Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls - Chapter 313: Lost Memories

“What are these villagers up to?” Panda Pig voiced the question that lingered in the minds of everyone present.

Liu Xing nodded and began, “I believe these villagers must have gone to Dogo Aige’s thatched cottage. After all, in that direction, there is only Dogo Aige’s cottage. Unless these villagers decided to take a leisurely stroll by the seaside, but yesterday’s heavy rain has turned the entire Fisher’s Village into a mess. The beach might have turned into a mud pit, so I doubt anyone would leisurely walk in a mud pit.”

“So, in my personal opinion, these villagers might be monitoring Dogo Aige or doing something clandestine while Dogo Aige sleeps… Panda Pig, why are you smirking like that? This situation is not as amusing as you seem to think.”

Panda Pig, sporting a mischievous grin, rubbed his chin and said, “Well, based on my years of knowledge about Dogo Aige, I must say that Dogo Aige also has a strong allure to males. It might be a racial gift, but Dogo Aige has always claimed to be a ’straight as an arrow’ kind of guy.”

Liu Xing’s lips curled into a faint smile, ready to tease Dogo Aige, but Miyako Goudong interrupted, saying, “I think the situation might not be as straightforward as it seems. The appearance of those few villagers we saw on the road the day before yesterday, they all seemed like puppets, stiff movements, lifeless eyes. But last night, those three villagers appeared much more agile.”

Zhang Jingxu raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, and said, “Is that so? Could it be that these villagers, like Inoue Haruto’s uncle, have also regained some self-awareness?”

“It’s a possibility. If these villagers have strong willpower and Matsui Ichiro hasn’t used Hypnotic Incense on them for a while, then it’s possible they’ve regained some self-awareness. However, it seems that during the day, these villagers are still under Matsui Ichiro’s control, and only in the evening, these three villagers have a chance or a certain amount of time to regain their senses. But this period should only be about an hour, so that’s why they come and go in a hurry,” Liu Xing explained.

At this point, Lu Tianya furrowed his brow and asked, “If that’s the case, why did these three villagers go to find Dogo Aige?”

Lu Tianya’s question left everyone in the room astonished. If these three villagers had indeed regained some self-awareness, then their purpose in seeking out Dogo Aige could only be one thing: to reveal the truth about Fisher’s Village and discuss how to help Dogo Aige escape.

If that were the case, it would be a significant problem.

Because all the preparations made by Liu Xing and the others were based on the assumption that Dogo Aige was unaware of the truth. After all, Liu Xing and the others had prepared to sell Dogo Aige, knowing that desperate times call for desperate measures.

But now, a new issue arose. What if Dogo Aige already knew the truth? What would Liu Xing and the others do?

Firstly, if Dogo Aige knew the truth, he would likely never agree to marry Matsui Yui. Thus, Liu Xing and the others would fail to complete their main quest, and they would be facing a dire outcome.

Secondly, there was the matter of their escape plan. If Dogo Aige’s escape plan conflicted with theirs, it would pose a significant problem.

Lastly, there was the issue of Dogo Aige’s acting skills. If Dogo Aige’s acting skills were lacking and Matsui Yui discovered any flaws, they would be in big trouble. After all, the tension that Liu Xing and the others had managed to create couldn’t compare to Dogo Aige’s potential betrayal.

So, it was indeed a major concern.

At this moment, Panda Pig couldn’t resist adding, “Well, I have to clarify one thing now. Dogo Aige is the kind of person who enjoys the good life, only seeking riches and avoiding hardships. So, if he knows the truth, he will most likely choose to escape on his own unless our escape plan can benefit him. Moreover, if we confront Dogo Aige now, he will probably deny everything.”

Liu Xing sighed and said, “So, what should we do now? If Dogo Aige already knows the truth, his first thought will be to escape just like us, as staying in Fisher’s Village would be a dead end. But if, as Panda Pig said, our escape plans overlap, then we’re in trouble. And now that Inoue Haruto and Dogo Aige have become friends, they can plan together without our knowledge. Dogo Aige might already be far away, leaving us to face the wrath of Matsui Ichiro and the Ocean True Deity Sect.”

“This is troublesome. We might be cornered in a no-win situation!” Miyako Goudong said with frustration.

Liu Xing forced a smile and said, “Well, the situation might not be as dire as we imagine. Our speculations are based on the assumption that Dogo Aige already knows the truth. If he doesn’t, then we’re just worrying unnecessarily. However, I still think it’s necessary to send someone to monitor Dogo Aige, just in case he decides to make a premature escape.”

Liu Xing knew he was trying to reassure himself because the actions of those three villagers suggested they might have regained some self-awareness. If Liu Xing were one of them, regaining consciousness after being controlled would make escaping the top priority.

And trying to find other original residents in the village right now is definitely not a reliable option. After all, if they themselves are under control, then the other original residents are undoubtedly also in a controlled state. Approaching them would be walking into a trap. So, for now, they can only look for the outsiders who have just arrived in the village, as the chances of them being controlled are lower.

Among these outsiders, Dogo Aige seems to be the most reliable option. After all, Dogo Aige is the main character of this wedding, or rather, the main sacrificial offering for the ritual. So, collaborating with Dogo Aige appears to be the most sensible choice.

People like Liu Xing and his group are just extras in this scenario. Moreover, the presence of more people means more complications, and those three villagers can’t be certain if there are any friends of Matsui Yui or spies for Matsui Ichiro among Liu Xing’s group. Therefore, those three villagers would likely avoid approaching Liu Xing and his group just to be safe.

Thinking about this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but sigh. He had thought that with Sirius’s help, their chances of clearing this module would increase, but now, another unexpected problem had arisen.

Wait a minute.

Liu Xing suddenly remembered a discrepancy. He seemed to have forgotten the name of the old man from the Inoue family who had provided them with information. Moreover, why did he remember that the old man was Inoue Haruto’s uncle? Zhang Jingxu also seemed to have forgotten the old man’s name and referred to him as Inoue Haruto’s uncle.

Uncle and uncle-in-law were two different concepts, and Liu Xing couldn’t believe his memory had deteriorated so much in just a few days that he had forgotten the name of an important NPC.

So, Liu Xing furrowed his brow and said, “Wait a minute, I think I’ve noticed something strange. I’ve forgotten the name of the old man from the Inoue family who provided us with information.”

Upon hearing Liu Xing’s words, everyone looked at each other and then shook their heads, saying, “I seem to have forgotten the name of the old man from the Inoue family too.”

“In that case, it seems that one of the magic arrays on the window frame is designed to erase our memories. However, the effectiveness of this magic array seems to be relatively moderate, more like the style of gradually boiling a frog in warm water. So far, we’ve only forgotten some people and events that didn’t have much presence in our memories. But with time, I believe we will forget more and more, because apart from the old man from the Inoue family, I’ve noticed that I’ve forgotten the names of several other people I once knew.”

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and began to recall. Sure enough, he had forgotten some of his middle school classmates’ names, and most importantly, he seemed to have forgotten someone’s name. That someone was the female player he had encountered during his first formal Cthulhu RPG Gamemodule. Now, Liu Xing only remembered that her surname was Wang.

Liu Xing furrowed his brow, trying to recall information about the Wang surname female player, but he came up empty-handed.

Most importantly, Liu Xing was certain that he hadn’t forgotten the name of that female player normally because he still remembered details from that module and the names of other players and NPCs. It was only that the Wang surname female player’s memory had become fuzzy in his mind.

This was not good news.

Liu Xing had initially thought that he had only forgotten some irrelevant information about “Watanabe Ryuusei,” but now it seemed that even “Liu Xing” had memory issues. The power of this magic array was more formidable than he had imagined. It could affect the memories of his other character cards.

However, Liu Xing thought about it and realized it wasn’t a problem. Since Sirius knew that Liu Xing was actually “Liu Xing,” it was understandable that the magic array affected his memories related to “Liu Xing.”

This made Liu Xing conclude that if a person had multiple character cards in the same parallel world, they would essentially be in a situation similar to the game “Twin Souls,” where one person had two independently acting bodies.

Finally, Liu Xing couldn’t help but recall his own memories, and fortunately, he didn’t find any abnormalities. It seemed that this magic array wasn’t as powerful as he had feared.

“Damn it, this magic array that gradually erases memories is quite insidious. Initially, we only lost some insignificant memories, ones that we wouldn’t normally remember. Even if we noticed missing memories when trying to recall them, we would simply assume that we had forgotten them. We wouldn’t suspect any other issues.”

“As time goes on, we will gradually forget more important memories. By then, we’ll be in a hopeless situation. Losing so many memories, we might even forget why we ended up in Fisher’s Village and our own names,” Zhang Jingxu complained.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and suddenly thought of a possibility. “Wait a minute. Is it possible that the people Matsui Yui had enchanted before weren’t actually offered as sacrifices by Matsui Ichiro, but rather had their memories wiped and were left in Fisher’s Village? After all, don’t you think there are too many people in Fisher’s Village now? For an isolated island like this, having seven or eight households is already a lot, but now Fisher’s Village has more than ten households.”

Liu Xing’s idea received agreement from the others.

“That’s right, Liu Xing, your idea is quite plausible. When I first entered Fisher’s Village, I also felt that there was something odd about the population. However, I didn’t have any concrete evidence, so I didn’t mention it to you,” Panda Pig added, admitting his oversight.

Liu Xing nodded but still had some doubts. “If that’s the case, then why does Matsui Ichiro need so many people? These few people wouldn’t be able to provide much in terms of faith, money, or labor. Moreover, a case where an entire family suddenly disappears would definitely attract the attention of the local authorities, wouldn’t it?”

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