Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Liu Xing gazed at the hazy sky, feeling somewhat surreal at the moment.

Encountering old acquaintances in a foreign land.

No, it should be encountering old acquaintances in a foreign land.

"Ryuusei, what’s wrong with you?" Zhang Jingxu looked at Liu Xing with some puzzlement.

Liu Xing shook his head and said, "It’s nothing, I just feel that Tokyo now resembles this weather, it can be described as clouds of doom pressing down on the city."

Zhang Jingxu knew that Liu Xing was hiding something, but it wasn’t appropriate to continue questioning, so he nodded and said, "Indeed, if we were to make a comparison, Tokyo now is like Sarajevo during the First World War, a powder keg ready to explode. Although the secret cults maintain peace on the surface, in reality, they’ve long been at odds with each other. So if the information Suneo obtained is true, then this attack is likely to ignite the fuse. After one or two more attacks like this, the entire secret cult network in Tokyo will descend into chaos."

Liu Xing sighed. Just as Zhang Jingxu had guessed, this was the plot arranged by Zhongshu.

If everything proceeded according to the module Zhongshu had previously set, then in a matter of days, that mysterious organization would launch another attack. And this time, it would be a simultaneous assault on three branches of secret cults, forcing the major secret cults in the Tokyo area to convene a meeting. They would once again remind all the branches in the Tokyo area of the rules they needed to abide by if they wanted to operate in Tokyo.

However, that mysterious organization attacked the meeting, igniting a chaotic struggle among the secretive secret cults in the Tokyo area.

Liu Xing hadn’t finished his thoughts when Ling Ishikawa walked over and said, "What are you guys talking about?"

Zhang Jingxu shrugged and smiled, "Nothing much, we’re just reminiscing about the current situation in Tokyo. If what Honekawa Suneo said is true, then it won’t be long before we’re forced into a big brawl among the secret cults."

Ling Ishikawa shrugged and affirmed, "Although I’m not very familiar with the ways of secret cults, if we consider all these secret cults in the Tokyo area as mafia members, then this big brawl was bound to happen sooner or later. After all, Tokyo is only so big, and everyone wants to expand their territory. Besides, some of these secret cults already had grudges against each other. However, what I’m most suspicious of now is whether this attack was orchestrated by one of the secret cults."

After listening to Ling Ishikawa’s words, Liu Xing silently shook his head. Because Liu Xing had once asked Zhongshu the same question: whether that secret organization was hired by one of the secret cults as mercenaries. Zhongshu explicitly told Liu Xing that the secret organization had no connection to any of the secret cults in the module and wasn’t an official organization. If anything, that secret organization was just a group of like-minded individuals formed into a grassroots organization.

And the ultimate mission of Zhongshu’s module was to uncover the true nature of this secret organization.

Of course, Liu Xing felt that the module he was currently undertaking was just one part of Zhongshu’s larger module, and it was a relatively unimportant side quest... because Zhongshu had never discussed this part of the plot with Liu Xing.

With this in mind, Liu Xing said thoughtfully, "It seems we’ve already been swept into the tide of the times. Whether we like it or not, we’ll have to participate in this big brawl. Let’s hope we can keep winning and survive."

Liu Xing’s words carried a double meaning, causing both Zhang Jingxu and Ling Ishikawa to nod in agreement without saying a word.

Having confirmed the "easter egg" set by Zhongshu, Liu Xing then signaled everyone to leave Tokyo Skytree.

As Liu Xing and his companions arrived at the underground parking lot, a smiling black man approached them. "I never expected that Zhongshu would sneak something in, and coincidentally let that kid Liu Xing enter this storyline. It seems my pre-designed plots won’t be of use anymore. What a pity. But speaking of which, that Liu Xing seems to have connections with everyone. I originally thought he was just an ordinary player, but it turns out he knows so many people in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. No, those guys can’t even be considered human anymore."

After the black man finished speaking, he walked towards Tokyo Skytree.

If Liu Xing had remained at Tokyo Skytree, he would have recognized this black man as Aughra.

Aughra arrived at the location where Zhongshu had set the "easter egg," casually stepped on it, and then Zhongshu’s easter egg disappeared.

"Alright, it’s time to go back and have a good chat with that guy. I think he should be willing to give me some benefits for this, and he should be happy to have someone like Liu Xing among his module’s players." Aughra muttered to himself as he approached the elevator, ready to leave Tokyo Skytree.

As the elevator doors opened, three men and one woman emerged from the elevator, with the woman still holding a black handbag.

Aughra entered the elevator alone, watching the backs of the four people with a faint smile. He murmured softly, "I didn’t expect them to act so quickly over here. It seems that although I can’t use the plots I designed earlier, new plots are already prepared. You don’t mind if I do this, do you, Bamboo Rat?"

The elevator attendant beside Aughra sighed helplessly and said, "Mr. Aughra, what you’re doing is going to put me in a difficult position. After all, I’m just an ordinary KP and I don’t have the authority to make such significant plot modifications."

Before the elevator attendant could finish, Aughra interrupted, "No, no, no, Bamboo Rat, you’ve misunderstood me. What I mean is not for you to directly change the plot, but to cooperate with another KP."

The elevator attendant fell silent for a moment before saying, "I understand what you mean. If Mr. Aughra can convince another KP, then I agree with your idea. But if things go wrong later on, I won’t take the blame."

Aughra nodded and said with a smile, "Of course, you can rest assured, Bamboo Rat. You know my reputation in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. I never shift blame onto others. So, Bamboo Rat, just relax."

After saying that, Aughra disappeared into the elevator.

The elevator attendant sighed once again.

Half a minute later.

Boom!

At that moment, just as Liu Xing and his group were leaving the underground parking lot, they suddenly heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of Tokyo Skytree.

Then, the sound of twisted steel bars echoed.

"Oh my god!"

Liu Xing and the others sitting in the car looked towards Tokyo Skytree and saw the towering structure severed halfway, with the upper part of the tower starting to lean!

Fortunately, the location where the upper part of Tokyo Skytree collapsed was exactly opposite to where Liu Xing and the others were leaving by car. So Liu Xing and the others didn’t need to enact any life-or-death drama.

"This is insane!" Ling Ishikawa said, utterly bewildered.

Liu Xing knew that Ling Ishikawa was referring to the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. Because now, the events happening in the parallel world of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall were being mirrored in the real world. So when Liu Xing and the others finished their module in Tokyo along with other ongoing modules, the news of Tokyo Skytree exploding and collapsing would appear in the real world.

And it was evident that the explosion of Tokyo Skytree was a deliberate act. Therefore, whether in this parallel world or the real world, the authorities would likely classify it as a terrorist attack.

In this parallel world, the explosion of Tokyo Skytree was somewhat manageable, just a spectacle for Liu Xing and the others to witness. The authorities might overlook it due to the involvement of certain secret cults. After all, in this parallel world, most governments already knew about the existence of secret cults and mythical creatures, and they knew they couldn’t do much about these supernatural entities. Just like Liu Xing’s experiences in Earth Dragon Village and the incident with the World Voyage ship, the authorities could easily investigate the mysterious cults and mythical creatures involved in these events but couldn’t disclose it to the public or conduct deeper investigations.

However, if the explosion of Tokyo Skytree occurred in the real world, it would be a major news event akin to the 9/11 attacks. After all, the events occurring in the parallel world were now being projected into the real world. But according to Liu Xing and others’ investigations, they found no traces of secret cults or mythical creatures in the mapped events in the real world. So Liu Xing and the others speculated that the invasion of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall into the real world had just begun, and they hadn’t yet projected those mythical creatures and secret cults into the real world.

Of course, now the players of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall could exchange some items into the real world. So Liu Xing suspected that some items capable of summoning mythical creatures and magic spells might indeed be usable in the real world.

Therefore, before entering this module, Liu Xing had wanted to summon a Byakhee in the real world to see if Rundell would appear. But because Liu Xing lived in the downtown area of Rongcheng, he decided not to risk it.

Returning to the point, what impact would the large explosion of Tokyo Skytree have in the real world?

The lessons from 9/11 were a stark reminder.

Liu Xing dared not think further.

Just then, KP Bamboo Rat, who had been invisible all along, suddenly spoke up, "Dear players, I have a sudden announcement for you. Because the players from the adjacent module suddenly lost their minds and blew up Tokyo Skytree, our module has also been affected to some extent. However, the main quests for all of you players remain unchanged. It’s just that from now on, you may inevitably come into contact with players from other modules. After all, Tokyo is only so big, and currently, there are twelve ongoing modules in Tokyo. Therefore, all ongoing modules in Tokyo are now in an emergency state, allowing interaction with players from other modules. As for the mode of interaction, it will still be during Private Room time. However, this cross-module Private Room time can only be conducted when players from both modules are present and can only be used once, lasting for half an hour."

Liu Xing and the others raised their eyebrows. They didn’t expect that the explosion of Skytree this time was not part of the established plot of their managed module but a major explosion caused by players from an adjacent module suddenly causing trouble.

One had to admit, Liu Xing was quite impressed by the players from the adjacent module, pulling off such a big news event.

"By the way, let me give you players some background knowledge here. Under normal circumstances, our modules are like crews of different movies. Although we’re all shooting movies in the same movie city and sometimes even use the same filming locations, different crews are still independent yet interconnected. When I say independent, I mean players from different modules usually don’t meet, at most, they just pass by each other. When I say interconnected, it’s because our modules share the same world view, akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Monster Universe, and so on."

"So, the current situation can be understood as the main characters of one crew suddenly losing their minds and killing off a character who wasn’t supposed to die. And this character was supposed to appear in other crews’ movies as well. As a result, those crews are now forced to delete the scenes involving this character, and the repercussions of this character’s death force other crews to further modify their plots. Now, this is our situation. Some things have been forced to change, so players from different modules may intersect. But for you players, it’s not necessarily a bad thing because you can get some information from other players that you wouldn’t have otherwise."

Liu Xing couldn’t help but recall this poem.

As KP Bamboo Rat said, the current situation wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Liu Xing and the others because if they could interact with players from other modules, they could indeed gain some intelligence that they wouldn’t have been able to obtain otherwise. After all, just like the metaphor KP Bamboo Rat had just used, every clue that could be found in a module was already written in the scenario. Players in the module couldn’t obtain clues that weren’t written in the scenario!

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