Ultraman in the world of grams

Chapter 353 The story comes to an end (6k)

["Professor Douglas found traces of R'lye at the last moment." Principal Lovecraft calmly narrated, "I think you should be very interested."

The gear of fate finally turned to me. I knew that I didn't have much choice. Ever since I saw that suffocating thing in the depths of the swamp, I knew that it was a fate that I would never be able to escape.

God will not favor me, and I don’t expect God’s blessing. All I can rely on is myself.I calmly accepted the tasks assigned by the principal.

The only thing that surprised me was that it was an almost impossible task, but I was suddenly asked to join three newcomers.I looked at their profile and it confused me even more.

Except for one of the women, who was a student of Professor Douglas and had some experience in the occult, the other two were almost complete newcomers, and one of them had not even graduated from Miskatonic University.I was particularly confused by this list and checked it several times to confirm that the principal was not joking.

This matter seems to vaguely reveal some unusual atmosphere. Like the rumored city, it is not what ordinary people know. I know clearly what is waiting for us in front of us. The last time we were lucky The experience of escaping is almost impossible to repeat.The principal has always been a wise elder in my mind. There seems to be another side behind this request that seems to go against his knowledge.

Principal Lovecraft also saw my concerns. He told me that maybe those three new talents were the key. When the trajectory of fate started to move, I knew it.

Out of respect and trust for the principal, I accepted the three newcomers.

The principal showed me the notes from Professor Douglas, a fantasy story that would be unbelievable even for me, an investigator with many years of adventure experience, if it weren’t for the bizarre image that Professor Douglas finally transmitted. , I’m not even sure that such weird existence still exists in this world.

I carefully looked at the last information left by that respected scholar:

In the early morning of December 1922, 12, we crossed the equator and arrived in the southern hemisphere. At this time, the country should be enjoying a wonderful Christmas Eve, of course.My wife will definitely complain that I missed another important day due to various things. I only promised her last month that our family would go to Hawaii to spend Christmas. Unfortunately, I still have a project to study.

I have collected various information about that sea area. It is undeniable that it has become a place similar to a legend or a forbidden area for people who make a living at sea.

Anyone who passes there or is on the surrounding islands will see or dream of an unimaginable huge building complex. Those buildings are pale and tall, standing like stone pillars on the sea.

At first, people thought it was a mirage, an illusion refracted by the air, but until people on the other side of the Pacific also experienced similar symptoms and hallucinations, we realized something was wrong.

Based on the initial information, reports from some sailors and statements from fishermen, we finally roughly locked in an area, which should be between 120 and 150 degrees south latitude and [-] and [-] degrees west longitude.At first, some people suspected that it might be the rumored lost city of Atlantis, but we finally rejected this speculation.Because the geographical difference is quite far away.

I have compiled some information on hallucinations that people have seen.

They saw several huge and towering buildings, reflecting bizarre brilliance, standing on the sea in an unimaginable posture. The style of the buildings could not be described in specific words at all. It was not a regular cylindrical shape, but A towering building composed of several strange three-dimensional figures, reflecting a pale light.There are also some buildings with distortions beyond people’s cognition, which seem to challenge people’s nerves just by looking at them.

Not even the most futuristic or surrealist genres can imagine such a bizarre style.Not even the Eiffel Tower built by humans can match that twisted building.

It’s hard to imagine what kind of civilization once built such a city.What makes people even more frightened is that the city is filled with a strange dead silence. The pale and gray buildings seem to have died long ago, and all people can see are the last tombs of the city.Everything there seemed broken, old and lifeless.

Everyone seems to have the same description of the illusory tomb, with only some minor differences. For example, some people swear that they saw some irrational humanoid monsters wearing tattered clothes chasing them. While biting, some people were lucky enough to see monsters flowing with green viscous liquid.

These words sounded like the words of someone who had fallen into madness and hysteria.

I can't confirm the authenticity of these testimonies. Although they all seem to be confident and full of panic, some of them are still deliberately confusing the audience, describing things in an exaggerated and weird way, trying to win the amazement of others.

However, this description reminds me of the rumored lost place where time and space intersect, the mysterious R'lyeh that I once saw in the "Necronomicon".

Some of the clues we have collected and the locked areas seem to vaguely point to that mysterious city.

If we really find the rumored Raleye, it will be a sensation all over the world.Whenever I think about this, I always get as excited as a young person.Oh, of course, I know that even if I find it, it is a secret that cannot be made public, but this does not prevent me from showing off to my old friends and my dear students.

My lovely Elizabeth must be extremely envious. She always yearns for the ocean and looks forward to finding its secrets. She will definitely regret that she cannot follow me to explore the truth of the world this time...

Oh, I don’t know what’s going on. Our compass and other electromagnetic equipment seem to have malfunctioned. No matter how professional people debug it, it has no effect. Moreover, my compass seems to be spinning like crazy. .

This is not a good phenomenon, it means that we have encountered an unknown situation, and there is a vague feeling of uneasiness in the team. They want to ask me for help and ask me what is going on.

It's a pity that I don't know everything. After all, I am just a bad old man who studies history and knows nothing about things on the sea. Moreover, I suspect that this is not an ordinary incident. It is possible that the legendary investigators are helpless here.

We still know too little about this world.

It's really not a good sign that something like this suddenly happened on this originally merry Christmas day.I was also a little uneasy deep inside, but I tried my best not to show it.

We were about to enter the approximate range of the prediction, and I suddenly had a premonition.

Maybe we can't return this time, but now that we are here.I think you always have to have some hope, right?That mysterious ancient city is right there. It would be a shame if I just go back.

1923/1/1

We arrived near 130° West Longitude.

The road seemed to be too peaceful. The electromagnetic chaos that suddenly appeared before quickly disappeared, as if it had never appeared before. It came inexplicably and disappeared in a very puzzling way.

What's even more elusive is that we haven't even encountered any decent waves in the past few days, and the sea has been unusually calm.If you are sailing on the Pacific Ocean on weekdays, you will be very lucky to have this gentle side of the sea.But in this special period, we can only feel the depression and uneasiness from our hearts.

It was like the calm before the storm, even the sky was clear for several days in a row.

I hope this feeling is just my imagination.

We found an island nearby. There were originally no residents on this island, but due to the previous immigration boom, many people settled here and enjoyed the wonderful island life. ①
The residents of the island are the first people to have hallucinations. I have never been to this island before, but I have come across this island from the information. There are some optimistic and cheerful fishermen living here, but now they are suffering from the hallucinations. trouble.

There were even some hybrids from the sea attacking them from time to time, giving them painful nightmares.

This is the information I got from the data.

But when I actually came here, I was very surprised, because I saw that the people here had exceptionally bright and beautiful smiles on their faces, as if they were not living on this barren and cold island, but living In heaven.

This may not sound strange, but you can also say that it is because the people here are optimistic and cheerful by nature.But friends, when you actually come to this island, you will feel the weird and strange atmosphere.

Everyone has a smile on their face, a very happy and content smile, but each of their bodies are like dry and thin branches, as if all the nutrients in the body have been sucked dry, turning into horrible skin and bones. A skeleton with only one layer of skin.

There is a happy and contented smile on the face of such a terrifying skeleton.

We were startled and almost thought we were in the country of Hela, where all the people turned into corpses.It wasn't until some brave people carefully checked that they discovered that these skeletons with only one layer of skin were still alive and had vital signs.

But does living like a zombie really count as living?
We searched hard for normal humans on this island, but found nothing in the end. There were only the walking dead with happy smiles, and apart from that, there was no normal person.

Even the most daring people in the team couldn't help but feel horrified from the bottom of their hearts when they saw this scene. ,

No one knows what happened on this island. It was as if overnight, all these people turned into irrational zombies. They are still alive, and we observed some instinctive foraging activities.

But other than that, they would just stay in one place motionless, as if they were in the deepest dream, as if they were immersed in the legendary kingdom of heaven.The atmosphere on the entire island was so depressing that there was nothing to add to it.We also remained extremely vigilant, suspecting that some followers of evil gods or monsters might have suddenly attacked the island, turning all the innocent residents on the island into this state.But what is confusing is that there are no signs of fighting here, and there are no crazy methods of the cultists. The only strange thing is that everyone seems to have suddenly fallen into a dream.

No one knew what was going on. We could only carefully search the island, but in the end we found nothing. We only found some stone slabs that seemed to have been excavated from somewhere.Relying on my knowledge, I can barely identify that the ancestors from ancient times were praying to a huge flowering plant.

I didn't recognize that strange plant, but the blooming flowers seemed very beautiful.

I recorded it carefully and sent it to the school. Maybe the school professionals would have some clues.

Oh, I did find some plants on this island that are somewhat similar to the flowers carved on the stone slabs. Some of the flowers have withered, but there are still some buds that have not yet bloomed.

I don't specialize in botany, and out of caution, I don't intend to carry these unfamiliar plants rashly. If this plant has unknown toxins, this will not be a good thing for us.

But someone in our team seemed to be very excited after seeing this plant, shouting that it was probably a plant from ancient times and must be taken back. This has very important research value!
After considering all aspects, we finally brought this plant back, but out of caution, we only brought back a small plant.

The team member who suggested bringing back the advice was very excited and volunteered to take care of the ancient plant.

We didn’t dare to spend the night on this almost dead island. In order to avoid accidents, we finally left this weird island before nightfall.We have also tried to awaken those skeleton-like people, but to no avail.

1923/1/3

The flowers are blooming!
I understand……

…………

The writing below stopped suddenly and turned into a mess, as if it were written by someone in his sleep.

My eyes seemed to be frozen, staring at the words written by Professor Douglas on the last date. They were so messy, as if mixed with an old professor’s last panic and despair, and the eager hope to put the final words together. The despair conveyed by the truth.

What did Professor Douglas know at the end?
Is it related to the weird plant they took away, or is it because of something else?
I read Douglas's last notes over and over again, trying to find some clues between the lines. The principal waited patiently for me to read them.

Principal Lovecraft told me that this was the last message from Professor Douglas. I felt that the ending of the story seemed to have been written long ago in the secret. Professor Douglas finally lost his trace, and now, I have to embark on this journey. A long way to go to make the same mistake as Professor Douglas.

The principal very generously gave me permission to choose the collection. Even for the most rigorous level, I can carry two pieces.I understand the principal's good intentions. He realizes the difficulty of this task as much as I do.

I didn't say no.

Finally, I set off with my team.

But I didn’t realize that this mission had just begun and we had already encountered so many bizarre incidents...]

The pages of the book turned quickly, and the stories that happened along the way were quickly skipped.

I can only vaguely see words such as [rotting monster], [red giant], [Dagon], and [Innsmouth].These events that happened in reality are all vividly described, narrated, and displayed on a stack of paper that is not heavy.

The protagonist of the story does not realize that all this is written in black ink on yellowed paper.

It records stories from more than ten years ago to the present, and even the past that he hides in his heart and is unwilling to disclose are all vividly written on the paper.

[I seem to understand why the principal asked me to bring these three newcomers.Indeed, if it were not for that one, my life would probably have been lost along the way.Although I don't want to admit it, when I saw the light, I was willing to believe the other person from the bottom of my heart for a moment.

In addition to that identity, I am also willing to regard the other party as my teammate and my companion.I don’t know if that person is too familiar with humans or has been involved in human society for a long time. Whenever I see him hanging out with two other careless guys, I always think of my teammates and me.Unfortunately, I am the only one who survives now.

I often subconsciously ignore the identity of that person, and I can’t tell whether this is a good phenomenon.Maybe I was under some kind of hallucination.

He was indeed very keen and realized that something was wrong with the mission.Maybe I should tell them the truth, the nightmare that lingers inside me.But I couldn't say it. The encounter in the depths of the swamp has become the past that I least want to recall. I once thought I had forgotten it, but every time I mentioned that long-dead name, I would think of that painful memory.

I didn't want to watch them die. As early as when I returned from Innsmouth, I took the initiative to apply to the principal. Even if I was allowed to face the deepest despair alone, I didn't want to implicate my family. Companions.

The principal refused.The principal told me again that they were the key.

Did the principal already know about it beforehand?Knowing the identity of that person and everything we will encounter?
I looked at the principal's gentle and kind smile and did not take the initiative to ask...

...I looked at the bluebird-shaped ornament in my hand and hesitated for a long time. Maybe I should report all this to the principal immediately. The principal may have put that person in my expedition team to monitor him.This "Blue Bird", which can quickly deliver letters, is also an important collection given to me by Principal Lovecraft.

Should I record what the person found?I stopped in the warehouse for a long time, and in the end I didn’t record the person’s condition. I just wrote that everything was business as usual. I only mentioned the person’s sensitivity in a concise and casual sentence at the end...]

Principal Lovecraft turned to the last page and looked at the letter written by the protagonist of the story using the blue bird ornament.

The content of the letter is completely displayed on the manuscript paper.

The principal opened the letter with a smile. The words written by Captain Linden in the envelope were exactly the same as those on the manuscript paper.

This seems to be the end of the content of the second title [The Story of Professor Douglas].

Principal Lovecraft turned to the next page, which was still full of blanks.

"The story of Lionel Lyndon, after two volumes, is about to come to an end."

A whisper almost sounded in the principal's office. The principal unfolded a new manuscript paper, took out a pen, inserted it into the ink bottle and sucked up the ink.

"The middle story is too long and can easily wear off the novelty of the readers. Everyone is probably tired of the stories about monsters appearing and giants saving the day." A soliloquy whisper echoed in the room. Anyone give a response.

The stories written previously by other members of the expedition, such as Ellis's "Dagon" and William's "Gloom over Innsmouth", also sit quietly on the bookshelves, unread. ②
"The story will come to an end next, and it will also be the climax of this part."

Principal Lovecraft picked up the pen and wrote on the blank piece of paper:

【ⅢThe truth in the deep sea】

----

Note ①, I checked the information and said that there is a real island Pohnpei Island near this area of ​​R'lyeh. According to this, the magic book "Pohnpei Codex" later appeared in the Cthulhu Mythos. (Excerpted from (Baidu Encyclopedia)", but Nabo Napei Island is hundreds of thousands of miles away from here, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere, something is wrong.

Then I ran to look at the world map and satellite map, but I couldn't find any islands nearby. However, it is very close to Point Nemo, which is very interesting. You can check it out.

Even New Zealand, a famous island in the southern hemisphere, is strangely far away from Raleye, and I have never been there.So I just made up a fictional island here. I’m not sure whether it exists in reality. If it exists, it’s purely a coincidence.

Note ②, see the previous article, they are all stories after the magic transformation, not the original work!
And, three chapters in one, please vote for me!
I'm so tired from coding this chapter...

(End of this chapter)