Chapter 923: Baiyaki News |
Liu Xing looked at Matsui Yui with surprise, not expecting her to refer to the Deep One Hybrid as a failed product.
At this time, Shimada Sho also stepped forward and added, "That's right, in a sense, hybrids of mythical creatures and humans are considered failed products. To give an example, in recent years, you humans have been raising lions and tigers together to breed a new species—Liger, rather than to produce another lion or tiger. So, our initial expectation for the Deep One Hybrid or Ghoul Hybrid was a brand new race, or at least something different from the normal Deep One and Ghoul."
"But things didn't go as planned. Although Deep One Hybrids and Ghoul Hybrids retain human characteristics when they are young, as they age, these hybrids eventually turn completely into Deep One and Ghoul. This led us to abandon the original hybrid plan—which was to marry humans on a large scale and use hybrids to gradually replace humans. Therefore, now, except for a few initial pilot areas, there are very few places where hybrids of mythical creatures and humans appear, as we can also directly disguise ourselves as humans through Magic Spells."
"However, recently, I heard that many mythical creature tribes have begun to intermarry with humans. Of course, their goal is not to use hybrids to infiltrate human society but to mass-produce mythical creatures through hybrids. This is because our mythical creatures have a low fertility rate and require a long growth period. So, it is better to reproduce hybrids with you humans and then use special methods to activate the mythical creature genes in these hybrids. This way, a batch of mythical creatures can be quickly produced, and the combat power of these fast-tracked mythical creatures is no less than that of normally developed mythical creatures."
Hearing this, Liu Xing recalled a classic evolutionary theory—that generally, the more powerful a creature is, the lower its fertility rate, and the longer the process from juvenile to adulthood, which is a balance made by nature.
For example, among felines, ordinary cats can have four litters of kittens a year, with each litter having about three to eight kittens; while tigers only give birth once a year, producing two to four cubs each time.
As for the carp in river water and sharks in sea water, their birth rates are worlds apart.
So, the mythical creatures in Cthulhu myth also follow this rule. For instance, the Earth-boring Demon Worm and Great Devouring Worm are both "worms," but one is everywhere on Earth, while the other is hard to find even in the universe.
Back to the main topic, although Deep One and Ghoul are considered "fertile" in the mythical creature circle, they still lag far behind humans. So, it's quite understandable that they would use the hybrid "bug" to "mass-produce" because the genes of mythical creatures are definitely more dominant than human genes. Therefore, as they age, the genes of mythical creatures will completely suppress human genes, turning the original hybrids into complete mythical creatures.
Why are these mythical creature tribes suddenly, and coincidentally, starting to "mass-produce" at this time?!
Do they want to create a big news?!
Seeing Liu Xing's puzzled expression, Shimada Sho nodded and said, "Although I have been living in seclusion in Kagoshima City all these years, my eyes and ears across the Island Nation are still functioning normally, providing me with all kinds of information, so I discovered that many mythical creature tribes have suddenly started intermarrying with nearby human villages. Among them, the tribe where Kitano Masakazu belongs even had the Kitano family buy a small town for them as a maternity ward. Therefore, over the years, the mixed-blood ratio of various mythical creature tribes has increased from one percent to twenty percent, so I began to suspect that these mythical creature tribes are planning to do something bad."
"As a result, after a detailed investigation, I found out that the main reason why these tribes have started to increase their population is only one—martial world rumors; a long time ago, before humans had developed, there was almost no communication between the various mythical creature tribes. After all, after fighting for so many years, they had long become life-and-death enemies, how could they sit down and chat together? As for different tribes of the same race, their relationships were not much better, because we mythical creatures also categorize internally. For example, among us Ghouls, common classification methods include Giant Claw Ghoul, Black Claw Ghoul, Blade Claw Ghoul based on claws, and Graveyard Ghoul, Wilderness Ghoul, and Tundra Ghoul based on habitat."
At this point, Matsui Yui also nodded in agreement, "That's right, we Deep Ones also divide into tribes based on various conditions. For example, the tribe where Kitano Masakazu belongs is all White Armor Deep Ones, the Deep Ones in southern Kyushu are called Fine Scale Deep Ones, and those living near R'lyeh Ancient City are called Guardian Deep Ones. Except for Guardian Deep Ones who are universally respected by other Deep Ones, other types of Deep Ones have some conflicts with each other."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and said, "I didn't expect the internal structure of your mythical creatures not to be monolithic, but the classification of your mythical creatures sounds a bit childish, like when England was abandoning its colonies, forcibly categorizing the local natives to divide them, even using height and wealth as standards."
Shimada Sho chuckled and said, "You must know that England was almost controlled by the Cult of the Cadaver at that time, because after World War II started, the Cult of the Cadaver gained many seats in the English parliament by promising that England would not be attacked by Germany, and they took the opportunity to expand the influence of the Cult of the Cadaver from England to the entire British Commonwealth. Therefore, among the officials England sent to the colonies, there were quite a few Ghouls. As a result, after World War II ended, those Ghouls put on such a big show based on their experiences."
"Anyway, let's get back to the point. Before the rise of humans, not to mention the various mythical creature races, even different tribes of the same race had almost no communication, because the reason everyone stayed on Earth was, frankly, just to watch the wind, so there was no need for communication; but with the rise of humans, humans appeared everywhere on Earth, so the news of various mythical creature tribes was passed through humans as a medium, and over time, specialized newspapers appeared."
"Liu Xing, you heard it right, there are several newspapers on Earth specifically for mythical creatures to purchase, although these newspapers are monthly and are collected, organized, and printed by the same Byakhee tribe; but it makes sense, among the mythical creatures on Earth, besides the Byakhee, no other mythical creature can run a newspaper business, after all, the Byakhee often provide interstellar travel services for other mythical creatures, so the Byakhee can easily contact other mythical creatures, and the levels are not low, because low-level mythical creatures do not have the opportunity to go on business trips to other planets."
"Because the Byakhee's sources of information are very comprehensive and highly authentic, their newspaper sales are very high, and the sales network can be said to cover the entire Earth. Even the Ancient Ones who have been isolated in the deep sea for tens of thousands of years subscribe to a copy of the newspaper published by the Byakhee tribe, and those Byakhee merchants, to earn more money, have divided a comprehensive newspaper into daily news, tribal dynamics, strange stories, and martial world rumors, among which the most noteworthy is the martial world rumors."
"Compared to the first three newspapers, the reliability of martial world rumors is not even a fraction of theirs, almost the entire newspaper is fake news, because the term martial world rumors, as the name implies, is about customers who took Byakhee to ascend and shared some hearsay they heard, such as a recent martial world rumor that said a Formless Offspring and a Shoggoth were together and were beaten by Tsathoggua... Although this sounds unreliable, it's also quite interesting, so the sales of martial world rumors have always been the first among the newspapers published by the Byakhee tribe."
"Of course, martial world rumors are not entirely wrong, and many major events have been found to have some clues in martial world rumors before they happened, but at the time, they were laughed at by onlookers, so now some people have started to pay attention to martial world rumors, tracking some that seem unreliable but can withstand scrutiny. As a result, in the previous period, a message provided by the Yis People was recorded in martial world rumors—Great Old One will soon reappear on Earth."
"Who is it?!" Liu Xing asked hastily.
Shimada Sho shrugged and said with a smile, "Well, I don't know, because news like 'A Great Old One will soon reappear on Earth' almost appears in martial world rumors every month. The source last month might have been a Deep One who wished to remain anonymous, and next month it turns into a Ghoul boarding from somewhere, so many people think it's just that Byakhee tribe making things up every month to fill pages."
"But this time it's a bit different because the source is a Yis People. I believe Liu Xing you should know that the Yis People have the ability to traverse time and space, right? So their information is highly credible. Moreover, the Byakhee tribe wouldn't dare to falsely use the name of the Yis People to fabricate news, because when they first started this business, they reportedly used the name of the Yis People to leak a false message to boost sales. As a result, a Yis People took over the chieftain of the Byakhee tribe after learning about it, and then recorded some unsightly things."
"Since then, there have been almost no reports related to the Yis People in the Byakhee tribe's newspaper. It's said that a Yis People has taken up permanent residence in that Byakhee tribe. So when the Yis People announced the news that 'A Great Old One will soon reappear on Earth,' most readers, although outwardly mocking that the Yis People have also been bribed by those Byakhee, secretly believed it by at least fifty percent. Thus, the mythical creature tribes that heard this news began to increase their population to ensure they have more cards to play when the news comes true."
"Cards?" Liu Xing asked in confusion, "Logically, if a Great Old One were to reappear, then without a second Great Old One appearing, everything on Earth would soon be under its control, and those mythical creature tribes' cards wouldn't have any effect against a Great Old One."
At this point, Matsui Yui suddenly said, "Liu Xing, you're mistaken because the term 'reappear' here doesn't mean the Great Old One will awaken and regain its power. The seal on the Great Old One is not something that can be easily lifted. So, for the Great Old One to regain its former glory, its followers need to make a lot of effort. For example, my father once said that if R'lyeh Ancient City rises from the deep sea, then the great Cthulhu will awaken from its slumber. At that time, we Deep Ones will gather near R'lyeh Ancient City to hold a ceremony to call the great Cthulhu back from the dream to reality."
"However, at that time, other mythical creatures won't just stand by and watch the great Cthulhu awaken because when the great Cthulhu fully awakens, it means that other sealed Great Old Ones will never see the light of day. After all, two tigers cannot share one mountain, and currently, there can only be one Great Old One controlling everything on Earth. So, at that time, other mythical creatures will form an alliance to disrupt our ceremony and try to sink R'lyeh Ancient City back into the sea. If they succeed, we Deep Ones will disappear from Earth, but if we Deep Ones succeed, then the only mythical creatures left on Earth will be us Deep Ones!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Xing sighed and said, "I see, no wonder these mythical creature tribes are starting to increase their population. But that means, our human history is also entering a countdown because regardless of who wins in the end, we humans cannot avoid the outcome of extinction."
At this point, the atmosphere at the dinner table became somewhat heavy.
Therefore, Liu Xing and the others quietly finished their dinner and then went to rest.
Back at the two-story building outside the Estate, Liu Xing started staring at his mobile phone, constantly thinking about whether to tell Yin En and Shi Zixuan about the news he heard at dinner tonight.
In the end, Liu Xing put down the mobile phone.
"I'll talk about these things when we meet in the future."
[Thanks for reading at Patreon.com/maxnkoga , if you supporting this novel, a heartfelt thankyou, enjoy the content!]