Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

According to KP Li Shunchan, the first NPC Liu Xing thought of was Isabella.

Considering the current situation, Isabella should be associated with the Cult of the Cadaver. However, due to the influence of the Castle Lord, Isabella likely has severed ties with the Cult of the Cadaver. Now, Isabella stands as a neutral NPC, open to being swayed by players from either faction.

Most importantly, Isabella currently holds dual intelligence on both the Cult of the Cadaver and the Manchester police force. Therefore, whichever faction manages to sway Isabella to their side will gain a significant advantage in terms of information.

In Liu Xing’s view, Isabella should be the most worthwhile NPC to recruit in the second stage, but also the most challenging.

Isabella is not merely a lawful loli, but rather a seasoned elder. Despite her age of a hundred years, Liu Xing couldn’t deny Isabella’s exceptional acting skills and remarkable psychological resilience. She effortlessly portrays a loli without a hint of flaw.

Thus, for such a skilled NPC, unless KP Li Shunchan explicitly informs him that Isabella has joined their faction, Liu Xing would doubt whether he truly managed to recruit her.

Furthermore, Liu Xing is aware of Isabella’s ambition. To win her allegiance would demand a hefty price, causing significant strain on his faction. If players from the opposing faction offer better terms, Liu Xing believes Isabella would readily defect.

At that moment, Zhang Jingxu entered the room.

Liu Xing noticed a slap mark on Zhang Jingxu’s face.

Observing this, Ling Ishikawa chuckled and said, "Zhang Jingxu, it seems things are not too bad on your end if you’ve only taken a slap."

Zhang Jingxu shrugged and replied resignedly, "Luckily, my persuasion with Judgment just scored a major success. After getting slapped by Chen Fuping, I managed to successfully dissuade her. But to be honest, Chen Fuping’s slap was quite fierce, it even deducted some of my HP."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow in surprise, "What? Chen Fuping actually deducted your HP? Then it seems Chen Fuping’s close combat ability must be formidable."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and continued, "Indeed, Chen Fuping has been practicing martial arts since childhood. So in terms of close combat ability alone, Chen Fuping should be on par with Ryuzaki. That’s why she could lead a group of foreign tourists, despite being hindered by Cult of the Cadaver, to escape."

"I see. I didn’t expect Chen Fuping to be proficient in both magic and martial arts," Ling Ishikawa remarked with a smile.

After some thought, Liu Xing decided to inform Ling Ishikawa and Zhang Jingxu about Isabella’s situation and the current status of the main quest’s second stage.

Furrowing his brows, Zhang Jingxu expressed concern, "According to your description, Isabella seems to be quite a formidable character. Our chances of successfully recruiting Isabella are only thirty percent at best. Even if we manage to recruit her, I suspect she’ll only provide us with some information and not contribute much else."

"Indeed, I share the same sentiment. From Isabella’s current behavior, she’s definitely a self-serving individual who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice others for her own gain. She’s skilled in deception and willing to forsake her dignity to play the role of a loli. So unless we offer her substantial benefits, recruiting Isabella would be of little value to us," Ling Ishikawa earnestly remarked.

Liu Xing nodded, sighing, "Indeed, even though recruiting Isabella may not be greatly beneficial to us, if we let her fall into the hands of the enemy faction, she would become a major threat. After all, Isabella is currently Chris’s adopted daughter, and with her cunning and intelligence, she must have already gained Chris’s favor. Moreover, with Isabella’s charm skill, if she were to be recruited by the enemy faction, our every move would be within their grasp."

After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Jingxu sighed and said, "You’re right, Liu Xing. Regardless, we must recruit Isabella. The key lies in whether Yis People will assist us. Among us players, only Yis People knows Isabella and can communicate with her. Besides, Yis People should have figured out by now that Isabella is associated with the Cult of the Cadaver."

"However, Yis People might not necessarily be aware of Isabella’s association with the Cult of the Cadaver. Because my knowledge of Isabella’s true identity only came after completing the module and receiving the ending scene, as well as obtaining Isabella’s character card as the MVP of that module. So if Yis People only inherited memories from my character card during the module, then Yis People might not know Isabella’s true identity," Liu Xing expressed his concern.

Ling Ishikawa frowned helplessly, saying, "If Yis People can’t guess Isabella’s true identity, then that’s a real problem. After all, unless we expose Liu Xing’s identity, it’s impossible to alert Yis People about Isabella. So, in that case, we won’t have any chance to recruit Isabella."

As they discussed this, everyone fell silent.

However, at that moment, KP Li Shunchan suddenly spoke up, saying, "Alright, congratulations to all players for successfully completing the first stage of the Main quest. You’ve performed exceptionally well in the first stage. If it were graded, you would have scored eighty points. Of course, I won’t disclose where the remaining twenty points went. Nevertheless, although the Main quest has now entered the second stage, players can still conduct a second investigation."

"Now, let me tell you the theme of the second stage of the Main quest. It’s just two words—assembly. Based on your investigations and analysis, you can now confirm that the mastermind behind the disappearance of foreign tourists is the Cult of the Cadaver. Additionally, the Deep Diving Society has become involved in the case as an accomplice of the Cult of the Cadaver. However, you also know that the disappearance of the foreign tourists is merely a prelude orchestrated by the Cult of the Cadaver. The real ’meat’ is yet to come. Therefore, to counter the formidable Cult of the Cadaver, you need to seek more external support."

"The second stage of the Main quest will last for one week. During this time, you will definitely encounter NPCs who may become your allies. However, whether these NPCs will join your faction depends on your actions, as they can also be recruited by players from the enemy faction. Additionally, these NPCs will only officially declare their allegiance to a faction after one week. So, in the upcoming week, you’ll need to both poach NPCs from others and guard against others poaching yours. In short, I wish you all good luck."

After hearing KP Li Shunchan’s official introduction to the second stage of the Main quest, Liu Xing couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

Because, unsurprisingly, the NPCs that players can recruit will meet players from both factions during the next week. It may seem fair and just, but in reality, it’s highly disadvantageous for Liu Xing’s faction.

The reason is simple: players from the enemy faction can do as they please. If they encounter NPCs they can’t recruit, they can choose to either kidnap or attack them, causing them harm or even death.

In summary, if this module doesn’t impose restrictions on players from the enemy faction, Liu Xing feels that he won’t even get to see those NPCs who will meet the enemy faction first...

And even if they manage to recruit NPCs, they still need to ensure their safety during this week to prevent harassment from players of the enemy faction.

Therefore, the second stage of this Main quest is not favorable for Liu Xing’s faction.

"Now what should we do? This second stage of the Main quest is really unfriendly to us. I feel like we’re completely on the defensive now," Ling Ishikawa said, frowning.

Liu Xing sighed, helplessly saying, "Indeed, if Bai Hecheng’s side isn’t restricted in any way, we’ll basically have to give up in the second stage. After all, Bai Hecheng and his team can do much more than us. So, I think this module should impose some restrictions on Bai Hecheng’s side in the second stage."

"In any case, let’s take it step by step. It’s getting late now; we should go have dinner," Zhang Jingxu said, rubbing his temples.

After dinner, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. After all, they had visited three places during the day, and now they were quite tired.

So, after playing with his mobile phone for a while, Liu Xing went to sleep.

...

"Where am I?" Liu Xing said, looking bewildered.

At this moment, Liu Xing found himself standing in a thick fog, with visibility limited to about one meter.

Furrowing his brows, Liu Xing couldn’t help but recall a dream he had a long time ago, seemingly in the Yueshihao module, where he found himself in a mist. However, he only remembered being in the mist.

But come to think of it, Liu Xing suddenly realized that he was now having a lucid dream.

A lucid dream, in simple terms, refers to being aware that one is dreaming while dreaming.

Liu Xing tried moving around and found that he could control his body freely. So, he decided on a direction and started walking, eager to see what lay beyond the fog.

Anyway, logically speaking, even if he died in the dream, he would only lose some sanity points or gain a temporary debuff, as this was just a dream.

Unless this was the Dreamrealm.

But just a few steps later, Liu Xing suddenly thought of a question: why did his dreams using the "Liu Xing" character card in the Yueshihao module and now using the "Watanabe Ryuusei" character card seem connected?

After pondering for a while without finding an explanation, Liu Xing gave up thinking and continued forward.

As Liu Xing walked, he also tried contacting KP Li Shunchan, but as expected, KP Li Shunchan didn’t respond.

And so, Liu Xing didn’t know how long he had walked until he finally emerged from the fog!

"I didn’t expect to be able to walk out of this fog. I thought I would keep walking in it until I woke up from my dream," Liu Xing muttered to himself.

As Liu Xing emerged from the fog, he looked around and realized he was standing in front of a vast ruin.

The reason why this ruin was called "vast" was that the bricks scattered in front of Liu Xing were each three times his height.

But most importantly, these bricks were all green, and some of them bore reliefs that made Liu Xing feel extremely uncomfortable, even though these reliefs were incomplete, and some were just simple lines.

In an instant, Liu Xing understood that the ruin before his eyes was likely the legendary R’lyeh.

Because, in the Cthulhu mythos, only R’lyeh is a city built of giant green stones, emitting a strong aura of impurity from within.

With this thought, Liu Xing couldn’t help but look up and see, on a high mountain in the far distance, a completely closed giant stone fort looming amidst the dark clouds.

That was the resting place of the Great Old One—Cthulhu.

Realizing this, Liu Xing wanted to shift his gaze away, but found that he had lost control of his body.

And then, Liu Xing...woke up.

Liu Xing looked at the white ceiling, taking quite some time to come back to his senses.

A feeling of surviving a disaster swept over Liu Xing, making him shiver involuntarily.

After a while, Liu Xing calmed down.

Obviously, Liu Xing knew that he was most likely targeted by Cthulhu now, which was why Cthulhu guided him to R’lyeh in his dream.

So, it seemed that he was in big trouble!

After all, the character card he was currently using was a follower of King Hastur in Yellow Robes, who was an enemy of Cthulhu. So, why would Cthulhu bring a follower of his enemy into his dream, if not to kill him?

Perhaps, it was to try to turn him?

Shaking his head, Liu Xing realized that he was doomed either way. If he didn’t accept Cthulhu’s turn, he would be killed by Cthulhu. But if he did accept Cthulhu’s turn, King Hastur in Yellow Robes would certainly not spare him.

It was a lose-lose situation...

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