Chapter 351: The Mysterious Hu Cang
Generally speaking, other than the inspiration judgment initiated by the players themselves, any other inspiration judgment conducted at other times could be directly regarded as a pitfall. This is because most of the time, passing these inspiration judgments would cost you sanity points.
So, Liu Xing estimated that if he passed this inspiration judgment, he would either witness a mythical creature or witness a supernatural phenomenon.
Liu Xing, 49/70, succeeded.
"Lucky."
"Okay, since all players have successfully passed the inspiration judgment, we will now officially trigger the first Side Quest. From now on, all of you will enter story mode," KP Snow Wind said with a cheerful smile.
Liu Xing sighed silently; it seemed that this module was off to a rough start. Or perhaps KP Snow Wind’s "poison milk" had already taken effect?
Just as Liu Xing was silently complaining in his mind, he suddenly felt a strange sensation and couldn’t help but look in the direction of the bridge. Through the dense rain curtains, Liu Xing could still clearly see a gigantic, pitch-black serpent, or perhaps it was a Black Flood Dragon, coiled around the bridge.
Then, a loud thunderclap rang out, and that Black Flood Dragon crushed the bridge, falling into the river.
"Because all of you players witnessed a terrifying scene beyond your imagination, we will now conduct sanity points checks. However, each player’s specific situation varies significantly, so you will each need different sanity points checks. I will contact each player individually for their sanity points checks," KP Snow Wind continued to say with a cheerful smile.
However, Liu Xing was not paying much attention to what KP Snow Wind was saying now because he was stunned by the appearance of the Black Flood Dragon.
In the Cthulhu RPG Game, size generally represented combat power. The larger a mythical creature’s size, the stronger it usually was. After all, size and strength were positively correlated. In the Cthulhu RPG Game, the outcome of size-based combat and strength-based combat greatly influenced the course of battles.
So, looking at the enormous Black Flood Dragon, Liu Xing felt a chill in his heart. He estimated that the Black Flood Dragon’s combat power should be similar to that of an adult Earth-boring Demon Worm, and this Black Flood Dragon wasn’t even afraid of water.
Therefore, Liu Xing believed that if he and his team were to engage in battle with this Black Flood Dragon, they would be completely overwhelmed unless Li Dian or Wan Chongshan’s true form was an incarnation of Nyarlathotep.
Yesterday, in the USB drive Yin En had given him, Liu Xing had seen some interesting information: "A story about Nyarlathotep’s incarnations disguising themselves as players during the module."
After a rough count, Liu Xing had confirmed that there were at least thirty-two character cards belonging to Nyarlathotep’s incarnations. Moreover, each game area had at least five of these character cards, and each of these character cards had appeared at least twice.
Most importantly, these incarnations of Nyarlathotep-controlled character cards were quite friendly to the players and had saved them from near-total party wipes multiple times.
Therefore, Liu Xing was looking forward to encountering the character cards controlled by Nyarlathotep’s incarnations.
Back to the topic at hand.
Although Liu Xing was wary of the Black Flood Dragon’s presence, he didn’t think that his group would engage in direct conflict with it unless they triggered a party wipe plot encounter. And who knows, perhaps this Black Flood Dragon had some fatal weakness?
Liu Xing reassured himself in this way.
At this moment, KP Snow Wind contacted Liu Xing, saying, "Player Liu Xing, because your character card’s situation is very special, you only need to succeed to lose 0 sanity points, or fail and lose 1d3 sanity points, and you will gain the same amount of Cthulhu Mythos knowledge."
Liu Xing nodded; he could accept this sanity points check.
Liu Xing, 34/??, succeeded.
Seeing all those question marks, Liu Xing couldn’t help but feel a headache. If things continued like this, his character card might end up as a pile of question marks.
After completing his sanity points check, Liu Xing immediately turned to observe Ling Ishikawa and the others’ conditions. After all, if he had to undergo a sanity points check, it meant that Ling Ishikawa and the others might enter temporary madness states, considering KP Snow Wind’s unpredictable tactics.
Fortunately, apart from Wan Chongshan appearing somewhat absent-minded, Ling Ishikawa and Zhang Jingxu were only surprised.
"Did you see that? Just now, a black serpent directly crushed the bridge!" Ling Ishikawa stuttered.
Zhang Jingxu shook his head and said with a serious expression, "No, no, that was no ordinary serpent; it was a Dragon, a Chinese legendary Dragon. And, unless I’m mistaken, this Dragon has quite a profound cultivation."
Liu Xing sighed and pointed at the broken bridge. "The main problem now is that this bridge has been destroyed by that Black Flood Dragon, and we can’t return the way we came. We’re stuck here."
Zhang Jingxu shrugged nonchalantly and said with a smile, "That’s not a big problem. You should know that China is known for its infrastructure, even in rural areas like this, there are plenty of roads to choose from. We can still reach our destination through other routes or go back to Rongcheng."
That was true in theory, but the players were well aware that the "old town" they were in had become an isolated island.
At this moment, Wan Chongshan also snapped out of his daze and quickly said something to Zhang Jingxu. Zhang Jingxu, as usual, provided a real-time translation. "Wan Chongshan says he wants to go with us now. After all, that Black Flood Dragon looks terrifying, and he’s afraid of staying alone in the bus, fearing something might happen."
Liu Xing nodded; it made sense. Wan Chongshan being alone now could lead to an accident.
So, Liu Xing and the three others left the bus with their luggage, accompanied by Wan Chongshan.
Returning to Hu Cang’s shop, Liu Xing saw Li Dian talking to Hu Cang with a shocked expression.
There was no need for Zhang Jingxu to translate; Liu Xing understood that Li Dian was inquiring about the Black Flood Dragon. However, judging by Hu Cang’s calm demeanor, Liu Xing doubted that Li Dian would get any useful information out of him.
However, it seemed that Hu Cang might know something.
"Li Dian is currently inquiring about the Black Flood Dragon, but Hu Cang claims there’s no such thing as a dragon here. He insists that the bridge collapsed due to old age. Now, Hu Cang is inviting us into his house," Zhang Jingxu whispered.
So, everyone entered Hu Cang’s house.
Liu Xing then realized that the ground floor of Hu Cang’s house was actually a small clinic, divided like any other clinic into outpatient and infusion areas. However, the medicine cabinet had very few medications, likely due to poor business.
Hu Cang set up a table and gestured for everyone to sit down. He then went to the kitchen on the ground floor to prepare a meal.
"This Hu Cang seems unusual," Liu Xing whispered.
Zhang Jingxu nodded and said, "Yes, it’s quite evident that Hu Cang is suspicious. I just asked Li Dian, and he said that after seeing the Black Flood Dragon, he immediately asked Hu Cang about the situation. However, even though Hu Cang clearly saw the Black Flood Dragon, he’s lying and claims he didn’t see anything. He also said there are no legends about the Black Flood Dragon in Panlong Town."
"Panlong Town?" Liu Xing was surprised because his hometown was also called Panlong Town (the author’s hometown as well).
Most importantly, Liu Xing had learned about the significance of "panlong" from his grandfather. In China, "pan" meant "coiled on the ground," so "panlong" referred to a dragon coiled on the ground or in a twisted posture. However, "pan" was often used to refer to underground creatures like earthworms, carrying a somewhat derogatory connotation. Hence, there was a saying that "panlong" referred to a lower-ranking water dragon beneath the majestic "jiaolong" dragon. Another interpretation was that "panlong" was a type of venomous dragon with a snake-like appearance that would kill upon contact.
In any case, the Black Flood Dragon Liu Xing had seen earlier was most likely a "panlong".
Therefore, Hu Cang’s claim that there were no legends about the Black Flood Dragon in Panlong Town seemed highly unlikely.
So, there was only one truth: Hu Cang was lying!
As Liu Xing was lost in thought, Zhang Jingxu began an animated conversation with Wan Chongshan and Li Dian. Ling Ishikawa, on the other hand, sat bored in his seat, taking out his phone to play games to pass the time.
But as expected, Ling Ishikawa discovered that his phone had "unexpectedly" lost signal.
With a sigh, Ling Ishikawa informed everyone about this anticipated situation.
As everyone checked their phones, Hu Cang returned with a pot of fried rice, saying, "Whenever it rains here, the phone signal goes out. Well, I didn’t prepare much food, so I made some fried rice for you all. I hope you don’t mind."
Due to the language barrier, Liu Xing still felt a bit awkward. He didn’t understand what others were saying, so he kept smiling and waited for Zhang Jingxu to translate for him.
After serving the fried rice, Hu Cang brought out bowls and chopsticks for everyone. Then, he said, "Alright, enjoy your meal. I’ll be heading back to my room."
Clearly, this was the Private Room time that the module provided for players.
So, Liu Xing promptly requested Private Room time from KP Snow Wind.
"OK, now entering Private Room time. I hope all players can make good use of this time to communicate. By the way, you’ve all triggered the first Side Quest - ’Dragon Legend.’ The mission requires you to find out the true situation of the hidden Black Flood Dragon in Panlong Town. Completing this Side Quest will earn you 500 points and 30 ’Truth’ points," KP Snow Wind said with a smile.
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised that this Side Quest was worth 30 ’Truth’ points. It seemed that the difficulty of this Side Quest was not as simple as described in the mission introduction.
"Alright, let’s not waste time. Let’s start summarizing the current situation," Ling Ishikawa clapped his hands and said.
Li Dian looked at Ling Ishikawa with some surprise and said, "Ah, I didn’t realize you’re Chinese. How did you end up with an Island Nation character card?"
Ling Ishikawa sighed helplessly and said, "Both Liu Xing and I are Chinese, but due to a certain module, we’re currently using Island Nation character cards. It’s causing us language barriers even though we’re back in China."
Wan Chongshan patted Ling Ishikawa on the shoulder with a smile and said, "I can understand how you feel. My previous character card was English, and I was assigned to a module with all English players. During Private Room time, I couldn’t communicate with them and felt like an outsider. In the end, those damn English players sold me out."
People tend to be more cooperative with players from their own country in the Cthulhu RPG Game. In situations where sacrifices were necessary, the majority would either "comply" with the minority or "sacrifice" the minority.
Li Dian continued, "Well, back to the point. While Zhang Jingxu and you were retrieving our luggage, I asked Hu Cang about some information regarding this town. Firstly, this town is called Panlong Town, surrounded by a river called Panlong River. It’s connected to the outside world through three bridges. So, unless something unexpected happens, Panlong Town is now effectively an island. The bridge we came from was destroyed by the Black Flood Dragon, and the other small bridge is likely submerged due to rising water levels from heavy rain. As for the last bridge, it’s highly likely to face an accident."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Li Dian’s assessment, as this scenario was a standard plot in the Cthulhu RPG Game.
"Furthermore, according to Hu Cang’s information, I’ve identified some noteworthy locations in Panlong Town—Panlong Elementary School, Panlong Middle School, the pig slaughterhouse, the clinic, the bamboo forest, and the Black Internet Cafe. Since this module doesn’t have a Main quest, these locations are all potential triggers for Side Quests. As for the specific locations, Hu Cang has promised to provide us with a map," Li Dian continued.
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow. Li Dian’s list of locations did indeed have the potential to trigger Side Quests. Places like Panlong Elementary School and Middle School, with high human traffic, were likely to be eventful. Meanwhile, the clinic, pig slaughterhouse, and Black Internet Cafe were prone to accidents. As for the bamboo forest, who knew what mythical creatures might be hiding inside?
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