Chapter 2960: The Mask's Destination

"You can just use your words. Could you stop pulling these morbid stunts?"

Like overlapping ripples, two distinct sets of facial features flickered alternately across his face. Every section shifted independently, perfectly demonstrating the true meaning of free combination.

The shifting on Fu Qian's face was highly visual, a vivid interpretation of Yuan Shan's earlier remark about "not even knowing who you are anymore."

"Pretty much. In short, it turns everything into complete mush. It makes you question whether those are even human thoughts anymore, and this utter mess is contagious..."

But perhaps it was a bit too vivid. Chief Yuan furrowed her brow, clearly finding the sight hard to stomach.

"If I didn't have this Playing Card, would my brain turn into mush just like theirs?"

Finally dropping his two-faced routine, Fu Qian drew out Guansi and toyed with it.

"It would be even more visual than that."

Yuan Shan shook her head and snapped her fingers at the middle-aged man in the bowtie, who looked about ready to lose his mind over the nearby argument.

"You two—"

The man's nervous tension seemed to ease slightly at the interruption, and he hurriedly stepped closer.

Guh! Unfortunately, he choked his next words back down an instant later, staring blankly at the black spike thrust in front of his face.

She wasn't asking to order more food. Chief Yuan's greeting looked more like she was planning to dine and dash—a black ribbon, resembling a Sword-Spear, was leveled directly at his forehead.

"I, I..."

Faced with such a brutal working environment, even the most resilient wage slave would suffer a mental crash. He just stammered endlessly.

"I know the truth."

Yuan Shan helpfully finished the sentence for him.

...

The intent to fish for a reaction was overwhelmingly obvious.

And without a doubt, the middle-aged man in the bowtie frantically tried to figure out exactly which truth she meant.

His complexion shifted three times in a single second, and even his phrasing evolved at a breakneck pace.

"It has nothing to do with me! I have nothing to do with the cops, either..."

"I did take a little money to hide the gun in the bathroom, but I don't even know which of them arranged it..."

"Alright, the guy you're suspecting really is my man. I planned the whole thing myself just to swallow that shipment alone..."

See? Just as expected: apply enough pressure, and anyone will confess to absolutely anything.

In the span of just three sentences, the middle-aged man in the bowtie evolved from a hospitality worker lacking the strength to truss a chicken into some kind of underground crime boss.

He even adjusted his bowtie at the end, his imposing aura sharply spiking.

Fu Qian watched the results of Chief Yuan's extreme pressure tactics, clicking his tongue in admiration.

It truly was an utter mess. His reaction perfectly fit the term Yuan Shan had used earlier.

The key was that even as his thoughts went into a continuous landslide, every single sentence he uttered sounded incredibly sincere.

It vividly demonstrated how the fate of a supposedly law-abiding citizen had become hopelessly entangled with a gang of criminals.

Oh—

However, despite the middle-aged man's final evolution into a mob boss persona, Chief Yuan still wasn't satisfied. The sharp tip of her Sword-Spear continued to press right against his forehead.

"Urgh, agh—"

Unsurprisingly, her actions continued to provoke a strong reaction.

The next moment, the middle-aged man's voice abruptly pitched up, instantly filling with agony.

This was immediately followed by both of his eyeballs bulging out of his skull.

Because he was being forced back by the Sword-Spear, he was already closer to Fu Qian. In that instant, it almost looked like a scene straight out of a Fright Box.

A closer look, however, proved this was far from some cheap toy. Trailing behind the eyeballs were snake-like bodies, their surfaces covered in folds and ridges resembling human brain tissue.

"The one on the left even sprouted Feathers."

Faced with such a bizarre spectacle, Fu Qian didn't waste his front-row advantage, carefully observing and picking out extra details.

For unstable existences like this, it wasn't just their mental worlds that rapidly collapsed; even their flesh and blood underwent mutation.

This was clearly the lesson Yuan Shan wanted to demonstrate to him, and it certainly tracked logically.

But taking this pair of eyes as an example, even the mutation itself seemed to be mutating—a perfect illustration of what she meant by an utter mess.

"Yes... if you give it enough time, you can find practically every conceivable biological form on their bodies. Sometimes, even non-biological ones."

Yuan Shan finally retracted her hand, her voice low.

"Every single one of them?"

Lightly flicking away the eyeball-snake that was trying to coil around him, Fu Qian gestured toward the remaining crowd.

He had to admit, this criminal gang was incredibly dedicated to their work. Their hunt for the mole had reached a point of complete obsession.

Neither the man's confessions just now nor his mutation in the present moment drew so much as a single glance from the rest of them.

"Every single one. And it's contagious."

Yuan Shan nodded, gesturing to indicate that the rest of them shared the exact same potential.

"If you don't use a method like the Playing Card to anchor your sense of self, anyone who enters this place and comes into close contact with them will accumulate this distortion, regardless of whether they are normal or already mutating.

"We know that even a New God struggles to detect or resist this distortion. And the mutations usually erupt right when you prepare to leave this place."

...

"Interesting. That perfectly aligns with the concept of 'losing yourself in the crowd.'"

The scenario Yuan Shan described was undoubtedly horrifying. Her phrase, "even a New God struggles," made it obvious that official testing had been conducted.

Imagining such a scene, Fu Qian held a high appreciation for her earlier descriptions.

"But don't worry. So far, it looks like this little Playing Card is enough to help you avoid these effects, although I don't even know how it does it."

Realizing the atmosphere had grown a bit grim, Yuan Shan made sure to offer timely reassurance, signaling that he had nothing to worry about.

'Really? I don't buy it.'

Unfortunately, this thoughtfulness failed to earn his approval. Feeling the sea-like wash flowing continuously over his body, Fu Qian pondered to himself.

It was true. His two-faced stunt from earlier hadn't been some tasteless imitation; it was an expression of his actual condition.

Something had appeared the very first second he stepped into the Birthday Party, and it had been intensifying ever since.

And the negative effects it brought weren't just simple mutations; it felt as if his entire state of existence was disintegrating.

The faces of Fu Qian and Fang Xun were a prime example. Originally, they should have been two sides of a seamless whole, but right now, both were trying to manifest at the same time...

Most critically, even after he obtained the Playing Card, this process hadn't changed at all.

'Did the Needle Witch tamper with it? Did she make my card ineffective?'

Honestly, it was highly unlikely. For one, this concerned the fate of the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison—Fu Qian didn't think she had the ability to interfere with that. For another, neither eating the food nor coming into close contact with this crowd had brought any change to the process.

That was right. His extreme actions from earlier had all been done for a reason.

In short, combining this with Yuan Shan's explanation, it felt more like the Birthday Party itself naturally clashed with him...

As for why it clashed?

"Then I'm relieved..."

Giving face to Chief Yuan's comforting words, Fu Qian nodded. The next moment, a bizarre mask appeared in his hand.

Its face was ghastly pale, with a tear at the corner of its eye—it was the Mask of the Destined God.

Excellent, this was the place... the exact destination his path to godhood pointed toward.

And as he put it straight on, Fu Qian silently came to a conclusion.

It didn't even seem to offer him a grace period. The ritual had directly begun.