Reincarnated In a Cthulhu World And Everyone Is Obsessed With Me - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Awakening

A giant, golden pupil.

“Senior Xia? Is that you, Senior Xia Mingyu?”

Xia Mingyu froze and turned around. Standing there was a man with a baby face, wearing a formal Sentinel uniform.

Xia Mingyu searched his memory. “Are you… Tang Yaopeng?”

The man nodded vigorously. “Yes! It’s me, Senior. I never thought I’d have the chance to see you again.”

Tang Yaopeng had just finished registering at the Sentry Tower when he saw a tall, lean figure standing by the side gate. With long, jet-black hair and a cold, exquisite profile, the man’s temperament was unmistakable.

Back in the peaceful era, when Tang was a freshman and Xia was a senior, Xia had given a speech that captured everyone’s hearts with his competence and overwhelming beauty. Later, Xia had gone to the country’s top university, becoming the legendary “talented scholar” of the Chinese Department—refined, elegant, and romantic. To meet again in this ruined world felt like a twist of fate.

Moved to tears, Tang asked, “Senior, what are you doing at the Tower? Did you awaken as a Sentinel too?”

Xia Mingyu caught the word “too” and forced a polite smile. “No… I’m actually looking for the Church to undergo Awakening. Do you know the way?”

After the chaos at Paradise Lost, Xia was feeling a bit reactive toward Sentinels. He had nearly died twice because of them.

“The Church?” Tang blinked. “You don’t need to look for it. When you are chosen to awaken, you will naturally find yourself before it.”

Naturally? Xia Mingyu thought for a moment. “And if I want to go proactively?”

Tang said solemnly, “No, the Church cannot be ‘found.’ You can only be summoned; you cannot enter of your own accord.”

…It was just like a “Domain.” Xia Mingyu rubbed his forehead in frustration. It was probably a matter of spiritual perception—those who got it, got it; those who didn’t couldn’t even find the doorstep. He felt defeated. He had mentally prepared himself to be a Guide, but was all that effort for nothing?

Tang noticed Xia’s large backpack. “Senior, are you moving?”

“That’s the plan, but I haven’t found a place to stay yet.”

The beauty’s smile was dazzling, and Tang’s breath hitched for a second. He scratched his head sheepishly. “Senior, I live in a shared apartment. A spot opened up a couple of days ago. If you don’t mind, why don’t you move in with me?”

Housing in the Southern Base was in extreme demand. For a room to be empty for days was unheard of. Xia Mingyu smiled knowingly. “Is it that no one wants to move in, or has the landlord rejected everyone?”

Exposed, Tang laughed. “Heh, well… Senior, I swear on my honor as a Sentinel, if you agree, I’ll handle the landlord!”

“Alright, then. I appreciate the help,” Xia Mingyu said sincerely. “I’ll treat you to dinner later”—once I get my first paycheck from Paradise Lost.

As they walked, Xia asked, “How did the spot open up?”

Tang’s mood dampened. “A Sentinel. He died in a Domain a few days ago. They couldn’t even bring his body out.”

Xia Mingyu let out a soft sound, like a faint sigh. In the apocalypse, people weren’t superstitious about “death houses”; having a roof was a blessing. But knowing he was moving into the room of a fallen soldier—surrounded by the air of the man’s life while the man himself was gone—made his heart heavy.

They navigated through rows of tenement buildings and stopped at an old office block. It was a remnant of the peaceful era, and the conditions were better than Xia expected. They climbed to the 36th floor. Tang wasn’t even winded, but Xia felt lightheaded. This body is so weak, he lamented again.

Tang stopped at room 3608. He scanned his pupil, the lock clicked, and he turned to introduce the apartment. But there was a loud thud. He looked back—the backpack was on the floor, and the Senior had vanished into thin air.

The Church’s ‘vanishing act’ never gets old, Tang thought, remembering how he had once stepped out of bed and fallen straight into the Church while still wearing his pajamas. He picked up the bag and went inside, praying the Senior would remember the way back.

…

Xia Mingyu blinked.

One second he was on the 36th floor; the next, he was sitting on the stone ground before a low-slung cathedral. The sky was a sinister, mottled orange with clouds like streaks of blood. The cathedral was Gothic, with a disproportionately high base and shutters that hid everything within.

Xia Mingyu stood up. He had been “summoned” naturally, all right, but the timing felt like a malicious prank.

The cathedral doors swung open. A man dressed as a priest stood on the steps, looking down at him. He wore strange robes with a bizarre crown that added an “unspeakable” sense of malice to his blurred face. The color of his robes was impossible to describe—it didn’t seem to belong to the human visible spectrum.

Xia couldn’t see the priest’s face, but he sensed a faint smile. A message entered his mind like a radio wave: “Child, do not be nervous. Cognitive confusion is normal here. Come—the holy Awakening is about to begin; the mysterious power of ‘Tulu’ (Cthulhu) is about to descend upon you.”

The priest trembled with excitement, waving an elongated staff and inviting Xia up the stairs. Xia hesitated. Wasn’t the Church supposed to be “holy, solemn, and pure”? This place was none of those. Had he been sent to the “Hell Church” by mistake?

Recalling how he’d been tricked into Paradise Lost in his past life, he hesitated, but ultimately followed the priest inside.

As he stepped onto the final stair, his consciousness shuddered. A crushing pressure from above—from somewhere both infinitely far and terrifyingly close—forced him to his knees. He braced himself and looked up to see a giant golden pupil. It was embedded in the blood-red sky. When Xia looked at it, the eye narrowed with joy.

…Too bizarre.

Meeting that gaze felt like seeing every mutated monster of the apocalypse at once. His sanity nearly shattered; he barely kept himself from vomiting. Seeing his resistance, the golden eye drooped piteously and began to shed “tears.” The tears were like liquid metal or thick green lava, drifting toward him like mercury and smelling of rotting fish.

Xia Mingyu forced himself up and crawled into the cathedral. Once past the doors, the golden eye and the bloody sky vanished. He exhaled in relief.

The priest stood at a high altar before a massive drum. He struck the lumpy drumhead with his staff, and fluorescent, rune-like particles floated into the air. Xia felt a surge of familiarity. This was exactly like his Delirium dreams.

After a long, dizzying ceremony, a small cocoon rose from the drum—his “Mental Manifestation.” Xia thought numbly: Please don’t let it be a moth.

But in the next second, the priest’s words stunned him:

“S-Rank Guide, Xia Mingyu.”

“The variable on the scales of fate, the cause and effect of the apocalyptic endgame, the sacrifice of the infinite loop.”

“Whether it be the abyss deeper than the ocean or the phantom further than the stars, you, with your mayfly body, shall carry eons of secrets. Are you ready to embrace your destiny?”

Xia Mingyu was silent for a long time. Inexplicably, he felt like he had heard these words before.

The priest asked, “Xia Mingyu, do you know the fate of the last S-Rank Guide?”

The leader of the Hunting Guild? He was the most mysterious of the S-Ranks. Xia asked hesitantly, “…What happened to him?”

The priest’s crown swayed as he smiled. “The seventh S-Rank of this world… will you maintain the balance, or break it? I look forward to your choice.”

Another blink.

Xia Mingyu was standing on a bridge in the center of the Southern Base. Time flowed differently in the Church; it was already dark. A torrential rain was falling, and the lights of the city looked like a hazy, drunken hallucination. The towering buildings looked like grinning monsters, eyeing him with greed.

S-Rank.

Xia Mingyu recalled the tenth year of the apocalypse. By then, every S-Rank except Xie He was dead—killed in Domain wars, factional struggles, or by their own hand, unable to bear the burden of their power. And the only survivor, Xie He, had no place left to call home.

What was an S-Rank? A powerful madman. A brave warrior. A mysterious handler of power. A desperate martyr. A hero treading on thin ice. Every great achievement was backed by a “bloody end.”

Reborn, Xia Mingyu only wanted to live a quiet, ordinary life. But fate had pushed him to the eye of the storm. The unknown horrors of the future were unfolding, and he had nowhere to run.

Soaked in the blood-scented rain, Xia Mingyu felt cold to his core.