Eldritch Horror Theatre

In the Ash Sea, the Red Moon still remained.

Returning just as expected, Fu Qian found himself bathed in crimson radiance once again, even managing to trigger another ripple.

Clearly, even though time was theoretically paused, it wasn’t difficult for the Red Moon to sense something.

And having dropped the two dangerous Items and completely reorganized his equipment, Fu Qian undoubtedly drew even more ”severe” scrutiny as a result.

The main issue was that he had run out of excuses; it seemed his only option was to face the storm head-on—

But there were always more solutions than problems. In that moment, Fu Qian simply put Fated back on, completely covering his face.

Huu...

It was no longer just a ripple. In that moment, the moonlight itself seemed to take a deep breath, making one suspect that divine punishment would crash down from the sky in the next second to smite a rebellious son.

”Don’t worry, I’m fine. I was just watching the whales for a bit.”

Fu Qian remained completely unfazed, even gesturing for the other party not to worry about him.”So, have you ever seen a two-headed whale?”

Not only that, his next question was even more abstract, turning the tables to test the other party instead.

Hmm...

Unsurprisingly, the Red Moon showed no intention of answering, and not a single sound emerged.

After the stalemate lasted for a few breaths, the Crimson Lunar Radiance slowly dissipated, like a Mother who had completely given up on lecturing her child.

...

Was that really it?

Even Excellency Blazing Rainbow couldn’t perceive or interfere with this connection?

Quietly watching this scene unfold, Fu Qian felt absolutely no guilt; he merely drew a silent conclusion.

Indeed, no matter how vivid those prior shifts had appeared, or how much the whole sequence felt like déjà vu, he held a different view regarding the underlying cause.

”Not reveling in the Lie” and ”shattering the Lie” were two completely different things.

He hadn’t even figured out the exact reasons why the Red Moon had ended up this way. Was he supposed to believe that anchoring such an apocalypse was what it truly wanted, just because of a simple reminder?

Even if the Red Moon had descended into madness, that line of logic was far too crude.

In fact, precisely because it was mad, the fact that its hint was so euphemistic—rather than a direct ”shatter the Lie and get me out”—made him lean toward believing it genuinely was just a reminder.

Under that premise, its true reason for appearing was highly debatable.

Was it really here aggressively demanding accountability? Were there other possibilities? Of course there were.

The last time he sensed this ”Mother,” she had been in a standoff against Blazing Rainbow.

His recent experiences had indeed been bizarre, and the secrets involved were truly staggering.

But considering the Red Moon’s state, its reactions were often not that sharp, even in ”reality.”

Given that, could it really perceive things happening within the Fallacy Spacetime?

Rather than believing in that possibility, Fu Qian actually had far more faith in the other entity that had confronted it.

As an Ancient Higher Being in peak condition, Blazing Rainbow had left traces in the script, proving that it had pulled some strings over there.

He had even suspected that the entity might have played a part in the Academy’s exploration disaster.

The specific details were naturally impossible to verify by now, but there was one solid starting point for speculation: the motive.

Why would Blazing Rainbow tamper with things over there? It was even suspected of leading the exploration team into a death trap because of them—crystals.

One thing about the current situation seemed completely clear: for years, the Gods had not only been ravaged by the storm but had also lived under the constant threat of the crystal curse.

It was just that some knew about it, while others might be suffering from it without even realizing.

And for an entity as fearful for its life as Blazing Rainbow, it would be almost impossible not to want to figure the matter out.

With that in mind, the motive suddenly became perfectly clear.

It was highly likely that it had already sensed the danger and refused to touch it directly, choosing instead to borrow the hands of others, finding cannon fodder to test the waters on its behalf.

Otherwise, a higher entity in such pristine condition would have manipulated the Inverted Lake countless times over the years. Why else would it bother waiting for those seniors from the Academy?

His train of thought instantly smoothed out, though it only made the past plight of those people from the Academy seem all the more tragic.

All in all, Blazing Rainbow definitely kept a close eye on this place.

So, when Fu Qian ventured in and triggered those subsequent anomalies, it was probably one of the entities most likely to notice.

And the Red Moon had clashed with it more than once.

Under those circumstances, it was far more logical that Blazing Rainbow’s actions had triggered the Red Moon’s alertness, in turn drawing its attention to Fu Qian’s anomalies.

As for why Blazing Rainbow would be careless enough to be spotted by a mentally unstable opponent?

It hadn’t necessarily been careless.

A maddened Mother and a rebellious son who had lost his Transcendent Perception—what beautiful materials to manipulate.

A little nudge was all it took to manufacture an inescapable misunderstanding, allowing it to pry into his discoveries regarding the crystals.

For instance, it could have deliberately exposed its tracks, luring the Red Moon into a confrontation just to observe his reaction.

Putting himself in those shoes, Fu Qian found the hypothetical scenario almost too perfect.

And it was precisely this sense of empathy that kept him from casually assuming the Red Moon was aggressively demanding accountability.

The facts bore this out. After sensing his unbothered posture and realizing its probing would bear no fruit, Blazing Rainbow decisively backed off, and the Red Moon quickly withdrew in turn.

He could only chalk it up to the limitations of the older generation of higher entities; their excessive Dark Forest mentality had left them far too paranoid.

What Blazing Rainbow didn’t know, however, was that it could have just asked directly.

After all, Fu Qian was actually quite curious to see how the entity would react upon learning the true nature of the crystals.

As for why he judged that Blazing Rainbow couldn’t perceive the Divine Path once the Fated mask was worn?

He couldn’t be entirely certain, but he leaned heavily toward that possibility.

After all, if it had noticed something so extraordinary, it could have easily attempted a few extra maneuvers to provoke a bigger reaction from him.

So, even if they hadn’t managed a frank conversation, Excellency Blazing Rainbow had still helped test a few things.

For instance, this path to becoming a God was not only stable but incredibly well-hidden, acting almost like a quest guide exclusively tailored to him.

Not that Fu Qian was in any rush to tackle the quest. Instead, he simply took off two masks in a row.

He returned to the Warehouse for a brief wait. Once the bloodstains on the Emissary Mask had recovered a little more, he slipped it on, and the familiar Bookstore Second Floor appeared before his eyes.

...

Very nice.

Back in Shangjing, he found it to be broad daylight.

Stretching lazily, Fu Qian sat up in bed, silently sketching out a map of this world in his mind, right down to the apocalyptic scenes he had previously witnessed.

If these geographic rules were nothing more than a Lie spun by the crystals’ connection, it made him all the more curious about the exact role the Warehouse played in it all—hmm?

In the midst of his musings, Fu Qian suddenly froze, his gaze locking onto a corner of the room nearby.

Someone was standing right there.

Barefoot, dressed in a bright red gown that clung so tightly to her body it looked as though it grew from her skin... Red Moon?