His Existence

Only after Xu Chen had made sure Captain Chu wasn't up to any tricks did he feel reassured enough to let him sit across from him.

"Satisfied? Now hurry up and tell me what it is."

"What's the rush? Like I just told you, if people take in certain harmful information, it can have adverse effects on their bodies. What I'm going to tell you falls into that category, so think about whether you still want to hear it."

Veins bulged on Captain Chu's forehead. "Do you think my duties are a sham? Or that I didn't say a word when I took my oath? You think I'd be afraid of that risk? Just tell me."

"I was giving you a chance to consider it. This isn't a good thing, and there's no guarantee nothing will happen to you after you hear it. I had to give you a choice," Xu Chen said with a dry laugh.

"So you deliberately made me take off the listening device to stop the Think Tank behind me from hearing?"

Xu Chen looked shocked. "Huh? There really are people listening to our conversation behind you?"

Captain Chu looked at Xu Chen, wondering if his own IQ had dropped. "You mean you didn't know I had a Think Tank behind me? Then why did you make me take off my headset and move somewhere else to talk?"

"Oh, that was to make absolutely sure nothing went wrong," Xu Chen said. "I've seen a lot of movies where the protagonist doesn't trust his instincts, or the whole group gets wiped out because of a simple oversight. I hate that trope most of all. The world we're in now could very well be a horror movie, so we can't follow that trope."

"All right, stop talking nonsense. Get to the point."

"Right, right, the point." Xu Chen glanced at Captain Chu. "I already told you, this information is harmful, so after you've heard it, you can decide whether to report it."

"I'll make that judgment myself."

"All right, but whatever you do, don't report it and wipe out all our top brass in one fell swoop."

Captain Chu looked at Xu Chen in surprise. "You're actually worried about that?"

"Of course. I can only rely on you people to deal with this. Nothing can happen to our top brass, or would I have to do it myself? I don't have that kind of ability."

"All right, tell me. No more nonsense. I'll think about your concerns."

"Mm, good." Xu Chen paused, then looked at Captain Chu. "I know of an entity. He isn't human or an alien, and I don't know whether he's a living being. If I had to make a comparison, he's more like a supernatural mythical creature. His name has extraordinary power. If someone says its name, it will sense it. If someone chants its name, it will turn its gaze upon them, and everyone He gazes upon will ultimately be unable to escape eternal chaos and madness."

Captain Chu quickly finished writing down the last few words and looked up, signaling Xu Chen to continue. For some reason, though, he felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped a little.

"I haven't confirmed the consequences or cost of saying its name, so when I talk to you, I'll use 'He' instead. Everything I've heard about Him was recorded in a book that once documented His deeds in detail. Its title should contain the word 'call' and have six Chinese characters, or in English, 'The Call of'. What's missing from the title is its name. You should try to find it."

After saying that, Xu Chen was a little excited. He'd discovered that this roundabout approach seemed quite useful. So far, no supernatural phenomena seemed to have occurred, so he decided to up the dose and see how much more he could get across.

"Rumor has it He dwells in the deep sea. He's enormous, with tentacles, wings, and a terrifying face. On the day He awakens, He will bring devastating disaster and endless madness..."

Captain Chu continued taking notes, then suddenly noticed that his ballpoint pen was slippery. His hand seemed unusually sweaty. He opened his palm and found that it was indeed wet, so he wiped it on his clothes, intending to make do. This was critical information, after all, and it couldn't be delayed.

But after wiping his hand on his clothes, he found that his palm was still wet. Startled, Captain Chu looked down and saw that, at some point, his clothes had become quite damp, as if he'd rolled around in the woods that morning.

He grabbed a handful of fabric, and it seemed he could even wring water out of it.

Xu Chen noticed something was wrong with Captain Chu too and immediately stopped talking. He'd already tried his best not to say it, as if he were avoiding censored words, yet he still hadn't escaped. That old bastard Cthulhu was really sensitive.

Captain Chu looked around and carefully sniffed his clothes. They smelled of salty seawater. He immediately understood that the harmful information Xu Chen had mentioned might be real.

He glanced at Xu Chen, who was completely unaffected. Though somewhat puzzled, he urged him on.

"Why did you stop? Go on."

"Huh? Come on, shouldn't we stop here? He might have noticed you already."

"That's not a problem. Go on..."

Xu Chen shook his head. "No. Although it looks like we just can't say His name, it seems this thing still has another trick up its sleeve... Take a look at your notes."

Captain Chu was taken aback. He looked down and saw that the beginning was fine, but when it reached the book's title, the writing gradually began to change shape. By the time he got to the description of His appearance, it had completely transformed into another kind of distorted script, full of sharp angles and complex curves. He had seen it before, too. It was the very same writing Xu Chen had produced, the piece he'd put back together himself.

"Looks like you've tried something?"

"That's right. For some reason, everything related to Him seems hard to reveal. There's a contradiction in my reasoning."

"All right, then we won't talk about Him. Let's talk about your reasoning instead."

"Okay." Xu Chen understood that he probably couldn't continue passing on information about Cthulhu Himself, but he could offer his thoughts on what He had done. "What do you think He did, and what was His goal?"

Captain Chu thought for a moment. "What did He do... The recent bizarre cases and illnesses, Taihao disease and the Aspergillus flavus infections, and the destruction of the cultural relics should all have been His doing. Even Old Ge might have been targeted because his research threatened Him..."

"Where's the evidence?"

Captain Chu gave a wry smile. "What evidence is there? All of this involved supernatural powers. Could a human have done it?"

"It's reasonable for you to say that. So what was His goal?"

"Does that even need saying? From your description, I can tell this thing is no good. If it isn't out to destroy, it's out to wreak havoc. Could He possibly be helping build a better world?"

"Looks like you have a clear idea... Didn't Old Ge say it before? The mastermind's goal is to wipe out human civilization. So if you were Him, what would you do next?"

"...What would I do?" Captain Chu frowned. He did think there were many ways, but honestly, there were a great many humans now—not even enough nuclear bombs to go around. Besides, those methods could only kill a few people on a large scale. Extinguishing humanity was still rather unlikely.

"With current technology, to destroy humanity, destroying humanity might require biochemical means? No matter how supernatural He is, He couldn't pull an asteroid down to hit Earth or change Earth's climate, could He?"

"You're right, but let me tell you, His supernatural power manifests more as the power of the mind. I'm sure you still remember Taihao disease."

Captain Chu's eyes widened. "What if it can spread a psychic plague like Taihao?"

"Perhaps it's even simpler. Spreading His name might be enough to plunge everyone who chants it into chaos and madness."

Captain Chu drew a sharp breath, then thought of something. "Then why isn't He spreading it? Why cause those Aspergillus flavus infections and destroy cultural relics instead?"

"I don't know. That's what puzzles me."

"Hm? Explain."

"Have you forgotten what happened in the conference room? I said His name then and immediately lost the ability to speak."

Captain Chu fell silent, looking at the one under His gaze.