Chapter 1394: The Old Days Return (10)

Staring at that massive black sun, the center of the sun's body, like a black hole, was bottomless, yet it contained countless patterns full of profound mysteries. The light radiating from its surroundings had no color, as if black pigment had been used to outline ethereal and light contours upon the canvas of the world.

The dance of particles was like rising flames, making it impossible for one to look away from that elusive pattern of motion. Xu Shangqi felt as if his soul were about to be sucked into those infinite, mysterious patterns—so terrifying, magnificent, and grand.

Xu Shangqi walked toward that direction unconsciously. He reached out a hand, seemingly wanting to touch the sun's rays, but it hung there quietly, responding to nothing.

Xu Shangqi had originally thought he would communicate with the gods in the depths of the stars, but when he truly stood here, he realized they were incommunicable; they themselves represented knowledge and truth.

The moment he gazed at them, infinite knowledge poured into his brain—not some energy, some technique, or some enhancement. These truths, which could not be described by any cumbersome words or language, were the true power they bestowed upon their kin.

Scene after scene flooded into Xu Shangqi's mind: a man groaning in pain on a hospital bed, the Avengers surrounding him, the madness passed on through clasped hands, the endless proliferation, slaughter, chaos, assimilation, invasion...

Then came an extremely complex system. Starting from the very center of the universe, countless monsters spread out according to their seats—the image, name, personality, and hobbies of each one...

All the stories were preserved in his memory in the form of pictures. Xu Shangqi had never perceived his memory space so clearly; it was as if everything had suddenly been straightened out, and he could even precisely retrieve a certain memory from a specific point in time.

And those truths and knowledge he gained while staring at the black sun turned into a black notebook with the black sun pattern printed on the cover, resting quietly in the empty memory space. Xu Shangqi walked up, picked it up, and began to read.

Soon, he was immersed in the story named "Cancerverse." He did not know how much time had passed. When he finally finished the entire story, he gently opened his eyes and left his memory space, taking none of the power they prayed for, yet bringing back the key to victory.

Xu Shangqi exhaled, discovering that Laili had already opened his eyes. A few seconds later, Quill also woke up. They exchanged a glance and understood what each had obtained.

"This is truly astonishing, isn't it?" Quill sneered and said, "That God of Life, known as the Endless Proliferation, is actually one of them. It's a pity we cannot call his true name, but I think you should have already learned what he has done to this universe."

Laili's eyes were filled with fury; clearly, this story made him incomparably angry. He hammered the ground with his hand and growled, "Mar-Vell abandoned his honor. He chose to live in ignominy, and he ruined the universe!"

Suddenly, a shadow enveloped him. Jessica stood behind Laili, looking at the three of them with some curiosity. She hugged the gun in her hands tightly and said uncertainly, "You... did you succeed?"

Xu Shangqi sighed and said, "Don't worry, we haven't gone mad. The Ancient One who responded to our call doesn't seem to spread madness and chaos; he is a vessel for knowledge, truth, and prophecy, so we obtained the truth from him."

"What truth?" Jessica was somewhat confused.

"The truth of this universe."

Quill patted the ground beside him, signaling Jessica to sit down. Jessica was still a bit wary, but she didn't see any changes in Xu Shangqi or Laili; no tentacles had grown from their bodies, and their eyes hadn't become crazed.

She thought, fine, so what if they had gone mad? At worst, they would just kill her; she had wanted to die for a long time anyway.

Holding this indifferent, self-abandoning mindset, Jessica sat before the campfire and began to listen to the three of them tell the story of this universe, one after another.

"Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, a Kree hero who once helped Earth, fought for universal peace his whole life. He won the respect of the Avengers and many human heroes. Therefore, when he fell terminally ill, they all went to visit him and comfort him."

Xu Shangqi opened the conversation, citing examples to describe Mar-Vell, outlining the image of a great interstellar hero for Jessica.

"But what the human heroes didn't know was that Mar-Vell had already bowed to the disease. He abandoned his past honor just to live in ignominy," Laili said through gritted teeth. "When he felt painful and helpless, he gazed at the stars, heard the stars' call, and to survive, he responded to the call."

"You are the same." Jessica was not infected by the grief and indignation in Laili's tone; she just evaluated objectively, "Everyone wants to survive. I don't think it's despicable to use any means to do so."

"Yes, of course he could sell his body and soul to survive. No one could blame him. He could have chosen to follow his gods into the depths of the stars, completely merging into unconscious idiocy, becoming an ignorant and unfeeling eternity."

"But he didn't do that." Quill sighed softly. "Mar-Vell might have initially just wanted to survive, but when he saw what was in the depths of the stars, he realized he could obtain powerful strength, use this power to conquer and destroy, and gain authority. And so, he went completely mad."

Jessica pursed her lips. She had a desire to refute, but in the end, it turned into a tentative question: "You won't do that, will you?"

"Absolutely not." Laili looked into Jessica's eyes, and Jessica saw heavy power in his eyes. Laili repeated, "At any time, I will never sacrifice my friends to gain any ill-gotten wealth for myself. Absolutely not, never."

Jessica was moved for a moment, but she wasn't used to such a way of expressing emotion, so she just shrugged with feigned disdain and said, "Fine, you're really great."

"If it were me, I wouldn't choose to survive in this way," Xu Shangqi said, frowning. "The pain of death is very brief. Regardless of what fantasies people have about hell, that is actually just imagination. Dead is dead; you feel nothing."

"But long-term madness means endless mental abuse," Xu Shangqi said, pursing his lips. "This is no better than lingering on a sickbed. If I could, I would rather just die."

"I agree with that," Jessica nodded and said, "If the pain of living is too long, then death is a relief."

"We still have to try to live, but certainly not in this way," Quill picked up the conversation. "Mar-Vell deceived all the Avengers heroes. He told them he was dying, hoped they could come to see him one last time, and hoped to shake hands with them one by one."

Jessica had a bad premonition. Sure enough, Quill said, "For his evil conquest plan, Mar-Vell used the madness from the depths of the stars to infect all the superheroes."

Jessica swallowed and said, "So this is the truth of why they all went mad, not some suddenly appearing infectious disease?"

The three of them nodded and shook their heads together. Jessica took a deep breath, her hand gripping the gun barrel tighter, but soon relaxed again. She looked at the three and asked, "Then the last question: who brought this madness?"

"'The Many-Angled Ones'."

Laili spat out a name, but it wasn't as serious and solemn as Jessica had thought. Jessica believed this wasn't the truth, so she continued to stare at Laili's face. Sure enough, Laili continued:

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"But this is actually just an alias, or rather, Mar-Vell couldn't reach the full truth. This Outer God didn't tell him the truth. The true name of The Many-Angled Ones should be 'The Obscene Twins—Lloigor and Zhar'."

Laili's tone was strange when he called out that name. Before Jessica could ask, Laili explained again, "I cannot speak their true names directly; it would attract their attention. I diluted the pronunciation in Latin and then translated it into English. That's not important; you just need to remember the pronunciation."

"The question is, how do you know?" Jessica asked, somewhat puzzled. "Did the god you contacted just now tell you?"

"You could say that, and we know more." Xu Shangqi took out a piece of firewood and, using the damp moisture on the sewer floor, drew a bizarre pattern.

Xu Shangqi's hand was very steady; his engineering background from his past life made him adept at drawing. This picture was chaotic, seemingly just a series of arcs, but it was vivid. Jessica saw two ugly creatures within it.

"In that infinite knowledge, I saw a part of their appearance and heard their names and origins."

"Lloigor and Zhar are a pair of Great Old One brothers. They are a mass of ugly, bloated, constantly proliferating flesh. Countless tentacles grow from the gaps in the flesh, just like I drew."

"The difference between them is that Lloigor has a pair of wings, while Zhar does not. There is a pair of extended tentacles between them that connects the two, allowing them to be telepathically linked."

"The twins reside in the buried ancient city of Alar, on Arcturus. A group of kin, the 'Jojo people,' occasionally offer sacrifices to them in exchange for the ominous wind that sweeps across the entire planet."

Xu Shangqi sighed, looking at his drawing, and said, "Perhaps the two of them aren't the key issue. The key lies in their mother, who is known as the 'Dark Mother of Fertility,' the 'Supreme Mother Goddess,' the 'Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young,' Shub-Niggurath."

"My god, I have a headache!" Jessica covered her head and said, "Another name that will make my tongue tie in knots? Are these gods planning to test the loyalty of their believers with their own names? If you don't pronounce it right, it doesn't count as pious?"

"I think our main enemy is still the twins," Quill also took out a finger, gently tapping Xu Shangqi's drawing, and said, "The black sun was vague about the twins' mother, only saying she possesses extremely strong reproductive capabilities and is extremely ancient, often sleeping in the depths of the stars. Except for sending the young of the Black Goat to accept offerings during sacrifices, she rarely sends out a call."

"But Lloigor and Zhar's aggressiveness is much stronger," Quill drew a circle on the drawing and said, "They often urge their believers to offer sacrifices, using the ominous wind to lure the unfortunate as food. I'm afraid Mar-Vell responded to the call of the ominous wind in his dream and brought the terrible madness into the real world."

Jessica blinked, but she became interested in another term in his words, so she said, "The black sun? What is that? Is that the name of the Ancient One you communicated with? That's actually quite easy to remember."

"No, that's just a title, or rather, a description," Laili shook his head and said. "We just saw a black sun. We don't know if that is her true body or an avatar, and we don't know her name. It's just that those sun particles brought us infinite knowledge."

Jessica showed an interested look. She rubbed her hands nervously and said, "Sounds not bad. Knowledge and truth are always better than some ominous wind. Then, I... I can... I mean... can I summon him?"

The three looked at each other, really a bit undecided. Quill touched his chin and said, "I didn't feel any intention from this Ancient One to develop kin. He doesn't seem to want to spread faith, doesn't need sacrifices, and hasn't even spoken to us."

"He just hangs above the city of Carcosa, constantly spreading knowledge, just like a real sun. Whether you pray to him or not, he is always bright."

"Then can I go take a look at him?" Jessica's interested look grew stronger.

Laili showed a troubled look. Jessica patted his back and said, "No way, man, I'm not trying to steal anyone. You guys aren't jealous, are you?"

"No, I mean, we don't know how to let you see him. He didn't leave a number... does he have one?"

The three looked at each other again, and then, as if they had all thought of something at the same time, Laili showed a smile and said.

"It seems he really does." ===== CHAPTER 1395 =====