"Ah, it seems he's not here." 4843 looked around after entering the basement and said to Igor, "You're out of luck, Mr. Sullivan."
Igor: "When will He come?"
"I don't know." The robot's wheels rolled across the floor, circling the small basement. "But I guess he comes to me when he's feeling down. People always say that when bad things happen, they want to share them with their friends, right?"
"…Isn't that 'something interesting'?"
"Yeah, about the same."
Igor gathered his thoughts. He wasn't sure if he'd traveled back in time or was just hallucinating. Azathoth's absence was odd. Assuming 4843 was Hugo, created centuries ago, and this planet was the original, ice-covered, desolate world...was it Azathoth or their enemy who caused all this?
But for some reason, Igor had a feeling that this place had no ill will towards humans, no matter who they were.
Sharp Oliver, the man Williams had mentioned, hadn't returned. Although the house wasn't large (compared to federal buildings), it still felt somewhat empty. Unable to come to a reliable conclusion, Igor said hello to the housekeeper and decided to go out for a walk around the neighborhood.
All the small buildings of similar shapes had their doors and windows closed, appearing dead silent.
4843 said, "A few days ago, there were news reports about people being attacked by androids around here, so unless it's absolutely necessary, few people go out for recreational activities."
Igor glanced at it and asked, "Can you go out?"
"You can in the neighborhood." 4843's screen flickered. "Even though everyone hates me, they know I'm Mr. Oliver's private property. If they damage me, they'll have to pay a large sum of money."
From behind the tightly closed transparent glass, Igor could feel a vague gaze, not on him, but on the robot beside him.
But when he looked up, he didn't see anyone standing behind the window.
"What is that?" But Igor still noticed something else.
"It's Christmas decorations." 4843 saw the Christmas tree and Santa Claus pattern on the window that Igor pointed at. "Today is Christmas Eve in December. Usually, human settlements are busier than usual, but this year will be special."
This was another unfamiliar term to Igor.
Furthermore, he realized that, regardless of whether it was true or not, he couldn't find any flaws in this world. To be on the safe side, he didn't plan to venture too far before meeting the friend 4843 had mentioned, who looked like Azathoth. So, when the sun's glare wasn't as scorching, they returned to the house they'd started with, one man and one plane. Williams, carrying a plate of watermelon, placed it on the coffee table. Upon seeing 4943, he gently asked, "Did you go down to the basement again?"
The robot didn't answer.
Williams turned to Igor and said, "I thought you would have some concerns about the androids. Originally, 4843 shouldn't have appeared in front of you, but now it seems that you two are getting along well."
Igor nodded. "It's cute."
Mr. Butler smiled and said, "Did you go to the basement with it?"
"Yes." Igor felt that the other party seemed to disagree. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing there."
Williams said: "Mr. Oliver has always felt that he initially fed 4843 so much unnecessary information that its redundant programming created illusions that did not exist in real life."
4843 immediately became excited: "That's not an illusion! He is real!"
“…But we haven’t seen him.”
"He doesn't like you," the robot said stubbornly. "He only wants to see me."
"..." The human sighed, nodded to Igor and said nothing more, but 4843 looked like it was about to explode with anger. Its screen kept flashing, and line after line of garbled code flowed on it.
Igor waited until Williams was far away before saying, "I believe you."
"It's useless," the robot said coldly. "He doesn't like any human being anyway, and you only know that 'seeing is believing'."
"No," Igor said, "Azathoth may hate any intelligent creature, but He will not dislike me."
4843 looked up at him and saw that he was serious. "What makes you so sure? Forget it, let's try again. Mr. Oliver has decided to seal the trapdoor tonight, so we have to hurry."
Igor frowned, but didn't say much. He followed the robot and opened the door again and walked into the basement. This time he was holding a plate of freshly cut watermelon.
The basement is wrapped in steel plates and looks cold and gloomy because it never sees sunlight all year round.
Igor stood there in silence for a long moment, then before 4843 could speak, he called out, "Azathoth?"
No response.
After a while, he asked, "Sir, would you like some watermelon?"
4843: "I don't think he needs to eat..."
Before it could finish its words, the air was torn apart, and a pitch-black tentacle stretched out from the void, paused for a moment above the plate that Igor was holding, and suddenly rolled up a piece of watermelon and retracted it in an instant.
A faint smile appeared on the gray-haired young man's face.
"Look." He spoke softly to the little robot beside him, as if afraid of disturbing anything, "I know He has always liked brightly colored things."
4843 looked stunned.
"I don't know. He still eats."
"Would you like a slice?"
The robot looked at the plate in Igor's hand with a hint of longing, but still refused: "No, I don't have taste sensors, nor do I have a digestive system."
"Then you should install one for yourself in the future." Igor thought of the countless fruits and cakes that went into Hugo's stomach. "You will like them."
After waiting for a while and seeing no more movement in the basement, they retreated, but did not say anything in the face of Williams' puzzled look.
That evening, Igor met Hugo's creator, Sharp Oliver. Igor wasn't particularly interested in him, despite him being a successful, handsome, and intelligent young man. He tried to persuade him not to seal the basement trapdoor so quickly, having already formed some assumptions about the world's composition. Sure enough, despite being a stranger, Sharp Oliver thought for a few seconds before accepting the request and agreeing to let Igor stay in the house temporarily.
This confirmed Igor's idea that this world should be a "virtual environment" created based on the memory of Azathoth.
Although he didn't know why the gods would reveal their past in this way, Igor was fascinated by it. He focused entirely on the main storyline, as if he were playing a game to conquer an evil god (though that was a bit disrespectful). As for the NPCs who complied with his modest requests—such as Sharp Oliver—their minds were as complete as those of real people, but Igor had no intention of delving into them.
Igor was, on the surface, a polite enough guest.
They had a good dinner, without the androids, and then Sharp Oliver turned on the TV on the wall to watch the news. Igor glanced casually in that direction, but his heart skipped a beat.
What is being reported on TV is gossip about the entertainment industry.
But the male protagonist looks very familiar.
"I told you I'm not in a relationship! He's not my lover! I'm really not gay!" The man on TV, who looked exactly like Arthur, the Zerg ruler when he first met Igor, said to the reporter a little irritably, "I just want to apologize to my 'friend'! If you do something wrong, you have to apologize, don't you understand?!"
Reporter: "But Mr. Arthur, you have been looking for each other all the time and even failed to carry out your work as scheduled."
"Because I can't find him." The man turned his head to avoid the camera, "...I think he may never want to see me again."
The latter sentence was spoken in a low voice, but it was still captured in the video.
Igor: “…”
As far as he knew, Arthur must have died once before Azathoth arrived on this planet. Given Igor's understanding of the gods, he would never allow them to track him down after reshaping the timeline. In fact, it wasn't until Azathoth followed Igor to the Federation that the Insect King reunited with his beloved. In other words, this scene couldn't have actually happened?
The speculation that 'this is the memory of Azathoth' was immediately overturned.
Mr. Sharp Oliver was unaware of Igor's confused thoughts and he changed the channel out of boredom.
Igor: “…”
The figure of Archon Sabrina Guevera appeared on the screen.
This is current affairs news.
The host said to the camera, "Ms. Sabrina Guevera, the head of the Guevera family, announced her engagement to her secretary, Antonio, on Christmas Eve. This could have a significant impact on the economic situation in the XX region..."
It's so magical.
Igor thought expressionlessly, am I dreaming?
He took advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention and went to the basement alone. He stood against the cold steel wall for a while, then slid down the wall, curled up one leg and sat on the ground.
There was a voice-controlled light on the ceiling, which lit up the moment he walked in. The human was stunned by the empty room.
The walls were well soundproofed. After shutting out the sounds of the outside world, Igor could only hear his own steady breathing. He looked at the silver-gray wall panels in front of him. Hanging from the rivets was an emerald green pine wreath with small yellow bells and a red bow. Tied to the bow was a greeting card with the words "Merry Christmas!" written on it in thick black marker.
Maybe it's a big festival, he thought in silence.
Suddenly, the sound of hard objects colliding with metal interrupted Igor's thoughts.
He looked up and saw a black watermelon seed fall from a height to the ground. It bounced up, fell down again, and then hopped to his feet and stopped. Before the human could react, another watermelon seed fell and lay side by side with its brothers and sisters.
In a short while, the clean watermelon seeds piled up into a small mountain at his feet.
Then, a tall and thin young man wearing a black cloak but no hood stepped out of the crack that appeared out of nowhere. His long, straight black hair hung behind him, and he looked at Igor quietly with his dark eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked, tilting his head slightly, not trying to hide his confusion.
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