Chapter 2934: Fattened Up for the Slaughter

How was he supposed to interpret this?

For a dizzying moment, Fu Qian felt like he was standing in front of an abstract master's masterpiece.

The crown... did it represent faith?

Fortunately, as a rather abstract individual himself, he found it relatively easy to resonate with the piece.

In all fairness, even if the materials and shape were a bit bizarre, the size at least matched that colossal frame.

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian managed to arrive at a conclusion.

At first glance, it didn't quite fit her persona. After all, the lullaby from earlier had just sung about freeing the transcendent from the confines of faith.

But he couldn't afford to be so rigid. For the Blood Clan, wasn't their Progenitor a faith in her own right?

Regardless of Annalise's original intentions, this cobbled-together crown could easily be linked to the concept of reverence.

So, let's get this straight.

The face, the eyes, the red, the grey hair, the reverence... and of course, the most crucial element: the offspring. The Annalise standing before him was gradually fleshing out.

And the fuel sustaining all of this was a mere six points of SAN Value. Was the life of an outsider really worth that much?

Or was it the life of the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison that held such high value?

After all, he had already noticed the signs: as he leveled up, securing SAN Value from kills during missions had become incredibly difficult. The stat was clearly tied to one's Rank.

[SAN Value -1]

While Fu Qian continued his critique, fresh losses kept rolling in. Clearly, Excellency Annalise would not be so easily satisfied.

As the loss reached seven points, Fu Qian noted that there were actually further changes.

Just above the stone crown, a patch of the already deep night darkened even further, stretching into a symmetrical shape in the blink of an eye.

Wings? Wings forged from darkness?

This feature was much easier to identify, and Fu Qian instantly grasped its meaning.

Even if the placement was a bit off, hovering right above her forehead.

That hardly mattered, though. Given that the Umbilical Cords were still tethered to her feet, taking flight wouldn't be easy anyway.

Regardless, with the addition of wings, this Progenitor of the Blood Clan was really starting to look the part. Admiring the sight inwardly, Fu Qian's gaze swept over the colossal body once more. The resemblance was simply uncanny.

Indeed, pixel art could be surprisingly evocative.

The sight before him bore a striking, spiritual resemblance to the scenes he had witnessed during the Crystallized Apocalypse.

...

Elements precipitating and condensing into pure crystals, only to be haphazardly mashed back together.

In Fu Qian's eyes, the "World's Truth" of the Crystallized Apocalypse could practically be summed up with that exact description.

And while the parts making up this "living corpse" of Annalise might not have been quite as translucent, if he really thought about it, couldn't every "building block" be likened to those very crystals?

So much so that, despite boasting much higher-resolution textures, it still looked like a pixelated mosaic to Fu Qian.

It gave this version of Annalise a fourth-wall-breaking aura—a bizarre sense of déjà vu, as if a "Minecraft" character had stepped into the real world.

[SAN Value -1]

The onslaught wasn't over. Amidst another system prompt, that thirty-one-in-one face slowly turned toward him.

"A pleasure to meet you. I look forward to your pointers."

Even without Transcendent Perception, he could tell the entity had locked onto him.

It was an undeniably oppressive sight. After all, if even one of the pillars forming her stone crown were to fall, it would easily smash a man's skull open.

Yet, as he looked up, Fu Qian still offered a smiling nod in greeting—you're actually going to point?

He had to admit, the tendency of older generations to lack personal boundaries was on full display at this moment.

As if she had understood the phrase "look forward to your pointers," the bloodstained Umbilical Cords on her massive body stretched and condensed. They formed the shape of a giant hand and reached out toward him, as if genuinely intending to offer a literal "pointer."

Fortunately for her, she was dealing with Professor Fu—a man who never exchanged pleasantries lightly.

Without a hint of reproach, Fu Qian naturally extended his left hand, keeping it raised until the tip of his index finger physically touched the soft Umbilical Cord.

[SAN Value -1]

[SAN Value -1]

...

Wasn't this going a bit far?

The barrage of system prompts ringing in his ears grew so dense that they began to harmonize into a chorus. Even someone as generous as Professor Fu couldn't help but complain inwardly.

Usually, a pose like this mirrored God breathing life and soul into mankind. Why was the dynamic suddenly reversed here?

Wait. He could hardly be classified as human right now either.

He got over it in an instant. Not only did Fu Qian conveniently invent an excuse for the entity, but he also kept his finger firmly in place.

As a result, that soft Umbilical Cord finally functioned as a nutrient conduit, siphoning away over ten points of his SAN Value in the blink of an eye.

The only issue was the inverted flow: nutrients were rushing from the Offspring to the Progenitor.

Visibly, the colossal mass rapidly gained definition. Its posture grew far more agile, as if she were finally able to return from the Blood Nova.

Exactly. Why else would she pop out of nowhere in a place like this?

Watching this unfold cleared up the very last of Fu Qian's doubts, leaving him thoroughly satisfied.

This hulking mass before him could indeed be considered "Annalise," and thanks to the nourishment of his SAN Value, she was regaining her vitality.

Even her incredibly uninhibited behavior made perfect sense when he really thought about it.

She might be called Annalise, but strictly speaking, she was little more than a haphazard amalgamation of remains—a cobbled-together living corpse.

The original entity's consciousness had long since faded; this thing was operating purely on instinct.

But why did Annalise have to manifest here, in the Nightmare Borderland?

The moon was visible here, sure, but it was just as visible back in the Full Moon Garden. Hell, that place even looked more legitimate than this one.

Now, he had his answer: it was because "Annalise's Offspring" was here.

When it came to his SAN Value, the entity clearly had no intention of stopping at a mere taste. Instinct drove her to demand more.

She had manifested here simply because he was here.

It might sound a bit grim, but looking on the bright side, at least the Progenitor wasn't putting these resources to waste.

With another ten points of SAN Value drained, the details of the colossal body grew increasingly intricate—and increasingly twisted.

The extra nourishment hadn't restored the Progenitor of the Blood Clan to her former glory. If anything, it only catalyzed further mutations.

Every lingering trace of Annalise was being fully nourished, only to twist and tangle into an even more chaotic mass under the weight of that name.

Nevertheless, her power was steadily climbing. In the blink of an eye, that crushing aura of oppression no longer relied solely on her sheer size—it was now the genuine, terrifying might of a higher entity.

It reached the point where the "Offspring" wasn't even permitted to pull his hand back.

At that moment, a seemingly familiar scene played out before Fu Qian. The torso, built upon a skeleton of Umbilical Cords, slowly split open. It leaned down, wrapping around him and locking him firmly in place—perfect.

She was just about ripe.

Fu Qian didn't even attempt to break free. Instead, the moment he was completely ensnared, he let out a sigh of admiration at her stellar efficiency.

Indeed, thanks to this point-blank contact, his Calamity Eyes had already dilated to their absolute limit—even against a target who was, theoretically, a higher entity.