Nixon Evelyn sat in his office in a neat suit, holding a mobile device in his hand, reading the comments under his fabricated article about Marshal Sullivan, and he also used his second account to like every comment that refuted him.
After completing this pleasant task, he opened the notebook on his desk, pulled out three color photos and spread them out one by one.
The protagonist of the first photo is a crew member of spacecraft number 7592E, named Eddie. He is said to have the most severe mental symptoms among all the crew members. When he was found, his face was covered in blood from his eyes, mouth and nose, which he had gouged out himself. There was a wound several centimeters long on the back of his head. Even so, he did not lose his life. He just stared straight ahead with his eyes wide open, his body twitching from time to time, and he repeated incoherent words with a dull and helpless expression.
The blood on Eddie's face in this photo has not been cleaned off yet. The tall and strong space pirate is looking directly at the camera, as if he is staring at someone outside the photo, with his mouth half open, as if he is speaking, or as if he is asking for help.
The second photo shows the interior of the spacecraft.
It was as if the scenes in the absurd drama were being repeated in reality. A group of lunatics were immersed in their own world, crying or laughing. Next to them was a group of Omegas with mosaic faces, but their movements showed fear. They were being taken off the spacecraft by the doctors and nurses of Port Alplai.
On one side was a hell on earth of jubilation and inexplicable grief, and on the other side was the cautiousness of those who had survived the disaster. The contrast in atmosphere was so strong that Nixon immediately felt that this photo could sweep all the photography awards this year.
The third photo shows a watercolor painting.
He was a crew member who could remain rational most of the time, but occasionally could not control himself and ran away or banged his head against the wall, claiming that he was hallucinating. The scene was described orally under the questioning of the police officer and then detailed by professionals.
The brush drew an ordinary surveillance screen, but out of it emerged a dark plant branch as thick as an adult's arm. The bark was covered with knots and wood grains that would make someone with claustrophobia suffocate at the mere sight of them. Between two wrinkles on the face of an octogenarian, a blood-red eye suddenly opened, slanting its gaze and looking coldly at the person outside the surveillance screen.
A colleague of Nixon's happened to be walking past his desk at that moment. He saw the photo and jumped back in shock. After realizing what was happening, he smiled and asked, "You're still looking at this? People on StarNet are talking about it like crazy."
"They discuss theirs, and I look at mine," Nixon Evelyn said, pulling out a cigarette case and lighter from his suit pocket. "I'm going to go smoke a cigarette. I'm getting a headache from looking at all those photos."
"That's not the case," said his companion in surprise. "Didn't you quit smoking? Speaking of which, this photo is a bit mysterious."
"Do you remember that video online of a pirate ship crew member painting on the spot after being interviewed? It's now been blocked because some netizens experienced various negative physiological reactions caused by mental instability after watching it. Our city hospital also received a patient today who said that after watching that video, he had severe hallucinations. He repeatedly thought he was drowning and dying. He also believed that strangers would hurt him for no reason. It was simply paranoid."
"I know." Nixon put the pipe in his mouth and said vaguely, "You can check now. All the photos that were circulated have been deleted by the Internet police. Now, even mentioning the keyword 'evil god' will result in a ban. I was able to successfully print out these three photos and keep them, thanks to my job as a commentator."
"Tsk, whether it's an evil god or not is none of my business," my colleague said casually. "The church leaders are just overthinking things. What's the big deal if ordinary people just mention the evil god as a joke? It's not like anyone would actually consider such an incident a divine punishment. I'd say the pirates' collective madness is probably due to some experimental viral weapon leaking during transportation."
Nixon remained silent, holding a cigarette in his mouth as he walked to the smoking area to light it. In the flickering light, he suddenly remembered a long time ago when Igor Sullivan was still serving in the army and his Omega sister had not disappeared.
At that time, Nixon's old friend was not as extreme and tough as he is now, and he was not as vigilant, suspicious and sensitive as he is now. He was like a wolf king who had lost his tribe and had been wandering in the world for too long, and could only maintain a cold and arrogant appearance.
"Do you believe in God?" the young, still-smiling Igor Sullivan asked, half leaning against the wall with his military sleeves half-rolled up, his red eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth curled up. "I don't mean the devout belief in some imaginary supreme being like the clergy do, but... a life that can actually appear before our eyes, far beyond human imagination and therefore given the name of God."
"Then I would be very scared," Nixon replied. "A god that is vague and illusory is a good god. Those who allow themselves to wantonly interfere in the course of human development are evil gods."
Igor laughed out loud. "You're right. I'm afraid too. We worship gods, elevate them to deities, and categorize them as good or bad. But how can ants judge elephants based on their own thinking? Humans can't understand each other, let alone gods, as there's a species between us."
Nixon thought for a moment and asked, "How did you start thinking about this kind of question? I remember you were always a closet atheist."
Igor still kept smiling, and his tone was not very serious: "Because I always feel recently that if I give up my reason and blindly believe in a god, letting Him lead me forward, maybe life will be much simpler than it is now. But as you said, if there really comes such a day, the fear in my heart may be even stronger." The topic was basically over here, and Nixon couldn't remember what happened afterwards.
All he knew was that a fortnight after that conversation, a fierce conflict erupted between Igor and Viscount Joyce, then Vice Minister of the Federation's Mecha R&D Department. Another fortnight later, Igor, who had been promoted to Federation Marshal, lost contact with his only Omega sister, Wendy. For the next five years, Igor never gave up searching for her, until last month, when he was arrested on charges of treason and imprisoned in the Capital Planet Prison. He escaped before his trial and has since disappeared.
The memories ended there. Nixon Evelyn adjusted his suit and tie, stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can. To this day, he still didn't think it was right to leave his fate in the hands of other people, or even non-humans.
Therefore, regardless of whether the incident of spacecraft No. 7592E was a human conspiracy or a trick of God, Nixon decided to pay close attention to it until the truth behind it came to light.
**
Port Alplait is a large and emerging city.
Its chaotic prosperity is inseparable from the years of relentless war between the Federation's borderlands and the Zerg. Countless dignitaries have settled here under the orders of the Federation's central government, bridging trade between the capital planet and the more remote regions. Many ordinary people choose to vacation in Port Yarple during brief periods of peace. Upon first entering, one would never guess that this city is located in a remote war zone.
This is also the area where Igor has spent the longest time in the past ten years.
Azathoth and the other two stood in the middle of the road and were watched inhumanely.
Here's the thing.
As a socially anxious person who resolutely refuses to admit that he is a otaku, Azathoth has been browsing on his mobile terminal all the way and now has a basic understanding of the human society of the Federation, but he still refuses to take off his hood and cloak in crowded public places.
As for Igor, the little disguise he had put on before was completely useless in public. As long as someone suddenly took a photo and posted it online, sooner or later someone would notice his identity. So to ensure safety, he also followed Azathoth and covered himself tightly.
Only Hugo was never afraid to reveal his identity as the villain against humanity (is there really such a thing?) to the public. In fact, a big part of the reason was that he had just developed a good-looking body and wanted to show off to others. So he openly wore strange clothes that might have been popular hundreds of years ago, and looked around happily. At first glance, he was a foreigner who had never seen the world.
After all, Igor had lived here for ten years, and Port Yarple was not a city with good public security. He was well aware of all the transactions in the black zone, and it only took him ten minutes to get the fake identities of three people.
As I was walking back, I heard two Betas passing by chatting: "What kind of retro cosplay are these people doing? Their images are so weird..."
My companion replied, "There's been an increasing number of people from other places lately. I've bumped into more than one streamer from the capital on my way to school these past couple of days. I guess they're all trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Spaceship 7592E incident."
"Me too! I heard there's a very famous Alpha streamer these days! It's said that he received an official invitation to do a live broadcast here. I guess he's trying to dispel rumors."
"What rumors are you trying to dispel? My grandma is so fed up with them. She curses all the outsiders who come to Port Alple for vacation, saying that sooner or later they'll be devoured by the evil god and not even a bone will be left."
"Your grandma said the same thing, and so did my elderly family..."
They walked away, chatting and laughing. Igor just listened but didn't pay much attention. He hurried to Azathoth and handed him the ID card. "Let's go to the hotel to rest first. We need to buy two more normal sets of clothes later."
As they walked, Azathoth asked, "Are the residents of Port Alpre very xenophobic?"
What he really wanted to ask was—why was everyone talking about the evil god? Where did the evil god come from? Was this group talking about one of my competitors? You humans believe in so many gods? What if the follower I'd worked so hard to capture escaped one day?
When this middle-aged god got off the spaceship and came to the city, and had some free time to use the correct method he had just learned to surf the Internet to look for hot searches, the authorities had already taken control of the situation, and most of the discussions about the spaceship incident had been deleted, so Azathoth saw nothing.
However, he had no way of asking this question directly to his followers, so he could only battle wits and courage with the hostile forces in the air while remaining secretly vigilant.
"That's how the locals are," Igor replied, clueless. "But with the increasing number of outsiders coming here these days, we don't see any overt hostility anymore."
At this moment, Hugo tugged at Azathoth's sleeve and said, "Azathoth, look over there, isn't that the anchor that the humans were talking about before?"
The man and god who were traveling with them heard the sound and looked over.
A large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk ahead, seemingly engaged in an argument. A rather handsome Alpha stood in the crowd, angrily explaining what had happened to the others: "...My companions and I were just here to film a video, and we didn't do anything offensive. But this old woman suddenly rushed out and spat at my friend, saying he was defying the gods and would sooner or later face retribution!"
"I think it's you who deserve retribution!"
"How dare you openly embrace heresy? Doesn't the church in Port Alple punish heretics?"
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