On the other side of the port, Simon felt more and more uneasy the further he walked. He stopped at the entrance of the Port Authority, staring in the direction where Ryan had disappeared into the blizzard, the ominous premonition gnawing at his nerves like a venomous snake.
The words the director had left before departing suddenly exploded in his mind without warning: “You two, keep an eye on him.”
Thinking of this, Simon couldn't help but scratch his head vigorously, his face twisted in a conflicted grimace. “I mean... if the director specifically told us to keep an eye on him, why did he insist on sending him to the port in the first place?”
Alvin was currently trudging over, taking deep, uneven steps in the snow while carrying a heavy toolbox on his back. Hearing this, his footsteps came to a halt.
He fell silent for two seconds, then muttered, “I've been wondering about that too.”
The director was never one to waste words. Since he had gone out of his way to give that instruction, there had to be a deeper meaning behind it.
“Let's go.” Simon let out a deep sigh and pulled his overcoat tighter around himself. “We can't let that guy actually tear the port apart.”
Alvin nodded silently. Trudging through the ankle-deep snow and braving the increasingly violent blizzard, the two of them quickly set off in the direction Ryan had gone.
...
Meanwhile, in front of the abandoned pier, Ryan still stood alone in the depths of the wind and snow. His gaze was locked onto the massive node in the distance, which was constantly radiating the bone-chilling cold of the Winter aspect.
However, in the eyes of Simon and Alvin watching from afar, this scene was bizarre to the extreme. In the vast, white snowscape, Ryan stood as still as a statue, yet his lips were moving rapidly and erratically, his expression shifting unpredictably—he looked as if he were locked in a heated conversation with an invisible ghost in the air.
Simon and Alvin, who had just caught up, both screeched to a sudden halt.
Simon opened his mouth, his voice slightly dry. “What... what is he doing?”
Alvin stared at Ryan for a moment, a strange look on his face. “It looks like... he's chatting with the air.”
Simon's face instantly drained of color, and he slapped his thigh in despair. “We're doomed. His brain really is broken.”
Alvin massaged his temples in pain. “He didn't... actually knock himself crazy, did he?”
Simon was just about to shout at the top of his lungs to call Ryan back, but in the very next second, the entire East Port suddenly plunged into a dead silence without warning.
It was as if all of nature had ground to a halt in an instant. The wind died down. The snow stopped.
Even the churning waves on the distant river froze eerily in mid-air at this moment, transforming into cold, icy sculptures.
The Glory in Ryan's left eye flared violently, his pupil contracting to the size of a pinhead. “It's here.”
Boom—! The ground beneath their feet trembled violently. Immediately after, the thick snow began to bulge upward over a massive area.
One spot, two spots... a dozen, dozens! Beneath those densely packed mounds of snow, it felt as though countless massive creatures were frantically clawing and crawling through the earth.
Before the workers stranded at the pier could even react to this bizarre natural disaster, the thick snow exploded!
A pale, decaying, skeletal arm with claws as sharp as knives suddenly pierced through the snow. Following closely, a ghoul covered in eerie blue frost with a mouth full of fangs crawled out with a low growl.
Then a second, a third, a fourth... Bang! Bang! Bang!
Continuous explosions echoed throughout the port as hundreds of ghouls, carrying a rotting stench and bone-chilling cold, surged like a tide from the graveyard beneath the snow. Their greedy eyes locked onto the scent of living humans, unleashing ear-splitting, blood-curdling screeches.
“Monsters—!” Screams of sheer terror finally shattered the dead silence.
In an instant, the entire East Port was reduced to a slaughterhouse.
The workers threw down their supplies and fled in wild panic, but how could the speed of living humans compare to these underground beasts? Some had barely taken two steps before being tackled into the snow by a grinning ghoul.
Pale, sharp claws instantly ripped through heavy winter coats and chests.
Boiling, hot blood sprayed into the air, instantly staining the pristine, white snow an eye-searing crimson.
Cries, screams, the desperate gunfire of the patrol officers, and the wet chewing of the monsters instantly intertwined into a chaotic, mad symphony.
In the distance, Simon's face turned as white as paper. “Damn it, it's a ghoul tide!”
Officer Jonathan displayed incredible bravery amidst the chaos. He drew his revolver, firing wildly while shouting at the top of his lungs, “Officers! Assemble! Fire! Don't let them breach the city!”
But there were too many. Far too many. These monsters seemed to be overflowing from the cracks of hell itself, seemingly endless.
And just as the entire port was plunged into the heart of this bloody, chaotic storm, Chris burst into a fit of breathless, manic laughter inside Ryan's mind.
“Hahahahaha!” “It's starting! It's finally starting!” “Go witness it, Ryan! Go welcome the great gift!”
Chris's laughter grew increasingly shrill. Suddenly, at the boundary where the wind, snow, and blood mist met.
A tall figure wearing a black tailcoat and a top hat, holding a silver-white cane, stepped elegantly and slowly into this slaughterhouse.
It was as if he were not standing in a blood-soaked port, but rather taking a leisurely stroll to a sacred banquet.
The master of the Knock aspect—the Gentleman of Knock.
Chris laughed hysterically. At some point, he had fished a brass-colored moth coin from his breast pocket.
The surface of the coin was now covered in intricate, dense occult patterns. A moth with spread wings was carved so lifelike upon it, looking as though it might break free from the metal and take flight at any moment.
Chris flicked it gently.
The brass coin drew a golden arc through the air, crossing from dream into reality, and flew accurately toward the Gentleman of Knock.
The Gentleman of Knock raised his white-gloved hand slightly, catching it steadily and elegantly. He looked down at the moth on the coin, a playful smile playing on the corner of his lips.
“These violent delights have violent ends.”
With those words, he turned his hand and gently pressed the brass coin against the empty space before him.
Click— A crisp sound rang out, like an ancient key finally sliding into a keyhole that had slept for a thousand years.
At this moment, the sound of cracking crystals seemed to echo through the entire world.
Immediately after, a pure white rift tore open in the center of the void without warning.
It emitted no light, yet in an instant, it stripped away all surrounding color, shining more blindingly than the sun. It made no sound, yet in a split second, it drowned out every scream and gunshot across the entire port.
An ancient, sacred, and indescribable pure white gate slowly rose from the void.
Upon the doorframe, dense patterns squirmed and crawled like living things. As the gate fully unfolded, the frozen wind and snow of the entire East Port seemed to receive some supreme summons, converging frantically toward that pure white gate like a mountain-collapsing wave!
The sky, the earth, the river. At this moment, all things in the world seemed to have met their deity, bowing down in worship before this gate.
All conflict ceased. Whether it was the frenzied ghouls or the terrified humans, everyone seemed to have been stripped of their souls, involuntarily stopping whatever they were doing.
They slowly raised their heads, staring in blank, awestruck shock at the miracle standing in reality.
At this moment, the boundary between reality and illusion, waking life and dream, was truly torn open.
Rate on N.U.
