CDJMM – Volume 5 -Chapter 6 Civilization Rescue Team (6)

Xingxiu stood in the suburbs, staring dumbfounded at the endless stretch of newly reclaimed farmlands and the burly men working tirelessly in the fields. For a moment, he suspected he had fallen into an illusion.

“T-they are…?”

Le Jing replied calmly, “A bunch of murderers. By law, each of them could’ve been executed hundreds of times.”

“How did you bring them all here?!”

Le Jing replied concisely, “Waste recycling.”

Xingxiu was stunned speechless. It took a long moment before he regained his voice. “Even if they’re all villains, they’re still living people with social connections. If so many people suddenly disappear at once, it’ll definitely cause an uproar in your world.”

Le Jing said calmly with a faint smile, “Choosing them has two advantages.”

“First, they can’t see the light of day. Second, they have a lot of enemies.” The teenager crossed his arms. His amber eyes carried a chilly depth like an autumn pond. “So even if they vanish, few would notice. And even if someone does notice, they’ll just assume their enemies killed them.”

Xingxiu wasn’t fully convinced. “But if a large number of criminals disappear at the same time, it’ll still catch the attention of certain people. The police might even get involved.”

Le Jing answered with a straight face, “Honestly, I’ve helped the police arrest so many criminals and even spent so much effort reforming them. They should be giving me a banner. I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize more than the President of the United States.”

“…This is not the time to joke.”

Le Jing raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. “What do you think the police can find? In the end it’ll just turn into another unsolved case — becoming an urban legend or something.”

Xingxiu thought about it and realized it was true.

Throughout human history, there had been countless phenomena science couldn’t explain. One more wouldn’t matter. And since the ones disappearing were all criminals, Xingxiu doubted police would spend much effort investigating. The government would probably feel relieved these time bombs were gone.

Once he understood that, he looked at Le Jing with a rather strange expression. “My instincts were right. You were born for this job. Since you’re so capable, I can leave without worry.”

Le Jing raised an eyebrow. “Where are you going?”

Xingxiu puffed his cheeks in frustration. “One of the worlds under my jurisdiction has caught the eye of Nyarlathotep, that little bitch. If I don’t hurry, that world will get completely messed up. I need to rush over and chase him out.”

Nyarlathotep?

Why did that sound familiar?

Le Jing asked in surprise, “The evil god from the Cthulhu Mythos?”

The Cthulhu Mythos is an invented mythos derived from horror fiction by the American writer H. P. Lovecraft, later organized and expanded by August Derleth with contributions from many authors.

The core of the Cthulhu Mythos is the Great Old Ones—ancient eldritch beings of immense power who ruled the universe. Cthulhu is one of these entities. Though sealed and slumbering by the Elder Gods, their awakening would bring apocalyptic destruction to Earth.

Nyarlathotep is also one of these beings, aligned with chaos and known as “the Messenger.” He delights in pushing humanity into fear and despair. Legend says he even nudged the development of the atomic bomb to accelerate humanity’s self-destruction.

“Yes, that one.”

Le Jing’s eyes flickered. His heart skipped irregularly for several seconds. He deliberately kept his tone slow and calm. “I thought the Cthulhu Mythos was just fictional horror made up by an American author. I didn’t expect the eldritch gods to be real.”

Xingxiu explained, “That’s normal. Sometimes a lucky human manages to glimpse the existence of beings outside human civilization.”

…Lucky? The “lucky ones” would probably call it misfortune.

Xingxiu added meaningfully, “Human myths aren’t necessarily fictional. You never know what monstrous things the universe can produce.”

“Is that so?” The teenager’s lips curled into a grin, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “Sounds interesting.”

As expected, Xingxiu saw sudden, blazing enthusiasm ignite in the boy’s eyes.

He sighed inwardly. What kind of monster had he awakened?

But then again, the Civilization Rescue Team lacked everything except monsters. Xingxiu himself wasn’t particularly normal.

“In short, as long as you don’t expose the existence of the Civilization Rescue Team and don’t cause worldwide panic, you can do whatever you want.” Xingxiu put on his gloves. “I’m leaving. Once I drive Nyarlathotep away, I’ll come back to inspect. Hopefully by then you’ll have resolved this world’s crisis.”

The next second, Xingxiu disappeared.

Le Jing lowered his eyes. Something deep within him stirred restlessly, almost impatiently.

He really… wanted to go see for himself.

…

To be honest, Zhao Luejun really didn’t dare go to a prison to teach a group of foreign criminals.

Remote wilderness. A desolate prison. Sinful inmates. It all felt like the setup of a horror movie.

But he still resolutely marched down this road of no return—not out of ideological devotion, but because he was broke.

To keep the prison’s location secret, he was blindfolded for the entire journey in.

Along the way, Zhao Luejun was terrified, heart pounding wildly. As a STEM guy, the dramatic scenarios he imagined in his head were more convoluted, dramatic, and dog-blooded than Shakespeare’s plays.

When the blindfold was finally removed, he discovered this so-called prison looked… far too foreign?!

Towering spires, ornate carvings— it looked like a castle straight out of a TV drama.

“This… isn’t this supposed to be a prison?”

Le Jing replied cheerfully, “It’s a Sino-foreign joint prison. So it’s in European style.”

Zhao Luejun suddenly understood.

“This is actually part of a joint educational initiative. It’s a bold experiment in re-educating foreign labor reform inmates. If our Chinese side succeeds in reforming these criminals, our intake will expand further—criminals from around the world will be extradited here for re-education.”

As Le Jing spoke, Zhao Luejun’s expression grew more and more serious.

Le Jing patted his shoulder. “Teacher Zhao, the responsibility on your shoulders is heavy. If you feel you’re not ready, you can still withdraw.”

Zhao Luejun flushed red, as if gravely insulted. He raised his voice, “I’ve been a Party member for thirteen years! I’ve got the ideological awareness! Don’t worry, I will not let the organization down. I will properly guide these criminals onto the right path!”

Le Jing smiled. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Zhao soon discovered he wasn’t the only teacher there. While preparing lessons in the office, more than a dozen teachers arrived—among them several he recognized!

With familiar faces present, Zhao Luejun felt emboldened and more confident about the course ahead.

With Marx watching over him, he would use the radiance of the proletariat to transform these wayward foreign devils!

…

Zhao’s teaching experience turned out to be unexpectedly easy and pleasant.

Despite looking fierce, intimidating, and extremely dangerous, his students were surprisingly well-behaved! They studied diligently! Every day after class, a crowd of eager students surrounded the lectern, gazing at him with hungry, earnest eyes, asking him all sorts of academic questions.

Zhao couldn’t help but sigh with relief that each of them was equipped with a universal simultaneous translation device. Otherwise, he wouldn’t understand a word they were saying.

He heard these translators were military-grade devices not yet available on the market. Technology really had come a long way.

He answered every question in detail, and soon the day’s lesson was over.

Zhao was satisfied with everything—except one thing.

He kept receiving strange little notes.

After using the translator to decode them, he finally understood the contents:

For example:

“I am Alessandro, the godfather of America’s largest mafia family, the Mafia. I have been kidnapped and lost all contact with my men. If you call this number and inform my family of my whereabouts, I will give you ten million dollars and officially induct you into the family.”

Another:

“I am Francisco, Mexico’s largest drug lord. I am currently trapped in a mysterious incident and unable to escape. Please call my wife and tell her I am alive; she will give you twenty million dollars’ worth of heroin.”

Zhao Luejun felt deeply insulted—his IQ had been mocked!

Did these foreigners think he was stupid? Using such low-level scam tactics on him?!

He was a legit master’s degree graduate from a top university! Even rural grandmas wouldn’t fall for this nonsense!

No wonder they got thrown into prison. Using such childish scams, they deserved it. And they were still unrepentant—clearly he hadn’t assigned enough homework.

Zhao finally understood why these “foreign devils” insisted on receiving vocational education—they’d starve to death after release if they kept using such idiotic tricks!

At least most of them had some self-awareness.

Zhao decided he would increase the intensity of his teaching and reform them thoroughly—turn them into honorable working people!

…

Le Jing gradually felt that having the criminals learn agricultural machinery from scratch was too slow.

Mainly because after hearing from Xingxiu that eldritch gods from the Cthulhu Mythos actually existed, he couldn’t stop thinking about them.

It was said that any creature who gazed directly at an eldritch god would lose Sanity Points—bit by bit descending into madness and monstrosity.

But judging from Xingxiu’s casual attitude, looking at an eldritch god didn’t seem to pose any real danger to members of the Civilization Rescue Team.

If that was the case, Le Jing really wanted to meet one.

Which made him feel impatient about this world’s progress.

Before, he had been willing to wait patiently for the criminals’ reform. Now he wanted to accelerate everything.

Thus, one week later, all outstanding graduates of the Excavator Department of Lanxiang Technical Institute saw the same popup on their computers:

[Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live? Yes or No.]

Graduates: ???

It’s already 2020—who the hell is still role-playing Infinite Terror?!