Chapter 1873 Let Me Tell You a Story
Seeing Mr. Zheng's expression, Xiao Peng smiled and said, "I'm just a nobody. What can I think? I used to think I was very smart, but it turns out that my every move is under observation. I always say 'Don't take others too lightly, don't take yourself too seriously', but I made such a mistake myself. If I can't afford to offend, I can afford to hide. I'm here, 'hiding in a small building, becoming one with myself, and not caring about winter, summer, spring, or autumn'. I just want to hide here and not get involved with anyone. It shouldn't be a problem for me to hide here, right?"
After hearing this, Mr. Zheng said, "Xiao Xiao, things are not as simple as you think... I have a question for you."
"What's the problem?" Xiao Peng asked.
Mr. Zheng asked, "As far as I know, you don't have the skills to search under the mud and sand. Why do you say you have this skill?"
Xiao Peng laughed: "Are you more curious about how I did it?"
Mr. Zheng did not deny it: "Indeed. I really want to know how you did it."
Xiao Peng looked at Zheng Lao and said, "If I said I was just trying to protect myself, would you believe me?"
"Self-protection?" Old Zheng was stunned after hearing this. "You're putting yourself in even greater danger, aren't you? Countless people will be plotting against you!"
Xiao Peng laughed. "That's right. If I really had this technology... it would be too dangerous for those who don't have it, so getting rid of me would be a good idea. But they can't do that. First of all, people are greedy and they all want to have this technology. Secondly, they can't guarantee that I'm the only one who knows this technology or that others know it too. So they can only wait and see and adopt another strategy towards me."
Old Zheng frowned. "Isn't this too risky? It's really unwise to do this. Aren't you afraid that others will cause trouble for you?"
Xiao Peng gave a mysterious smile and said nothing.
"What are you laughing at?" Mr. Zheng asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng thought for a while and then said, "Mr. Zheng, do you play online games?"
Mr. Zheng was completely bewildered. Xiao Peng's sudden turn of events was a bit far-fetched. "Online games? Why would I play online games at my age? The first time I watched a live stream was because of yours. Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"
Xiao Peng laughed after hearing this and said, "What I'm telling you now may be beyond your understanding. You can just treat it as a story. I just said a few words to you after drinking. After today, I will not recognize anything I said!"
After hearing this, Mr. Zheng thought carefully and his face turned serious: "Then I'm all ears."
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "There's an online game called World of Warcraft. It was quite popular back then... and it's still pretty popular now. You have to know that any game needs a background, otherwise no one would play it, right?"
"Are you talking about the game background of World of Warcraft?" Mr. Zheng suddenly realized.
Xiao Peng nodded: "The background of the game "World of Warcraft" comes from a mythological system called "Cthulhu Mythos."
"Which country's mythology is 'Cthulhu Mythos'?" Mr. Zheng shook his head. "I've never heard of this mythology system."
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "Although 'Cthulhu Mythos' is called 'mythology,' it's completely different from the myths you imagine. It's more like a concept. About 100 years ago, a writer named Howard Phillips Lovecraft lived to be 46 and wrote over 60 novels. The theme of these novels is the description of 'ancient gods.' According to his description, in prehistoric times, some ancient gods from the abyss of the universe once descended and ruled the world. However, for unknown reasons, these ancient gods later left Earth or lay dormant, hoping to rise again one day. According to his account, the resurrection of these ancient gods will mark the end of human civilization."
The more Mr. Zheng listened, the more confused he became. "What does this have to do with the story you want to tell me?"
Xiao Peng ignored Mr. Zheng's interruption and continued, "When Lovecraft was alive, he was unknown. After his death, his friend August William Derleth compiled his works and passed them down to this day, forming a unique 'Cthulhu Mythos' system. This has been widely expanded into film, television, and games, such as 'Ultraman Tiga,' 'The Shape of Water,' 'World of Warcraft,' 'Prometheus,' 'Bloodborne,' 'The Mist,' 'Oblivion,' 'Pacific Rim,' 'Don't Starve,' and so on... I could count them for half an hour without repeating myself."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zheng said, "I understand. You're saying that a writer created a mythological system, and because of its high artistic level, many film and television works now contain concepts derived from this mythological system. Is that what you mean?"
Xiao Peng nodded and continued, "The story structure of the Cthulhu Mythos is basically the same: the protagonist accidentally discovers a mysterious world, encounters a terrifying and mysterious ancient demon, and then some die, and the rest go mad. Well, that's basically it. Almost all of his novels follow the 'exploring the unknown and then dying or going mad' story structure. For example, he has a book called 'At the Mountains of Madness,' and the movie 'Alien: Prometheus' story framework is basically the same as that book, except that the book is set in Antarctica, and the movie is set on an alien planet."
Mr. Zheng became increasingly confused as he listened: "How can a story like this be considered high-brow? Is anyone interested in such a story?"
Xiao Peng explained, "The core of the Kruger myth is: fear of the unknown; fear of giants; and indifference. I don't need to explain the former, right? Humans have a genetic fear of the unknown, just like you don't know how I was able to find shipwrecks on the ocean floor. The same is true of the fear of giants. You've probably heard of 'gigantophobia,' right? The intense feeling of powerlessness humans feel when faced with giants is also imprinted in our genes."
Seeing Xiao Peng talking so enthusiastically, Mr. Zheng knew he had no choice but to let him do what he wanted, so he asked, "So what's with 'indifference'?"
Xiao Peng explained, "Other mythologies have their own concepts of good and evil, right? Cthulhu Mythos doesn't. They don't act based on personal preferences. They are extremely indifferent to humans, so indifferent that they don't even think of 'disdain.' They have no good intentions or malice towards humans. In short, Cthulhu Mythos is a terrifying existence, and humans fear it because they 'cannot understand' and 'cannot comprehend.'"
Mr. Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "I'm in a state of 'not understanding' right now. I really can't understand what you're talking about."
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "Then let me put it in a simpler way. What if I tell you that the 'Cthulhu Mythos' created by Lovecraft is real?"
"Huh?" Mr. Zheng was stunned. "That's impossible, right? Are you saying this world is depressing? Are there really some kind of ancient giant that's ready to destroy the Earth at any moment?"
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