Chapter 1533

NO. 148: Next episode, never coming back

Although the desire to perform is one of people's basic desires, it is an expression of outstanding personality and vitality, but whenever people mention the desire to perform, it is often not a good thing.

Because this desire is prone to excess, and the occasions where it is singled out are often the result of excessive display.

Especially those cultivators.

Whether pursuing mechanical, data‑driven enhancement or chasing physical, source‑energy sublimation, it is extremely likely to undergo a change in mindset during the process, because the essence of either path is to pursue greater strength and betterment, which itself is constantly displaying self‑desire; the only difference that can be made here is between self‑identity and others' identity.

But more often than not, these two are not clearly separated; rather, they are so tightly linked that you can't tell whether you are pleasing others or yourself.

You only know that certain stages will indeed make you restless, as if you have walked these years just for the moment of standing there.

Then…

Then, relying on your high soul strength and strong mental fortitude, you rushed to the Gu Lan Ji Nie Er Ju Yuan Theatre, Red Stone!

Moreover, some people will confidently claim they didn't come to Red Stone but to gain experience, to cultivate spirit and soul—you can take it seriously, after all, there really are such earnest people.

Or you can treat it as false, because such earnest people are few.

Regardless of truth or falsehood, and regardless of the reasons used, this group of people indeed raised the grading system of this niche boutique theatre.

And they played a decisive role in improving the quality of the theatre's closing‑service for customers.

Precisely because of these people, the theatre's setting for the intensity of theatrical danger might not be raised to B‑level, but in emergency stabilization and repair services for spirit and soul, it absolutely reached industry‑top level.

After all, it's a legitimate business, so one must attend to both beginning and end.

The more impactful and stimulating the horror drama, the more thorough and effective the follow‑up must be.

Such treatment, which counts as excellent regardless of difficulty, even allows those whose spirit and soul are already in poor condition to come along for the ride—keep the drama part as closed off as possible, not listening, watching, or smelling, and just wait for the final segment's repair.

As long as you don't choose high difficulty, there will be no risk of being forcibly dragged to Red Stone; this can even save a lot compared to the treatment costs at a regular hospital.

The most deadly part is that, being a legitimate business, you can also swipe medical insurance here.

This directly makes the Gu Lan Ji Nie Er Ju Yuan Theatre's reviews on various exploration apps extremely delicate.

As for whether it's scary, opinions vary widely, like the classic tale of the little horse crossing the river.

But when it comes to the follow‑up work, the feedback is uniformly five‑star praise.

This even left a deep impression on the reviewer Aomo, so that at the moment of the stage's finale, he immediately realized:

The posture of the Feathered Serpent Monster and the Falling Flowers Flowing Water Monster is not easy to wrap up.

The so‑called yearly‑improved fully automatic handling assistant, while able to easily subdue most rampaging customers, becomes troublesome if the customer is of Titan‑type, Dragon‑type, or similar physique.

It's not that it cannot neutralize the force; it simply lacks sufficient coverage area.

Although the unanimous praise also mentions that special situations will increase deployment, with rescuing customers as the top priority, overall there shouldn't be too big a problem.

But the saying 'overall there shouldn't be too big a problem' actually means there will be quite a few problems.

Therefore, rather than risking his own safety to verify the reviews, Aomo felt it best to let the normal procedure proceed smoothly.

Thus Aomo decisively made up for his teammate.

And he did not forget to scoop him up.

Although the three female teammates are all of the voluptuous build, each easily over a hundred kilograms, and together they pose a challenge to an average adult male, the fully manifested four‑winged demon can still easily, absolutely bear them.

With a very steady, uniform‑speed descending posture, he was caught on the spot by the 'Metal Slime'.

Due to his own subtle mental state, Aomo has always refused to accept this kind of spirit‑repair condition that is the same standard as others.

Because even though the Grand Puppet Theatre's exceptionally high service standard was mentioned earlier, that high standard is itself relative—compared to countless peers, it is already top‑tier.

But compared to a proper city hospital, it still falls short in some ways, and its coverage is not that comprehensive.

After all, it's merely emergency treatment; although some folks come specially to avail themselves of this service, the theatre still hopes you will, per contract, go to the hospital on your own afterward.

In this situation, naturally they won't cover all categories of psychiatry and soul‑medicine for you to be processed together.

On the contrary, the broadly applicable treatment program might instead trigger a second bout of agitation from Demon God Zero.

So he subconsciously wanted to refuse.

But the results are plain to see.

Not only can they be seen, they can even be displayed in the video for a group of people to watch.

"You shattered the liquid‑state magical metal that could withstand most C‑grade energy cuts and even disperse and resist a portion of B‑grade energy impacts with your laser eye?"

"…I must correct that—it is a photon‑force beam, not a laser eye."

"What is a photon‑force beam?"

"…Explaining it is a hassle, and besides, this isn't the genuine photon force, so can we skip this topic? How much compensation do you want? I'm willing to bear it."

"That's unnecessary—you were all invited by Arturo's little sister to help test; all expenses along the way are of course covered by the theatre, and I'm merely a little curious how you managed it."

The director of the Grand Puppet Theatre rubbed her hands together; this gesture, which seemed somewhat mercenary, came from her as a researcher.

Aomo was somewhat surprised when he saw her; given that the legitimate playwright Luode and some staff stood nearby, giving him a chance to verify, he had already confirmed how gloomy the staff's style of this theatre was.

Ferocious cultists, terrifying bird‑faced people—upon meeting they are not very friendly; employees suspected of being outer‑god believers even flash murderous looks, appearing somewhat dim‑witted, unaware of the gap in everyone's combat strength.

Perhaps he thought the theater could shelter him, making him a little curious about the theater owner, whereupon the theater director hurried over.

Warm and friendly, sunny in her dealings with others yet also possessing a researcher's drive, Aomo felt she was more like a young person in a university lab than the director of this gloomy church‑theater.

But having recently encountered many landmine‑type individuals, Aomo couldn't help thinking that this appearance might be merely superficial, and the other's inner self could be some entirely new kind of divine‑person role.

"If you're interested in the topic of monster‑card domains, I can introduce a few experts, though right now it's not convenient to chat at length."

"Oh! As expected of Mr. Linton, truly generous and straightforward—lately it's not easy to contact those monster experts in the Junction Gate area; even making an appointment requires a significant threshold."

"That's precisely why I should help even more."

After all, the reason for this is that over the past half‑year he has participated in many, large, and frequent monster‑related incidents.

It's all about maxing out exposure and buzz.

And his running back and forth over the past two months, meeting clients everywhere, is precisely guiding the conversion of this traffic heat.

Directing it toward a path capable of driving the entire industry's development, instead of as before, appearing sporadically, each time bringing buzz only to naturally fade away, with virtually no change except for individual speculators profiting from it.

If we let it continue like this, who knows how many years the monster-related industry will crawl along at this lukewarm pace.

Rather than wondering whether it can become a third‑tier profession, it's better to hope not to get crushed by other professions.

It's merely a fantasy before the Giant Observation blows up from dissecting monster corpses for training; there is fundamentally no chance of a new field developing in the Jiemen District.

"Good, good, good—now really isn't the time to talk about this. The city hospital's shuttle is already at the door; once the emergency handling here is done we can immediately run a full checkup. But I'll say you can rest easy."

The director glanced at the Luode staff discussing in the rear control room, then looked at the one lowering his head to gaze at the metal treatment cocoon covered in magic runes where A'ertuoluo was, and turned back: "Based on my years of observation, your friends' conditions are all ideal—compared to the chance of being contacted by outer gods, they're more influenced by A'ertuoluo's little sister's music."

"Indeed, I haven't given those outer gods a real chance to descend."

"Yes, from my point of view this is a bit regrettable, because their appearance is the climax of the whole drama; our theater itself often draws their gaze, and after recently bringing in a large number of believers it's even more so—we can already say the cooperation is pleasant."

"Especially the Yellow Clothed?" Aomo asked.

"Ah, yes," the director nodded calmly. "The Master of the Deep Sea Starry Sky's love for drama is now widely known; frankly, this level of enthusiasm already makes me wonder why the previous director could stay on."

"Your previous director, in my impression, is anonymous—perhaps it's not appropriate to mention?"

"Anonymity is just because He has no name—only a title people use to call Him—but the title 'Wine God' is too generic, right?"

"On this planet, every patch of land has its own culture's wine god."

"But if one favors drama, the scope is limited to the Xisiya region."

"It can also be another world," the director winked. "If you're interested, you can also look for A'ertuoluo's little sister's two cousins, and your friends from the other Luodedao Company."

"However, your two girlfriends probably aren't clear about that."

"Turns out they're from the same hometown."

"Yeah, though it's also fine; although we didn't let them descend, you and your four friends have also added a different kind of art, haven't you? The entanglement of one man and three women, and the spiral of new versus old contradictions, is also consistent with this theater's style—really, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Lindun."

"Perhaps it's not yet time to say that." Gazing at the mental restoration device over there as its completion prompt sounded, Aomo didn't mind the other's somewhat boundary‑lacking topic choice.

After all, this kind of suffering normally seems ostentatious whether you're chatting with brothers or friends; only at times like this does uttering a couple of lines feel natural.

Just as he just said, right now he even seems a bit rushed even at times like this.

The reason is self‑evident; even the director who had watched the theater's Aomo and those three interact couldn't help but show a subtle sympathetic gaze.

"Indeed," she agreed.

"Perhaps the truly hard times will actually start from now on."