Chapter 2933: The Pain of the Family of Origin

Was this why people wanted to escape their families of origin? It was already looking a bit like a bottomless pit.

Another notification chime lingered in his ear. At that moment, Fu Qian felt deeply satisfied.

Yes, his SAN Value was draining steadily at a terrifying rate, as if hooked up to a pipe.

But the changes brought about by this loss were proving highly rewarding.

What exactly was SAN Value?

It was a question he had been curious about since day one.

Through his continuous investigations, he had already made a little headway on the subject.

Namely, SAN Value represented a binding with the world's underlying rules through a safety protocol—a resource conceptually linked to the basic laws of the world.

And now, the nature of this resource seemed to have been further proven—and even expanded upon.

Aside from acting as a revive coin for an Outlander Administrator performing a task, was SAN Value of any use to anyone else?

If it was, most people in the Bookstore World seemed to have no concept of it.

If it was useless, Excellency Patches had clearly exploited it, albeit mostly for his own amusement. And today, Blood Clan Progenitor Annalise had finally provided another example, and a fairly straightforward one at that—

To higher entities, did SAN Value actually act as some sort of powerful tonic?

This was true even if the name was merely a remnant, and the corresponding will behind it had long since perished.

The specific mechanics might still be highly complex, but in Fu Qian's eyes, the changes unfolding before him proved at least one thing: SAN Value could indeed interact with the higher entities of the Bookstore World.

As for why it was Annalise, that was undoubtedly due to the connection brought about by the "Artificial Progeny Specification."

Could this be considered the physical manifestation of honoring one's ancestors?

[SAN Value -1]

Furthermore, with the continuous drain, the Progenitor was becoming increasingly vibrant.

The most obvious sign was that the numerous Umbilical Cords hoisting up the Annalises were rapidly intertwining.

He could even see the Umbilical Cords replacing blood vessels and a skeleton, forming a bizarre outline.

It was as if the true body hidden within the nova was finally revealing its true form now that it had been invigorated.

As for the Annalises dotting its surface, a quick glance showed they hadn't forgotten to show off their voices. The familiar lullaby rang out once again, even though the time for it clearly hadn't arrived—Squelch!

While closely admiring the Annalises' singing, Fu Qian noticed a burst of bloody light erupt from one of the faces.

That face—the sole part of the body that hadn't been twisted—was forcefully torn off and hoisted even higher into the air.

The ones carrying out this horrifying act were precisely the Umbilical Cords, which had split off into numerous tiny branches.

Squelch, squelch—

Soon, more bloody light burst forth. One face after another was violently torn away, drawn together by the pull of the Umbilical Cords.

...

Was this... extraction?

The wondrous spectacle unfolding before him left Fu Qian feeling deeply intrigued.

Of course, as a professional, merely watching the show wasn't enough. Almost instantly, he formulated a specific metaphor.

Indeed, no matter how bizarre the imagery was, didn't this somewhat resemble using the Umbilical Cords as a solvent to extract a specific component—namely, the "faces"?

Even if thirty-one faces were fused together, however, they would still be disproportionately small compared to the massive framework formed by the Umbilical Cords. [SAN Value -1]

Fortunately, the changes continued. Amidst another notification chime, Fu Qian noticed that the Umbilical Cords were even trying to reach the heavens.

From this angle, their tiny, outstretched branches were already about to touch the full moon in the sky—wait, had they actually reached it?

In the next moment, an unimaginable scene unfolded: the pink Umbilical Cords actually "entangled" the moon.

Was this even possible? Truly plucking the moon from the heavens?

Fu Qian simply watched, especially when the moon actually began to move, slowly being dragged down from the sky.

Based on his understanding of the Full Moon Garden, this full moon in the sky didn't represent Annalise, but rather the object of her faith—the Primordial Moon.

Even if it wasn't the entity itself, it was still a symbol of it.

The core of the Bottom Layer of the Dream should obviously still be the Blood Nova.

As for why the symbol of the Primordial Moon would appear here?

In Fu Qian's view, it was highly likely that, much like the flowers of the Dark Moon, it had gathered here due to the very concept of the moon.

Regardless, this place still fell under the domain of dreams, so such an effect shouldn't be too strange, right? But even so, for the symbol to be directly yanked down was still rather shocking.

This display by the Umbilical Cords seemed to further prove that the SAN Value he was contributing held meaning; the name Annalise was steadily growing stronger.

And so was her body.

In just a few moments, the massive moon had already been dragged down to the surface of the body formed by the Umbilical Cords, right next to those torn faces.

Was this... an eye?

As someone with a rich imagination, Fu Qian seemed to realize something the very next moment.

Were they cobbling together various parts for the reborn Blood Clan Progenitor? He had to admit, the workmanship was a bit sloppy.

...

Never mind the massive difference in size—weren't an eyeball and the moon both round?

In a place like a dreamscape, one had to be adept at extracting core elements.

The lessons he had learned in the Sub-Deep Layer of Dreams weren't just empty talk.

Easily spotting the similarities in that moment gave Fu Qian a much deeper understanding of the Umbilical Cords' actions.

Faces, an eye... After devouring his SAN Value, these things really seemed to be trying to use various related elements to piece Annalise back together.

Considering that the Umbilical Cords were all extending from inside the Blood Nova, this also strongly aligned with the theory that she was highly bound to it.

It was just genuinely sloppy, giving the impression of blind men trying to piece together an elephant—which made sense, considering the elephant was already dead.

"The Blood Clan Progenitor has completely fallen"—the weight of that statement still held true.

Recalling the text once written in the Abyss Notes, Fu Qian almost seemed to envision the dismembered Tyrant.

Somehow, he felt that Annalise's fate was even more tragic than that.

Of course, theoretically speaking, this still just amounted to a madman's conjectures, lacking concrete proof.

Take the moon acting as an eye, for example. One could easily point out that while both were round, wasn't the color entirely wrong?

Blood Clan Progenitor Annalise should have at least had red eyes, right? Wait—wasn't this exactly it?

Following the plucking of the moon, thick, bloody hues suddenly surged from the wounds on the ground, climbing all the way up the Umbilical Cords.

This sight instantly brought to mind the "red" that writhed over the surface of every object in the Sub-Deep Layer of Dreams. With this, the elements for the red eye were successfully gathered, even if the color hadn't quite crawled onto the moon yet.

Furthermore, from top to bottom on the massive body, flowers with white petals and yellow stamens were continuously sprouting out.

The lush, vibrant overgrowth looked almost like flowing hair in a trance.

Crack, crack—

Then, accompanied by a series of dull thuds, several Umbilical Cords hoisted up thick stone pillars, arranging them atop the "flowing hair" to form the shape of a crown.