As everyone knows, confronting characters within the Cthulhu Mythos leads to a decrease in Sanity Points and pollution by forbidden knowledge. But few people are aware that there are many types of pollution. The manifestation of pollution from each Old Day Dominator or Outer God differs. Exactly how it occurs generally depends on how the author understands the Cthulhu Mythos.
Most purists prefer to depict spiritual pollution, that is, the madness after confronting some forbidden knowledge, even attempting to document and spread this knowledge, which is how many deadly tomes come into existence.
However, some believe that confronting an Outer God will definitely lead to physical mutations. These authors have clearly absorbed the popular body horror style of the 1970s and 1980s, enjoying depicting scenes of "polluted human limbs mutating and twisting." This is evidently a new interpretation of cosmicism resulting from the pressure of the Cold War and nuclear warfare.
Curse Xie Kun carries similar characteristics. Those who look directly at him feel "extreme itchiness in their eyes and intense burning sensations." This is clearly a physical impact from confronting an Old Day Dominator, leading to many blood plasma film plots of eye gouging common in that era.
Just gazing at an Old Day Dominator produces such effects. Hugo was completely engulfed within that Whirlpool. Although protected by the Power of Death, preventing him from being consumed outright, he is constantly chewed by Curse Xie Kun, making it hard to even call this protection.
It is like an ordinary Human falling into a gas giant, which should be torn apart instantly by the storms above, yet a Mysterious Power continually revives the person, imposing the pain of being torn apart every moment.
Hugo's eyeballs have completely vanished, replaced by two tumors growing from the eye sockets. The center of the tumors appears pierced, continuously oozing black liquid. His jaw has disappeared entirely, leaving his lower face a blood-red neck below the upper jaw. A hole in his chest reveals webs of flesh resembling a Spider's extending from around the wound, then descending into the endless Deep Sea like a cord, also like a tongue. His limbs are infinitely elongated, the ends transforming into a web-like structure with evenly spaced Hexagon patterns, extending into a large ocean area. This makes him look like a massive Monster yet drift with the tide, quite fragile.
This reminded Shiller of a mysterious marine biological relic—an ancient net. These traces have existed for millions of years and are proven not to be geological structures, but more like traces left by some unknown creatures. Now it seems, it may well be related to the Old Day Dominator.
Hugo looks like a rootless, blood-red floating weed, exuding a random yet unexpected beauty. Shiller thought Pamela would likely appreciate this form, as if nature had remodeled the human body to create a form between plant and human to the fullest extent.
Yet another force acts upon Hugo, preventing him from fully becoming a part of nature. The Black Death Emperor is attempting to decipher these elements, causing the eye tumors to appear as if breathing, looking utterly bizarre.
Shiller took out his phone and started taking photos. Despite his mediocre skill and inadequate equipment, the scene was so impactful that even a casual shot was comparable to a high-budget horror film.
Shiller descended the cliff from another side and quickly found a large pile of corpses below. Clearly the Black Death Emperor created these living corpses, gathering them here not for exploration, but merely to drain the Death Energy from their bodies.
Obviously, the Black Death Emperor's budget wasn't sufficient. He hadn't expected the sudden arrival of an Old Day Dominator to interrupt his plans, forcing him to deal with Monsters first, without leaving any Energy for this, having to borrow Peter to pay Paul by siphoning Energy from the living corpses, leaving their drained bodies here.
Shiller checked and found that there were men and women, old and young. He stood silent beside the corpses, about to leave when the Gray mist reminded him they weren't dead.
"What?"
"I mean, they just don't have Energy to move, but they're still capable of movement."
This statement was paradoxical, and Shiller didn't immediately understand it, but soon he realized the Black Death Emperor seemed not to have revoked their revival status. These bodies would have decomposed if they had reverted to corpse state after several days. But they remained intact, indicating their current status was strange.
They were still revived living corpses, just without Energy to act, in standby mode, without reverting into pure corpses, which meant they could still be saved.
Yet Shiller, after some thought, wasn't sure how to rescue them. Moving these corpses might attract the Black Death Emperor's attention, since after the collision in the Spirit Domain, the Black Death Emperor must have pinned him to the top of his contact list. Any hint of presence from Shiller would prompt him to act. Taking them out for Healing seemed unrealistic.
Super Body might have a solution. But the problem is Super Body may not be immune to Curse Xie Kun. Spiritual pollution could prove troublesome if it affected her.
Shiller suddenly thought of a study conducted by Brainiac, in which Jack drew a vial of blood and handed it to Jonathan, wanting to see if the Joker Virus could counter the Power of Death. Given Jonathan's recent demeanor, there might be some research breakthroughs.
With this in mind, Shiller left the cliff and drove to Jonathan's laboratory. Jonathan wasn't surprised by his visit, first pouring him a high-concentration Fear venom.
"Don't stand on ceremony. I know that little guy inside you appreciates my work. Consider it my treat."
Shiller rolled his eyes but still drank the Fear venom, then asked, "How's the Joker Virus research going?"
"This thing is incredible," Jonathan couldn't help saying, "It's almost... Well, you wouldn't understand. Just know that this factor contains both Death and Life's Strength."
"What do you mean?"
"It can enhance the activity of human cells, giving the body spontaneous tissue repair function, and it's a completely correct repair. We usually call this power 'self-healing,' but I think it's more like another form of 'revival.' Even cells that are completely inactive can be brought back by it."
"Sounds impressive. What about death?"
"This is the key, this thing spreads through death." Jonathan leaned against the lab table, arms crossed, and said, "I haven't figured out how it's determined, but this thing spreads to another person through death."
Shiller understood. Apparently, this is related to Batman's no-kill principle. Because killing the Joker would cause infection by the Joker Virus, the Joker Virus gained the attribute of spreading through death.
"So what improvement did you make?"
"I can't improve the factor itself, but I can make a solution to ensure this thing can work steadily."
"Can't you just use blood directly?"
"Are you illiterate? Using blood will cause rejection!" Jonathan rolled his eyes hard, "If Jack is type B, does it mean you can only infect people with type B? Why are you still a killer, go find a job."
Shiller really didn't think that science should be respected in this area as well. He just thought Joker and Batman could infect out of thin air. But come to think of it, only the two of them could do that. If you want to infect others, medical considerations are indeed necessary.
"I know you want to ask if drinking it directly works. I can tell you it does, but the amount needed is too large. If you don't want to be hit by a big truck, you'd better not consider this method."
Jonathan turned around and took out a small box. Inside were about ten syringes, the type with very thin needles, not much in volume. Jonathan said, "Just direct injection into the vein. Under 150 pounds only needs one, above that, it's up to you."
Shiller took the box and nodded, then said, "Hugo, do you want one?"
"What?"
Shiller took out his phone and sent him a photo, Jonathan's eyes widened at a glance: "Oh my God! Did you do this?! You..."
Jonathan looked at Shiller again, his eyes mixed with admiration and jealousy, mostly jealousy.
Shiller shook his head and said, "Sadly, it's not me this time. Another genius has emerged."
"Hahahahaha!" Jonathan burst into wild laughter, "Shiller, you have your day too! You're no longer the most creative one! He is the true king!!!"
Shiller ignored him and turned to leave, while Jonathan had already sent out that photo. Obviously, he couldn't wait to make public the fact that Shiller had been surpassed.
Ideally, Brainiac should block such bloody and terrifying images, but considering the people Jonathan contacted, blocking it wouldn't make much sense. Bloody photos were just light meals for them.
Shiller took the syringes back to the bottom of the cliff. He estimated the weight of the fallen people there, it should be about one syringe per person, the amount was completely enough.
Shiller walked over and injected them one by one. While he waited for the changes, a revolutionary storm was spreading within a very secretive group, shifting the madmen's attention from the mysterious Rodriguez detective to a new piece of art.
On the deep and dark ocean, Hugo floated like a blood-red petal adrift, his eerie face and grandeur captured the gaze of the psychopaths. The inspiration-rich beings glimpsed part of the murderer's true face through this corpse. Instantly, the world gained hundreds and thousands of new investigators.
However, unlike the ordinary people forced into the whirlpool, the psychopaths enjoyed the madness. The lower their Sanity Points, the more excited they became; the more bizarre and uncanny things they saw, the more they indulged.
Soon, a new generation of the "Rodriguez Pen Pals Club" began to take shape. The secret symbols and codes no longer discussed murder cases, but more obscure and mysterious things—the Old Day Dominators and the Outer God.
Unlike the secretive first-generation friends, this generation can be described as rampant. Within three days of communication, they formed ten breach squads. The action power of the madmen cannot be underestimated. The hidden currents below the water surface for thousands of years finally welcomed a true Spoiler.