I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Ah Yu seemed to be recalling something unpleasant.

"...They stopped communicating with the people in town twenty years ago. They all like to wear black clothes that cover their entire bodies, and they also wear masks...fish masks."

hum-

When Trist heard Ayu's words, his heart skipped a beat.

"You mean, a fish mask? What kind of mask is that?"

At that moment, dark clouds drifted in from the sea, temporarily obscuring the sunlight. The entire beach and the entire sea area were shrouded in gloom for A-Yu and Twisted Fate.

Trist noticed that the fisherman's face was shrouded in gloom, and even showed a hint of ferocity.

"Like fish, walking fish... The Hai family's dance, the Wave-Praying Dance, is like fish swimming in the sea... It's as if they originally came from the sea..."

As the clouds drifted by, the joyful laughter of children filled the air. Half of Ayu's face was illuminated by the sunlight, while the other half remained hidden in darkness. For a moment, Trist had the illusion that the eyeballs on Ayu's half-face were bulging out, transforming into the shape of a monster resembling a fish.

"If Pisces marries into the Hai family, she will become just like them, just like all the brides before her..."

Ah Yu muttered to himself.

"You want us to save your sister, so what help can you offer us?"

Suppressing his unease, Drizzt continued to ask.

“There’s something in the Hai family’s house, something terrifying. They can’t deal with it, they can only guard it. If you find it, you can release it. The Hai family won’t notice anyone else.”

Ah Yu became somewhat sober at this moment and spoke in a calm voice.

"You mean some kind of monster?"

Trist found what A-Yu said quite strange.

It's as if rescuing his sister was just a pretext, and the ultimate goal was to release the thing suppressed by the Hai family.

"No, no, that's the Hai family's own property. It only reacts to members of the Hai family. It won't hurt you. It said it wouldn't hurt anyone else."

At this moment, Ayu grinned and revealed a comical smile.

"Do you know how to release that thing? What does it look like?"

Trist had a vague premonition.

“It’s there. It’s in the center of the Hai family mansion, in an altar. It says that if we remove the stone pressing down on it, we can release it. It says yes, that’s right. I want to get out.”

Ayu's tone became disordered, with a trembling quality.

"I want to get out. I won't hurt you. I'll only seek revenge against the Hai family. They hurt me..."

In the blink of an eye, the fisherman seemed to have become the embodiment of something; his cheeks twitched and his eyes narrowed, forming a strange expression that was the complete opposite of a fish's eyes.

"What's your name?"

Trist noticed something was wrong. He moved closer, his hand not holding the pipe discreetly pressing against his holster, and asked cautiously.

“My name is Ayu…I am…Black Queen Mother.”

In an instant, when A-Yu raised his head, all he could see was darkness.

Chapter 071 Temporary Madness

Black Queen Mother!

The moment he heard the name, Twisted Fate tensed up.

Under the brilliant golden sunlight, A-Yu's eyes were completely black, and that darkness seemed to contain an entire universe.

Drizzt's eyes were drawn to that deep, dark space, and his movements slowed.

His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulged on his forehead, his muscles contracted, and his whole body was stiff like a corpse.

Countless images flashed through my mind: memories of the ruined city, the experience of scurrying like rats in the cramped slums, and the cruel scenes of human life being treated like dirt that I had witnessed.

Without realizing it, Trist raised the muzzle of his gun, not towards Ayu, but towards his own jaw.

With a trembling finger on the trigger, Drizzt's mind conjured up a terrifying, bizarre, incomprehensible, and indescribable enormous shadow.

Before that writhing shadow, even death is a luxury.

Drizzt wanted to experience that kind of enjoyment.

He tightened his finger, about to pull the trigger.

At that moment, a sound exploded in Drizzt's ears.

He felt as if his eardrums were being pierced with an awl, his head was buzzing, and all the indescribable things, all the miserable memories of the past, were replaced by the buzzing. Even A-Yu in front of him turned into a tangible sound wave.

Trist knelt down, and Lu Ban walked over beside him.

Lu Ban held a materialized "Last Words" in his hand, the gun pointed directly at Twisted Fate, and had already fired two shots. At this moment, Twisted Fate's mind was filled with the echo of the stun grenade, almost causing him to faint.

Looking into A Yu's deep eyes, Lu Ban felt a little dizzy. Although it seemed like several unknown beings were arguing in his mind, it wasn't a big problem. Anyway, he usually played mahjong with one person, so he didn't mind playing a five-man game.

He raised his hand and smashed the crowbar into Ah Yu, knocking him unconscious. The man's eyes rolled back, and he passed out.

"...That was close."

Trist's hands trembled uncontrollably. He dropped the revolver on the ground and clutched his head with both hands.

"What did he just say?"

Lu Ban squatted down and lifted A Yu's eyelids. The eyes underneath had returned to normal, and there were no longer any strange traces.

"He said... he is the Black Queen Mother, no, he should be someone who worships the Black Queen Mother, and he was just possessed by her..."

Trist tried his best to calm his trembling, after all, he was just one step away from blowing his own head off.

"The Black Queen Mother may have been bound and sealed by the Hai family. She wants us to break the seal and release her during the Hai family's wedding... She will deal with the Hai family."

"It can still be sealed by the Hai family? That's a bit weak..."

Lu Ban sighed and reached out to help Trist up.

"But why is He treating me like this? He just tried to get me to release Him through A-Yu's words, and now..."

Drizzt emptied the grit from the barrel, puzzled.

"He may not have any ill intentions towards you."

Lu Ban recalled the scene from the Jiangcheng Grand Theater.

“These things, their very existence is a calamity for us, and besides, they may just be saying this to everyone they encounter, since they are all already insane.”

Some knowledge, simply by being understood, can lead to madness.

These unimaginable, unreachable great beings, simply by existing there, would cause those who glimpse Him to lose their reason.

"I didn't expect that my sanity would already be reduced by seven points before the wedding even started. The difficulty of [Erosion] is indeed well-deserved."

Drizzt sighed. He had lost three points of sanity when he saw the fish-headed statue and the heartless humanoid monsters, and now he had lost four more when he saw the Black Queen Mother possessing Ayu.

Normally, when doing tasks of [Mortal] or [Contamination] difficulty, you'll only lose one or two points at most.

"I don't know if you're aware, but in the Silent Land, sanity is the most important stat. If you get injured during a mission, as long as it's not fatal, there's always a way to recover. But sanity is almost impossible to recover. Every little bit counts. After all these missions, I only have 45 sanity points left. I'm not far from going insane."

Drizzt said, half with a sigh.

"The seniors I met before told me that no matter how strong a person is, they will only die in the Silent Land. This is because even if your strength can increase with each mission, your rationality will gradually decrease. The stronger a person is, the more missions they have experienced, and the less rational they will become."

"In the end, everyone, no matter what, will either be killed by a monster or something unknown during a mission, or they will go insane, becoming irrational madmen or being transformed into monsters."

Upon hearing Trist's words, Lu Ban paused for a moment.

think carefully.

If one's rationality has dropped to zero, one will either descend into madness and become a lunatic, or become a monster.

Lu Ban was clearly still human and had not turned into a monster.

He wasn't crazy; he was very rational.

So, where did the problem lie?

Lu Ban pondered for a moment.

I think it must have been because my "all-or-nothing" gamble resulted in a huge success, which allowed me to save my mind despite having zero rationality.

"I am indeed perfectly normal."

Professional chosen ones dare to make judgments.

Lu Ban felt that he was perfectly fine.

"Given the current situation, we have absolutely no need to get involved in anything related to the Black Queen Mother. Our mission is to witness the wedding and survive until it ends. Unless the Hai family wants to harm us, we don't need to provoke them."

Unable to discern Lu Ban's thoughts, Trist looked at the unconscious A Yu and spoke.

"Yeah, yeah."

Lu Ban nodded repeatedly.

However, I'm already prepared to take the opportunity to see the so-called sealed Black Queen Mother.

After all, he needed the idol of the other party, and asking the person directly was probably the best way.

Moreover, Lu Ban was able to glimpse the true nature of the Black Queen Mother from the eye contact he had just exchanged with A Yu.

The Black Queen Mother sealed by the Hai family was not the real Black Queen Mother. It was perhaps just a clone or a remnant of her will. Although these alone would be enough to drive a person mad, the sense of grandeur and indifference that Lu Ban felt when looking directly at the real starry sky was almost nonexistent.

What should we do with this person?

Having reached an agreement with Lu Ban, Trist looked at A Yu lying on the ground.

“This is a beach, we can bury him in the sand and no one will find him.”

Lu Ban said in a low voice.

"...He's not dead yet."

Drizzt felt helpless and sighed.

"Just leave him lying here, it shouldn't cause any major problems."

"it is good."

Lu Ban nodded, then seemed to remember something and said...