Chapter 3213: The Haze of Faraines (21)

Surprise was revealed in Nyarlathotep's silence.

This was an emotion that could be felt without psychoanalysis. He seemed not to have thought that Schiller would choose him.

But what followed was a kind of joy. Schiller was even annoyed by this emotion of his. He sighed and said, "I advise you not to be happy too early. Although I'm not the type who borrows money and doesn't pay it back, whether I can pay it back is another matter."

"Alright," Nyarlathotep said. "My condition is actually very simple. I put a box deep in the underground cave. I hope you can help me find it."

"……It's that simple?" Schiller's tone was full of skepticism.

"Your request isn't hard to fulfill either," Nyarlathotep said, seemingly very fair. "It won't necessarily make people go insane. In fact, if you read it with a resistant psychology, maybe nothing will happen. Otherwise, how did those lunatics in Arkham town study incantations?"

Schiller's heart stirred. He asked, "Does this universe have Arkham town? Is there Miskatonic University?"

"Perhaps, but that's far from here."

Nyarlathotep gave an ambiguous answer, but Schiller felt this might be an important clue.

Because he remembered that the famous Miskatonic University was located in Massachusetts, and the distribution range of the Siltek family's insurance business was Connecticut and Massachusetts. Could this be a coincidence?

Connecticut and Massachusetts are both located in the northeastern United States and are two adjacent states. The border area between the two is large, and it can be said that they belong entirely to the same region.

Because of their small size, these two states don't attract much attention, but they have one thing in common: their educational resources are excellent. One has Yale University, and the other has MIT. Besides that, there are many famous universities.

And Arkham town, where Miskatonic University—the most famous university fictionalized in the Cthulhu mythos system—is located, is in Massachusetts.

Combined with the climatic conditions of Faraines, Schiller could roughly judge that this small village should also be located in the northeastern United States, and it was also by the sea. So even if it wasn't in these two states, it wouldn't be too far away. It could be southern Maine or northern New Jersey.

Schiller didn't think this was a coincidence. Since they placed them so close to Miskatonic University, that place should be a map that could be explored. It's just that Arkham town isn't peaceful either. With Schiller's current knowledge level, going there would just be sending his head.

Could Nyarlathotep be trying to lure him to go there?

Schiller certainly wouldn't be fooled so easily. Although he also wanted to see the legendary Miskatonic University, the conditions were clearly not ripe now. In a situation where even solving a Deep One was difficult, competing on the same stage with legendary investigators was still too early.

"Alright, I agree," Schiller said. "You know this won't be the last deal."

"Rest assured, you won't die easily."

As Nyarlathotep's voice fell, Schiller felt a layer of shadow cover his vision. His mind became very clear, and the cover of the *Book of Cthaya* in his hand displayed bizarre and motley colors.

Schiller opened the book. Reading Latin was slightly difficult for him, but after all, he had invested in the skill, and he soon understood the content within.

Actually, rather than calling this a book of incantations, it would be better to call it a travelogue. What was recorded on it were all kinds of strange stories about rivers and lakes. From a literary perspective alone, it was very good to read.

But whenever it introduced the gods and monsters that might exist in these water systems, the introduction would become very detailed, with some hand-drawn pictures, and many incantations and texts would be paired below.

Just looking at these things made one feel dizzy. Schiller felt the shadow before his eyes gradually fading. He understood that this was too much forbidden knowledge impacting the barrier Nyarlathotep gave him, so he hurriedly flipped backward.

Although the content in the book didn't cause him real harm, he still remembered almost all the names and incantations. Although many of them were things he had understood before, understanding them again in this world gave him a legitimate reason to share intelligence with other teammates. His teammate was Batman, which was very important.

Schiller soon finished reading the whole book and successfully found a distorted pentagram-like pattern on the second to last page. This was the legendary and famous Elder Sign.

In Schiller's vision, this pattern emitted a soft light completely different from the whole book, neither having the frivolity of color changes nor the terrifying shadows. Just looking at it made one's spirit lift.

Schiller gently placed his hand on it.

Suddenly, he felt a pain in his palm. When he pulled it back, there were some intermittent ink marks on his palm. Although they also emitted light, they were somewhat weak, seemingly only usable once or twice.

But this was also good news, meaning that for a short time, Schiller wouldn't be eroded by forbidden knowledge again, nor would he lose Sanity value because of seeing anything twisted.

The Elder Sign on the book still emitted light, but Schiller didn't dare to move it again. Although he felt he should be able to extract the power from it once more, if the Elder Sign lost its power and caused this book to break free, that would be even more troublesome.

Don't look at this book as having no hands or feet, but this was a living thing personally certified by Nyarlathotep. This kind of cursed object had plenty of ways to make you unlucky, so that they could fall into the hands of someone more careless, thereby spreading this forbidden and filthy knowledge.

The previous owner of this book was probably the kind of fanatical cultist, otherwise he wouldn't have dedicated his body and mind to this book.

Having obtained what he wanted, Schiller closed the book. He put this book together with the *Bible* into his arms and walked toward the street again.

Batman returned at just the right time, meeting Schiller who was walking out. He was carrying some things in his hand, clearly the preparations he had made.

"I made some homemade Molotov cocktails, and also used the flour in the kitchen of a nearby house to make a dust explosion device, an igniter. In addition, I also want to go back to the lighthouse and improve the electric shock device Joker made. It should be useful."

The two returned to the lighthouse together. This time there was no need to hide their tracks. They found a car on the side of the road, put the things on it, and drove toward the lighthouse.

There were Deep Ones blocking the road on the way, but Batman's driving skills were good. He shook them all off behind, and before long, they arrived at the lighthouse.

The two resupplied here one last time. First, they ate some things and treated the wounds on their bodies. Batman improved the electric shock device Joker had made and made two simple electric batons, giving one to Schiller.

Schiller actually really didn't want to use such a dangerous weapon. This thing looked like a detonator held in the hand, ready to explode at any time.

But he also had to admit that the lethality of electric current to carbon-based organisms was too great. Using this thing to shock Deep Ones, one shock and one kneels. If it weren't for the poor power storage capacity, one could kill seven in and seven out on the ship.

Before they set off for the pier, Schiller gave Batman the cross necklace he had found in Old Siltek's safe earlier. He said, "This thing should have the effect of resisting mental pollution, but it can't be used many times. It's best not to take risks."

Batman didn't stand on ceremony with him either, and didn't ask any stupid questions like "What about you?" because he knew that Schiller giving him this thing must mean he had other ways.

Neither of them was the type to sacrifice themselves for others at any time. Even if Batman was a good person, he also knew his own importance and wouldn't make meaningless moves to block a blade. Schiller was naturally the same.

Having such a teammate was truly worry-free. Both of them felt this way. There was no need to struggle to explain anything; just move toward the goal.

They set off for the pier from a small path on the southeast side of the lighthouse. On the way, they encountered two or three waves of patrolling Deep Ones.

But this kind of bipedal creature clearly preferred walking on roads built by humans rather than shuttling through the forest, so Batman and Schiller walking in the forest were not discovered.

At this time, the sunlight was just right, but the pier was shrouded in a thick fog, which could simply be called sunless. Compared to when it was dark before, it was only slightly brighter, and the visibility conditions were still very poor.

Schiller and Batman climbed in from the pier fence, and with the cover of goods piled on the pier, they touched all the way to the pier bridge near the first large ship.

There was a guard at the ship's entrance, and Schiller hesitated whether to kill him, because now it was hard to determine how many people were inside the ship. If they went over and dragged the person away, alerting the Deep Ones inside, it might cause big trouble.

But Batman had already crouched down, ready to go. Schiller could only follow behind him.

Just as the Deep One turned around, Batman performed a beautiful chokehold, dragged it directly to the stern of the ship, and twisted the Deep One's neck with a force of his arm.

Schiller dragged the corpse to the side and threw it into the sea.

He didn't know if the Deep Ones would resurrect or something after returning to the sea, but clearly the corpse couldn't just be left here. After all, if a patrol team came, they would know there were intruders.

At this time, Batman had already walked to the door with quiet steps and beckoned to Schiller. Schiller raised his eyebrows and gave him a look. Batman nodded.

At this time, it was high tide, and the ship was floating relatively high, which allowed them to enter directly from the lower cargo area instead of passing through the most heavily guarded deck. The two carefully entered the door.

Inside, it was pitch black. Schiller put on night-vision goggles. Batman didn't wear any equipment but walked very calmly.

Schiller finally couldn't help it and asked in a low voice, "How did you do it? Did you turn on wall-hack?"

Batman turned his head and gave him a slightly puzzled look.

Schiller then remembered that Batman seemed to have maxed out his psychoanalysis skill, and his mental state was very bad now, which meant he was in full-fire mode, and Pride might be guiding him from the side. Wasn't that equivalent to turning on wall-hack?

Thinking of this, Schiller felt relieved. He didn't care who went insane, as long as it wasn't himself.

While moving in the dark, Schiller couldn't help but start thinking: Nyarlathotep actually put his own things deep in the cave. Was it a plot he added while the Beyonder wasn't there?

What would be in that box? ===== CHAPTER 3214 =====