The carriage drove on the muddy road for half a day. It left this small town far behind and arrived at the outskirts of the town.
It was already evening, and the sky was dyed red by the sunset glow. Night would come soon, and the birds returning to their nests chirped and flew back to the woods.
Following the old man's order, the brown horse stopped. Some of the fodder on the board fell to the ground. "Mr. Gu, you can come out now." The old man said, "Welcome to my farm. I am the only one here. I have some cows, chickens, and dogs with me." The dogs surrounded Gu Jun enthusiastically.
"Thank you, Mr. Joyce." Gu Jun crawled out from the pile of fodder. He took out his backpack and scanned the surroundings.
This was not a big farm. It was a two-story house with a fenced plot of land planted with crops. There was a wooden warehouse and barn next to it. Mr. Joyce's cows and chickens were kept there. The smell of animal feces permeated the air.
However, the place was not small. It was not an easy job to manage it alone.
"I was not the only one." Mr. Joyce seemed to notice the confusion on Gu Jun's face. He continued in the same cheerful tone, "My wife and my son have both passed away. It happened a few years ago. My son had an accident, and my wife couldn't take the shock and died of illness. "
Gu Jun frowned. "I am sorry." Underneath the old man's cheerful tone, there was probably a hidden sadness.
The old man moved the fodder down. After a while, he walked into the house. "Let's go and prepare dinner. How about some fried eggs and bread?"
"Okay." To be honest, Gu Jun was famished. His stomach was growling. He had only had one breakfast 'today'. He had traveled from the Eastern State's Medical Department base to the oak forest, then to the wasteland, and finally here. The lack of stamina caused his spirit to drop.
He followed the old man into the house. Even though the United States in 1929 was already very developed like New York City, in a small, remote place like Chicatown, in a poor family like the old man, the interior of the house was very simple. There were no electrical appliances, no television, no telephone, and the like.
"My son." Mr Joyce continued, "Jack, a fine young man. He was only twenty-six when he died. He died at Innsmouth. He wanted to go there to see if there was a way to make money, but on the road to the town, he met a frightened horse. The horse knocked over several people, and Jack was one of them. He was particularly unlucky, and his chest was trampled by the horse, and he died on the spot. "
Gu Jun fell silent and followed the old man to the kitchen. There was a gas stove and other things.
"At Innsmouth, horse spooks are a common occurrence." Mr Joyce said. "There are too many strange things to describe. Our place was secluded enough but Innsmouth was even more secluded. It was an old seaport. I heard it used to be as prosperous as a city a hundred years ago but now it was a wasteland. It's been like this since I was a kid. There are no railroads, no trains. You can take the bus, but you have to go to Arkham first. "
Mr Joyce sighed. "My poor Jack, he always wanted to make a fortune. He thought he could make use of the abandoned houses there, but he lost his life in the process."
"Are there not many residents there?" Gu Jun asked.
"Not now." Mr Joyce turned on the gas stove and took out an egg to fry. He explained, "Most of them are fishermen. There is also a gold refinery. Strangely enough, for a place that is on the brink of decay, the only people left should be the old. But at Innsmouth, you don't see any old people. Even the slightly older ones are hard to come by. The place is filled with young people. It's as if they will leave the place once they reach a certain age. "
Gu Jun thought to himself. 'Leave? Where would they go? '
"The people of Innsmouth are strange and isolated." The sound of frying began. Mr Joyce busied himself with the spatula. "For those of us who live near Innsmouth, there are many legends about Innsmouth. But sometimes you can't blame them because the beliefs of the people there … are different from ours. Mr Gu, I'd like to ask you about that. Perhaps you can answer me. "
"What is it?" Gu Jun asked with confusion. "Please go ahead."
Mr Joyce turned to look at him. The old man's red face drooped slightly. "One of the legends is that the people of Innsmouth worship the demon and they often perform many sacrificial rituals. I've always suspected Jack's death is not that simple. I suspect he was sacrificed to the demon. "
Gu Jun could sense that the old man's gaze was not entirely friendly …
"According to legend, the people of Innsmouth worship a demon called Dagon." The old man explained, "It's a cult imported from the East."
When he heard the name 'Dagon', Gu Jun's head started to hurt again but he understood many things.
Dagon, of course it was Dagon, one of the powers that the Seagull was searching for. If the people of Innsmouth worshipped Dagon, then they might be converted into Deep Ones … This conversion did not happen when they were young but at a certain age. Therefore, there were no middle-aged or elderly people there …
Imported from the East?
That should be the reason why the men chased him away when they saw him. They screamed about the devil, the cultists, the people who were going to kill them all …
"Mr Gu, I wish to ask you." Mr Joyce's voice lowered. "How much do you know about the Dagon cult?"
Gu Jun did not know how to answer. He did know a little about it but it was not because he was Asian.
However, if there was a Innsmouth that did not exist in his home world, then he really had no idea what existed in his homeland, the East.
After all, the leader of the R'yleh Cult, the immortal Taoist, was from there as well.
Looking into the old man's eyes, Gu Jun knew that he could not simply lie to the old man. He needed to gather more information.
Furthermore, in this era, in this place that was hostile to Asians, it was not easy to run into an old man like him.
"Mr Joyce, I do not believe in Dagon." He said seriously and sincerely, "In fact, the believers of Dagon are my enemies."
"So you do know a lot about the Dagon cult?" Mr Joyce was agitated. His white beard quivered.
"When I was on the ship that came to this country, I got into a fight with several Dagon believers." Gu Jun continued, "Sir, I can tell you that in my homeland, the people also hate the Dagon cult. They are an evil secret society. In my homeland, they are said to be a cult imported from the West. But now, it seems like it came from the abyss. Mr Joyce, I am sorry to say this but I do believe your son's death is very suspicious. "
"I knew it, I knew it..." Mr. Joyce gritted his teeth. His face turned even redder, and his eyes were a little moist. "The coroner couldn't find Jack's heart. They said it was trampled by a horse. But I've worked with animals all my life. I know it's not like that..."
Thinking of Tian Yi, Xie Yiman and the rest, Gu Jun sighed darkly. If this was really a sacrifice, the cultists would do anything.
"I knew it …" The old man grumbled, "Furthermore, two years ago at Innsmouth, many people were arrested by the Federal Police and many old houses by the docks were burned down."
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