Eldritch Horror Theatre

”But it looks like he was still stopped,” Fu Qian said.

Such furious, tragic resentment was nothing short of weeping blood.

But as proper higher entities, the two listeners were no strangers to such unwillingness. Fu Qian simply shook his head, casually pointing out the bitter truth.

No matter how much torture Herbert had suffered for this fatal loyalty, it most likely served no purpose.

The Progenitor of the Blood Clan still fell in the end. At best, she might have realized the truth right before her death.

”So, the King of Nightmares’ attitude in all this is quite intriguing,” Patches chimed in, explaining why he had brought up that particular individual.

Did the King of Nightmares play a role in Annalise’s fall?

It certainly sounded plausible.

After all, judging by the mission summary provided by the Warehouse, she had indeed been obsessed with the dream realm, seeking guidance from within it.

Following that logic, it was hard to say what was really going on with the Primordial Moon’s guidance.”Did you already suspect his involvement?” Fu Qian asked.

It seemed the most bizarre portion of the Chronicles of the Moon had just been fleshed out.

Even Patches’ earlier behavior suddenly made sense.

Back when he noticed Herbert’s alarming mental state—and especially when the priest screamed about a ”Lie”—Patches must have confirmed certain theories he held about the King of Nightmares.

Even if they couldn’t uncover anything else, this trip had already yielded results.

If Fu Qian couldn’t offer anything more at this point, it wouldn’t have mattered if they stopped here.

In other words, since Fu Qian had brought more to the table, Patches definitely wanted to keep going.

”I did. After all, rumor has it that Annalise’s predecessor was equally obsessed with the dream realm.”

He didn’t just chuckle and admit to Fu Qian’s question—he casually dropped another bombshell.

The Primordial Moon had also been obsessed with the dream realm?

Who said research was useless? If not for his usual accumulation of knowledge, Fu Qian would never have grasped the sheer weight of this revelation.

With that single, simple sentence, the truth behind the transition of the Moon Faith suddenly seemed far more staggering.

”So the divine oracle designating Annalise as her reincarnation was a bit suspicious. Do you think the King of Nightmares might have influenced that too?” Fu Qian asked, blinking.

He was verifying Patches’ curiosity, which naturally mirrored his own.

”Heh... who knows? That’s one of the questions I was hoping you could answer.”

Patches was playing coy, refusing to give a direct response.

But one thing was certain: this was indeed his purpose for sharing the information.

”Only ten minutes left. It looks like he really can’t tell us anything more,” Patches noted.

Mimicking Fu Qian, he gave a casual time-limit warning.

”How has it been twenty minutes already? Your internal clock is broken,” Fu Qian said with a frown.

Even after the time limit was shortened earlier, they still had half an hour left.

”Because I lied. I was worried you’d be too anxious,” Patches said with an eerie chuckle.

He was being remarkably honest about his dishonesty.

It sounded as though he had planned to end this journey through the divine dream before Fu Qian even realized it.

”Really? Why do I feel like you’re actually worried I’m not anxious enough right now?” Fu Qian retorted.

He wasn’t buying it.

Brother Patches didn’t just rely on his innate divine strength to roam the world; he was also a master-class technician at misleading people.

Since he had lied about the time, how could anyone be sure the lie was told earlier rather than right now?

Could it be that they had far more than ten minutes left, and Patches was only saying this to spur him into action?

”Well, I suppose that is rather hard to prove...” Patches replied.

Fully aware of his notorious reputation, he gave an awkward smile, admitting that self-verification was a bit difficult here.

”I think the rumors are true. The Primordial Moon was indeed interested in the dream realm,” Fu Qian stated.

He didn’t dwell on the trivial matter of time, instead immediately offering his conclusion.

”And your reasoning is?” Patches asked.

Just because a professional was bold enough to make a judgment didn’t mean they couldn’t be questioned.

Patches was briefly taken aback.

”I don’t know how you people view it, but speaking from my experience as an ordinary mortal, dreaming is truly a pleasure,” Fu Qian explained.

”In my opinion, partaking in more activities like this would really help you all understand the meaning of life.”

His reasoning was completely absurd, even if he was speaking from personal experience.

”Oh? Understand it how?” Patches asked.

He wasn’t annoyed; instead, he seemed intent on getting to the bottom of it.

”How about listening to the sound of crashing waves?” Fu Qian suggested.

Of course, he wasn’t going to give a boring suggestion like role-playing. One could act the part, but the mindset could never be faked.

Even in a dream, higher entities would inevitably maintain a condescending posture.

”Hmm... to think that an outsider would be the first to realize this,” Patches said.

Despite the deeply unserious answer, Patches’ expression grew uncharacteristically solemn, his tone tinged with a sigh of realization.

”You are right,” he continued. ”The King of Nightmares may be weak, but he possesses one advantage that all higher entities lack: his proximity to the sea of mind.”

’Just as I thought.’

Fu Qian marveled inwardly, feeling as though a crucial node in his understanding of the supernatural power system had just been unblocked.

Naturally, it wasn’t just a matter of everything having its use, no matter how useless it seemed. After all, entities like the God of Clamor Hamadus were pathetically weak without any redeeming qualities.

His high regard for the King of Nightmares was inseparable from the fruits of his ongoing research.

The first point of data came from his time at the Academy, during the three sea of mind experiments where Su Gao had assisted him.

No matter what method he tried, as an outsider, every attempt to dive into the sea had failed.

He ultimately concluded that the sea of mind—the convergence of thoughts from all intelligent life in the Bookstore World—inherently rejected outsiders.

Later, with the help of Sunny, the dragon-girl volunteer, he verified that the sea of mind also rejected Gods, including the Covenanters they created.

After that, Excellency Stomach, also known as Father’s Amnion, demonstrated through personal experience just how difficult it was for a higher entity to leave even a slight trace in the sea of mind.

Yet, in the recently concluded Demon Mountain mission, the Warehouse had explicitly stated that the inner darkness of its numerous patients stemmed from the gloomy dregs of the sea of mind.

Did this mean there was no absolute barrier between Annalise’s divine dream and the sea of mind?

This boundary-breaking anomaly had instantly piqued Fu Qian’s curiosity.

Consequently, the working principles behind the True Word Notebook had become incredibly intriguing.

Since the entirety of Demon Mountain was built upon the True Word Notebook, did that mean it could also connect with the sea of mind to some degree?

Fu Qian’s running theory was that the dream realm was a special place, existing much closer to the sea of mind.

He had at least two reasons for this. First, during the Akons incident, ordinary people had entered that special location directly through their dreams.

Second, Su Gao had entered the sea of mind directly through a dream.

That was exactly why he had just mentioned ”listening to the voice of the sea.”

And Patches hadn’t let him down. Not only did he confirm this guess, but he also helped resolve the most critical technical detail: the connection was made possible through the King of Nightmares acting as an intermediary.