Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World (Final Revision)

Even though there are some things I cannot tell you

Zhou Mingrui stepped forward as the door closed back behind him.

The room seemed to expand to infinity, far beyond than the simple building that could be seen from outside.

There were no walls, no floor, no ceiling—only void.

But in the center of that void stood a monster taking up most of his field of vision.

It had a shape, but that shape seemed to change constantly. It had a body, but that body wasn't material. It had a life, but it appeared to be dead at the same time. The Lord of Mysteries couldn't grasp the form of the being in front of him.

It surpassed human cognition as Cthulhu seemed to represent chaos itself.

The most common shape that appeared in front of Zhou Mingrui was that of a pulpy, tentacled head surmounting a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings.

A mix of an octopus, a dragon and a human.

Zhou Mingrui's expression darkened.

The octopus was the mythological form of the three pathways of the Lord of Mysteries while the dragon was the symbol of the God Almighty's pathways.

If that being indeed had these abilities, then its power would surpass his expectations.

Its mere presence would destroy everything if it was allowed into his world.

He couldn't let it approach Earth.

The Evernight Goddess descended to help him, a brooch containing water from the River of Eternal Darkness in her hand.

Then, Cthulhu opened its eyes, the two Great Old Ones entering his sight.

Despite being a pillar of the universe himself, Zhou Mingrui shuddered at the monster's sheer power.

This battle would decide the fate of their world.

"Its state seems wrong, it can't use all its strength."

Not deterred by its aura, Amanises reassured Zhou Mingrui, making him return to his senses.

The Lord of Mysteries nodded.

It was going to be a tough fight.

Grafting fate and fooling time, a battle of concepts began.

Zhou Mingrui fell into a dream but the blessings of the Evernight Goddess helped him maintain his consciousness.

The monster tried to hypnotize him but Zhou Mingrui grafted this state onto a marionette pulled out of the historical pores.

Blessing himself with good luck, he tried to seize the monster's spiritual threads but his thoughts were stolen. The being's state was then grafted back to Zhou Mingrui who suddenly moved stiffly.

Fighting a monster with the same abilities as you—and even more—was really annoying.

Zhou Mingrui exchanged his fate with another marionette pulled out of the historical pores and opened the door to teleport away then attacked the monster again from another side.

Meanwhile, the Evernight Goddess sent bad luck to Cthulu and tried to turn it into an undead, in vain.

At one point, Adam also joined to help them. It seemed like his and the goddess's experiment with Anderson had been successful since they had both come here.

In that space where time became meaningless, a few days passed, even though it was only a few minutes outside.

Until finally...