Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

According to Fang Zheng, the inn at Innsmouth is even more rundown than the Mountain God’s temple in the World of the Immortal Sword.

At least the Mountain God’s temple somewhat looks legitimate, but this inn looks like a pigsty. There’s only one usable room, the bathroom is boarded up due to leaks according to the owner, and aside from a bed and a sofa, there’s nothing else. Even the electric lamp is broken; they have to use an oil lamp...

Both Fang Zheng and Francis are disheartened; night has fallen and they need an oil lamp for which the innkeeper extra charges them. If this were the present day, Fang Zheng might lodge a complaint on 12315 when dissatisfied. Unfortunately, such a thing didn’t exist back then, and even if it did... it would have nothing to do with this ghostly place.

What to do?

No choice, just sleep.

So Francis lays down on the bed, while Fang Zheng sleeps on the nearby sofa, as Little Angel uses her invisibility skills to lie on Fang Zheng — Francis wouldn’t notice. Holding the small and soft Little Angel, Fang Zheng feels quite comfortable.

At first, Francis chatted with Fang Zheng, but after traveling all day and wandering about Innsmouth Town, he grows tired and falls asleep mid-conversation. Fang Zheng continues chatting quietly with Nymph about inconsequential things.

However, after some time passes, Little Angel, nestled on Fang Zheng, suddenly changes expression and raises her head.

”Master.”

”Hmm?”

”I’ve detected dozens of life signals moving towards our location.”

”Oh, I felt it too. Let’s see what they want.”

Fang Zheng leans back on the sofa, smirking slightly. He knows the reason these people come knocking at midnight - Francis might think the creatures of Innsmouth seek a sacrificial offering - but having read the novel, Fang Zheng knows the young man carries the bloodline of the Deep Diver. Clearly, they’re here to drag Francis into the conspiracy too.

In the original story, Francis knows nothing about this, only aware of his bad situation, later escaping desperately from the town. Upon returning home, he discovers evidence of his family’s connection to Innsmouth, ultimately receiving Cthulhu’s favor.

However, this time Fang Zheng wonders whether he can play this differently...

The inn is dilapidated, and the intruders lack Stealth skills, making enough noise to wake Francis as they ascend. Fang Zheng sees the young man blink his eyes and sit up suddenly, staring at the door tensely, listening attentively like a guard dog.

Francis quickly gets out of bed, comes to Fang Zheng, and gently nudges him.

”Mr., Mr.?”

”I heard, don’t worry. Let’s see what they plan to do.”

Fang Zheng waves his hand, softly responding. Hearing this, Francis finally relaxes a bit. He remembers locking the door before sleeping to be safe — although some locks are useless, he used a chair to block it. No matter their intent, they can’t enter right now.

Soon, a series of heavy footsteps halts at the door, followed by the ”Kara kara” sound of keys unlocking the door... Fang Zheng rolls his eyes, apparently Deep Divers are quite dim-witted. Even ancient villains like Sun Erniang would let their prey drink more wine before making a move, yet they’re barging in without Stealth skills?

Francis grows more nervous, but as a poor student, he doesn’t even have a gun, fumbling around before grabbing a shabby chair for courage. Instead, Fang Zheng pats his hand, reaching into his coat and revealing a silver-white gun — seeing it gives Francis some solace. At least he knows guns being American, though Fang Zheng’s gun looks peculiar; its style is quite striking.

After all, appearance is half the battle.

”Click, click.”

Just then, the barely locked door is opened from the outside. The intruders push, but the door doesn’t budge—to be expected with chairs and tables blocking it.

Then suddenly, they start...

”Bang, bang, bang!”

They start breaking the door! Are Deep Divers really so dumb?

Listening to the door-crashing sounds, Fang Zheng feels these fools outside have less strength than five, and intellect less than five... truthfully, though Devils have Enchanted Clans and Believers, their followers are at least heartless or cunning, not this pathetic.

Looking at this, could Cthulhu be an idiot?

It’s possible; no one in the novels matches wits with Old Gods. Perhaps Cthulhu himself isn’t too bright.

There’s this notion that Azathoth isn’t very smart either; it has a name like... Blind Idiot God?

Sounds like a dense fool.

”Mr., Mr., let’s hurry and run!”

Francis is frightened, though he sensed something odd about the town, he never imagined it would be a black-market shop!

Are they planning to make meat buns out of him?

”Run? Where to?”

Fang Zheng glances around, then looks back.

”We’re busting out!”

With that, Fang Zheng twists his right hand, raises his gun, and fires at the door.

”Bang!!”

Gunfire rings, followed by a heavy object hitting the floor, shocking both attackers outside and Francis inside — attackers are surprised by the firearm wielded inside, while Francis can’t believe this man fires so straightforwardly, not giving foes any chance.

”We’re moving out!”

Fang Zheng heads to the door, kicking heavily at the barricading tables and chairs. These seemingly sturdy objects are sent flying, smashing the door and crashing into the hallway’s end — leaving Francis stunned. There aren’t any Hollywood blockbusters yet, and this scene alone almost scares him silly.

Francis never expected this courteous gentleman to have such a Berserk side!

”Let’s go.”

Fang Zheng gestures to Francis and strides out of the room. At the hallway end, broken tables, door fragments are rammed into the wall, and underneath lie a couple of human legs—seemingly even if the door smashers escaped Fang Zheng’s bullets, they were taken out by this ”door projectile.”

”Whoa!!”

As Fang Zheng steps out, a farmer wielding a pitchfork and wearing ragged clothes charges down the stairs, aiming a stab at him. Fang Zheng couldn’t help but think of Innsmouth Town’s hospitable locals... it’s truly a lineage passed down!

And thus, Laozi needn’t be courteous.

Thinking this, Fang Zheng raises his gun and fires several shots, sweeping the enthusiastic locals to the ground.

”Oh my God, what have you done!”

At this moment, Francis also came out, and seeing this scene, he was also dumbfounded. Although Francis suspected the other would be hostile towards him, seeing the corridor littered with so many bodies left him momentarily confused.

”You actually killed them!?”

”Did you think being killed by them would be better?”

Fang Zheng sneered at Francis’s lament, casually kicking over one of the bodies.

”Besides, these guys aren’t human.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Francis curiously leaned forward to take a look, and his expression changed instantly. As Fang Zheng mentioned, the ”person” lying before them wore a farmer’s outfit but was definitely not human. His head appeared to be a mix of human and frog, with large protruding eyes that seemed to have no eyelids, so much so that his nose seemed non-existent, and his neck displayed layers resembling fish gills.

Moreover, Francis noticed that between the fingers clutching a pitchfork, there were actually webbed hands?!

”My God, what kind of creature is this!”

Having seen the creature clearly, Francis quickly drew closer to Fang Zheng, terrified by the realization that these were not even humans!

”Anyway, they are certainly not good things.”

Fang Zheng was also seriously inspecting these Deep Divers, frowning slightly. Fang Zheng always thought the transformation of Deep Divers was some sort of curse, but now it’s obviously not the case. He knew that the gun in his hand now was the Demon-Slaying Holy Sword Ester — it had the property to eliminate all curses. If the transformation of these Deep Divers were some curse, then being hit by a bullet fired from Ester should have lifted it.

However, since the transformation wasn’t lifted, could it be genetic?

Forget it, that’s not important.

When Fang Zheng and Francis walked out of the inn, Innsmouth seemed to have awakened, with indistinct shouting everywhere, and in the distance, light from lamps and torches could be seen.

”Mr. Fang Zheng, maybe we should escape.”

”Escape?”

Seeing the frightened Francis, Fang Zheng snorted lightly.

”Where would we escape to? There’s not even a car here, and I’d bet that old car is already damaged by now. You saw too when you came here; there’s nowhere to go nearby.”

”Then, what do we do?”

”We fight through them. I really want to know what these guys are planning.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng forcefully stomped his right foot on the ground, sending a scimitar flying up in a spin, landing with a ”bang” on the table beside Francis.

”Here, take this scimitar and follow me, don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

”But, but they’re monsters!”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Francis was almost in tears. He had heard some stories about Innsmouth Town from a crazy old drunk during the day, narration about their dealings with evil entities and the mysterious nightmares... Back then, Francis thought they were just rural horror stories, but he didn’t expect it to be factual literature?!

”Don’t worry about that, I’m quite skilled at dealing with these creatures.”

Fang Zheng spun the gun in his hand, aiming forward again.

”Re-really?”

Hearing Fang Zheng say this, Francis realized that the other person’s previous performance clearly wasn’t like it was their first encounter with such creatures, or he wouldn’t be so calm.

”Kind sir, who exactly are you!”

”Oh, as for that...”

Facing Francis’s inquiry, Fang Zheng rolled his eyes.

”I’m the Witcher Van Helsing.”

After all, it’s just a name, doesn’t cost anything, right?

If daytime Innsmouth barely managed to pretend civility, then come nightfall, it completely transformed into a lair of creatures.

Fang Zheng and Francis hadn’t walked far before encountering a group of Innsmouth villagers wielding various weapons. Although they wore clothes, their disproportionately large hands and feet indicated they were obviously not human.

”Heavens, I didn’t expect what that old man said was true.”

Watching those torch-wielding creatures, Francis was dumbfounded, initially feeling somewhat confident with the knife in his hand, but now the sight left him speechless.

”He said that the Innsmouth people made a deal with the devils of the sea, and that their offspring turned into monsters. I originally thought it was just exaggeration...”

”Bang!”

However, before Francis could finish speaking, someone raised a rifle, firing at a barrel near Francis, startling him. Fang Zheng was indifferent as he raised Ester, pulling the trigger, unleashing a string of relentless fire towards the front.

Though Ester looked like a revolver combined with a dagger, in Fang Zheng’s hands, it unleashed Gatling-like firing speed. Francis only heard a barrage of crackling, and saw the Innsmouth villagers falling back as if they were cut wheat, with the quicker ones trying to hide behind the nearby carriage but were torn to pieces by Fang Zheng.

”Phew... that felt great.”

With such a sweep, Fang Zheng was exhilarated, even feeling through the trembling hilt that Ester was equally excited. Usually, Fang Zheng wielded Restia as his main weapon, with Ester mainly for backup defense and counterattack. But this time, Fang Zheng didn’t plan to use Restia, as wielding such a large sword would be awkward, while the gun-sword form of Ester was more convenient.

This rare moment allowed Ester to generate battle intent, eagerly showcasing her power.

”Alright, let’s move on.”

Having dealt with this group of blockers, Fang Zheng moved forward, with Francis hurriedly following. Despite deeply wanting to leave Innsmouth, Francis knew that if he didn’t follow Fang Zheng, it likely meant certain death!

Even so, Francis’s heart was pounding with anxiety.

”Sir, where are we going?”

”Do you even need to ask?”

Faced with Francis’s confusion, Fang Zheng chuckled.

”Of course, we’re going after the main culprit!”