The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
This was a sentence recorded in Christine's diary, and it was also the biggest reason she had fallen into her current state.
Just as Professor Osborn had said, when Christine studied at Miskatonic University, she had been a brilliant student. Her paintings were full of power and received praise from many people. If Christine had stopped there, perhaps she would have become a famous painter, a renowned artist.
But as an outstanding student, Christine clearly didn't intend to stop there. She longed to become a master…
Well, it had to be said that the idea itself was good.
Of course, Duanmu Huai couldn't understand Christine's obsession. In his view, paintings were basically all more or less the same. Things like the Mona Lisa—if someone said it had historical value, he would believe it. But artistic value? How exactly could people tell?
Was it because it looked like a person or something?
Sorry, but as a rough man, Duanmu Huai really couldn't appreciate that sort of thing.
But it was obvious that Christine genuinely struggled with this. Simply earning big money from painting didn't seem like success to her. She wanted to go further and obtain the highest glory of art.
At some point, Christine saw that sentence, and so she wrote it down.
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
From that sentence, Christine found the direction for her progress. She wanted to paint a work that would make everyone feel fear from the depths of their hearts, so that she could leave her name in history and become a master of her generation.
Of course, this wasn't an easy task. At the beginning, Christine indeed encountered many setbacks.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—she was a student of Miskatonic University.
And in that university, what was least lacking was the exploration of the unknown.
Or in other words—courting death.
Thus, after Christine tirelessly searched for answers—courting death—she finally learned a piece of information.
Once, there had been a burglary at Miskatonic University. The thief had died inside the library. But that wasn't the important part.
The important part was that rumor said the thief had not been human, but a monster born from the hybridization of some terrible existence and a human.
After that, three professors had even gone to the town where the thief had been born—Dunwich.
No one knew what they had done there.
They only knew that when they returned, their faces were pale and exhausted, as if they had witnessed the most extreme terror in the world.
Of course, Christine never met those three professors.
But that didn't stop her from making a decision.
She would also go to Dunwich, to Sentinel Hill, to see what was there.
Maybe… that was the opportunity that would grant her inspiration.
So Christine packed her bag, took leave from Miskatonic University, and went to Sentinel Hill in Dunwich.
She stayed there for three whole days.
No one knew what Christine had encountered there.
They only knew that after she returned, she carried an expression that seemed to say, "To hear the truth in the morning, one may die in the evening without regret."
She locked herself inside the studio and did not come out for an entire week.
Then she painted that picture—the Empty Ghoul.
However, it was at that moment that Christine's sanity finally seemed to return.
"I have absolutely no idea why I have become like this. Looking at the painting before me, I cannot imagine that it was drawn by my own hands! It is so evil, so terrifying, so blasphemous! Why? Why did I paint such a thing? Did I really paint this? Although the paint on my body and the brush in my hand prove that I did, for some reason I have absolutely no memory of that time…"
"This was not me. Some existence used my hands to paint this. That night! That night on Sentinel Hill! I saw something! No, I don't want to remember it. I made a terrible mistake! I should not have responded to that call. I never wanted this…!!"
The diary ended there.
"I really can't understand why these artists always like to seek their own deaths."
Duanmu Huai curled his lips and casually tossed the diary onto the table.
To be honest, he didn't understand much about art itself. But when it came to people like Christine who were completely obsessed, he simply couldn't comprehend them.
Of course, whether in their world or this one, artists generally weren't exactly good people.
They were either causing trouble or attracting it.
"Sentinel Hill…"
Looking at the contents of the diary, Anthony frowned deeply.
"I remember seeing the name Dunwich in a case file before. Maybe I should retrieve that case and see what exactly happened."
After saying that, Anthony got up and went to work.
Only Duanmu Huai remained seated there, staring at the diary in front of him.
It had to be said—although Christine had been a lunatic, that sentence really did make sense.
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind was fear.
And the oldest and strongest kind of fear was fear of the unknown.
For some reason, when Duanmu Huai saw that sentence, he actually felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Thinking about it carefully, it was quite normal.
It was like thalassophobia—fear of the deep sea.
When you stared into the bottomless ocean, the fear you felt deep in your heart came from not knowing what was hidden beneath the water. Because you didn't know, your mind would begin to wander, imagining all kinds of possibilities. Think long enough, and eventually you would end up scaring yourself.
In essence, it was no different from encountering ghosts while walking a dark road, or being frightened by rustling grass and swaying trees.
However, while Duanmu Huai thought so, the system clearly didn't agree.
Because at that moment, a system notification suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[Special Mission Activated: "Source of Fear"]
[The oldest and strongest fear is the fear of destruction and death!]
[Mission Objective: Please proceed to Sentinel Hill, display your power, defeat the opponent, and become the true source of fear!]
"..."
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai was completely speechless.
What the hell was wrong with this damn system?
Was it trying to get him killed?
He didn't want to compete with that thing!
If it liked fear, then let it like fear! Why did he have to compete with it over something like that?!
And Duanmu Huai felt that sentence earlier actually made sense too.
But unfortunately, the system didn't care what he thought.
It only cared about what it thought.
Can I just surrender?
Unfortunately, it seemed that this mission didn't allow Duanmu Huai to surrender.
Great.
Now he had to compete with the other party and determine who was superior.
What kind of logic was that?
Damn it…
Right now Duanmu Huai felt like he had been sitting quietly at home when a pot suddenly fell from the sky and hit him.
Even with his ass he could guess that if he completed this mission, it would probably result in Fear +1 again.
It never ended, did it?
The reason Duanmu Huai didn't want to accept this mission was very simple.
Because he knew exactly what existed at Sentinel Hill.
It was something that existed beyond all planets, beyond all universes, beyond all matter—the ultimate void.
A being composed of infinite existence and self.
Everything existed within it.
And it was connected to the ultimate source that granted life to all things across that boundless scope.
It was an absolute realm without limits, beyond all imagination, numbers, and logic.
It was the one known as the All-in-One…
Yog-Sothoth.
Duanmu Huai would have to be insane to go provoke an Outer God even higher than the Changer of Ways!
Not to mention that strictly speaking, he actually had a grudge with Yog-Sothoth.
Back in the Lands Between, Duanmu Huai had killed the Elden Beast.
And its strange appearance had reminded him of Yog-Sothoth.
Because according to records, Yog-Sothoth appeared as a cluster of rainbow-colored spheres radiating eerie and malicious light.
Which meant that the Elden Beast had probably been sent by Yog-Sothoth to manage the Lands Between.
And Duanmu Huai had killed it.
Under those circumstances, only someone with brain damage would deliberately go looking for trouble with Yog-Sothoth.
Was he tired of living?
But thinking about it carefully… maybe it wasn't Yog-Sothoth?
No matter what, Duanmu Huai couldn't avoid this forever.
And he himself was also a god.
To be honest, sooner or later he would have to try…
Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai stood up—just in time to run into Anthony returning.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going to Sentinel Hill. I think this matter should end there."
"I'll go with you."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's words, Anthony quickly grabbed his coat.
But Duanmu Huai raised a hand to stop him.
"I advise you not to go. This isn't like the adventure in the museum earlier. To be honest, I might encounter a very serious problem. And you might end up becoming the second Christine…"
"I doubt you'd want to spend the rest of your life sitting in a wheelchair, trapped in endless panic and terror, becoming a walking corpse."
"…."
Hearing this, Anthony hesitated.
He remembered Christine's miserable condition.
To be honest, he certainly didn't want to become something neither human nor ghost.
But…
"Are you sure you'll be fine going alone?"
"Most likely."
Duanmu Huai wasn't without a plan.
In fact, the moment he saw the mission, he had already thought of a solution.
It was just that…
He really didn't want to use that method.
In the end, Anthony followed Duanmu Huai's advice and decided not to go to Sentinel Hill. However, he demanded that after resolving the matter, Duanmu Huai must write him a full report.
Duanmu Huai agreed.
Then he had the maid drive him toward Sentinel Hill in the town of Dunwich.
It looked like a very ordinary mountain ridge.
But it also had something unusual.
Looking along the ridge, one could see a path stretching from halfway up the mountain all the way to the summit.
It didn't look like it had been dug by humans.
Instead, it looked as if some enormous creature had pushed down the trees in the forest and forcibly opened a road to the summit using its own body.
Not only that—the road was completely barren.
There wasn't even a blade of grass.
The trees on both sides had long since withered and died.
"Whew…"
After ordering the maid to drive the car farther away, Duanmu Huai began walking along the path toward the summit of Sentinel Hill.
At that moment, dark clouds suddenly appeared from nowhere and gradually covered the sky.
The cries of night hawks echoed through the forest, as if they were performing some kind of ritual.
Duanmu Huai gripped his cane tightly and stared coldly at the summit ahead.
Then he took the first step.
(End of Chapter)