PFC Chapter 464 The Pacific Ocean (Page 12)
Chapter 464 The Pacific Ocean (Page 12)
Utopia, deep within the central administrative district.
Memorial led the group through a dark corridor and stopped in front of a huge black building.
The entire castle is made up of countless shimmering pixel blocks, its surface shimmering with a faint, data-like glow. Above the porch is an ancient inscription:
Knowledge is power, but also a curse.
Baili Pangpang shrank his neck: "Sister Jinian, why does this place feel so eerie..."
Commemorating a light laugh: "The 'Black Castle' of Utopia—the accumulation of the Shangxie Society over three hundred years is all here."
She pushed open the heavy pixelated door, revealing endless bookshelves inside, the air thick with the mixed scents of old paper and electronics.
An Qingyu's lenses instantly lit up with a blue light: "The energy reading is abnormal... The information density here is comparable to the Night Watch headquarters archives."
Lin Qiye's Eternal Night Domain rippled slightly: "Is Senior Zhou Ping's clue here?"
Memorial nodded: "All the records about the 'Abyss,' the 'Mysterious Tides,' and... are at the very bottom."
Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan exchanged a glance and took two steps back in unison.
Baili Pangpang: "Um... Sister Jimian, I suddenly have a stomachache! I probably ate too many barbecue skewers last night!"
Cao Yuan nodded silently: "...Mm."
Ji Nian raised an eyebrow: "What? Afraid of reading?"
Baili Pangpang cried, "Back in the day, I almost died from exhaustion trying to memorize the Night Watch Ordinance! I get dizzy just looking at a lot of words!"
Cao Yuan's black blade trembled slightly, as if expressing his agreement.
Zhang Yun's Candle Dragon True Flame flickered: "Damn it."
Lin Qiye nodded: "Zhang Yun, An Qingyu, and I will go in. Fatty and Cao Yuan will keep watch outside."
Baili Pangpang felt like he'd been granted a pardon: "Don't worry! Not even a mosquito can fly in! I'll tattoo it with an electromagnetic cannon!"
Utopia, a black pixelated castle.
Lin Qiye and Zhang Yun followed Ji Nian into the castle gate, while Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan behind them breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'd rather take on ten Kleins by myself than do research!" Baili Pangpang muttered, casually pulling a bag of spicy strips from his pocket to calm his nerves.
Cao Yuan nodded silently, the murderous aura of the black blade slightly subsided, as if also expressing his resistance to "checking the information".
The castle's interior is not a traditional library, but a labyrinth constructed from countless data streams. Holographic projections float on the walls, and the air is filled with the mixed scents of ancient parchment scrolls and electronic data.
With a light tap of his finger, a screen of light unfolded: "Welcome to the Forbidden Knowledge Base of the Upper Evil Society."
A global map appeared on the screen, with hundreds of red dots marking the locations of the Cthulhu ruins.
On the seabed of the Pacific Ocean: the faint outline of the sunken city of R'lyeh appears and disappears.
Beneath the Antarctic ice sheet: an ancient spiral castle built by the ancients;
Sahara Desert: The stone pillars of an unnamed city are engraved with star maps;
Kunlun Mountains: A cave somewhere contains murals whispering the secrets of the ancient gods...
Zhang Yun's Candle Dragon True Flame flickered slightly: "These ruins...are they all real?"
Memorial nodded: "Cthulhu is not a native Earth pantheon; they come from 'outside the universe'."
She pulled up an encrypted file: "According to the research of the Upper Evil Society, Cthulhu is an 'outsider,' and their true form exists in another dimension; the one on Earth is merely a projection."
Lin Qiye's Eternal Night Domain rippled slightly: "So...they can't be completely eliminated?"
“No,” Memorial’s voice was low, “but they can be ‘expelled’.”
The light screen shifted, and three distorted phantoms appeared—
【Chaos】Nyarlathotep: The God of a Thousand Faces, who can take on countless forms, the most cunning fraudster;
Yog Sothoth, the Key to the Gate: Lord of the Gate, all-knowing and all-seeing, existing in all time and space;
[Black Goat] Shub-Nicholas: The mother who gives birth to countless offspring, symbolizing endless reproduction.
“The three most powerful Outer Gods in the Cthulhu pantheon.” Memorial’s fingertips traced the data. “They were never sealed away, they are just… temporarily ‘asleep’.”
Zhang Yun's dragon eyes narrowed slightly: "Where are they?"
Ji Nian shook his head: "No one knows. But the Shangxie Society once captured one of Nyarlathotep's incarnations—it said that when the stars are in their proper places, the three pillar gods will awaken."
Lin Qiye frowned: "The stars have returned to their positions?"
“A certain cosmic coordinate alignment.” Ji Nian pulled up a star map. “According to calculations… it will happen in about three years.”
Suddenly, a blood-red file popped up on the screen: "The Penglai-Cthulhu Symbiosis Project".
The documents show that the Penglai Chamber of Commerce has been collecting "blood of the ancient gods" from ruins around the world in an attempt to create "demigod humans" through genetic engineering.
“They wanted to become Cthulhu’s ‘vessel’,” Memorial’s voice was icy. “And Zhou Ping… discovered this secret.”
She pulled up the last video—
In the scene, three beating hearts float on a flesh altar, each heart submerged in black liquid.
“These are the ‘Seeds of the Old Gods’.” The commemorative enlarged image states, “Penglai uses them… to cultivate ‘humanoid extraterrestrial gods’.”
Zhang Yun's God-Slaying Spear trembled slightly: "Madman."
Suddenly, a "knowledge sprite" made of pixelated blocks jumped in front of everyone, its head flashing red: "Forbidden topic detected! Security protocol activated!"
It opened its mouth and spat out a string of warning codes:
[WARNING! The true names of the Old Gods must not be recited!]
[WARNING! Outer God coordinates cannot be recorded!]
[WARNING! ■■■■■■■■■]
The last line of code was forcibly encrypted, turning into gibberish and disappearing.
The commemorative sighed: "The castle's defense mechanisms... some knowledge can even be corrupted in storage."
Lin Qiye looked at the Knowledge Spirit: "What if we absolutely need to know?"
The Knowledge Sprite's pixelated eyes blinked a few times, and suddenly a multiple-choice question popped up:
[A. Payment knowledge points (3000 files need to be compiled)]
B. Suffering the 'curse of knowledge' (possibly resulting in amnesia/madness/mutation)
【C.■■■（Hidden Option）】
Zhang Yun's Candle Dragon True Flame ignited: "Choose C."
An exclamation mark appeared above the Knowledge Sprite's head: "Violation of regulations! Punishment activated!"
The next second, its body suddenly twisted, transforming into a blood-red projection—
A phantom draped in a yellow robe appeared, and a crack appeared on its faceless face:
Why do humans... pursue the unknowable?
The voice of the yellow-clad phantom was as if a million people were speaking at once:
"The ants of Penglai think they can control the gods... How laughable."
"The old days will eventually return... and you... are not even worth dust..."
Its figure suddenly approached Lin Qiye, its faceless face almost touching his eyes:
"But you... are quite interesting..."
"The aura of eternal night... the seed of chaos..."
"Whose vessel are you...?"
Lin Qiye's black box straight sword was suddenly drawn and slashed at the afterimage!
"laugh--!!!"
The phantom was cleaved in two, yet it emitted a piercing laugh: "We will meet again... at the end of the abyss..."
The pixels recombine, the Knowledge Sprite returns to its original state, and the message "[System Repair in Progress...]" pops up above its head.
The memorial quickly retrieved another file: "Nyarlathotep's incarnation once revealed a coordinate... in the Bermuda Triangle."
The light screen showed an inverted pyramid on the seabed, with its apex pointing towards a spatial rift.
“The Shangxie Society calls it the ‘Eye of the Abyss.’” The commemorative enlarged image shows, “Penglai has been frequently visiting this place recently… possibly for a final ceremony.”
Zhang Yun's God-Slaying Spear blazed with crimson-gold flames: "Then destroy it."
Lin Qiye pondered for a moment: "We need more information... about those three 'Seeds of the Old Gods'."
Memorial nodded: "Follow me... to the bottom of the castle, there are 'living specimens'."
After passing through several encrypted doors, the group arrived at a spherical hall.
Three transparent capsules floated in the center of the hall, each containing a writhing black shadow—
First compartment: a black fluid that constantly changes shape, sometimes taking on a human form, sometimes dispersing into a swarm of insects;
Second compartment: A bloodshot eyeball, with countless stars reflected in its pupil;
Third compartment: a constantly multiplying mass of flesh, its surface cracked open by countless screaming mouths.
“Nyarlathotep’s ‘Thousand Faces,’ Yog’s ‘All-Seeing Eye,’ and Shub’s ‘Flesh of Procreation.’” Memorial’s voice was chilling. “The Shang Xie Society paid the price of seven ‘Kleins’… to capture these fragments.”
Lin Qiye's Eternal Night Domain instinctively rejected these samples: "They...are still alive?"
“No, it’s just an ‘echo’ of the original.” Ji Nian pulled up the data from the suppression device. “But even so… it almost destroyed half of Utopia.”
Suddenly, the flesh in the third compartment convulsed violently, and all the mouths opened simultaneously, emitting a piercing scream:
"Mother...will eventually awaken...you...are all nourishment..."
Zhang Yun's Candle Dragon True Flame erupted instantly, burning away the shrieking sound!
Commemorating the release of the last image file —
In the Penglai Laboratory, three modified humans lay on an altar, each with a black heart embedded in their chest.
“They selected three ‘suitable candidates’... in an attempt to parasitize the Old Gods.”
In the video, one of the test subjects suddenly opened his eyes, and his pupils turned into a vortex like the starry sky.
The researchers knelt and shouted, "Welcome...the Master of the Gate!"
The next second, all the researchers' bodies twisted and exploded, and their blood congealed in the air to form the shape of a door.
The video abruptly ended.
Lin Qiye's pupils contracted sharply: "Yog Sothoth's...partial consciousness has awakened?"
Memorial video closing: "It's not complete yet... but Penglai is clearly speeding up the process."
"Bermuda Triangle... Guixu... Penglai Headquarters." Lin Qiye sheathed his black box sword. "Three targets, must be destroyed simultaneously."
Ji Nian nodded: "The Shangxie Society can take charge of the 'Eye of the Abyss' in Bermuda."
Zhang Yun's God-Slaying Spear ignited: "Qi Ye and I are going to Guixu."
As I left the Black Castle, the Knowledge Elf chased after me, and a line of text popped up above my head:
[Temporary Access Granted: Cthulhu Ruins Navigation Map]
[Note: Don't die... Organizing files is a real hassle...]
Lin Qiye chuckled softly, "Thank you."
Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan had been waiting outside the door for a long time. When they saw the two of them come out, they immediately went to greet them.
"So? What did you find?" Baili Pangpang asked impatiently.
Zhang Yun's Candle Dragon True Flame flared slightly: "Go kill people... and save the world while you're at it."
Baili Pangpang: "...So exciting?"
Cao Yuan's black blade surged with murderous intent: "Go."
At Utopia Port, the submarine is ready.
Jinian handed a chip to Lin Qiye: "These are the real-time coordinates of the 'Eye of the Abyss'... Be careful, don't look directly at it."
Lin Qiye nodded.
The submarine slowly sank, heading towards the dark trench.
On the sea, the sun rises, while beneath the deep sea...
The whispers of the ancient gods are awakening.
The Pacific Ocean trench, 10,000 meters below the surface.
The submarine, 【Deep Blue】, glided through the dark seabed like a ghost. Outside the porthole, there was eternal silence, with only the occasional light from the searchlight illuminating the jagged rock walls and the glowing creatures swimming around.