The Elder Thing’s enraptured visage sent a chill down the spines of all the spectators. Though its actual face was hidden by the hood of its robes, its peripheral body seemed to writhe with an alien enthusiasm. And its voice shredded through the air with a disturbing pitch.
‘I hate Cthulhu mythology!’
The experts complained inwardly. Even the Cthulhu enthusiast thought the same thing.
It was all well and good when reading it in books, but encountering it in real life was just too horrifying.
From the beginning to the end, the events were filled with madness, evil, fear, and insanity. If other mythological systems were like fantasy films, then Cthulhu mythology was pure horror.
After screaming for a long time, the Elder Thing regained its senses and calmed down. It lowered its head and laughed maniacally before throwing a stone badge.
The Cthulhu enthusiast subconsciously caught the badge, but in the next instant he thought of throwing it away. Who knew what the hell it was? He simply did not want his sanity to fall off wildly!
“That is the key……”
The Elder Thing suddenly spoke as if it could see through everyone’s thoughts. It spoke to everyone, “If you wish to gain more knowledge, then you should use the key to open the door. I don’t know what knowledge or how much knowledge you would obtain, but it should be knowledge that will allow your race to evolve one step.”
“Remember, you only have one day to open the door. After a day passes, the key would become useless. You will never be able to obtain knowledge anymore.”
The Elder Thing’s voice became duller and duller until its body disappeared like bubbles in front of everyone’s eyes.
Everyone could see the stone badge that the youngster was holding. It was the ‘key’ that the Elder Thing passed on to them.
The young enthusiast wasn’t accustomed to being the center of attention so he gulped and trembled, “We can’t go! We absolutely cannot go! This must be a conspiracy of the Elder Things. It says that its servant the Shoggoth is still around. It’s a shoggoth! Guys don’t you know what a shoggoth is!? It’s an extremely twisted monster that any living thing would feel sick seeing!”
“Moreover… moreover, this key? Heh… he… this is the mark of the key to the door. Those Elder Things actually believe in the All-in-One of all things. They actually believe in Yog-Sothoth!!!”
The young man flailed as if he had gone mad. He pulled his hair fiercely as if just saying the name had driven him crazy.
“Calm down! Calm down!!”
The crowd attempted to grab the disturbed fellow and soothe him.
The major looked at the young man in silence and then said, “According to the elder thing, this key has a time limit. It’s too late for us to return back to the surface to ask for support. The knowledge that it spoke of is something that I don’t want to give up if it ends up helping humanity. It would be of great benefit to us!”
“I know that my decision is reckless, so I won’t force anyone to come with me to find the ‘knowledge’. We will separate here. Those who are willing to come with me and face the danger should follow. Those who are unwilling should hurry back to headquarters. I fear that there are other dangers here.”
The major paused a bit and continued, “This should be our duty as soldiers, but we really don’t know anything about these things, that’s why we would like to obtain everyone’s help.”
The crowd fell silent as they looked at each other in disbelief. Gui Bin looked at the soldiers and the hesitant experts from various countries around him. He clenched his teeth and stood behind the major.
As a staff member sent by the Chinese Government, he couldn’t just give up on this great event that would benefit the country just because of his personal safety.
Seeing that someone began to stand in line, many experts also acted quickly. In a few minutes, the cohort was split into two teams. To the major's surprise, there were more than two-thirds of the experts who were willing to continue the expedition with him, while the remaining third chose to go back.
“Then everyone, I won’t see you off. I don’t know what dangers our side will be facing, so I can’t give you too many guns and ammo. I can only give you these.”
“The way back from here should be safe. You must not continue exploring the city. When you return to the ground, tell the governments about this place so they can send more personnel over.”
After giving his instructions, the major turned to his troops and the experts who were going to follow him, “Since all you experts are willing to go on an adventure with me, I will do my best to protect you. I also hope that you can use your knowledge to get us out of harm’s way!”
After a small gathering, all the soldiers started checking their weapons and ammunition. After confirming that they were good to go, the elite squad took off.
What surprised everyone was that the young Cthulhu enthusiast who they thought would return had decided to stay behind.
“You guys come with me. This key is both a key and a map. It will lead us to the deepest part of this temple, to the peak that surpasses Mt. Everest, to meet the most ancient civilization.”
This young man spoke in a half-crazy half-calm manner.
Although the crowd felt that he was in a bizarre state, what made them uneasy was that this young man was the only one who could lead them to their destination.
“Lord of the Endless Void, Shifter of the Stars, The Lurker at the Threshold, Opener of the Way, Beyond-One, All-in-One, and One-in-All…”
“The Almighty Eternal Lord of the Beginning of Time, Yog-Sothoth!”
On this journey, this American youth had been chanting these words, making the atmosphere even more bizarre and inexplicable.
“Stop chanting!!”
Gui Bin felt like he was losing his mind. His scalp began to tingle, his brain turned as muddled as a bowl of tofu pudding, and his awareness started to scatter. He had never done drugs, but now he felt like he was under the influence, with the entire world seeming surreal and bizarre, causing his head to feel like it was about to explode.
Finally, he couldn't help but shout out, causing that young man to shut his mouth, and the young man slowly turned back to look at Gui Bin, the corner of his mouth revealing a maniacal and insane smile.
Gui Bin shuddered and shook his head. When he looked again, he saw that the young man had returned to normal, as if his previous smile had been a mere illusion.
“Here it is, this is the ruins of the Ancient One ......”
It wasn't long before this American youth, with the stone badge in his hand, led the crowd to where the ‘door’ was.
It was the door to wisdom and the door to death!
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