I write obituaries for the gods

“If the Mentis cultists can see the illusion of that thing, it means it’s about to awaken…” Jiang Zhengge murmured, gently stroking his chin. “Does the logistics department have anything new? Something ruthless; we need to deliver a fatal blow before it awakens.”

"Otherwise, the tragedy of three years ago will happen again."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhengge and tide Leina's eyes met.

The latter nodded slightly:

"We should take the initiative."

"I'll go to the logistics department," Xiao Fang said, standing up.

“I’ll go with you,” Wu Hao said.

"The rest of you, begin the investigation," Jiang Zhengge instructed. "Be careful, and focus on gathering intelligence!"

......

After a long day of work, Jiang Zhengge and tide Leina went to a bar together.

“The usual, two of my recipes,” Xilena said to the bartender. “Mine, no ice.”

"Why did you order this for me? What if I wanted something else to drink?" Jiang Zhengge smiled.

"Come on, you haven't tried on any of the new ones that have come out," Xileina muttered. "I think you'd be better suited to be a Rom."

"hehe."

The bartender brought over two glasses of aquamarine liquid, and the two drank together.

Jazz music played in the bar, and the rain outside blurred the lights of the Westview District into indistinct patches of color.

“I have a premonition,” Jiang Zhengge murmured. “Last time, we used the highest level of methods to hunt them down, but the multi-eyed sirens just slept for three years and nothing happened.”

"I always felt that we couldn't kill that thing."

"Don't overthink it," Xileina said softly. "Nothing is immortal."

Jiang Zhengge noticed that tide Leina's hands suddenly clenched.

He knew that the seemingly calm Rom girl before him had never truly let go of her resentment.

On those nights when they fell asleep together, he could always hear her murmuring in her nightmares.

She kept dreaming about that disaster.

Jiang Zhengge knew that as long as the source of the calamity remained, tide Leina would never be at peace.

"Later, I went home."

Jiang Zhengge swirled his wine glass and murmured.

"My parents' house is quite small, but it's very clean."

“I’ll go and collect their belongings, and while I’m at it, I’ll put the house up for sale, since I probably won’t be going back.”

"I found a group photo."

Jiang Zhengge took out his wallet, pulled a photo from a hidden compartment, and handed it to tide Leina.

The photo shows Jiang Zhengge wearing a military uniform and holding a toy gun. He was at most six years old at the time, and the background appears to be a summer camp.

"So cute." Xileina smiled.

Jiang Zhengge's lips curled slightly:

"It's hard to imagine. I don't even remember when this photo was taken, but he's kept it and put it on his bedside table."

"Damn it, that old bastard beat me up every day when I was a kid. After I started making money, the first thing he did was come and leech off me. And to make matters worse, he always had that stern face."

"I'm fucking amazed that he could keep this stupid photo all this time. He can't even remember his own bankbook password."

Jiang Zhengge sighed softly.

"I didn't want to go to this lousy summer camp in the first place. To be honest, it's just a place to make photos. The kids wear military uniforms, shout slogans, and the parents are happy to see it, but the only ones who are tortured are the kids."

"But for some reason, I keep dreaming about what that old man said to me before I left for summer camp these past few days."

He said...

"You must protect your home and country! Be the guardian of the people!"

Jiang Zhengge gently touched the old photo, and then touched the child in the photo.

But now he doesn't want to think about the child in the photo; he wants to think about the person who took the photo.

"I have indeed become a guardian, but unfortunately, I am not protecting my hometown, but the rain capital."

"Grandpa will be proud of you," tide Leina said softly.

Jiang Zhengge suddenly grabbed her hand.

tide Leina turned her head and met Jiang Zhengge's slightly reddened eyes.

“Xiaoxi, don’t let hatred consume you,” he whispered. “You’ve been by my side for the past three years. I can see your pain, and I know you’ve never truly let go.”

Upon hearing this, tide Leina was slightly taken aback.

"Is it that obvious?" she whispered.

Jiang Zhengge nodded slightly:

"We are the guardians. As long as we can protect Yudu and prevent that monster from ever touching our world again, those disasters will not happen again."

“We’ve been too conservative,” Xilena shook her head slightly. “We should have launched a large-scale operation to hunt down the first cultist as soon as we caught them, so we would have known sooner.”

“You understand, the higher-ups don’t consider this a top priority…” Jiang Zhengge said.

“Then we should at least torture the first believer,” Xilena said, “instead of listening to the medical department’s nonsense about protecting their human rights.”

“That guy’s body has weakened from staring into the subspace for too long,” Jiang Zhengge sighed. “With a little effort, he will die.”

“He deserved it.” Xileina closed her eyes.

Seeing the girl's slightly trembling lips, Jiang Zhengge knew that this was not her intention.

But she was too anxious; she was too eager for revenge and couldn't tolerate that monster still existing in the world.

“If you gaze into the abyss for too long, the abyss will change you. If you become like that monster in your pursuit of revenge, the backlash will eventually come back to haunt you.”

Jiang Zhengge downed the wine in his glass in one gulp.

"Your brother wouldn't want you to do this."

"Perhaps."

tide Leina held Jiang Zhengge's hand tightly, and the two stopped talking, simply drinking one cup after another.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Zhengge suddenly let go of his hand.

She turned her head and found Jiang Zhengge lying on the bar, asleep.

tide Leina took off her coat and covered Jiang Zhengge with it, then ordered a drink from the bartender.

As she drank, she recalled what Jiang Zhengge had just said.

If you gaze into the abyss for too long, the abyss will change you.

tide Lena looked at her hands, feeling the power flowing through her fingertips.

“But I was changed from the very beginning of the story,” she said softly.

......

The next day, when Jiang Zhengge and tide Leina entered the office of the Rapid Response Division, everyone was gathered around a screen discussing something.

As soon as he appeared, everyone fell silent, and Xiao Fang came forward to greet him:

"The Black Abyss began to activate when we started observations."

.......

The activation of the ruins signifies the imminent birth of new anomalous entities within them.

This discovery reveals a fact to everyone: the multi-eyed sirens are actually creations of the Abyss.

As long as the Abyss exists, it can be reborn again and again.

It is not that it has not been destroyed, but that it will return time and time again.

The only way to prevent the resurgence of the multi-eyed sirens is to destroy the Abyss.

"A subspace bunker-buster missile, when its blue-blue equivalent is increased to the structural limit, can penetrate a subspace depth of D=2."

The logistics department expert stood in front of the screen and began to explain to the people in Section One:

"In subspace, the explosion of this missile will trigger a blue chain reaction, releasing energy that is more than ten times greater than that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined."

“The drilling depth is too low. Our target is D-4.12,” Jiang Zhengge said, looking at the missile structure on the screen. “If we launch it from the real world, it won’t hit the target, will it?”

“How about launching from subspace?” Xileina asked.

Logistics experts gave a thumbs up:

"Xiao Jiang is smart. Our plan is the same: lower the missile launch platform into subspace, to a depth of about 2.3-2.5 meters, and then launch it directly from subspace."

"The safety of this plan is guaranteed. Even if it fails, the retreat is simple. The depth of around D-2 is not that dangerous."

"Indeed credible."

Jiang Zhengge nodded and looked at Xiao Fang:

"Let's get started. Time is running out, we need to get moving as soon as possible."

"Operation code name..."

Jiang Zhengge thought for a moment:

"Deep-sea diving".

......

Interlude: The Abyss Still Gazes (Part 2) (First and Second Updates)

"Ugh——"

The research vessel "Yuanyang" sailed out of the dock and slowly headed towards the southeast sea.

Of course, the research vessel is just a disguise; the ship's true identity is a weapon platform carrying "subspace bunker-buster missiles."

The lower part of the ship is equipped with a lifting device that can directly extend the launch silo into subspace, like dropping an anchor into the sea.

This operation was rushed, but given the limited time available, the first launch had to be deployed immediately.

"..."

On the dock, Jiang Zhengge raised his head and looked at the dense dark clouds overhead, his brows furrowing slightly.

To be honest, he didn't know what the outcome of this operation would be. After all, the subspace bunker-buster missile was still just an experimental weapon, and it was hard to say whether it could actually penetrate two layers of depth.

Regardless, Jiang Zhengge knew that he would have to face that thing again.

"Hey, spacing out?"

A familiar voice sounded from behind.

Jiang Zhengge turned his head and saw tide Leina walking towards him somewhat awkwardly, wearing a heavy diving suit.

"This thing is so uncomfortable to walk in," Xileina said. "Is it similar to a spacesuit?"

"Why did you associate this with spacesuits?" Jiang Zhengge smiled.

"You forgot? I've always wanted to go to space."

tide Leina smiled brightly.

"My mother talks about astrology all day long, saying that the stars predict people's fate."

“I told her that stars are celestial bodies and there’s nothing mysterious about them, but she always laughed and said I didn’t understand.”

"Back then, I thought that one day I would go to space, take pictures of the stars, and convince her to stop thinking about those old things."

Xileina looked down, fiddling with her heavy wetsuit, and complained:

"This wetsuit is so heavy, it's nothing like the ones you see on TV."

“Yes, because it’s a special diving suit,” Jiang Zhengge nodded. “Strictly speaking, it should be called a deep-sea diving suit, which we borrowed from the deep-sea diving department.”

"The kind of deep-sea suit that can withstand subspace erosion?" Xileina asked, somewhat surprised.