Plague Doctor

Like rapids, the locust swarms burst through the border and spread everywhere. "The locusts have broken out from the mutated areas!" Anxiety reclaimed the command central. Everyone at the command central watched on helplessly as the locust swarm made quick work of everything they touched. The trees, plants were sucked dry. The telephone poles, tarred road, the cars were all consumed. The tents, brick houses, all gone.

"Ah!" The frontline members fired the flamethrowers. Large number of locusts were fried but there was always more locust. They burst through the flame and shot towards the weapons and humans. Instantly there was nothing but locusts. This was like a blanket attack by the locust swarm. These locusts were able to consume anything material. The monitor from the frontline darkened one after another. In the command central, the hope in people's hearts extinguished one after another as well. The soul left their eyes. The mutated area at the tree farm had fallen…

In the early hurried communication, Mysterium knew about the other mutated area but they had no idea how dangerous it was. The locust swarms moved so quickly that it violated the law of physics. They soon crossed the distance between the 2 mutated areas. The people at the desert wasteland soon encountered these unusual locust swarms. Both Byakees and the flying polypus hydroids fell victim to the swarm. Shock colored the Mysterium members' faces.

"Put up the net of defence!" Lee Xiaoguang, the leader of the Transboundary Team shouted, to stabilize his teammates. However, it was too late for it now. The locust swarms rushed into the desert wasteland and crossed the border to reach the Mysterium World. Amidst horrible screams, many Byakees were eaten alive. Byakees summoned by both parties were powerless against the locust swarm.

Lou Xiaoning, Uncle Dan and Deng Ximei were stunned as they saw the locust swarms that covered the sky. So this was the apocalypse prophesied by the Yith…

Some of the fighting members were overwhelmed by helplessness and they put down their guns… Even though the locust swarms had not reached this place in their full size, and thus not everything was yet consumed but that was only a matter of time. Soon everything would be turned into locust food. The decision to drop an atomic bomb at Mo Bei returned to the table and Elder Tong couldn't stop it this time.

"Hell, I might as well kill as many as I can before I die!" Lou Xiaoning picked up her rifle and continued to fire. She inspired some of the others. After all, they were already prepared for a one-way journey.

A locust the size of one's thumb bit through the suit and tore a hole through Uncle Dan's cheek. Uncle Dan squashed it with a slap. "I only want a kiss from the ladies! So leave me alone!"

Inside the altar, Gu Jun chuckled even though Uncle Dan could not hear him. "Uncle Dan, your skin is too supple, they can't help themselves from taking a bite."

"I've made my choice." Gu Jun then turned towards the tall figure. "Fuck you." Gu Jun then allowed the fury in his heart to explode. He chanted the first chapter of the seven cryptical book of Hsan to summon small nightgaunts. 'Like Wang Rouxiang, Cai Zixuan, they still had not given up, so I can't give up either.' In different time line, different worlds, different Gu Jun said the same thing at the same moment, Fuck You.

Yu Chi also chanted the spells from the 9 Mysterium Arts in sadness and anger. He believed that some day people would unearth his story to study him. At the same time, Wu Siyu leaped into the air. She had made her choice a long time ago. When she utilized the power inside the cat's body to draw out the scrolls, she made sure to imbue them with her own brand of spiritual energy. The power might be yours but the paintings are mine. Every single one of them are alive. They possess the painter's spirit and power. Her fur coat bristled and her eyes were like a deep abyss. She waved her claws and the power from the scrolls shot at the tall figure.

Nightgaunts appeared from the ground around Yu Chi and Gu Jun. They charged towards their target. Both the nightgaunts and the painting's power hit their target but they appeared to have been absorbed before they could do anything damage. The figure with a thousand faces was unfazed.

"It's pointless," Keziah Mason said, "This level of power is no threat to our master."

"So this is your choice?" The figure appeared to have said that.

Gu Jun felt an intense pain in his head. The Peek polymer protruded from his scalp. And so did his eyes. His face burst with veins. His brain pressure was enormous and his heart stopped. Blood rushed towards his brain and every region was suffused with blood. Gu Jun could feel the capillaries in his brain bursting. Blood soaked his brain, slowly covering every gap inside his cranium. The veins inside his body exploded as well. His eyes turned from black and white to fully red. The same was happening to Yu Chi. His bearded face turned purple. Wu Siyu was consumed by pain as well. She seemed to be returning to her human form but something held her back in the cat form. She was stuck between the two and her consciousness wavered. It felt like this was the end… But there were so many regrets…

"I wish to see our baby." She told Gu Jun, "She will be as cute as Little Kedou."

Gu Jun laughed, bitterly, loudly, happily.

"Actually, I'm quite relieved…"

"To be honest, me too." She concurred. They laughed in joy and regret. Perhaps that was the kind of creature human beings were. They lived with regret and died with regret. They carried their own regret and would become other's regret…

"Why wouldn't you choose to serve our master?" The witch asked. "Do you not know you are not his match?" Everything was twisting into chaos. But Gu Jun still managed glimpses from the Phecda World and Mysterium World. He saw Lou Xiaoning, Deng Ximei, Uncle Dan and the rest still fighting. He saw the Byakee fall one after another. The Mysterium members changed to fight with firearms. He saw the locust swarm spread into Mo Bei City and Chi Lin City. He saw the students from Phecda University, people like Chen Jiahwa join the battle at Chi Lin City under the leadership of Prof Shen. The locust injured some of them, Chen Jiahwa was applying bandages…

He saw at the quarantine base, people were saving Cai Zixuan. They needed to use ECMO but there was no staff. He saw Wang Ruoxiang stand up again. Her hair fluttered in the wind and her body swayed as she summoned another Byakee. He saw the infected patients resisted the desire for soil with pain. They struggled at the edge of death. He saw himself, Dirty-minded Yu and Yu Chi. Their bodies shattered and their minds broke.

Yes, why, why did they make that choice? Why didn't they escape with the Yith, why didn't they kneel under this overwhelming power…

"Perhaps because…" Gu Jun mumbled, "We are humans…" Humans might be a creature of logic but sometimes they'd do some crazy things. Even if they knew it was predestined, they would still fight it. Even though they knew it was foolish, they would attempt it. Some called it courage, others irrationality. Gu Jun dragged his body towards the tall figure. If he could not win him through spells, at least he wanted to bite a piece off him…

"Humanity is complicated." Keziah Mason said with a tone in her voice, it sounded like the young version of herself. "Mr. Gu, you said that perhaps in this incident, all four of us have our own responsibility. You have yours and I have mine. Sometimes, to know the enemy's weakness, the only way is to join your enemy…

"Nyarlathotep is powerful, far more powerful than you can imagine, but he is not the only power in this universe.

"Nyarlathotep is very similar to humanity but he is not human. It is interested in humans but only when it is of no inconvenience to him.

"Nyarlathotep is a ball of chaos, it has different names. Even if you have seen him, you cannot say that you have met him.

"The Yith lost because they always chose to escape. But… there might not be zero chance of survival…"

At that moment, Gu Jun, Wu Siyu and Yu Chi saw a smile appear on Keziah Mason's old and rotten face. It looked surprisingly sincere.

"Do not trust Nyarlathotep." The witch continued, "The reason I did what I did was because I trusted myself. It was a very human choice. Of course, Nyarlathotep knew about all that but it didn't care. It only cares about one thing, whether it was interesting or not. What was interesting to it?" She paused, "An existence that it can infuse with chaos and consequently can draw despair and disappointment out of. That is interesting to it. So that is why it has chosen us. Because we feed on its chaos and we can bring it tons of despair." While the witch spoke, the figure did not react in any way. "Time is a very interesting thing. While you think you are only here for a moment but for me, decades have passed." Keziah Mason chuckled, "In these times, I've crossed paths with many enemies and friends. I knew of a prayer that can resist the power of chaos because I've experienced it myself, I know it is effective… It represents a different source of power… A power that is not of interest to Nyarlathotep."

The witch's eyes shifted and she turned to the tall figure in disgust as she shouted out the prayer. Following her shout, the altar shook. The Locust God disciples dispersed in shock. In the scrolls, the locust swarms dwindled in number. The expansion of the mutated areas stopped. The locusts fell like rain…

The altar shook and a flash of both joy and sadness flickered on Nyarlathotep's face. Gu Jun's eyes bled. He finally understood, Keziah Mason was telling the truth, she was still human. Because humans have the face of kindness and the face of evil. Humans have the face of sincerity and the face of trickery. Humans are a complicated race.

Wu Siyu and Yu Chi caught up to the situation as well. The altar turned white. The place was disintegrating but it still needed a nudge to completely shatter… They only had one opportunity, if they missed it, then it was over.

"This is the time…" Wu Siyu forced herself to jump onto Gu Jun's shoulders. She pressed her paws against his head to transfer to him her mental power. Just like the past, all their energy was collected to one spot, a spot of hope. The vibration around them started to weaken. The image before them blurred, everything was returning to chaos.

Keziah Mason collapsed as the prayer left her lips. Yu Chi was also exhausted…

The figure still floated tall above them. Gu Jun could feel the chaotic energy in his brain boiling, flickering, coagulating. It was an amber lighting up the field… His resuscitated memories told him that this prayer also existed in the foreign world. At that moment, he accepted that power and shouted vehemently. "Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!"

The vibration picked up its intensity. In that moment, blinding light swallowed them.

Everything was floating and dissolving.