# 1888
Chapter 1888: The Name That Doesn't Exist
Lin Qiye's gaze turned to the nearest planet beside him.
It was a grayish-white sphere, its broken rings circling the planet's exterior, trembling violently with the cosmos's convulsions like a spinning top gone haywire, yet the planet itself remained fixed in the crimson void, utterly motionless.
Further away, black holes and white holes clung together, like lovers waltzing through the void, spinning madly; even the super star at the center of the nearest galaxy, hundreds of times the size of the sun, had sprouted a grotesque maw, gnawing endlessly at nearby asteroids and planets like a jellybean creature.
In this maddened cosmos, all laws of physics seemed like pathetic playthings, ground underfoot by the Cthulhu Faction energy saturating the universe.
Lin Qiye knew he didn't have much time. He flew directly above the nearest grayish-white planet. Near the surface, there was no gravity whatsoever—instead, an immense repulsive force pushed Lin Qiye outward.
Lin Qiye endured the repulsion and descended to the planet's surface. At that moment, a manic roar grew louder in his ears.
Lin Qiye couldn't make out what the roar was saying, but he was fairly certain the voice was the consciousness of the planet beneath his feet. In this maddened cosmos, it seemed all matter had been roused into some pathological awareness, and the endless roars and murmurs he'd heard before were probably all being emitted by the matter in this universe. These sounds layered densely atop one another, nearly bursting his mind.
"Enough! What are you trying to say?!"
Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly as he shouted at the planet beneath him.
As Lin Qiye's voice rang out, the planet's roar grew even louder, but was quickly drowned among the countless voices—still unintelligible.
Bang—!!
The ground beneath Lin Qiye's feet exploded. A massive tentacle, dozens of kilometers long, lashed out from within, its mountain-like trunk slamming toward Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye swiftly dodged to the distance. The surface shattered silently in the void, dense debris scattering outward.
After missing Lin Qiye, the tentacle didn't pursue him. Instead, it went madly lashing at the gray-white earth, like an enraged hand that had lost all reason, venting its fury through self-mutilation and howls.
Looking at the scene before him, Lin Qiye's heart went cold... The good news was that this maddened cosmos seemed to retain some consciousness. The bad news was... these consciousnesses had virtually no possibility of communication.
But Lin Qiye refused to give up. He'd barely managed to endure the Cthulhu Faction's corruption to get here—if he left empty-handed, that would be too great a loss.
Lin Qiye pressed one hand against the gray-white ground and shouted through the endless roars:
"You have consciousness, so tell me—what happened here?"
"Az...az...ath...az...tho...thus...az...ath...oth..."
Among the rising and falling sounds, a断续的声音响起, Lin Qiye caught这几个字眼, his eyes brightening slightly.
There was hope!
He immediately stood up, channeling mental energy furiously into his vocal cords, and roared toward the entire crimson void:
"Quiet! Give me a unified answer! Cthulhu mythology—and then what?!"
Whether it was in response to Lin Qiye's howl or not, those rising and falling sounds gradually coalesced into a few similar syllables, surging into Lin Qiye's mind like waves,
"Sat...tho...sas...az...gath...ul...hur..."
Lin Qiye felt like his scalp was about to be ripped off. He sprayed a mouthful of blood, his mind shaking violently.
He endured the discomfort and spoke again, "What?!!"
The content these voices were trying to convey was so unified, suggesting they were speaking of an existence second in importance only to Cthulhu. Lin Qiye had a premonition—this was the key to the universe's corruption!
"Sat...tho...sas...Azathoth! AZATHOTH!! AZATHOTH!!!"
From the chaos, a clear word gradually took shape. The crimson of the void grew more vivid, and the entire cosmos flickered剧烈闪烁!
At this moment, Lin Qiye felt like his body was about to burst. He knew he had reached his limit, and without another moment's delay, he flew urgently toward the ward door standing in the void.
At the same time, a sharp shriek came from the depths of the cosmos. The grotesque face formed from countless stars expanded rapidly behind Lin Qiye, its furious will filling the entire universe!
The gray-white planet burst from its position, its shattered rings like blades, slicing toward Lin Qiye's body; the spinning black holes and white holes reversed trajectory, seemingly intending to devour him; even the fang-bearing star clenched its teeth with a grinding sound and lunged toward him at speed...
"It's gone mad again!" Lin Qiye felt the maddened killing intent from the universe behind him and flew forward with all his speed.
The Earth's "anchor" was approaching the limit of its resistance to corruption, and the entire universe had bared its fangs at him... If he was even half a second slower, he would likely be trapped forever in this ward.
Lin Qiye endured the excruciating pain in his mind, grabbed the door handle of the ward, twisted it quickly, and rushed out without hesitation.
Bang—!
He slammed the ward door shut behind him.
The endless roars and murmurs finally disappeared. In the pristine, quiet corridor, Lin Qiye leaned weakly against the railing, the throbbing pain in his mind nearly causing him to pass out.
"Whew..." Lin Qiye breathed a long sigh. Breathing the fresh air inside the hospital, his swollen, throbbing mind finally eased somewhat.
He sat in place for a full half hour before勉强缓过神, staggering to his feet...
"Azathoth..." Lin Qiye murmured the four characters, lost in thought.
From the syllable combination, this seemed to be a name, but Lin Qiye had never heard of it... Neither did it exist among the three Great Old Ones.
Yet those voices had indeed mentioned Cthulhu mythology before this name...
Lin Qiye contemplated briefly before withdrawing his consciousness from the Asylum of the Gods.
...
Great Xia, Landing Pad.
The helicopter's rotors spun rapidly, emitting a low hum.
The wind whipped Lin Qiye's cloak as he stood before the landing pad, gazing into the distance, as if waiting for something.
Just then, a crisp phone ringtone sounded.
Lin Qiye glanced at the caller ID, walked quickly to a spot sheltered from the wind, and answered:
"Hello?"
"Hello? Commander, I found what you asked me to look up."
"How did it go?"
"Nothing... I've searched through all of Night Watch's archives, and there's no information whatsoever related to the name 'Azathoth'... We're still importing the Oath Society's archives, but I asked their records keeper, and it seems they've never heard of this name either."