The light inside the lighthouse was dim. Gu Jun stared at the bloody sentence on the wall. He narrowed his eyes and his grip on the rifle tightened.
He was not sure when he first encountered this sentence. Was it at the bottom of the Longkan Seabed? Or was it during his childhood?
The first time he encountered this sentence was when he triggered an illusion in the school's lab. He saw this sentence on the wall of a ruined lab.
Later, when he entered Phecda to test his subconscious, he wrote this sentence himself.
"The fruit of darkness grows from the abyss, the worm of death will live with the world forever."
Gu Jun walked over carefully and got a clearer look. It was smeared with bloody phlegm. From the stains, it should have only been a few days ago.
"Let's go up and take a look." Gu Jun's voice was hoarse. 'Afterlife Cult, Afterlife Cult …
What are you up to this time? Why are you creating a disaster? Don't you see yourselves as the foreign civilization? Don't you understand the suffering that the foreign civilization has gone through? Why would you bring suffering to this world? Revenge? Summoning the Great Old Ones? Or have you gone mad? '
His footsteps on the stone stairs made no sound, but the sound of his protective suit rubbing against each other was ear-piercing in this quiet environment.
Gu Jun led the way while Peacock and the rest followed behind him. They moved up the spiral staircase.
The staircase was narrow and there were not many steps. However, Gu Jun was reminded of the staircase that he took under the altar outside Rikers in the foreign world.
The higher he went, the stranger the feeling in his mind. It felt like there were many voices echoing in his ears …
"Do you hear anything?" Gu Jun frowned. It sounded like a group of children singing a folk song.
"No." Peacock answered with confusion. The rest did not hear anything either.
Was it an illusion? Gu Jun became more alert. He continued to move up the second floor of the lighthouse. It was still empty, there was no sign of people or trash.
But the singing grew louder. It was a folk song in the foreign language. It sounded like it was echoing inside his heart.
"In the morning, mother died.
In the afternoon, father died.
I will die at night.
The great plague, the great plague,
In the midst of the coughing, everyone will die together. "
As Gu Jun listened to the song, he felt a splitting pain in his head. A hazy illusion appeared in front of his eyes. An illusion was being triggered …
Chirp, chirp. He continued to lead the way to the third floor of the lighthouse, which was still empty. If they went further up, they would reach the top.
"Be careful …" Gu Jun sensed that there was someone at the top of the lighthouse, but the operatives who were watching from various positions outside the lighthouse did not see anyone. Their thermal imaging scopes did not respond either.
Tat tat tat, he and Peacock's group rushed to the top of the tower again. There was no one around, only a large light hanging in the middle of the tower gave off a weak glow.
Gu Jun squinted his eyes and looked at the lamp. Suddenly, he felt a headache. His surroundings were distorted. It was not space, it was an illusion. He was entering an illusion …
The top of the pagoda was still the top of the pagoda, and the night was still night. There was no change in the misty sea, but there was one more figure in front of him.
It was an old man with a wizened face. He looked to be in his seventies or eighties but his white hair was neatly combed. He wore a black magua that fitted his body well. He looked hale and hearty. The old man did not give off a chilling vibe, instead, he had the demeanor of an elderly scholar.
"Child, you're here." The old man was drinking tea from a porcelain cup. "Make yourself at home."
Regardless of whether this was an illusion or not, Gu Jun aimed the rifle at the old man. "Don't move!"
"Don't worry, this is just an illusion." The old man said, "I can't see you but you will see me, I know you will."
Gu Jun pulled the trigger to shoot at the old man's calf but nothing happened. This … was indeed an illusion …
Did this old man from the Afterlife Cult 'record' this illusion beforehand so that Gu Jun could witness it when he arrived?
"You must have many questions." The old man turned to look at the endless sea under the night sky. He took a sip of tea. "Is this pneumonia a disease that we created? Why would we do that? Questions like that. I've thought about these questions for many years. "
"You're going to talk nonsense again." Gu Jun hissed angrily. He did not care whether the old man could hear him or not. "You're going to spout nonsense like you cultists again."
"Child, I'm not going to convince you." The old man smiled, as if he had already predicted what kind of reaction he would have, and even every word he said.
The old man said, "I just want to provide you with another angle to look at things. People usually see disease and plague as something bad, and it is the same for us in the Old World. But we, and this world, have always been shaped by disease and plague. "
The old man's voice was gentle. He spoke at a moderate pace like a scholar at a podium.
"Humans were the first to eat raw meat, and this desire has always existed in our genes. The reason humans stopped eating raw meat was not because it was not fresh enough but because it contained many deadly parasites. You're a medical student, so you might know more about these parasites than I do. Those who ate raw meat were gradually eliminated and those who ate cooked meat were able to thrive. This is a small example of how disease shapes us. Another small example is that we don't eat rotten meat. "
"So?" Gu Jun's breathing became heavier. "This is the reason you harm others? Who do you think you are? "
"Human history is a history of war and plague." The old man took a sip of tea. "Why did the Chinese civilization originate from the north and not the south? Because the hot and humid environment in the south had more parasites and diseases than the north. The Mongols brought plague to the Europeans, and the Black Death changed the whole of Europe. The Europeans brought plague to the New World, and the Native Americans were almost wiped out. Most of them died of smallpox. The Europeans obtained the New World, and the entire human civilization was changed.
"Child, you see, for a world to have a huge change, it must be accompanied by hunger, death, war, and plague.
"Children, especially the plague."
"Every great plague is a great baptism for mankind. Most people die, and a few survive, bringing the civilization to a new height."
The old man seemed to be able to see Gu Jun's angry expression, and showed a forgiving smile. "We are creating a new world, this is our goal. I didn't say we are definitely right, we are only pursuing the world we want. "
"That's right, we have dragged the innocent into this. No one can escape the torrent of history. The fate of the majority is actually the result of the struggle and arrangement of the minority. They have their era's mission, and death is also a kind of mission, a kind of sublimation. They will be remembered in history. "
The old man took a sip of tea and sighed. "Child, some decay can only be ended with chaos."
"A new plague will create a new order, and a new extinction will bring a new world."
"And you." The old man looked at Gu Jun. "You will have a very good position in the new world. You were born to belong to the minority."
"Maybe you have a twisted logic." Gu Jun said hoarsely, "But I know it shouldn't be like this. You have no right to cause this pain, no one has the right."
"Alright." The old man smiled. "Child, let's talk next time when we meet face to face."
The illusion stopped abruptly, and in front of Gu Jun was still the empty top of the lighthouse. The faint light flickered, and the distant sea roared...
"Send people here to take samples and investigate." He communicated with the main force through the walkie-talkie as he walked down the lighthouse. "Complete it within an hour, then directly blow up this lighthouse with missiles. Move immediately!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
