Gui Bin’s eyes turned to the direction the team leader was pointing at. Tracing the line of his finger, he saw a ship floating at sea. It floated gently on the ocean, and from its appearance, he could tell that it was the same one from the video he had just seen.

“This ship… how did it get here?”

Gui Bin asked incredulously.

“We also don’t know what’s going,” The leader shrugged, “The USA used satellites to scan the area where Cthulhu first appeared, but once the distortion in the area cleared up, the ship and monster were gone. When they found the ship again, it was in the South China Sea.”

“Since these are our waters, our navy quickly wrested control of the freighter. To get information on the ship’s cargo, the US agreed to provide intel on some of the discoveries they’ve made so far.”

The team leader put on a stern expression, “The information I passed on to you was originally American intelligence. Make sure not to let anyone else know.” After a pause he continued, shivering slightly, “Right. Another thing is the ship’s crew. After exiting the distorted space they were picked up by the American warships. Although there weren’t many direct casualties of the incident, the trauma seems to have wreaked havoc on their minds.”

In all honesty, the team leader would have been less uneasy if the crew had been eaten by the monster. At least it would make more sense since that was the kind of thing monsters were thought to do. But the current state of affairs was quite unnerving. He could not even begin to fathom the monster’s motives.

As the two conversed the helicopter neared the freighter, and Gui Bin began to fully appreciate the scale of the ship. If the Cthulhu-like monster dwarfed even this massive vessel, then just how large was it, really? He felt his spine tingle at the thought.

The helicopter hovered over the ocean and dropped a rope ladder onto a waiting speedboat. Gui Bin and the team leader descended onto it and then made for the ship. Upon reaching it they put on hazmat suits and boarded.

The freighter had American and Chinese investigators poring over it. It seemed that the ship’s search was a joint effort by the two nations. So far nothing particularly interesting had turned up.

“Nothing. There is nothing here…”

With a defeated expression the team leader continued, “Despite all the manpower poured into searching the ship, there is no evidence of anything happening on it. You saw in the video the image of the monster dripping slime onto the deck, and there were even pieces of its flesh blown off when some of the crewmates shot at it. But nothing remains. Not a single trace of the monster has been found. It’s almost like it never existed.”

“The door to the ship’s cabin seems to have been forced open by something. From the experts’ analysis, they concluded that Cthulthu’s tentacles probably did the job. In reality, it was Louie’s tail, but none of them could be expected to know that.

“What kind of cargo was the freighter carrying?”

“More than 200,000 tons of grain, and it’s all gone.”

“What’s this now? Did all that sleeping turn Cthulhu vegetarian?” Gui Bin joked.

“No one has a clue. There are simply too many things unknown about these creatures. Do they even need to eat? They are, after all quite different from the creatures in the myths and legends of our country. Perhaps they can’t subsist on the energies of heaven and earth alone. Right, you shouldn’t bring up the topic of immortal cultivation. That is only fiction made up in recent years. It’s different compared to ancient supernatural creatures.”

The leader said as they continued walking around the freighter.

“By the way, leader, could the entire thing have been staged?” Gui Bin asked.

“Haha... That was certainly one of the first hypotheses. However, that is extremely unlikely. We interrogated all of the surviving and sane crew members, and their accounts of the events correlate perfectly. Furthermore, the Americans themselves sent a drone into the distorted space and instantly lost contact with it,” the team leader placed a hand on his chin, pensive, “But the strangest thing to me is how so many people turned mad upon seeing the monster. There have been no traces of hypnotics or hallucinogens found, and so the experts are chalking it up to ‘magic’.”

“Since it’s inexplicable, it might as well be.”

Gui Bin nodded at the leader’s words and asked, “Then, could it be that Cthulhu itself did not manifest. Rather some kind of shadow… or avatar, did? After all, there are many tales of gods having multiple incarnations. Perhaps what the crew saw was only a slice of the real thing.”

“Are you implying there are parallel worlds?” The leader asked, falling deep into thought.

“I think it’s very plausible. If not, then why haven’t there been any real supernatural events for so many years? If those legends are partly true, then where did those creatures in legends go? They didn’t even leave behind any fossils. The only explanation that could make sense is that they had gone to a different world. One which was close to but ultimately separate from this one. But now these entities are reappearing… Could this mark the return of the conditions they needed to thrive?”

Gui Bin began to think with all his might and squeezed out a potential explanation.

The leader thought for a moment and said, “That is also a possibility. If that’s the case, there should be some kind of doorway connecting the two worlds in the Pacific Ocean as well as the Amazon jungle.”

But he shook his head and thought about it again. There was simply too little information, so they could only make wild guesses at the moment. Everything was still pure speculation.

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Look at this beautiful freighter. This is a gift given to us for free by our country, a super expensive cargo ship.”

The leader joked.

“Then we just need someone who still dares to use this freighter.”

Gui Bin spat.

At this time, while Earth’s nations were puzzling over the slew of mysterious events, their culprit was heading back to his city in San Soliel.