I was just fishing, how did I become a Great Old One?

[System notification: Crossing the world barrier...]

[Warning! Rule change detected.]

[Cyber ​​physics engine...uninstalling.]

[Old Rules Module... Loading (1%...5%...)]

……

The Treant, cockpit.

With a sickeningly sharp sound of spatial distortion, the dazzling neon lights and orderly data tunnels outside the window vanished completely.

Instead, there was a deathly, seemingly endless gray fog.

There is no distinction between up, down, left, or right here, nor is there any sense of the passage of time.

Only a dark gray mist slowly wafted outside the window, and occasionally, some indescribable shadows would emerge from the mist—the outlines of huge tentacles, countless blinking eyes, or the reflections of some geometrically completely wrong buildings.

"Where is this?"

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, had already put away his cool liquid metal mecha and reverted to his original form, wearing a tiger-skin skirt and sporting a hairy face and a thunder god's mouth (because the cyber mecha's energy system had some connection problems after leaving the data world).

He squatted on the passenger seat, scratching his head and cheeks, his bright eyes gleaming wildly, yet seemingly unable to see through anything.

"Why can't my old Sun's eyes see through this fog?"

"Not only can't I see through it, but looking at it for too long also makes my head hurt."

Wukong shook his head irritably, feeling as if countless flies were buzzing around his ears.

"Stop looking, Great Sage."

Jiang Li sat in the driver's seat, holding a thermos that was still steaming (it contained dried peaches brought from Heaven).

Although his expression was calm, his hands gripping the steering wheel were slightly white.

"This is... the World Rift."

"That is, the [Crazy Route] leading to the Old Starfield."

Jiang Li pointed to the instrument panel.

The instrument panel that originally displayed speed, fuel level, and shield value was now completely garbled.

Instead, a new, bright red numerical bar appeared:

【SAN value (sanity): 95/100】

Moreover, this value is slowly decreasing at a rate of 0.1 per minute.

"In this godforsaken place."

"Physical attacks are secondary."

"The most deadly thing... is mental pollution."

……

"Mental pollution?"

Sitting in the back seat, Tang Sanzang (Jin Chanzi) had his eyes closed and was holding a string of prayer beads in his hand (the only souvenir he brought from Mount Ling).

"This humble monk heard you."

Tang Sanzang frowned, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"There's a sound... in the fog."

"It is not language, it is not scripture."

"It's... delirium."

"It's like... hundreds of millions of madmen grinding their teeth in your head at the same time."

"Ahhh! I heard it too!"

The dog, who was lying on the ground, suddenly jumped up and frantically chased and bit its own tail.

"Woof woof woof! There's a bug! There's a bug on my tail!"

"There are so many-legged bugs! They're burrowing into my pores!"

Er Gou fell into a hallucination.

Odin was also suffering.

The Asgardian god-king was staring intently at his shield, his eyes glazed over.

"The shield... melted..."

"It turned into a puddle of... green slime..."

"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

The atmosphere inside the carriage instantly became eerie and anxious.

Apart from Jiang Li, who possesses the Gluttony Godhood (absolute mental resistance), and Alice, who is a purely mechanical life form (although her logic circuits are also alarming), everyone else was affected by the gray fog.

……

"Calm down!"

Jiang Li slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

Gluttony Godhood - Release of Power.

An invisible wave swept across the carriage.

It did not dispel those delirious ramblings.

Instead, it was a stronger "appetite" that suppressed the "fear".

"Gurgle..."

Er Gou stopped spinning around and his stomach growled.

Wukong and Odin also instantly woke up, feeling a strong sense of hunger surge into their hearts.

"Phew...that was close."

Wukong wiped his sweat.

"This place is really eerie."

"I, Old Sun, just saw... that old bald monk Buddha turn into a banana spirit and try to eat me!"

Jiang Li smiled.

"This is the first lesson of the old rules."

"Do not look directly at it, do not listen to it, do not delve into it."

"unless……"

Jiang Li licked his lips.

"You treat it as... an ingredient."

……

"Thump!"

Just then.

A dull thud suddenly came from the roof of the Tree Demon.

Followed by.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

A tooth-grinding scraping sound rang out.

It sounded like scratching a blackboard with your fingernail, or like countless suction cups dragging on glass.

"There's something there!"

"Get on the bus!"

Alice's electronic eyes flashed red.

"Warning! Invasive organism detected!"

"Position: Portal side!"

"No matching organism type found in the database!"

Jiang Li put down the thermos.

"Don't panic."

"Sailing through this gray fog, it's inevitable to get some... barnacles on your hands."

"I'll go take a look."

"I'm going too!"

Wukong had been holding back for a long time, and he picked up the shrunken golden cudgel, ready to rush out.

"I'd like to see what kind of monster dares to hitch a ride on my car!"

……

The Tree Spirit, deck (roof).

There is no air here.

Only a thick, liquid-like gray fog.

Jiang Li and Wukong put on the Abyss Breathing Masks and stepped out of the airlock.

"Where is it?"

Wukong looked around.

"left."

Jiang Li pointed.

On the Treant's golden dragon scale armor (evolved from the cyber world), a huge, grayish-white soft thing was now attached.

It is two meters in diameter.

It looks like a giant eyeball, or a tumor.

Its surface was covered with slippery mucus, and countless tiny, anemone-like tentacles were frantically trying to get into the gaps in its armor.

"Sizzle—"

Those tentacles secrete a green acidic liquid.

It even corroded small pits into the seemingly indestructible dragon scale armor.

"What kind of disgusting thing is this?"

Wukong wrinkled his monkey face in disgust.

"Headless and legless, just a lump of meat?"

"Take this!"

Wukong raised his golden cudgel, ready to smash it down.

"Wait!"

Jiang Li stopped him.

"Don't smash it."

Jiang Li moved closer to the lump of something.

Even through the mask, he could almost smell... the fishy smell of the deep sea.

There was also a... rotten, sweet smell.

[Identification Technique] Throw it over.

This time, the system no longer displayed cyber data, but instead displayed distorted ancient divine script:

[Target: Void Barnacle]

[Rank: Familiar Class (Juvenile)]

[Description: Low-level ancient creatures that parasitize the cracks in the world. They attach themselves like barnacles to past spaceships or meteorites, absorbing their energy and sanity.]

[Characteristics: High in protein, extremely firm texture, with a taste similar to a combination of geoduck and sea cucumber. Contains trace amounts of psychotoxin (consumption reduces SAN value by 5, but grants "Void Vision").]

[Note: This is the "seafood" of the Cthulhu world.]

……

"This is good stuff."

Jiang Li's eyes lit up.

"seafood!"

"And it's sashimi-grade seafood!"

He turned to look at Wukong.

"Great Sage, put your staff away."

"We can't smash this."

"We need to... pry it open."

Jiang Li took out a... [Abyss Crowbar] (also known as the Holy Sword of Physics) from his backpack.

He found this in a dungeon a long time ago, and he never expected it to come in handy here.

"Watch closely."

"To deal with ingredients with extremely strong adsorption properties."

"Be fast, accurate, and ruthless."

Jiang Li located the gap where the void barnacles connected to the armor.

Insert the crowbar.

"rise!"

Jiang Li unleashed his divine power through gluttony.

"Pop!"

A loud sound, like the sound of cupping, rang out.

The two-meter-diameter "tumor" was pried off by force.

It was still writhing wildly, and the suction cup at the bottom was like a toothless mouth, trying to suck on Jiang Li's arm.

"Behave yourself!"

Jiang Li slapped it.

The binge-eating rule suppresses it.

The lump of flesh instantly became docile, turning into a huge, grayish-white, still slightly trembling mass of meat.

……

Back in the cabin.

Jiang Li threw the "trophy" onto the stainless steel cutting board in the kitchen.

"Splat!"

This thing is just too big.

There's almost no room left on the cutting board.

Everyone gathered around.

"Boss... is this stuff really edible?"

Er Gou looked at the chunk of meat that was still oozing green slime and felt a little nauseous.

"It looks like... a giant's snot."

Tang Sanzang also put his hands together in prayer.

"Amitabha."

"This thing looks... rather random."

"This humble monk feels that it is filled with... an unclean aura."

"Unclean?"

Jiang Li had already changed into a chef's uniform and was holding the lightsaber cleaver in his hand.

"In the eyes of the God of Cookery."

"Just remove the inedible parts."

"The rest... are all clean."

……

Step 1: Clean off the slime.

"The slime on the surface of these void creatures is a carrier of psychotoxins."

"It must be washed off."

Jiang Li took out a bag of coarse salt (high-dimensional sea salt).

He rubbed it hard on that lump of flesh.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

When the salt came into contact with the mucus, a violent reaction occurred, producing white smoke.

"Ergou! Flush!"

"Use holy water (which I stored in the Papacy instance)!"

Er Gou held the water pipe in his mouth and rinsed the water with a splashing sound.

soon.

The disgusting green slime was washed away.

It revealed the flesh inside... a pinkish-white, translucent substance, like jade.

"what?"

Wukong blinked.

"It's clean now... and it looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

"It looks a bit like... a peeled lychee?"

……

Step 2: Cut into slices.

"This kind of meat is extremely tough."

"If you boil it directly, you won't be able to chew it even if you boil it for ten thousand years."

"It must be...thinly sliced."

The lightsaber in Jiang Li's hand lit up.

However, instead of switching to high-temperature mode, he activated [Extreme Cold Cut].

swish swish swish—

The blade flashed like snow.

Jiang Li's technique was incredibly fast.

Thin, translucent slices of meat, as thin as cicada wings, drifted onto the ice plate like snowflakes.

Each piece of meat has a natural, nebula-like texture.

Step 3: Prepare the dipping sauce.

"Eat this kind of sashimi."

"The dipping sauce is the soul of the dish."

"You can't use regular soy sauce."

Jiang Li took out a small plate.

Pour in the Abyss Soy Sauce.

Squeeze in a little [Void Lemon Juice].

At last.

Add a little bit of... Cyber ​​Mustard (that's the spicy flavor of data brought from Heaven).

……

[Dish Name: Iced Barnacle Sashimi]

[Rank: Former Familiar Class]

[Effects of Consumption: Although it slightly lowers your SAN value, the explosive deliciousness in your cerebral cortex is absolutely worth it. It grants the consumer a brief "phantom vision," allowing them to see through the gray fog.]

"alright."

Jiang Li picked up a piece of sashimi.

I rolled it in the dipping sauce.

Put it in your mouth.

"Crunch."

That was a crisp, clear sound.

Followed by.

A cool, sweet taste, carrying the scent of the sea (the Void Sea), exploded in my mouth.

Then.

The spiciness of wasabi hits you right in the head.

"Cool!"

Jiang Li felt the buzzing in his head disappear instantly.

The field of vision became incredibly clear.

"Come on, give it a try."

Jiang Li greeted everyone.

……

"I, Old Sun, will go first!"

Wukong had been holding back for a long time.

He imitated Jiang Li, picked up a large piece of meat, dipped it in wasabi, and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Ugh!!!"

Wukong's eyes widened instantly.

Then, his face turned bright red.

"roar----"

He couldn't help but let out a roar.

"Gotta drink!"

"That felt so good!"

"I feel like... there's a hole in my brain!"

As this piece of meat went down...

Wukong's Fiery Eyes of Truth underwent a change.

The edges of his originally golden pupils now had a ring of...purple light.

He looked out the window again.

The gray fog that had been obscuring the view had become transparent.

he saw...

"Oh My God……"

Wukong was stunned.

He pointed out the window.

"That...that is..."

Everyone ate sashimi.

They all also gained the [Void Vision] ability.

They looked in the direction Wukong was pointing.

……

It was only visible deep within the gray fog.

In an extremely remote place.

There was a... huge shadow.

That's not a planet.

It's not a spaceship either.

It was... [a gigantic... floating in the void...]

【dining table】.

Yes.

A round table made of some unknown material, even larger than the solar system.

Around the round table sat several... indescribably huge figures.

Although the face is not clearly visible.

But you can feel that suffocating antiquity and terror.

And in the center of the round table.

Leave a bite...

[A boiling, nebulous-looking hot pot...]

……

"That is..."

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes.

The chopsticks in his hand trembled slightly (not from fear, but from excitement).

"Our destination."

"The 'Hot Pot Party' of the 'Former Parliament'."

"It seems so."

"We've arrived just in time."

"This hot pot..."

"This is just the beginning."