It remained completely unresponsive.

Figuring out how to handle this thing had suddenly become quite the headache.

If he just tossed it aside and ignored it, there was no telling what kind of chaotic amusement might ensue.

Not to mention that it had clearly locked onto him with absolute hostility—

Tossing it aside, Fu Qian really did stop paying attention to the fish. Instead, he groped around the floor and picked up a bloodstained cylinder.

...

Flesh of Claudora. He had made a special trip back to the Academy just to retrieve this experimental material, so how could he forget to inspect it?

In truth, the fact that it had been preserved at all was quite reassuring.

After all, theoretically speaking, there were far too many threats capable of influencing it, such as targets also classified as ”bonds.”

Click—

With a crisp sound, the cylinder slid open to the side, revealing the contents within.

Both flourishing and decaying.

His initial decision to do this appeared to have been correct.

This mass of Divine Flesh, capable of fusing with everything in the Transcendent Tier, had truly changed after this trip to the Volcano.

Fine as hair, swirling, whirlpool-like patterns were growing out from the flesh at the bottom, intricately nesting together to form a cohesive whole.

Compared to that tree, this was undoubtedly much closer to the scene he had witnessed at the Far End of the Stars.

Without a doubt, this served as minor proof for his earlier hypothesis.

Even though it only looked like a model and carried no real power.

There was even one more detail proving it wasn’t just a coincidence—the patterns were withering.

Wilting just like a real plant and scattering into ash.

It was the exact same phenomenon he had observed at the Far End of the Stars.

So the Warehouse hadn’t actually done nothing?

It was just that its power was rather miniature, able to handle this kind of small model but completely helpless against a plagiarized academic work?

Shaking his head, Fu Qian reached out and snatched the fish as it tried to ram into him.

Compared to just moments ago, the damage on its copper loops seemed to have worsened, making its state even more unstable.

But regardless, the concept of ”fish” was still binding it. Aside from swimming, it was restricted to merely ramming him with its head.

This was only temporary, however. The damage would soon worsen, giving it access to even more methods of retaliation...

It didn’t matter though. How did the saying go again? ”I want to eat fish.”

Fu Qian’s recently mended chest cavity exaggeratedly split open to both sides once again.

Seeming to sense the danger, the fish in his hand began to struggle frantically, its copper loops shredding one by one.

Unfortunately, freedom was just a bit too far away. Guided by his iron-vise of an arm, it was ultimately swallowed in a single ”bite.”

...

[Misanthropy]

[Becomes the essential symbol of the authority of the False Law.

Supreme and inviolable, the Law is the ultimate manifestation of order, possessing a primal instinct to purify all things.

During the long years after this authority vanished, the remaining void tore at the entire world to fill itself, forging forms of power with similar appearances.

However, these are ultimately false constructs. Upon the return of the true Law, they should no longer hold any meaning.

You are now their meaning.]