# 881
Chapter 882: The Truth of the Fishing Village
"Even if you manage to hold on until the very end of the loop, the law of time will mercilessly erase you. Here, you have no way to escape! This fishing village is a deathtrap that can annihilate any existence below the god realm! Your only way out is to pull out this damned blade of time and end the endless loop here. That way, you can escape from 'their' gaze and avoid being erased by time..."
Lin Qiye took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the frenzy in his heart, and said coldly:
"Pull it out, and then what? Let this giant beast resurrect under the red moon, then let all living beings be slaughtered?"
Hearing these words, Chen Yangrong was slightly stunned.
He eyed Lin Qiye with a strange expression, and asked疑惑ly, "How did you know?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Lin Qiye raised his hand and pointed at the constantly writhing stomach walls behind Chen Yangrong. "Ever since your so-called red moon appeared, the giant beast that had lost all vitality has begun to show signs of life again, actively devouring your body. And the stronger this emotion-affecting power becomes, the faster it writhes.
When the red moon's power reaches its peak, the stomach walls here will completely devour your body, and this giant beast will resurrect... This is what it wants.
Combined with your insane ramblings just now, I can basically guess the truth behind this fishing village's existence."
"Oh?" Chen Yangrong raised an eyebrow. "What's the truth?"
"This fishing village's time isn't just a closed loop... it's also a prison." Lin Qiye spoke slowly. "And the prisoner locked inside isn't you, Chen Yangrong... it's this thing."
Lin Qiye's gaze fell on the massive stomach walls before him.
"If I guessed correctly, this giant beast's corpse sunken in the deep sea should be closely related to the Cthulhu Mythos.
According to what you said, the Cthulhu gods exist on the Moon while waiting for their 'return,' which suggests 'they' are currently in a state similar to imprisonment, unable to freely return to Earth. So that giant beast's corpse resting at the bottom of the deep sea might be 'their' only means of action on Earth.
Therefore, 'they' want to resurrect this giant beast."
Lin Qiye paused, beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks. He took a deep breath and continued organizing the clues in his mind:
"You just said that either we die from time erasure or from 'their' gaze... And this 'gaze' from the Moon should be the manifestation of the red moon.
Fifty years ago, something may have happened on the Moon, allowing the Cthulhu gods imprisoned there to project their gaze onto a certain corner of Earth. This gaze descending from the Moon became the red moon in human eyes.
This gaze fell upon the sea area where the giant beast's corpse lay, while also covering this fishing village on the shore.
From the very beginning, 'they' aimed to resurrect this giant beast through the red moon. Whether it was you, Chen Yangrong, or the fishing village on the shore that was also caught within the red moon's coverage, both were merely accidental byproducts...
You, Chen Yangrong, were merely an ordinary person who suffered a shipwreck before the red moon descended and was accidentally pulled into the giant beast's stomach walls. But as the red moon descended, your body was slowly devoured by this giant beast. Its power and thoughts frantically eroded your consciousness, and without you even noticing, it turned you into its puppet.
You mistook its will for your own thoughts, causing you to, in just a few days, become a fanatical Believer of Cthulhu, and personally prepare to guide the Cthulhu gods on the Moon back to Earth.
The red moon cannot be blocked, which means the giant beast's resurrection cannot be interrupted. Therefore, the elderly Wang Mian could only use a time loop to lock the time of this area, reversing the flow of time back to three days prior at the moment the red moon reached its peak—right when the giant beast was about to resurrect—reversing its resurrection process.
Therefore, under this prison of the time loop, the giant beast's resurrection has been delayed by a full fifty years.
Am I... correct?"
The last sentence, Lin Qiye did not say while looking at Chen Yangrong, but at the dark stomach walls surrounding them... He was trying to communicate with this giant beast that was in the process of revival.
After saying all this under the influence of the red moon, Lin Qiye felt his brain was about to explode. His breathing grew heavier and heavier, his consciousness began to fade gradually, and an unprecedented sense of frenzy surged into his heart.
Chen Yangrong stared at him for a long while before speaking in disbelief:
"Just from what I said earlier, you deduced this much?"
Lin Qiye did not answer. He merely gripped his fists tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging...
"So you're much smarter than the previous batch of mice." Chen Yangrong couldn't help but exclaim. "They only discovered the truth after seeing the timeline recorded in this circle. You actually guessed it from my casual remarks. Impressive."
Hearing these words, Lin Qiye was slightly stunned.
"Previous batch?"
"Yes, there were also seven of them, wearing grey cloaks. They probably came in on the last day, about three loops ago..."
The image of the 【Mask】 squad instantly flashed through Lin Qiye's mind. He abruptly raised his head. "Where are they? What happened to them?!"
"What happened?" Chen Yangrong sneered. "I should have told you—this place is a deathtrap that can annihilate any existence below the god realm.
They managed to hold on through the red moon's influence, which was already impressive. Unfortunately, until they were erased by the law of time, they still hadn't chosen to pull out this blade... What tough cookies.
However..."
Chen Yangrong paused, then shifted topics. "It seems like one young person inside managed to outrun time and disappeared."
Lin Qiye froze in place.
【Mask】... was erased by time?
Calculating from the time they entered the fishing village, the 【Mask】 squad entered the loop about twelve days ago... But until now, the loop here hasn't been broken, which means they didn't choose to pull out that blade back then.
Without pulling out the blade, the loop wouldn't end. Their ultimate fate could only be mutual slaughter, or erasure by time.
【Mask】 survived the red moon, but couldn't outrun time.
Lin Qiye should have anticipated this result long ago. He had just been avoiding the issue, not wanting to face such an outcome...
He still refused to believe it!
"You lie!"
Under the red moon's influence, Lin Qiye's violent emotions were instantly ignited. He glared with those bloodshot eyes and roared.
"You don't believe it?" Chen Yangrong said coldly. "The circle at the tail of this blade records every timeline of the loop here. If you don't believe me... just look for yourself."
Lin Qiye's gaze fell upon the slowly rotating luminous ring at the tail of 【Mandarin Arrow】. A decisive light flickered in his eyes. He suddenly rushed out from the lantern fish's radiant range and arrived before Chen Yangrong's chest, staring at a certain point on that ring...