Ultra cubs, start killing

"It was dropped by a ship from a country that is not very friendly to this country."

This is not certain. But judging from the fact that the material of this "plate" is similar to ceramics and it is not buried but exposed on the seabed, it is probably a recent thing.

The existence of walking deep-sea working boats that invade the territorial waters of the seabed is well known. 'Subaru' answered after guessing from that aspect.

However, Uchihara called it a "plaque", and Subaru had already realized that 'he' had answered incorrectly.

The minister answered on behalf of Uchihara:

"This is the lost property of an artificial satellite, Katsami-kun. It belongs to a country that has a good relationship with this country. But it would be difficult if many people knew about this. So it was salvaged in secret."

Lying.

Subaru immediately noticed the problem, but the person who was replaced did not say anything about it.

As for what the "plaque" was, Subaru felt that the person who was replaced was trying hard to forget it.

He took a bus to Kisarazu on the opposite side of Tokyo and dealt with the salary matters of the head office. He didn't want to be dragged back to Yokosuka by the train. Although he had to take a long detour in terms of time, he still wanted to take the ferry across Tokyo Bay. He was not the kind of "sea man" who couldn't calm down without taking in the sea breeze. He just majored in marine biology in college and couldn't even swim well.

The bus ran on the national highway, and there were few passengers even in the afternoon.

Gen Subaru looked out the window at the Inland Sea of ​​Boso.

The waves in the Inland Sea were calm. Under the leaden sky, the sea looked like a huge agar, sticky and solidified together.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

Huh? !

Gen Subaru heard something strange and suddenly perked up, and the person who was replaced was also very surprised, not understanding what the meaningless language he had just spoken was, which was obviously a language he had never heard of. He made this sound unconsciously.

There is nothing more panicking than realizing that you have done something beyond your control, especially in front of other people...

Other people——

When he noticed that the passengers sitting in front of the bus were staring at the replaced person, Subaru felt a cold sweat on his back.

Except for the driver, the middle-aged man who looked like a shop owner, the retired grandfather, the woman who looked like a housewife, the boy who was probably a high school student...they all turned their faces towards this side and stared at him.

Is it because I suddenly spoke a strange language?

The replaced person thought so, but their eyes seemed to tell me "not".

The age and other things are different, but the only common feature is that their eyes are the same.

What should I use as a comparison...Oh, the eyes of mackerel, or the eyes of dead fish, the kind of cloudy eyes that are wide open.

The replaced person tried hard to look away and lowered his head. They turned forward as if they had lost their concern for me.

But Gen Subaru could feel that the replaced person's heart was beating wildly like an irregular pulse, and he couldn't calm down.

Then, the passengers got off the bus one by one at the bus stop, and the noisy middle school students who were leaving school got in, and the air in the bus became brighter.

The replaced person, who finally regained his calm, kept thinking about what the words just said were.

Gen Subaru was also trying to understand and analyze, but this did not belong to any universe language. At this time, the replaced person took out documents and folders from his bag, and took out the large-format photos from the binding.

It was the photo he took of the plaque. There was a circle of strange language carved around the surrounding part. Archaeology is not the specialty of the replaced person, so he should not be able to judge whether it is a language, but he can't help but feel that the sentence I just said is the result of reading the words written here.

But why read this thing?

It was dusk when I arrived in Kisarazu.

I caught the last ferry. If I missed it, I would have had to spend the night here.

After all, it was this time, and there were few types of trucks, and all the vehicles were sparse special cars.

This ship, which only traveled back and forth within a short distance connecting the east and west of Tokyo Bay, would probably never experience the happiness of being a ship and end its life. The person who was replaced thought about such endless things, feeling the breeze of the night sea on the deck.

As soon as he returned to the research institute in Yokosuka, the person who was replaced had to sort out the investigation data of the Ogasawara Sea. If he didn't complete it, he couldn't carry out the next investigation. However, for some reason, Gen Subaru found that the person who was replaced actually wanted to return to that sea quickly, which was a strange idea.

Is... Has the enemy already started?

Gen Subaru, who thought of something, began to cheer up.

At this time, the lights of the Chiba coastal conglomerate group flickered from time to time.

The person who was replaced was tired of this scenery, so he temporarily entered the guest room and went to the deck on the opposite side.

"Mr. Katsumi."

A man's voice came from the side, and I panicked in shame, my legs weak.

Looking over, the man was sitting at the back of the chair. It was Uchihara Tetsuo. He stood up slowly and walked over here. The person who was replaced bowed stiffly.

"You can go back to Yokosuka."

"Yes."

The slit-like eyes on the light-black face of the man opposite stared at the person who was replaced.

Is this man also working in the sea? That's why he was burned by the sun.

No, why would he take this ferry?

The replaced person was thinking unconsciously, while Minamoto was thinking, and he realized that the 'main line' might be coming.

"Did you feel anything when you first got the plaque?"

"Huh?"

That's right, the plaque.

Uchiharato didn't seem to have any other luggage. If it was transported by car, it might have been put in the car.

"Nothing..."

"Really? Didn't you feel something, so you asked me all kinds of questions, right?"

No, I just had doubts about the job with strange content.

But... Is it really like this? The replaced person has no confidence now.

Because he knows that he spoke that language.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn..."

I whispered that language again.

Oh oh oh oh hmmm hmmm hmmm

A foghorn?

The sound that sounded like tinnitus coming from the distant ocean woke up the replaced person.

What just now was——!!! !!!

Minamoto Subaru's vision suddenly became sharp. That sound... was it a monster? !!!

At the same time, the replaced person turned to the Uchiharado on the side, but the man's figure disappeared as if there had been no one there from the beginning.

Minamoto Subaru looked around the guest room through the eyes of the replaced person and found that there seemed to be no one on this floor.

Calm down.

Thinking this, the replaced person walked towards the deck. On the moonless night on the outer sea side, there was only a piece of pitch black... No... What was there!

Oh oh oh oh hmmm hmmm hmmm

Amid the strange sound, in the pitch black that separated the sea and the sky, there was something... a long thing protruding from the sea surface.

Sea dragon——Sea serpent

Since ancient times, fishermen and sailors who crossed the sea have passed down the legend of the mythical beast.

The replaced person remembered this. But how big is it? Considering the distance from here to the horizon, it is not tens of meters.

Oh oh oh oh oh um um um um

Is it crying?

Is no one else looking at this thing?

There are such things living at the mouth of Tokyo Bay.

So...

The replaced person closed his eyes.

It's the same as the sea dragon.

If he opens his eyes, he won't be able to see its figure the next time.

He can't hear its voice either.

Hasn't it been like this until now? Whether it's the passengers on the bus or Tetsuo Uchihara.

The replaced person thinks that he can just keep his consciousness stable. The replaced person is the one who is drawing a boring fantasy.

Sure enough, when he opened his eyes next time, the outline of the sea dragon was no longer there. He couldn't hear the roar that was thought to be a foghorn, only the wind's "click-click-" tormenting his ears.

However, when he closed his eyes again, he could still see the image of the sea spirit with its long neck raised. The person who was replaced also found that the posture had been imprinted on his optic nerve.

Gen Subaru's expression was also quite solemn, because he found that he seemed to be slightly affected.

Was it really a trap? !

Then, the person who was replaced returned to the Yokosuka Institute and worked hard to organize the data for two weeks, and that effort was almost rewarded.

There would be a moment when the roar of the sea dragon and that figure were heard, but the strange language was never spoken unconsciously again.

In the summer and holidays, students from the university in the center of the city would come to live together in the institute, but in this cold period, there were only five regular staff members including the person who was replaced, living a life with a different way of time passing from the world.

There were people who studied bioluminescence, people who specialized in tube worms, and so on, each with their own field. The person who was replaced specialized in the habitat distribution of deep-sea fish, but this was a very troublesome job in deep-sea surveys.

Although the deep-sea boat has increased the speed of diving, it is not a means of transportation that can move over a wide range.

It can only dive at a fixed point, continue to observe through the window with extremely poor vision, and adjust the data obtained in this way to each country little by little.

Despite this, the person who was replaced still felt the charm of this job.

Despite the differences, deep-sea fish also have unique styles. And there is still a possibility of discovering some new species of fish that have not been seen yet.

The person who was replaced learned from the news provided by the news agency website on the Internet that an oarfish was washed ashore on the Izu Peninsula.

Probably nearby scholars have rushed to the scene to investigate, but the person who was replaced wanted to see it with his own eyes anyway, so he went to Western Izu.

The oarfish is a long deep-sea fish with a total length of more than ten meters. It is said that it has a beautiful posture with a silvery-white body and a thin pink fin covering the entire back, but it is not easy to observe its elegant swimming in the sea.

The oarfish washed ashore has become a grotesque alien. There is a saying that the appearance of the fish's body on land is a precursor to an earthquake. When earthquakes occur frequently in Izu, these fish appear in an unusually synchronized manner.

In the small fishing port of Nishiizu, local TV stations and news reporters gathered in a group. They wanted to make a big news by using it as a fish that predicts earthquakes.

The staff of the Shizuoka Fisheries Experiment Station investigated the fish that had begun to decay.

The person who was replaced told them his identity and was allowed to get close to watch.

The oarfish this time was a smaller individual with a total length of eight meters, but even so, the length lying on the concrete was still the finale.

The face with the empty eye sockets in the eyeballs looked like someone's face, the person who was replaced thought.

That night.....the sea dragon I saw on the ferry must be this.

There is no way a deep-sea fish can live properly near the sea surface. Not to mention letting it swim above the sea surface, but for some reason, the person who was replaced began to think that this was acceptable.

Although it was unfounded, the person who was replaced felt relieved. He wanted to see the dead body of the deep-sea fish because it was unconsciously attracting him. The person who was replaced thought and turned back to greet the staff of the aquatic test site.

He was carefully cutting open the abdominal tissue.

"Wow!"

His boots were covered with dirt.

Judging from the length of the body, this was a fish with very few internal organs, but unusually, undigested things were found in the digestive organs.

"What is this?"

He pointed to something in the dirt that was steaming with a foul smell.

The person who was replaced suddenly felt a wave of uneasiness. In order to test his heart, he approached the dirt and wanted to see its true face.

But he couldn't get close...

In the white turbid gelatinous dirt, several black balls protruded.

Was it an illusion?

Those were eyeballs. They were undoubtedly human eyeballs.