Ke Su closed the finished video and looked at the game page where Ledell’s chibi character was, falling into silence.
In the game, this chibi Ledell stood in front of Dr. Kate’s house with a terrified expression. The status bar above his head displayed a line of text:
[Status: Chaotic]
[Sanity: 70, 69, 68...]
The sanity value was dropping at a rate of one per second, and it was falling too quickly—despite looking quite normal in the video.
Ke Su, somewhat confused, checked his identity information and found that he was now wearing a [Ancient God Investigator] badge.
The badge was supposed to restore sanity and force its wearer to investigate the truth, aiding in unraveling the fog and truth. However, its effect on restoring sanity seemed minimal.
After observing for a while, Ke Su lost interest in this investigator role frequently seen in the Cthulhu Mythos world and turned his attention to other townsfolk in the house.
Inside the spacious old house, a crowd of noisy chibi townsfolk was packed together.
All these townsfolk had a [Ancient God’s Minion: Hatching Status] label above their heads, and their expressions were abnormal, filled with a frenzied look as if they had been thoroughly corrupted.
Seven or eight townsfolk, not in the Ancient God’s Minion status, were tied to crosses amidst the crowd, being subjected to cruel abuse, almost as if there was a pile of firewood under the crosses ready to burn the heretics.
Dr. Kate, wearing a bird-beaked mask, stood in the hall, preaching the omnipotence of the deity, with the [Fanatic] mark on the status bar almost bleeding with its redness.
With sanity reduced to just one, it seemed likely that he would soon fall into a state of chaotic madness.
Upon closer inspection, Ke Su noticed that Dr. Kate also had a motionless deformed corpse beside him. The corpse’s identity information was Dr. Kate’s sister, Mary. Tentacle-like intestines extending from the corpse had penetrated the bodies of nearby townsfolk. From the screen, the townsfolk did not seem to notice anything unusual.
The scene in the house resembled a typical Western religious horror movie, with Dr. Kate playing the role of the evil heretic who orchestrates everything behind the scenes and will ultimately be judged by the righteous protagonist.
In the game, Ke Su’s role as the Ancient God was the unknown evil deity that the fanatical townsfolk were desperately sacrificing to and praying for.
Playing this evil deity in the game felt somewhat nuanced.
Ke Su recalled various pieces of information from the game, vaguely remembering that the resurrection requirements did not seem to involve Dr. Kate behaving like this.
It was too horrifying; he was just a model citizen. This had nothing to do with him; it was all Dr. Kate’s doing.
Moving the mouse, Ke Su joked and continued playing the game.
He discovered that the house had become a paradise of flesh and blood.
Everywhere were wriggling masses of flesh and deformed meat chunks. Even the exquisite Gothic style could not hide the bloody and Cthulhu-esque atmosphere.
In addition, Ke Su found that he had gained several controllable game characters, all composed of chunks of flesh and equipped with camouflage mimicry.
Ke Su moved the mouse to the center of the room to control one of the deformed flesh masses. He clicked on it, and an information box appeared.
[Ancient God Projection: Hatching Status]
[Praise the Lord, you may descend here at any time.]
Ke Su looked at the other text in the information box, which explained that through this deformed flesh mass, the Ancient God he was playing obtained a physical body to move freely in this game world.
It was essentially a character provided by the game’s official settings that could be controlled from a first-person perspective.
Understanding this, Ke Su manipulated the flesh mass in the hall with interest. He accidentally discovered that he could also reconstruct this flesh mass, similar to face sculpting in some previous games, creating a good-looking appearance for his game character.
Of course, since the flesh mass itself was quite deformed, Ke Su felt like he was playing with a lump of clay. It was soft and flabby, incapable of standing on its own. The features he managed to sculpt were all askew, resulting in a tentacle-like lower body for movement.
Unable to accept the slow pace of moving just the flesh mass, his impatient nature could not stand it.
While molding the mass, Ke Su suddenly realized he could stack several other controllable flesh masses together like building blocks. Originally bored, he found himself unexpectedly interested in this “face-sculpting” game, and assembling the flesh masses gave him a sense of accomplishment. He became absorbed in it, having a lot of fun.
Looking at the final modernist abstract character, Ke Su felt a sense of satisfaction. His aesthetic was indeed top-notch. With this character, who could not praise him as an art master?
However—
Ke Su looked at the screen and could not help but cough, blinking his eyes.
He noticed that as he moved the game character, many people’s sanity was rapidly decreasing.
It should be due to the evil deity setting of this Ancient God.
Ke Su persisted in this.------------------------------------------------------------
[Steam Age: Plague Doctor]
As night fell, the roadside was entwined with dead vines on withered trees. Crows, symbols of terror and gloom, silently watched from the treetops. The moonlight was obscured by dark clouds, and the air was filled with an eerie, decaying smell.
Groups of Lost Town townsfolk walked in the night, their steps stiff, but all heading in the same direction. They entered Dr. Kate’s ancestral old house with pious expressions on their gaunt faces.
Looking up, they saw a phantom of paradise descending in the house. Angels baptized the people, and pure white, holy feathers of angels fell. The handsome deity sat high on a divine throne, bestowing blessings upon the world.
The Lost Town townsfolk wore blissful smiles, gazing at the magnificent, splendid scene before them, a most delightful and heavenly world.
“Praise! Omnipotent Ancient God! You are the origin of all things; everything begins with you and will end with you!”
“Oh God! Thank you for the blessings!”
The townsfolk knelt on the ground, fervently gazing at the deity asleep on the throne, while Dr. Kate, wearing the bird-beaked mask, stood in front of the deity’s throne, watching the followers bow in homage, reciting the deity’s prayers.
“In the river of fate, only the divine power remains undiminished. As the stars shine, all things coexist with you. When the stars flicker, the deity will return!”
In front of the heavenly phantom, such prayers seemed extremely sacred and inviolable. The townsfolk chanted along, their synchronized yet eerily unsettling voices echoing in the dark, ancient house.
Ledell stood in front of Dr. Kate’s house, feeling as if he were stepping into an endless purgatory with a crowd of departed souls. The stench of death and decay seemed to linger in his nose, suffocating him.
He quietly hid in the flowerbed beside Dr. Kate’s old house, observing as countless zombie-like townsfolk continued to enter the house and did not come out. The strange unified chanting in the silent night felt incredibly bizarre.
Ledell’s forehead was dripping with cold sweat. Struggling against the impulse to flee, he slowly approached the nearby door.
Through the crack in the door, he glimpsed an indescribable, terrifying world of flesh and blood.
The old house, aged and decorated in the exquisite and intricate style of a bygone era, had old curtains, yellowed carpets, and high-hanging crystal chandeliers. Everything seemed ordinary in mundane decor.
However, these decorations were covered with grotesque, otherworldly flesh, with pulsating tentacles entwining around the elegant old house, creating a dazzling yet terrifying sight.
The townsfolk who entered the house did not seem to notice the bizarre flesh inside. They were all entranced, gazing at the central part of the house where a man wearing a bird-beaked mask stood.
And behind the man was a huge, pulsating mass of flesh.
The indescribable tentacles extended from the flesh mass, its meaty exterior exuding a maddening aura, twisted and resembling nothing human. Just one glance made Ledell’s stomach churn, almost making him vomit.
Hearing the townsfolk’s praises and gratitude to the deity and angels, Ledell could not comprehend them.
Why did they not flee upon seeing such horrific things, and why did they continue to praise non-existent deities and angels, as if what they saw was heaven surrounded by angels?
Peering through the door crack at the hellish world inside, Ledell’s face turned pale.
This was hell, undoubtedly—a festival of evil demons. No one knew their purpose, but the small town had undeniably fallen.
Ledell looked at the deformed flesh mass in the center of the room, the source of all this indescribable fear.
His previously unshakable belief that deities did not exist was shattered. Perhaps gods did exist, for such demons existed in the world. Therefore, all the ancient legends of just and kind gods must also be true.
For the first time, Ledell fervently began to pray for the deity’s arrival to this demon-corrupted world, to save him, this ignorant believer, from this terror staring into the abyss.
“Burn them! Burn them! The demons who desecrate the gods!”
“Traitors! Demons who betray the gods!”
“Dr. Kate! Please purify these people quickly! Their sins have polluted even Heaven! Boo-hoo! No! I don’t want to see angels weep anymore!”
Suddenly, the townspeople in the house became agitated. Eight crosses were lifted by townspeople who appeared almost mad. Encircling the center, each cross was bound with a bony person.
The bound individuals were once familiar friends or relatives to the townspeople but had now become hated enemies.
The people expressed their outrage, their eyes filled with loathing. They wished to peel off the skin and break the bones of those on the crosses, devouring them whole. There was no trace of the former kindness; their ferocious expressions resembled demons from hell.
Ledell was terrified by this morbid atmosphere, sweating profusely. His eyes widened as he suddenly saw a grotesque corpse lying beside the man dressed as the Plague Doctor. As the townspeople rioted with the crosses, the corpse began to deform.
Countless tendril-like blood vessels extended from the corpse, clawing and stabbing into the bodies of the townspeople, like a withered tree sprouting numerous tendrils to suck sweet sap.
Yet the townspeople were oblivious, continuing their shouts with their emaciated bodies and hoarse voices, tormenting their kin on the crosses. The more enraged they became, the more smoothly the grotesque corpse absorbed their essence, with its tendrils growing ever more numerous. Ledell furrowed his brow in horror, realizing why the townspeople had become so emaciated and terrifying.
The unknown corpse was feeding on the blood and flesh of the townspeople!
“My compatriots! We will complete the purification under the gaze of the deities! Now, let us recount their sins, so that the deities may redeem their sinful souls!”
The Plague Doctor, seemingly ignoring the changes happening to the corpse, raised his voice to suppress the uproar of the crowd. Ledell recognized this familiar voice instantly—it was indeed the Dr. Kate he had seen earlier in the day.
It was him!
Ledell realized his guess was correct. The one stirring up trouble behind the scenes was indeed Dr. Kate. Although this truth was beyond his expectations, his guess had been right.
As Ledell thought this, he saw Dr. Kate take out a black notebook and, like a high priest in the Sun God Church, loudly read out the sins of the people on the crosses.
“Jackes Lennan! Forsook the blessings of the Lord and gifted the necklace bestowed by the Lord to an outsider with heretical beliefs!”
Upon hearing this, Ledell instinctively clutched the necklace around his neck, glancing at the first person who was bound. It was indeed the townsman he had first encountered.
Compared to when they first met, this townsman was even more emaciated, barely clothed. At first glance, he looked like a skeleton, with thin skin barely covering his face. Only a pair of unusually bright eyes revealed some fear. His whole body seemed like bones tightly wrapped in skin, and Ledell could even see the struggling heart beating inside his skeletal chest.
“Let me go! Save me! Sun God, save me!! You are all insane! I won’t believe you! The cross is a curse! I will never keep it!”
“You damn heretical lunatics!!! Curse your ancient gods!!!”
The townsman named Jackes roared madly, his frenzied state mirroring that of the townspeople below. His mental state was clearly chaotic, but he still clung to his belief in the Sun God.
Ledell frowned at the necklace in his hand. A curse? Is this a curse?
Though he knew this necklace might be a cursed object in this demonic ritual, Ledell couldn’t bring himself to let it go. Instead, he put it in his pocket.
He continued to observe the scene inside the house. He saw Dr. Kate, dressed as the Plague Doctor, raise Jackes’s heart and present it to the massive flesh lump in the center of the hall. The flesh lump disdainfully knocked it to the ground with its tendrils.
It was then that Ledell noticed the grotesque flesh mass was writhing. It was indeed alive.
Oh God, it’s a living demon!
Ledell trembled in fear, watching as the abhorrent tendrils of the flesh mass moved around the house. The soft, squishy mass slowly formed into an extremely terrifying monster.
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