# 2025
Chapter 2009: The Call of the Mad Universe
The pale walls, the disheveled desks and chairs, the tightly shut curtains... The bright lights illuminated this cramped space, dead silent and suffocating.
Lin Qiye stood frozen in place for a long while, before a spark of clarity finally returned to his dazed eyes.
"A psychiatric hospital? Why am I here??"
A sharp pain shot through his mind, and he instinctively clutched his head as countless chaotic thoughts surged forth.
Hadn't he just been talking with 【Chaos】? How did he suddenly end up here... Wait, what had 【Chaos】 just said to him?
Those words echoed in Lin Qiye's mind. His eyes narrowed slightly, and the next moment, he rushed to the hospital room door and pulled the handle—click—the door didn't open.
The door had been locked from the inside.
Lin Qiye froze, then immediately unlocked it and pushed the door open!
Beyond the door lay a corridor he was equally familiar with. A grayish-black sky hung over the hospital—not clouds, but something resembling lead, oppressive and stifling, making it hard to breathe.
Lin Qiye didn't waste time on the sky. He immediately looked back at the door behind him. It was the last room on this floor.
Ward Six.
The doorplate was pitch black, like a swathe of inky night.
This really was the Asylum of the Gods... But why was he here?
He turned to look beyond the corridor, at the empty courtyard lying beneath the gray-black heavens. There wasn't a sound. The noisy orderlies had all vanished. The entire world seemed to have been reduced to Lin Qiye alone.
"Li Yifei!" Lin Qiye called out, but no one answered.
Lin Qiye frowned and closed his eyes, attempting to disconnect his consciousness from the Asylum of the Gods. However, his connection to the outside world felt severed—he couldn't leave.
Just as confusion settled in, a black figure burst out of the first-floor orderly room, rolling on the courtyard grass like a dog, then excitedly standing up and clapping while laughing at Lin Qiye standing on the second floor:
"So fun!! So much fun!!"
"Lord Azathoth! Play again! Take me to play again!! I haven't had enough yet!!!"
Seeing that black figure, Lin Qiye's pupils constricted violently... The one wearing the dark cyan orderly uniform was no one else—it was 【Chaos】, whom he had just seen!
Rage crept into Lin Qiye's eyes. He leaped directly from the second floor, crashing into 【Chaos】 and pinning it beneath him. His fist swung heavily toward its face!
"【Chaos】! What did you do?!"
Bang—!
Lin Qiye's fist passed directly through 【Chaos】's cheek and struck the grass... Seeing the ghost-like 【Chaos】 before him, Lin Qiye was stunned.
【Chaos】's half-face was blocked by Lin Qiye's fist, yet it was completely unaffected. It continued speaking excitedly:
"I didn't do anything! It's just that your dream has ended, Lord Azathoth!"
"Lord Azathoth? Are you talking to me??" Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly. "What nonsense are you spouting! How could I possibly be Azathoth?!"
"You are Lord Azathoth! You've devoured this universe, taken over this universe's consciousness and body. This is already the fifth universe you've claimed! Soon you'll completely escape this world fabricated by words and become the only 'truth' in existence!"
【Chaos】 gazed at Lin Qiye, then seemed to realize something. Its eyes narrowed as it spoke, "Lord Azathoth... You wouldn't have been influenced by this universe's will while devouring the fifth universe?"
The fifth universe?
Devouring a universe's consciousness and body?
Escaping this world fabricated by words and becoming the only "truth" in existence??
Hearing these words, Lin Qiye's mind ached once more. Memories that didn't belong to him surfaced one after another. His entire person grew somewhat dazed.
"That possibility can't be ruled out either... You said the fifth universe's consciousness was extremely powerful—that it might affect you... But it should pass soon. After all, you are Lord Azathoth!"
【Chaos】's voice sounded again, but Lin Qiye could no longer hear it clearly. The jumbled memories were nearly tearing him apart, driving him toward madness!
Lin Qiye painfully hunched his body, pressing down the chaotic fragments of memory bit by bit. He breathed heavily, his eyes so crimson they seemed to drip blood!
"Impossible... This is impossible!!"
Lin Qiye suddenly stood up, spun around, and charged up the stairs, returning once more to the corridor on the second floor of the ward building.
He rushed to the first ward's door and without hesitation threw it open!
Click—!
As the door swung open, a pitch-black gale rushed out from within. Countless roars and whispers echoed through the entire floor in an instant!
The ward beyond the door had completely transformed into a chaotic universe. Countless dark red stars flew about in disorder within it. A terrifying face lurked in the depths of the void, roaring furiously at Lin Qiye.
That was this universe's will... A universe's will that had fallen into madness!
That face saw Lin Qiye. Its eyes gradually widened. Its twisted, pathological expression became visibly more grotesque with each passing moment. The next instant, a furious voice resounded throughout the universe!
"A...A...ZA...THOTH...!!!"
Hearing those familiar syllables, Lin Qiye's body shuddered. A memory surged into his mind...
Lin Qiye had heard this voice before... Back then, he had attempted to open the fourth ward's door to enter the mad universe in search of clues for confronting the Cthulhu Faction. That universe had also cried out the name "Azathoth." And from that moment, Lin Qiye learned of Azathoth's existence...
But looking at things now... That roar hadn't been answering his questions at all. How could a universe that had already gone mad understand his questions normally and provide answers?
It had been addressing him directly??
Standing before this ward door, Lin Qiye's body trembled uncontrollably. He could feel memory after memory surfacing in his mind—memories that didn't belong to him... These were precisely the memories about the Cthulhu Mythos and the invasion of universes.
At this moment, Lin Qiye could even detect a hint of resonance within the darkness that had devoured this universe. That darkness felt almost like part of his own body. This universe was like food swallowed into his belly, supplying him with power continuously!
"I am Azathoth... I am Azathoth??" Lin Qiye's consciousness was being torn apart by madness. He shook his head continuously, his face deathly pale as he rushed to the next ward door and shoved it open!
Another mad universe roared at him furiously:
"A...ZA...THOTH!!"
Then the third, the fourth... When all four ward doors had been opened, the chaotic, disordered darkness slithered out like ribbons, connecting to Lin Qiye's body...
He knelt on the ground like a stone statue, his eyes hollow and vacant... After an unknown amount of time passed, he僵硬地抬起头，那双迷茫的眼眸中，浮现出一抹异样的光辉。
"I am... Azathoth."