Shiller breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately, Yog is a decent person. Or rather, standing at his level, he is considered a sensible, normal person.
Actually, he wasn't unaware that the tiny lives he came into contact with would lose their own lives as a result. But just like the Human race knows that their body's cells are constantly dying and being replaced and don't concern themselves with it, in Yog's view, it's all very normal.
The Human race finds Death cruel because, to them, Death is too vast. When a person dies, everything ceases to exist, whether it's what they were doing or the memories they left behind; it all finally gets forgotten. All this is being observed clearly.
However, for the Human race, the death of cells is too insignificant to see without some technical means. How cells grow, what functions they previously had, what impact they have when they die—these things are not visible in their daily life, naturally they don't concern themselves with how each cell dies. Because it has no significance, to Yog, the Human race is the same.
Some might say that Humans are, after all, intelligent life, complex creatures with emotions and societal abilities. But in front of an existence like Yog, the wisdom and emotions of Humans are too insignificant. Just like cells are alive, cells respond to external touch, but these things are too faint to be noticed by Humans.
Yet, just as the Human race also studied and developed biological computers using cells, Yog occasionally studies Humans, but he studies the entire group rather than individuals. He knows that Human brains have limited capacity, yet sometimes they are insatiable. Once they come into contact with him, they overload themselves with knowledge, so he is well aware that he cannot casually touch Humans.
Suddenly encountering Iron Man, this flashing anomaly, even if he wanted to catch him, he couldn't use his hands, because if he touches him and he dies, what would be the point of the research? So he must think of a safe way to bring Iron Man to his place.
"Is there a safe way?" Shiller asked.
The rat touched its chin with its paw, the gesture looking a bit comical, but it also showed that this rat was once a human. After a brief consideration, the rat said, "Actually, it's not entirely uncontrollable; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to interact with Humans. It's just that Yog didn't think of these things before, so he didn't deliberately control it, but if he practiced, it should be possible to avoid harm."
"How to practice?" Shiller asked.
"Of course, by practicing in Human Society," the rat replied, "By interacting more with Humans, you'll know how much they can absorb. Of course, if by chance some get overloaded and die, there's no helping it—after all, those around us are largely there of their will. Over on Yog's side, his followers treat him entirely like a search engine, wanting to go through his knowledge base for even the tiniest matters, and he has a good temper, allowing them free access. If it were me..."
"You'd have to mix in dozens to hundreds of ads in the search results, right?" Shiller rolled his eyes.
"The way you talk, you seem pretty familiar with my clone," the rat looked at him and said, "But yeah, you do seem like the type who can have a conversation with me; we've probably done quite a few bad things together, haven't we?"
"Let's not talk about that," Shiller said, "Is it still timely for him to practice in Human Society now?"
"What's the rush?" The rat asked, slightly puzzled, "Since everyone's already here, just take the time to practice; once it's well-practiced he'll just..."
At this point, the rat seemed to remember that Iron Man was here to build a bomb. The longer you drag it out, the more time he has to finish the bomb, not to mention waking Asathos; if someone were to catch him, wouldn't they end up with their hands blown up as well?
"Indeed, it can't be delayed," the rat said, "You wouldn't know, Yog is also a stubborn one. You see, despite the house being in such a state, his true self just comes back to sleep, usually staying elsewhere. He insists on fixing it, not letting anyone touch the walls he's patched. I have to be careful even when my true self rolls over in bed, afraid of upsetting some space rules and getting cursed in his diary."
"You've even read his diary?" Shiller said with some interest.
"Shabu saw it; it's not important. What's important is that his main work at home is fixing the house. I was away for quite a while and just returned recently. Regarding his repair work, well..."
Shiller leaned forward, "How would you describe it?"
"Can't say it's effective, might also say it's greatly regressive. I don't know what happened, but what used to be a somewhat consistent timeline has become chaotic again. This is already the thirtieth-something loop I've experienced. This shows he hasn't figured out the repairs. In this situation, he'd be even less likely to allow anyone to blow up the house."
"So what will he do?" Shiller asked.
"He'll probably try to communicate," the rat said, frowning, "Since the other party is inherently weak, forcibly grabbing might ruin it, and might even cause the other party to explode and damage the recently repaired house, it's naturally best to attempt a conversation."
"Do you think he'll succeed?"
"Hard to say," the rat said without hesitation, "I've already mentioned he stays home all day and doesn't interact with others; how could he be skilled in socializing?"
Then he thought again and said, "How's your friend's social skills? Perhaps realizing someone's observing him, he might take the initiative to communicate?"
"Visibly not great," Shiller said while pursing his lips.
"Details," the rat sensed an underlying meaning.
Shiller turned to look at that cube; they had previously speculated that this thing was built by Iron Man to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, but it was really hard to guess who made the mysteries he wanted to unravel.
Anyway, if the two of them had communicated, Iron Man wouldn't have had to create this thing. Even if he made it just to communicate with Yog-Sothoth, it evidently failed because the thing finally went out of control.
At this point, Shiller had another question. If Yog had no malice towards Iron Man, maybe just wanted to study him or even actively wanted to communicate, he wouldn't have smashed Iron Man's creation right off the bat, would he? No matter how socially awkward he is, he shouldn't be so violent, right?
Shiller simply shared his guess, and Mouse nodded in agreement, saying, "If that's the case, it can't have been Yog who did it. Although that guy is a bit of a homebody, his personality is actually quite gentle; he's also a bit sensitive and gets caught up in his own thoughts."
Shiller gave him a questioning look. Mouse thought for a moment and said, "In terms of your humans, he has an avoidant personality. He can find you, but you can't find him. The more you seek him, the more he hides. Who knows why, maybe it's some childhood trauma of the Lord."
Shiller rolled his eyes, thinking that Nya really dares to say anything. From his colleagues, you can also tell he's not very satisfied with his original family, but it makes sense. This place is dangerous for the human race and not safe for Outer Gods either. Even the great avatar of Outer Gods ends up here burrowing like a mouse.
Thinking about this, Shiller asked, "You said before you can't reunite with your main body, what happened?"
"Well, it's not surprising..." Mouse paused and then said, "Alright, I can't blame Yog; he was also doing voluntary labor, can't be too harsh. Anyway, when I came back, the place had completely changed, the previous path was gone, time kept jumping around, and I got lost."
"You actually managed to get lost in your own house," Shiller said. "And your main body can't find you either?"
"It's not my reporting time yet; I came back early," Mouse sighed and scratched his face, "thinking of cheating two more days off; would've known not to leave so early."
Shiller was speechless, thinking to himself, this bunch of Nya avatars all use the same trick. Before taking annual leave, they say they're sick, connecting sick leave to vacation leave, and they can take two months off at once.
"If there's nothing good here, why did you come back early?"
"Even a broken home is better than work, right?" Mouse said confidently. "Moreover, my colleague said the house was well repaired, so I thought I'd come back to take a look. Who knew it turned into this?"
"Which colleague of yours?" Shiller asked.
"Just the other avatars; we occasionally manage to get in touch. I didn't think they sounded like they were lying, who knows what's going on."
"I find it hard to believe it was Yog who messed up," Shiller shook his head and said, "since he can build a house from nothing and make it look decent, he wouldn't suddenly fall back so much in skill, something unexpected must have happened."
"I thought so too," Mouse agreed heartily, then lowered his voice and whispered, "You probably don't know, but although none of my colleagues are likable, there are some who are particularly obnoxious."
"Indeed," Shiller nodded in empathetic agreement. "Not doing their own work is one thing, but sabotaging others' work, whether in the office or break room, they're everywhere. Ugly yet flashy, love gossiping behind backs, complaining every day. Yet when something really happens, they're utterly unreliable."
Mouse slapped the ground with his paw as if finding a kindred spirit, saying, "And these bastards, I don't know if they're visually impaired or on purpose. Although my clone is human-shaped, anyone with eyes can see it's a Day Avatar, yet those stupid things pounce on me biting..."
Shiller seemed to have guessed who he was talking about, so he said, "Are you talking about the Hounds?"
"Only you humans would call those things dogs," Mouse shook his head and said, "and even gave them some fancy name like Fenrir. If you ask me, they're just a bunch of spirit blobs of rotting mud; they should be staying put in their own houses instead of causing trouble."
"They also don't get along with Yog?"
"Not at all," Mouse would slap his thigh if his paws weren't short, "it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they're arch-enemies. It's like you want to renovate your house to live in, but they forcibly want to turn it into a shop; how can that work out?"
"Why do they want to turn it into a shop, then?"
"Just for their own convenience," Mouse shook his head. "I don't know if you can grasp this, but the time laws established by Yog are curve-shaped, whether bending and fluctuating curves or closed loops, it's all flexible. It resembles time lines in other dimensions."
"However, Misisha wants linear time lines, like sudden turns and twists. They inhabit such time lines, which also facilitate their hunting. They only care about themselves and not others; no wonder they're so obnoxious."
"You prefer curves more?" Shiller asked.
"Of course. Look at so many universes; whose time line is linear? A curve can slowly rise and fall, whatever happens, at least there's a process. Linear time lines are too abrupt. I suspect their meddling got me lost."
Shiller chuckled, knowing that the pesky colleague Nya mentioned was actually the Tindalos Hounds. Their leader is Misisha, known as the Great Wolf, with Fenrir reputedly one of his Avatars, residing in the angular time lines and eternal enemies with Yog-Sothoth.