Chapter 41: Paying the Price

Captain Chu stood face-to-face with Yang Tianyou. The heavy Class-A Hazmat suit made it impossible for him to even sit down, yet he remained standing straight, questioning with a voice muffled by the protective gear.

"You have withheld far too much information. I was able to tolerate it before because none of those people met with disaster, but I will no longer tolerate it now. You must tell me everything you know!"

Yang Tianyou looked at him blankly, seeming confused as to what Captain Chu was talking about. Yet, Captain Chu could perceive a vortex suppressing madness swirling within Yang Tianyou's turbid eyes.

"Xiao Wu..." Yang Tianyou suddenly spoke up.

Xiao Wu, who was leaning against the doorframe, was startled and replied, "Director Yang, I'm here."

|"Go... find the farthest ward... do not listen to our... conversation."|

|"Understood, Director Yang."|

Xiao Wu lacked any suicidal genes. Since he was told not to eavesdrop, he resolutely refused to eavesdrop. Obediently clutching his book, he broke into a light jog toward the furthest ward, intending to continue immersing himself in the ocean of knowledge and let knowledge drown him.

"Captain Chu... I wonder if you have ever heard that sometimes, ignorance is bliss?"

"Absurd sophistry! I didn't come here to discuss this with you. No matter what, you must make things clear today!" Captain Chu said resolutely, "This terrorist attack involving that transcendent entity has already caused casualties exceeding a hundred people within our borders. The Taihao Disease, the fungal infection, and even Academician Ge have fallen victim to it. We cannot remain so passive!"

"Sigh... The more one does, the more mistakes one sometimes makes. You already know a portion of the truth, so you ought to understand that what we are facing is an unconventional existence..."

"No matter how unconventional it is, could I possibly fail to destroy it? To be frank with you, the 112th Regiment has recently been specially approved for three missile launcher formations—the Dongfeng-15 and Dongfeng-16. If necessary, I can requisition even higher-yield missile warheads. As long as this transcendent thing is alive, I can make it dead."

"Death has no meaning to it. And with strange aeons even death may die. That is true for the positive, and equally true for the reverse."

Just as his voice fell, the prolonged screech of a monitor suddenly rang out from outside the ward.

Rapid footsteps echoed down the corridor, followed by the sound of a door opening.

"Director Yang! Something's happened to a patient in here!" Xiao Wu's loud call faintly drifted in from outside the door.

Captain Chu looked at Yang Tianyou, wanting to see his reaction, but the Director showed no inclination to perform any rescue efforts. Instead, looking straight at Captain Chu, he continued to speak.

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"

Outside the ward, the monitoring equipment wailed once more. This sound intertwined with the previous ones, creating a jarring and unsettling racket.

Upon hearing the complete phrasing, Captain Chu suddenly felt a sense of trance.

Immediately, his memories shattered like glass.

This time, too, he experienced that innamable terror.

That was the remote and ancient fear—the instinctual dread felt by unarmed primitive humans when facing a pack of ferocious beasts.

He could not help but tremble and freeze, his heart pounding wildly, his gaze turning dazed and bewildered.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his arm, akin to a needle prick, which shocked him into letting out a terrified scream.

Anyone could hear the anguish contained within that cry. It was a warning of terror, a warning of the dying, a warning from antiquity. Every human who heard this scream understood that someone was facing mortal danger.

It called upon the strong to come and rescue, while warning the weak to flee as quickly as possible...

Yet shortly afterward, he felt an eerie sense of calm. The premonition of danger remained, but his heart inexplicably grew tranquil.

He noticed that he seemed to be enveloped in bizarre colors, and these colors were gradually dissipating.

When they finally faded away, Captain Chu was panting heavily, his mind a complete blank.

After a long while, he gradually recovered his composure and looked at Director Yang, intending to ask something, only to find that he was stuck as if jammed, completely unable to figure out what to ask.

Recalling the events, he remembered that Director Yang had spoken two crucial sentences, but as for what they specifically were, he could not remember a single thing.

He also discovered that his Hazmat suit had been unzipped, his right arm bore the dull ache of an injection, and Director Yang was currently putting away a used syringe.

Subconsciously, Captain Chu asked, "What did you inject me with?"

"Propofol, a short-acting sedative. The dosage was very small, just enough to quickly calm you down," Director Yang explained. After stowing the syringe away, he helped Captain Chu re-secure his Hazmat suit. "I judged that you were in a state of extreme panic, which was already placing a heavy burden on your heart, so I administered the medication."

Taking off a protective suit in a hazardous environment and putting it back on was a violation of protocol, but neither of them cared at the moment.

Hurried footsteps approached. Xiao Wu opened the door and peeked into the room. Seeing that Director Yang was not coming over and having heard screams from within, he had come to check the situation out of concern that something had gone wrong.

Director Yang sternly scolded him back out.

After a moment, Captain Chu frowned and asked, "What did you say to me earlier?"

"It was what you wanted to hear."

"And those two people in the ward just now..."

"That was the price."

Captain Chu's face turned ashen; he seemed to have realized something, and a sudden question struck him.

"What if... there were no such people, and no way to pay the price?"

"There always will be," Director Yang said with certainty, before letting out a sigh. "Your inspiration is not high enough, nor are you resilient against the erosion. Furthermore, you have made us pay two portions of the price for nothing, yet gained no information whatsoever—like trying to scoop water with a bamboo basket.

"Moreover, you originally bore His traces. He has noticed you now; death will follow like a shadow, inevitable. In other words, for those who ought not to know, learning things they ought not to know is utterly meaningless."

"No! It has meaning," Captain Chu retorted through clenched teeth. "I intend to cross swords with Him, regardless of life or death. If my death can expose His flaws, then it is my victory!"

Director Yang cast an unexpected glance at Captain Chu, then nodded approvingly. If one could cast aside considerations of life and death, what else could possibly defeat them? It was simply that such men were becoming rare.

The two men settled down, both looking calmly at each other.

"Neither you nor Taihao actually stopped us from getting the information; it's just that our inspiration was too low, right?"

"Correct."

"Then the words He wrote?"

"To humanity, meaningless."

"In other words, the fact that Xu Chen couldn't speak at the time was Taihao's doing?"

"That cost fewer lives."

"Was it only after getting that pendant that Xu Chen could speak?"

"Related, but it has other uses. Xu Chen will find it useful."

"You're no longer avoiding telling me so much?"

"Once you've been doused in a basin of water, there's no need to fear the rain. Since He has noticed you, a little more exposure changes nothing. Now that you know the consequences, do you intend to report this upward?"

Captain Chu shook his head. He knew that reporting it directly would likely lead to the higher-ups being entirely wiped out in one fell swoop, just as Xu Chen had said.

"I'll ask one last question. If you didn't pay the price, what would happen if we went and listened to what Xu Chen had to say?"

"Body and soul obliterated, begging for death without the release of the grave!"

"Your deaths would have been utterly meaningless!"