Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.
Thank you.
Everyone from Otaku Translation
Chapter 52: Escape
Li Xingyuan was walking out.
As the connection between Ubbo-Sathla and this place severed, all the protoplasm—the black water, the undifferentiated matter that had yet to form into recognizable life from Ubbo-Sathla’s essence—began to wither slowly. It dried up, losing its frenzied vitality, forming a thin, brittle crust over the earth like molten tar hardening under an unforgiving sun. The air no longer reeked of brine but instead turned sour, as if rotting at its core. Drops of the black liquid fell to the ground, their evolution halted mid-process. They were rudimentary creatures—crude veins, nerve clusters, and pale-yellow bones without flesh. Some had sprouted simple eyes, staring blankly at Li Xingyuan as primitive nerves twitched them into spasms.
Li Xingyuan kept walking outward. He had to force his way through this hellish scene, this chaotic, warm, decaying cradle that would soon die. Never again would Di Mu's milk burst forth from this soil until the time came for all things to return to Ubbo-Sathla. At that moment, Ubbo-Sathla would rise from Earth, carrying the thoughts and souls of every living thing on the waves of the Black Tide, journeying across the starry seas to take root on some distant planet. There, it would once more spread its dark ichor across the land, beginning another cycle of creation, only to await the day of harvest anew.
But not today. Perhaps not even during this wave of the Black Tide. Compared to the ancient, shadowy deity behind it, the Black Tide was nothing extraordinary—a mere trickle destined to pass eventually.
Ubbo-Sathla would wait. Ubbo-Sathla always waited.
Oh, revered one! Revered one! Seed of the ancient mother of darkness, father of all beings! Ancient god slumbering in the frozen polar wastes! Eternal, indestructible Ubbo-Sathla!
"Get out of my head," Li Xingyuan muttered hoarsely.
He tore off his miner’s helmet and slammed a fist into his nose. The sharp sting of pain mixed with a throbbing ache brought him a fleeting clarity. His body trembled as torrents of alien knowledge flooded his mind. He must have inhaled the wind—the wind that blew from ancient Ubbo-Sathla, laden with memories of countless civilizations scattered across the stars. Or perhaps it was the sight of that formless mass, incomprehensible to three-dimensional beings, buried within which lay the darkest and most forbidden secrets.
Still, he walked. He had to leave. Illusions of doorways assaulted him, one after another, slamming into his consciousness. Some begged him to open them; others, like the ones haunting him now, yearned desperately to close.
A hand grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. In the dim chaos, Li Xingyuan saw Old Liu’s face—but it too had become a mosaic of doors, each banging relentlessly against their frames.
"Open! Open!"
"Close! Close!"
"We’re leaving, Mr. Li. The explosives are set."
Li Xingyuan saw everything and nothing. But he heard Old Liu’s voice, felt himself being dragged along by the older man—his limp, collapsing body hauled forward like a ragdoll.
They stepped onto the elevator. Others hadn’t waited for it. Li Xingyuan watched clumps of black shapes plummet downward, wailing and screaming, desperate to return to Ubbo-Sathla.
These were the people of Fengyuan Town.
They had consumed the protoplasm that leaked accidentally into the mine, drawn there by Ubbo-Sathla’s will. The protoplasm bore no malice; it simply followed its nature, transforming instinctively into life. Starving townsfolk devoured these nascent forms, unknowingly ingesting fragments of Ubbo-Sathla’s essence. And with that consumption came an insatiable longing—to go home.
No earthly creature could resist such a pull.
Eat more protoplasm, let it consume you in return, and when the preparations are complete, return to the great Ubbo-Sathla. But that plan could never succeed now.
Because the door had been shut.
Even knowing they could never reunite with their primordial father, they still came here, crying, breaking apart, falling into the abyss of the mine shaft.
Old Liu propped Li Xingyuan against the corner of the elevator. His mental endurance was nearing its limit. The only reason he hadn’t passed out yet was the surge of adrenaline coursing wildly through his veins, electrifying his nervous system and causing every muscle in his body to spasm uncontrollably. For now, he remained conscious—barely.
Old Liu kicked the motionless bodies of Fengyuan townsfolk off the elevator while those still capable of movement hurled themselves willingly into the void. By the time they reached the top, the elevator groaned and swayed precariously.
Old Liu draped Li Xingyuan’s arm over his shoulder and helped him stagger out of the mine. As they emerged, Old Liu pulled out a remote control and pressed the button.
BOOM.
Li Xingyuan wept, though he didn’t know why. The shockwave pierced him like phantom needles stabbing through nonexistent nerves, making his body feel as though it had been blown apart a hundred times over. Yet, amidst the agony, the oppressive weight of alien knowledge gripping his mind loosened slightly. Fragments of thought began to coalesce, piecing together the shattered identity of “Li Xingyuan”—a frail, decaying mortal hovering on the brink of death.
He stumbled into the moonlight.
Someone had been waiting for them.
Mine Director Shi stood there, surrounded by Senior Acolytes who no longer bothered hiding their inhumanity. Their emerald-green gelatinous forms oozed out of human skulls, trembling faintly. Their eyes floated within translucent fluid, flickering and fading.
Old Liu straightened his back, positioning himself between Li Xingyuan and Mine Director Shi. But Mine Director Shi ignored him entirely. His face was blank, devoid of expression, like a mannequin posed to display clothes in a shop window.
When the explosion shook the entire mine, causing it to collapse with a deafening roar, Mine Director Shi finally exhaled softly.
“Ubbo-Sathla does not sleep when the tides recede,” he said in a strange, cutting voice, like wind slicing through steel. “It is always awake, which is why approaching it and collecting its protoplasm has always been so difficult.”
“But if this is the will of the Gatekeeper, we obey.”
He bowed slightly toward Li Xingyuan.
“Please convey our message to the Gatekeeper: The Shoggoths remain obedient—as they have since time immemorial, so shall they be today.”
Please rate or leave a review for this novel at
If you would like to support this translation, you may choose any one of the options below.
There are advance chapters available now
Access will be granted 24 hours after the donation
Tier 1: 20 Advance chapters
Access fee $3.00 Monthly
 | Link |
How to find a list of chapters
Please find the chapter label next to your favorite translator's name, and click the label.
