Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 125 Limited Erosion
While Zheng Zha was still in a daze, Zhan Lan frowned: "But, can killing him stop the arrival of the Old Ones?"

Mu Xiang waved his hand: "No, Trent is just an unintentional pawn... but once this pawn crosses the river, things will get complicated. Because once he enters Hobbs Town, everything becomes uncertain. Perhaps the moment he enters Hobbs Town, our timeline will also be distorted?"

“I’m different from Chu Xuan. I don’t really like gambling. If there’s a way to eliminate uncertainties, I’ll definitely do it.” Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. “And after killing Trent, Sart Kane’s plan fell through. So the initiative is in our hands.”

Zheng Zha then spoke up, "The initiative... you mean you still want to complete the task of destroying the manuscript? But after killing Trent, time won't be so tight, right?" As he spoke, he looked at the others with a hint of worry.

Clearly, he meant that not everyone is as strong as Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha, not to mention there are ten newcomers now... Taking the risk of doing a side quest with everyone at B-rank level is a huge risk, even though the rewards are great.

Mu Xiang shook his head: "I think you didn't understand what I meant... Then I'll break down Sart Kane's plans and my thoughts."

As he spoke, he glanced at the many newcomers who hadn't fully adapted yet, and said to Zheng Zha, "The first issue is the timeline you mentioned... According to the movie's plot, before Trent brought back the manuscript of 'The Terrifying Black Hole,' quite a few readers had already been captivated by Sutter Kane's novels."

"The Supreme God won't issue missions that guarantee certain death, but it also won't let us get through a horror movie unscathed... Both the optional mission with a B-rank reward for all members and the maximum team size indicate that 'The Trembling Black Hole' is an extremely difficult horror movie. Under these circumstances, simply killing Trent isn't enough." Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. "Won't the Supreme God change the plot? If we don't find the force behind it after killing Trent, and the Supreme God accelerates the resurrection of the Old Ones or sends someone else to smuggle out the manuscript, we'll still face difficulties."

Judging solely from the film's portrayal, seasoned veterans aren't actually that afraid of *The Hole of Terror*. After all, before the cataclysm, the most dangerous threat was an attack by a madman. Even the tentacle monsters that might appear after the cataclysm might not pose a threat to them.

In the previous battle, both the enemies from the Curse of the Dead and the Midnight Sun Society were considered to be from the magical legend side, which rendered the protective shields we all carried useless. But this time, the enemies are all made of flesh and blood, so the protective shields should be effective.

Moreover, the "thirty days of safe survival" mentioned by the main god doesn't seem too difficult... After all, after descending upon the horror movie, they only saw crazed crowds. If Mu Xiang hadn't emphasized the time issue, "The Terrifying Black Hole" wouldn't have posed as much of a threat as "Alien" or "Ju-on."

Mu Xiang sighed: "Don't underestimate the terror of the K-type... I really feel like we're slowly boiling a frog in water."

He then walked into the middle of the group and earnestly explained the information he had gleaned from the movie, as well as his plans. Although the newcomers were destined not to play much of a role in this challenging horror film, Mu Xiang still decided to take them into consideration during his analysis.

Mu Xiang couldn't just leave all the newcomers to fend for themselves, which would lower the team's score. "That's basically the situation... uh." After explaining the plot, Mu Xiang suddenly realized he had picked up someone's catchphrase, "To summarize, it's about novelist Sat Kane being chosen as an agent by the Great Old Ones to influence the real world through horror novels, driving all the readers insane and ultimately twisting them into monsters, leading to the destruction of humanity and the return of the Great Old Ones."

Mu Xiang peeled a lemon candy: "Let me explain Sutter Kane's plan... Judging from the movies, it takes time for the Great Old Ones to erode the real world. Obviously, 'The Hole of Terror' is the main part of the erosion, otherwise there would be no need to go to such lengths to guide Trent to Hobbs."

“Trent is a classic Cthulhu Mythos protagonist, an investigator… even his official profession is an insurance investigator. What brings Trent into the main storyline is Sutter Kane's agent. While Trent was having coffee with his clients, the agent attacked them with an axe and was then shot dead by the police.” Mu Xiang waved his phone. “It happened yesterday in a neighborhood not far from us. Then he was hired by a publishing company, his mission: to find the missing Sutter Kane…”

Mu Xiang paused here, unsure if the company's name had any deeper meaning... Companies that made money off Sart Kane were usually translated as "Aofa" in a semi-phonetic and semi-literal way.

But the word Arcane also has another translation: ...arcane.

There can't possibly be any arcane items in this company... This world, in every other aspect, is a magic-free plane.

“Aofa Corporation knew that Trent was attacked, which is probably one of the reasons for hiring him.” Mu Xiang snapped his fingers. “And considering Trent’s personality, as a fairly rational investigator, he might not have used special methods to investigate Sart Kane if he hadn’t seen something abnormal beforehand.”

“And this is Sutter Kane’s scheme… no, it’s not really a scheme, just a little trick.” Mu Xiang chuckled as soon as he finished speaking. “In the timeline before it was distorted, Sutter Kane sent several chapters of the manuscript of ‘The Trembling Black Hole’ to his agent. The agent saw the future written in the manuscript… that Trent would bring back the manuscript, causing the world to be destroyed.”

"So, the equally crazed agent attacked Trent, intending to kill him... Trent witnessed firsthand the madness of the infected, and the Orpha Corporation naturally approached Trent, the outstanding investigator connected to the matter. This is Satt Kane's method; the corrupted agent is merely a pawn in his game." Mu Xiang looked at everyone. "So, have you noticed? The more sophisticated these methods are, the more it shows that Satt Kane cannot easily manipulate the real world at this moment. Otherwise, he could just launch a direct attack; why go through all this trouble?"

"The surge in the intensity and depth of the erosion began when Trent brought back the manuscript... and the timeline was distorted. The novel, which had not yet been released, had been released for seven weeks. But Trent has not yet gone to Hobbs Town, and this time difference is the breakthrough that the Supreme God left for us!" Mu Xiang snapped his fingers and said.

Here is the first chapter for today; the second chapter will be a little later.

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(End of this chapter)