December 7, 2044, in a small town somewhere in the United States.
It is the middle of winter, and under the unusually heavy snow caused by climate warming, most of the vegetation has withered. Only cold-resistant plants such as firs are still standing in the snow.
In this snowy sky, the earth is covered in white, and the abnormal weather makes local residents reluctant to travel. Because of this, this emerging town with a small population looks even more desolate, but in this white land
Among them, there are two small black dots moving forward.
"Hey, Mike, do we have to walk there step by step? Can't we just drive a car?"
The head tightly wrapped in a scarf exhaled white breath from the gaps. Louis looked at the town curiously and complained. Beside him, a man wearing a hat and a black coat
The middle-aged man put his hands in his pockets, and his head wrapped in a scarf only exposed his eyes to the outside world.
"The target doesn't like to be disturbed. According to regulations, the use of vehicles, flying skateboards and other noisy vehicles must be prohibited. You will gradually take over my tasks in the future. This is your first time going to the target's residence. You must remember these points.
live."
The man said in a commanding tone.
Facing his superior's words, Louis could only respond, and then the two walked in silence for a while. Louis, who felt that he was too silent, tried to speak again.
"Mike, have you seen such heavy snow before? Anyway, 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 heavy snow like this."
The man said.
"I think those scientists say that this unexpected heavy snowfall is related to 124. I feel that those scholars are more and more willing to push things to 124. They like to say that it is because of 124 for any climate anomaly."
"Speaking of 124, scientists have always said it is an internal mutation of the sun since I was a child, but many people insist that it is related to us. Do you think it is true?"
Young Louis complained and couldn't help but ask.
124 is the contemporary name for the celestial change that occurred on December 4, 2004.
40 years ago, the sun mutated and also disturbed the earth. Under this situation, the earth suffered a large number of natural disasters at that time and even in the following decades, and it was not until these years that it gradually subsided.
Although the official statement claims that the 124 incident was caused by abnormal activities inside the sun, conspiracy theories about the 124 incident have never stopped. There are theories about supernatural forces, alien civilizations, supernovas, and people from the future. There are also some conspiracies.
The group even insists that it has something to do with Freemasonry.
Those who believe in conspiracy theories related to Freemasonry believe that it was Freemasonry that triggered the machinery of the ancient Atlantis civilization at that time, which led to the subsequent solar anomalies.
"Those are conspiracy theories."
Facing Louis' curiosity, the man in the coat beside him just walked forward and replied indifferently.
"But how do you explain the Atlantic incident that Sailor Charlie mentioned?"
In 2028, according to a veteran US sailor who was serving on a battleship at the time, he saw with his own eyes that the ocean was cut apart by a beam of light.
"Brighter than a thousand suns, it easily opened up the entire ocean, just like Moses in the myth parted the Red Sea, revealing the deep seabed..."
According to the old sailor, after the incident, everyone on the ship was asked by the military to keep it secret. After that, the sailors were dispersed and reorganized. Although there is no evidence, he insists that there are still military personnel secretly keeping secrets until now.
Monitoring myself, I also hid the secret in my heart for many years before secretly finding an opportunity to reveal it.
However, during the subsequent medical evaluation, the veteran US Navy sailor was found to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease and depression, so it is not certain whether what he said was a delusion or because he was too lonely and wanted to use shocking words to gain the world's attention.
But among those conspiracy theorists, the old sailor's speech is extremely popular.
Many people therefore claim that this incident is related to the legendary civilization of Atlantis.
"It's just the nonsense of a veteran."
The man in the coat still walked forward without looking back.
"What about the strange phenomena in Manhattan? This is officially recognized and many people can testify."
Louis asked again.
The other evidence is the strange events in Manhattan, New York when the 124 Incident occurred.
At the same time as the 124 incident occurred, a strange phenomenon occurred in Manhattan, New York at that time. A bizarre explosion destroyed the entire city of Manhattan, causing widespread casualties.
And some people said that before the strange explosion occurred, a large number of soldiers and even fighter planes came to block people's access. A policeman who did not want to reveal his true identity insisted that "long before the explosion, everyone
It turned into salt.”
"That afternoon, the police department received a temporary mission and asked elite police officers to go to Manhattan. I was one of them... When I went there, I discovered that there was a steady stream of soldiers coming there. Those soldiers asked us to open the isolation zone.
, to drive away the crowd. Although I still don’t understand what happened there, but one thing I am sure is that those who disappeared have turned into salt, because I saw at that time that there were people on some streets and in the driver’s seats of cars.
Some white substance, that is salt... I was ordered to return after that, but not long after, the explosion occurred, and the entire Manhattan area was glassed. Almost none of the soldiers survived, and I was one of the few survivors of the incident at that time.
one."
This is one of the few incidents that has been officially recognized, but the official explanation is that due to the impact of the 124 Incident, a weapons depot in an underground military base was accidentally detonated.
Due to the large number of missing people and the fact that a military base was secretly placed in Manhattan, this incident caused a huge repercussion in public opinion at the time, a great political shock, and the resignation of countless public officials.
Time has passed and many events of that year have been settled, but the impact of the 124 Incident is still widely discussed.
The impact of the 124 Incident was so profound that even today, 40 years later, there are countless books, movies, and games discussing it.
However, because there are so many such rumors about 124, and the logical loopholes in many of them are huge, the supporters of conspiracy theories are only a very small number of people, and the vast majority of people still believe the official statement.
"An explosion, what's there to say?"
The man replied coldly.
"but……"
Before Louis could finish speaking, the man who always cherished his words stopped, and then looked at Louis beside him.
His eyes were hidden behind the scarf, and they were terrifyingly cold. Louis felt creepy in front of these eyes, and he swallowed his words abruptly.
"I know that your marks in firearms shooting, clue tracking, etc. are very good, and those instructors think highly of you, but in my eyes you are just a kid who has just entered the other world. If you don't want to be washed away by the agency
If you remember, talk less and shut your mouth."
This may be the most common thing a man says when facing Louis.
Under the intimidation of those cold and terrifying eyes, Louis said nothing more along the way.
When he reached a small bar, the man opened the door and walked in. There was no one inside, only the boss sitting in front of the counter was wiping the wine glass in his hand.
"Hey, Mike, we haven't seen each other for a year, and you came to visit your uncle again?"
"..."
Facing the boss's warm greeting, Mike didn't say much. He just nodded slightly, took off his hat, and revealed his stern face.
The bar owner obviously understood Mike's character, he smiled and said nothing more, and then looked at Louis next to Mike.
"Who is this……"
"my son."
Mike replied indifferently, while Louis scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled at the bar owner.
"Son...that weird old man is really lucky. He has 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.
"Blame the old man? Does old Roberts have a strange character?"
Louis asked curiously.
The bar owner laughed.
"More than just a weirdo, he is simply withdrawn and stubborn. He spends all day guarding his sea of flowers. He lives on the edge of the town and doesn't interact with others. It's been decades and most people here have nothing to do with this weirdo.
The old man said something."
"Speaking of which, in the early years, there were some tourists who wanted to visit the sea of flowers. It would have been able to earn more travel money for everyone, but that weird old man pointed a gun at those tourists and forced them to leave. If they didn't leave, he would
Shoot directly, scaring those tourists so much that they never dare to come again..."
Having said this, the bar owner shook his head regretfully.
It seemed that he had a lot of resentment against this old Roberts, and no one was willing to listen to his talk. When he met Lewis, an audience who was willing to listen to him, the bar owner also became interested and started spitting.
And Louis couldn't help nodding, and at the same time, he quickly built a character model of "Old Roberts" in his mind.
He is lonely, weird, and his marksmanship seems to be very good. He especially values his own sea of flowers...
Louis asked as they walked out of the bar.
"Why do you need to go to a bar on the way? This bar owner should be just an ordinary person."
"The snow is too thick on us, and the target won't like it. We need to melt it before we go to see him."
Mike held down his hat and said coldly.
The confusion in Lewis's heart became more and more intense. Judging from Mike's performance, he seemed to value the weird old man named "Old Roberts" very much. No, or it could be said that the agency valued this weird old man very much.
"Why is this old Roberts so important?"
He couldn't help but speak.
Mike didn't answer him, and just continued to move forward indifferently.
Within a few minutes, the two of them saw a lonely house. The sea of flowers not far away had withered. Mike walked 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 brows furrowed. He realized something was wrong, so the agent took a step back decisively and knocked open the door.
"Bang!"
The door lock was violently opened, and the scene that appeared in front of him shocked Louis behind him...
The floor, walls, furniture, and even the ceiling are all covered with strange words. Some of the words are still in English, and some have become words that no one recognizes at all. Those English words seem to have been written at the beginning, and they were still written roughly with ink.
After smearing, it begins to turn into bright red blood. Those crazy outlines and traces all reflect the madness of the writer.
Among those in English, Lewis could barely identify a few...
"Joan", "Betty", and "Wendy", these three names were scrawled repeatedly, and occasionally a name called "Umberto" suddenly appeared, but with the end of writing, these cyclic names finally appeared.
All were replaced by one sentence...
"It will come back!"
"It will come back!"
"It will come back!"
The huge handwriting and crazy scribbling all revealed the hysteria of the person who wrote these words. After that, almost every sentence was repeated like this, with only the occasional names of the previous people appearing again, and then
They are all weird words written with blood.
Mike's face was gloomy and he began to search quickly, but...
"Not here."
Mike said calmly, but his hands clutched the hat tightly at some point.
"Wait...look at this."
But aside, Louis pointed to a place where debris was accumulated. Where Louis pointed, there seemed to be blood stains and a few strange scales, like the scales of a snake.
"She should have left a few hours ago. Maybe we can catch up."
Lewis bit his fingers and then judged...
Following the vague traces of blood and scales all the way, the two chased desperately, and the clues and traces also showed strange changes. At the beginning, it was just bright red blood, but then it gradually turned into a large number of snake scales and
Flesh and blood scattered.
At the end of the trail, there is a beach...
"Crash..."
The sea water hits the land, causing the tide to surge.
There was a long bloodstain, and traces of struggling to crawl forward could be vaguely seen. At the end of the bloodstain, at the junction of sea water and land, there was a corpse lying quietly, with scales all over his side.
On that old face, the frozen pupils had no color, and there was only deathly silence.
The body seems to be covered with snake scales. Those snake scales seem to have grown from its body, and fresh traces of being forcibly peeled off can also be seen. Those fragmented skin and scales, and bursting wounds seem to prove that
How much pain did the deceased endure during his lifetime?
"He... he seemed to be running all the way, pulling off the snake scales on his body, and finally bled to death before running towards the sea."
Lewis swallowed and looked at the corpse in front of him in shock.
Looking at the corpse, Mike's eyes were complicated.
"Is he a human or a monster?"
Louis couldn't help but ask.
"It's human."
Mike answered in the affirmative. He stared at the old man in front of him who still wanted to pull off the snake scales that symbolized monsters on his body even to death, and said inexplicably.
"A man who once saved the world."
…
Half an hour later, in a certain building, a person had received messages and photos from the detective.
The tall and thin man looked at the VR video sent carefully, tapping his fingers on the table unconsciously. His face was cold, but he could faintly see some uneasiness, and then he spoke.
"Send these to Mr. Roman."
Ten minutes later, an angry roar sounded.
"No way! It's dead! Dead! There's no way it can come back!"
"But that's the truth, Mr. Roman."
Facing the image in front of him, that old man who was over eighty years old and still powerful even though he had already retreated to the second line, the tall and thin man said in a neither humble nor overbearing tone.
"There is a high degree of 'snake transformation' in Roberts, and the degree of 'snake transformation' is far beyond our knowledge. Even among the information on the undersea snake people that has been excavated, such a high level of 'snake transformation' is very high.
It’s unimaginable, and I’m afraid Uberto couldn’t compare to it.”
"You once said to me that 'snake transformation' is because the more you know, the easier it is to be corroded and infected. Uberto is the chosen one, and that being gave Uberto a lot of knowledge, and finally he pretended to
Umberto's hand escaped from the seal. But now it seems that Roberts is the real chosen one. After forty years, we thought that Roberts didn't know much and would not be 'snake-shaped', but now it seems that we are
wrong."
"If Mr. Roberts really ran to the sea in the end, we can't know what a snake-man who completely transformed into a snake would do. But fortunately, Mr. Roberts was obviously aware of this, and finally died.
He shed his own snake scales and bled to death."
After listening to what the tall and thin man said, the old man opposite him sat on a chair in vain with a cane.
After a while, he inexplicably remembered what Leonardo da Vinci said when he first saw him.
"The Priory of Sion has many secret branches. I will tell you these secret instructions to control them. Remember, make good use of them..."
In the end, he still didn't quite understand why Leonardo da Vinci would give the method of controlling those secret branches to the Freemasons. You know, it is a huge organization in the other world, an ancient organization comparable to the Freemasons.
, but in the end it was given to the Freemasons by Leonardo da Vinci, the master of the Priory of Sion.
Why?
He didn't understand at all.
But now, he seems to vaguely understand something...
"The gods rejoice, the gods rejoice... You are the one who knows destiny, you are the one who sees the secrets, inherits the ancient bloodline, and keeps the eternal loyalty. You need to remember that you must not say things that cannot be said, and you must not hear or hear sounds.
, the invisible appearance..."
Suddenly, Roman inexplicably remembered this passage that every monk in the Hermitage of Sion needs to recite when joining.
In a daze, he seemed to be able to see a pair of vertical snake eyes, coldly overlooking the sand world shaped by tiny ants.
…
Deep in the earth, the huge will is still sleeping, occasionally uttering its low sleep; but above the earth, ignorant people are still enjoying a peaceful life.