Chapter 213
Chapter 213
“May 1907.”
“That mangled abomination is being kept in a pool. It keeps demanding that we give it women to eat.”
“For the sake of the Lord, I will never indulge such a vile demand.”
…
“September 12, 1907.”
“The laboratory is complete.”
“December 2, 1907.”
“Today, we made our first attempt to study the monster itself.”
“Its mutilated navel secretes a fluid that hardens into solid stone. Utterly disgusting.”
“December 3, 1907.”
“Strange things have begun happening in the laboratory. Those long-necked Ghost Shadow apparitions are appearing everywhere.”
“December 7, 1907.”
“That damned, revolting monster is causing trouble. Anyone who comes into contact with the Black Stone it creates develops abnormalities.”
“Like sleepwalking puppets, they make their way to its pool and walk straight into its mouth.”
“December 25, 1907.”
“I feel terribly despondent today. I miss my wife and daughter. I’ve written to them, but no reply has ever come.”
“February 7, 1908.”
“My cough is getting worse. I can barely sleep anymore.”
“March 1908.”
“We have discovered that the Black Stone produced by the monster can make the dead walk.”
“We have begun attempting to recreate the Slender-Waisted Ancient Humans depicted on the bronze sheet.”
“Perhaps one day, we will be able to resurrect that glorious civilization.”
“May 9, 1908.”
“I coughed up blood again today. The medicine prescribed by the hospital is gradually losing its effect.”
“That monster lies through its teeth. It claims another world exists and that it came from there.”
“Who would believe such nonsense? We need to increase the intensity of the electric shocks.”
“August 7, 1908.”
“The pain is driving me mad. I am afraid of death.”
“In this lightless underground base, only the monster’s wails as I torture it can bring me a moment of peace.”
“How enviable. Why is it that it cannot die?”
“August 26, 1908.”
“My life may be nearing its end. God has neither blessed nor protected me.”
“I think Shiye was right. It’s time for a change.”
“September 9, 1908.”
“We bought a young girl from a nearby village.”
“The monster ate her.”
“Shiye joked that perhaps we should call the monster River God. I looked into the story: a legendary River God who demanded brides?”
“There is a certain grotesque humor in giving that name to a monster hidden away in the mountains. Very well. From now on, we will call it River God.”
“December 5, 1908.”
“To obtain more brides, River God has finally become much more cooperative. It claims that a miraculous medicine capable of curing illness exists in that other world.”
“What a bizarre creature. Even reduced to such a state, it still thinks only of satisfying its appetite.”
“December 20, 1908.”
“While extracting Marrow Fluid from River God today, we detected an anomalous fluctuation.”
“It seemed… as though spacetime itself was folding.”
“Shiye said that a gate to the Heavenly Realm opened for one-thirtieth of a second.”
“May 3, 1909.”
“The Gate Project is going very poorly. Even with Marrow Fluid as the medium, we still cannot keep the gate stable for long.”
“Today, we gave River God its seventieth bride.”
“The constant trade in girls and their disappearances seems to have sparked some ugly rumors in the surrounding area.”
“We will have to be more careful from now on.”
“June 8, 1909.”
“At the instant the gate opened, we successfully retrieved a blade of grass.”
“Shiye says the opening and stability of the Door seem to be tied to the River God’s emotions.”
“The more volatile its emotions, the stronger its connection to the Door?”
“September 9, 1909.”
“Today was our lucky day. We successfully retrieved a handful of grass seeds from beyond the Door.”
“I wonder what they’ll grow into. I can hardly wait.”
“November 21, 1909.”
“The River God devoured its one hundred and thirtieth bride.”
“We successfully created the first Slim-Waisted Man. It truly is hideous.”
“December 25, 1909.”
“I can only get around in a wheelchair now. Perhaps I don’t have much longer to live, yet I still haven’t seen that world. I cannot accept this.”
“Shiye says a ritual will be held for me: a Soul-Container Consecration ritual.”
“February 5, 1910.”
“Shiye and I had another argument.”
“Shiye says too many test subjects have died, and the deaths have already attracted the attention of the local police.”
“Shiye says the patrolman surnamed Qin is like a rabid dog. Anyone he sets his sights on is bound to get bitten. He recommends that we relocate immediately.”
“But I’m dying, and I no longer have the money to build another laboratory like this one.”
“March 3, 1910.”
“Things have taken a turn for the better. I contacted my homeland and reported the details of our experiments. In return, we received a grant.”
“As the price, we handed over a vial of the River God’s Marrow Fluid.”
“April 13, 1910.”
“The Door opened for one second, then closed again.”
“How can we stabilize the Door?”
“May 7, 1910.”
“Of the grass seeds we obtained from beyond the Door, only one plant remains alive. It was cultivated using the River God’s Marrow Fluid.”
“We discovered that when the blood of animals from beyond the Door is fused with the River God’s Marrow Fluid and injected into test subjects, it causes them to undergo a certain degree of transformation.”
“The test subjects grew stronger, but their limbs also began to deform.”
“We have decided to call this liquid New Blood.”
“June 1, 1910.”
“Shiye found a way to obtain several pregnant women.”
“What wondrous changes might occur when unborn fetuses encounter refined New Blood? I can hardly wait!”
“June 2, 1910.”
“There were eight pregnant women. Regardless of whether they had only just conceived or were about to give birth, after being injected with New Blood, they all delivered on the same day, at the exact same moment.”
“One woman who was only three months pregnant gave birth overnight to a full-term… little monster.”
“Not a single fetus survived. All of them died after becoming deformed.”
“June 8, 1910.”
“Shiye has been acting strangely lately. Perhaps the pressure from outside has become too much.”
“While we were searching for new test subjects, the local constable surnamed Qin caused us no end of trouble.”
“July 8, 1910.”
“Our repeated failures with the New Blood experiments have caused the funding I receive from Italy to shrink considerably.”
“An accident occurred when a train made an unscheduled stop inside Qingzhai Tunnel, killing many people. Perhaps it was the River God’s doing, yet whenever we shocked it with electricity, it became as docile as a dog.”
“The people here have grown more vigilant, making test subjects increasingly difficult to obtain. Troubles just keep piling up.”
“September 3, 1910.”
“We obtained a piece of wood and several luminous flowers from beyond the Door.”
“Shiye and I decided to send the wood back to Italy in exchange for more financial support.”
“We kept the luminous flowers and will attempt to cultivate the seeds extracted from them using Marrow Fluid.”
“November 3, 1910.”
“Damn it! The piece of wood we intended to send back to Italy was stolen by a gang of bandits who robbed the train.”
“We have no choice but to try other experiments in hopes of securing more financial support.”