Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

[Ling Ishikawa is still in female form.]

"Congratulations to all players for successfully defeating Gralki’s avatar and completing the final mission of this module. Now, you still have thirty minutes of free time. After thirty minutes, this module will officially end," KP Snow Wind said with a smile.

"Damn it," Liu Xing cursed under his breath and hurried towards Ling Ishikawa.

Meanwhile, Hu Li, who was closest to Ling Ishikawa, had already pulled her off the spike of Gralki’s avatar.

Seeing this scene, Liu Xing couldn’t help but furrow his brow. Although he was a bit far away, Liu Xing was certain that Ling Ishikawa’s heart had been pierced by the spike of Gralki’s avatar. So now, by hastily pulling Ling Ishikawa off the spike, Hu Li would undoubtedly cause her to bleed heavily.

However, Liu Xing thought again. Judging by the thickness of Gralki’s avatar’s spike, Ling Ishikawa’s entire heart was probably damaged.

When Liu Xing reached Ling Ishikawa, the scene before him confirmed his suspicion—there was a bowl-sized cavity in Ling Ishikawa’s heart, but no fresh blood flowed out. Instead, there was a grayish unknown liquid coming out of the wound.

Liu Xing furrowed his brow again, knowing that this gray liquid in Ling Ishikawa’s wound was injected by Gralki’s avatar through the spike, and its purpose was to transform Ling Ishikawa into a slave of Gralki’s avatar.

And now, KP Snow Wind had not announced Ling Ishikawa’s death yet, which meant that Ling Ishikawa was likely undergoing the transformation into Gralki’s avatar.

But here’s the problem: Gralki’s avatar is already dead, so will Ling Ishikawa still be transformed into its slave?

If Ling Ishikawa could be transformed into Gralki’s avatar’s slave, Liu Xing thought it might be a good thing because Gralki’s avatar was already dead, so Ling Ishikawa wouldn’t be controlled.

Because according to a common saying on the Europa continent: "A vassal of my vassal is not my vassal," so in general, Gralki couldn’t directly control the slaves transformed by its avatars.

Therefore, if Ling Ishikawa successfully became Gralki’s avatar’s slave, then Ling Ishikawa would be a "masterless slave," a "slave" that no one could command.

In short, this wave was a bloodless profit for Ling Ishikawa, as she was transformed into a mythical creature for free.

Of course, all of this depended on whether Ling Ishikawa could complete the transformation. And now, the probability of Ling Ishikawa completing the transformation was fifty-fifty, or even lower, because Ling Ishikawa’s current situation was somewhat special.

Because according to Liu Xing’s memory, in the setting related to Gralki, if Gralki transformed a human into its slave, it required two Judgments. The first Judgment occurred when Gralki inserted its spike into the target’s body and injected a special liquid into the target. During this time, if the target broke free from Gralki’s spike, then the target would most likely die directly. If the target couldn’t break free from Gralki’s spike, then the special liquid injected by Gralki into the target’s body would quickly grow, transforming the target into Gralki’s slave.

And now, Gralki’s avatar, reflexively injected the special liquid into Ling Ishikawa’s body at the moment of its death. However, because Gralki’s avatar was already dead, Ling Ishikawa had only undergone the first step of the transformation.

Therefore, Liu Xing felt that Ling Ishikawa’s situation might not be optimistic.

But at this moment, Green Willow had also arrived.

"Green Willow, please find a way to save Ayako," Hu Li said anxiously.

Green Willow looked at Ling Ishikawa’s wound, somewhat helpless. "Little Fox, although my medical skills are good, I haven’t reached the level of resurrecting the dead. So I might disappoint you this time. I can’t save Ling Ishikawa because her heart has been completely damaged."

Hu Li furrowed his brow and continued to ask, "Green Willow, if I can find a fresh heart, can you perform a heart transplant for Ayako to resurrect her?"

Upon hearing Hu Li’s words, Liu Xing and the others couldn’t help but step back, as Hu Li’s mention of a heart definitely referred to a human heart, and there were only a few humans present.

Fortunately, Green Willow shook her head and said, "No, because in the end, Ling Ishikawa is just an ordinary person. Even if we were to transplant a heart, she can only survive with a heart that matches hers. Otherwise, even if she undergoes a transplant, Ling Ishikawa won’t survive. As for the probability of heart matching, based on my experience, it’s almost impossible, and most importantly, Ling Ishikawa was injected with some kind of special liquid after being pierced by Gralki’s spike. The effect of this special liquid is likely to transform Ling Ishikawa into Gralki’s slave. Although Gralki is dead, the transformation process is irreversible, so even if Ling Ishikawa doesn’t die, she will become a mindless zombie."

Hu Li wanted to say something more, but in the end, it turned into a sigh of helplessness.

However, through the conversation between Hu Li and Green Willow, Liu Xing was able to gather a lot of information. For example, Green Willow referred to Ling Ishikawa as Ling Ishikawa, not Ayako, which indicated that Green Willow probably had realized Ling Ishikawa’s situation. And Hu Li’s repeated appeals to Green Willow for help with Ling Ishikawa were also abnormal, so Liu Xing estimated that Ling Ishikawa might have really captured Hu Li’s attention, otherwise Hu Li wouldn’t have helped Ling Ishikawa like this.

Of course, now Liu Xing felt that Ling Ishikawa’s chances of surviving had increased by a few points, because it had been five minutes and KP Snow Wind still hadn’t announced Ling Ishikawa’s death. This meant that Ling Ishikawa was still holding on, and the longer time passed, the higher the chance Ling Ishikawa had of surviving.

At this moment, Liu Xing also noticed that the question marks about the story background and the Interlude Growth had disappeared from the character card.

Story Background: Panlong Town, a town that disappeared from the map at some point in time, and all those who knew about Panlong Town have died. All roads leading to Panlong Town have also been abandoned for various reasons. But in the pouring rain, a minibus miraculously entered the nonexistent Panlong Town...

As for the earlier Interlude Growth, its true nature had now been revealed.

1d5=1, Key Individual.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow. No wonder the story background and Interlude Growth were marked with question marks. If the players had known the story background from the beginning, they would have definitely been able to analyze the ins and outs of this module based on the module’s name.

As for this Interlude Growth, it was obviously hinting at the players’ identities. Just like Liu Xing’s identity as the "Key Individual," indicating that Liu Xing would play a crucial role in this module, and indeed he did, as the black cat demon had sought Liu Xing out precisely because of this identity.

But speaking of identities, Liu Xing suddenly remembered Erwuzi, whom he had been suspecting all along, surprisingly not betraying them in this final battle. This was rather abnormal because if Gralki’s avatar died, Erwuzi would surely have been eliminated due to the mission failure.

Thinking of this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but glance at Li Dian and Wan Chongshan, finding them composed without any abnormality.

Could it be that I made a mistake?

Liu Xing rubbed his chin and could only conclude that he had overthought things from the start.

At this moment, the black cat demon, who had transformed back into human form, walked over and said, "I just observed with Old Dragon that after Gralki’s death, the spiritual energy of Panlong Town began to fluctuate violently. It should be returning to its original state. However, since Panlong Lake has been Gralki’s hiding place for a long time, it’s highly likely that Gralki will be buried there. So, for now, let’s return to Panlong Town."

Everyone nodded and followed the black cat demon, leaving Panlong Lake. Ling Ishikawa’s "body," of course, would also be carried away.

Thus, everyone returned to Hu Cang’s house.

At this point, there were still ten minutes left until the official end of the module.

However, what surprised Liu Xing was that Hu Cang was now nowhere to be found.

"Hu Cang entered Panlong Town after the changes occurred, but because he has spent too much time in Panlong Town, he has merged with the current Panlong Town. Therefore, when Panlong Town returns to its original state, Hu Cang will disappear along with the current Panlong Town," Black Flood Dragon explained.

Liu Xing nodded, feeling somewhat melancholic. "I see. I was planning to come back and bid farewell to Hu Cang..."

Liu Xing hadn’t finished speaking when he heard the sound of dice hitting the ground.

Clearly, this Judgment was crucial to Ling Ishikawa’s life or death.

Then, after a few seconds, Ling Ishikawa suddenly sat up, gasping for breath.

Seeing this, when Hu Li wanted to go up to check Ling Ishikawa’s condition, Green Willow grabbed Hu Li and said, "Wait a moment. Let’s first determine whether Ling Ishikawa is a friend or foe."

Hu Li nodded, nervously watching Ling Ishikawa.

It took Ling Ishikawa more than a minute to finally come to his senses. "Uh, am I still alive? Wasn’t I pierced through the heart by Gralki’s spike?"

Ling Ishikawa looked down and saw the gaping hole in his chest.

Indeed, although Ling Ishikawa had regained consciousness, the hole in his chest had not healed.

Moreover, Ling Ishikawa’s complexion was now pale, resembling a zombie from a movie set.

Seeing this, Green Willow approached and briefly examined Ling Ishikawa’s body. Then she nodded and said, "Ling Ishikawa’s current situation is somewhat special. Simply put, as a human, Ling Ishikawa is already dead and has become something akin to a pig head butcher. Although Ling Ishikawa’s physical strength hasn’t increased much, one advantage Ling Ishikawa has over the pig head butcher is that he still retains clear self-awareness. Therefore, the current Ling Ishikawa should be considered a hybrid of human and monster."

When Green Willow uttered the words "hybrid," Liu Xing almost burst into laughter because, from various perspectives, Ling Ishikawa could indeed be deemed worthy of the title "hybrid."

As the person in question, Ling Ishikawa, then said with resignation, "Well, as long as I’m okay, it’s fine. But Green Willow, do you have any way to help me cover up this big hole in my chest? After all, even if I put on clothes, it will look very strange."

As Ling Ishikawa was still in a female state, there were still contours on her chest.

Green Willow chuckled and took out a green leaf from her pocket, placing it in the large hole in Ling Ishikawa’s chest. Then, a magical scene unfolded: the small green leaf floated in the air within the gaping hole, emitting a green glow.

The sensation was akin to the arc reactor in Iron Man’s chest.

After a moment, the green leaf began to emit a bright green light, and then some thin branches sprouted from the edges of Ling Ishikawa’s wound, intertwining with each other to fill the large hole in Ling Ishikawa’s chest.

Although it looked somewhat bizarre, as long as she wore clothes, outsiders wouldn’t be able to tell.

However, at that moment, Liu Xing suddenly felt dizzy, everything spinning around him, and he instantly lost consciousness.

When Liu Xing woke up again, he found himself lying on the street, with Zhang Jingxu and others sprawled around him.

And not far away, Liu Xing also saw the minibus they had come in.

Frowning, Liu Xing looked around and realized that they were still in Panlong Town, but it had returned to its normal state. However, "normal" here meant dilapidated and deserted, devoid of any people...

What surprised Liu Xing was that this Panlong Town in front of him was exactly the same as the one he and Zhang Jingxu had seen during the first temporal distortion.

At this point, Zhang Jingxu and the others gradually woke up one by one. When Ling Ishikawa woke up last, KP Snow Wind spoke up, saying, "OK, congratulations to all players for successfully completing this module. Now, let’s enter the ending scene."

As soon as KP Snow Wind finished speaking, Liu Xing lost control of his body again. He watched as "himself" and the others conversed for a while before boarding the minibus, driven by "Wan Chongshan," and quickly leaving Panlong Town.

Then, Liu Xing lost consciousness once again.

After "Liu Xing" and the others left Panlong Town, Wang suddenly appeared on the rooftop of Hu Cang’s house, with Hu Li and Zhong Rensan standing behind him.

"Hu Li, after you leave, find an opportunity to contact that Ling Ishikawa. It would be best if you can follow Ling Ishikawa’s actions. Zhong Rensan, after you leave, find your own body and then replace it," Wang said in an emotionless tone.

Hu Li and Zhong Rensan nodded before disappearing.

Wang stood on the rooftop for another half hour before sighing and saying, "Although I don’t want to get involved in this conflict, I also don’t want to be used as a pawn. So, Yin En, I hope you don’t disappoint me, my representative."

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