August 21—Cycle 7, the Endless Sea.
Before dawn, Qi Heng returned to his room exhausted and locked the door. Then he wrote a report for the official Player channel.
He confirmed what they’d suspected: at 11:30 p.m., the Sorrow Theater would pull an invited person’s consciousness inside. Entry wasn’t the front door. Once inside, all ten of them lost control of their bodies.
They were made to watch a performance. Then, when it ended, they were forced to perform the same play themselves.
Qi Heng emphasized that the third floor wasn’t entertainment. It felt like a ritualized record—something meant to imprint an idea.
And the idea was terrifying:
The path beyond the “Unbreakable Tier” existed, but it demanded the “correct offering.”
Not a System task. Not a normal quest.
A price.
Qi Heng ended with a warning: do not attempt third-floor entry alone. The theater could seize the body, rewrite the will, and it felt as if something was watching from above the stage—something half-divine.
A demigod.
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