The oldest and strongest human emotion is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is the unknown.
—Father of Cthulhu: Howard Philip Lovecraft
As we all know... well, not everyone knows, but anyone who has at least a basic understanding of the Cthulhu mythology will know that one of the characteristics of the Cthulhu mythology is that it "cannot be seen directly, cannot be described, cannot be accepted, and cannot be understood." "
The root cause of this "indescribable" fear comes from the "unknown".
People will be afraid of the unknown because fear itself is the unknown. The unknown will make you feel at a loss. When you encounter problems and don't know how to solve them, you will have fear.
Just like the description of the gods in the Cthulhu pantheon, it will tell you that there is such a thing, but you have no idea about this thing from the inside to the outside, from the shape to the sound to the characteristics. You have no basic understanding of this life form. You know, so you will be afraid.
But sometimes, after witnessing this indescribable existence, you will find that the fear of the unknown is too small.
This kind of fear that has been clearly seen but cannot be understood is far greater than the fear caused by the unknown.
This is Lu Mingfei’s personal experience now.
Statues composed of body parts of different creatures are then stacked together in groups to form various parts of the body of this behemoth, twisted and weird.
Parts of the brass sculptures have been oxidized and turned black, blending into the darkness, but the golden boy dotted on the statues is like a pair of eyes opened in the darkness, unblinking. Staring at Gu and Lu.
Lu Mingfei knew about Cthulhu. Some of the games he had played, such as "Pineal Gland", "The Sinking City", "Crazy Moon", etc., also contained a considerable amount of Cthulhu. Sulu element, so Lu Mingfei didn't know anything about the K-type gods. On the contrary, because he always had to check the reasons for clearing the game, he had a relatively clear understanding of the characteristics of the K-type gods.
But this was the first time that he understood so deeply what kind of gesture deserved to be called "indescribable".
To be honest, when he saw this pile of statues, the first thing that popped into Lu Mingfei's mind was the twisted and curious monster with eyes all over his body - Shoggoths.
"The nightmarish black shape, the amorphous body exuding a foul odor, squirming and flowing forward...an amorphous mass of protoplasmic bubbles, shining with a faint glimmer. Tens of thousands of them emitted green light. , pus-like eyes constantly forming and decomposing on its surface. - "At the Mountains of Madness"
The above is how Howard Philip Lovecraft describes the Shoggoths in his book "At the Mountains of Madness."
In Lu Mingfei's view, the monster in front of him, which was made up of statues, was basically the same as the Shoggoth described in the book, except that it was smaller, could not move, and had golden eyes instead of green.
"Boss...Boss, this...is this what you asked them to prepare?"
Lu Mingfei shrank behind Gu Bei and said that he was not just afraid. After all, these sculptures were not living things, so he would be frightened at first sight, but after seeing After getting used to it for a long time, I felt more of physical discomfort.
Gu Bei was very satisfied with Lu Mingfei's performance. At least this guy was not frightened and fainted the moment he saw this scene. After all, he was fighting a life-or-death battle with a lot of Deadpools, and so was Lu Mingfei. There is progress.
Now Lu Mingfei is no longer the bad guy who only has empty fantasies every day. Although he still maintains the bad boy's fantasy, he also understands what it means to face and bear responsibility.
Before coming to the Northeast, Gu Bei made it very clear to Lu Mingfei that he would not be distracted from taking care of him during this mission. Lu Mingfei would have to solve all problems he encountered by himself. If you don't want to, you don't have to come. Everything is voluntary.
But even if Gu Bei said this, Lu Mingfei still came because after his trip to Tokyo, he realized one thing clearly.
He has a bloodline and has learned strange arts, but this does not mean that he is better than the ordinary people around him, nor does it mean that he can live the life of the protagonist that he once imagined.
Instead, he walked into a more cruel world, far bloodier than the world he once lived in, with dragons, deadpools, little devils, mysterious sects...
In the original world, no matter how bad he was, he would just lose some face, lose some dignity, lose a girl, and lose some money.
But here, if he doesn't do something, then there is only one thing he will lose, and that is his life.
So he came, even if Gu Bei said it was dangerous, he came because he knew that even if Gu Bei said he wouldn't take care of him, in fact if he really encountered trouble that he couldn't solve, Gu Bei would still Can help him.
This is a rare opportunity. In the future, the boss, senior brother, little goddess, and Fengo will not be able to be by his side anytime and anywhere. He has to learn to do it, learn to stand up, learn to be a lion, and become the king of the lions.
Gu Bei nodded. He was determined to cultivate Lu Mingfei, so he asked: "Here are the statues confiscated from citizens in the name of inspection. What do you think this represents?"
Lu Mingfei thought for a while and replied: "This is not all, there must be many that have not been collected. This number is very large, indicating that the other party's sphere of influence is very large, and it may have exceeded Antu County or Ji Province as we expected. , and may even have spread to the entire three northeastern provinces."
Gu Bei's expression remained unchanged. These were all things that could be seen in front of him. That was not what he asked: "Continue."
Lu Mingfei then analyzed: "The other party's sphere of influence is so large, but we didn't discover it until now. This shows that the other party either acts very secretly or spreads extremely fast. Of course, it is most likely to have both."
"Not bad." Gu Bei nodded approvingly.
Being able to think of this level shows that Lu Mingfei's vision is not so superficial and he has used his brain, but...
"anything else?"
Lu Mingfei frowned and lowered his head and muttered: "And...and..."
Gu Bei didn't disturb his thinking, and walked straight to the pile of statues. He picked up a few and looked at them carefully. After a while, he threw the ones he was holding down, and then picked up a few more, and so on.
The warehouse suddenly became quiet. Lu Mingfei was thinking about the question raised by Gu Bei, while Gu Bei was looking for the clues he wanted among a bunch of weird statues.
Time passed by, no matter how long it passed, someone knocked on the door of the warehouse.
Gu Bei glanced at Lu Mingfei and motioned for him to open the door.
The door opened, and Gao Lian followed Lu Mingfei in. Looking at the pile of statues that made people mad, Gao Lian moved his eyes away, looked down at his feet and said: "Boss, Dragon Slayer Captain Gu Haitang of the army has been waiting for you for two hours."
Gu Bei looked at the statue in his hand without looking back: "What time is it now?"
"It's three o'clock in the afternoon."
Gu Bei put down the statue in his hand, stretched his body, and sounded comfortable.
Those who knew knew that he had been busy working among the statues all afternoon, and those who didn't knew thought that he had a good sleep.
"Let's go."
Gu Bei jumped off the pile of statues and left the warehouse first, with Lu Mingfei following closely behind.
After Gao Lian was stunned for a moment, there was no one in the warehouse, only a bunch of weird statues were left to accompany him.
Gao Lian rubbed his arms and felt goosebumps all over his body. He quickly chased the two of them out of the warehouse, leaving only a pile of golden boys shining in the dark.
Accessible from anywhere, the manager's office.
In fact, it is the office of the two captains Gao Lian and Sun Wu, but the disguise must be a little more convincing. You can't put the words "Captain's Office" on the door sign of the express company.
There are two office seats in the office, one for Sun Wu and one for Gao Lian. However, the seat that belongs to Gao Lian is already occupied by Gu Haitang, and Sun Wu's seat is also empty.
Gu Haitang's aura was too strong. Unlike Gu Bei's soft and changeable aura, Gu Haitang's aura was completely like a Category 8 typhoon. Sun Wu couldn't bear the blowing force, so he left decisively after serving some tea.
Gu Haitang waited for two hours and was not in a hurry. When Gu Bei arrived, Gu Haitang was sitting there playing with snake.
Seeing Gu Bei's arrival, Gu Haitang put away her phone and said cheerfully: "Chairman Gu is such a busy man. This little girl has been waiting for a long time."
"First Evolution"
Putting these words in other people's mouths, there is no way they can escape the title of a great Onmyoji. Gu Haitang's original intention was to complain, but as soon as he spoke, his voice was soft and soft, and it sounded like he was coquettish, with a hint of coquettishness. A smell of resentment.
Gu Bei grinned. Of course he knew that this old lady was teasing him, but he couldn't help but that this trick was so effective. He silently recited Huiliyi three times in his heart, and then added Bingxin Jue three times to calm his restless heart. Even Lu Mingfei, who was affected, couldn't help but take out his phone and look at the picture of Su Xiaoqiang on the screen saver.
After regaining his composure, Gu Bei was about to speak when suddenly there was a shaking, the things on the table rolled to the floor, and the wall cracked with a "rattling" sound.
After all, the four people in the room were not ordinary people. They quickly adjusted their posture and stabilized their bodies. Gu Bei took the lead and climbed out of the window (good boy, don't imitate).
Fortunately, the houses in the logistics center are all low-rise bungalows. Although the office is on the highest floor, it does not exceed the third floor. If it were on the 30th floor, a few people would be in trouble.
Several people quickly rushed to the safety zone and felt a little heavy as they watched several more houses fall down around them.
The ground shook for about seven or eight minutes before slowly stopping. After a while, Sun Wu came over with his people.
"Boss, are you okay?"
"What can I do?" Gu Bei glanced at him. At this time, he still wanted to be courteous? It seems that the Northeast Division really needs some rectification.
Sun Wu didn't realize at all that he had gone too far, and he led a group of people to stand there awkwardly.
Gu Bei sighed. Sun Wu could barely be considered a talent. He was greedy for power but had a bottom line. If he had the ability, he would still get things done. If he were placed elsewhere, he would definitely have a bright future, but it would be different everywhere. Greed for power is the biggest taboo. .
However, now that Woutong is in the development stage, when it comes to hiring people, we cannot easily replace capable people like Sun Wu, we can only make do with them.
"Gao Lian, you take the employees of MADTO to assist the patrol and the army in clearing the rubble and participating in the rescue."
"Sun Wu, use the fastest speed to sort out the losses of the branch, as well as the goods in the warehouse that have not been rescued, and come up with a loss report and compensation plan as soon as possible."
"Yes"×2.
The two people took action separately, and only Gu Haitang, Gu Bei and Lu Mingfei were left at the scene.
Gu Bei turned his eyes to Gu Haitang: "Sister Haitang, those team members of yours..."
Gu Haitang waved his hand: "They are all performing tasks in the mountains. At most, they will encounter landslides, which is no big deal."
Gu Bei and Lu Mingfei were confused. It turns out that landslides are not a big deal. So what is dangerous in your eyes?
"Oh, by the way, I got some bad news from the exploration team. The big lizard may have woken up. There is no trace of him now. He is probably hiding from us."
Hearing the news, Gu Bei was not surprised at all, but murmured: "Sure enough..."
In the process of checking clues, analyzing information, and organizing data, Gu Bei's derivation of the truth has been basically completed. Now there are only a few puzzle pieces left to reach the conclusion, and the news sent by Gu Haitang is the missing few pieces. This piece of the puzzle helped Gu Bei confirm some of his guesses.
"Oh, and," Gu Haitang asked with a frown, "You asked them to take me to the office to wait for you. Did you guess that I was coming? Or did you say you had something to ask me for?"
Gu Bei shook his head: "No, none."
"I figured it out."
"You figured it out? Are you bluffing me?"
"What do you think?"
"Eh-" Gu Haitang curled his lips, "It's mysterious, so forget it."
Gu Haitang twisted her waist and left. Before she left, she told Gu Bei to be ready for a fight at any time. The big lizard might not come out of nowhere at any time.
Gu Bei understood.
Everyone performed their duties and did what they should do. Only Gu Bei and Lu Mingfei were left in the open space.
In autumn in the Northeast, darkness comes much earlier than expected, and the sun sinks into the sky, creating a red glow.
Gu Bei asked: "Have you figured it out?"
Lu Mingfei nodded: "The other party is very powerful and its development is very secretive. It means that the other party is in the stage of accumulating strength and does not want to confront us head-on. In other words, the other party knows very well that he cannot defeat us in a head-on confrontation."
"This shows that the opponent is probably building a force from scratch and is weak. This is a good opportunity for us to take him down."
Gu Bei smiled and nodded: "Smart."
Lu Mingfei played very well in StarCraft. He was born to be a tactical talent. He just lacked a little learning and experience, but it didn't matter. He had talent, and Gu Bei wouldn't let him waste it.
"But you also overlooked one thing."
Gu Bei recalled the pile of statues in the warehouse. Although the piles of statues looked exactly the same, in Gu Bei's perception, the soul power in the statues was divided into two distinct parts.
"The reason why they can only develop in secret without publicity may be because there is an internal problem."
