Apostle of Cthulhu

Norris Anderson is very annoyed now.

Not only because he is now entangled by a street magician, but also because the guy who calls himself the devil is standing across the street and mocking him, as if he is saying to himself, "You can't even get rid of this guy, what face do you have?"

The street magician who is entangled with Norris is a black man, wearing a rather funny hat with a black feather on it. The suit on his body is very cheap, and the cane in his hand is obviously a defective product, with poor carving and very ordinary materials.

The black suit is more slim-fitting and ironed more carefully, but a series of problems such as discoloration can still be seen.

There is a signature pen inserted in his chest pocket, probably for the guy who wants to sign, but Norris doesn't want to sign now.

"Hey! This gentleman, I think you must come to see my performance!" said the street magician, "Believe me, my magic will definitely open your eyes!"

"Sorry, I'm not interested." Norris waved his hand, trying to drive this rude guy away.

But the magician stuck to him like chewing gum on the sole of his shoe, and Norris felt upset. If this guy had no grudges against him, Norris might have taken action directly.

Norris took a step forward, and the magician ran forward three steps, stopped in front of him and bowed to him, "Sir, don't say that, people will resist before accepting these strange things, this is a necessary process. But acceptance after resistance often allows you to gain something more."

Norris stopped and pointed to the dogfighting scene outside the bar, "Why don't we guess, which dogfight there can only win?"

The magician was stunned for a moment, "Sir, what does this mean?"

"I mean, I would rather watch a dogfight than listen to you talk nonsense here!" If it was the usual Norris, he might spend a little time watching the magician's performance and then leave, but now the time node is different. The guy who calls himself the devil is standing across the street, obviously looking for something with him.

The intelligence that guy brought was very useful every time, so Norris didn't want to listen to his nonsense.

"Okay... sir," the magician hung his head and looked very disappointed, "Sorry to bother you."

"You're welcome." Norris even answered this sentence seriously, which was poison on poison.

After waiting for several carriages and a rare small car driven by an internal combustion engine to pass by, Norris walked across the street to meet the guy.

"You're so late. I was wondering when you can get rid of that guy." The man's smile always makes people shudder. "Do you need me to time you next time?"

Norris replied coldly: "If possible, I hope you can come to me when I'm not being harassed by others, so that there will be no problem in our communication."

The man laughed, "You are humorous again. When I come to you, isn't that my idea? Why should I change myself because of your problem?"

Norris didn't want to refute this sentence, and there was no way to refute it. The man had the information he needed in his hand. If he didn't go to him, he would lose the available information, and the man would not lose anything.

In the final analysis, it was caused by the unfair amount of intelligence.

"So why did you come to me? To laugh at me?"

"Don't say such harsh words. When did I come to you not to help you? Don't trample on my kindness."

Norris chose to refute this point, "Help me? That's not necessarily true, right? The reason you help me is just because I can achieve the purpose you want to achieve from the side. In the final analysis, it's just a win-win situation. Why do you say that you have sold me a big favor? Can you have some shame?"

After being exposed, the man did not show any ugliness or anger, but just answered very calmly: "Really? I can achieve a win-win situation with anyone. I can abandon you at any time, but I didn't do it, right? Because you satisfy me."

Norris glanced at the man and said nothing.

"Let's get back to the point. I'm just here to give you information. But before that, walk with me on the street... It should be okay, right?"

"As you like." Norris replied coldly.

The man smiled, took the lead and walked on the brick-paved road.

The sound of the wheels of the carriage echoed in Norris's ears, and the sound of the ferry whistle in the canal in the distance also lingered over this slightly calm city. The sky of Manburg City was slightly gloomy, and a large number of chimneys stood everywhere in the city, like piercing a few holes in the intact skin.

Black smoke erupted from it, straight into the sky, dyeing the clouds and the scorching sun black.

"Now Manburg City has been surrounded by those bees," the man said to Norris while taking out a piece of candy from his pocket, "There are reasons for this, you should know it, right?"

"I can see it." Norris's eyes were on the surrounding city scenery, but his mind was still on the conversation with the man.

The man peeled off the candy wrapper, put the orange candy into his mouth, and threw away the garbage. "These bees can be said to be real or imaginary. When humans have a strong idea, their perception of their existence will become weak."

Norris guessed the answer, "This idea... refers to the desire to find them?"

The man shrugged and did not deny it.

"The existence of these bees has only one meaning, just like a marker, making a very clear mark. You have encountered it recently, those bodies after being bitten?"

Not only encountered it, Norris saw a person being marked in front of him. The next day, he and the police found the body of the man almost at the same time.

Seeing that Norris didn't answer, the man assumed that Norris thought the same as he did, and continued: "The brains of these corpses have disappeared, and it is more appropriate to describe them as 'sucked away'. All this is because of a missionary."

"It has nothing to do with me," Norris tried his best to shirk responsibility, "I have only one goal now, that is to go to the city of Haleiya. I don't want to care about anything else."

"Really? But the person who decides the facts is not you." The man's expression suddenly became serious, "The entrance to the city of Haleiya disappears every time it is opened. That means you must find a new entrance now. I can tell you that the missionary...he knows where the entrance is."

Norris frowned, and just as he was about to say something, someone stopped him in front of him.

It was a little girl who looked young, holding a few dying roses in her hands, with a pale face and uneven breathing.

"Handsome sir, please buy a flower."

Looking closely, Norris could see that there were very obvious bruises on her neck and her face was slightly swollen. In this case, he could even recite the family environment: an alcoholic father, a mother who swallowed her anger... maybe there were sisters, but the former was unruly and might even stand on the streets in the downtown area; the latter was hungry and had no one to raise them.

Norris closed his eyes, sighed deeply, took out his wallet from his pocket, took out a few large bills, handed them to the little girl, and took away all the flowers in her hand.

"Go home early, child."

The little girl was obviously stunned for a moment, and then smiled in an instant. That innocent smile seemed to bring the flowers back to bloom.

"Thank you! Kind sir! I'm sorry that I privately suspected that you had mental problems just now... After all, you were talking to yourself..."

Norris suppressed his own actions and turned his head to look at the man, and gently patted the little girl's head.

That's right, that man... Only Norris Anderson could see him.

Or rather, that man was only willing to be seen by Norris Anderson.