'What a man-eating lady…' Seiran felt a bit curious.
He'd accidentally let a female hooligan into his bed. Of course, that wasn't the point right now. Seiran shifted his supernatural gaze back overseas.
It was that time of year again when America was in political turmoil. And, coincidentally, the Black Organization was preparing to conduct some lethal, high-level experiments on American soil, so Seiran naturally had to give them a push from the shadows.
Thinking about it carefully, America didn't seem to have any deeply rooted, ancient mythological elements like Japan.
'Perhaps I should just create one myself?' he mused.
No. Seiran already had one ready-made.
The United States: FBI Safehouse
Shuichi Akai, an elite FBI investigator, was a stern and unsmiling man, clearly a cold and serious person.
He had once deeply infiltrated the Black Organization, even holding the high-ranking codename "Rye," but was ultimately exposed. He escaped only thanks to his exceptional marksmanship and martial arts skills, earning him the Organization's fearful nickname: Silver Bullet.
'What a pity…' Akai rarely showed a hint of regret, but this was an exception. If he hadn't been exposed so early by a fatal mistake, the Black Organization might have already been dragged into the public light.
Once the massive underground syndicate was exposed to the military and the public, its threat level would be significantly reduced.
Holding the recently presented intelligence file, his brow furrowed deeply.
'It's them again,' he thought, his sharp green eyes scanning the documents. 'They are like persistent ghosts. And this time, they actually dare to cause trouble in America.'
Akai was deeply troubled. He knew these guys' methods all too well. They were complete, ruthless troublemakers. They wouldn't necessarily cripple the entire country, but their biochemical experiments could leave a region helpless and utterly disgusted.
And this time, their reported hiding place was… Innsmouth?
A strangely named, isolated seaside town in Massachusetts.
'This is troublesome…' Akai felt very uneasy.
America, though it boasts a lot of freedom and is seen by foreigners as a paradise on earth and a technological hub, is far more complex in reality. Take this remote, decaying coastal town, for example; you would hardly see any high technology, and even stable electrical connections were a struggle.
It wasn't uncommon for a murder case to go unsolved for a year or two in such forgotten places. If a criminal syndicate wanted, they could easily buy up a local factory, bribe the isolated populace, and do whatever they wanted in the dark. It wasn't difficult. Just pay a small "tax" to the corrupt local police station, and they'll ignore everything.
In this hostile, insular environment, if Akai wanted to safely take down the opportunistic Black Organization members, he'd logically be better off arresting all the town's complicit residents first. But that was constitutionally impossible. Even as a federal investigator, mass citizen complaints and civil rights lawsuits would be enough to strip him of his badge.
'Innsmouth… I'll have to go check it out undercover first…'
After preparing his disguise, Akai requested several disguised FBI assistants: a team acting as church clergymen. The team consisted of an older veteran agent playing "Father Howard," and three young, inexperienced rookie agents acting as junior monks.
A priest and three monks…
Akai took the dark robes and put them on skillfully. He wasn't unfamiliar with impersonating clergy for undercover missions.
"Mr. Akai," the older agent, Howard, said, fully in character. "I know you need to investigate the syndicate, but please give me some time to establish our cover. We are here to 'build a church' in Innsmouth."
Innsmouth famously had no active Catholic church, which led Howard to conclude that the town was utterly devoid of mainstream faith. Even the poorest American town usually had a church. This was an unspoken rule of rural communities.
The gray-bearded Howard strongly agreed with leveraging this fact for their cover story. So he had volunteered for this task, knowing investigating the Organization was quite dangerous.
Akai naturally agreed to the cover without hesitation. He only cared about his safe infiltration of Innsmouth; the specific theological details didn't matter.
After driving for several hours through winding, desolate coastal roads, the group successfully arrived at the border of the town of Innsmouth.
As soon as they stepped out of their van, a heavy, nauseatingly fishy smell filled the air, clinging to their clothes.
Feigning a similar look of mild disdain as the younger rookies, Akai frowned in thought.
'This town… is incredibly impoverished.'
In this modern day and age, it was amazing to still see so many rotting, homemade wooden houses with sagging roofs. Yet, out on the dark coast, a towering stone lighthouse was remarkably well-maintained and operational.
'A strange, contradictory town…' Akai formed a somewhat peculiar first impression of the settlement.
'What are the Black Organization's true intentions here?' So impoverished and backward, Akai couldn't understand why high-ranking members of the Organization would establish a base in a place like this. Weren't their laboratories always hidden in bustling big cities or corporate tech parks…?
Come to think of it… were those local residents staring at him?
Akai noticed another strange thing. The pale, wide-eyed residents seemed unnaturally interested in outsiders. They weren't pointing and whispering like normal gossipy townsfolk; instead, they were standing perfectly still, showing a silent, unblinking interest in watching their every move.
"Hey! Great young men!" a raspy voice called out from a porch. "Want to settle down in our town? There are some very nice girls waiting for you here!"
"…No, thank you," Howard replied politely. "We're here on a mission from God to build a church."
"A church? Okay, okay. If you change your minds, please let us know."
Actively recruiting outsiders to live in the town… that wasn't entirely uncommon. Akai had seen many desperate local governments try various ways of boosting the dwindling population of their hometowns. Impoverished coastal towns were generally like this.
But Akai's complete lack of interest didn't mean the young, undercover rookie agents who came with him shared his iron discipline. They didn't want to settle down, but they were certainly curious to scope out the local "girls" the man mentioned, treating the rural mission a bit too casually.
After all, maintaining their cover as clergy didn't magically erase their actual secular desires.
After observing for a while while speaking with the small-town mayor, a man named Philip, Akai noticed an unusual, creeping enthusiasm in the townsfolk. He couldn't help but frown and remain silent. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw many residents exhibiting a similar, almost desperate enthusiasm to Mayor Philip.
Logically, Akai should have praised their simple, honest, and welcoming nature. But years of surviving on the brutal front lines against the Black Organization had honed his instincts, giving him a keen, prickling sense that something was horribly amiss.
'Is this excessive enthusiasm… merely a desire for us to boost their local economy and settle here?' he wondered.
He awkwardly responded to Mayor Philip's overly enthusiastic inquiries, maintaining his aloof monk persona. However, upon seeing a pale, thin man carrying a camera walking down the street, a sharp glint flashed in Akai's green eyes.
After a seemingly friendly, casual greeting to the young man, Akai learned his name—Lovecraft.
"Mr. Lovecraft, do you like it here?" Akai asked smoothly.
"You misunderstand," the photographer replied nervously, clutching his camera. "My family used to live here a long time ago, so I just came to visit and trace my genealogy."
'I see… Then there's nothing inherently strange about his presence.'
Akai smiled tactfully and excused himself. This Lovecraft person was either a perfect Black Organization imposter—so well disguised that even the Silver Bullet couldn't see a flaw—or genuinely innocent and just an ordinary, nervous civilian. Based on Akai's vast profiling experience, he leaned heavily towards the latter.
'This is strange…' Akai thought, returning to their rented boarding house. 'Could the Black Organization have simply been passing through by chance and haven't actually set up a base here?'
This doubt lingered until the next morning.
He looked at Agent Howard, who was standing in the hallway looking embarrassed and furious, in astonishment.
Those young rookie "monks" had seemingly snuck out, slept with some of the local Innsmouth girls, and were now lingering in town, utterly refusing to return to the boarding house…
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