Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

What’s most crucial is that Liu Xing now finally understands why the driver and the female tour guide turned into such horrifying creatures. It turns out it’s because they encountered a pig head butcher in the pouring rain.

And most likely, this pig head butcher is somehow connected to the slaughterhouse in Panlong Town.

Thinking about this, Liu Xing immediately inquired, "If that’s the case, has Hu Cang mentioned anything about the possible origin of this pig head butcher? After all, I can comprehend the first four ways Hu Cang died, but when it comes to this pig head butcher, I only know that the driver and the female tour guide encountered it the night before last."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and smiled, saying, "I knew you would ask this, Ryuusei. Hu Cang did provide some information just now about this pig head butcher, or rather, the legend surrounding this pig head butcher. Because if the legend of this pig head butcher is true, then it would mean that this pig head butcher was a notorious serial killer who lived over a century ago, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people."

"During the late Qing Dynasty over a century ago, even though Shudu was relatively peaceful, the common people still led a harsh and impoverished life. It was a struggle just to have enough to eat, let alone meat. So, for many children of that time, their biggest dream was to become a pig butcher, allowing them to have free meat every day."

"And the young pig head butcher of that time was no exception. Back then, he was known as Zhang San, a local from Rongcheng. However, his family was destitute, and he found himself on the streets at the age of ten, orphaned for certain reasons. He eventually ended up with a roaming acrobatics troupe, where he took care of odd jobs and learned acrobatics."

"Members of those roaming acrobatics troupes, aside from their acrobatic skills, often possessed some martial arts skills. After all, it was a turbulent era, and these troupes traveled through mountains and forests, encountering bandits, wild tigers, and wolves. So, in addition to acrobatics, Zhang San also learned various martial arts from the troupe’s members."

"Ten years passed, and the talented Zhang San had become the backbone of his roaming acrobatics troupe. He excelled in both acrobatics and martial arts, unmatched by anyone. This led Zhang San to become somewhat arrogant; he felt that even if he couldn’t become the leader of the roaming acrobatics troupe, he deserved special treatment. Thus, he gathered a few self-proclaimed talented friends and confronted the troupe’s leader with their demands."

"However, naturally, the leader of the roaming acrobatics troupe could not agree to Zhang San’s demands. The troupe’s income was already meager, just enough to sustain the livelihood of its members. Fulfilling Zhang San’s requests would require cutting expenses for other members and even laying off some. The troupe’s leader was unwilling to do that, as he felt responsible for these members he had taken under his wing during these chaotic times."

"Words that don’t find common ground are often excessive. When Zhang San’s demands were not met by the leader of the roaming acrobatics troupe, he left the troupe with great dissatisfaction. He, along with a few like-minded friends, took refuge on a hill near Panlong Town and turned to a life of banditry. Leveraging his already impressive martial skills and a fearless attitude, Zhang San quickly expanded his gang to include two to three dozen members, gaining quite a notorious reputation in the vicinity of Panlong Town."

"As the self-proclaimed ruler of the mountain, Zhang San’s ego began to swell, and he wasn’t content with just robbing passing travelers and merchants. Instead, he started terrorizing nearby villages and towns, looting whatever he fancied. It was during this time that Zhang San remembered his childhood dream of becoming a butcher who could enjoy meat every day. Consequently, he ordered his subordinates to bring any available pigs to their hideout, as he aspired to change his career to that of a real butcher."

"From that day on, Zhang San would occasionally personally slaughter a pig. This made the local populace resentful, for the pigs they had painstakingly raised for several years were forcibly taken away by Zhang San. Consequently, the villagers joined forces and filed a collective complaint with the authorities in Rongcheng, hoping that the local officials would take action against Zhang San."

"As luck would have it, Zhang San had recently robbed a wealthy merchant who had good connections with the local officials in Rongcheng. So, the local officials saw this as an opportunity to deal with Zhang San and dispatched a group of soldiers to annihilate his gang. However, when the soldiers reached Zhang San’s hideout, they discovered that Zhang San had already met his end, and surprisingly, he had been killed by a pig."

"On the previous night, after consuming some alcohol and inspired by the recent acquisition of a plump pig by his subordinates, Zhang San had decided to slaughter the pig while it was still light outside. Armed with a butcher’s knife, he had his intoxicated men hold down the struggling pig. However, the pig, fighting for its life, managed to break free from the inebriated grasp of Zhang San’s henchmen. It let out a loud squeal, and in the frenzy, the butcher’s knife lodged in its neck, aiming to bleed it out."

"Realizing that his life was in danger, the pig fought back vigorously. The intoxicated men failed to restrain the pig, and in a sudden surge of energy, the knife was ejected from the pig’s neck, slicing through Zhang San’s own throat. The cut was deep, severing both the carotid artery and the windpipe, causing Zhang San to bleed profusely and meet his untimely demise."

"As for Zhang San’s subordinates, upon witnessing their leader’s inexplicable death at the hands of a pig, their initial reaction wasn’t to attend to Zhang San’s body. Instead, they began to vie for control of the hideout. Eventually, the new leader of the gang, in a bid to assert his authority, ordered Zhang San’s body to be discarded in the nearby Yamashita mountain. So, when the officials from Rongcheng finally found Zhang San’s remains, they discovered that his body had already been dismembered, possibly due to falling from a height, and his head had been shattered."

"Although they needed to bring Zhang San’s body back for reporting, his head was in such a grotesque state that the leader of the Rongcheng officials came up with a devious idea. Since Zhang San had such an affinity with pigs, they decided to place a pig’s head on him. Zhang San’s head was inserted into a pig’s head, and the two were stitched together before being sent back to Rongcheng. Ultimately, they were carelessly discarded in a mass grave near Rongcheng."

"However, just a few days later, Rongcheng experienced a thunderstorm that lasted for three days and nights, triggering a landslide. Zhang San’s body was swept away by the mudslide, and from that point on, he was lost to history. Yet, in the vicinity of Rongcheng, a legend began to circulate about a pig head butcher who roamed the streets, wielding a pig-slaughtering knife on rainy nights. This pig head butcher was believed to be none other than the deceased Zhang San."

After listening to Zhang Jingxu’s story, Liu Xing raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn’t expected the story of the pig head butcher to be so dramatic. A notorious bandit, known for both human and pig slaughters, ultimately met his end at the hooves of a pig and was even stitched with a pig’s head.

However, this revelation made Liu Xing quite certain that Zhang San must have harbored immense resentment in death. He had been exposed in a mass grave during a thunderstorm, struck by lightning, and then resurrected, thus becoming the pig head butcher.

So, Liu Xing believed that the essence of the pig head butcher was that of a zombie.

Yet, the thought of zombies made Liu Xing somewhat uneasy. According to Chinese folklore, mythical creatures like zombies could vary greatly in strength. At the highest level, there was the legendary Zombie King, but it was worth noting that such a creature wasn’t mentioned in ancient legends. It was likely a modern invention, but due to its well-developed concept and popularization in movies and TV shows, it had become the representative of zombies. In some China-themed Cthulhu RPG modules, the Zombie King had even evolved into a Great Old One.

Based on the related lore, the Zombie King was the progenitor of the vampire zombie, transformed from the body of the ancient divine beast, Chong. Chong was a formidable entity on par with Nuwa and Fuxi, which spoke to the Zombie King’s incredible power. Since the Zombie King lacked a soul, it existed outside the realms of the five elements, transcending the three realms. Common methods were utterly ineffective against it.

Therefore, the descendants of the Zombie King inherited some of its traits. In Cthulhu RPG Game, they were immune to psychic attacks and didn’t experience fear or panic. Some attacks would inflict minimal or even zero damage to them, and they could transform their attackers into new zombies for a certain period after a successful attack.

On the other hand, at the lowest end of the zombie spectrum were creatures like the Qing Dynasty zombies in some comical horror films. They could only move clumsily in the dark and could be harmed with glutinous rice or black dog blood.

However, judging from the legend of the pig head butcher, he couldn’t be a descendant of the Zombie King, nor could he be an ordinary zombie. So, Liu Xing found it challenging to decipher the pig head butcher’s abilities.

At that moment, Ling Ishikawa chimed in, "In that case, this pig head butcher is indeed a zombie from legends. But I doubt he’s the vampire-type Zombie King, considering his head has been swapped."

Hearing Ling Ishikawa mention the "Zombie King," Liu Xing recalled memories from the parallel world of "Watanabe Ryuusei." To his astonishment, in this parallel world, the title "Zombie King" had actually originated from ancient legends, rather than being a modern invention.

This implied that in this parallel world, the Zombie King did indeed exist.

Liu Xing suddenly had a premonition that he would likely encounter the Zombie King in the future.

"Based on the current situation," Zhang Jingxu began, "the pig head butcher was probably just an ordinary zombie transformed by the influence of lightning. However, due to his immense resentment before death and his naturally robust physique, he should be classified as an elite-level zombie. Moreover, judging by his use of a pig-slaughtering knife as a weapon, it’s likely that he has regained some level of consciousness, far beyond those zombies that act solely on instinct."

At that moment, KP Snow Wind spoke up, "Since all the players have a good understanding of the pig head butcher now, a new Side Quest has been triggered: ’Exterminate Evil.’ The mission objective is to kill the pig head butcher, Zhang San, once again. This Side Quest offers a total of 100 ’Truth’ points and a reward of 1000 points, distributed based on each player’s performance. If any player contributes little or nothing, they won’t receive any rewards at all."

This was a typical mission where effort was rewarded, designed to prevent players from slacking off.

However, to be honest, Liu Xing wasn’t very eager to complete this Side Quest. According to its description, it would require him to confront a mythical creature of at least elite-level status. For Liu Xing, who was currently unarmed and had a combat strength of only five, the danger level of this Side Quest was simply too high.

So, Liu Xing decided to speak up, "Considering the circumstances, we should probably avoid any unnecessary contact with the pig head butcher. As long as we don’t venture out in heavy rain, we won’t encounter him."

As Liu Xing finished speaking, Ling Ishikawa stepped forward to voice his thoughts, "Actually, I think it’s necessary for us to deal with that pig head butcher. Just as Ryuusei mentioned, this pig head butcher only acts during heavy rain. So, I suspect it might be summoned by the Great Old One to guard something during the rain. While killing the pig head butcher might not completely resolve the issue of temporal distortion, it could certainly help. Besides, Mr. Zhang Jingxu specializes in dealing with zombies as a Taoist."

Zhang Jingxu raised an eyebrow and said with some resignation, "No, no, Ling Ishikawa, you might have seen too many zombie movies. Not all Taoists can deal with zombies. The Taoist profession has many branches, some specialize in dealing with undead creatures like zombies, others focus on supernatural beings like Hu Li, and there are those like me who deal with various ghosts and spirits. So, expertise varies. If you want me to deal with a high-level zombie like the pig head butcher, I’d have to decline."

"However, I do agree with Ling Ishikawa’s point. It’s highly likely that this pig head butcher is here on behalf of the Great Old One. Since it only operates in heavy rain, there’s something it needs to guard against our discovery. So, we should definitely meet this pig head butcher, but we can’t do it during heavy rain. That would be suicide."

Liu Xing nodded. Since both Ling Ishikawa and Zhang Jingxu wanted to complete this Side Quest, he had no choice but to join them. After all, he didn’t want to go solo.

Therefore, Liu Xing suggested, "In that case, we should find an opportunity to visit the slaughterhouse during the daytime. The slaughterhouse is the most likely place to find the pig head butcher, and according to zombie lore, elite zombies like it have reduced combat effectiveness during the day."

Zhang Jingxu agreed, smiling, "Exactly, great minds think alike. I was thinking the same thing. Plus, elite zombies are often in a dormant state during the daytime. We can take the initiative. Now that Ryuusei and the others have agreed to deal with the pig head butcher, I’ll go discuss our plan with Li Dian and the rest."

Afterward, Zhang Jingxu had a conversation with Li Dian and the others.

A while later, Zhang Jingxu turned back happily and said, "It’s settled. Li Dian and Wan Chongshan are both willing to take on the pig head butcher. If we don’t take action, we won’t escape from this temporal distortion in Panlong Town. Hu Cang also provided us with a lead about the pig head butcher. We can inquire further by talking to Zhong Rensan, the director of Panlong Town Clinic, because Zhong Rensan’s grandfather once witnessed the pig head butcher."

Just then, Xiao Mochen walked into the clinic, looking puzzled as he glanced at Liu Xing and the others. He then nervously spoke to Hu Cang.

Clearly, at this point in time, Xiao Mochen didn’t know Liu Xing and the others, and Liu Xing had observed that this version of Xiao Mochen still had an Adam’s apple.

So, this Xiao Mochen hadn’t been transformed into a woman by Hu Li yet.

Thinking about this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but look at Xiao Mochen with a compassionate gaze. This poor kid had no idea he was about to be forcefully changed...

"Xiao Mochen is here to invite Hu Cang to attend his and Hu Li’s wedding. Hu Cang has agreed this time, and Xiao Mochen has also invited us to join. Zhong Rensan will be there, and we can talk to him in detail," Zhang Jingxu explained.

Liu Xing nodded and said with a smile, "That’s great! But speaking of that, do we have any gifts for the newlyweds? It would be impolite to attend Xiao Mochen and Hu Li’s wedding without bringing a gift."

Zhang Jingxu’s smile gradually faded. As Liu Xing had pointed out, they had initially come to find the Ancient One, so they had only brought some clothing with them. While Li Dian and Wan Chongshan were tourists, Liu Xing believed that as players, they wouldn’t have anything suitable as a gift. Items were likely too valuable for them to give away.

After a few more words exchanged between Xiao Mochen and Hu Cang, Xiao Mochen left. After all, he was the groom, and he had many responsibilities to fulfill on this special day.

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