British writer

inside the cabin,

Lu Shizheng was writing rapidly.

A group of French people gathered at the door of the room, standing on tiptoe to observe the situation.

The atmosphere in the crowd was a little anxious;

"Is Professor Lu writing? With his writing habits, he shouldn't stop suddenly, right? If so, there will be no need to read."

"Look, are you speaking human language? Isn't Professor Lu writing fast?"

"The main thing is that we are almost arriving at Calais Port, and we can't wait!"

"So what if we get there? The worst we can do is get off in Lisbon and then take a boat back!"

"Yes, the boat can miss its stop, but a good book cannot be missed."

…

Buzz buzz——

The voices of discussion are like annoying flies.

Roland quietly approached Poincaré and whispered: "Academician, what did Professor Lu write? Do you have any impression? Recite a paragraph for us!"

Poincaré: "..."

As a mathematician, if you ask him to write his own proof process silently, that’s fine.

But if it's an endorsement, he can't even compare to a high school student.

Seeing that he didn't answer, Roland sighed deeply,

"well……"

Verne, who was next to him, also approached and asked curiously: "Henry, can you tell me about the style Lu used when writing? Or, what techniques he used."

Poincaré spread his hands,

"Didn't you just watch it?"

"Ah this..."

Verne said helplessly: "I have read it, but it hasn't gotten to the really scary part yet~ The previous paragraph is a bit like documentary literature like an investigative report, there really isn't much to it."

Poincaré pondered,

"Professor Lu used a lot of repetitive rhetoric."

When he said this, the others were still confused.

Because, although the history of repetitive rhetoric can be traced back to the Iliad, its use in creating horror literature seems unprecedented.

Rhetoric repetition seems to naturally conflict with this subject matter.

Poincaré had no choice;

"How about I give you an example?"

As he spoke, he winked at Verne and continued: "You can just point to something and I'll try to describe it."

Verne was surprised,

"Anything?"

Poincaré just nodded and said nothing.

After Verne thought for a moment, he asked Roland: "Roman, what did you eat in the morning?"

Roland spread his hands,

"Baguette, soaked in French fish soup until soft."

Poincaré asked subconsciously: "You eat so richly early in the morning?"

Roland said proudly: "I am a Frenchman. There is nothing wrong with eating fish soup...ahem...Academician, didn't you just say that anything is fine? Did you find it too difficult to eat French fish soup and are you going to regret it?"

Poincaré waved his hands repeatedly,

"Of course I won't go back on my word. It can even be said that French fish soup has made it less difficult."

There is no other reason,

Lu Shi's "Call of Cthulhu" used a lot of descriptions of squid tentacles when describing the statue.

Poincaré can be used directly.

He quickly thought about it and said: "There is a bunch of alien things in the bowl. They are like big snakes entangled and mating with each other, but they have no scales, and the open flesh is the color of a rotting corpse."

Roland:? ? ?

Verne:? ? ?

What is this special thing?

The two of them shivered in unison.

"Gu..."

Roland swallowed his saliva,

"you are right?"

Poincaré replied: "It looks like the baguette has been soaked in the soup."

"Hiss..."×2

The other two people gasped at the same time.

This description is too chilling!

Poincaré continued: "It's not over yet~ The snake meat is festering at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the densely packed pinhole-sized holes gradually expand and turn into full cavities."

Roland and Verne looked at each other,

The two of them have figured out a pattern.

What Poincaré just said is obviously the process of soaking the loose gaps in the baguette with soup.

suddenly,

"vomit!"

Roland ran to the side and retched.

Verne muttered: "Henry, you are such a pervert! I am such a Frenchman, but you have made me never want to eat baguette in my life."

Poincaré said proudly: "It's not over yet~ In the liquid next to the snake meat, there are more corpses, internal organs, bones, and the arms and legs of some kind of soft-bodied creature..."

Before the words fell,

"vomit!"

Verne also ran away and retched.

His recipe added a new taboo:

French fish soup.

The vomiting reaction was too great, and the attention of other people was also attracted,

They surrounded Poincaré and asked what was going on.

Poincaré repeated it again,

then,

"Ugh!"×N

A large group of people stood in a row facing the wall and retched, just digging their throats with their fingers.

After a while, the scene became quiet.

Roland said: "As expected of Professor Lu, he really looks like what he writes..."

Verne wiped his mouth clean with his hands and said: "It's hard to say. I can't make a conclusion without seeing the original text."

Despite his statement, his thoughts were actually similar to Roland's.

Professor Lu should not miss.

At this time, Lu Shi suddenly stood up in the cabin.

In an instant, everyone outside the house clung to the door frame.

Poincaré asked: "Is it finished?"

Lu Shi nodded,

"Um."

Frankly speaking, even if the original text was a short story, I wouldn’t have finished it so quickly.

He made some cuts,

And the protagonist was changed to the mathematician Cantor.

Poincaré subconsciously moved his right leg into the door, then as if he thought of something, he pulled it back and said: "Professor Lu, you know me. I..."

Lu Shi interrupted,

"Come on~ come on~ You can... wait! Don't let so many people come in!"

A group of Frenchmen stopped the car,

Then, he looked at Lu Shi with pitiful eyes.

Lu Shi didn't want to make the cabin a mess, so he handed the manuscript out and said, "If you can accept it, just read it outside."

Poincaré took it and began to read:

"

'It is conceivable that such a powerful force or existence may still exist...a relic from an extremely long time ago...perhaps, the ideas expressed in shape and appearance have disappeared long before the rise of advanced humans. Already...'

"

Suddenly, someone said: "Henry, it's better not to read it!"

Others chimed in:

"Yes, yes! Stop reading it!"

Horror novels need to be read and felt by oneself.

Only a professional announcer can create a truly terrifying atmosphere.

Of course, radio didn't exist at the beginning of the 20th century, so there were no announcers.

Poincaré didn't care much either.

"Okay, then we'll circulate it."

The efficiency of circulation is very low.

But apart from that, there is nothing else that can be done.

Poincaré took the manuscript, thought about it, and put it on the ground.

Roland was startled and then said: "What a good idea!"

They formed a circle,

The manuscript is in the middle, surrounded by people. Looking down from above, it looks like a "⊙".

Subsequently,

The people in the middle sit on the floor;

The people on the outer level are bent over;

The outermost person stands.

From a distance, it seems as if a temporary, small worship ceremony has been built on the back.

At the center of the ceremony, the manuscript of "Call of Cthulhu" is the altar.

Lu Shi almost laughed out loud.

If Picasso were here, he might improvise again,

The name of the painting is "The Rise of Cthulhu", which must be very charming.

He waved his hand,

"Just take a look."

After saying that, he closed the door.

And the French outside began to read.

In an instant, deep silence enveloped every corner,

Sunlight shines through the narrow window on one side of the corridor and onto the fluffy red carpet, leaving mottled light and shadow.

There was an atmosphere of indescribability and ambiguity surrounding him.

The novel has three parts in total,

"I. Terror in Clay\

,"It tells the story of a protagonist who discovers a clay statue, becomes fascinated by it, and then launches an investigation;

"II. The Story of Inspector Legrasse\

,"Tells about the investigation of the swamp priests, and leads to the sentence that is the source of all evil: "In R'lyeh's mansion, sleeping Cthulhu waits for dreams";

"III. Madness from the Ocean\

,"After seeing the news about the mysterious abandoned ship, the protagonist went to investigate, and finally obtained a sailor's memoirs, from which he found clues that Cthulhu was still alive.

The story is not difficult to understand;

However, because of its complex rhetoric, it requires full concentration and effort to read.

But the people present are all well-known figures in the literary world, so there is no problem.

After reading, they looked at each other,

Discussions arose everywhere,

"Is this a horror story?"

"of course!"

"But the protagonist never saw Cthulhu in the end, but only found some inexplicable circumstantial evidence. In my opinion, this is simply like a diary written by a madman."

"I just ask you one question. After reading it, do you feel shuddering?"

…

really,

shudder.

Everyone present realized that this was a brand new form of horror literature, the first of its kind in history.

But how to create a terrifying atmosphere is still unclear.

At this time, the door was opened,

Lu Shi stood there,

"Everyone, what do you think?"

His answer was followed by silence for a while.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Just then, a roaring whistle came from outside the window,

Dirty dirty——

Obviously, the port of Calais has appeared in the captain's sight.

The cruise ship is about to dock.

Lu Shi smiled and said, "Anyway, it seems our discussion will end here."

As soon as he finished speaking,

"No! Please wait!"

Verne interrupted: "Lu, is this novel true or... I mean, in the world of the novel, does Cthulhu really exist? Or is the protagonist already suffering from madness? Is what you wrote just nonsense?"

Lu Shi laughed dumbly,

"What's the difference between the two?"

"Ah this..."

Verne was depressed,

"How could I ask such a stupid question..."

Actually, this question is not stupid;

Because the original author H.P. Lovecraft was frail and suffered from night terrors since he was a child,

Moreover, the disease seems to be hereditary, as evidenced by the fact that his father became mentally ill when he was three years old, and his mother suffered from depression and hysteria for many years.

So it’s not wrong to think of the novel as the ravings of a psychopath.

Verne said: "To be honest, when I first read it, I did feel fear. But after that, this feeling turned into... well... it's hard to describe, like a kind of distortion, inexplicable The incongruity.”

Lu Shi opened his mouth, ready to explain.

Poincaré next to him spoke first,

"The reason is simple. Generally, fear comes from the unknown; in "Call of Cthulhu," the source of fear is exactly the opposite."

Everyone nodded,

In the novel, the more the protagonist knows and digs out, the more desperate he becomes.

It's like a writer who doesn't read book reviews at all and concentrates on creating.

At this time, he did not hesitate.

But once he can't help but read book reviews out of curiosity, he may become hesitant and be affected instead.

This logic is completely different from previous horror works.

Poincaré spread his hands,

"Of course, in the final analysis, I am still afraid of the unknown. If you know that one shot can kill Cthulhu, you are still afraid of a hammer."

As soon as this was said, everyone immediately burst into laughter.

Lu Shi was happy to see them playing freely and said nothing more.

Verne continued: "In this way, the end point of the emotions spread by Lu in this form of writing is not fear, but despair."

That's right,

Tentacles, eyes, maggots...

All these are just manifestations of Cthulhu.

The point is to express a sense of despair and an inescapable fate.

This is also related to H.P. Lovecraft's illness.

Roland said: "Everyone, let's talk specifically about how Professor Lu shapes fear, or in other words, how he shapes despair."

Poincaré took the lead: "First of all, there is cosmic fear. Cthulhu is a member of the so-called 'Old Dominators', who rule the universe. Human beings are just creatures that appear accidentally in the development of the universe. In this system Down here, human beings are weak and powerless, and can only be enslaved and destroyed."

Poincaré's eyes moved to the manuscript again,

He read aloud:

"

'In my opinion, the most benevolent thing about this world is that the human mind cannot comprehend its entire content...'

"

Everyone else nodded along,

Someone echoed: "Most people don't know anything about the fate they are dominated by. They don't know whether they are lucky or unfortunate."

Roland chuckled,

"So, this book also has an anti-anthropocentric view of destiny."

The scene fell silent instantly.

Lu Shi:? ? ?

Why is anti-anthropocentrism even out there?

Is this what the Lovecraft Master thinks?

Lu Shi coughed slightly,

"Mr. Roland, there is no need to think too complicated. It's just a novel, not a textbook. What big principles are there..."

I haven’t finished speaking yet,

Dirty dirty——

The whistle outside sounded again.

It turned out that before I knew it, the cruise ship had been docked in Calais port for twenty minutes.

If the French don't get off the ship, they will be sent to Portugal.

Lu Shi said: "Everyone, let's go!"

However, no one moved.

They stayed there stubbornly, just to finish what needed to be discussed.

Roland continued: "As the narrator, the protagonist goes from longing for the truth to panicking and fearing the truth, fully revealing the impact of the vastness of the universe on the insignificance of human beings. Isn't this against anthropocentrism?"

Lu Shi: "..."

I'm not a master of love crafts, so I'd better stop explaining nonsense.

Maybe, that’s what people think~

Just because he doesn't speak doesn't mean that others don't object.

Verne said "Huh!"

"Then according to what you said, Cthulhu needs to rely on the word of mouth of the swamp priests, 'In the mansion of R'lyeh, the sleeping Cthulhu is waiting for dreams' before he can be recognized. Is this the case? Don’t you rely on humans anymore?”

Roland shook his head,

"Don't you think your example just proves my point?"

"impossible!"

Verne did not admit it,

"Absolutely impossible!"

There was a huge age difference between the two, and they actually had a dispute.

Seeing this, Lu Shi felt that it was better not to get involved in this inexplicable battle, so he retreated to the cabin and closed the door again.

As a result, the door outside completely became a battlefield for the French.

Because of the rise of Cthulhu, they didn't even hear the whistle of the ship leaving port.