Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised that Shi Zixuan had presented him and his group with such a grand gift upon arrival.

As the saying goes, in the Cthulhu RPG Game, the demand for information gathering is exceptionally high. Moreover, there’s an old saying: "Know yourself, know your enemy, and you shall not be defeated in a hundred battles." Knowing the specific situation of one’s opponent allows for better planning to deal with them.

Therefore, the information Shi Zixuan brought could be considered a timely boon.

"For certain special reasons, I must leave Manchester within half an hour. So, you have ten minutes to ask me any questions you may have. However, there are still some questions I cannot answer," Shi Zixuan said earnestly.

Liu Xing understood that the "special reasons" Shi Zixuan mentioned referred to the limitations imposed by the module on her. After all, it wouldn’t make sense to let Shi Zixuan assist Bai Hecheng’s side in completing the mission and then "join" Liu Xing’s side.

Time was of the essence. Zhang Jingxu immediately inquired, "Miss Shi Zixuan, Cult of the Cadaver should have obtained the original copy of ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual’ by now. Do you know how long they will need to learn the Magic Spells and activate the replica of the corrupted wooden sculpture?"

Shi Zixuan shrugged, smiling as she replied, "I need to correct you on one point. The ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual’ I obtained from Bain’s farm wasn’t the original; it should be one of the earliest printed copies. So, as far as I know, Bai Hecheng and his group’s progress in learning Magic Spells is relatively slow. Barring any surprises, they should complete their studies in three days. However, I’ve peeked at the spellcasting requirements. They will need five days to truly activate the Magic Spells and initiate a chemical reaction with the corrupted wooden sculpture. Moreover, the casting of these Magic Spells is easily interruptible, and the backlash from the spells is quite strong. So, you should understand what I mean."

Alice nodded, somewhat puzzled. "By the way, Shi Zixuan, I’m curious about how you managed to steal the ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual’ from under Bain’s nose and how you decoded the surveillance system. You should know about Yis People, right? Since the surveillance system is their technology."

Shi Zixuan nodded, somewhat surprised. "What? The surveillance system was made by Yis People?! Of course, I’m aware of Yis People’s existence. I once had a mission to steal an Electric Therapy Device manufactured by Yis People. However, despite Yis People’s technology being far superior to ours, the materials they use on Earth are quite ordinary. Additionally, some of the algorithms they use are identical to ours, so I speculate that the items they manufacture on Earth are just their practice works."

"So, when Bai Hecheng and his group reached the small grove, although I discovered the presence of surveillance cameras and couldn’t pinpoint their exact locations, I could hijack the signals emitted by those cameras. Therefore, while I was still behind enemy lines at the time, I had no choice but to tamper with those signals, causing you to receive incorrect information. As for how I entered Bain’s farm, it was actually when you first approached Bain’s farm. As for how I managed to evade Bain’s defensive measures, it’s because of the silver powder used by the Cult of the Cadaver. It can indeed negate certain magic effects within a certain range and suppress human perception ability."

"By the way, Bai Hecheng still has three bullets containing that silver powder. This means you’d better not attempt to use magic against Bai Hecheng and his group. Because if you do, you’re likely to be countered by Bai Hecheng. Also, remember to avoid that silver powder. If you don’t evade it in time, your perception ability will greatly diminish. In severe cases, you may even feel like you’ve lost control of your entire body. So, you must be careful about this, or else you’ll be at their mercy."

"But coming back to it, after I entered Bain’s farm, I could still sense that Bain had discovered me. However, I’m not sure if it was because of the silver powder. Bain didn’t intervene to stop me. You see, Bain only lost perception ability, but he can still cast magic attacks against me. According to Bai Hecheng, the effect of this silver powder lasts only about an hour. So theoretically, Bain should have realized that his ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual’ had been stolen by now. Yet, Bain remains silent. Therefore, I suspect Bain deliberately let me steal the ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual.’"

Listening to this, Liu Xing also felt confused. Because if Shi Zixuan was telling the truth, why would Bain intentionally let go of the ’Cult of the Cadaver Ritual’? Could Bain also be related to the Cult of the Cadaver?

If that were the case, their group would be in trouble again.

"Miss Shi Zixuan, do you know about the underground passages of EinsCastle?" Zhang Jingxu asked.

Shi Zixuan nodded, smiling. "Of course, I know about the underground passages of EinsCastle. At the beginning, the underground passages of EinsCastle had been abandoned for over a hundred years. Even Gary, now known as Wang Qi, had forgotten about the situation of the underground passages. So, Bai Hecheng and I entered the underground passages three times before confirming the current situation of the EinsCastle underground passages. However, I do not recommend you to enter EinsCastle through the underground passages. Because now, the Cult of the Cadaver has stationed personnel at various important intersections in the underground passages. Although these people are not strong, once they die, the Cult of the Cadaver will know that someone has invaded the underground passages. I believe you wouldn’t want to engage in direct conflict with the Cult of the Cadaver."

Liu Xing shrugged, shaking his head. "We certainly don’t want to engage in direct conflict with the Cult of the Cadaver. As Miss Shi Zixuan has seen, we only have so few people, and the Cult of the Cadaver has already transformed EinsCastle into a fortress. Engaging in open warfare with them would be tantamount to seeking our own demise."

Shi Zixuan smiled again, saying, "Exactly. Now that you know the Cult of the Cadaver has transformed EinsCastle into a fortress, you should also guess that they have acquired a batch of military supplies. So, I advise you not to expect assistance from the English military anymore, at least during this time when the Cult of the Cadaver holds the advantage."

Liu Xing sensed the implication behind Shi Zixuan’s words, indicating that their group shouldn’t hope to gain assistance from the English military in this module, so they shouldn’t try to directly breach EinsCastle to defeat Bai Hecheng and the others.

Unable to overpower, they had to outsmart.

At this point, Shi Zixuan glanced at her watch and said, "It’s almost time for me to leave Manchester. Otherwise, I’ll be in big trouble. Oh, here’s my business card. If you need my

assistance in any mission, feel free to contact me. Though my rates are indeed high, they are absolutely worth it."

After speaking, Shi Zixuan disappeared from the Safe Point, leaving only her business card behind.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and casually picked up the card.

As Liu Xing expected, this business card was also an item from the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game HallShop. Its effect was quite simple: players could use it to contact the owner of the card and offer points or items as stakes to request assistance for missions. Once the owner accepted the mission, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall would bind the employer and the employee. When a module related to the employer’s mission occurred, the employee would be forcibly included in the module and aligned with the employer.

It seemed Bai Hecheng and his group had hired Shi Zixuan through this business card.

Liu Xing pondered for a moment and decided to keep the business card. He felt he would inevitably encounter Shi Zixuan again, and there might be occasions where her assistance would be valuable.

"Alright, now we can basically abandon the route of entering EinsCastle through the underground passages. If the Cult of the Cadaver has stationed people at those important junctions, we won’t have a chance to sneak into EinsCastle," Miguel sighed and spoke.

At this, Hu Li shook her head, smiling. "That’s not necessarily true. If the Cult of the Cadaver only relies on the life or death of those people to detect intruders in EinsCastle, we can simply render them unconscious. And I happen to have suitable sedatives."

Liu Xing’s eyes lit up momentarily, but he quickly calmed down. "Miss Hu Li, your idea is good, but there’s a question I’d like to ask. Will your sedatives work on zombies? If, as expected, the Cult of the Cadaver has stationed foreign tourists turned zombies as human alarm systems in the underground passages, then those tourists have been given instructions by the Cult of the Cadaver: either we intruders die, or they die!"

Hu Li looked somewhat embarrassed as she nodded reluctantly. "Well, my sedatives indeed have no effect on zombies. And I agree with Mr. Ryuusei’s opinion. The Cult of the Cadaver must have given those zombies orders. As long as they can’t stop our advance, they’ll choose to die, and they even have remote-controlled explosives attached to their bodies."

"For safety’s sake, let’s just abandon the underground passage route. However, we can still use it when escaping from EinsCastle. After all, we don’t need to worry about being discovered by the Cult of the Cadaver at that time... Now, let’s vote. Should we believe Shi Zixuan’s words and open the Memory Card she gave us?" Ling Ishikawa held up the Memory Card and asked.

Liu Xing nodded and said, "I think we can trust Shi Zixuan. Because she has no reason to deceive us. As Shi Zixuan just said, if she wanted to harm us, the Cult of the Cadaver’s people would probably be in front of us by now."

With unanimous agreement, they opened the Memory Card and projected its contents onto the TV.

After opening the Memory Card, Liu Xing found that besides a picture, there were only three documents inside, corresponding to Rayna and others.

Liu Xing first opened the picture and found it to be the layout of the underground passages of EinsCastle, with the positions of the Cult of the Cadaver’s outposts marked by Shi Zixuan.

After a brief glance, Liu Xing closed the picture, as it was no longer the focus.

"Whose profile should we look at first?" Liu Xing asked.

Alice raised her hand first and said, "I want to see Rayna’s information because this Rayna is too mysterious. I can’t wait to know his true identity."

Liu Xing nodded and opened Rayna’s profile.

When Rayna’s photo appeared, Liu Xing and others all exclaimed in surprise, as this was another familiar face - Alexander.

Yes, Rayna was none other than the "deceased" mafia boss, Alexander.

"So that’s it. I always felt Alexander’s death was a bit abrupt. Although we seemed to have found a reason for Alexander’s death, I always felt that reason wasn’t sufficient. Now, we’ve finally found the real reason," Zhang Jingxu said with a furrowed brow.

Liu Xing nodded and continued to read Rayna’s profile.

After arriving in Manchester, Rayna had been active in the public eye under the identity of "Alexander." Using this identity, he eliminated anyone who might pose a threat to the Cult of the Cadaver, as mafia vendettas were a very simple and direct reason.

The reason why Chris’s former boss, former Manchester police chief Tom, was killed was because Tom accidentally discovered Rayna’s true identity and, following the thread, began investigating the Cult of the Cadaver. He also had decisive evidence, so Rayna had to kill Tom. Although Rayna found a scapegoat to take the blame, Chris was convinced that Rayna was Tom’s murderer. Therefore, for safety’s sake, Rayna had to settle down as a mafia boss for the time being and temporarily cut off contact with the Cult of the Cadaver.

As for the kidnapping of foreign tourists that occurred in Manchester initially, it was basically Rayna’s doing. Rayna had territories in the QuarryBank Textile Factory and the North Corner, where there were also many followers of the Cult of the Cadaver. They would directly take action once they found suitable targets, and they would also tamper with the corresponding surveillance footage. That’s why the missing foreign tourists in the North Corner disappeared suddenly within a few seconds when passing through blind spots of two surveillance cameras.

As for this "death of Alexander," Rayna did indeed die by suicide. However, his body was soon taken away by the Cult of the Cadaver and transformed into a Ghoul. Rayna had formally returned to the Cult of the Cadaver, and his most powerful ability now was mind control!

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