I was just fishing, how did I become a Great Old One?

The morning in Jianghai City was not desolate because of the earth-shattering battle between gods and demons the night before. On the contrary, the strange fragrance that filled the air made it fall into a state of near-frenzied excitement.

On the shores of the East China Sea, the construction site of the massive artificial island—the Pantheon Banquet Hall—built overnight by the ancient giants through land reclamation, has now been transformed into the world's largest open-air kitchen.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

The massive iron plate glowed red-hot under the green divine fire of the fire master Vovados, emitting a pleasing sound.

A dozen Deepdiver employees (who have completely submitted to DeepBlue Group) wearing specially made fireproof suits were using spatulas as big as shovels to tumble huge spheres, each a meter in diameter, on a hot plate.

That's made with chunks of [Star Clan] tentacle meat as filling, mixed with abyssal flour, Martian red clay seasoning, and Europa's extremely cold shrimp paste—[Deep Blue Supreme God-Level Takoyaki].

"Apply oil! Apply oil! That's whale oil from a giant deep-sea whale, apply plenty!"

Lei Meng stood on the high platform, wielding a large ladle and giving orders with composure.

"Sprinkle the seasoning! Sprinkle on that crushed Migo wing powder! That's the secret weapon for enhancing the flavor!"

As handfuls of glistening powder were sprinkled down, a golden, crispy crust instantly formed on the surface of the giant takoyaki, and an aroma that blended the freshness of the ocean, the exotic scent of aliens, and divine radiance soared into the sky.

Long queues had already formed on the breakwater along the shore.

Not only the citizens of Jianghai City, but also diners from surrounding cities, and even some foreign superhumans who rushed over after hearing the news, were all holding lunchboxes and pots and pans, eagerly waiting for the meal to be served.

"Here it comes! The first batch is ready!"

With a shout, a giant takoyaki was lifted up by a forklift (yes, a forklift) and placed on a specially made cutting board.

"The boss said there's free tasting today! Everyone gets a share!"

Wang Ergou shouted through a megaphone.

"But one thing: no transformations after eating! No random use of skills! If anyone dares to change size on the spot, don't blame my Big Yellow for being ruthless!"

Beside them, a giant yellow dog, the size of a truck, was lying on a mountain of bones, wearing sunglasses and watching the whole scene with an imposing air.

A lucky middle-aged man received a takoyaki the size of a fist. He blew on it to warm it up and carefully took a bite.

"Snap!"

The outer layer is as crispy as an egg roll, while the inside is as soft and chewy as a cloud.

Immediately afterwards, the teeth touched the core of the Star Familia's tentacle flesh.

"Pfft—"

A rich, green liquid burst in my mouth. It wasn't fishy or foul, but rather an exquisite, wonderful flavor, carrying the fresh scent of herbs and the salty freshness of the deep sea.

"Ugh!!!"

The man's eyes widened instantly, and a faint green light flashed deep within his pupils.

"I feel... I feel my back doesn't ache anymore! My legs don't hurt anymore! I can even dive for two hours straight!"

The surrounding crowd instantly erupted in excitement, jostling and pushing forward.

Jiang Li sat on the high VIP platform, holding a glass of [Divine Honey Wine] in his hand, looking at the lively scene below, and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's more like it."

"What old revival, what doomsday? In front of delicious noodles, those are just entertainment to liven things up."

Standing behind him, Su Qingge watched this man who had turned the apocalypse into a food carnival, and the tension in her heart eased a little.

"Mr. Jiang, although the current situation is stable, according to satellite monitoring..."

Su Qingge pointed to the sea in the distance.

"The energy reaction deep in the East Sea continues to intensify. That 'head' you kicked back doesn't seem to have deterred R'lyeh; on the contrary... it has enraged it."

"Good riddance."

Jiang Li put down his wine glass, a hunter's gleam flashing in his eyes.

"If it stays inside its shell and doesn't come out, I'll have to go through the trouble of prying it open. If it comes to me on its own, I'll save myself a lot of trouble."

Just then.

"Boom!"

The sky, which had been clear and sunny, suddenly turned gloomy.

A white line appeared on the distant horizon.

The white line advanced at an extremely fast speed, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a terrifying tsunami that was hundreds of meters high!

At the top of that tsunami stood countless figures, densely packed together.

That's the [Deep Diver Legion].

Thousands upon thousands of Deepsea Dwellers, wielding tridents and riding mutated sharks and sea monsters, are charging towards Jianghai City on the giant waves. Their piercing screams combine to form a visible mental shockwave.

"Gaa gaa gaa!" (For the glory of our Father! Reclaim our flesh and blood!)

"Roar—" (Tear that chef to pieces!)

Upon witnessing this scene, the diners' initial revelry instantly turned into terror.

"Monsters...monsters are coming! So many monsters!"

"Run! A tsunami is coming!"

The situation was about to spiral out of control.

"What's the panic?"

Jiang Li's voice drifted lazily through the speakers that filled the square.

"Didn't you see that's the delivery guy?"

"Ergou, tell everyone, our 'seafood buffet' session has officially begun!"

Jiang Li stood up, took off his purple suit jacket, revealing a silk vest underneath (showing off his figure).

He walked to the front of the stage and took out the Silver Spoon from his pocket.

"Trying to flood my shop? Don't you even know who I am!"

"Place it for me...!"

Jiang Li gently scooped up the hundred-meter-high tsunami with the spoon in his hand.

"Buzz—"

A silvery glow instantly enveloped that sea area.

An unbelievable scene unfolded.

The colossal wave, powerful enough to engulf half the city, along with the countless deep-sea divers on its crest, was frozen in mid-air for that instant!

It's like a still oil painting, or a huge piece of amber.

Space frozen!

"Wow--"

A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.

"Is...is this a miracle?"

"No, this is the boss's 'vegetable control' technique!" Wang Ergou explained frantically from the side. "To prevent the ingredients from moving around, they're fixed in place before being processed!"

Jiang Li looked at the huge wall of water and curled his lip.

"There are too many small fish and shrimp, making it troublesome to deal with them."

"The real big fish must be coming up later, right?"

His gaze pierced through the wall of water, looking behind the tsunami.

There, a larger, ancient, and fishy aura was emerging.

"boom--"

The still sea surface suddenly exploded.

A gigantic figure slowly rose up.

It was two hundred meters tall, even larger than the Star Familiar we had just seen. It had a fish-like head covered in tentacles, a body covered in thick scales, and huge webbed hands.

【Father God Dagon】(Dagon).

The progenitor of the Deep Ones, a follower of Cthulhu, the nightmare of the ocean.

It wielded a massive trident crafted from deep-sea obsidian, its eyes like two searchlights, fixed intently on Jiang Li.

"mortal……"

Dagon's voice was deep and murky, each syllable carrying the pressure of the deep sea.

"Not only have you insulted my lord's retinue, but you also dare... to turn them into dumplings?"

It glanced at the giant takoyaki being devoured by diners nearby, a flash of fury in its eyes.

Those inside... are all its disciples and followers!

"Oh? An old man has arrived?"

Jiang Li looked at Dagon, her eyes not only showing no fear, but shining even brighter.

"That size...that luster of the scales...isn't this the legendary 'deep-sea giant grouper'?"

"And judging by its age, it must be at least tens of thousands of years old, right? This is excellent material for an old soup!"

Jiang Li turned around and shouted:

"Old Liu! Wash that biggest pot again! This time we're making 'Steamed Grouper'!"

"Dahuang! Ao Bing! Stop standing there, go and drag this big fish up here!"

"roar--!!!"

Ao Bing had been itching to get started for a long time.

As a dragon, he was most annoyed by those who looked like fish but called themselves sea gods.

"You audacious fiend! How dare you call yourself a god before this Crown Prince?"

Ao Bing transformed into a golden dragon, soaring through the clouds and rushing straight towards Dagon.

"Let me, the Crown Prince, see just how thick your fish skin is!"

Dagon snorted coldly, wielding his obsidian trident, which stirred up tons of seawater, transforming it into a black water dragon to attack Ao Bing.

"Boom!"

The two mythical creatures engaged in a fierce battle on the sea.

Golden light intertwined with black water, and the roar of dragons and the howl of fish resounded together.

Meanwhile, Big Yellow wasn't idle either. It used time-space jumps to deliberately sneak into Dagon's blind spots, occasionally biting its ankles or tail.

"Woof!" (These fish scales are too hard! They're getting stuck in my teeth!)

Big Yellow complained, but still showed no mercy when it came to its bites.

Dagon was thoroughly annoyed by the dragon and the dog.

"A bunch of ants!"

It roared, and a dark green halo erupted from its body—[Embrace of the Deep Sea].

This is an extremely powerful gravitational field capable of crushing surrounding creatures into a pulp.

"Watch out!" Su Qingge exclaimed.

But Jiang Li smiled.

"Playing with gravity? Did you even ask this spoon in my hand?"

Jiang Li raised the silver spoon and made a "stirring" motion towards Dagon.

"Mix it well for me!"

"Buzz—"

The Silver Key activates, causing spatial displacement!

Jiang Li forcibly distorted the direction of the gravitational field emitted by Dagon, turning it into... an upward buoyancy!

"What?!"

Dagon felt a sudden lightness in his body; the force that was originally meant to crush the enemy instead propelled him into the air!

The two-hundred-meter-tall behemoth was like a giant balloon, helplessly waving its limbs in the air.

"Perfect opportunity! Let's cook!"

Jiang Li shouted.

"Gluttony Cauldron! Grow bigger! Grow bigger still!"

The black cauldron, infused with the power of the rules, instantly expanded to the size of a stadium, landing precisely where Dagon had fallen.

"No! This is impossible!"

Dagon looked down at the dark, cauldron opening that emitted a terrifying suction force and felt fear for the first time.

It's the king of the deep sea! How could it turn into a pot of fish soup?!

"Nothing is impossible! Get in the pot!"

Jiang Li leaped into the air, the butcher knife in his hand transforming into a black streak, slamming it hard onto Dagon's forehead.

"Frying pan technique—get down there!"

"Bang!!!"

This attack, imbued with the rules of [Soul Suppression], directly caused Dagon's eyes to roll back, and his massive body fell straight into the Cauldron of Gluttony like a stone.

"Thump!"

Water splashed everywhere.

"Put the lid on!"

Lei Meng and the Guge giant (now a coolie) worked together to lift the huge cauldron lid and slammed it down with a bang.

"Old Wo! Turn up the heat to reduce the sauce!"

"call--"

The green divine fire instantly enveloped the giant cauldron, from which came the dull thud and screams of Dagon.

"Done! We're done!"

Jiang Li clapped his hands and landed back on the ground.

"This grouper is quite big; it will probably need to be stewed for an hour or so to absorb the flavor."

The surrounding diners were dumbfounded.

They were still holding takoyaki in their hands, their mouths wide open, completely forgetting to chew.

What just happened?

The legendary sea god Dagon... was thrown away with a spoon by the boss, knocked unconscious with a knife, and then thrown into a pot to stew?

This is way too hardcore!

"The boss is awesome!"

"Boss, I'd like to order fish head soup!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd.

However, Jiang Li's face did not show much joy.

He turned around and looked at the sea in the distance, which had calmed down a bit since Dagon disappeared.

The seawater there did not return to its blue color; instead, it became even deeper and darker.

An aura a hundred or a thousand times more terrifying than Dagon's was rising from the depths of the sea.

That wasn't the scent of a living being.

That's the rule.

It is slumber, it is a dream, it is an indescribable fear.

"If you beat the young one, the old one will come. If you beat the old one, the even older one will come."

Jiang Li sighed and fiddled with the spoon in his hand.

"Dagon is just a delivery supervisor. Is the real 'chef' finally about to appear?"

"boom--!!!"

As if to prove his words.

The distant sea surface suddenly shattered like a mirror.

A massive, black city, defying the laws of physics, emerged from the water and floated in mid-air.

R'lyeh.

It actually... flew up?!

At the very top of the city, there stands that bloated, enormous, and despair-inducing figure—[Cthulhu].

It was flapping its tattered wings, staring at this side with eyes that could drive the world mad.

"Return...my...thing...from...God...back..."

Its sound was no longer a mere mental shock, but transformed directly into tangible sound waves, shattering all the glass in Jianghai City instantly.

"return?"

Jiang Li sneered, scooped up a spoonful of hot soup (Dagon's bathwater) from the cauldron, and offered it a distant toast to Cthulhu.

"Once it's in my pot, it's my dish."

"Want to go back? Sure."

"You'll pay for it with yourself!"

"With your physique... I think you'd be perfect for a 'thousand-person octopus feast'!"

Cthulhu: "..."

In its tens of thousands of years of dream memories, it had never seen such a shameless person.

"Since...that's...then..."

Cthulhu slowly raised his right hand.

Its tentacles began to writhe wildly, and the surrounding space began to distort, turning into bizarre non-Euclidean geometric shapes.

"Then...let...the...world...sleep......"

[The Great Dream Technique: Overlapping with Reality]!

It aims to pull the real world directly into its dream dimension! In the dream, it is invincible!

"Trying to pull me into your dreams?"

Jiang Li looked at the bizarre and grotesque scenery around him and a mocking smile appeared on his lips.

"You didn't know... I have a 'backdoor'?"

He pulled out the little pendant that Yog Sothos had given him.

"Brain Flower! Connecting to Global Broadcasting!"

"Tell everyone! Get your bowls and chopsticks ready!"

"The largest 'teppanyaki' ingredient...is about to be served!"