Eldritch Horror Theatre

Mhm, it tastes pretty good.

Excellency Solandir was clearly somewhat surprised that the Rebirth Club was actually withdrawing.

Even when the ship was a long way off, he stood gazing after it.

Unfortunately for him, the figure who had stirred up the entire situation in Moore had long since stopped caring about such trivialities, and was busy picking out food in the ship’s dining hall.

If someone were in a hurry, there would naturally be no need to take such a sluggish vessel.

Fu Qian’s reason for boarding was simple: it was time for dinner.

And when he had visited last time, the food here smelled pretty good.

That’s right, this was Gene’s surveillance outpost.

Following another storm, the ship had immediately set sail.

Under the circumstances, Fu Qian didn’t mind hitching a ride and grabbing a bite to eat.He wasn’t even strictly freeloading or wasting public resources—while eating, he had specifically taken on Gene’s appearance.

Gene had even stayed in a luxury cabin. With him gone, wouldn’t all this food just go to waste?

As he popped another piece of lamb chop into his mouth, Moore shrank into a distant speck in the darkness.

Yet the further away it got, the more it took on the aura of a colossal beast crouching in wait.

Did the researchers of the past see this exact sight, sparking their idea to turn it into a token of Homecoming?

...

A pity that returning to one’s homeland was so difficult in the end.

The Stars twinkled and the ashes churned. Not long after, Fu Qian stood quietly amidst the waves, observing the old site that had once been completely empty.

It was a fine day. He could even see the moon hanging in a corner of the sky—and in the water.

Granted, the waves beneath his feet weren’t exactly calm, nor was the water’s color very clear.

Yet, deep within these dead ashes, there truly was a crystal-clear lake, completely untouched by its surroundings and as smooth as a mirror.

The starry sky and moon reflected on its surface were so vivid that, in a daze, it was hard to tell if it was just still water or a void identical to the one above.

And that wasn’t even the main point.

Even though the space above the water was completely empty, faint silhouettes loomed in the reflected void below, as if a sprawling architectural complex were hanging upside down there.

The Inverted Lake?

It seemed he really had found it.

Faced with such a sight, that particular term surfaced in his mind naturally.

Was there really some sort of resonance at play here?

In Fu Qian’s eye socket, the Prosthetic Eye slowly spun once more, nudged by its tentacles.

But that eye wasn’t the only thing that could see this miraculous sight.

He had reason to believe that the moment he approached with this item, a resonance had already triggered, allowing him to see a completely different scene than his last visit.

From the Wise Dead to the Inverted Lake, the facts proved that the Dean had indeed provided valuable advice.

Did the Academy Exploration Team also witness this exact scene back in the day?

Feeling a profound sentiment like the ancient moon shining upon the people of old, Fu Qian did not stand on ceremony. He stepped forward into this perilous domain.

Oh?

The moment he touched the edge of the lake, the wondrous phenomena continued.

The boundless starry skies above and below actually began to move silently, slowly rotating around the surface of the water as their axis.

In the blink of an eye, it became almost impossible to tell real from fake.

Of course, that was just an exaggeration to describe how realistic it looked. It actually wasn’t hard to distinguish, seeing as the starry sky beneath his feet now contained buildings.

As the stars and moon rotated, those traces of human activity turned with them.

Not only did they gradually flip out of the water, but they actually materialized into solid structures.

They really built a research facility here? You truly can never underestimate the resolve to pursue knowledge.

Gazing at the classical architecture, Fu Qian let out a brief sigh of marvel.

Although it lacked that statue of a fallen angel, a single glance was enough to tell that it resembled what he had seen within the Etched Intellect.

But that wasn’t the only important thing—he felt like he had seen this flipping phenomenon somewhere before.

In mere moments, the two starry skies had completely swapped places, and the architecture towered majestically.

Fu Qian wasn’t in a hurry to enter. Instead, he seized upon that sense of familiarity: was it in that forbidden zone where Classmate Su Gao ascended to the Demigod Realm?

...

During a certain mission that ultimately rewarded him with the White Ring, he had run into Su Gao when she was in trouble.

She had chased a killer for thousands of miles into a special forbidden zone. The side effects of her transcendent items had triggered a past mental affliction, leaving her willpower on the brink of collapse.

And per the Warehouse’s request, he had stopped her Dollification.

The weather that day had also been excellent, and there had also been a lake, water, and reflections.

When he had tried to guide her with a relatively gentle approach, the starry sky and its reflection had flipped just like this. He had even marveled at how magical the scene looked at the time.

It was hard to believe this was purely a coincidence... That place actually had a connection to the Inverted Lake?

If that were true, then Su Gao’s opportunity to reach the Demigod Realm meant quite a lot. At the time, the flipped reflection was resonating with her; if he hadn’t intervened, she likely wouldn’t have been able to maintain her own will, eventually becoming a tool for something else.

Could that resonant power be connected to this very location? Or was it simply due to the nature of Classmate Su Gao’s Divine Path?

It was a shame she had already returned to the Night Watchers Headquarters to report in. They couldn’t explore this place together.

Marveling at the wondrous twists of fate, Fu Qian leaped lightly and landed in front of the seemingly intact building.

...

It really was intact—it felt freshly unearthed.

Standing before gates that lacked even a speck of rust, Fu Qian still hadn’t spotted any signature Emblem. That, however, didn’t stop him from letting his imagination run wild, empathizing with whatever plot might have unfolded here.

Was this the same scene the Academy Exploration Team had seen? And what would they have thought of it?

At least so far, there weren’t any obvious traces of crystallization, making him doubt whether they had even visited the same place back then.

Creak—

His musings didn’t delay his actions. A moment later, Fu Qian reached out and pushed open the heavy double doors.

”Oh...”

At almost exactly the same time, a voice tinged with confusion rang out.

He had to admit, having explored so many places, it was rare to encounter such an active response.

Praising this within his heart, Fu Qian looked toward the source of the voice.

Oh?

What followed was an even more startling discovery.

Dressed in a long robe and wearing no hood, the one who had spoken was actually a living person—and a rather young-looking one at that.

”You’re here...”

Not only that, but as they met Fu Qian’s gaze, the stranger’s golden brows furrowed slightly. They spoke with surprising familiarity.

”I’m here.”

Fu Qian wasn’t about to be rude at a time like this. He nodded naturally, though his eyes drifted past the stranger and locked onto something deeper inside—a giant Twelve-Faced Hourglass.

Is this really the exact same place I visited within the Etched Intellect? Is this a living Stargazer standing right in front of me?

That appearance was undoubtedly far too iconic—

[SAN Value -1]

As his thoughts raced, another voice echoed in his ears.