Chapter 96: CH 96

Zong Yan’s whole body froze.

“No, I’m not.” With a stiff neck he stubbornly refused to admit it.

What nonsense—even if Yog-Sothoth had changed his face, this was still the Lord of Time and Space he was talking to.

“Hmm? Is that Professor Tawil and the chief?”

People were streaming in and out of the auditorium. After suddenly becoming famous, Zong Yan had gained a great deal of respect and acclaim. As he stood in the corridor of the auditorium, the professors and students who passed by swept him admiring glances, openly or otherwise.

“They say the event in New York was resolved by the chief. Worthy of being the youngest Monarch…”

“I know, I know, I saw that video too. It was so cool!”

“The tenth and seventh Monarchs? Ah, yes, I remember. Before the tenth Monarch had his Second Awakening, the seventh Monarch was his mentor.” One of the old professors lifted his eyeglasses and said to his pupil, “The disaster from before is still fresh in my mind. Go back and write another third-level paper on alchemical magic patterns. Even the Monarchs are studying hard. Why should you take it easy?”

The people in the crowd had varying expressions on their faces, but Zong Yan was on pins and needles. His eyes were glued to the ground, nose almost lowered to his chest.

The corners of the young man’s eyes still held a trace of dark green. Although his hair color had returned to black thanks to human hair coloring techniques, it was possible the colorist hadn’t been very skilled. A small section of hair at the top of his head had a slight dark green tinge. Somehow it was a little cute.

From this vantage point, the gray-haired evil god easily perceived the young man’s slightly trembling eyelashes and the strained expression he couldn’t completely hide.

What had he been up to lately?

For a rare moment, Yog-Sothoth pondered this question seriously. A sequence of complex calculations followed his impulse, but nowhere did he discover a probability that exceeded the lower bound of significance.

The black-haired teenager was evading him, and the reason was unknown.

The Lord of the Gate’s interest level increased even more. He suddenly remembered yesterday in New York, when they were about to exit the time axis. At the last moment, the young evil god had raised his eyes to look at the far end of the timeline.

Yog-Sothoth couldn’t see Zong Yan’s future.

To put it another way, in this universe there were only two futures the Lord of Time and Space couldn’t see: his own and Zong Yan’s.

He was only able to see Zong Yan’s past and present.

Was it possible the other party had seen something in a fragment of the future?

The master of time and space keenly grasped this point.

For Yog-Sothoth, this human was different.

After thinking about it for hundreds of millions of years, the evil god still didn’t quite understand, but he knew Zong Yan was different.

The Lord of the Gate once entertained the idea of making this human his priest, but now… he didn’t want that.

The followers of an evil god believed in him with all their heart and soul, and priests were humans that an evil god found slightly interesting. Even so, there wasn’t a single evil god who cared about his followers.

It was only after the Lord of Time and Space realized something was different about Zong Yan that he lost this insignificant status in the evil god’s eyes.

The Lord of Time and Space now harbored an unparalleled interest in the human before him. Unless Zong Yan intentionally looked for trouble on his own, there was absolutely no possibility that any kind of accident would happen to him.

For an evil god with an inherently evil nature, making such a commitment was on the same level as declaring the outbreak of a major cosmic war.

So what was going on?

Yog had always been an evil god who explored the unknown to the furthest extent. And right now he was incredibly curious about the future that Zong Yan had seen but he could not.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back now.” Zong Yan ducked his head, turned around hastily, and scooted away.

“Did I give you permission to leave?”

Zong Yan barely managed half a step before he almost bumped into the white robe of the gray-haired evil god.

Zong Yan’s pupils immediately shrank. He retreated a bit more.

“I still have to turn in material proof to support my identity, go to the Logistics Department to get tickets for tonight’s flight, and check in with my friends before I leave. I have to go back to Jiangzhou to study for my senior year of high school, and I have to take the college entrance exam. I’m really busy.”

A few people in the corridor of the auditorium were already paying attention to them. In such a public place, Zong Yan had to give his advisor some face.

“Material proof?” Yog lifted his lips mockingly. “Then you really don’t know.”

Zong Yan: “What?”

“Miskatonic University secretly made a decision,” the evil god said. “The core review group led by Paracelsus intends to extract a sample of your blood for research.”

Zong Yan was shocked.

His current body wasn’t human. If someone insisted on giving him a physical examination, his blood would be the first thing to expose him.

After all, evil gods didn’t have blood.

It was only now that Zong Yan realized something he’d overlooked.

Heroes might receive a lot of admiration and reverence, and they were loved by the vast majority of people.

But at the same time, a hero would receive endless suspicion and pressure from all sides, as well as tireless underhanded tactics from conspiracy theorists.

Was Superman from DC Comics a hero? Yes, he had virtues that surpassed those of a human being. But even he had enemies who opposed him, like Lex Luther. After all, it wasn’t a good thing for anyone to have too much power, especially when that power had reached the point that it could fight a Great Old One and even repel an Outer God. 

Fear. Mysterious power led to fear, and fear led to prejudice and malice.

That was why Zong Yan had never wanted to reveal himself.

But now the bell had been rung, and it was useless to talk about it. Even if he’d known he was going to reveal himself, Zong Yan still would have done the exact same thing. He still would have rushed into outer space without hesitating.

While Zong Yan was trying to think of a countermeasure, Yog said something that astonished him. 

“I already handled it for you. They’re just a few ants.”

Zong Yan: ? ? ?

The black-haired teen’s pupils quaked.

The Lord of the Gate admired his surprised look, secretly recording it in his mind so he could decide later which of the other party’s facial expressions pleased him more. “Incidentally, Paracelsus is a firm believer in Cthulhu.”

Zong Yan: …

He felt like his three views were about to implode.

“The Paracelsus you mentioned…” he said with difficulty. “Is it the same person I’m thinking of?”

That’s the vice chancellor of MU! The vice chancellor!!! If even the vice chancellor was an infiltrator sent by a cult, Miskatonic University wasn’t the cradle of all investigators, it was more like a reserve division of cultists!

The Lord of Time and Space sneered. “His qualifications weren’t sufficient to refine the philosopher’s stone on his own. It was just that he received the favor of Cthulhu.”

Zong Yan felt like he’d heard this story before. He began to wonder if the screenwriter of the Avengers series was another cultist who came up with the villainous S.H.I.E.l.D. organization after being inspired by MU.

But that wasn’t all. The strangest thing was Yog-Sothoth’s attitude.

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He was so helpful and friendly, like he’d been possessed by a benevolent angel.

Yog was able to distort reality and drag human cognition into a void with the snap of his finger, but that didn’t mean he’d volunteer to help a human who was on the same level as an ant.

“Well then. I thank the great Lord of the Gate for giving me a little hint,” Zong Yan said in a dull voice. “If that’s everything—”

“Want to be human again?” Yog smiled slightly and threw out a topic Zong Yan would never be able to refuse. “Your human body is still with me.”

‘You’re the human whom the evil god is most interested in. Whatever you wish for, the god will always agree.’

The Lord of the Gates’ tranquil smile had a hint of something sinister. ‘Of course, this time you’ll pay a price.’

‘Unfortunately… as you are now, you can’t pay the price the evil god wants.’

—

In the end, Zong Yan agreed.

Once again he followed Yog-Sothoth beyond time and space.

This time Yog didn’t crudely cut through space. Instead he took Zong Yan through the first Gate of the Silver Key.

The ancient ones rose from their places around the throne and knelt down in respect.

Recently the Lord of Time and Space had passed through this door several times. In the past, billions of years might go by without the mighty Lord of the Gate ever traversing the Ultimate Gate. But this time he not only returned, but also brought with him…?

Even the eldest of the ancient ones had never been led through the Ultimate Gate by the Lord of Time and Space himself.

In the past there had been beings who’d pleased the Lord of the Gate and been allowed to pass through the Ultimate Gate. Some were lost forever in the ocean of time among parallel dimensions. A very few joined the ranks of the ancient ones, becoming subordinate gods of the Lord of the Gate, guarding the gate beyond the universe where time didn’t flow. 

The ancient ones didn’t look up until the Lord of the Gate disappeared behind the Ultimate Gate with the other young evil god. Only then did they dare to exchange surprised glances with each other.

“They were surprised.”

Ever since becoming an evil god with dominant psychic abilities, Zong Yan had been sensitive to the mood changes of intelligent creatures, not to mention the fact that the ancient ones weren’t able to perfectly hide their emotions.

“Of course. You’re the only human to enjoy such a privilege.”

The Lord of the Gate waved his hand carelessly, and the body that was enfolded by a billion spheres of light slowly floated towards them through the void, surrounded by a soft glow.

For the first time, Zong Yan looked at his former body from the outside. He couldn’t help thinking it was incredible.

“Have you decided?” Yog asked casually.

“I’ve decided.”

He took a deep breath. Without hesitating, he took out the Astrologer’s card and crushed it.

A second later, Zong Yan’s vision suddenly shifted from up high to parallel with the void. A sudden feeling of weakness passed over him, an instant reminder of the fact “you have returned to a human body”.

The Astrologer stood under the glow of the timeline and the stars in the sky. An SS-rank Great Old One persona card was clasped between his fingers.

Returning to his original body was simple.

All he had to do was destroy the daily disposable persona card he’d drawn.

The gray-haired evil god watched this scene with considerable interest.

On one side, a formidable evil god. On the other, a human too weak to even truss a chicken.

A gap in space was sliced open once again. This time it didn’t reveal the multi-colored splendor that appeared when Zong Yan was drawing cards. Instead there was a cold, dead, black void.

Zong Yan referred to it as “black space”. Usually it just served as a trash can. Whenever Zong Yan drew a waste card, he would toss it into the black space to be destroyed a second later.

This time, the card in his hand was SS-rank, but Zong Yan didn’t waver. He relaxed his fingers. 

The card was swallowed by the darkness.

“Now that you’ve returned to a human body, shall we talk about the price?”

Zong Yan: …

Previously, the evil god had brought him from ancient times to the modern era, something that required the Lord of Time and Space’s personal effort, but he hadn’t asked for a price. He didn’t have a reason to charge him for getting back his human body, right?

But Zong Yan was short of options. Now that he was human, his strength was utterly incomparable to the Lord of the Gate. Aside from using the Azathoth card in an act of self-destruction, any other form of resistance would be in vain.

Zong Yan took a deep breath. “All right. What do I have to pay?” 

“It’s simple.”

The evil god curved the corners of his mouth, but this smile gave Zong Yan such a fright he almost fell over.

When Zong Yan had peeked into the future, the Lord of Time and Space revealed an identical enigmatic smile.

The memories he so desperately wanted to avoid stirred and clamored in his mind.

“Let me see what you’re trying so hard to conceal.”

Something cold suddenly pressed against the center of Zong Yan’s forehead. A clammy tendril of mental power looped around his ankles, and the fragile black-haired teenager was instantly dragged to the bottom of a lightless abyss.

—

The author has something to say:

Bubbles: So curious, what exactly did he see in the future!

TL Notes:

the bell had been rung – 木已成舟 – the wood is already made into a boat—what is done cannot be undone

benevolent angel – 炽天使 – seraphim, blazing angel

act of self-destruction – 玉石俱焚 – jade and stone burned together; A fire knows no moral; destruction of good and bad alike

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

DC Comics – DC漫画里

Superman – 超人

Lex Luthor – 莱克斯·卢瑟

Avengers – 复仇者联盟

S.H.I.E.L.D. – 神盾局

[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]

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