The Never-Ending Theater.
Countless huge phantom buildings floated in the mid-air, with four enormous celestial bodies above the sky.
The brilliant sun and the black sun, one in the east and the other in the west.
The scarlet moon floated in the south, and the pure white moon stood in the north.
The scene, defying common sense, would make one's scalp tingle just by looking at it. The sun and moon, magnified countless times, possessed an unparalleled sense of strangeness and terror, just like when astronauts stand on the moon to observe the earth, it would trigger an involuntary fear from the depths of their hearts.
This seemed to be an infinitely vast space. The phantom buildings within the space floated in the boundless mid-air, as if they would be swallowed by the black night enveloped by countless brilliant stars at any moment.
The four huge celestial bodies constantly emitted light and heat in all directions, illuminating the countless walking figures in the phantom buildings.
Those figures were numb, mechanical, like dolls, with no expression on their faces, as if they had long lost the emotions that humans should have, leaving only emptiness and... bewilderment and disbelief?
In the largest clock tower among the phantom buildings, the rustling sound of writing echoed along with Tang's gesticulating voice.
This room he had created for himself merged some elements from his memories with the layout of his study. A cashmere gray carpet covered the floor, huge French windows offered a view of the scarlet moon in the distance, bookshelves leaned against the walls, and on the wide desk were several incongruous lit table lamps, the modern style clashing somewhat with the medieval painting style, looking strange and unconventional.
Tang wasn't the only one here.
A lady in clergyman's robes stood by the desk, somewhat numbly holding a small seal, stamping the bottom right corner of the piles of parchment in front of her; another young man with Intis features was equally numb, as if his energy had been drained by work, like an office worker who had worked 996 for a whole year, constantly writing and drawing on the parchment with a pen.
Their movements weren't slow at all, but at this moment, they were like social animals who had been called up in the middle of the night by a terrible boss to work overtime, their whole bodies exuding an aura of wanting to die and not wanting to live.
If they were marionettes with their own thoughts, then they would definitely backstab their master without hesitation.
Social animals... marionettes were people too!
Black-hearted boss Tang leaned back in the soft armchair, at this moment holding the 'admission notices' they had stamped, taking a small sip of eighty-two-year-old plain water, and then picking up the pastries on the table to taste.
He looked at the admission notice he had written, extremely satisfied.
"If it were accompanied by a delivering owl, a cat-transforming professor, a white-bearded old man, and a boy named 'Harry Potter' at this time, it would be even more immersive."
Putting down the admission notice, Tang stood up from the wide high-backed chair.
The ring on his little finger was heating up frantically, and the theater core seemed to be on the verge of uncontrollable madness!
God knew what this person, this person—what had he been doing these past few days? He had made this place a mess!
The theater core, full of resentment, had already begun planning its assassination plot. Tang looked up at the door, where a tall man looked at him, fire almost blazing in his eyes.
"Yo." Tang waved at him politely. "Please come in."
This was the only other demigod-level marionette in the theater, Sequence Three of the Red Priest pathway, War Bishop.
But clearly, this marionette was here now for a job he hadn't arranged.
There was only one possibility for going against the proprietor's arranged work.
The War Bishop entered the room, very impolitely, and sat down heavily in front of Tang.
Tang also sat down.
"What are you doing?"
The War Bishop's loud voice made the marionettes around who were still printing 'admission notices' involuntarily tremble. The two special existences who could control them now had conflicting opinions. If a dispute occurred... who should they help?
Forget it, let's backstab the black-hearted boss.
Resentment +10086.
"It seems your activity is really strong."
Tang didn't directly answer the other party's question, but instead scanned the War Bishop in front of him up and down, judging the current state of this Sealed Artifact.
After being optimized by the System, he had also looked at the core of this Sealed Artifact several times, but the 'activity' it displayed each time was not as strong as this time, as if it was deliberately avoiding him.
"Much stronger than most Sealed Artifacts I know."
Whether it was the previous magic show or the various emotions the theater had shown during this period, if he wasn't sure this was a Sealed Artifact, Tang would even think he was facing a living Miracle Worker.
Able to communicate normally, rather than a quill pen that frantically wanted to write the user to death, a rule book that wrote rules of strange tales at every turn, or gloves and canes that wanted to sing and dance.
A normal state...
"I really want to kill you."
The War Bishop slowly opened his mouth.
Sealed Artifacts, especially those with strong 'living' characteristics, constantly wanted to break free from their sealed state, kill their holders, and escape their predicament. This was the instinctive reaction of 'living' things.
"Uh-huh, I know." Tang nodded. "If possible, I will also break you down when I advance to Miracle Worker."
In this way, his Sequence Two potion would be secured.
The two of them were originally in a relationship of opposition.
If it weren't for the intervention of higher-level 'rules,' even if the Never-Ending Theater was sealed, using it would require layers of precautions and seals to ensure one's safety, otherwise the theater would turn oneself into a marionette.
Instead of like this, mobilizing the resources within the theater and even talking very equally with this 'living' core of the Sealed Artifact.
This strange result could only occur with the interference of a strong third-party force.
'Hehe.'
"...System, can you give a heads-up before you speak?" It almost scared him to death, thinking this marionette was going to stab him.
'Sorry, sorry, Host.'
The War Bishop didn't show any abnormality to Tang's answer. He could think normally, so he could naturally clearly know that with the Extraordinary characteristics undying, he himself was the simplest shortcut to obtaining the Miracle Worker potion.
And now, with the intervention of 'rules,' he had no way to kill the weak Extraordinary individual in front of him.
"So, before that, what are you going to do here?"
The issue of potion ownership didn't need to be discussed at all. When the time came, even if he... it faced the 'parasite' within the Extraordinary individual in front of it, it would resist frantically!
However, those should be issues for a long time to come. The current issue was—
"Isn't it obvious?" Tang was a bit puzzled. "I thought you could see it."
He said, "I want to open a school."
Not only recruiting ordinary people, but also recruiting Extraordinary individuals, providing systematic learning.
The War Bishop had a 'are you kidding me' expression on his face.
Which good person would be so foolish as to come here to study? To be hung up as a marionette to play with?
(End of this chapter)