Facing an Ancient God for a Year

“You…”

As the shadow kept transforming, it finally assumed the shape of a creature with the head of a person and the body of a worm.

“I know Brother Interlocutor can’t bear to part with me, but isn’t it a bit impolite to come uninvited?”

Gazing at this familiar figure, Fu Qian spoke as if nothing was amiss.

“Impossible! I absolutely did not reveal any flaws, you couldn’t possibly have discovered…”

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At this moment, the shadow finally spoke, indeed with the Interlocutor’s voice, filled with confusion.

“I must say, you have been quite dedicated, playing dumb and acting cute all the way.”

Fu Qian shook his head.

“However, I’m a person with a rich imagination, I like to ask why about everything. Do you remember I once asked you a question—why under the influence of your Divine Corrosion, did I enter a state of cognitive misalignment?”

“Your answer back then was that you only influenced ‘Momentum’, and couldn’t control the details. I could feel that you were telling the truth, so I didn’t think too much of it.

But later, at a certain moment, I thought of a question: your ability might be real, but is it truly my ‘Momentum’ that it affects?”

“Could it be that from the beginning to the end, the target of your influence wasn’t me, but yourself? What it increased was not the likelihood of me escaping, but yours?”

“Following that line of thought, I made another deduction.”

“If at that time I hadn’t realized the cognitive misalignment and, just like Qiu Chengyi, had regarded the pests as my true body…”

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“…and thus, when faced with the threat from Liang Yuntian, had wholeheartedly merged to seek stronger power to survive, what would the result have been?”

“Continue.”

The Interlocutor’s tone had calmed down, and he stood in his place, speaking coldly.

“You once said something that’s quite likely true, that your ability originates from the Corridor, making it more troublesome for you to escape than it is for me, to the point where you must resort to special methods, such as parasitism.”

Fu Qian pointed at his head.

“And the greatest significance of cognitive misalignment is not in my acceptance of the pests but in accepting your will.”

“At that time, you must have been in a very special state, and that cognitive misalignment probably had two directions, the worm—the erosion—you—and me.”

“After my senses were blinded, what I connected to was not the perception of the pests, but the pest’s perception after connecting through you, with a fundamental difference between the two.” ＲάＮổᛒΕŠ

“If at that time I had opened my body and mind to accept the merger, it would have been the same as opening my will to you, not to the pests.

The final outcome being you imperceptibly taking up residence in my consciousness, while I could no longer notice anything amiss.”

“Worthy of the name God Eroder, such a trap is both hidden and malignant.”

Fu Qian tut-tutted in admiration.

“What a pity, in some respects I’m somewhat fastidious; I’d rather risk a single death to verify my hunch than let things go beyond your calculations.”

“Your behavior is indeed difficult to fathom by common logic.”

“Much obliged!”

Fu Qian didn’t seem to hear the sarcasm in the Interlocutor’s tone.

“In any case, because of my actions, your plan went bankrupt. In the end, I managed a brief escape into the Corridor, and at that point, you came up with a second plan.”

“You intentionally gave a half-true, half-false explanation, causing me to be wary of you.

Later, because of this, I forced you to enter the Nightmare with me, and you agreed, appearing reluctant, when in fact, you had fully committed to the gamble.”

“The tattoo-like form you transformed into did indeed require you to give up most of your power, but the benefit was that it made parasitism easier, even without the need for my will to cooperate. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to control the unfolding of events; it all depended on my performance.”

“To mislead me to the greatest extent, you even emphasized that even if I could escape successfully, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the benefits, it would only be gaining experience points.”

Looking at the Interlocutor whose body appeared frozen, Fu Qian shook his head.

“The art of lying is to mix nine truths with one falsehood, and in that aspect, you truly are very crafty.”

“But later, after several probes, I found that every time at critical moments, your nervousness about failure was excessive, somewhat inconsistent with the disinterested spectator persona you had created previously.”

“Of course, I also understand. After who knows how many years, finally seeing a glimmer of hope for escape, it’s somewhat difficult to completely control one’s emotions.”

Fu Qian looked at the Interlocutor.

It was just now that he truly recognized the danger of this level-one object.

The Worm of Erosion didn’t refer to the pests.

Clearly, the Interlocutor was the real target of this containment.

This time, his role in the mission was akin to the bait for fishing, aimed at attracting the Interlocutor’s attention.

The one standing before him was undoubtedly an extremely special being, especially his Divine Corrosion ability, which could even affect the content of the mission.

For example, his first mission was to conceal his own abnormality.

This type of message, laden with strong implications and misleading information, was undoubtedly beneficial for the Interlocutor to conceal his true intentions.

That should also be the “Momentum” brought about by Divine Corrosion.

In fact, it was probably this bizarre power that made it a target for containment.

And after successfully drawing the Interlocutor’s attention, making him place his bets on escaping onto himself, the real game began.

If he hadn’t noticed the anomaly and earnestly, methodically followed the prompts to kill the larva and break the Nightmare, then his mission would be complete because the mission itself had already been twisted.

Only, he would have brought the Interlocutor out of that place, allowing him to parasitize in his thoughts and exert an imperceptible influence over him.

And perhaps one day, to replace him entirely.

But if he had noticed, then there would have been a real hope of completing the mission.

Like right now.

[Mission completed, containment of subject 1-077 successful.]

The familiar notification sound rang in his ears for the second time.

Simultaneously, he could see the body of the Interlocutor in front of him rapidly disintegrating.

“I still don’t understand.”

In his dying moments, the Interlocutor’s tone was still full of unwillingness.

“Logically, even if you knew of my existence, it would be useless. When I am deeply hidden, nothing can detect me.”

“But you, just at the moment my will materialized, suddenly returned to this strange place. How could it be such a coincidence!”

“Of course it’s not a coincidence!”

Fu Qian adjusted himself into a comfortable sitting position, massaging his temples.

“What do you think I was doing sitting here for so long before?”

“After sensing that something was amiss, I was constantly pondering: if there really was such a thing, was there a way to capture it?”

“It is formless, traceless, hidden deeply within thoughts, to the point that even this warehouse can’t detect an anomaly when it doesn’t expose itself.

It might even monitor my thoughts, so any idea of dealing with it might be detected.”

“And the resources I could rely on were exceedingly limited.”

“Until finally, I decided to try a method I had heard about before.”