Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2660: Chapter 2655: Eight Evil Women (31)

So what’s the real goal here?

He had some vague guesses, but even to Fu Qian, this was still a complicated problem.

Mainly, everyone’s style and methods were wildly different, and they were clearly on guard against each other, so trying to observe and distill conclusions was pretty difficult.

On top of that, there were the unavoidable practical constraints, like time.

No matter how relaxed and natural his posture looked, by Fu Qian’s estimate, if they chatted for "another five bucks’ worth," he’d probably be saying goodbye to his humanoid form for good.

Considering how big this place was, it’d be hard to load it onto a car for transport, so by then the mission objective of reaching the Sanctuary would very likely be directly declared a failure.

And this kind of crisis, naturally, was thanks to Nepheli.

What else could you say? Worthy of being the first volunteer torturer—this woman’s torture techniques, their true effect might be beyond even her own imagination.

Of course, Fu Qian didn’t think this was entirely a bad thing, like something he should absolutely avoid next time if given the chance.

Every person’s actions injected new variables into the current stalemate.

Sure, Nepheli’s methods had massively compressed his window of action, but they’d also compressed everyone else’s, which was why they were getting so many wonderful scenes.

Otherwise, if you gave this bunch time to slowly scheme, with all the professional actors in the mix, the situation would likely turn into an even bigger bowl of congealed goo.

"Got it. Looks like Professor Fu has everything arranged, so I don’t have to worry at all."

Take Wen Li, for instance, still tied together with him. After listening carefully, she actually nodded very solemnly, as if everything were proceeding according to some non-existent plan and she didn’t even need to put on an act anymore.

"I’m just still curious who that other ally is."

Having dropped her burden, her tone grew lighter, and her gaze swept across the remaining people.

...

See? Not only a skilled performer, but also a master at muddying the waters.

That one look from Wen Li was pure gasoline on the fire; the overall atmosphere was already suffocating.

She’d been the one constantly pushing everyone forward, and now she’d flipped sides. No matter how you looked at it, they were heading into a free-for-all chaos era, and that’s not even counting the hidden third henchman making things even messier and harder to manipulate.

Of course, that was just the first layer.

Anyone here who wasn’t blind could see that Wen Li’s words were clearly role-play; whether she actually endorsed Professor Fu’s explanation was impossible to say.

"So how did you pull this off?"

Impressed by Wen Li’s control of the room, Fu Qian had no intention of clearing things up for the others. Instead he went to the pensive Nepheli, pointed at himself, and started asking questions.

You could analyze its plausibility from various angles, but whatever she’d detonated in his body clearly had some serious technical depth to it, touching on the nature of this special place.

"You care about that right now?"

Even though she’d gotten mildly used to Fu Qian’s mental state, Nepheli still couldn’t help finding him somewhat funny.

Obviously, as the main culprit, she had a very firm grasp on how perilous his condition was.

"Because from my perspective, it really is interesting."

Fu Qian was being honest.

"...Then I don’t really have a reason to tell you for free, do I?"

In the pursuit of knowledge, honesty had such charm that it made Nepheli fall silent for a moment.

But when she spoke again, it was clear she felt that reason wasn’t enough.

"Aren’t I helping you clear your name here?"

Fu Qian saw it differently and casually pushed back.

...

No lies detected.

If she were really the third henchman, there would’ve been zero need for this conversation in the first place.

In that moment, not just Nepheli but the whole audience went silent, with no one refuting him.

After all, if there really were such a tacky triple-threat conspiracy, the mastermind had already achieved great success and had no reason to stage a performance like this to confuse others.

"Or have you also started focusing only on applications, without seeking the knowledge behind them, Lady Dean Nepheli?"

And before he’d even finished, Fu Qian was already lamenting the decline of theoretical Mysticism research, calling her out by title.

...

"Dean... I haven’t heard that title in a long time."

It was hard to describe the mood in the Sanctuary at that moment. Nepheli finally couldn’t hide her surprise; she stared at Fu Qian for a while, then sighed.

Clearly she’d never expected Fu Qian to know that name, but once it was exposed she was pretty straightforward about it, not bothering with clumsy denials.

So what exactly was his relationship to her?

Nepheli might have been straightforward, but Fu Qian was frowning inside.

The situation was getting even harder to parse. Everyone had arrived here because of their Bonds with him, yet in Nepheli’s understanding, he wasn’t supposed to know her name.

Did the warehouse not sleep enough today? Just casually rewriting character settings like this?

"Start with your impressions."

As he was mentally snarking, Nepheli seemed to have worked it out and spoke with the tone of someone about to teach.

"For now, I can’t sense much, but I’m inclined to see it as a more advanced technique. Instead of inducing some special effect of this building, this thing might involve the very nature of this entire mind-space.

"The reason it looks similar to your symptoms might just be proximity—because I happen to be close by in here."

Fu Qian became immediately serious, describing his rather limited sensations and making bold judgments.

"Very good."

Once she’d slipped into her professional mode, Nepheli listened carefully and looked like she could barely resist pinning a little red flower on him.

"What I did is very simple: I detonated the world’s underlying error in your body."

...

Wait, you two are actually having a proper chat now?

As the two of them went back and forth in a technical exchange, everyone else seemed to have recovered from the shock of that "Dean" title.

With some guesses forming about Nepheli’s identity, their conversation was making the listeners’ expressions increasingly odd.

Not only was it genuinely technical, it even sounded like they were hitting it off.

But that’s where it got weird—aren’t they talking about how to torture you?

Isn’t it a bit too harmonious for the prisoner and the executioner to be discussing blade work? Are all researchers like this?

...

The world’s underlying error... now things were getting even more fun.

Fu Qian could easily feel where the audience’s heads were at, but he paid no mind to these vulgar opinions.

What he’d said earlier really had been his genuine impressions, and even though Nepheli had only used a few words, she’d gone straight to the heart of the matter.

For a moment, he felt he’d gained a clearer grasp of the nature of his own symptoms.

The world’s underlying "error"... so this Lady Nepheli was already thoroughly enlightened, having grasped the world’s essence?

Was that why she didn’t really care whether she could get out?

In his past exchanges with her, the core topic had always been the authenticity of the entire world.

And what was happening to him now could be understood as a chaotic jumbling of various concepts.

Think about it even a little and you’d feel that only someone truly enlightened could pull this off—

"What did you do?"

Unfortunately, before he could ask more, Nepheli’s tone abruptly shifted, as if she’d just noticed something serious.