Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 328: Return Once Again

Liu Xing gazed at the black wooden door before him. Carefully approaching, he pushed the door with his hand, only to discover that it was slightly ajar and easily gave way to his push.

However, at this moment, Liu Xing suddenly felt discomfort in the palm of his hand. Hastily lifting it for inspection, he found a layer of black, unknown liquid covering it.

No wonder the wooden door was black.

Now was not the time for complaints. Although the black substance on Liu Xing’s palm felt slippery and uncomfortable, he couldn’t guarantee there were no other side effects. To avoid contaminating his other hand, Liu Xing decided against using tissue and instead nonchalantly used his hand to touch the surrounding walls.

Soon, the black liquid on Liu Xing’s hand disappeared, but this didn’t bring relief. Liu Xing noticed that the black color wasn’t just on the surface but had permeated into the skin of his palm like a tattoo.

Frowning, Liu Xing thought this was far from good news.

However, apart from some psychological discomfort, Liu Xing didn’t feel any substantial impact from the black substance. Trying to divert his attention, he convinced himself not to focus on his hand and cautiously entered the space behind the black wooden door.

Behind the door was a hive-like space, divided by thick wooden boards near the walls, creating separate areas where various furniture and many skeletons were placed.

It seemed to be the residence of the common people in the Ancient Tribe.

After taking a few steps forward, Liu Xing spotted a huge pit with no visible bottom.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, quickly speculating that this bottomless pit was likely the passage Shoggoths, previously confined, had dug to escape.

The recent letter from Ancient One Alexander mentioned the area where the Shoggoths were confined, using specialized power devices to prevent them from causing trouble in case of a power outage at the fort. Even after Ancient OneFort fell to the attacks of Star Kin and Deep One, the confinement devices continued to operate until the spare energy was depleted, allowing the Shoggoths to escape.

Looking at the location of the pit, Liu Xing thought the Shoggoths were quite clever. The pit curved away from any place where Ancient Ones might appear.

It seemed the Shoggoths were concerned about being discovered by the Ancient Ones, or perhaps the Shoggoths of that era were wary of the Ancient Ones’ combat capabilities.

Therefore, Liu Xing thought he could use this to his advantage in dealing with the Shoggoths.

Rubbing his chin in thought, Liu Xing had some plans in mind. Despite the average intelligence of Shoggoths being around 45, elite Shoggoths should have an intelligence level of over 60, making communication possible. Considering their ability to learn and imitate, Liu Xing was confident that the Shoggoths in Fisher’s Village had evolved human-like vocal organs.

Therefore, Liu Xing felt it necessary to find an opportunity to talk to the Shoggoths.

Apart from this, Liu Xing also noticed a lot of the black unknown liquid at the edge of the pit, indicating it was probably coming from the Shoggoths.

After some thought, and since the rule book didn’t mention the toxicity or other mysterious effects of the liquid on Shoggoths, Liu Xing no longer worried about his hand and treated it as just another tattoo.

Avoiding the pit, Liu Xing took a few more steps and saw a massive three-story building. Judging by the materials, it seemed to be made of a hard and extremely durable wood. As of now, there were no signs of damage to the building.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, estimating that this three-story building was likely the chief’s residence of the Ancient Tribe.

With a mindset to take advantage, Liu Xing entered the building.

Though the floor creaked underfoot, Liu Xing was sure the building wouldn’t collapse. He explored the three-story building confidently.

On the first floor, Liu Xing found nothing useful except for some items that might be considered antiques.

Besides, on the first-floor walls, Liu Xing saw many processed biological skulls. Most were unrecognizable, but a small portion resembled creatures Liu Xing vaguely remembered from some educational documentaries in his childhood.

It seemed that the time Ancient Tribe spent on Earth was not as ancient as Liu Xing had imagined.

Finding nothing on the first floor, Liu Xing directly ascended to the second floor, which turned out to be a bedroom without any partitions. In the center of the second floor, Liu Xing saw a huge bed-like piece of furniture covering an area of about twenty square meters.

Considering the size of the skeletons outside, each about two meters tall with three heads and six arms, Liu Xing assumed the chief of the Ancient Tribe must have liked the idea of sleeping in a large bed.

Naturally, Liu Xing found nothing on the second floor.

Liu Xing proceeded to the third floor, discovering it to be a storage room filled with various items in disarray.

However, Liu Xing could easily discern that most of the items on the third floor were rusted and damaged. There was also a considerable amount of dust on the floor, indicating that many things had weathered away.

As for the peculiar armors and weapons not suitable for human use, Liu Xing disregarded them.

However, after searching the third floor, Liu Xing found nothing useful or that could be classified as items, leaving him feeling somewhat frustrated.

In the end, logically speaking, in this module, an ordinary player should be able to obtain some information about the Underground Ruins from Sirius. Then, all players would directly proceed to explore the underground. Therefore, most of the obtainable items in this module should appear in the Underground Ruins.

So, disregarding the three items Liu Xing previously obtained in Sirius’s storage room, there should be additional items in these Underground Ruins. Moreover, considering the vastness of this scene, aside from the hint about mythical creatures appearing here, there should be some diggable information and items.

Therefore, Liu Xing felt like he might have missed something.

However, Liu Xing didn’t forget that time was of the essence, and he couldn’t linger here. So, he decided to thoroughly check the items on the third floor again and then leave this place, no matter what.

This time, Liu Xing finally made a discovery.

Beneath one of the protective gears that Liu Xing intentionally ignored, he found a colorful "stone."

It turned out to be a luminous multicolored crystal (repairable), originally a magical crystal with miraculous effects. However, due to certain reasons, it lost its radiance and, consequently, its intended functionality.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, unexpectedly finding the legendary luminous multicolored crystal.

On the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall forum, many threads mentioned this crystal, calling it the most magical item in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. No one could determine its effects because it could be described in two words – a lottery.

After using the luminous multicolored crystal, players would encounter a stroke of good luck within a short time. It could be finding a substantial amount of money, acquiring a magic book, or even directly becoming the chief of an African tribe – though that might not be considered good luck.

In summary, players using the luminous multicolored crystal were bound to receive some benefits, but the range of these benefits varied greatly.

Most importantly, this luminous multicolored crystal could appear in any area module. However, in the Ghoul area, Shoggoth Region, and Hound of Tindalos area, players could only obtain the "luminous multicolored crystal (lost)." But in the Hound of Tindalos area and beyond, there was a chance to get the "luminous multicolored crystal," which could then be synthesized into a complete "luminous multicolored crystal."

So, Liu Xing considered this as obtaining a "key." As long as he found the "treasure chest," he could claim his reward.

Liu Xing put the "luminous multicolored crystal (lost)" in his pocket and then retraced his steps because the effect of the Wall-Passing Technique on him had only eight minutes left.

Just as Liu Xing was about to return to the villa, he suddenly heard a "rustling" sound above his head. This made Liu Xing break out in a cold sweat, as he knew that this sound could likely be from a Shoggoth.

However, amid the panic, Liu Xing realized that he was directly beneath a villa where Fisher’s Village residents lived.

This meant that the residents of Fisher’s Village might actually be disguised Shoggoths.

To avoid making noise and to assess the situation on his head, Liu Xing stood still, not daring to breathe, listening intently to the situation above.

The "rustling" sound continued for a while, and then Liu Xing heard footsteps going upstairs. The "rustling" sound disappeared.

It seemed that this Shoggoth had transformed into a human shape to go upstairs, as going upstairs in its original form would be quite troublesome.

At this moment, Liu Xing had only two minutes left for the Wall-Passing Technique effect on him.

Hastily, Liu Xing moved forward, almost running, if not for the concern about making too much noise.

Fortunately, in the last half-minute, Liu Xing finally returned to the villa.

However, due to being too hasty, Liu Xing slipped during the first jump and hit the nearby earthen wall. Luckily, this earthen wall was not recognized as a "wall," or Liu Xing would have been clueless about where to run.

So, the first thing Liu Xing did upon returning to the villa was to touch his head. Thankfully, it was just a bump.

"Ryuusei, you really narrowly made it! If it had taken half a minute longer, we would have had to dig a hole to rescue you. But looking at you now, Ryuusei, you must have gained a lot," Zhang Jingxu said with a smile.

Liu Xing nodded and summarized the situation of his second trip to the Underground Ruins. Of course, there were certain things that Liu Xing definitely wouldn’t reveal, such as him becoming an Ancient One martial official and the "luminous multicolored crystal (lost)."

"Oh, so the mythical creature that almost scared me to death is called a Shoggoth, and it’s a slave of the Ancient One. In that case, Ryuusei, as long as you contact Sirius, the Ancient One, you should be able to deal with those Shoggoths," Panda Pig said with a smile.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Of course, although everyone said that, they understood that the current Ancient One Sirius probably couldn’t handle those Shoggoths, and there was even a possibility that he might offer outdated and erroneous suggestions.

So, Ling Ishikawa reminded, "The king’s words are like the king’s deeds. Now Sirius is just a soul. I think the Shoggoths probably won’t obey Sirius’s orders, so Ryuusei, you better inquire about the weaknesses of Shoggoths."

Liu Xing nodded.

As for the three items Liu Xing obtained from Sirius’s storage room, although players could guess their actual effects by knowing the information about these items, the character cards couldn’t do that. So, they had to make speculative guesses about these items.

Since the Rubik’s Cube didn’t have much useful information, it was directly ignored by everyone. The item-blocking device, on the other hand, was "guessed" by everyone.

Of course, the focus was on the Shoggoth suppression device.

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