I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

boom--

Lu Ban heard the silent gunshot.

The bullet easily pierced Lu Ban's skin and penetrated his brain. With an invisible void, a force that transcended reason began to wreak havoc, altering Lu Ban's vocal structure.

A melody drifted from his open mouth.

"Good luck, good luck! Good luck brings joy and love. Good luck, good luck to us all! May good fortune bring prosperity and success to all corners of the world..."

The stirring melody of "Good Luck" echoed in the theater lobby, its sound intertwining with the piano music to create a strange harmony.

The melody in his ears was disrupted, and Lu Ban felt all his strength return. He continued to sing "Good Luck" repeatedly in a high-pitched female voice. For a moment, the magical piano melody and the cheerful pop song collided in the elegant theater hall, creating a strange atmosphere.

Lu Ban sang "Good Luck" as he ran toward the stage, gripping the crowbar tightly in his hand.

The music will stop once Du Danping's spirit is dealt with.

The next moment, several mannequin figures suddenly appeared.

These mannequins were dressed in tattered formal attire, with two strangely painted eyes. Their movements were slow and awkward, as if they were being manipulated by someone. However, there were many of them, almost blocking Lu Ban's path to the stage.

The mannequin reached out its hand to Lu Ban. Its stiff palms were cold, hard, and had a creepy, slippery feel, as it was about to grab Lu Ban's body.

"Good luck, I wish you good luck..."

Lu Ban did not stop singing, and at the same time, he swung the crowbar in his hand.

click -

Something light and dense like a spider web covered his brain, allowing Lu Ban to use the crowbar in his hand with precision and skill, as if he were born to use a crowbar, and as if the bones in his body were made of crowbars.

With the utmost force, the most precise angle, and the most perfect direction, the crowbar struck the mannequin blocking his way.

The mannequin's head flew off immediately, flying high into the air. Before it even hit the ground, Lu Ban swung his staff again, smashing open the forehead of another mannequin.

"Good fortune brings joy and love..."

Lu Ban continued to play a joyful song, and amidst this festive and peaceful melody, yet another mannequin was knocked away by a crowbar.

Lu Ban, like a war god, took three steps at a time and arrived at the piano.

At this moment, the piano melody reached its climax, and a certain timeless, magnificent, and indifferent power seemed to be contained within it.

Crowbars followed one after another.

pat-

The charred, decaying, and broken performer, struck by a hard crowbar, crumbled and shattered with almost no resistance.

The music stopped abruptly.

The mannequins immediately stopped moving, freezing into a series of terrifying and horrifying images.

"That's it?"

Lu Ban waited for several tens of seconds before stopping his repeated singing and returning to normal.

Looking at the corpse that had already vanished with the wind and turned to ashes, Lu Ban felt something was amiss.

If one does not have any "last words," then upon hearing the melody, there will be almost no room for resistance before control of the body is taken away, and one may even lose consciousness, becoming completely at the mercy of others.

Without the [Holy Sword of Physics], even if one could break free from its control and overcome the obstacles of the mannequin, it would be extremely difficult to kill Du Danping's spirit.

In this situation, is it really possible that this task is still at the "Mortal" difficulty level, the same as "Friends Under the Bed"?

Is there a problem with the evaluation of this task, or is there some deviation in Lu Ban's actions?

Thinking of this, Lu Ban looked around; all was silent.

The moonlight dimmed at some point.

He raised his head.

Beyond that shattered dome lies the deep darkness of night.

The moon has passed over the crescent moon, and the stars, which can only be seen in the wilderness, are scattered across the landscape.

Among those stars, there is one brightest star, whose light is now pouring down from the gap.

As the starlight shone upon him, a certain message flooded into Lu Ban's mind, into his brain, which was enveloped in a thick, spiderweb-like web of knowledge.

A kind of knowledge conveyed through that now-vanished melody.

He knew that this bright star was one of the most dazzling stars in the sky throughout the year.

A call came from this star, transcending the distance of time and space.

Along with this light, a magnificent, indifferent, absolute power began to fill the entire theater hall.

Lu Ban finally learned the whole story.

He understood what Du Danping had been fighting against until his death, and even after his death.

He gazed at that spot.

At this moment, Aldebaran was clearly visible in Lu Ban's eyes.

Chapter 022 At this moment, Aldebaran is clearly visible.

In Lu Ban's mind, the knowledge that had flooded in along with the melody was already shattered.

He could only vaguely sense that this star seemed to belong to some great being, who possessed power far exceeding that of gods in human imagination. Even the ripples caused by that power were enough to plunge people into perpetual madness.

And now, at this very moment, amidst the ruins of the Jiangcheng Grand Theater, the power of that deity resonated for some unknown reason.

Reality is distorted, and the cognition of the lower classes collapses. In just a moment, all the people in this area will have their rationality completely destroyed and be reduced to insect-like slaves.

"...Jiangcheng Grand Theatre is in a delicate position, and this situation occurs every now and then..."

"...Du Danping may be here on a mission, or he may have just happened to be caught in a moment when the power of the gods was surging..."

"...The ordinary people present were driven to madness, about to become servants of that great being..."

"...Du Danping used his performance to balance the two, attempting to save these people..."

"...However, the power switch malfunctioned, causing the fire to spread and engulf the theater..."

"...Du Danping's spirit, for some unknown reason, remains here, and every time Aldebaran lights up, it begins to play..."

"...And today is the day with the greatest impact!"

Lu Ban realized what was happening.

If I were to become completely absorbed in the piano music played by Du Danping's spirit, at most my consciousness would be somewhat affected, and I would eventually fall asleep and witness his spirit, which might unlock some secrets.

But now, after defeating Du Danping's spirit, and with no one performing, the Jiangcheng Grand Theatre and its surrounding area will be completely covered by Aldebaran's radiance!

"I triggered a hidden storyline, which increased the difficulty of the mission..."

Lu Ban could sense that some kind of dramatic change was taking place in the air.

His hair stood on end; it was a reaction stemming from the most primal, deepest fears of humankind, fears that had been understood millions of years ago, before humanity had even formed the society we know today.

Human civilization, built up over thousands of years, collapsed in a mere glance from a distance of tens of light-years from this planet.

Knowledge is meaningless, progress is futile, and reason is insignificant in the vast and boundless starry sky.

The crowbar in Lu Ban's hand fell to the ground with a thud.

He stared blankly at the stars that were gradually becoming more colorful, more dazzling, and more capable of occupying his entire consciousness.

That majestic, grand, and cold will relentlessly eroded Lu Ban's nerves and reason.

In the corner of his gaze, even the words formed by the distorted starlight trembled, offering a crooked and slanted hint to Lu Ban.

You confronted the indescribable existence.

[Rationality - 4]

[Rationality - 1]

[Rationality - 3]

……

His remaining sanity was evaporating at a visible rate, and as the numbers decreased, Lu Ban felt as if countless bizarre and fantastical scenes appeared before his eyes.

Some of these images depict enormous, ugly worms crawling in a desert of yellow sand; others show monsters with several slippery, dark, and thick tentacles lurking in the deep sea; still others show hunched-over, malevolent, ice-blue-skinned, and bulging-eyed humanoid monsters worshipping on a stone altar.

These are landscapes that humans cannot witness, record, or endure.

Lu Ban's eyes were bloodshot, his pupils were dilated, and the veins on his body were bulging. Blood was flowing from his nostrils, eyes, ears, and mouth. His brain felt as if it had been violently stirred a thousand times with a red-hot iron rod inserted into it, making it difficult to even maintain normal function.

He knew that he would have to go completely insane before becoming a servant of that great being.

But in the instant that self-awareness arose, a lightning-fast will led Lu Ban to grasp at the last straw.

Amidst the dazzling brilliance of Aldebaran and the pristine white glow of the Pleiades, a bright yellow die appeared before Lu Ban.

The die has ten sides, numbered from zero to nine. These numbers then evolve into two digits, cycling from zero to ninety-nine. Amidst that maddening brilliance, the die remains unmoved, as if it had been so since the distant and unknowable past.

It has no malice, no goodwill, and simply follows its own laws to govern everything.

【put all one's eggs in one basket】!

Lu Ban's last shred of rationality led him to use this final trump card.

The dice spun rapidly, as if picked up and thrown by an invisible hand, revealing numbers that seemed to represent final judgment after they spun and fell.

Almost simultaneously, the starlight in Lu Ban's eyes distorted and refracted into words that would be unforgettable for a lifetime.

[Launching a desperate gamble]

[Lucky Determination]

[Result of the throw: Luck: 1/20]

[A Great Success]

A number familiar to Lu Ban appeared at the top of the die. At the same time, a subtle change rippled through the space. Lu Ban's empty hand, which had lost the crowbar, suddenly grasped a solid and slender object.

He raised his hand; it was a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument).

"...Perform...Yes, perform!!!"

Lu Ban was fortunate enough to regain some rationality from the painful storm that was enough to tear his cognition apart, and he received some inspiration that could be called divine revelation in religious scriptures.