Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 426: The First Stage of the Main Quest

If a character card falls off, then before the player resurrects the character card, it will temporarily be converted into an NPC. If the player fails to revive the module, or simply does not perform the resurrection module, then this character card will be permanently converted into an NPC.

So, Liu Xing speculated that Zhang Wenbing should belong to the former, because logically, if Zhang Wenbing had already been permanently converted into an NPC, then even if Zhang Wenbing was caught in this module, there would be no special appearance requesting the player to rescue Zhang Wenbing’s Side Quest. After all, according to the Daoist tradition, this Zhang Wenbing was just a financial manager of a company. It would be best if the Daoist tradition could rescue him, and if not, it wouldn’t matter much. Moreover, this Side Quest does not specify any punishment for mission failure.

"Well, let’s put aside Zhang Wenbing’s matter for now. If nothing unexpected happens, we should encounter this Zhang Wenbing while doing the Main Quest. After all, this Zhang Wenbing should not have completely transformed into an NPC yet. Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall should not let him die in this module," Zhang Jingxu said with a smile.

Liu Xing shrugged, suddenly thinking of a problem, that is, there seemed to be quite a few bugs in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall.

Firstly, his character card was inexplicably hacked by Yis People, and then this "Zhang Wenbing" who had not been completely transformed into an NPC was involved in the module and was even in danger, forcing the KP to issue a special Side Quest for the player to rescue "Zhang Wenbing."

And the reason why such a special Side Quest was issued was also because this module was competitive, so although the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall could completely control NPCs (probably), it was impossible for the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall to completely control the players. So, as long as the player was willing, it was entirely possible to kill "Zhang Wenbing."

Therefore, if "Zhang Wenbing" was killed in this module, then the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall would not be able to give an explanation to the resurrected Zhang Wenbing through the resurrection module.

Thinking of this, Liu Xing spoke up, "Zhang Jingxu, that’s not necessarily the case. Since such a special Side Quest has appeared, it indicates that the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall also dares not guarantee that Zhang Wenbing can survive in this module. Therefore, they hope that we will rescue Zhang Wenbing. Moreover, they have given such a tempting reward. Of course, considering the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall’s concern that Zhang Wenbing might die in this module, I suspect that there are players in the opposing camp whose profession is Fanatic, or their sanity points are very low."

Ling Ishikawa nodded, saying seriously, "Liu Xing, you’re right. Although the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall can ensure that NPCs will not kill Zhang Wenbing, and can also use coercion to prevent ordinary players from harming Zhang Wenbing, players with professions like Fanatic or low sanity points are uncontrollable factors. It’s hard to say when they might kill Zhang Wenbing. So, it’s possible that soon, the reward for this Side Quest we accepted will increase."

Liu Xing chuckled and shook his head, saying, "It’s unlikely to be such a good thing, and even if it is, they probably won’t inform us directly. After all, if they were to inform us, it would be equivalent to telling us that those missing foreign tourists are in danger, which is quite important information. So, I think even if they want to increase the reward, it will be by secretly upgrading the grade of that random item. Well, let’s not discuss this Side Quest for now. There are priorities to consider. What we should discuss now is the Main Quest of this module."

Ling Ishikawa shrugged, somewhat indifferent, "Actually, the Main Quest of competitive modules is quite straightforward. In plain terms, it revolves around a goal and competing with the enemy camp, or simply killing all players of the enemy camp. From the current situation, it seems that in this module, the target both sides need to compete for is those missing foreign tourists. We need to rescue all of these missing foreign tourists. And players in the enemy camp are most likely to use these missing foreign tourists as sacrificial offerings for a Ritual Ceremony. After all, as far as I know, in most competitive modules, the evil side wants to conduct a Ritual Ceremony related to the Great Old One."

Liu Xing thought for a moment, still somewhat puzzled, "Indeed, as it seems now, the players in the enemy camp are planning to use these missing foreign tourists as sacrificial offerings. But I’m now pondering a question: why do they have to capture foreign tourists as sacrificial offerings? After all, a large number of missing foreign tourists will undoubtedly create enormous diplomatic and public opinion pressure on the English government, forcing the English government and certain forces to fully investigate these cases of missing foreign tourists. This may be counterproductive for the enemy camp, after all, the reason why secret cults are called secret cults is because they do not yet have the strength to put themselves openly."

"Yes, you’re right, Liu Xing. I agree with what you said. I also think that the enemy camp’s behavior of kidnapping a large number of foreign tourists is somewhat strange because they could simply kidnap homeless people in England or collude with certain mental hospitals or orphanages, taking those mentally ill patients or orphans who are not cared for by anyone as sacrificial offerings. This would be more cost-effective for them," Zhang Jingxu said, frowning.

Liu Xing nodded, very much in agreement with what Zhang Jingxu mentioned. After all, Liu Xing had never heard of using non-English nationals as sacrifices, and sacrificing non-English nationals would yield better results than using English nationals.

So, Liu Xing felt that there might be another hidden story behind this.

At this moment, Ling Ishikawa, with a wide open imagination, said, "Do you think this module might be related to the English government? After all, the old man of England is already old and could pass away at any time, so they staged such a large-scale kidnapping of foreign tourists, actually to divert attention, so that everyone focuses on this kidnapping case. Then, they could use what you mentioned earlier, Zhang Jingxu, homeless people, mentally ill patients, and orphans as sacrificial offerings, and hold a Ritual Ceremony to extend the life of their old man?"

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised by Ling Ishikawa’s wild imagination. However, on second thought, Ling Ishikawa’s speculation seemed reasonable. According to "WatanabeRyuusei’s" memory, the Queen of England in this parallel world, ***** was already ninety-two years old, and there had been frequent reports of *****’s deteriorating health recently, although these reports had been denied by the English authorities. However, ***** hadn’t appeared in public for a long time.

In this parallel world, the power of the English royal family was significantly greater than in the real world, with the most significant change being that about half of England’s parliamentarians were directly appointed by the royal family.

Therefore, the English royal family in this parallel world could directly influence English politics. So, many people believed that England was still under the control of the royal family.

So, Ling Ishikawa’s conjecture could indeed become a reality.

Just then, Liu Xing suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh right, I almost forgot about this. In the previous module in Panlong Town, didn’t we find a note and a key in the water ghost’s wallet? I remember the phone number on the note was for Chris’s house."

"Chris? The chief of the Manchester police department, Liu Xing, how do you know his home phone number?" Ling Ishikawa asked with some confusion.

So, Liu Xing recounted his experience in the Castle module, reminding Ling Ishikawa and Zhang Jingxu to be cautious of Isabella, as based on the current situation, their group was definitely going to meet Isabella.

After hearing Liu Xing’s account, Ling Ishikawa rubbed his chin and said, "I see. No wonder Yis People were brought in to help with the investigation by the Manchester police department. But in that case, I think Elizabeth might also be a suspect because she can control the Ghoul and needs a lot of blood. So, she has every reason to control the Ghoul to kidnap those foreign tourists, kill them, and use their blood for herself... Of course, this possibility is not high, after all, besides Manchester, there have been cases of missing foreign tourists in many other places in England."

Liu Xing nodded and said, "Although Isabella will likely play a role in this module, if Isabella is on our side, it’s good news, as Isabella’s overall strength is quite good, and she’s also a local, so she should be able to provide us with a lot of intelligence. But if Isabella belongs to the enemy camp, it’s not good news for us because Isabella is currently lurking in Chris’s house, and our every move will be under Isabella’s control. Moreover, we still have no way to reveal Isabella’s true identity."

Zhang Jingxu shrugged and said with a smile, "How did we digress from the topic like this? Let’s put Isabella’s matter aside for now and discuss it after we’ve contacted her. Now let’s get back on track. Since we found Chris’s phone number in the water ghost’s wallet, it means the water ghost should know Chris. So, I think there are only two possibilities: first, the water ghost is Chris’s enemy, and the phone number is used to confirm if Chris is at home, and the key is for opening Chris’s door; the second possibility is that the water ghost is Chris’s friend or colleague, and the key should open another door."

After a moment of thought, Liu Xing nodded and said, "I think it should be the latter. That water ghost is most likely one of Chris’s subordinates, and then, to carry out an undercover mission, joined Gralki’s secret cult. Finally, brainwashed into becoming Gralki’s slave, controlled by Gralki and sent to China."

At this point, Ling Ishikawa had already retrieved the note and key from his luggage. "It’s a good thing those items were in my backpack, and my character card isn’t the forgetful type, so it took a while to find these note and key. But I wonder if this key can still open the door at the address on the note, after all, it’s been over ten years."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Liu Xing frowned, knowing it must be Yis People returning.

So, after Ling Ishikawa put away the note and key, Liu Xing opened the door, and indeed, it was Yis People outside.

And at this moment, Yis People was holding a suitcase in his hand.

After entering the room, Yis People opened the suitcase, revealing the bulletproof vests and pistols he had promised earlier.

"There are a total of six bulletproof vests, ten pistols, and one hundred magazines here. In addition, Chris will also make police badges for us to facilitate our investigation in Manchester. However, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get them. At the same time, we should also be able to get twenty tear gas and smoke grenades," Yis People said with a smile.

Liu Xing frowned slightly; Chris seemed to have provided quite a lot of Weapons and Equipment.

Yis People took out a pistol and handed it to Liu Xing, saying, "When I went to see Chris today, Chris happened to be leading a patrol team. So, when Chris knew that you guys were also willing to join my team to help investigate the case of missing foreign tourists, he unhesitatingly gave me these Weapons and Equipment. He also told me that these were all essential items because the enemies we might face next, a significant portion of them are human and they also have various types of light weapons."

"Because currently, the missing foreign tourists in the Manchester area have basically disappeared in suburban areas, and at the confirmed crime scenes, the Manchester police found bullet holes, shotgun shells, and submachine gun bullet holes, as well as bullet casings. So, after professional analysis, the number of terrorists kidnapping foreign tourists is about ten people, and almost everyone is armed. However, no bloodstains were found at the crime scenes, indicating that these terrorists were only bluffing with their guns."

"And besides the traces left by firearms, the Manchester police also found many terrifying scratches, which were obviously left by non-human creatures. So, these are also the targets we need to identify and find. Currently, I roughly speculate that these scratches should have been left by Ghouls or Deep Ones, but tomorrow Chris will send someone to take us to the crime scene for an on-site inspection, and then we can find out the truth."

As Yis People finished speaking, KP Li Shunchan spoke up, "The first stage of the Main Quest of this module—investigation—is now officially underway. Players, please investigate the crime scenes of the missing foreign tourists carefully, as your investigation results will affect the direction of the upcoming Mission."

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