Eldritch Horror Theatre

Persistence didn’t mean stupidity—especially not for a stream-of-consciousness type who couldn’t even remember his own name yet remained utterly confident he could find his wife.

With a character like this, honesty was crucial.

The phrase mentioned earlier, knowing people and assigning them well, was absolutely more than just empty talk.

That was why, during his brief interaction with the Wanderer—pointing him toward La Nina and turning him into a mission tool—Fu Qian made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that he was using him.

As it turned out, the results were ideal.

The Wanderer Knight, already operating with little logical thought, intuitively sensed this frankness, and the scales finally tipped toward mutual cooperation.

Taking off his hood just now was likely a demonstration of that attitude.

And Fu Qian finally got a look at his full face.

He looked a bit abstract—not in his facial features, but in the distinctly inhuman aura radiating from him.

Though he still looked incredibly impatient.”So, do you have any idea where to find her?”

The Wanderer asked the moment he pulled off his hood.

”First, she can be found right here. Second, this place isn’t very large, and there’s a frozen sea just outside. Third, she should be cleverly hidden away somewhere right now.”

Fu Qian had no complaints about this, immediately playing along.

”And so far, I don’t have any clues. I need you to feel out any possible connections, using your sensitivity to a woman’s scent.”

Freely admitting his lack of progress, Fu Qian offered a suggestion.

”I understand.”

The Wanderer Knight listened carefully and actually said nothing more.

......

As a Knight, the Wanderer’s relationship with Virgo La Nina was bound to be far more intimate than his own.

So what was more worth utilizing than this natural talent combined with his persistence?

Moreover, this was an undeniable open scheme.

There was no deception, and no need to mislead; he just had to lay the situation out in front of him.

You want to find your wife, and the only still-living female in this place, aside from the one you just ruled out, is most likely the one in hiding.

My motives are indeed ambiguous, but you likely aren’t my match and can’t eliminate the threat beforehand. You can choose what to do next yourself.

It seemed the Wanderer Knight had quickly made his choice.

He didn’t even take another step outward. The next moment, he slowly raised his hand, and the Death Claw that had flashed earlier reappeared, pressing against his exposed head.

At the same time, he closed his eyes, looking exactly like The Thinker whose brain had entered an overclocked state.

Crack—

Only, this method of overclocking seemed a bit too physical.

He held the pose for barely two seconds before a crisp crunch rang out. The Death Claw completely crushed the Wanderer’s entire head, even sending fluids splattering outward.

Sure enough, he wasn’t that easy to kill.

Standing quietly to the side without interrupting, Fu Qian watched the scene unfold, feeling a momentary sense of admiration as he compared it to his own changes.

The Wanderer’s ”corpse” didn’t fall. Quite the contrary—just like the body that had nearly been pulverized earlier, even a vital spot like his head was rapidly healing.

At the same time, the twisted violence transmitting into the surroundings instantly thickened once more, including upon himself.

Clearly, this agony was being broadcast through Pain Radiation once more.

As someone who also possessed a certain mastery over radiation techniques, Fu Qian could faintly sense that, aside from the intensity being far more exaggerated than before, the area of effect was also expanding at a rapid pace.

Fu Qian wasn’t entirely sure if doing this required the Wanderer to expend too much extra effort, but his goal was easy to guess: to establish a further connection with every corner of this place in this manner.

And thereby, as efficiently as possible, find the woman who was highly unlikely to be his wife.

It was hard to say how much pressure the Wanderer himself was enduring by doing this, but it undoubtedly added a bold stroke to the negative field effects inside this prison.

And that was with the Third Knight not having even sacrificed himself yet.

Crunch—

In just a few breaths, the Wanderer’s head had almost fully healed.

Yet his aura finally seemed to show signs of a slight decline, to the point that his body even trembled a bit in that moment.

In response, the Wanderer briefly opened his eyes, then applied force with his Death Claw once more.

With another crisp crunch, a second wave of impact surged out.

......

Sure enough, he was persistent.

Faced with this high-intensity mental activity, Fu Qian made no unnecessary movements to disturb him, keeping even his admiration confined to his thoughts.

It was apparent that this knight, who was connected to The Abyss, had an extremely strong obsession with finding his wife.

He hadn’t even figured out where he was, he was practically being used out in the open, and the attempt was highly unlikely to yield actual results. Yet, even with all these negative factors stacked against him, he still carried out this suicidal effort without hesitation.

Beyond that, Fu Qian had gained one small observation: Pain Radiation seemed to have a limit after all.

He still couldn’t reach the level of Greedy Worm A Wei, who could gladly endure all damage and simply refuse to die no matter what.

There was reason to believe that if the damage was extreme enough, exceeding a certain threshold, the Wanderer would still fall.

Of course, the comparative upside was that, in the process of his falling, whoever killed him would likely pay a considerable price.

The speed of the second healing didn’t slow down, however, and soon his head was perfectly intact again.

And under Fu Qian’s expectant gaze, the Wanderer, upon opening his eyes this time, finally turned his head to look over.

”You tricked me—there is no second woman at all!”

Unfortunately, his tone was far from friendly; by the time he reached the last word, it was already laden with extreme hatred.

”Die.”

......

The situation had suddenly reversed, the excellent united front collapsing in an instant. The change could only be described as abrupt.

And it wasn’t even over.

As the Wanderer spat out that final word, Fu Qian instantly felt his body undergo a forceful transformation.

He wouldn’t actually die, nor was his body rapidly losing its vitality, but that special accumulation that had occurred inside him after his previous wounds disappeared advanced in a massive leap.

A certain sense of familiarity he had only just resolved surged forward rapidly, as if taking a single step the next moment would allow him to once again touch The Abyss he had previously visited.

”Door.”

And the Wanderer wasn’t even finished speaking. Without giving Fu Qian time to channel it away again, he took a preemptive step forward the next moment, continuing to speak.

Accompanied by this word, in Fu Qian’s perception, everything around him became even more filled with chaotic violence, and even the stones beneath his feet seemed to become scorched and soft.

It was as if the entrance to The Abyss had opened, presenting an endless descent right before his eyes.

He only needed to take a single step to go revisiting an old haunt, but whether he could come back was hard to say.

Even without taking that step, he was already sinking. Fu Qian seemed to once again see a pair of frog-like eyes staring right back at him.