Cthulhu Panel: One organ mutates every day

The figure behind the tree took two steps back.

Wayne drew his crowbar and rushed over, but just as he was about to strike the other person on the head, he saw the other person's face clearly.

It was an old man with a terrified expression, wearing a coarse cloth work jacket, an old felt hat on his head, and a small iron shovel and a short machete hanging from his waist.

He was practically a caretaker of the cemetery.

Seeing Wayne's attack cease, the gravedigger retreated in panic, stammering:

"No, I didn't do it, I didn't do it... Don't look for me..."

Then he stumbled and ran away.

Why is this gravedigger so panicked? What has he done? What is he afraid of? Perhaps he knows something. Is it related to Benjamin's grave?

But Wayne simply watched the gravedigger escape and did not immediately give chase.

Because the voice of the gravedigger in his ear had not disappeared.

"No, I didn't do it, don't blame me..."

The words were still echoing in Wei En's ears, the sound gradually becoming thinner and softer, like dewdrops merging into the surrounding mist.

Wayne frowned and glanced at his wristwatch: Reality deviation 2%.

"We still can't be alone. We need to go back and meet up with the team leader and the others. It's now certain that there's a big problem with Benjamin's grave."

With these thoughts in mind, Wayne turned around and walked back, quickening his pace, the soil beneath his feet seeming to grow softer and softer.

For some reason, perhaps because it was nearing sunrise, or perhaps it was just the season, the surrounding fog was getting thicker and thicker.

But the echoing voice of the gravedigger did not disappear; it seemed to follow closely along with the dew in the mist.

Gradually, the gravedigger's voice became intermittent syllables, sometimes thin and long, sometimes round.

The syllables were hoarse and muffled, as if stuck in the throat.

It grew increasingly muffled and subtle, until it became whispers, ubiquitous murmurs, and indistinct black figures shrouded in mist.

The syllables suppressed the light of the flashlight to an extremely weak level.

It was the white mist enveloping you whispering secrets, the bushes beside you recounting hidden mysteries, and the soil beneath your feet engaging in lighthearted banter.

Countless syllables converged from all directions and rushed into Wayne's ears.

The complex and chaotic syllables, layered upon layered, somehow managed to form some understandable fragments of sentences.

"I've been looking for you for so long." "It's finally here." "It's coming!" "Who is it?" "Hehe, I hate you so much." "Don't you hate him?" "Join us!"...

As his pace quickened, Wayne's breathing became heavy, and the thick mist filled his lungs, as if he were inhaling the syllables along with it.

The syllables then dispersed, rapidly spreading throughout the alveoli, vibrating and spreading continuously, conveying fragmented semantics.

Breathing has become confused with sound, and touch and hearing are out of sync.

Some unusual feelings of irritability are growing.

and many more!

There's a way. Breathe.

Wei En immediately used his chest cavity sac and took an unprecedentedly deep breath.

[Empty Breath: Abnormal expansion and contraction of the chest cavity, resulting in the formation of abnormal sacs that can suck out all the air from the body]

In an instant, all the fog within a radius of tens of meters was compressed and sucked into Wayne's body. The pressure difference created by the brief vacuum caused a strong wind to blow throughout the cemetery.

Wayne exhaled again, applying slight control.

A wave of air swept out from his nostrils, breaking through the white mist in the cemetery in rings, and even the strange syllables were exhaled, scattering into the sky, turning back into whispers, and gradually disappearing.

To be able to do this simply by breathing is, to some extent, beyond what humans have already comprehended.

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 34.8%

"Finally, it's a bit quieter."

Wayne frowned as he glanced at his wristwatch: Reality deviation: 1.8%

"The deviation decreased by 0.2%."

"Unfortunately, the progress of perception is only related to the effort and results of observation. The more effort you put in, the faster the progress will be, and the more results you get, the faster the progress will be. It is not directly related to the amount of abnormal contamination. Otherwise, it could completely replace the reality deviation measuring device."

"We need to go back and explain the situation to the team leader immediately."

Then, Wayne ran toward Benjamin's grave, stepping on the now-soft mud, and rushed in at full speed.

Soon, they returned safely to Benjamin's grave.

Matthew glanced at Wayne and asked, "Why are you running so fast? What happened?"

Wayne wiped away a bead of cold sweat, pointed to Benjamin's grave, and said:

"Team leader, I just ran into the gravedigger. That old man kept muttering some strange, incomprehensible nonsense. Anyway, the problem is definitely under Benjamin's grave, ninety-nine percent of the time."

"Ninety-nine percent? Hmm, I understand." Matthew's expression gradually turned serious. He had initially thought there was only a fifty percent chance of something going wrong beneath the tomb, but now that Wayne had given an almost certain assessment, he naturally had to take it much more seriously.

"Ethan, Lillian, speed up the digging. Don't hesitate. Wayne has confirmed there's something wrong with the grave. Be prepared."

"Received, team leader." Lillian quickened her digging pace, displaying remarkable stamina, showing no signs of exhaustion except for drowsiness.

"Roger that." Ethan was equally at ease, shoveling out a few more handfuls of dirt, when he heard a "thump, thump" sound, which meant he had definitely hit a coffin lid.

Moreover, something was knocking on the inner wall of the coffin.

Knock knock knock knock.

Each strike echoes and overlaps, evolving in a strange way that resembles syllables, almost like language, rather than striking.

Inside the cramped coffin, the sounds of the layers overlapping gradually eventually resembled faint sobs and whimpers.

Lillian put down the shovel, approached the coffin, and whispered, "Don't knock anymore, or I'll tear you apart."

To be honest, Wayne didn't think he could be so bold. Although he had a panel after transmigrating, this was the first time he had ever dug up a grave, especially at dawn.

It's impossible not to feel a sense of dread at such a time of time, especially considering it's so eerie.

Lillian and Ethan, however, seemed much more at ease, and Matthew, standing to the side, was completely unfazed.

"Team leader, the coffin is still there, what's next..." Ethan asked.

Matthew glanced at the watch on his wrist: reality deviation 2.4%, 3.0%, and ordered, "Everyone prepare for contingencies. Ethan, dig it out and prepare to exhume it for an autopsy."

"Okay." Ethan ignored the knocking sounds inside the coffin and continued digging around the coffin.

Wayne watched as the coffin in the pit was gradually stripped of its surrounding ash and revealed in its entirety.

It was a pine coffin with relatively new wood. The paint was only slightly damp and darkened. The coffin was intact and had not yet rotted.

Strange syllables were still echoing from inside the coffin.

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 35.2%

Ethan inserted the shovel into the gap in the coffin lid and tried to pry it open with great force, but he couldn't.

"This pine coffin is difficult to open."

Reality deviation: 4.0%

"Let me..." Lillian was about to pick up the shovel and try it out.

"No need to waste time." Matthew glanced at the crowbar at Wayne's waist. The crowbar made it easier to find the right angle to apply force, so he said, "Wayne, you do it."

"Me?" Wayne paused for a moment, then immediately understood.

Then, Matthew gently stroked his mustache, his fingertips caressing it, and a damp, cold aura emanated from his body, condensing into lines that, like water snakes, snaked straight towards Wayne along the soil.

Before Wei En could react, he was enveloped by that chilling aura.

Instantly, he felt every muscle, nerve, and cell in his body become lighter, and every thought in his mind could be quickly transmitted throughout his body, transforming into concrete reactions and actions.

Furthermore, their speed of action has exceeded the speed of brain thinking, and their reaction speed has exceeded the speed of nerve signal transmission.

The body movements were like skipping frames at double speed.

"Is this a contamination characteristic of Team Leader Matthew? A gain from the auxiliary position?"

Wayne's body reacted as soon as he had the thought of "taking two steps forward, finding the right angle to exert force, and using a crowbar to pry open the coffin." Following the best plan in his mind, he stepped forward and completed a whole set of coffin-prying actions.

Flowing like clouds and water. Extremely eerie.

The coffin lid in front of us has already been pried open.