Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 354: The Destroyed Panlong Town

Although Liu Xing was unaware of what KP Snow Wind referred to as a sudden event, he didn’t opt for caution and decided to venture into the realm of dreams. After all, Liu Xing was feeling mentally exhausted at the moment.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed when Liu Xing suddenly found himself walking by a river. He quickly realized that he was in a dream, and most likely, it was a nightmare.

However, Liu Xing noticed that the river beside him seemed to be the Panlong River because before his eyes, there stood an undamaged bridge.

After walking for a while, Liu Xing reached the bridge. But just as he set foot on it, he found himself uncontrollably running. In the middle of the bridge, "he" leaped over the railing and plunged into the water.

Then, Liu Xing woke up. (The author had been having this dream for four years, usually during the summers.)

Rain was still pouring outside the window, and Liu Xing wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He realized that his back was soaked.

Liu Xing sighed and couldn’t help but mock KP Snow Wind for calling that nightmare a sudden event. Wet clothes on his back were certainly uncomfortable, so Liu Xing got up and changed into fresh attire.

At that moment, Liu Xing suddenly felt the need to use the restroom. He picked up a flashlight from the table and pushed the room door open.

As soon as he stepped out, Liu Xing sensed something was off because the sound of rain in his ears had suddenly vanished. He furrowed his brow and quickly turned back, only to find that everything in the room had changed dramatically. Dust and cobwebs covered the room, chairs and cabinets were overturned, and the wooden bed was broken in the middle. Moonlight was streaming in from the window, and the rain had stopped.

As for Ling Ishikawa, who had been peacefully asleep in the bed just moments ago, she had now vanished without a trace.

"Damn it," Liu Xing couldn’t help but curse.

At this moment, Liu Xing regretted mocking KP Snow Wind earlier. He hadn’t expected that the nightmare was just an appetizer, and the real unexpected event was unfolding now.

Liu Xing felt that he had probably used the wrong method to open this situation. He took a step back, closed the door, and then opened it again... but nothing changed.

Rubbing his chin, Liu Xing realized he couldn’t deceive himself any longer. He needed to investigate what was happening.

With the flashlight in hand, Liu Xing reached the third-floor hallway. It, too, was in a state of disarray, with overturned tables and chairs, paintings on the floor, and scattered miscellaneous items.

Liu Xing furrowed his brow, knelt down to wipe off some dust from the floor, and based on some unverified "knowledge" he had acquired from certain novels, estimated that it would take at least ten years of abandonment to accumulate such thick dust.

"Ryuusei, over here!"

Suddenly, Liu Xing heard someone calling him from behind, startling him. He quickly turned, shining his flashlight in the direction of the voice.

It was Zhang Jingxu.

Liu Xing breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he wasn’t the only player who hadn’t passed the Lucky Judgment. At least now, he had some company.

"Ryuusei, you should move the flashlight away; the light is blinding," Zhang Jingxu said, shielding his eyes from the glare as he spoke.

Liu Xing complied and apologized, "Oh, it’s you, Zhang Jingxu. When you suddenly called out like that, you gave me quite a scare. Don’t you know it’s not good to startle people? It can be deadly."

Zhang Jingxu shrugged and replied, "Of course, I know that. That’s why I chose to call you. It’s the least shocking way. If I had come up and tapped your shoulder, you might have punched me."

Zhang Jingxu’s logic was sound, leaving Liu Xing without a retort.

So, Liu Xing changed the subject, "Zhang Jingxu, do you have any idea what’s going on here? I stepped out for a moment, and it feels like I’ve entered a different world."

Zhang Jingxu nodded seriously and said, "Yes, we have indeed entered another world. It’s very likely a parallel universe. I’m not sure what caused Panlong Town to be destroyed here."

He pointed outside the window of the hallway.

Liu Xing followed his gaze and saw a nearby area turned into ruins, with collapsed houses and crushed vehicles.

Liu Xing gasped as he realized from the damaged vehicles that this parallel version of Panlong Town had most likely been attacked by a massive mythical creature, and that creature was likely the Black Flood Dragon.

But Liu Xing felt a hint of relief. Considering how those vehicles were crushed, he was certain that the Black Flood Dragon had attacked this parallel world’s Panlong Town. If it had struck their building, Liu Xing would have been crushed when he stepped out.

"It seems like this place was attacked by the Black Flood Dragon, leading to the current situation. However, that’s not important now. What matters is how we can leave this parallel world and return to our original one. The longer we stay here, the more trouble we might encounter," Liu Xing said, concerned.

Zhang Jingxu thought for a moment, then shook his head, saying, "Honestly, I don’t know how to return to our previous world. Matters related to time and space manipulation or magic are highly advanced, and I don’t have access to that knowledge yet. But one thing I can say is, we aren’t in immediate danger. We haven’t heard any strange noises."

Liu Xing sighed in resignation, but he wasn’t too concerned. He believed that this module had just begun, and it wouldn’t throw extremely difficult challenges at them right away. Moreover, he and Zhang Jingxu had been inexplicably brought here, indicating that they should be able to return to their original world relatively easily. They couldn’t be trapped here indefinitely.

So, what was the significance of their presence in this place?

In the Cthulhu RPG Game, each scene that players were forced into usually had a purpose. Especially in unique situations like this, there was likely something hidden here.

With these thoughts in mind, Liu Xing contacted KP Snow Wind, saying, "KP, I’d like to attempt an Inspiration Judgment to analyze why Zhang Jingxu and I have ended up here."

KP Snow Wind promptly replied, "Of course, but you’ll need to pass a difficult Inspiration Judgment."

Liu Xing rolled a 47 out of 35, a failure.

Another failure.

Liu Xing furrowed his brow, surprised at his unusually poor luck in this module. He had already failed twice in a row, which was quite a contrast to the incredible luck he had experienced in the previous module.

Could it be that KP Snow Wind’s blessing had somehow caused his luck to take a nosedive?

"Since the difficult Inspiration Judgment failed, Liu Xing, do you believe that you and Zhang Jingxu have come here with a certain mission or purpose?" KP Snow Wind chuckled.

Zhang Jingxu, seeing Liu Xing’s failed Inspiration Judgment, decided to try a different approach, saying, "KP, I’d like to perform an Investigation Judgment now to search for any clues in this hall."

KP Snow Wind thought for a moment and said, "Sure, you can both attempt a difficult Investigation Judgment, but this time it will be a blind one."

After the sound of dice hitting the floor, Zhang Jingxu stepped forward and picked up a calendar from the ground.

It was the type of calendar that was very common in rural areas over a decade ago. The upper half featured an image of a prominent figure, while the lower half contained the calendar for that year. Liu Xing’s ancestral home used to have several of these calendars hanging on the walls.

However, the calendar Zhang Jingxu held appeared to be in pristine condition, probably due to being face-down on the floor. The date on this calendar was the year 2000.

Although Liu Xing couldn’t read Chinese at the moment, he could still understand Arabic numerals. So, he couldn’t help but ask, "Why is this a calendar from over a decade ago? Does that mean Panlong Town in this parallel world was destroyed in 2000?"

Zhang Jingxu pondered and shook his head, saying, "It might not just be Panlong Town. Perhaps this entire parallel world has been destroyed."

"Are you referring to the Millennium Apocalypse, Newton’s prophecy?" Liu Xing asked in amazement.

In his later years, Newton had begun studying theology and had provided detailed explanations of the end of the world in his works "Newton’s Daniels Prophecies" and "Newton’s St. John’s Apocalypse."

In reality, Newton’s prediction had long been proven wrong. However, in the world of Cthulhu RPG Game, anything was possible, and many modules started with various doomsday prophecies.

So, Zhang Jingxu’s speculation that this parallel world might have been destroyed was plausible.

"But judging by the amount of dust here, it seems like a significant amount of time has passed since the year 2000," Liu Xing noted. "Still, we probably won’t find any useful information here now. Should we go downstairs and explore?"

Zhang Jingxu agreed, and the two cautiously descended to the second floor.

As Liu Xing stepped onto the second-floor floorboards, the sound of rain suddenly reached his ears, and everything around him reverted to its previous state.

"Have we returned to the original world?" Liu Xing asked in surprise.

Zhang Jingxu examined the surroundings and nodded, saying, "It seems like it. I paid attention to the second-floor layout when I went upstairs, and it matches what we see now."

Liu Xing breathed a sigh of relief, glad they were back.

"So, should we return to the third floor now? I want to verify a theory: could it be that only the third floor was switched to the parallel world?" Zhang Jingxu suggested, looking at the ceiling.

Liu Xing agreed, and the two of them returned to the third floor.

Fortunately, the third floor had also returned to normal.

Liu Xing and Zhang Jingxu exchanged glances before retreating to their respective rooms to rest. Both of them were concerned that if they took further actions, they might be sent back to the strange parallel world.

However, at that moment, KP Snow Wind chuckled and said, "Congratulations to player Liu Xing and Zhang Jingxu. You’ve triggered the Hidden Side Objectives Mission: ’The Destroyed Panlong Town.’ As long as you uncover the reason behind Panlong Town’s destruction, you can earn 1500 points and receive 50 ’Truth’ points."

50 ’Truth’ points?!

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow. Completing this Side Quest would be like completing half of the Main Quest, and there was a substantial points reward. However, more significant rewards also implied greater difficulty. Thus, Liu Xing speculated that the destruction of Panlong Town probably wasn’t solely due to the Black Flood Dragon.

With limited information gathered so far, Liu Xing decided to temporarily set aside his thoughts and get some rest. After all, accepting this Mission implied that they would have future opportunities to explore the destroyed Panlong Town.

He needed to prepare for what lay ahead.

Liu Xing thought about this and drifted into slumber.

The next morning, Liu Xing was awakened by Ling Ishikawa, who seemed unaware of what had happened the previous night. However, as a faithful follower and possessing the ability to enter alternate dimensions, Liu Xing decided to share everything that had transpired.

Ling Ishikawa furrowed his brow upon hearing the story and said, "What? Lord Liu Xing, you entered another parallel world last night? But based on my sensing ability, I haven’t detected the presence of other Alternate Dimension spaces in this building."

According to Ling Ishikawa, he had been trained to detect the presence of Alternate Dimension spaces accurately. However, regardless of how he tried to sense it now, he couldn’t detect any such spaces in the vicinity.

What was even more surprising to Ling Ishikawa was that his sensing range had expanded to ten meters. Within this ten-meter radius centered on him, there wasn’t a single Alternate Dimension space.

This revelation left Ling Ishikawa quite astonished because before coming to Panlong Town, he had been able to easily sense the presence of one or more Alternate Dimension spaces in his surroundings.

Ling Ishikawa sighed and said, "Lord Liu Xing, this Panlong Town is problematic. Because there are no Alternate Dimension spaces around it, according to the teachings of my master, Serak, this place is an entirely independent space."

"Are you saying we can’t leave Panlong Town now?" Liu Xing asked in shock.

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