The Foundation

"Damn it, what a piece of junk this machine is! It can't even dig up a single rock."

"If you ask me, this model should have been phased out long ago. We've updated it so many times already!"

The old man grumbled and cursed when he heard that he had to go out in the pouring rain.

Old Ke chuckled, "Without this broken machine, there's nothing for the two of us to do. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up, we're still waiting to go to the Flower Street Bar."

Although the old man was reluctant, he still got off the machine.

With the hook attached, they braved the heavy rain and descended into the pit.

At the bottom of the muddy pit, a section of long stone buried underground was exposed.

It is very regular and flat, except for two extra sections on top.

At each end, one is a long point and the other is a short point.

It looks like a person lying on their side on the ground, half buried and half exposed, along with the other half of their hands and feet.

But no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a human.

"What the hell is this? Could it be something left over from the ruins of a city before Arkham was even established?"

The old man muttered to himself, but didn't think much of it.

He didn't want to stay in the rain, and the Flower Street Bar were waiting for him.

He deftly hooked the hook onto the bucket, and tied the other end of the rope to the rock.

After doing all this, the old man nimbly climbed out of the pit.

"Old Ke, you're tied up, pull him up!"

He waved and shouted in the rain, and Old Ke immediately pulled the control lever.

The gears turned, making a sound, and spewed out white smoke.

The machine's large arm began to exert force, and the stones tied to the pit were lifted up.

I gazed at the stone, blurred in the rain, that was hanging there.

Old Ke frowned. "What the hell is this? It doesn't look like an Common stone. This... it looks more like a statue."

He had seen quite a few of the bizarre and disordered works of art created by the madmen of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.

The old man in the rain also gazed at the stone.

Watch as it was slowly placed on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a statue.

However, this statue has no aesthetic appeal whatsoever; it looks like a tiny figurine sculpted by a three-year-old child.

The old man didn't think much of it; he didn't care what kind of statue it was, it was none of his business.

All he wanted to do now was get the hook off quickly so he could get back to the boiler on the machine.

Dry your soaked clothes and body with the oven.

Having safely unhooked the hook, the old man began to walk back towards the machine.

Only Old Ke, bored, stared ahead through the hazy glass window at the spot where the statue had been placed, waiting for the old man to return and continue working.

But just as the old man was about to approach, Old Ke blinked, yawned, and stretched.

Just as his mouth opened wide and his hands were raised.

They were immediately stunned.

Old Ke's expression turned to surprise and doubt as he stared blankly ahead.

"Where's the statue? Where did it go?"

The statue that had just been hoisted up and placed on the ground disappeared in less than a second.

Old Ke thought he was seeing things and rubbed his eyes, but looking through the glass, there were still no statues.

"Old man, where did that statue go?"

Old Ke immediately called out to the old man and asked him if he knew the reason.

After all, in this abnormal world, encountering even more abnormal things is unthinkable.

That would be a very bad omen.

But there was no response from Old Ke when he looked toward the old man.

My heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran from my feet straight to my head.

The old man stood upright in the heavy rain, his neck tilted to the side.

Behind him, the statue that had just been hoisted stood erect!

How was this statue moved, and how was it erected?

Old Ke was extremely panicked.

"Old man! Behind you!"

He frantically called out to the old man several times, but the man did not respond and instead collapsed to the ground.

From today's perspective, his neck is twisted beyond what a normal person can twist.

To put it simply, his neck was broken, and he died.

Old Ke screamed and cowered in the corner of the machine, staring fearfully at the statue.

He had no idea what kind of strange tale this was, as there was no record of anything like it.

Or did he dig up something incredibly terrifying?

But after staring at the statue for a while, it just stood there quietly.

It looked exactly like a statue, completely immobile.

If it weren't for the statue moving and the old man dying there, he would have truly believed it.

But after a while, the statue still didn't move.

Old Ke finally mustered his courage and, barely daring to breathe, tentatively moved outside, preparing to escape.

He stared intently at the statue, afraid that it might make any move.

But everything went smoothly; he successfully left the machine, and the statue remained motionless.

"Run! We have to run now!"

His gaze finally shifted from the statue to the area ahead where he was about to leave.

Just as I was about to run, a gust of wind swept past me from behind.

Something appeared behind me.

Just as Old Ke was about to turn his head to look...

Click.

The image that Old Ke saw lingered on: the strange statue that had suddenly appeared behind him.

"Five people died at this construction site: two people operating the excavator, two surveyors, and one site guard."

"Their cause of death was broken necks. There were no suspicious individuals, and no strange tales have been told here."

"The only unusual thing is this statue in the construction site."

The heavy rain subsided considerably, and dozens of people appeared at the construction site.

There were city guards, Plague Doctor, and members of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.

The bizarre deaths forced them to pay close attention.

"However, nothing particularly special about this statue can be found."

Someone touched the statue; it was icy cold to the touch.

"Everyone, look around again. Is there anything unusual? If another strange tale appears, that would be bad."

Everyone dispersed and stopped paying attention to the statue.

Just after all eyes left the statue, several crisp sounds rang out from different parts of the venue.

Those who heard the noise immediately looked towards its source and were instantly dumbfounded.

The necks of the six people were snapped on the spot, killing them instantly.

The unidentified statue also appeared in its original place next to a corpse.

"What... what's going on?!"

"That statue! There's something wrong with the statue!"

Everyone looked at the statue with a sense of impending doom, but they couldn't discern anything amiss.

How did it launch its attack? And how did it move?

"Did anyone see that just now?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Nobody saw it? Does that mean it only attacks when nobody's watching?!"

The members of Esoteric Order of Dagon had considered this.

Like those Eldritch Beings and mysterious creatures, this statue is also subject to certain rules.

"Everyone, keep a close eye on this statue!"

"Report the situation here immediately; a completely new ghost story has been discovered!"

Upon seeing this, Shen Hui smiled; they had finally realized this.

Next, it's time for us to step in and help them create Foundation for containment.