Chapter 2983: The Fallen Elder

Spending half a lifetime on scientific research—wasn't it all just for a title?

It was one thing to be outside the system, but once you achieved anything within it, gazing upon the title of Professor should have been like a mayfly looking up at the vast blue sky.

Not to mention that beyond holding a full professorship, he had worked extensively across industry and academia, dipping his hands into countless legitimate, illicit, and gray-market enterprises.

Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, Professor Fu looked back on his long, hard-fought journey and couldn't help but sigh at his own achievements.

"You're an Academy professor?"

Living up to his expectations, the Old Lady truly had some worldly experience. In that moment, neither of her heads could hide its surprise.

"Do I not look the part?"

Fu Qian gave a cold snort, though he slightly reined in his overbearing intellectual aura to avoid bullying the weak.

"I didn't expect Apocalypse to have fallen to this state..."

To his surprise, she had no intention of questioning the authenticity of his professorship. Instead, she expressed deep mourning over the Academy's trajectory.

"It sounds like Your Excellency has quite some history with our Apocalypse?"

This reaction naturally piqued Professor Fu's interest. He immediately sized her up, deep in thought.

"Heh... Your Apocalypse? I suppose I might not have much history with that," she said.

Her smile was meaningful, her words dripping with barbed mockery.

"Looking at you, I'm afraid those boring traditions have long been completely discarded, haven't they?"

Amid her merciless ridicule, the Blue-Robed Old Woman straightened up slightly, exuding a solemn grace that somewhat resembled Claudora's.

'So Apocalypse turning out this way really is Dean Cas's doing? There was actually a time when our Apocalypse was respectable?'

Watching the Old Lady deliberately use both hands to straighten her second head—granting it a renewed sense of authority—Fu Qian sighed inwardly. He felt as if he were witnessing the very history of Apocalypse's decline.

She hadn't stated it outright, but her demeanor made it glaringly obvious.

The Old Lady was not just a senior figure of the Academy; she was a senior of Apocalypse itself.

Considering she was a Demigod—putting her a solid head above Claudora before they had set out—there was a high probability she held a professorship as well.

Did this mean that before that catastrophic accident, the culture at Apocalypse had actually been quite proper?

It was just that, with the tigers absent from the mountain, Dean Cas had managed to lead everyone entirely astray.

"How could that be? Innovating with pragmatism, uniting knowledge and action—our Apocalypse has never abandoned its founding principles."

But how could his title as a Pillar Lord be an empty boast? Even facing the heartbroken grief of a former sage, Fu Qian couldn't help but offer an impassioned defense of his Work Unit.

"Then again, why do I feel that Your Excellency is the one who has abandoned tradition?"

Naturally, he wasn't in the habit of only playing defense. He immediately steered the conversation in a new direction, gesturing to their surroundings.

...

"Oh? You might as well make yourself clear."

As it turned out, Professor Fu's offensive capabilities were nothing to scoff at.

Even the old senior, who had just finished straightening her posture, felt her imposing aura falter for a moment.

After squinting at him for several seconds, the Old Lady finally spoke with heavy implication.

"Why don't you tell me what you are doing instead, Your Excellency?"

Fu Qian certainly wasn't going to hold back. His gaze fell upon the suspended head.

He had to admit, it was rather miraculous. Just moments ago, that head had been spitting furious rebukes, yet in the blink of an eye, it had adopted an almost holy, solemn stillness. Even now, its eyes were closed in total silence.

"While our Apocalypse has always been known for its wild, unrestrained style where all taboos are lifted, this thing feels like it goes far beyond 'unrestrained.' You aren't trying to tell me that your original Laboratory was decorated like this, are you?"

Based on their conversation so far, he could almost confirm that this Old Lady had once owned a similar Laboratory in Apocalypse—quite possibly the very one that now belonged to Professor Lisa.

However, his confident questioning wasn't born out of faith in the moral integrity of a former sage. It came from a minor point of reference—during the flare-up of his Etched Intellect, the Old Lady hadn't seemed surprised when she saw the Laboratory devoid of Black Banners.

Therefore, Fu Qian leaned toward the theory that this bizarre interior decor wasn't the original design. Instead, it was a new element that had been woven in as the room "grew" into existence within the Birthday Party.

And as one of the travelers closely bound to this place, the Old Lady had adapted to this new element remarkably well.

"Indeed, it was not. Yet it seems you, the new professor, are even more bound by old conventions than an old woman like me."

Faced with Fu Qian's assertion, the Old Lady freely admitted to it, though she couldn't hide the disappointment in her tone.

"Just as you said, Apocalypse has always been brave enough to try all sorts of new things. But it seems you only pay lip service to that. You rush to condemn this without even figuring out exactly what it is."

Her next words were a ruthless strike at his core, practically confirming the degeneration of Apocalypse.

"If I hadn't figured it out, how would I have known it was up there?"

Unfortunately for her, the moment her voice faded, Professor Fu threw out a casual rebuttal, pointing a finger at the suspended head.

... The severed head at the top of the Tower was exceptionally well hidden. It was obvious the Old Lady had been very confident in its concealment.

For someone whose Transcendent Perception was restricted, having to rely almost entirely on their physical eyes to search for it made the difficulty imaginable.

Even without knowing the specifics of Fu Qian's situation, his simple counter-question was enough to leave the former sage speechless.

"So how did you know it was up there?"

After a moment of patient silence, the Old Lady finally regrouped and resumed their clash.

"I even mentioned it earlier."

This time, it was Fu Qian's turn to sigh.

"When I first walked in, you asked me for my thoughts. I told you that if you stripped away the architecture, all these hanging things put together would be quite spectacular.

"It seems you didn't believe me. Did you really think that as I walked all the way up from the bottom, I wasn't actually piecing them all together in my mind?"

Casually tracing his fingers along the nearest Black Banner, Fu Qian smiled with a touch of malice.

'You...'

Though she hadn't voiced the word out loud, the Old Lady could no longer hide her shock.

"So what spectacular sight did you piece together?"

However, she clearly wasn't the type to concede defeat easily, stubbornly pressing the issue.

"An enshrinement?"

In response, Fu Qian simply spat out a single word.

"Spectacular, yes, but also rather abstract. It's difficult to compare it to a concrete object...

"But based on my personal observations, I lean toward the idea that they echo one another, ultimately congregating toward a single destination—right here."

Fu Qian signaled with his gaze toward the box from which the severed head dangled.

"Are you enshrining yourself?"

...

After all, in the transcendent world, theoretically, enshrining an orthodox or evil deity wasn't considered strange.

But for the object of worship to actually be oneself—and for the severed head to still be fresh at that—was more than a little abstract. Following Professor Fu's deduction, this grand Laboratory, built on pragmatism and innovation, suddenly felt steeped in pure evil.

"Very sharp... It seems I underestimated you."

That feeling was only amplified when the party in question hesitated for a moment before actually admitting to it.

"So this seems to have deviated from Apocalypse's ideals after all? Although there's still a bit of innovation; after all, I've heard that since the Long Night, fewer and fewer people walk the path of faith."

Since that was the case, Fu Qian didn't mind delivering a closing statement to land the final, lethal blow.

"You're right. This is indeed not in line with Apocalypse's ideals... But you are mistaken about one thing. This has nothing to do with the path of faith."

However, as extremes breed reversals, the Old Lady surprisingly shook her head.

"This is a path of cultivation."