Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 379: The Special Side Quest

Looking at Hu Li, who wore a perplexed expression, Liu Xing couldn’t help but ask curiously, "What’s going on? Did something happen?"

Hu Li, who had just sat down, sighed and said with a hint of helplessness, "This Xiao Mochen is even more troublesome than I imagined. I told him clearly, but he still doesn’t want to break up with me. So, I had to use hypnosis to get rid of him. But just thinking about how Xiao Mochen will come bothering me again in a few days makes me feel frustrated."

Liu Xing nodded, choosing not to comment on the matter.

However, curiosity could be dangerous. Liu Xing was quite interested in understanding the love triangle involving Hu Li, Xiao Mochen, and Hu Cang. Yet, he was also afraid of pushing too far and meeting a deadly end at the hands of Hu Li.

Seeing Liu Xing’s conflicted expression, Hu Li couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and ask, "Mr. Ryuusei, what’s going on with you? Your expression suddenly became so expressive."

Liu Xing awkwardly smiled, deciding to take a risk. After all, Hu Li had mentioned cooperation with their group. Asking this question probably wouldn’t anger her to the point of killing him.

So, Liu Xing took a deep breath and asked in a serious tone, "Miss Hu Li, I have a question. After you married Xiao Mochen, did you change him into a female?"

Hu Li furrowed her brow, somewhat surprised by Liu Xing’s question. It seemed she hadn’t anticipated such a query.

Nevertheless, Hu Li nodded gracefully and said with a smile, "Yes, on the day I married Xiao Mochen, I performed a gender transformation surgery on him. I changed his physical structure to that of a female while trying to maintain his male appearance as much as possible. So, Mr. Ryuusei, are you interested in trying it as well?"

However, seeing Hu Li’s open admission, Liu Xing decided to push his luck further.

Taking another deep breath, he asked, "There are some things I feel I shouldn’t try, but I’ve heard from Hu Cang that you and he had a history. Why did you separate from Hu Cang and go trouble Xiao Mochen?"

Hu Li let out a cold snort, her tone turning icy. "There are some questions, Mr. Ryuusei, that you shouldn’t casually ask, especially ones unrelated to our cooperation. The most important thing is that while we are currently in a cooperative state, I may choose to terminate our collaboration if necessary and engage in hostilities with you."

Liu Xing nodded, realizing that bringing up this topic had elicited a similar reaction from Hu Li as it did with Hu Cang. It seemed there were irreconcilable conflicts and painful memories between them.

Of course, Liu Xing knew it was best not to push his luck any further. After all, if he succeeded in pushing Hu Li to reveal the reasons, he might pay the ultimate price.

At that moment, KP Snow Wind once again spoke up, "Congratulations, Player Liu Xing, you have triggered another Side Quest, ’The Unspeakable Secret.’ The mission goal is to investigate the truth behind Hu Cang and Hu Li’s breakup. This is a special Side Quest, and when triggered, all players automatically accept it. Only the first player to complete this mission will receive the reward. As for the reward, it’s a very unique one, but I assure you, it won’t disappoint."

Liu Xing was momentarily surprised by KP Snow Wind’s words. He hadn’t expected that asking such questions would trigger a Side Quest. This Side Quest was special, as only the first player to complete it would receive the reward, and it seemed unrelated to the "truth" points.

Thinking about it, Liu Xing felt the urge to use a Persuasion Judgment on Hu Li to make her reveal why she had separated from Hu Cang and complete this unique Side Quest.

However, as he glanced at the icy Hu Li, Liu Xing decided not to take the risk. Persuading Hu Li to reveal the reasons would likely require a difficult or even extremely difficult Persuasion Judgment. Failure could mean his demise.

Moreover, he didn’t necessarily have to convince Hu Li. Persuading Hu Cang would achieve the same result, and it posed much less risk.

So, Liu Xing decided to change the topic. "Miss Hu Li, I understand now. I won’t ask any more questions about this matter. Let’s continue discussing the other monsters and creatures in Panlong Town. We’ve already learned about the pig head butcher from Dr. Zhong Rensan. It seems it’s a zombie that’s extremely afraid of fire, right?"

Hu Li’s expression relaxed a bit, and she nodded, saying, "That’s correct. The pig head butcher is indeed a zombie, but it’s the lowest-tier type—a mindless, reanimated corpse driven by its resentment in life. It possesses no intelligence, retains some habits and weaknesses from its past life, and acts on instinct. So, using fire to kill it is a good choice. However, as you may have noticed, there’s no gasoline or diesel fuel in Panlong Town. If you try to start a fire with just wood and straw, it won’t be effective against the pig head butcher, as it won’t walk into such an obvious trap."

Liu Xing nodded in agreement and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Miss Hu Li. However, we’ve already considered that aspect. We plan to purchase gasoline from Wang Anquan, as we’ve heard he has a substantial supply. It should be enough to deal with the pig head butcher. Moreover, during the time when the pig head butcher lived, there likely weren’t any cars around, so it probably doesn’t know the purpose of gasoline."

Hu Li stroked her chin and nodded, "That’s a possibility. After all, Rongcheng was located in a remote mountainous area, making transportation difficult. Large items like cars were scarce, and even if they did exist, they would only operate within Rongcheng. So, the pig head butcher probably never encountered cars or gasoline. Using gasoline to deal with it is a good choice."

"As for the pig head butcher’s current location, I believe you can guess it. Since its favorite pastime in life was pig slaughter, it should be staying in the slaughterhouse. Its specific location is in an abandoned room within the slaughterhouse. Also, as a low-tier zombie, exposure to sunlight severely weakens it and causes continuous damage. So, Mr. Ryuusei, if you plan to take action, do it on a sunny day."

Liu Xing nodded, now having the specific location and weaknesses of the pig head butcher. Dealing with it would be much easier now.

"By the way, Miss Hu Li, you should be aware of the events that occurred at Panlong Town Middle School, right? So, does Panlong Town Middle School indeed have disc spirits?" Liu Xing asked.

Hu Li furrowed her brow, somewhat uncertain, and replied, "Indeed, disc spirits exist, but they are essentially spiritual beings, what you humans might call ghosts. Disc spirits mostly exist in another world, invisible and intangible to us. They only appear in our world at specific times, such as when someone summons them, and there’s a chance they may possess the one who summoned them."

"However, to my knowledge... or rather, the information that Black Flood Dragon shared with me, most disc spirits do not harm humans. They have no grievances with humans, considering that over ninety percent of humans never encounter disc spirits in their lifetime. So, disc spirits tend to be reasonable: if you don’t provoke them, they won’t harm you. However, the tragic incident at Panlong Town Middle School was indeed caused by a disc spirit. Therefore, Black Flood Dragon believes it’s highly likely that some of the students at Panlong Town Middle School angered that disc spirit."

Liu Xing was surprised. He hadn’t expected disc spirits in this module to be portrayed this way. In essence, disc spirits seemed to be neutral Void Spirits without physical form. But according to Black Flood Dragon, how did those middle school students provoke the disc spirit? After all, how could ordinary students know the correct spell to summon a disc spirit?

Creatures like disc spirits were mythical, and summoning them to the real world shouldn’t be straightforward. So, did those middle school students have access to the spell intentionally?

Liu Xing turned to Hu Li and said, "It seems you have some suspicions as well. It’s highly unlikely that a group of ordinary middle school students knew the correct spell to summon a disc spirit. I believe someone with ill intentions must have informed them of the spell, leading those students to summon the angry disc spirit. But why would this person want the disc spirit to kill those students? Also, if Black Flood Dragon knows about all this, shouldn’t it have taken action against this person?"

Hu Li shook her head, sharing the same sense of confusion. "I don’t know for sure, but it seems that the person with ill intentions also died in Panlong Town Middle School. Unless that person had power surpassing that of Black Flood Dragon and could deceive its senses, my guess is that the person intended to go down together with those middle school students."

Hearing this, Liu Xing immediately remembered the dream that Zhang Jingxu had in the illusion, where the white-clad middle school student was involved. It seemed that this white-clad student had ill intentions.

So, why did the white-clad student want to go down with his classmates?

Liu Xing shared the details of the white-clad middle school student with Hu Li.

Hu Li thought for a moment and said, "If I’m not mistaken, the white-clad middle school student should be named Ye Long. I saw him before I assumed human form, and I also heard some information about him from others. Firstly, Ye Long was a transfer student from Rongcheng. As for the reason for his transfer, it’s said that both of Ye Long’s parents were government officials who ended up in prison due to corruption and bribery charges. Their assets were confiscated and frozen, leaving Ye Long homeless in Rongcheng. He had no choice but to seek refuge with his uncle in Panlong Town."

"However, Ye Long’s uncle was also a materialistic person, considering that Ye Long was seen as a burden after his parents’ downfall. So, Ye Long had a motive to deliberately summon a disc spirit. But, like I said, summoning a disc spirit isn’t something that can be done easily. I’m certain that at that time, Ye Long didn’t have the spell to summon a disc spirit."

Liu Xing furrowed his brow and asked, "So, you’re saying that someone else must have given Ye Long the spell to summon a disc spirit?"

As he thought about it, Liu Xing couldn’t help but recall the name Nyarlathotep. After all, Nyarlathotep, as the ultimate scapegoat, could do anything in the module without causing plot bugs. It seemed plausible that Nyarlathotep might have been involved in this.

"That’s likely the case," Hu Li replied. "But the specific reasons are probably known only to Ye Long himself. However, Ye Long has also died in Panlong Town Middle School, so unless he has become a disc spirit as well, we may never know the truth."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. "Wait, Miss Hu Li, are you suggesting that disc spirits are the souls of humans after they die?"

Hu Li nodded, speaking seriously. "That’s correct. Disc spirits are the souls of humans after they pass away. However, not all human souls can become disc spirits. I’m not entirely sure about the specific conditions because disc spirits reside in another world, and our knowledge about them is quite limited. But I do know one thing: disc spirits often forget most of their memories from their past lives, preserving only a few precious ones. And these memories remain sealed until certain conditions are met."

"So, are there still disc spirits in present-day Panlong Town?" Liu Xing inquired.

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