Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 230: The Mystery of Module Yueshihao Begins!

"Liu Xing, I'll add you as a friend in the lobby later. I think we'll be in the same module for the next one," Yin En patted Liu Xing's shoulder, smiling.

Liu Xing nodded in agreement. After all, in the final scene, "Liu Xing" and "Yin En" had boarded the same cruise ship heading for Cosmic Country. So, it was very likely that they would be involved in the same module again.

A minute later, KP Li Shunchan said with a smile, "Alright, it's time for me to send you all back. For those who cleared the module this time, aside from Yin En, who is the MVP, receiving a 1000-point reward, all other players will receive an 800-point reward and a one-point increase in intelligence attributes. This is because of the special hidden effect of King Tindalos Communicator. Well, see you all next time."

As KP Li Shunchan's words faded, Liu Xing returned to the real world.

Stretching lazily as he stood up, Liu Xing received a friend request from Yin En. In the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, Yin En's ID was Ian.

"Liu Xing, have you seen the system notification? We have another module game tomorrow," Yin En messaged.

Liu Xing furrowed his brows at Yin En's first message and immediately checked the blinking red system message.

"Dear player Old Chinese Doctor, because you triggered the special module - 'The Mystery of Yueshihao,' please be prepared to enter the special module tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. Thank you for your cooperation."

Liu Xing stared at the system message, momentarily unsure of what to say. He had planned to take a few days off to enjoy life, but it seemed that he had stumbled upon another special module, and it appeared to be a closed module.

Closed modules were those where players could only operate within a limited area, such as a large mansion, a moving train, or, in this case, a cruise ship sailing in Cosmic Country. These modules were quite unfriendly to non-combat character cards like Liu Xing.

However, closed modules had their advantages. They made it easier to collect clues and interact with important characters within a short period, helping players establish their objectives early, unlike open modules where players often found themselves lost after spending a lot of time.

"Liu Xing, have you seen the system message?" Yin En messaged again.

Liu Xing rubbed his chin and replied, "I've seen the message. By the way, this Yueshihao cruise we're on, is it the same as the real-world Sewol ferry?"

The Sewol ferry, the Cosmic Country cruise ship, had experienced a tragic accident on April 16, 2014, resulting in over 300 deaths.

At first glance, the incident appeared to be a typical maritime disaster, albeit with a higher death toll. However, as more details emerged through media coverage, the Sewol ferry incident began to appear suspicious. Many believed it was not an accident but a deliberate act of murder.

After the Sewol ferry capsized, the official rescue efforts by Cosmic Country were notably slow, even seemingly apathetic. Moreover, civilian rescue teams attempting to enter the ferry were actively blocked by the Cosmic Country authorities.

As time passed, various peculiar aspects of the Sewol ferry disaster came to light. For example, the ferry was not supposed to depart on that day due to heavy fog, which caused nine other ships in the harbor to cancel their journeys. Only the Sewol ferry insisted on setting sail. Additionally, the ferry's navigation route showed an abrupt deviation from its normal path, leading to its capsizing. When the ferry first capsized, the captain instructed passengers to stay in their rooms and await rescue, but he and the crew abandoned ship, locking escape routes behind them.

These anomalies cast a shadow of suspicion over the Sewol ferry disaster.

So, if the next module, "The Mystery of Yueshihao," was indeed a reference to the Sewol ferry within the Cthulhu universe, Liu Xing was certain that the final boss of this module would be the cultists responsible.

Yin En replied to Liu Xing, "Exactly, I'm sure this module is alluding to the Sewol ferry incident. The name 'Yueshihao' implies transcending the mundane, so changing it to 'Yueshihao' makes it even more fitting. However, keep in mind that this is a player-triggered creation module. It's very likely that we will be pitted against players from another faction, likely cultists."

At the end of his message, Yin En included a link.

Liu Xing clicked on the link and found himself on the help page of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, which explained player-triggered special modules.

Player-triggered special modules fell into two categories. The first type was the "post-storyline module," which occurred when players completed a module under certain conditions or achieved an incorrect ending. For example, if a module featured one visible and one hidden cultist, and players only eliminated the visible one, temporarily stopping a sacrifice ritual, they would seemingly succeed. However, since the hidden cultist remained alive and was preparing to continue the ritual, "local" players from the same parallel world would be required to undertake a special module to eliminate the hidden cultist. "Outsiders" who left after the first module didn't need to participate.

The second type of special module was the "creation module." These modules resulted from players' actions, effectively "creating" a new module. For instance, if a player successfully transformed into a Ghoul Elder in one module and then decided to take over the world, starting to develop "subordinates" by attacking and turning humans into Ghouls in a particular city, players from the same parallel world in that area would be drawn into a special module. Some players' missions would be to eliminate the player who became the Ghoul Elder, while players with cultist roles might assist the Ghoul Elder.

Therefore, the current module, "The Mystery of Yueshihao," likely involved one or more player cultists attempting to conduct a sacrifice ritual on the Yueshihao cruise. "Coincidentally," both Liu Xing and Yin En had become entangled in this module.

However, Liu Xing noticed something interesting in the help section the concept of parallel worlds.

Curiously, Liu Xing entered the world view details in the help section. Although he was familiar with the concept of parallel worlds, he was eager to learn what made the parallel worlds in the Cthulhu Mythos unique.

According to the information provided, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall had three types of parallel worlds. The first type was the modern parallel world, where module events occurred after 2010, taking place in various locations worldwide. This was referred to as the modern parallel world. The second type was the 1920s parallel world, where modules were set in the 1920s and primarily took place in European and American countries, with a focus on England and the United States, earning it the name of the 1920s parallel world. The third type was the ancient parallel world, where modules were set before the mid-18th century, during a time when the Industrial Revolution had not yet begun. These modules mainly unfolded in Europe and China, making it the ancient parallel world.

As a result of these three types of parallel worlds, player character cards were categorized into three types: modern character cards, 1920s character cards, and ancient character cards. Each type of character card could only appear in its corresponding parallel world. However, when creating a new character card, players could freely modify its type.

Of course, within the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, there were thousands of parallel worlds, and players' character cards resided in these worlds. Theoretically, one parallel world could accommodate thousands of character cards. Modules occurred in specific regions within these parallel worlds, and the events in one module could potentially affect other character cards. For example, the news of Watanabe Jiang's capture, known to Liu Xing and his group, could also be seen by players participating in other modules in the Island Nation at the same time when they watched TV or went online.

However, if a module within a parallel world reached an apocalyptic stage, such as Liu Xing's group failing to prevent the resurrection of the Eldritch God Taketori, that module would be "separated" from the parallel world, forming a new parallel world. Nevertheless, these newly formed parallel worlds would eventually meet their doom.

After reading about parallel worlds, Liu Xing replied to Yin En, "It seems our luck is quite good; we managed to trigger a special module."

"Indeed, we'll need to cooperate well tomorrow. However, as a general rule, faction-versus-faction modules emphasize one thingbalance. The difficulty isn't too high; it mainly depends on the intrigues among players. I must also mention that my character card's attributes and abilities will decrease significantly after leaving Ziwu City," Yin En replied.

Liu Xing couldn't help but chuckle at Yin En's message. The weakening of Yin En's character card was expected; the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall wouldn't offer such a straightforward advantage, allowing players' character cards to instantly transform into powerhouses.

After agreeing on their cooperation for the following day, Liu Xing decided to engage in Interlude Growth. However, he noticed that there was only one available: "Visit the Collector."

Visiting the Collector involved reaching Cosmic Country successfully and guaranteed obtaining one fragment of "The Secret Scripture of Xuanjun."

In essence, this Interlude Growth meant that if Liu Xing could complete the module tomorrow, he would definitely acquire a fragment of "The Secret Scripture of Xuanjun."

Liu Xing rubbed his chin and decided to go out for a meal.

The next morning at nine o'clock, after finishing breakfast, Liu Xing clicked on the game matchmaking and waited for the module to begin.

At exactly ten o'clock, Liu Xing entered the module:

Scenario: The Mystery of Yueshihao Difficulty: Medium

Number of players: Four

Background story: Yueshihao is a luxury cruise ship shuttling between Island Nation and Cosmic Country. Today, it welcomes some special guests, and a crisis silently approaches...

Name: Liu Xing

Occupation: Doctor

Gender: Male Age: 23 Trait: Team Player

Connection to the current scenario: After the Ziwu City incident, with the help of the Sawada Family, Liu Xing plans to board the Yueshihao cruise to Cosmic Country to visit a collector and obtain a fragment of "The Secret Scripture of Xuanjun."

Character Attributes

Strength: 57 Constitution: 40 Willpower: 80 Luck: 80 Agility: 55 Appearance: 70 Size: 45 Intelligence: 86 Inspiration: 90 Education: 87 Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge: 10 Sanity: 74/80 HP: 8 MP: 16 Damage Bonus: None Credit Rating: 55 Skills: First Aid 83, Medicine 78, Psychology 71, Psychoanalysis 70, Persuade 60, Investigation 40, Jump 71, Locksmith 10, Other Language: English 22, Driving 50, Other Language: Island Nation Language 39 Special Skills: Contact with Earth-boring Demon Worm Inventory: Phone card, a bottle of ancestral green tea (2/3), candies from Kezongfa, Qingming Rain, Qingming Sacrificial Offerings, Qingming Oil-paper Umbrella, Fragment of "The Secret Scripture of Xuanjun" (Contact with Earth-boring Demon Worm)

Since this module followed the previous one closely, Liu Xing hadn't been able to add any other items to his inventory. Also, due to Kanna Ryoko, his phone had been reduced to just a phone card.

But most importantly, Liu Xing's Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge had crossed into double digits, which wasn't good news at all.

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