Eldritch Horror Theatre

It melted in his mouth.

Perhaps due to a high natural compatibility, Tyrant’s Fist achieved Insight’s fastest-ever digestion speed.

[Blood Thorn], [Left and Right]

That wasn’t the only anomaly. The moment digestion finished, two streams of information actually appeared.

’Oh?’

Already guessing the reason, Fu Qian read on with great interest.

[Blood Thorn]

[Desecrates the essential nature of blood. When used on a biological target, their blood will gradually stop flowing and crystallize. Upon complete transformation, flames will erupt from within, incinerating all sinful entities other than itself.]

[Left and Right]

[A deformed distortion lingering within dismembered royal remains. Upon activation, the concept of hands becomes chaotic, making related actions difficult to define and control, and making it easier to resonate with the abhorred Abandoned Prison.]’Aha... Abandoned Prison?’

’So this Tyrant really is that Tyrant?’

Compared to rewards from the Warehouse, the information provided by Insight’s harvests was usually sparser.

But those few keywords in the second option alone carried a massive amount of lore.

The ’abhorred Abandoned Prison’ not only pointed directly to his honorific name as the King of the Abandoned Prison, but it also subtly proved once again that the place truly existed.

Furthermore, the mention of being dismembered suggested the previous King of the Abandoned Prison hadn’t met a very pleasant end.

Of course, as the current King of the Abandoned Prison, the situation he faced right now wasn’t exactly ideal either—he had to choose between these two harvests.

After continuous digestion, Insight had finally reached its limit.

...

There was Quiet Reflection and Wandering, Extreme Hunger Infection, Dazzling Visage, plus the newly acquired Misanthropy, which possessed properties akin to an authority.

It seemed he could no longer accommodate two new abilities.

Of course, he could clearly sense that, aside from Misanthropy, the other three abilities could be forgotten, which would allow both new ones to be kept.

But obviously, all three were still very useful to him.

So he had to choose between Blood Thorn and Left and Right.

As for why there were two harvests, triggering this difficult choice?

Fu Qian’s reasoning was very simple—Tyrant’s Fist had been upgraded.

After slaughtering all the Covenanters of the Goddess of Sins in the Wasteland, he had received a special reward called Thorn Twig, which claimed to be able to desecrate anything, and he had ultimately used it on this Ring.

And in Blood Thorn’s description, the concept of desecration did indeed appear, along with the eruption of flames following complete crystallization.

Fu Qian could easily picture the scene of a person having everything except the blood in their body burned away.

’Speaking of which, why does this sound a bit similar to Scarlet Angel again?’

With this sigh of realization, Fu Qian decisively gave up on that skill—despite its undoubtedly stunning visual effects—and chose the other option.

It made it easier to resonate with the Abandoned Prison. As the current King of the Abandoned Prison, how could he possibly pass that up?

Even if the other effects seemed a bit bizarre.

’The concept of hands becomes chaotic?’

His choice made, Fu Qian directly activated the new skill.

...

’Nothing strange seems to be happening?’

Fu Qian laid both hands neatly on the counter, yet nothing happened.

Even when he wriggled his fingers, everything remained perfectly normal. The classic symptom of trying to move the right hand but moving the left instead did not occur.

’So it isn’t such a superficial distortion, after all.’

Fu Qian wasn’t dissatisfied with this. He swiftly proceeded to a deeper test.

Squelch—

The next moment, he stabbed his right index finger directly into the palm of his left hand, leaving a bloody hole.

’Still seems like there’s no problem?’

His current pose looked like he had simply failed to control his strength while making a time-out gesture.

But Fu Qian was absolutely certain that both the pain and the tactile feedback were extremely precise, completely devoid of chaos.

’What about now?’

Fu Qian pulled his index finger out and placed both hands back on the counter.

This time, something special finally happened.

Unbelievably fast, the bloody hole in his left palm healed to its original state, leaving not a single trace behind.

At the exact same time, an identical wound formed on the palm of his right hand with equal efficiency.

’Damage Transfer? The damage to the left and right hands has clearly been reversed.’

However, the timing of its occurrence didn’t seem absolute. It appeared to follow specific rules; at the very least, the wound only began to transfer after he withdrew his right hand.

’It’s starting to look a bit chaotic and distorted, but if it’s only this much, it doesn’t hold much significance for me.’

Still evaluating, Fu Qian looked around and picked up a coin from the counter.

Meanwhile, his injured right hand was already covered by one of the Dark Silver Gloves.

He casually flicked the coin into the air. As it tumbled back down, Fu Qian suddenly extended his left hand, its fingertips striking the coin even though it was already far beyond his arm’s reach.

Clink!

Changing direction instantly, the coin was sent flying. At the same time, it emitted an excessively crisp sound, as if it had collided with metal.

...

’This works too?’

’Just what exactly did the previous King of the Abandoned Prison encounter before his fall?’

Faced with these latest test results, Fu Qian gained a greater understanding of the distortion and chaos mentioned in the new skill.

The sound just now naturally couldn’t have been produced by a normal finger striking it.

And the implication was that, regardless of how it looked, his other hand had actually struck the coin.

Even though that hand physically couldn’t reach it.

By activating this skill, the concepts of the left hand and the right hand had truly undergone a deep-seated chaotic reversal.

This offensive manifestation was far more meaningful to him. With more practice and familiarity, it might just produce miraculous effects in certain situations.

’Besides, judging from the ability’s description, it seems the source of this change doesn’t stem from the Tyrant’s authority, but rather suffered some kind of mutation and distortion?’

’It feels like that entity’s fate wasn’t as simple as mere dismemberment.’

’Could it be that His very existence—or as I usually call it, His fundamental self—had already been reduced to a total mess before that?’

’So much so that even the chopped-off fist could no longer be defined as a left or right hand?’

’If that’s really the case, He might be the most miserable ancient higher entity I’ve come into contact with so far.’

’I really do have an eye for these things. Still, I’m genuinely a bit curious about what happened back then.’

’I wonder if there will be any clues regarding this inside the Abandoned Prison.’

The investigation into the Law had already come to a close. He was just waiting to find the Pope and submit the report; uncovering the mole among the Night Watchers had merely been something he did in passing.

As the newly promoted King of the Abandoned Prison, deep self-exploration would undoubtedly be beneficial in many ways. Fu Qian had always treated it as a primary objective.

After Chief Yuan helped stimulate his inner potential, this proper business had undoubtedly triggered a series of chain reactions.

Not only had more concepts become clear, but he could even form some ideas for his next step in searching for clues—such as finding Old Man Stoss to understand how his Flame of Frenzy came about.

Of course, all of that was for later. Right now, it was break time.

Fu Qian glanced at The Bookstore under the night sky and stretched.