December 7, 2044, United States, somewhere.

In the middle of winter, most of the vegetation has withered under the unusually heavy snowfall caused by the warming climate, and only cold-tolerant plants such as fir trees still stand in the snow.

In this snowstorm, the land is covered in white, and the abnormal weather makes local residents reluctant to travel. Because of this, this small and unpopulated new town looks even more desolate, but in the white earth, there are two small black dots advancing.

"Phew, Mike, do we have to walk through this step-by-step? Can't we drive a car?"

The scarf-wrapped head exhaled white air through the cracks, and Louis grumbled as he looked curiously at the town. Beside him, a middle-aged man wearing a hat and a black coat had his hands in his pockets, and his head wrapped in a scarf showed only a pair of eyes to the outside world.

"The target does not like to be disturbed, and according to the regulations, the use of vehicles, flying skateboards, and other noisy vehicles must be prohibited. You will gradually take over my assignment in the future, and this is your first trip to the target residence, and you will need to keep these points in mind. ”

The man said in a commanding tone.

In the face of his superior's words, Louis could only respond, and then the two walked silently for a while, and Louis, who felt that he was too silent, tried to open up again.

"Mike, have you ever seen snow like this before? I haven't seen snow since I was born, and I've only seen it in VR. ”

"When I was a kid, there was a lot of snow like this. ”

The man said.

"I see that those scientists say that this unexpected heavy snow is related to 124, and I feel that those scholars are now more and more fond of pushing things to 124, and they like to say that it is because of 124 for any abnormal weather and trivialities. ”

"Speaking of 124, I grew up with scientists who said that it was an internal change in the sun, but many people insist that it is related to us, do you think it is true?"

Young Louis couldn't help but ask, as he complained.

124 is a contemporary term for the celestial anomaly that occurred on December 4, 2004.

Forty years ago, the sun changed and disturbed the earth, and in this case, the earth experienced a large number of natural disasters at that time and in the following decades, until these years gradually subsided.

While the official claim is that SCP-124 was triggered by anomalous activity inside the Sun, conspiracy theories have never stopped regarding SCP-124. Supernatural theories, extraterrestrial civilization theories, supernova theories, futuristic theories, and some conspiracy theory groups insist that it has something to do with Freemasonry.

These conspiracy theorists who believe that Freemasonry is associated believe that it was Freemasonry that triggered the machinery of the ancient Atlantean civilization at that time that led to the later solar mutations.

"Those are conspiracy theories. ”

In the face of Louis's curiosity, the man in the coat next to him just walked forward and replied indifferently.

"But how do you explain the Atlantic incident mentioned by Charlie the Sailor?"

In 2028, according to the account of a veteran U.S. sailor who was serving on a warship at the time, he saw the ocean cut by a pillar of light.

"Brighter than a thousand suns, it easily cut open the entire ocean, just as Moses in mythology parted the Red Sea, revealing a deep seabed......"

According to the old sailors, after the incident, the crew of the ship were asked by the military to keep it secret, and after that, the sailors were scattered and reorganized. Although there is no evidence, he insists that there are still military personnel spying on him until now, and that he has kept the secret in his heart for years before secretly finding an opportunity to disclose it.

However, in the later medical evaluation, the veteran sailor of the US Army was determined to suffer from Alzheimer's disease and depression, so it is not sure whether what he said was his delusion, or because he was too lonely, he wanted to use shocking words to attract the attention of the world. But among those conspiracy theorists, the old sailor's statements are extremely popular.

As a result, many people claim that this incident is related to the legendary Atlantean civilization.

"A veteran's gibberish. ”

The man in the coat still walked forward without looking back.

"What about the strange phenomenon in Manhattan? It's officially recognized, and many people can testify to it. ”

Louis asked again.

Other evidence is the bizarre events in Manhattan, New York, at the time of the 124 Incident.

At the same time as the 124 incident, a strange phenomenon occurred in the Manhattan district of New York at the time, a bizarre explosion destroyed the entire Manhattan city, causing a large area of casualties.

And some people said that before this strange explosion, a large number of soldiers and even warplanes went to block the people's access. One police officer, who did not want to be identified, insisted that "everyone was turned to salt long before the explosion." ”

"That afternoon, I was one of the police officers who were given an impromptu assignment to go to Manhattan with capable police officers...... When I arrived, I noticed a steady stream of soldiers asking us to pull out the fence and drive away the crowd. I still don't understand what happened there, but one thing I know for sure is that the people who disappeared turned to salt, because I saw that there was some white substance on some streets, in the driver's seat of a car, and that was salt...... I was ordered to return, but it wasn't long before the explosion happened, and the whole of Manhattan was vitrified, and almost no soldiers survived, and I was one of the few survivors of the incident. ”

This is one of the few incidents that has been officially acknowledged, but the official explanation is that the effects of Incident 124 led to the accidental detonation of an arsenal at an underground military base.

Due to the large number of missing people and the fact that a military base was secretly placed in Manhattan, this incident led to a great public repercussion at the time, a great political shock, and countless public officials were resigned.

Time has passed, and many of the events of that year have settled, but the impact of the 124 incident is still widely discussed.

The impact of the 124 incident is so far-reaching that 40 years later, countless books, movies, and games are still discussing it.

However, because there are too many such rumors about 124, and many of the claims have big logical holes, the proponents of conspiracy theories are only a very small number of people, and the vast majority of people still believe the official version.

"An explosion, what is there to say. ”

The man replied coldly.

"But ......"

Before Louis could finish speaking, the man who had always cherished words stopped and looked at Louis beside him.

One of his eyes was hidden behind the scarf, and the cold was terrible, and Louis felt creepy in front of these eyes, and swallowed the words back.

"I know you're doing good things like firearms shooting, trailing leads, etc., and those instructors have a high opinion of you, but in my eyes you're just a kid who has just stepped into the world. If you don't want to be washed out of your memory, talk less and keep your mouth shut. ”

This is probably the most a man says when he faces Louis.

Under the intimidation of those cold and terrible eyes, Louis didn't say anything more along the way.

When he reached a small bar, the man pushed open the door and walked in, there was no one inside, only the owner sitting at the counter wiping the wine glass in his hand.

"Yo, Mike, you haven't seen you in a year, and you've come to visit your uncle again?"

“......”

In the face of the boss's warm greeting, Mike didn't say much, just nodded slightly, took off his hat, and revealed that grim face.

And the bar owner obviously understood Mike's character, so he didn't say anything more with a smile, and then looked at Louis next to Mike.

"This is ......"

"My son. ”

Mike replied nonchalantly, while Louis scratched his head a little embarrassedly and smiled at the barkeeper.

"Son...... That strange old man is really lucky to have a family that cares about him like you, and comes to see him every year. ”

The bar owner seemed to have thought of something, and said with some regret.

"Strange old man, is old Roberts weird?"

Louis asked curiously.

The bar owner burst out laughing.

"It's not just weird, it's just withdrawn and stubborn, guarding his sea of flowers all day long, living on the edge of the town, and not interacting with others. It's been decades, and most of the people here haven't spoken to this weird old man. ”

"Speaking of which, in the early years, there were also some tourists who wanted to come to enjoy the sea of flowers, and they could have made more money for everyone......

Speaking of this, the bar owner shook his head regretfully.

It seems that there is a lot of resentment against this old Roberts, and no one usually wants to listen to him talk about this, and when he meets Louis, an audience who is willing to listen to him, the bar owner is also interested, and the spittle is flying.

And Louis couldn't stop nodding, but at the same time, he quickly built a character model of "Old Roberts" in his mind.

Withdrawn, weird, and marksmanship seems to be very powerful, and he especially values his own sea of flowers......

Luis asked as he walked out of the bar.

"Why do you want to go to a bar in the middle of the way? This bar owner must be just a normal person. ”

"The snow is too thick on us for the target to like, so we have to melt it before we go to see him. ”

Mike pressed his hat and said indifferently.

Louis's confusion grew stronger, and judging by Mike's performance, he seemed to value the strange old man called "Old Roberts", no, or rather, the agency valued this strange old man very much.

"Why is this old Roberts so important?"

He couldn't help but speak.

Mike didn't answer him, just walked on indifferently.

Within a few minutes, the two of them saw a lonely house, and the sea of flowers not far away had withered. Mike walked over to the house and knocked on the door.

"Bang bang bang. ”

After waiting quietly for a while, there was no response.

"Uncle Roberts, are you there? I'm Mike. ”

However, there was still no response, Mike's brow furrowed, he realized that something was wrong, and the agent took a decisive step back and slammed the door open.

"Bang!"

The lock of the door was violently slammed open, and the scene that appeared in front of him stunned Louis behind him......

The floor, walls, furniture, and even the ceiling are covered with bizarre writing, some in English, some of which have become completely unrecognizable. It seems that the English was first written, or it was roughly smeared with ink, and then it began to turn into bright red blood, and those frenzied outlines and traces all reflect the madness of the writer.

Of those in English, Louis could barely make out a few......

"Joan", "Betty", "Wendy", these three names are scribbled repeatedly, and occasionally a name called "Uberto" pops up, but at the end of the writing, these cyclical names are finally replaced by a sentence......

"It'll be back!"

"It'll be back!"

"It'll be back!"

The huge writing and crazy scribbling all reveal the hysteria of the person who wrote these words. After that, almost every sentence was repeated, except for the occasional reappearance of the names of the previous people, followed by the strange words smeared with blood.

Mike's face was gloomy and he began to search quickly, however......

"No. ”

Mike said calmly, but his hand clenched his hat tightly.

"Wait...... Look at this. ”

But on the side, Louis pointed to a place where debris had accumulated, and where Louis pointed his finger, there seemed to be blood stains and a few strange scales, like the scales of a snake.

"I should have left a few hours ago, maybe catch up. ”

Louis gritted his fingers, then judged......

Following the vague traces of blood and scales all the way, the two chased desperately, and the traces of clues also showed strange changes. At first, it was only bright red blood, but then it gradually turned into a large number of snake scales and flesh scattered.

At the end of the track, there is a beach......

"Boom la la ......"

The sea hits the land, stirring up the tide and surging constantly.

A long streak of blood, faintly visible as he struggled to crawl forward, and at the end of the streak, where the sea meets the land, was a corpse lying silently, with scales all over him.

On that old face, the frozen pupils had no color, only dead silence.

The body seemed to be covered with snake scales, as if they had grown out of its body, and fresh marks of forced peeling could be seen. The shattered skin, the scales, and the bursting wounds seemed to prove how much pain the deceased had endured during their lifetime.

He ...... He seemed to be running all the way, pulling the scales off his body all the way, and finally died of blood loss before running to the sea. ”

Louis swallowed and looked at the corpse in front of him with some consternation.

Looking at the corpse, Mike's gaze was complicated.

"Is he a man or a monster?"

Louis couldn't help but ask.

"It's people. ”

Mike replied in the affirmative, staring at the old man in front of him who was still trying to pull off the snake scales that symbolized the monster on his body, and said inexplicably.

"A man who once saved the world. ”

......

Half an hour later, somewhere in the building, a man had already received a message and a photo from the detective.

The tall and thin man looked carefully at the VR image that was sent, his fingers unconsciously tapped on the table, his face was indifferent, but he could faintly see some uneasiness, and then he spoke.

"Send these to Mr. Roman. ”

Ten minutes later, an angry roar rang out.

"It can't be! It's dead! It's dead! It's not going to have a chance to come back!"

"But that's what happened, Mr. Roman. ”

Facing the image in front of him, the old man who was over eighty years old, although he had long since taken a back seat, was still full of power, and the tall and thin man said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"There is a high degree of 'serpentinization' in Roberts's body, and the degree of 'serpentinization' is far beyond our understanding. Even among the excavated submarine snake people, such a high 'snake' is very unimaginable, and I am afraid that the original Uberto cannot be compared with it. ”

"You once said to me that 'snakeing' is because the more you know, the more likely you are to be eroded and infected. Uberto was the chosen one, and that being gave Uberto a great deal of knowledge before finally breaking free from the seal under the guise of Uberto's hand. But now it seems that Roberts is the one who is really chosen, and after 40 years, we thought that Roberts did not know much and would not be 'snaked', but now it seems that we were wrong. ”

"If Mr. Roberts did end up running to the sea, we don't know what a completely serpentine would do. Fortunately, Mr. Roberts was apparently aware of this, and finally pulled out his snake scales, causing himself to bleed to death. ”

After listening to the words of the tall and thin man, the old man on the opposite side sat on the chair in vain with his cane.

After a while, he inexplicably remembered what the other party said when he first saw Leonardo da Vinci.

"There are many secret branches under the Xunshan Hermitage Society, I will tell you these secret instructions to control them, remember, make good use of them......"

In the end, he still didn't understand why Leonardo da Vinci would give the method of controlling those secret branches to the Freemasons, you know, it was a huge world organization, an ancient organization comparable to Freemasonry, but in the end, Da Vinci, as the master of the Xunshan Hermitage Society, took the initiative to give it to the Freemasons.

Why?

He didn't understand at all.

But now, he seems to vaguely understand something......

"The gods rejoice, the gods rejoice...... Thou art the one who knows the destiny of heaven, thou art the one who glimpses the secrets, who inherits the ancient bloodline, and who keeps the eternal loyalty. Remember, that thou shalt not speak unspeakable, that thou shalt not hear unheard, that thou shalt not see the unseen......

Suddenly, Roman inexplicably remembered the words that every monk of the Xunshan Hermitage needed to recite when he joined.

In a trance, he seemed to be able to see a pair of erect snake eyes, coldly overlooking this sand world shaped by small ants.

......

In the depths of the earth, the great will is still asleep, occasionally uttering low dreams, and above the earth, the ignorant people are still enjoying a peaceful life.