Whew-

Whoa, whoa, whoa—

The wind is howling and the rain is majestic.

Outside the cave, the cries of the countless beetles were even more insane.

Quack quack!

Twitter!

But for Randolph Carter, what was even crazier than the chirping of insects outside the cave were the words that came out of the mouth of the man in the suit.

“Excuseme？ I? Let me fend off the evil gods?! ”

Randolph pointed to his nose with a shocked expression, "What are you kidding, sir?" I'm just an ordinary person! ”

As soon as he heard this, the man in the suit immediately laughed:

"Hahaha, ordinary people?

Can you travel back in time to reach ordinary people in the future world hundreds of millions of years from now?

You're kidding, Randolph. ”

"But, but..."

Randolph stumbled, "What's the use of that?" Any bullet can kill me! ”

"Of course it's not for you to be sent to death in a daze."

The man in the suit smiled slightly, "I gave you advice, and naturally I will support you."

With my support, the situation will be more difficult, but it is not a no-road, so ......"

"No, no, no, no!"

Randolph waved his hand again and again, "I've already said, I'm just an ordinary person, I just want to finish my studies and then live an ordinary life, I think it's better for you to find someone else."

Also, since you know so much, it seems that the ability is extraordinary.

Then why don't you set up an organization yourself to defend against the gods and humanity? Why do you have to drag me into the water? ”

"Heh~ It's really stubborn."

The man in the suit put away his smile and said indifferently, "I am not your real father, so if you repeatedly refuse, you will only make yourself lose the opportunity to witness and contact the higher levels of the universe."

Forget it, I'll talk to you again when you've entered some new phase of your life. ”

With that, he turned and walked quickly out of the cave.

Strange to say, as soon as the man in the suit walked outside the cave, the rain stopped instantly, and the weather immediately cleared, including the fierce insect chirps that had been coming and going, and suddenly died down.

Everything is back to normal.

"Wait a minute, sir!"

Randolph hurried after a few steps and shouted, "I don't know your name yet?!" ”

The man in the suit didn't look back, but a phrase came from afar: "Call me Troy, Troy Supperion." ”

The voice flowed and cleared, but the figure was gone.

In just an instant, this mysterious man named Troy disappeared from Randolph Carter's sight and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

"Troy...... ...... Supperion"

Randolph whispered the name.

Immediately, as if he remembered something, he immediately flipped through the ancient book in his hand and turned to the page he had read before.

I saw that it read:

「…… Thou art the source of madness, thou art the messenger of chaos, thou art choke the throats of all beings, but all beings can only wail and never see thee......

"Supperion..."

Randolph muttered, slowly closing the book.

Then, I saw the title of this ancient book - "Trojan True Knowledge".

"Troy...... Could it be?! ”

He looked up at the night outside the cave, "Could it be this strange man...... Is it the embodiment of the Messenger of Confusion? He's also a deity? ”

No one can answer Randolph Carter's question.

It just so happened that at this moment, the ability to travel through time worked again, and he himself was in a trance, unconsciously detached from the current era.

And 480 million years back, back in 1893, in the library of Miskatonik University.

After sitting back in the chair, Randolph Carter stroked the delicate texture of the black walnut square table in front of him, and then looked at the rows of bookshelves around him, and suddenly couldn't help but feel like a world away.

"All this...... Is it real or dream? ”

After being in a daze for a while, he slowly stood up, walked to a row of bookshelves not far away, and put the ancient book back in its place.

Then, he turned and walked out the door.

After a series of steps, he left the library.

Since then, Randolph Carter's life has returned to uneventful.

Study, research, read.

Soon, a year was fleeting.

During this year, except for the occasional time travel to the future in a few days, months, and years, Randolph's days were generally free of danger and waves.

Such days are indeed peaceful, but they are inevitable and can feel tedious.

Maybe ordinary people don't find it boring, but Randolph is not an ordinary person.

Unlike mediocre ordinary people, strictly speaking, he is a dreamer who loves to read and write, has a melancholy and sensitive personality, but is full of longing for all kinds of unknowns, and is not worldly at all.

So in the days that followed, Randolph thought about it more than once.

Back then, when faced with Troy's suggestion, should he agree to it?

If you say yes, will you live a more exciting life?

As for protecting all of humanity or something, Randolph asked himself if it wasn't that great.

In short, there are no ifs in real life.

The past is the past, and it can no longer be pursued.

Therefore, Randolph only occasionally reverie when he dreams back in the middle of the night.

The years passed like this.

Soon, ten years passed.

Over the years, Randolph, who has graduated from Miskatonic University, has inevitably encountered many mysterious events under the guidance of fate because of his extraordinary talent.

Even, he has entered the mysterious and magnificent dream world three times in a row.

Thankfully, none of these events caused much trouble to Randolph.

On the contrary, it also allowed him to learn a lot of pagan forbidden arts and ancient secret powers.

But Randolph knew he couldn't stand up to any adult diver head-on.

It's just that although he is far beyond the ordinary, both physically and mentally, he is still a human being in essence.

Over the past ten years, Randolph has had several encounters with the Deep Divers, as well as some encounters with the Kunyan from the underworld.

It was through these two heterogeneous races that Randolph truly learned about the human race on Earth...... It's so small.

Whether it is physical, spiritual, or technology, human civilization is far from being comparable to these two races.

But what frightened Randolph even more was the ancient gods that stood faintly 'behind' these two different races.

Randolph did not dare to touch the slightest information about these gods.

Because he knows that as long as he comes into contact with it, there will inevitably be extremely ominous consequences.

Time continues to flow.

More than a decade has passed.

By chance, Randolph Carter joined the French Foreign Legion and became directly involved in World War I.

War is brutal.

In the midst of a hail of bullets, Randolph saw and experienced first-hand the fragility of human beings.

But thanks to the various forbidden secret abilities, Randolph's battlefield survivability is obviously much stronger than that of ordinary people.

But no matter how powerful he is in the occult, he is still only a human.

So...... In 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, near Belon-en-Santel, Randolph was inevitably severely wounded by the continuous bombardment of German aircraft and artillery.

Fortunately, the fateful Randolph did not die.

But this terrible experience of passing by the Grim Reaper also made his perception of people and the world drastically change.

Especially after accepting the influence of nihilism, Randolph has a certain amount of doubt and depression about the so-called real world and the various activities of the entire human society.

Because, he felt that none of this made sense.

Or rather, Randolph began to feel that his life was ...... There is no value.

And at the beginning of 1919, three months after the end of the First World War.

Randolph Carter, in a beer hall in France...... Met Troy Supperion again.

At night.

At this time, there are not many customers in the beer hall, only some drunkards linger here.

Randolph Carter is one of them.

"I didn't expect it......"

The drunken Randolph looked at Troy, who was still dressed in a pink suit across the table, and sighed, "You really came back to me again." ”

Troy laughed, "I said I'll come back and talk to you again when you enter a new phase of your life." ”

"A new stage in life, hehe, it is indeed a stage."

Randolph smiled decadently, "I'm forty years old, and my body and soul are exhausted, and I'm ...... What else can be done? ”

"It's been so long, and you're still talking so much nonsense."

After a slight taunt, Troy said, "So, are you willing to set up an organization now to defend against and contain all the alien gods?" ”

Randolph took a deep breath and nodded heavily: "I do!" ”

"Good." Troy smiled wickedly, raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Syllable!

In an instant, the surrounding scene changed dramatically.

From a dimly lit beer hall, it suddenly became a brightly lit warehouse.

No, it's not a warehouse, it's a bit like a cellar, a large cellar with electric lights.

And all that was stored in this cellar was a glittering gold bar and gold brick.

"This ......," Randolph looked around with wide eyes, "where is this?" ”

"Bank of England Underground Vaults."

Troy spread his hands and said, "If you want to build an organization, you have to have start-up capital, so ...... Take as much as you can.

By the way, you have ten minutes, and after ten minutes, the people at the Bank of England will find out that something is wrong, and you're screwed. ”

As he spoke, he took out a sack out of nowhere and threw it on the ground.

Randolph Carter, on the side, looked confused.

After being stunned, he immediately complained with a broken face:

"It turns out that you say 'support'...... It's a bank robbery?! ”

"Shh~"

Troy put a finger to his mouth, "Be quiet, you're engaged in illegal food crimes, don't make such a big fuss, it will attract bank staff." ”

"Ah~ Oh my God!" Randolph slapped his head and sighed.

Then he gathered up his feelings, stooped down and picked up the sack, and began to fill it with gold.

Ten minutes later, a shrill alarm sounded in the vault.

By this time, however, Randolph had disappeared into the vault with the bag full of gold bars and nuggets on his back.

Randolph Carter's home –

Swish!

In an instant, two figures and a bag of gold appeared on the floor out of thin air.

"Alright."

After patting a few particles of dust off his suit, Troy wrote lightly, "The start-up capital is in place, and you can start a 'business'." ”

"Wait!"

Randolph frowned, "With this money alone, you're going to let me go to trouble those aliens and evil gods?" ”

"Hey, hey, of course not." Troy grinned, "I'm just teasing you." ”

With a smile, he pulled out a brass headband with mottled blood rust from his shriveled suit pocket, a Colt M1873 revolver with six-pointed stars on either side of the hilt, and a delicate bracelet painted with Victorian-style carvings.

And threw these three things into the sack full of gold.

"This is ......," Randolph wondered, picking up the red and yellow headband, "what is it?" ”

"This is the Antaeus Soul Helmet."

Troy paced to the wall, squinted at the wall and said lazily, "You should know that there are many dangerous things or creatures, just because they exist, can make the human mental state or SAN value plummet to zero, and eventually become crazy." ”

Randolph nodded: "You know, what, this thing can protect people's San?" ”

"That's right." Troy smiled, "Not only the San value, but all external shocks aimed at the spiritual heart and even the soul, this protective helmet can be perfectly protected."

However, it should be noted that since the maker of this helmet is not in a very normal mental state, this thing cannot be worn for a long time and will go crazy. ”

"Hmm...... All right. ”

Randolph picked up the most beautiful bracelet and asked, "What is this?" ”

"This is the Heckmenon Reality Stabilizer." Troy Yoyo explained, "Its function is that all surreal phenomena in a certain range of space-time scenes centered on the user are suppressed to a state of 'standard reality'. ”

"Surreal? Standard state of reality? ”

Randolph frowned slightly, "I can probably guess what these two words are, so what are the measurements?" How is surrealism and what is standard reality? ”

"It's simple."

Troy patiently explained, "The so-called 'surreal thing' is the measure of the concept.

That is, all phenomena, things, situations, and scenes that exceed the threshold of science and technology of the user's time, and the upper limit of the average mystery of the civilized society in which the user lives, are "surreal phenomena".

Similarly, if it is not exceeded, then it is a "standard reality". ”