My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 88 The Old Priest

Seeing Jules nodded, the owner stopped what he was doing.

The deep-set eye sockets that did not belong to Innsmouth slowly lifted up, an inexplicable light condensing in the eyes.

"In that case, I suggest you leave quickly."

This is the same rhetoric again? Yule raised his eyebrows and said tentatively:
"I'm the new priest of the Steam Church. The old priest introduced me here, but he's gone now."

The shop owner was slightly startled, then lowered his head:
"...He can't leave. This land will curse everyone." His tone was very complicated.

After saying this, he raised his eyes again and said solemnly:

"You haven't been assimilated into this land yet, so there's still a chance to leave. Go quickly."

Jules looked around the grocery store and said calmly:
"But you didn't leave, did you? Besides, you look normal, nothing has changed."

The shop owner pursed his lips and said:

"I have another reason."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a sudden noise of rummaging of debris coming from the room behind the counter.

The owner's expression suddenly changed and he quickly turned around to close the door.

Unfortunately, it's too late.

"……guest?"

A bony hand rested on the door frame, and a hunched figure with disheveled hair leaned out from it.

Her protruding eyes emitted a faint light, and the gill slits on her neck were clearly visible, opening and closing with her breathing.

"An incompletely transformed Deep Diver?" Jules was not frightened, but just pondered to himself.

Seeing this figure appear, the owner turned around in panic again.

After discovering that Yule was not scared away, he seemed to be relieved, turned his head back, and said softly to the monster in front of him:
"Yes, but he is a stranger. My dear, go back first, so as not to frighten him."

After saying that, he hugged her gently without any disgust.

Even though his whole body was covered with disgusting mucus, his eyes were still full of tenderness.

The monster responded to the hug, nodded confusedly, turned around, and staggered back.

Jules witnessed the whole process from the side.

After seeing the monster leave, he slowly spoke:
"Who is she to you?"

"Wife." When he said this, the owner lowered his head deeply.

“Before the famine began, I thought everything was getting better, but unfortunately, everything was ruined overnight.”

Hearing this, Yule sighed:
"You should know that if this continues, she will eventually turn into a complete monster."

The owner remained silent.

"Guest, if you've come here just to persuade me to abandon her, please leave. I won't do that."

There was determination in his tone.

Yule pursed his lips and said:

“I’m here to ask you some questions—for example, what exactly happened that night when you said it was ‘ruined overnight’?
Are the changes that have taken place in Dagon's cult in recent years related to this?"

Hearing this, the shop owner looked up in a daze.

After a while, he said with difficulty:
"It's all because of that skeleton, that skeleton with only the stomach left...

Everything was normal at first, and we all thought we saw new hope. However, after that night, everything changed, and they all turned into monsters..."

His expression was full of fear, and he was obviously reluctant to recall that period of history.

Stomach? Hearing this key word, Yule's eyes suddenly became sharp.

"Tell me more about it."

Sure enough, the changes in Dagon's cult were most likely related to the Blood Cup leader and the Red Cup!
What concerned him even more was that the other party seemed to have started planning several years in advance.

In other words, Chibei's plan was most likely even earlier than this - killing him might just be a side job.

However, in response to his question, the shop owner just shook his head frantically, looking as if he was about to cry:
"Please, don't ask me anymore. I just want to live here in ignorance..."

Before he finished speaking, his expression suddenly became stiff, and he pointed tremblingly behind Jules:

"Oh, it's getting dark..."

Is it dark? Jules raised his eyebrows, turned around, and saw a shocking scene.

The sky, which was originally bright, quickly turned dark, and the people who were originally in the square had left without knowing when.

"Go away! Leave now!" The shop owner retreated into the room and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Dagon has seen you! If you don't want to die, run away quickly. You may still have a chance! The night belongs to them..."

"I'm not afraid of death. Investigating Dagon's heresy is the purpose of my trip." Jules' expression was extremely calm.

The shopkeeper slammed the door shut, and a frightened voice came from inside:

"Then go find Santiago! It was that skeleton he brought back from fishing that led to everything that happened today! He must know what happened!"

Santiago? Jules raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling that the name was incredibly familiar.

[Capturing the Sixth History Fragment: The Old Man and the Sea]

Hearing this long-lost reminder, he was stunned and finally understood where the sense of familiarity came from.

In this short story written by Hemingway, the fisherman who fought with the big marlin and sharks and finally brought back only a skeleton was called Santiago!
So Santiago here caught fish in Innsmouth...

Moreover, the Santiago in this history also seemed to have brought back a skeleton - and it was one of the culprits that caused the current changes.

His eyes flashed and he asked:

"Can I ask where he lives?"

"Devil's Reef! He often drinks there!" After this, no matter how Jules asked, the owner did not respond at all.

Only the faint sound of breathing and the ebb and flow of blood indicated the presence of a living person inside.

"Tsk... I haven't had time to ask Alan what's going on."

Jules shook his head slightly and slowly walked out of the grocery store.

The light of the full moon was soft and cold, and along with some laws that did not belong to humans, it seemed to have reached its peak at this moment.

A feeling of thirst surged from his body, making him lick his lips involuntarily.

It seems that the mastermind behind all this is still closely related to the red cup.

You should know that birth is the first pain, and thirst is the seventh pain.

Even if Hei Hai's predecessor was Langchao, he would not have the authority in this area - because the authority belonging to Langchao had long been usurped by Chibei!

The wave still has the power of thirst because it has not completely died out, but the black corpse has been drunk up and there is no thirst left.

Yule thought that perhaps the power of Hei Hai was limited to a few aspects such as the fear of the deep sea, which was why it seemed so unknown.

According to what was seen and heard in the fragments, as well as what the shop owner said before, all this turned out like this, and that strange "stomach" definitely played an important role in it.

"I have to ask that Santiago..."

He made a quick decision, confirmed the direction, and headed towards the Devil's Reef in his memory.

The square in the center of the town is not far from the Devil's Reef. If you stand a little higher, you can even have a panoramic view of the coast.

However, after taking only two steps, he suddenly heard bursts of strange noises coming from not far away.

There were hoarse, strange voices, footsteps, and strange clapping sounds that didn't quite sound like footsteps.

The sound was getting louder and louder, and it was obviously coming towards this side.

"It's interesting. Are you here to catch me?"

Jules narrowed his eyes slightly, and his insect-wing-like cloak quietly spread out, covering his figure.

Soon, he saw rows of figures reflecting the moonlight walking up from the shore.

Its walking posture is very strange. It doesn't look like a human, but more like some kind of amphibian, jumping forward on the ground.

His body is hunched and his proportions are definitely not normal human proportions.

"Deep Diver..."

Jules held his breath and tried to keep his emotions to a minimum.

Since this place was most likely affected by the Red Cup and became like this, he had to avoid letting others notice his emotional fluctuations.

As these deep divers got closer, the fishy smell became stronger and stronger.

The leading deep diver suddenly stopped and scanned the surroundings vigilantly with its bulging eyes emitting a faint green light.

Its gill slits opened and closed quickly, making a rapid "hissing" sound, as if it was sensing the surrounding environment in some special way.

The other deep divers also stopped, as if looking for something.

Yule wanted to sneak away, but he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure of the Deep Diver out of the corner of his eye.

When he saw it clearly, he was stunned.

Although it was tattered by sea water and covered with dirty mud and moss, he recognized it at a glance. It was the priest robe of the Steam Church!

The emblem on it further reveals a fact - this robe can only be worn by people of priest level!
A bad premonition came to his mind, and he frowned, carefully looking at the distorted face of the Deep One.

Gradually, this terrifying face began to overlap with the face of the old priest in his memory.

"Old priest?" Jules was slightly startled, and immediately thought of what the innkeeper had said first:

"...He can't leave. This land will curse everyone."

In other words, the old priest was ultimately unable to leave and was left here?

He pursed his lips, feeling a little heavy-hearted.

In the square, the deep divers searched for a long time without any results. They seemed a little annoyed and gathered in the square, starting to mutter.

To Jules' surprise, the leading Deep Diver suddenly roared without warning and pounced on the Deep Diver transformed by the old priest!
Its sharp claws instantly tore through the tattered robe and scratched the rough skin underneath, and a dark green liquid with a strong fishy smell flowed out.

Seeing this, the other deep divers' already distorted faces became even more hideous, and they all gathered around.

They tore at the old priest's body with their sharp teeth, tearing off pieces of flesh and skin with horrifying chewing sounds.

The deep diver transformed by the old priest seemed to want to resist, waving his hands and feet wildly, but under the siege of so many deep divergences, he seemed extremely powerless.

“Ahh… Hooo ...

His eyelids had disappeared, and he stared straight at the moon in the sky, with strange tones coming out of his mouth.

It was like he wanted to say something but had forgotten how to pronounce it in human language.

The old priest's eyes suddenly became clearer, but his already terrifying face became even more distorted.

"I-I'm not a shellfish species... I'm not the offspring of monsters like you guys, I'm human!"

"Long live the God of Machinery!"

He suddenly roared, his skin cracked inch by inch, and dazzling flames burst out from it!

boom--

Yule had never expected such a development. He was unable to dodge and was hit by the wave of fire.

Although it didn't hurt him, it did make his face look a little ugly.

Because he saw that the surviving deep divers had already turned their gaze in his direction.

(End of this chapter)