Eldritch Horror Theatre

Shangjing truly lived up to its reputation; it was even more bustling than he’d imagined.

Fu Qian had already formed a few theories about who might have secretly arranged the delivery of the Nightmare Notebook.

For instance, their Rank was likely quite high, but they were definitely not the Red Moon.

But that was exactly what made the situation so tricky. Taking an interest in the Nightmare Notebook was one thing, but the secret manipulator had dragged him into it as well.

Back then, he had only just arrived in this world, and his social circle couldn’t exactly be called extensive.

Aside from the Blazing Rainbow leaving a contingency in the Warehouse, who else could have locked onto him before the Red Moon did?

From the perspective of Fang Xun, the Bookstore Owner, the whole affair seemed almost impossible to unravel. Just like earlier, he had hit a dead end.

But one shouldn’t be too rigid. If he tried to adopt the manipulator’s perspective, a whole new angle emerged. Was he really just a newcomer at the time? Had the higher entities of the Bookstore World truly never interacted with him before then?

Missions took place in the past, after all. The ”success seminar” Fu Qian mentioned earlier referred to his very first visit to Ye Island, when he was deeply involved in a certain research project for the Anjing Company.

It was also the first time he had encountered Patches.From his own perspective at the time, he had only gone there for a vacation after handling the Gulade Family affair in Shangjing and meeting with the Red Moon.

But thinking back, the exact date of that research project was actually slightly earlier than those events in Shangjing.

Clearly, putting himself in someone else’s shoes was a good habit.

Thanks to the Warehouse’s authority, the administrator was actually a relatively transcendent existence as far as the Bookstore World was concerned.

Looking at it purely from a first-person perspective, he was truly engaging in rapid flip-flopping across the timeline.

Under these circumstances, strict chronological order didn’t quite apply.

From Excellency Patches’ perspective, he had encountered a peculiar Scavenger for the very first time during the annual recruitment event for Covenanters, and had even suffered a minor setback.

But that experience also meant he could try to track the Scavenger’s traces through the Bookstore World, if he so chose.

Yes, in theory, Patches and the Red Moon both had the opportunity to do the exact same thing: encounter him during a mission, then search for him outside of it.

Given that Patches was in a noticeably better mental state, he might have even beaten the Red Moon to the punch and found their shared target first.

It was just that Excellency Patches wasn’t petty enough to seek revenge. He had even gone out of his way to deliver a gift right to his door.

Of course, that was the flattering way to phrase it.

The reality was that he might simply not have dared to take revenge.

One couldn’t forget that while the Red Moon hadn’t locked onto a specific target yet, she had kept a close eye on Shangjing back then.

Excellency Patches might possess countless methods and endless schemes, but when it came to playing tricks, the most terrifying opponent was a reckless brute.

Given the Red Moon’s mental state at the time, hardly anyone would have dared to provoke her.

Under those circumstances, forcefully taking revenge on a certain young man suspected to be the very person she was searching for?

Even if he succeeded, wouldn’t he fear being hunted down to the end of time?

All in all, this was what it meant to sleep peacefully beneath a mother’s protection without even realizing it, wasn’t it?

In short, Excellency Patches chose an approach that better suited his own style when faced with that situation.

He knew Fu Qian might be the person the Red Moon was looking for, he knew the Nightmare Notebook itself was far from simple, and he even knew that the Red Moon’s state was abnormal. Ultimately, he chose to link all these elements together through Brother Taylor.

”Yeah, you even said ’fifty has arrived.’”

Just as Fu Qian was parsing the past events of Shangjing on a much deeper level, Excellency Patches didn’t disappoint. He remembered the dialogue from their very first encounter perfectly.

Which was also the dialogue from this current encounter.

Exactly. Earlier, when Fu Qian looked up at the sky and noted that it was almost 7:50, it had indeed been a signal for the other party to come out.

After all, back during the mission, he had made his move at the exact same time—seven forty-five—and had seen through the other party’s tricks in the exact same way.

”Regardless, it’s quite an honor to be remembered at a time like this.”

Patches naturally lacked any self-awareness about the trouble he had caused. He looked almost gleeful as he reminisced.

”But what I find a bit strange is, what makes you so certain that the Archipelago has anything to do with me? Certain enough to come looking for me straight from Shangjing?”

Though this invitation was very much to his liking, he wasn’t entirely without his doubts.

”When did I ever say you had anything to do with the Archipelago?”

Unfortunately, his response was only a puzzled look from Fu Qian, who finally turned to look at him.

”Actually, in my estimation, the probability of either the Laboratory or the White Tower Codex being related to you isn’t very high.”

Gesturing to their surroundings with his chin, Fu Qian reminded him not to flatter himself.

”Oh? But you still believed I would be here?”

Patches looked as if he were being hit with one pleasant surprise after another.

”Yeah, just like how I was clearly looking at absolutely nothing, yet you were still curious about what I was looking at.”

Fu Qian pointed at the sky, bringing up the previous misunderstanding to show he had been telling the truth.

”The Archipelago doesn’t need to have anything to do with you, and I don’t need to confirm whether you’re here or not. I only knew that my movements were out in the open, and there was a high chance you were paying attention. Because of that, there was a very high probability I’d be able to find you in the Archipelago.”

A higher entity was always achieving several gains with a single action. This was something he had repeatedly emphasized.

This scientific expedition, where he made absolutely no effort to hide his identity, operated on the exact same logic.

On one hand, he didn’t fear the scrutiny of the Night Watchers and could even use it to solidify his persona.

On the other hand, it was a show put on specifically for the Excellency who had discovered him before the Red Moon did, and who had even arranged to have the Nightmare Notebook delivered to his door.

For the ”Child of the Red Moon” to suddenly obtain a relic related to the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, and to even frequently manipulate his kin recently—expecting them not to make any connections regarding the Nightmare Notebook would be far too optimistic.

As a result, the person involved—who had most likely drawn those connections—suddenly set out for the Archipelago, seemingly to search for relevant clues.

Even if this train of thought was completely wrong, a certain relevant fun-seeker would most likely be curious as to why it was wrong.

This trip to the Archipelago had been an invitation in and of itself.

”Very smart—actually, ’smart’ is too shallow a word for it. It should be called very wise, hehe...”

Sure enough, Patches quickly figured it out and even looked highly satisfied.

”Where are they?”

Then, changing the subject, he gestured around again. He was clearly referring to Old Man Lu and his companion.

”Right here.”

Fu Qian said with certainty.

”Then why can’t they be seen under the Codex?”

Patches remained noncommittal as he asked that dead-end question.

”Because there’s a term called selective enforcement. If I’m not mistaken, the White Tower Codex likely has no jurisdiction within this dream, does it?

”It’s just that when I entered this place, you temporarily brought a copied version of the Codex in with me, allowing you to adjust it at will.”

Fu Qian shook his head.

”And what happened earlier was very simple. The rule about not being allowed to rise higher than the White Tower is indeed still in effect, but the rule against hiding from observers was temporarily deleted.

”Artificially creating blind spots and tricking people into walking down the wrong path themselves is indeed exactly the kind of thing you love to do.”