World Occult User Guide

Ten years?

From the time when the star track of "Comos" began to overlap with Titan, it has only been more than three years.

Ten years ago, Titan was not irradiated by the advanced planet, and all the legends were still illusory myths. There were no curses, magic, or rituals.

"From your accent, you may be an educated Eagle countryman." Professor Jason Hopper said, "and it's not far from my hometown. Are you from New York?"

"No, I'm from Xinxiang." Lin An waved his hand, "What do you mean by the so-called 'curse'?"

"In the modern era of booming science and technology, if we don't see it with our own eyes or verify it through data, we won't believe that those things are real." Professor Cornelia Bannister took over the conversation, "especially for scientists, but it just happened."

The middle-aged couple over fifty years old leaned against the sparsely leafed baobab tree in Nanzhou and told a story from the past.

More than ten years ago, the two had been married for many years. With their hard work and talent, they achieved initial results in their respective fields and finally had time to raise the next generation.

The Hoppers' son is called Timothy. He is as smart as his parents and full of curiosity about the world.

The two are well-known elites in Eagle Country. They have the conditions to send their children to the local private elementary school. What they never expected was that on an ordinary Thursday morning, when the children got off the bus, a bullet just passed through Timothy's temple.

After the first gunshot, there were more bullets. Fortunately, the students reacted and quickly hid back in the school bus with bulletproof glass. Only six children were injured to varying degrees.

The police arrived at the scene in time and shot the murderer who didn't even want to run.

When the Hoppers returned from the university and laboratory where they worked, everything was settled, and all they had left was a body covered with a white cloth.

This was undoubtedly an unlucky coincidence. The newspaper published the news and called on the whole city to mourn for them.

The Hoppers lost their passion for life forever. Gradually, this sense of emptiness devoured their enthusiasm for science. Professor Hopper frequently wrote wrong data; Professor Bannister often made mistakes and missed knowledge points, leaving students confused.

The personnel department repeatedly called them in for talks. Sensing the impatience of his colleagues, Professor Hopper was about to resign when he received a call from Professor Bannister.

His wife said that Kalevnia Polytechnic University had a project to study whether genetically modified cowpea, yam, cassava and corn seeds developed for central South Province could increase grain production and provide them for local farmers with limited resources, thereby solving the problem of hunger.

This project has been on file for three years, but no one has applied.

First, the project does not have generous funding sponsorship; second, everyone does not want to go to Ubangi, where the conditions are harsh, just to find out whether these genetically modified seeds are suitable for the soil of South Province.

Not only that, it is said that some enthusiastic scientists went to South Province to promote genetically modified seeds in the past, but they were strongly resisted by the locals.

However, the couple hit it off and decided to go to South Province without hesitation.

The universities and laboratories on both sides tried to dissuade them in every possible way, but in fact they were eager to send them away because they could not create economic value and attract investment sponsorship.

After arriving in Bantu, the couple were not surprisingly harassed.

The locals refused to use foreign seeds, believing that "evil spirits were entrenched inside", which would destroy the wisdom passed down by their ancestors, bring curses, and lead to a failure of harvest.

The Hoppers did not force the locals to cooperate. They were discouraged. Rather than doing research, they were looking forward to some accidents that would reunite them with their son.

Therefore, from time to time, they left the control of the local government, drove a car out of the safe city on the pretext of taking soil samples, and wandered aimlessly.

As they wished, one day a group of xenophobic villagers set a fire and blew up their car.

But when the incident happened, the couple was not in the car, and they didn't know whether they were lucky or unlucky to escape.

Although they contacted the government that cooperated with the university, it was estimated that rescue would arrive in two or three days, and the couple set up camp in the wilderness with the only tools they had left.

Suddenly, there was a slight sound of footsteps in the bushes, and the two drew their guns and waited for battle.

"Hua La La, Hua La La..."

Unexpectedly, a boy of eight or nine years old walked out of the bushes. He was naked, his body was covered with colorful and strange patterns, he had no hair, and his eyes were dull.

At this moment, the images of the past and the present overlapped, and the Hoppers thought of their dead son at the same time. When he was shot, he had just passed his eighth birthday.

They quickly put clothes on the boy, let him sit down, and gave him canned soup.

The boy did not respond, as if he was a puppet without a soul.

After being rescued, the couple sent the boy to the police station, but the latter asked them to send the boy back to the wilderness immediately.

"How much do you know about the customs of these villages? I know a lot. Coyotes can turn into people and wander between villages in the dark. Villagers who hear the laughter of coyotes will be cursed and sick the next morning; when it turns back, it leaves behind a human-like empty shell."

As the police said this, their expressions and voices revealed deep fear.

The couple did not believe in these customs and taboos, so they adopted the child of unknown origin and named him Timothy, believing him to be a gift from God.

They suspected that Timothy was just suffering from autism or other mental problems, so they contacted child psychologists in Eagle Country, but these experts could not judge through remote video and suggested that the couple take Timothy to Eagle Country for treatment.

There was no problem for the Hoppers to return to the country. Timothy had no identity documents and could not enter the country at all.

In order to apply for his visa, the couple sent countless emails, but the results were not ideal.

As time passed, the shadow of "Comos" quietly arrived, and the world gradually slipped from rationality to madness. The Hoppers' return plan was delayed again and again, and the two gradually lost hope.

Not only that, the couple discovered a strange phenomenon.

Timothy looked about 8 years old, and it was the time for growth, but a year after they picked him up, the boy had not changed at all, neither taller nor fatter, and the weight difference from last year was less than 200 grams.

It seemed... he also died forever in the shooting that year.

What was left was a moving corpse.

There was no time to consider why Timothy would never grow up. Because of the mysterious appearance, the city where the Hopper couple lived had a coup and fell into chaos. They hurriedly took Timothy away.

Something more difficult to explain happened. When Professor Hopper was driving, he suddenly felt that the seat of the car was strangely hot and buzzing.

An ominous premonition came to his mind. Professor Hopper opened the car door and pulled out his wife and children in the back seat. He went into the grass on the side of the road without looking back.

"Boom!"

There was a loud explosion. The car that had obviously no problems exploded on the spot, with fire and black smoke.

The couple looked at the familiar scene, and their backs were covered with cold sweat.

Along the familiar road, they walked to the place where they camped last year. With a rough measurement with the naked eye, the location where the car exploded was exactly the same as last year.

Curse...

The words the Bantu people were muttering were on the tip of their tongues. The Hoppers felt their hands and feet cold and their eyes went dark, as if the things they had believed in, insisted on, and studied for decades had collapsed in an instant.

Under the huge mental blow, Professor Bannister fainted on the spot, and Professor Hopper's limbs were weak. He sat on the ground for several hours. After a while, they came to their senses and found that Timothy, who had almost no self-consciousness, was gone.

Overcoming the fear in their hearts, the two walked forward along the trampled grass.

Under the moonlight, the strange boy was leaning against a tree. He had taken off his clothes and used a sharp stone to grind off the newly grown hair. The technique was delicate and cautious, and the scalp was not hurt at all.

"Ti, Timothy..."

Professor Bannister called out tremblingly, but Timothy still did not respond. When the two approached, he did not run away, and stood there as always.

In fact, at that moment, the couple wanted to pull out their guns at the same time, let the bullet embed into the boy's temple, and completely kill this monster.

The death of their son flashed through their minds. After all, they failed to take action against Timothy and bring him back to their side.

A few days later, they were accepted by the village that Lin An passed by and have lived here ever since.

"It was as if the absurd special effects movie had become a reality. We saw with our own eyes animals that could talk, people with two heads, and fish that walked on land. Therefore, we had to accept a fact - science is dead, God is crazy, and hell exists."

After listening to the story, Lin An fell silent.

The death of the Hopper couple's son was undoubtedly a coincidence, and it was even more impossible for his soul to cross the ocean and possess a child in Nanzhou, forever haunting his parents.

But the second "Timothy" mentioned by the couple is most likely a mysterious person.

"By the way, when did you pick up Timothy?"

"September 5, 2036."

"In other words, from that moment on, his appearance has not changed at all?"

Professor Hopper nodded.

Strange, as long as they are mysterious, it is impossible to keep the same value forever, even the heads of the aristocratic families and even the "demigods" can't do it.

Suddenly, Lin An's pupils shrank.

"By the way, you finally chose to accept 'Timothy', so he lives in this village now?"

"Yes, we told you his story, and we also hope that you can think of a way to lift his curse. After all, you are the first 'mysterious person' we have met and can communicate with." Professor Bannister pointed to the front, "He is in that haystack."

Lin An hurriedly closed his eyes and sank into the empty mode of consciousness.

The lush shallow lake wetland disappeared, and the huge grassland was like a dark abyss, empty, without a light point representing life. (End of this chapter)