Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Alright...”

Faced with the sudden request, Sunny the waitress felt a twinge of resistance.

But the request was perfectly reasonable. He had already shown a strong interest in the fish, leaving her without a single excuse to refuse.

Murmuring a soft agreement, she went to retrieve her utensils. She walked back with her head bowed and carefully split the golden, mouth-watering fish in two.

”Sit down and do it.”

Seeming highly appreciative of her work ethic, Fu Qian even pulled out a chair for her.

”...Alright.”

Though her first instinct was to refuse, the silent, unyielding authority radiating from Professor Fu was genuinely intimidating. After a brief hesitation, Sunny chose to comply.

”Just like last time, she’ll follow you.”

Just as Sunny was readily accepting good advice, Fu Qian activated Lucid Dream, selectively excluding the rest of the diner to pull in only her and Su Gao.The depth of the dream was exceptionally shallow this time, leaving their physical bodies in the waking world looking nothing more than slightly dazed.

Su Gao understood his intent and entered without resistance. Fu Qian whispered his instruction, pointing at Sunny to signal the start of the third experiment.

He had to admit, Covenanters were truly out of the ordinary. Pulling her into the dream was even harder than it had been with Wen Li.

And that was despite Sunny having an embarrassingly low Rank.

In truth, this was one of the core goals of the third test.

Su Gao’s performance in the Mind World was already well documented, and he was firmly barred from entering it altogether.

Under these circumstances, Fu Qian was incredibly curious: theoretically speaking, how would Covenanters—who were essentially extensions of a higher entity—fare in the Mind World?

”Once the dream disconnects, focus on observing her reaction.”

His instructions complete, Fu Qian casually lifted Sunny’s sensory shield in his capacity as the Dream Dominator.

”My friend is new around here. I’ll have to trouble you to show her the way.”

He exerted the subtle persuasion of a Dream Dominator, smiling as he laid the task on Sunny’s shoulders.

”Alright.”

She frowned slightly, as if pondering the sudden strangeness of her surroundings, but she accepted the suggestion all the same, turning her gaze toward Su Gao.

Demigod Su gave a slight nod. She stood, walked straight toward the door, and pulled it open.

...

A profound, heavy blackness lay beyond, looking far too deep to simply be the night.

Staring at the slightly unfamiliar streetscape outside, Sunny hesitated for a second.

But only for a second. Driven by her strong sense of responsibility, she decisively stepped out after her—and vanished.

A sigh escaped him. He really was a third-class citizen.

Left utterly alone, Fu Qian sighed in lament. He dropped the Lucid Dream, returning to the lively bustle of the Midnight Diner.

The air was still rich with the sizzle of hot oil and frying food. Wallowing in mild melancholy, he picked up a bottle of fine wine and poured himself another glass.

Beside him, Su Gao and Sunny sat in complete silence. Sunny’s motions as she portioned the fish had turned somewhat clumsy.

Neither of them had woken up yet.

As an outsider, he was truly at the absolute bottom of the pecking order. Even a Covenanter—the literal minion of a Deity—was apparently able to enter that Mind World.

Conclusion one: coming from the starry sky was entirely different from coming from another world.

Lamentations aside, it didn’t slow his analysis of the experiment one bit.

Sunny’s covenant was with the Dragon King, a Deity explicitly defined by the Warehouse as coming from the stars.

Yet she wasn’t barred from the Mind World like he was.

Unless Su Gao came out later and told him that she hadn’t seen Sunny in there, meaning Sunny had been placed in her own separate instance—

Su Gao woke up fast. Before Fu Qian could even finish his glass of wine, her eyes were fluttering open.

Her face once again bore that same look of profound, lingering bliss.

At that exact same moment, Sunny was awaking as if from a dream. Still dazed, she glanced around the diner, instantly catching Fu Qian’s eager, hungry smile.

’Huh?’

Only then did Sunny seem to notice the fish in front of her. Startled by her own shoddy handiwork, she hurriedly and meticulously fixed the portions.

”How was it?”

Fu Qian had already triggered Lucid Dream again, pulling Classmate Su Gao into a private chat.

”She did follow me into the sea, but she acted a little strange.”

Su Gao nodded.

”The beautiful, enchanting voice was there again, but she didn’t seem affected by it at all. She just drifted blindly with the tide.”

”I tried to approach her, but there was a constant barrier between us. The distance simply couldn’t be closed.”

...

He could tell.

Fu Qian had already anticipated Su Gao’s conclusion.

Judging by how the two of them reacted upon waking up, Sunny’s demeanor was far too ”normal.”

It was as if she had just zoned out for a few seconds, snapping right back to her duties without missing a beat.

Even Su Gao wasn’t entirely immune to the pull of that ”beautiful” voice; she still felt the urge to sink into its euphoria.

Potential conclusion number two: the claws of a higher entity could enter the Mind World of an intelligent creature, but they existed in a detached, transcendent state. They were immune to its effects and impossible to approach.

Which begged the question: why?

Because they were fundamentally a part of a higher entity, did that mean they didn’t count as part of the ”collective” in the collective Mind World?

He had to admit, that was quite interesting.

Because this implied that there was a fundamental difference in nature between a higher entity and humanity—and even between a higher entity and a transcendent.

It was a little counterintuitive. He had met his fair share of ancient Divine Entities by now. Not only did they have names, many of them schemed with profound foresight. Did they truly not count as intelligent life?

When the old man Yasui Tokiyuki leveled up, he remained complete with greed, anger, and delusion. Aside from his sheer martial power, there was absolutely nothing aloof or transcendent about him.

Once divinity condensed to a certain threshold, did it fundamentally break its definition, creating an intrinsic distinction between man and God?

It was a logical deduction, but it lacked proof.

Regardless, it had been a rather brilliant experimental setup.

After three rounds of comparative testing, he felt he had gained an even deeper grasp on the essence of the Transcendent Tier.

Amid his silent musings, Fu Qian shamelessly praised himself.

”Thanks for your hard work. It was very helpful. You can continue eating the fish now.”

He looked over at his volunteer, generously dishing out the praise as he dissolved the dream.

Smiling faintly, fully aware that she was back in reality, Su Gao glanced to her side. She reached out to take the split fish from Sunny, taking a bite with earnest dedication.

Conclusion four: for now, this young lady’s mental state seemed perfectly fine. She wasn’t a puppet dancing on the strings of some higher entity.

Her absurdly fast progression rate really did seem to be nothing more than a byproduct of her unique ability type.

Watching Su Gao’s movements, Fu Qian silently arrived at his final takeaway.

An evil god always worked by achieving several gains with a single action; running experiments was naturally no exception.

Throughout these three tests, he and the dragon girl Sunny had inherently been serving as the control group for Classmate Su Gao all along.