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Chapter 361. A Bizarre Drama
Following the prompting of her intuition, Jiang Jianxin suddenly raised her head and looked at the sky she thought she was already familiar with.

Just a moment ago, the sky was a clear blue, with a few wisps of thin clouds drifting leisurely like gauze.

But at this moment, a silent change is taking place—the edges of those wispy clouds begin to blur and dissipate, as if gently erased by an invisible eraser.

The deep blue overhead was fading at a visible rate, like an oil painting being soaked in water, all its richness and layers being lost.

The sky is no longer high and distant, no longer possessing true depth.

It became flatter and more transparent, eventually resembling a huge, stretched-to-the-limit translucent film, or rather, much like the plain-colored screen used to project light and shadow in front of a shadow puppet stage.

A huge beam of light from the abandoned building of the mental hospital in the distance struck the curtain. What should have been a dazzling, diffused red and yellow halo was now just a faint spot of light, like a flashlight shining directly onto a rough cloth.

The light lost the texture of refraction and scattering in the real atmosphere, appearing thin and fake, exuding an unreal feeling like a cheap prop.

Jiang Jianxin tilted his head back, his pupils slightly contracting in shock.

This was the first time in her life she had witnessed such a sight, and a thrill mixed with a sense of insignificance and horror gripped her heart, pounding and pounding in her chest.

This feeling was strange and profound, far beyond what mere fear could encompass.

It was as if she had inadvertently pried open the world's glamorous shell with her fingernail, and that shell was as thin as an eggshell, cracking open with a "snap".

She peered through the crack, but this glimpse did not bring the sense of security of discovering the truth. Instead, it was like a fleeting glimpse of the vast, silent, and chilling essence hidden beneath the veil of daily life.

Why...did the sky fade?

Jiang Jianxin struggled to organize his thoughts and asked the question.

[Normal people can't see it, but you've died too many times, you're too close to the truth.]

Intuition explained it.

Jiang Jianxin heard countless chaotic, viscous murmurs coming from the air. They did not come from any particular direction, but rather surged into his mind from all directions, like countless indescribable beings whispering among themselves.

At the same time, the colors of the whole world faded rapidly, turning gray like an old photograph, and the light dimmed sharply, as if a movie theater was about to open, with the lights going out one by one, and some kind of "performance" was about to begin.

In the sky, the moon was turning crimson at a visible speed, like a huge, malevolent eye slowly opening.

It no longer radiated a gentle glow, but instead became an ominous spotlight suspended above the sky, casting a blood-red light onto the now flattened curtain.

At the very instant that the blood-red "lights" illuminated the entire "sky"—

Jiang Jianxin saw it.

An indescribably huge black shadow was clearly projected onto the screen.

The shadow's outline was twisted and enormous, and most chillingly, its body was covered with hundreds of eyes of various shapes and sizes growing and writhing.

At this moment, this terrifying being was bending down and gnawing on a square object next to it, which was haphazardly pieced together from machinery, flesh, and twisted wires.

"Huffing and puffing..."

The teeth-grinding chewing sound, mixed with the sticky sounds of metal being torn apart and flesh being crushed, clearly pierced through the barrier of space and rang directly in Jiang Jianxin's ears.

[This is the Hundred-Eyed Demon devouring the Mechanic.]

Subtitles appeared at the bottom of the screen.

The handwriting and tone were familiar, but this time they weren't just displayed in my mind; they were projected onto the entire sky.

"...The answer is the truth?"

Jiang Jianxin asked in a low voice.

Yes, I am the answer, the truth, and I am communicating with you through my true form.

The text in the sky changed.

Jiang Jianxin then remembered that the answer, Truth, had said its true form was actually outside the realm; what was in his mind was merely a signal projected from it. [This subtitle is only visible to you.]

The answer, according to Truth, is this.

Jiang Jianxin covered her mouth as she watched the text on the subtitles change. The answer, Truth, was as calm as a detached yet all-knowing narrator, objectively commenting on the bizarre drama unfolding on the screen, a drama far beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

The mechanic is tearing at the eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Demon.

As the subtitles updated, the two entangled, enormous black shadows on the screen fought even more fiercely, twisting and turning wildly until they finally merged into a blurry, writhing mass of pitch-black ink.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Jianxin saw thin, jet-black lines seeping into the edge of the screen, like thick ink dripping into clear water, quickly stretching out into countless delicate and viscous filamentous tentacles, spreading towards the center of the image.

The truth has arrived, and it appears it will employ a hunting strategy.

The answer and the truth objectively evaluate their subject.

Jiang Jianxin held his breath, staring intently at the black threads—they intertwined and weaved at an astonishing speed, like a giant, living net, silently encircling the two monsters still locked in combat in the center.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon was the first to sense the danger. It abruptly abandoned the nearly half-eaten remains of the mechanic, and a massive shadow began to roam restlessly across the sky, its hundreds of eyes darting around frantically, trying to find a way out.

However, the net woven from black threads has begun to shrink, encircling it layer by layer like a living trap.

Despite the Hundred-Eyed Demon's desperate struggle, most of its body was still tightly wrapped and devoured by the rapidly spreading black threads, eventually becoming entangled into a giant cocoon suspended above the curtain.

Only a few surviving eyes managed to break free at the last moment, like startled water fleas, clinging to the corner of the curtain, hastily disappearing from the scene and fleeing for their lives.

"Hang Chih Chih..."

After the black ball of thread completely devoured the mechanic's remains and the Hundred-Eyed Demon's massive body, it did not leave satisfied like a normal predator, but instead paused noticeably and illogically.

The tangled mass of darkness had no visible form, let alone a head, yet Jiang Jianxin felt it with absolute clarity—it had "twisted" around.

A cold, viscous "gaze," transcending physical senses, pierced through the thin curtain and landed precisely on the world.

It fell on the viewer in front of the screen, who should have been an observer.

"Shh-!"

In an instant, the entire sky went dark, as if a power switch had been pulled.

The world beneath their feet also sank into an absolute, deathly silence where nothing could be seen and even sound was sucked away.

Only the moon, scarlet as if weeping blood, hung alone on the curtain, becoming the only source of light in this boundless darkness.

In the darkness, Jiang Jianxin clenched his fists tightly, feeling a throbbing headache.

She should have felt scared during that moment of terror, but it inexplicably felt somewhat familiar.

Jiang Jianxin slightly raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the suffocating darkness before him, looking towards a certain point in the past.

—She remembered.

The test I took when I joined the Fools' Club...

The monster inside also broke through the exam paper and directly ate the person in front of the exam paper.

She didn't score high on the test, and as a result, she was eaten by the monster.

But the Fool's answer was completely different from hers.

Those people who were not in their right minds seemed to know clearly that there was a ghost in the exam paper.

The purpose of this exam, from beginning to end—

They were all just fighting against the demons in the exam papers.