Inside the Nuuk Museum of Art, the lights were on but strangely enough, there was not a single person in the hall.
It was not until the sound of hurried footsteps came from the door that a figure stumbled into the hall from the outside. He ran straight through the empty hall, ignoring the priceless oil paintings on the walls and the gold and ornaments on the counters. He ran all the way to the westernmost wall of the hall where the Inuit artifacts were hung.
He reached out and grabbed the topmost wooden carving. The wooden carving was a mask. The craftsmanship was exquisite and it looked quite mysterious. However, the person didn't seem to care about it at all. He roughly stuffed it into his handbag, then turned around and ran outside.
But just as he turned around, a voice came from not far away. "You rarely come back, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"
The man froze when he heard that but he did not stop. He continued to run toward the front door. His car was parked inside the museum's carpark. He only needed to run 20 metres through the door to reach his destination.
But the next moment, a gunshot echoed in his ears. Then a sharp pain shot through his leg. The man collapsed to the ground. The bag with the wooden carving fell to the ground.
"Tsk tsk tsk, we're old friends. I didn't mean to do this but you took my things and left without saying a word. Isn't that a bit rude?" The voice continued.
The man on the ground didn't say anything. He just struggled to crawl to his handbag and took out the wooden mask from it. Then, he put his finger into the mouth of the mask and pressed down. The front of the wooden mask immediately opened, and an oval pebble rolled out from inside.
A pentagram was carved on it and in the middle of the pentagram was an eye. The man raised the pebble and pointed it at the man on the second floor.
"Oh, the Ancient Seal, really? You managed to hide the Ancient Seal inside my museum. I have to say, this is quite a clever move. I've sent people to search your clinic and your office at school more than once but they couldn't find it. I didn't expect this thing to be right under my nose. "The person who spoke walked down the stairs with the help of a cane.
The intruder's eyes flashed with despair. He gripped the stone that was called the Ancient Seal tightly in his hand like it was his last hope.
Then he heard the man with the crutch say mockingly, "Don't be silly, doctor. This thing might be useful against the Deep Ones and Kun Yang, it might even guarantee you a good night's sleep but I'm just a normal person like you, this thing is useless against me."
The person who barged into the museum was none other than Doctor Baker, whom Zhang Heng and Song Jia had visited earlier. He lowered his hand dejectedly but his grip on the Ancient Seal remained.
"We've known each other for more than 20 years. Not counting the China couple, you're the bravest and most determined person I've ever met. Until today, I still can't believe that you would choose to submit to that monster."
"What, are you planning to use your glib tongue to influence me?" The man with the crutch asked. "Don't treat me like one of those idiotic fanatics. My mind is very clear. There needs to be someone who understands the situation. This is the promise between me and that great being."
"Promise or your own delusion? That monster does not look like the type to make promises. Furthermore, you know your own condition better than anyone else. If there is nothing wrong with your mental state, why have you been coming to my clinic for counselling ever since you came back from that research expedition? "The doctor panted heavily. The pain in his leg caused his forehead to be covered with sweat.
The man with the crutch fell into silence. After a while, he spoke again, "After all, we'll both fall into eternal bliss. It's just a matter of time, it doesn't make much of a difference. I only figured this out recently. Over the years, to prevent myself from falling further into madness, I've followed your advice and stayed away from the internet. I stopped reading the newspaper and kept my distance from the outside world. But how long can we last? I hear its name is becoming a household name. Only in a place like Greenland that you and I can survive until now."
The man with the crutch paused before continuing, "I've always regretted participating in that research expedition. I can see that you're not doing so well either. Even though you've closed your clinic, you're still working part-time at your school. There are even foreign students studying at your school, you must be having a hard time."
"Thankfully, I'll stuff cotton balls in my ears when I can't stand it anymore. I don't go online anymore." Dr. Baker said, "Actually, we should all feel lucky that we didn't read any books related to it before we encountered it, nor have we heard of its name. Otherwise, we would've gone crazy the moment we laid eyes on it and become fanatics who have completely lost their minds."
"The more you know, the closer you are to madness. The person who came up with this setting is a f * cking genius." The man with the crutch mumbled, "A sane person will never find out the truth."
Perhaps it was because they were in the same boat, the two people in the hall fell into silence again after saying this.
But soon, the man with the crutch spoke again, "Doctor, ask yourself, I've taken good care of you over the years, haven't I? Those fanatics wanted to recruit you, it was me who stopped them. You refused to hand over the Ancient Seal, so I gave in. Recently, you've been getting close to our enemies, the Inuit shamans, but I've been turning a blind eye to that. So why do you keep testing my bottom line?
"You're right, I can restrain those fanatics to a certain extent, but if they find out you've taken the Ancient Seal from me, both of us will be in deep trouble. We've both seen those people go crazy, I don't want to become like that, so I'm sorry." The man with the crutch raised the rifle in his hand.
"Wait a minute." The doctor raised an arm to shield his face, "I didn't purposely come here to steal the Ancient Seal when those fanatics are not around. Even though I admit that I did have that in mind, we've already experienced something like this before. The earthquake, the red aurora, and with these abnormal weather disasters, its activity will become more frequent. With our current condition, we might not be able to survive it. Furthermore, this time is different from the last. Just three days ago, I had a very scary dream. In the dream, it escaped from the palace below and the whole world will fall into destruction. We need to do something before it's too late."
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.
