Me and countless me.

Chapter 591 Waiting for You in My Dreams
"The problem is, even if I had it, I wouldn't know when to use it. Does my world even have Gatanothor, plus Cthulhu hidden in the deep sea?"

Li Ke quipped that he wanted to cosplay Daigo's move from back then, which was to use the Divine Light Skull Crusher and then shout, "Who wants this thing!"

But looking at the glowing magic wand, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he stood by his bedside and gently smashed it down on his velvet pillow.

"Who wants this!"

The extremely quiet sound was followed by Li Ke grabbing the popping-up light stick. After all, it's like Nexus's transformation device. Before getting it, everyone talks about how it's a death sentence, or how the light will strangle generation after generation. But once they get it, they're guaranteed to pull it out with immense pleasure.

And when that time comes, and someone asks you how you came to use it, you're guaranteed to say something like this:
"Even the light acknowledges that I am a human being. What kind of demon or monster are you to dare ask me such a question? Tell me, are you a spy sent by aliens?"

This is completely different from Warhammer, where everyone is loyal and won't go no matter what you say!
This is word of mouth!
However, just as Li Ke was holding his magic wand and grinning foolishly, waiting for Professor Dale to return from Antarctica, the person whose name he had called out, who was sleeping in the deep sea, suddenly had a strange and terrifying dream!

In this dream, he was happily traveling across the continent with his offspring, just as he always had. Although he trampled on many ants and ate a lot of the new food that had been transformed from the food he had raised long ago, a monster appeared!

This creature has eyes like animal eggs, and its skin looks like it's made of silver-gray metal, but upon closer inspection, you can see the texture of a living organism.

Its face had features, but none of them had any holes. Even its egg-like eyes were harder than most of the matter in this world, making it seem completely unlike a normal life form. Yet, he could sense that this creature's mouth could open, capable of swallowing and spewing terrifying streams of light.

The monster had two arms, but no bones were visible. There were no attachments on its legs either. Instead, there were body parts that resembled armor, with strange patterns appearing on its body. However, there was something on its chest that looked like armor patterns.

He didn't know if it was armor or the other person's body, only that there was an incomparably dazzling gem on the other person's chest, echoing the gem on the other person's forehead, as if there was some mysterious and indescribable connection between them.

The diamond-shaped gem on its forehead, in particular, gives off a strong sense of mystery, making the creature appear even more beautiful, even when the observer cannot fully comprehend its appearance.

Yes, beautiful.

The person sleeping in the deep sea couldn't take their eyes off the beauty, which made them instinctively want to touch it, even though they couldn't understand this beauty or why they were so obsessed.

However, precious reason jolted the person sleeping in the deep sea awake, allowing them to see the appearance of this strange creature more clearly!
The other's skin shimmered with light, a soft, silvery glow, while its body radiated a rainbow of light. But as he looked closer, the overwhelming amount of information and knowledge confused his mind, making it impossible for him to comprehend the structure of this strange creature!
All he knew was light; this creature was entirely composed of light, which filled him with awe and fear.

He recalled a type of creature he knew, a humble and weak being, utterly insignificant compared to the creature before him. The creature he knew was like a crudely painted oil painting, while this one contained knowledge and energy that terrified even him!

All of this fascinated him so much that he couldn't help but want to explore it further, as if this life came from another world, containing the treasures of another world, and could allow him to escape the dream world of this world.

However, his remaining, precarious sanity told him that he could not watch any longer. The man sleeping in the deep sea realized this, but his obese body prevented him from moving and escaping smoothly. Instead, he crashed into the statue next to him that seemed to be made of stone, killing many ants on the ground.

Yet it was this tiny sound that drew the gaze of the creature that seemed to be made of light to him!

Looking at the enormous creature that seemed expressionless yet also seemed to be smiling, and seeing the increasingly powerful light emanating from it, the sleeping person finally couldn't control their fear and let out a shrill scream.

This fear of death, which exceeded his physical limits, caused him to lose all reason. The extreme terror even activated his body's protective mechanisms, instantly waking him from the dream and freeing him from the bizarre dream.

The being who had lost all reason breathed a sigh of relief when he opened his eyes to find only darkness and no terrifying figure radiating light appeared, realizing that it was all a dream.

"What on earth is that?"

The obese man felt waves of palpitations, but as he pondered and recalled, he felt as if he had been burned by light. When he looked at his hands, he saw a large area of ​​burn marks and ants at his feet.

"Long live Cthulhu!!"

The cultists who had been worshipping this previously dormant cultist trembled with excitement as they watched Cthulhu awaken. But the next moment, Cthulhu's massive hand slammed down on them, and this was something these cultists willingly accepted—to become one with the great Cthulhu.

But just as Cthulhu was about to devour these ants to replenish his strength, a blinding light flashed before his eyes, reminding him of the dream he had just had. He couldn't help but scream, instinctively stopping his hand. He dared not kill the ants under his command, and instead looked into the distance.

"Whoosh, Ka, where is Nora...?"

An obscure voice came from Cthulhu's mouth. It was their language, which could convey most things in just a few syllables. However, the only sounds that humans could hear and describe were these. But when Cthulhu's other kin listened excitedly to the holy teachings, thinking that they could return to the surface again, Cthulhu's command left them dumbfounded.

This was because the message instructed them to hunt mindless beasts and the minions of the Great Old Ones, who were hostile to him, to replenish the weakness caused by waking up prematurely from the nightmare. This made them unable to resist looking at the ants, those ants who believed in them and were willing to sacrifice themselves for them.

These ants volunteered to become Cthulhu's food, but Cthulhu refused to eat them. Why is that?
They didn't understand, but they still chose to obey Cthulhu's commands, just as they couldn't understand why Cthulhu awoke when the stars were not right.

But obedience is their fundamental nature.

So none of them noticed, except for Cthulhu's youngest daughter, Xyra, who saw that her father, from the perspective of the material world, was filled with fear of the land.

"What...is it?"

Her heart was full of doubts.

Meanwhile, Li Ke also welcomed his old friend, Professor Dale.

The other party's full name is William Dale. He used to be Li Ke's teacher and is now Li Ke's colleague and friend. He is a person with great conviction and perseverance. Not only is he approachable, but he can also treat beggars and nobles equally, as long as they are not scoundrels. He is undoubtedly a kind and humorous gentleman.

However, the other party's current state made Li Ke frown.

Before the other person went to Antarctica, he was full of vigor and ambition, his eyes brimming with joy and longing for humanity's exploration of the unknown, as well as a sense of pride. In the Type-Moon universe, he could even be elevated to a Heroic Spirit, becoming a 'Star Explorer,' one of the symbols of humanity's spirit of exploration—Li Ke had no doubt whatsoever.

Professor Dale now had a full beard and sunken eyes, as if he had encountered something terrifying and incomprehensible, and was powerless to do anything about it. He looked extremely haggard and weak.

In the past, when the other person came to my home, they would always criticize the various little gadgets I made, then laugh and enjoy them with me, praising my ingenuity. But now, even if Li Ke placed iced cola, crispy fried chicken, and fried cod in front of the other person, they wouldn't touch them at all. Their eyes were fixed on the sky, as if they were looking at an endless abyss, and they felt like they might fall into it at any moment.

"What's wrong with you? I know many people died on this adventure, but Dale, history will remember their contributions, and their families won't have to worry about their lives. Or did you witness those horrific scenes firsthand? But it doesn't seem like it to me. After all, it's been months, and you're still like this. It gives me the feeling that..."

Li Ke skillfully poured himself a glass of the cola he had mixed on August 2nd using a wine glass, added ice and a slice of lemon, and then raised his glass to Professor Dale.

"...It's like seeing aliens and then discovering that they lived on Earth much earlier than we did."

Upon hearing this, Professor Dale abruptly raised his head, looked at Li Ke, hesitated, and finally sighed. "...Too many people died there, Li Ke. We have lost some more brave and loyal colleagues... Moreover, we did discover some creatures that shouldn't be there, some creatures with unusually strange shapes."

He sighed, then picked up the cola in his mouth. But looking at the red liquid, his throat moved but he didn't drink it, as if what he held in his glass wasn't cola, but chilled blood.

"So you really discovered aliens? Or did you encounter some monster beyond our comprehension, or perhaps you saw some ancient ruins and creatures?"

Li Ke found it somewhat amusing and then started teasing him.

"Honestly, I've always felt that you guys need to change your habit of going crazy when you see some distorted animals. There's no standard for evolution, right? Aren't we all just making do with what we have? Otherwise, how could there be so many different forms of life? And even if those forms are distorted, can they be more distorted than echinoderms? Is it really necessary to go crazy when you see some strange creatures?"

Echinoderms, as the name suggests, are very skinny creatures with countless forms. Often, after a fossil of an echinoderm is discovered, many echinodermists cannot determine whether it is an echinoderm or which genus it belongs to.

These creatures were incredibly diverse, with hundreds of millions of species existing in a single era. Most of them had tentacles and strange limbs. When Li Ke first saw them, he thought they were Cthulhu fossils.

He saw many colleagues who, upon seeing fossils of these echinoderms, would shout that the world was about to end. It was obvious that these people had been driven crazy by the strict promotion system at the University of Michigan. Li Ke felt that with their pressure to get promoted, if a cult came along to seduce them, they would be easily fooled.

Professor Dale opened his mouth, looking at Li Ke as if he were a monster, because their Antarctic exploration team had indeed seen the things Li Ke had described in Antarctica!

Ancient, towering black buildings that did not belong to humans, starfish-like monsters that hunted humans, and finally, a writhing, strange, intelligent creature.

All of this made him feel extremely uneasy. The thought that there might be intelligent races on Earth that humans could not understand or have never discovered filled him with fear.

This means the universe isn't empty, and life might not be a rare miracle, but rather a common occurrence. And who knows what awaits them in the universe? It's entirely possible that a single careless mistake or oversight could cause everything humanity has created to vanish into thin air.

It might even be said that...

Professor Dale's vision went dark, for he seemed to see a huge black shadow simply passing by, and the brilliant civilization on Earth vanished.

This conjecture was terrifying, so he couldn't bear to tell Li Ke everything he had seen in the black mountains of Antarctica. But the more he thought about it, the more terrified he became, and the illusion before him became more and more real, more and more tragic and absurd.

The terrifying scenes made him tremble with fear until he heard Li Ke calling out to him, which jolted him awake.

"Professor Dell, wake up, Professor Dell..."

Li Ke's call seemed to possess a magical power, bringing Professor Dale a sense of warmth and dispelling the darkness within him. This wondrous feeling made Professor Dale feel as if he had returned to the human world, as if he had never been to that terrifying black mountain range.

He looked at Li Ke in surprise, at this person who seemed unsurprised by anything and had unwavering confidence in the future of humanity. In this warm feeling, he couldn't help but want to get closer to Li Ke and ask the question that was on his mind, so he asked a question.

"Professor Li Ke, aren't you worried that there are beings in the universe that we can't understand at all, who might wipe us out without our knowledge, and we wouldn't even be able to detect it?"

He felt extremely terrified about this.

But Li Ke's answer was very simple.

"So what? Does the possibility of destruction mean we shouldn't live?"

These confident and assertive words stunned Professor Dale, who had always been worried about the future of humanity.

"Have you forgotten, Dale? Humans are beings that live in the present. Even if there is a possibility of extinction, should we stop moving forward and seeking a happier path? Have you forgotten your original intention of moving forward for humanity?"

Li Ke was somewhat puzzled, because the original Professor Dale didn't need his kind of verbal sparring at all.

"Could it be because the blow was too great?"

Thinking this way, he picked up a Tiga statue that he had been carving for fun while waiting for Dell to arrive, casually infused it with some light power, and then handed it to Dell to soothe his emotions and prevent his friend from having a moment of despair and committing suicide like his other colleagues.

"I'm serious, you really should relax a bit. Like sculpting or painting, and while you're at it, help me fight against that damn promotion system at the University of Michigan that would make even a demon weep."

Professor Dale instinctively accepted the statue, which he found strange but exceptionally handsome and still warm from Li Ke's body, and then quipped about Li Ke's words.

"If it's about fighting the demons of the University of Michigan, I'd rather fight aliens with my bare hands."

He also suffered greatly from the promotion system at the University of Michigan, but he and Li Ke both managed to survive it. However, it was only when he mentioned this that he remembered the purpose of his trip.

"By the way, Li Ke, one of my students has lost contact with me on an island near his home. I'm a little worried about him because his last letter said he found a new species there. I remember you have a few boats there... Would you be interested in going out to sea with me to find my student and the new species?"

He came to Li Ke for help with this matter, and Li Ke, who was also bored, agreed.

"No problem, but you know, I need to send over the things I use for enjoyment first, so what's the specific location?"

Li Ke didn't want to experience the travel of this era, so he planned to charter a car and bring his own homemade tools to avoid any discomfort.

Professor Dale sighed helplessly. Li Ke's various skills made him the best candidate for the expedition. He couldn't even imagine what kind of terrifying place the danger that Li Ke couldn't escape must be. However, Li Ke's pleasure-loving personality was completely unsuitable for adventure. If it weren't for accompanying him this time, he probably wouldn't have agreed.

This saddened him that Li Ke could not enjoy the joy of pioneering a future for humanity, but he was also proud of his friend's achievements in science and people's livelihood.

So he sighed and mentioned his student's hometown.

Innsmouth.

Li Ke nodded, feeling that the name sounded familiar, and then remembered that this place seemed to be related to the Cthulhu Mythos.

"This name sounds like it has something to do with an evil god called Dagon."

And so, in the next moment, the Great Old One named Dagon, the unspeakable evil god in the Cthulhu Mythos, also became like Cthulhu himself—

I've started having nightmares that cause real harm!
(End of this chapter)