Chapter 2873: Chapter 2868: The Winner

Lord Patch’s tone just now had been very definite, and Fu Qian also felt sure he hadn’t misunderstood.

Once the surface disguise was completely torn away, what emerged from the Darkness would be the unknown true face of the King of Nightmare.

Considering Patch was very likely the first person to even perceive this being’s existence, that makes his judgment highly credible.

But if you combine that with what they were seeing now, the conclusion you get is a bit terrifying.

The King of Nightmare’s form is decided by the Dreamer, and the Original Moon had indeed once been obsessed with Dream, so the King of Nightmare could indeed resemble the Original Moon.

Yet if we use only that to explain this "true face" right now, it still feels rather arbitrary.

"Heh heh... looks like we’ve just found the answer to the earlier question."

Patch clearly thought the same; after staring for about five seconds, this veteran finally spoke.

"That really is the King of Nightmare, the dead King of Nightmare.

"It even looks like we’ve finally found the answer to why it died."

His tone was still certain; it was obvious Patch wasn’t about to casually overturn his previous views just because the King of Nightmare had this particular face.

On the contrary, from this he extrapolated an even more tragic possibility.

"So the Moon still won in the end? That part doesn’t surprise me, but it feels like we already knew the King of nightmare was dead?"

Having advanced the investigation together to this point, Fu Qian had no trouble following.

The answer to Patch’s first question naturally targeted the issue at the heart of Annalise’s conspiracy: between the Original Moon and the King of Nightmare, who ultimately held the dominant position.

In truth, he had already reached a similar conclusion before this; now they were simply doing a quick verification.

The method was simple: even the King of Nightmare’s final remains had been completely reshaped into the Original Moon’s form.

Whichever way you look at it, that’s the classic sign of being treated as a mere tool.

The wronged party never lived to see the day of "no longer enduring," and after all that hiding and running, was captured anyway.

The Original Moon not only refined all of its claims wholesale, but even turned it directly into a specimen.

From that moment on, relative to the other Superior Beings, the Original Moon became the undisputed number one in terms of Dream permissions, and gained the ability to draw near the Sea of Souls.

Whether it’s the scene before their eyes or Annalise’s various misfortunes, everything is perfectly explained by this.

As for the second question, that was exactly what Fu Qian had asked.

Patch seemed to have long known that the King of nightmare had met with disaster, and was utterly certain that what they were seeing now was only a lingering trace it had left behind.

"Yes. I haven’t been able to catch any trace of it for a long time now, and I previously suspected it might have something to do with the Moon."

As expected, Patch admitted this outright, and even faintly revealed the reason for the whole sequence of operations he’d carried out since Shangjing.

...

Patch has been investigating the cause of the King of nightmare’s death all along? That was the real reason Annalise caught his eye?

This explanation is, frankly, much more natural.

It’s no longer a matter of him "just happening" to discover the Moon’s secret, but of him acting from direct self-interest.

They’d just mentioned that there seemed to be a certain affinity between the King of nightmare and the Deceiver.

The former suddenly vanishing for no reason would indeed be enough to put the Deceiver on alert.

As for why the King of nightmare’s traces disappeared from this world, Fu Qian likewise found it easy to guess—

Don’t forget that even the Moon’s power has vanished from this world; the entity the Bloodline Clan now worships appears to be a fake Moon played by the innocent commoner Tilani.

If it was truly the Original Moon who refined the King of nightmare, then when it transformed into the Dark Moon and headed to the Witch World, taking that power along as well would be perfectly normal.

Just like the genuine Law Core.

And they now even have some clues as to why the genuine Law Core was taken away before: the Original Moon has always remained close to the power of Law, and Annalise’s obsession with the White Tower Codex is proof of that.

In short, a whole chain of major events, all tied to that one face in front of them, were starting to fall into place—

"What’s going on? The Moon’s gone again!"

Of course, just because the two people at the top had a commanding grasp of the situation didn’t mean everyone else understood what was happening.

For instance, inside the egg-womb, Mr. Kikuchi Sr. cried out in alarm once more.

"Something’s wrong, we have to get out—now!"

This time, even Old Master Lu, who was usually cautious, grew unusually aggressive.

"Why?"

Kikuchi suddenly seemed less sure of himself.

"The lines are about to snap..."

Lu Ming’s voice was already tinged with despair; he didn’t even have the energy to mock anyone.

And his words were indeed accurate: at a glance, the "live wires" representing Herbert’s residuals—under the final wave of ripples—were already burning out completely, several strands on the verge of breaking.

And as the bodies tied together by those wires, Lu Ming and Kikuchi were clearly in a very bad way.

"Your efficiency is honestly impressive; looks like I won’t need to spend any extra effort... Of course, if you have other plans, this one minute can count as my gift to you."

Listening to their frantic exchange, Lord Patch remained unable to feel any Empathy for that life-or-death urgency; he merely gave high praise to Fu Qian’s efficiency.

From his words, it was clear he already intended to take his leave.

And to be fair, the investigation was indeed nearly done.

Faced with a Mechanical Tyrant whose Extraordinary Perception had just recovered, practically no one would be willing to linger nearby.

It was simply too dangerous.

"Found you—"

But before Fu Qian could see his friend off, another character cut in, and the voice sounded anything but friendly.

"You think that just because you got to this thing first, you now have the ability to stand against me?"

It was Master Sha Ming’s voice.

...

Uncle Sha was angry, and the consequences would be serious.

Strictly speaking, his tone didn’t carry much overt emotion, but Fu Qian still felt that in the cold, sinister timbre of his voice.

Perhaps because Fu Qian had just squeezed a fist toward the night sky, the Archipelago masses whose voices had vanished earlier were now on mic again.

Not only that, they even manifested a strong sense of class hierarchy.

Specifically, compared to Sha Ming and the target of his threats, most people’s voices were truly as faint as mosquitoes, reduced entirely to background noise.

"You’ve been waiting here the whole time?"

As for his target, it was naturally Yibu, the Archipelago’s controller, and there was a trace of regret in Sha Ming’s words.

"Because I trust that you wouldn’t leave. So this is the place you were certain to come."

Sure enough, Sha Ming had been lying in wait like a hunter by the tree, and the "tree" he was guarding was obvious.

"I already told you—when it comes to understanding Law, you’re not even close to Bai Jinting... Why do you have this thing in your hand and still cling to the illusion that it will obey you?"

Once again demonstrating that knowledge is power, Sha Ming’s tone was already laced with mockery.

Boom—

Almost at the same moment, a dazzling brilliance soared into the sky—the exact spot where the White Tower Codex had been tossed down earlier.

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