Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls - Chapter 288: Discussion on the Second Night

Liu Xing’s quick thinking came to his aid in this situation. Because “WatanabeRyusei’s” character card lacked the “Psychology” skill, he couldn’t perform a psychological judgment on Alice to confirm whether she knew Ling Ishikawa. Therefore, he had to rely on an “Investigation Judgment” to observe Alice’s subtle facial expressions and use his professional knowledge to draw conclusions.

While in the Cthulhu RPG Game, dice rolls could clearly reflect outcomes, even without relevant judgment skills, one could still utilize their own abilities to play the game.

For instance, Liu Xing knew that in reality, some experienced players could, even without skills like persuasion or fast talking on their character cards, make convincing arguments through their logical thinking and language skills to persuade the Keeper in real life, achieving the same effect as a successful persuasion judgment.

Furthermore, there was the option of investigation. Although, in many cases, using “Investigation” could help players quickly discover desired items or information after a judgment, one could also achieve the same results by carefully examining all the objects within their scope. After all, a room had a limited number of items, and with time and opportunity, you could find what you were looking for.

Moreover, Liu Xing was currently engaged in a real Cthulhu RPG Game, not a text-based one like in the real world. He could directly observe and utilize his own subjective initiative.

Of course, there were limitations. For example, while Liu Xing could determine someone’s illness based on their description, as a real-world doctor, he possessed such expertise. However, even if he knew the illness, his character, “WatanabeRyusei,” lacked this knowledge, so he could only pretend to be ignorant.

Nevertheless, Liu Xing could still roughly assess Alice’s psychological state by observing her micro-expressions, drawing from his psychology class in college and the books he had read on micro-expression analysis. Even if the Keeper tried to push him into a corner, Liu Xing could resort to “a man’s intuition” or “gut feeling” to evade the issue.

“It’s alright; I tend to get deeply absorbed in what I’m doing and pay little attention to the outside world too. So, I understand our friend here. I’m sorry, but I have some work-related matters to attend to, so I won’t be able to chat with everyone here,” Alice said with a smile.

Liu Xing could sense that Alice had probably not recognized him or Ling Ishikawa because she had maintained a polite smile throughout, with almost no change in expression.

However, it was also worth noting that although Alice and Fujiwara Hiroshi were both key figures in the Deep Sea Gospel Society’s Kyoto branch, they had different areas of responsibility. Even if they were a married couple, they had their own secrets, so Fujiwara Hiroshi might not have informed Alice about Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa.

As for Ling Ishikawa’s sudden appearance at Flame Bar and being sent to Hybrier by Honda Tetsuya, it seemed that Honda Tetsuya was a considerate person who had erased any traces of this incident. Therefore, Alice, as the owner of Flame Bar, was likely unaware of these events.

This made Liu Xing breathe a sigh of relief. After all, if Alice had recognized him and Ling Ishikawa, it could have been troublesome. However, there was also the possibility that it wouldn’t be troublesome.

Currently, Alice was appearing in the territory of the Ocean True Deity Sect, which seemed unusual. If Li Yongjie’s investigation was correct, the Ocean True Deity Sect originated in Ryukyu and had now taken root in the Island Nation as an external Secret Cult. Meanwhile, the Deep Sea Gospel Society was a Secret Cult originating from the Island Nation itself. It was almost certain that the Ocean True Deity Sect and the Deep Sea Gospel Society could not be the same Secret Cults, and there was a high likelihood that they were in opposition.

Therefore, Alice, a member of the Deep Sea Gospel Society, appearing in the territory of the Ocean True Deity Sect indicated a potential betrayal.

Liu Xing saw this as an opportunity. He could use this situation to coerce Alice into cooperation or try to reach a consensus with her on dealing with the Deep Sea Gospel Society together.

However, these were just thoughts. After all, he needed to strengthen himself first. Currently, Liu Xing had only a dozen or so followers, making it difficult to negotiate with Alice individually, as his own abilities were limited.

After watching Alice go upstairs, Liu Xing spoke, “It seems that Alice doesn’t recognize me or Ling Ishikawa, and I can now be sure that she is no longer loyal to the Deep Sea Gospel Society.”

Pretending to be engrossed in his phone, Ling Ishikawa raised his head upon hearing Liu Xing and said, “That’s good. We don’t need to avoid Alice anymore, and we also have some leverage against her now. The next time we meet Alice on Deep Sea Gospel Society’s turf, we’ll have an additional card to play.”

Liu Xing nodded and continued, “But let’s put Alice aside for now. She doesn’t have much relevance to our current concerns. We need to find answers to several questions. First, is Matsui Yui really Inoue Kenjiro’s daughter? If she is, then the second question arises: Does Matsui Yui know about the events and the truth of what happened back then? As for the third question, it concerns Inoue Haruto’s true relationship with Matsui Yui and his current attitude toward her. Lastly, what exactly is beneath our feet!”

Zhang Jingxu contemplated and replied, “To get answers to these questions, I believe we should approach Inoue Saburo. After all, he was a firsthand witness to the events from that time and should remember some details. Additionally, Inoue Haruto mentioned that he often visits Fisher’s Village to see Inoue Saburo. However, Inoue Saburo’s memories haven’t fully recovered yet. When Lu Tianya and I questioned him earlier, he experienced symptoms like headaches. It seems he has not completely shaken off the effects of the Hypnotic Incense. So, for now, we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can approach Inoue Saburo for more information. As for what lies beneath our feet, we’ll need to find the right opportunity to investigate further.”

Liu Xing, aware of the capricious nature of the Cthulhu RPG Game, believed that Inoue Saburo might encounter an unfortunate fate soon. However, visiting Inoue Saburo at this moment wouldn’t yield much new information. As for the underground world beneath Fisher’s Village, they had no way to access it currently, as they hadn’t even located the entrance definitively.

So, Liu Xing could only nod and say, “Hmm, let’s leave it at that for now. It’s getting late, so how about we chat about some light and pleasant topics to relieve the tension of the past two days?”

The module had been active for less than two days, and it was still in its early stages. However, due to the efforts of the players, they had already gathered a significant amount of information. Liu Xing felt that they were currently in a lull, unable to gather more information.

It seemed that the only way to obtain further information at this point would be to approach Matsui Ichiro or Matsui Yui.

Zhang Jingxu and the others naturally understood this, so they began to engage in casual conversation. Of course, this “casual conversation” wasn’t really casual; everyone was taking the opportunity to supplement their character’s backstory.

In the Cthulhu RPG Game, some character cards came with dark histories, just like “WatanabeRyusei.” If someone found out the identity of “WatanabeRyusei’s” Worshipers of the Yellow Sect leader, Liu Xing would face two choices: recruit that person into the Worshipers of the Yellow Sect or eliminate them.

Regardless of whether the person was a player or an NPC, Liu Xing had to make this decision.

So, during their “casual conversation,” Liu Xing and the others subtly or directly mentioned some of their character’s “dark histories” to prepare the other players and ensure that such topics wouldn’t be brought up, just like Liu Xing mentioning how his “father” had ended up in prison.

During this conversation, Panda Pig mentioned how he disliked being called a “greasy middle-aged man” or someone who “didn’t look like a respectable person.” Miyako Goudong mentioned that he didn’t like it when others called him “suffering from chuunibyou” or “living in his own world.”

As for Zhang Jingxu, he mentioned his hostile feelings towards “Secret Cults.” As a legitimate Taoist, he had a deep understanding of the actions of Secret Cults, so it was natural for him to harbor enmity towards them.

At this point, Zhang Jingxu gave Liu Xing a meaningful look, as he already knew Liu Xing’s true identity.

As for Ling Ishikawa, there wasn’t much to say because his character card had just been created, and Yin En’s research on “Ling Ishikawa” was not very thorough. The only dark history was becoming one of Liu Xing’s followers.

After this “casual conversation,” everyone had a general idea of the boundaries of their exchanges.

At this moment, Dogo Aige arrived with dinner as planned, and this time, Matsui Yui also came. However, Matsui Yui had come to deliver food to Alice. After some pleasantries with Liu Xing and the others, Matsui Yui took the food upstairs to find Alice.

After dinner, when both Matsui Yui and Dogo Aige had left, Zhang Jingxu found a reason to dismiss Lu Tianya, and the group began their Private Room session.

“I didn’t expect that in just one day, we received two letters. It seems we’re not far from completing that Side Quest,” Ling Ishikawa said with a smile.

Liu Xing shook his head and replied, “You can’t say that yet. There’s a saying, ’The first ninety miles are easy, but the last ten are the hardest.’ As long as we haven’t obtained that last letter, the Side Quest isn’t considered complete. Besides, if nothing unexpected happens, that last letter won’t be easy to acquire.”

Zhang Jingxu smiled and nodded, saying, “You’re right. That last letter is most likely in Matsui Ichiro’s possession. Based on the information we have, Inoue Kenjiro’s house was raided by Matsui Ichiro, which is why Inoue Kenjiro’s home was left empty. That last letter should be in Matsui Ichiro’s hands, and we still haven’t confirmed the location of Matsui Ichiro’s house.”

“However, we’ve been relatively lucky. We’ve already figured out the cause and effect of this module within two days. But the most crucial information is probably still in that last letter. So, we have a lot of places to go now: the Ancestral Hall at Fisher’s Village’s former location, Matsui Ichiro’s house, the Fisher’s Village Graveyard surrounded by the high-voltage electric fence, and Dogo Aige’s shack,” Miyako Goudong added.

Lying on the table, Liu Xing suddenly remembered something and reminded everyone, “By the way, I almost forgot something very important. We need to be cautious because Matsui Ichiro might still have the Hypnotic Incense. If my character card’s memory hasn’t deviated, Hypnotic Incense is colorless, odorless, and smokeless, taking effect in just about a minute. We’ll need to pass a difficult Willpower Judgment when it activates, so we should arrange for someone to keep watch at night to prevent Matsui Ichiro from attacking us.”

Ling Ishikawa nodded and confirmed, “I believe Matsui Ichiro probably still has the Hypnotic Incense because these items are likely extra rewards given to us by the module. After all, no matter which area the module is set in, there will always be some bonus items.”

Miyako Goudong chimed in, “I think so too. Besides the Hypnotic Incense, there’s probably another very useful item in Fisher’s Village—the jade pendant that Inoue Saburo mentioned Li Yongjie gave to Inoue Kenjiro. According to the information we have, most of the villagers in Fisher’s Village have been manipulated and controlled by Matsui Ichiro using Hypnotic Incense, and Inoue Saburo was unknowingly affected as well.”

“So, why didn’t Matsui Ichiro control Inoue Kenjiro, especially since Inoue Kenjiro was a staunch opposition figure? Eliminating Inoue Kenjiro would have made Matsui Ichiro’s proselytizing plans much smoother. Therefore, we can speculate that Matsui Ichiro attempted to use Hypnotic Incense on Inoue Kenjiro but failed, and the likely reason for this failure was the special effect of that jade pendant,” Miyako Goudong continued.

“The most important thing to remember is that in the Cthulhu RPG Game, items are generally not mentioned without reason,” Miyako Goudong concluded.

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