I created the Old Gods and Outer Gods in America.

Jasper's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He stood by the railing, raindrops hitting his face, his gaze piercing through the dense curtain of rain to the water.

too close.

The semi-transparent water curtain was no more than two hundred meters from the outer edge of the platform. Its entire arc was uniform and closed tightly. From his angle, the surface of the water curtain was not completely transparent, but rather had a murky grayish-blue hue, with something vaguely flowing inside.

I heard hurried footsteps behind me, and almost everyone in the cafeteria rushed out.

Everyone stood on the deck, tilting their heads back and turning around to look around in a 360-degree circle.

No one speaks.

This silence itself is the most authentic reaction. When faced with something beyond our comprehension, the first reaction of humankind is never to scream, but to fall silent.

"What is that...?"

Finally, someone spoke up, their voice very soft, as if afraid of disturbing the curtain of water.

No one answered him.

Jasper's gaze moved upwards, looking towards the sky.

Dark clouds are gathering.

These weren't ordinary, slowly drifting dark clouds like on a cloudy day. Instead, they were converging in circles, rotating inwards from some unseen center, and the color of the clouds changed from gray to almost pure black.

Jasper could clearly feel a gaze descending from the sky, sweeping across the entire platform, the oppressive feeling of being watched weighing heavily on him.

"Get in! Get in now!"

It's unclear who shouted first, but everyone started evacuating indoors.

Jasper followed the crowd into the cafeteria. Some people started moving tables to block the door, some went to draw the curtains, and some used sheet metal from their toolboxes to seal the windows. The clanging and banging sounds were particularly jarring in the enclosed space.

"Communications! Someone go check if the communications room can still transmit a signal!"

Before the words were even finished, the entire platform shook violently.

Everyone lost their balance at the same time; some fell to the ground, while others grabbed the wall for support.

"What happened?"

"earthquake?"

It wasn't an earthquake; the sound came from below.

First came a loud bang, which sounded like the steel structure of the drilling platform being subjected to some kind of external impact.

Immediately afterwards, a dense chorus of footsteps surged from the bottom floor.

These are not human footsteps.

The sound was so dense, it sounded like dozens of people simultaneously slapping the wet ground with their palms, pattering and splashing, each slap accompanied by the sound of water.

Everyone in the cafeteria fell silent, all staring intently at the door.

Footsteps are approaching.

The steel staircase thumped loudly as people walked from the first floor to the second.

Then, footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Water started seeping from the bottom of the table by the door.

"Bang!"

The door was kicked open from the outside.

Three workers in orange overalls rushed in, their faces covered in blood and seawater, stumbling and rolling in.

Some people in the cafeteria breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shit! You scared me to death, what are you doing..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

A pair of dark green hands reached out from behind the door frame.

Five fingers connected by a semi-transparent webbed membrane, with thick, yellow nails that are curved into hooks.

That hand precisely grabbed the back of the neck of the last worker and lifted him up.

The coworker's feet left the ground, his mouth opened as if to scream, but only seawater and blood foam came out of his throat.

The next second, those hands pulled to both sides.

The blood mist exploded.

The scene suddenly became extremely noisy.

Screams, curses, and the sounds of tables and chairs falling over mingled together as everyone backed away and pushed their way in. Some even climbed out of windows, even though the deck outside was thirty meters high.

Amid the chaos, a figure walked in intact from behind the door frame.

It was a creature nearly two meters tall, covered in dark green scales, with gill-like slits on its sides that opened and closed, and a pair of mocking eyes that swept over everyone in the cafeteria.

It was still holding half a corpse in its hand, blood dripping down its fingers.

"Fuck! These merfolk actually need oil?!"

Old Roberts yelled.

Unfortunately, no one responded to him this time; everyone was running away.

Jasper squeezed through the crowd with all his might and squeezed into the stairwell, cursing as he ran!

The government is aware that this thing exists!

The official announcement clearly states that they are "federal employees with special law enforcement capabilities," and they even made superhero posters. They know that there are superhumans in this world, and they know that fish-men exist, but they still choose to conceal the existence of fish-men for the sake of that ridiculous high-level dignity!

They even gave them over a hundred pistols and shotguns!

These guys have money to pay pensions to a bunch of centuries-old monsters, but they don't have money to buy more self-defense weapons for those of them who work hard!

Jasper pulled out his phone and frantically tapped the screen with his thumb.

No signal.

"Damn it! I knew it!"

The water curtain not only blocked the physical space, but also completely cut off communication signals.

Jasper put his phone back in his pocket and pulled a Colt M1911 from his waist.

To be honest, based on the urban legends, he didn't think the pistol was of any use, but at least it gave him some psychological comfort.

Holding his pistol, he rushed to the top of the stairs, only to find that the stairs were broken. The steel steps had been knocked askew by something from the side, leaving a gap of about two meters in the middle.

The coworker in front gritted his teeth, took a running start, and jumped.

While the person was in the air, a stream of water shot from the side.

The speed was so fast that Jasper only saw a white line.

The water rushed through the worker's chest, and he lost his life in mid-air. His body, propelled by inertia, tumbled over the railing and fell into the dark sea.

On the sea surface, an octopus tentacle silently emerged, wrapped around the corpse, and dragged it down.

Without hesitation, Jasper immediately retreated, turned around and rushed into the room, running up the inner corridor!

The air in the corridor was even more humid, and the flickering lights in the cramped space, combined with the screams below, made Jasper feel even more oppressed.

When he finally reached the helicopter landing pad at the top of the platform, he pushed open the door. The scene outside did not alleviate his depression; instead, it made him even more desperate.

The world has gone dark.

It's not the kind of darkness you see at night; at night there's starlight, moonlight, and light pollution from distant cities.

This is a pure, absolute darkness.

The water curtain turned pitch black, stretching from the sea to the sky, merging with the dark clouds overhead.

The only source of light was the occasional lightning bolt that struck from deep within the dark clouds, and it was thanks to this lightning that Jasper was able to see the situation on the rooftop.

Many people had already arrived here before him.

More than twenty workers were kneeling in the rain, their hands clasped together, heads bowed, and some of them were reciting prayers.

No one cried out, no one struggled; the silence was unnatural.

Jasper understood.

This is the highest point of the platform.

Above was the sky, below was the sea, and all around was a black curtain of rain.

There is no way out.

All his previous running and all his survival efforts were simply following his biological instinct to stay away from danger, and the result was only to let him live a few more minutes and feel more despair.

Finally, Jasper also knelt down, closed his eyes, and clasped his hands together.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed...

The prayers of those present had never been so sincere, but unfortunately, it was not God watching them from above.