Daily Disposable Persona

The Hounds of Tindalos were infamous. Among mythical races they stood apart, superior and independent, for they could roam through time and space at will. It was this ability which enabled these cunning creatures to establish their home base on Earth in the far distant past. In that era, only the simplest single-celled organisms existed. This ensured the continuation of their race and made it difficult for enemies to attack their dens.

Although called “hounds”, Tindalos Hounds were very different from the canines known on Earth. As for why they were given that name, it was because they scoured time and space hunting down anyone who’d ever seen their shape. They chased their quarry to the ends of the universe if necessary. Countless time travelers had fallen under their claws.

Tindalos Hounds had no fixed shape, but the very few investigators who’d survived an encounter with them reported that they had savage muzzles, were covered in a strange, ink-blue liquid, and liked to hunt in packs.

What was even scarier was that because of their remarkable ability to roam time and space, they were almost impossible to kill. However, it wasn’t that difficult to capture them. All that was needed was a cage created by alchemical runes constructed with certain angles.

Veteran investigators were well aware of these creatures.

In the “Black Forest Incident”, which caused a sensation throughout the occult world in the previous century, a team of twelve senior investigators was completely annihilated.

When the search team arrived, they figured out the culprit from the recordings and limbs that were left behind. The Tindalos Hounds were responsible.

The most chilling thing the search team found was an audio recording filled with intermittent voices.

【”Oh God, they’re devouring my colleague’s body piece by piece, but I can’t turn around… Because the moment I see them they’ll rip my throat out too….”】

In the depths of the forest, even if investigators heard the sound of crunching bones and ripping flesh, they didn’t dare look. And there was nothing more terrifying.

What made it even worse was that when most people encountered Hounds, their first instinct was to help the victims. This led to the demise of many investigators.

“Tindalos Hounds only attack time travelers. Why would they appear here in such numbers?”

Darwin was so horrified he almost crushed the insulated cup in his hand. “Immediately inform Dragon Group command. Tell all investigators to look away at once. Do not look upon their forms!!!”

The atmosphere in the conference room grew solemn.

Because everyone knew how impossible this was.

The terror of the Tindalos Hounds came from their unknown nature.

They existed in angular time and could emerge from any surface with an angle less than 120 degrees. The most famous building in Dujiakou was the financial center with three towers. And it was obvious at a glance that the building itself and the ground all around it contained angles of 90 degrees.

“I’m afraid that this time…”

A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in their hearts.

The moment a person saw what a Hound looked like, he was on their hunting list. Investigators were made of flesh and blood. Even if they tightly shut their eyes, it was impossible to remain indifferent to the agonized screams of their companions.

Paracelsus sighed. “If there’s truly no other way, we’ll advise the Spire Council to use the ultimate weapon.” 

The ultimate weapon of the occult world wasn’t a simple thing.

It was a supreme alchemical array planted within the Earth’s crust. If the Spire Council and the MU Committee voted unanimously, the array would be transferred deep below Jiangzhou. The city would be stripped from the “present” timeline and form an independent pocket of space.

If that happened, it would mean the entire world had abandoned Jiangzhou. The Tindalos Hounds would kill everyone inside.

And those who managed to survive by random chance would close their eyes to hear endless human screams of agony and pain, waiting in a lightless purgatory until the alchemical formation failed.

If you open your eyes, you die.

One could only imagine what kind of horrific tragedy would result, a challenge that would crush human morality and spirit.

The occult world would never take that step except as a last resort.

“No, we still have hope.”

Newton flexed his hands and tapped on the conference table.

He extended his finger and pointed to the small cyclone of cyan and gold in the satellite image.

“Perhaps we can hope for a miracle.”

—

Everything happened as Darwin predicted.

The moment the huge, indistinctly-shaped droplet of ink-blue liquid fell past the skyscraper with three towers, countless investigators who’d rushed to Dujiakou saw it.

“Everyone close your eyes!!! Those are Tindalos Hounds!”

Seconds later, orders from headquarters erupted from their headsets, and every investigator who’d seen the droplet felt the blood in their bodies freeze.

Zong Yan just felt cold all over. Even though he’d activated the Yun Zhong Jun persona, he couldn’t stop the trembling in his soul.

There were so many dread-inspiring mythical beings—the life-plundering Color Out of Space, the Black Goat’s Cubs.

Without doubt the Tindalos Hounds were among the worst.

The horror came from the endless pursuit and the terror of never being able to look directly at them.

It was unfortunate that Zong Yan had briefly learned about this race last semester, in the original book of the Necronomicon.

Yun Zhong Jun didn’t hesitate. His entire body transformed into a cyan and gold cloud that enveloped the blue-black object.

But he was too late.

A moment before the cloud wrapped around that drop of nameless liquid, the surface suddenly split into millions of tiny particles, plummeting like raindrops towards the ground.

No, not towards the ground but towards… the prey that witnessed them fall.

“Close your eyes! Everyone, close your eyes!” Si Xun’s eyes were wide as he roared on the command channel.

He’d replayed the satellite images to watch the arrival of the Tindalos Hounds. These creatures couldn’t be looked at by eyewitnesses, but that didn’t mean they were so powerful and savage they couldn’t even be viewed secondhand through a photo. 

It was too late.

Too many investigators had witnessed the scene in person.

The Tindalos Hounds opened their bloody maws and crushed the throats of their prey.

Their front claws were razor sharp, and the hideous ink-blue liquid on their bodies frequently splashed their victims. Sometimes the Hounds would even tease their targets by giving them numbing agents, driving their fear to extreme levels as they watched their own bodies get torn apart and eaten bit by bit.

“Ahhhhhhhhh—”

The Hounds that Zong Yan hadn’t been able to stop had already reached the ground. They rushed towards their prey like a plume of smoke while screams rang out one after another.

Some investigators instinctively opened their eyes to help their team members only to meet the same fate a second later.

The sound of ripping flesh echoed under the sky.

How was this possible, how was this possible?!

Although otherworldly creatures and evil gods rivalled each other in terms of awfulness, at least they followed certain rules. As long as humans didn’t take the initiative to provoke them, they wouldn’t come to Earth to destroy the world.

How did it all go wrong?!

As Zong Yan stood within the mist, he shaped the cloud around the largest mass of Hounds and halted them in the sky.

Then the cloud was suddenly ravaged by a colossal mouth. A wolf-shaped creature composed of countless angular fragments broke through Zong Yan’s first line of defense.

This was the Lord of Tindalos, the monstrous being who led the Tindalos Hounds.

No, he couldn’t let this behemoth reach the ground!

Zong Yan didn’t have any time to deal with the Tindalos Hounds that had already escaped. All his attention was focused on the massive wolf lord in front of him.

Yun Zhong Jun’s fingertips began to glow with divine, multi-colored light.

As the primary god of the Jiu Ge mythos, Yun Zhong Jun’s status was supreme. Qu Yuan once described him as “shining with the same light as the sun and the moon”.

The clouds were the only entity that could contend with the sun and moon in the sky. Unlike the sun and moon which were separated into day and night, the clouds were everywhere.

Zong Yan could feel the land under his feet constantly providing him with a faith bonus, so he manipulated the clouds and fractured them into rain and ice, intending to trap the Lord of Tindalos inside.

“You’re not welcome here, visitor from a different time.”

The eyes of the King of Clouds had turned completely golden, with a brilliance which outshone the sun and moon.

“I return those words to you, ancient god of another world.” The Lord of Tindalos’ body twisted and elongated, revealing a wolf-like face. If someone were to look directly at him now, they’d feel sickening panic and fear, and fall into permanent madness. Of course, Zong Yan was temporarily upgraded to godhood, so he was immune.

“We chase the scent of our archenemy. He has provoked us beyond endurance. If you stand in our way, you too will die by our fangs.”

“Get out!” Zong Yan replied with a sharp blow shaped from mist.

The clouds, which were normally gentle and mild, turned into implacable weapons in the hands of this god, forming an unbreakable cage.

“I don’t care about the feud between you and your archenemy, but—”

One hour. He had only one hour.

“If you dare to hurt my people, you will pay in blood.”

—

“Tindalos Hounds? How unexpected.”

At the top of the Dujiakou Financial Building, a dark-skinned doctor in a white coat ripped a hole in space and walked out from it with a smile.

Behind him, a half-materialized evil shadow instantly tore apart every Hound that tried to approach him, leaving the rooftop bare.

If someone were to look down from the sky, they’d see the ink-blue liquid avoid the top of this building.

In contrast, several floors of the other two towers were already corroded.

“It not only disposes of my old enemy, Tindalos, it serves as a perfect test.“

Nyarlathotep drawled his words: “What exactly did you sense when our Lord regained consciousness back then? Is that human really worthy of your attention?”

“Even so—”

The doctor smiled at the scene of hell below his feet, then fixed his gaze on the god who ruled the clouds. “If it doesn’t work, I’m afraid all the humans in this city will be buried with him.”

But that human was curious indeed.

The Faceless God watched the fierce battle with keen interest.

Nyarlathotep had dealt with humans too many times. He knew very well it was impossible for a normal human to take the form of an ancient god.

“It doesn’t matter,” said the white-robed Lord of Time and Space. Just then, the diabolical chaos inherent to an evil god was vividly manifest in him. “Humans are interesting creatures. If we don’t push them to their limits, they only ever think of hiding.”

Such was the case, for if this divine being were truly displeased, it would take him but a fraction of a second to unmake the entire planet, a result far worse than spending the lives of one city to test a nebulous hypothesis.

And so these beings were called evil gods, for they were powerful beyond imagination, and had never experienced human emotions, joy, or sorrow.

Neither of the two evil gods made any other comments. It was as if their discussion of whether to accept that human as a believer not long ago was just a passing thought.

“If you can’t prove your value, it doesn’t matter how many die. You’re just an ant.”

Tawil—no, Yog-Sothoth, smiled faintly and said, “A special ant, at best.”

—

The author has something to say:

Zong Yan: So you’re the one playing tricks behind my back, huh!

——

The Tindalos Hounds in this chapter have a little of my own personal setting √

TL Notes:

skyscraper with three towers – 三足鼎立的大厦 – three-legged building, three-pillared building, tripod building – This seems to be the same skyscraper mentioned in Chapter 1. I’ve been using “towers” instead of “legs” because it fits the action better. These arcs are basically set in AU Shanghai and I haven’t found a notable skyscraper there with 3 legs or 3 towers. The Oriental Pearl Tower comes close, but it’s not a tripod and it’s basically a sightseeing location, financial elites don’t work inside. The Shanghai World Financial Center is just a giant building with a rectangle cut-out at the top. So I’m assuming this is a fictional building and going with “three towers” for now.

Qu Yuan – 屈原 – A Chinese poet and politician in the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period, born c. 340 BC (Wikipedia)

you will pay in blood – 你们就得付出血的觉悟 – A more accurate translation might be “you will pay for your bloody-mindedness” but it doesn’t scan as well

playing tricks behind my back – 在背后阴我 – yin my back, shadow me behind my back

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

Color Out of Space – 星之彩 – “color of stars” – An extraterrestrial entity from a short story by H.P. Lovecraft (Wikipedia)

Black Goat’s Cubs – 黑山羊幼仔 – Also known as the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath