Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 320: Journey to the Ancestral Hall (1)

In Liu Xing’s eyes, the purpose of KP Green Light’s secret infiltration into the KP Green Light was undoubtedly to set up some arrangements against the players, such as the number of villagers lurking near Fisher’s Village Ancestral Hall, the types and quantities of items placed in plain sight within the Ancestral Hall, and Matsui Ichiro’s upcoming behavior patterns.

Therefore, Liu Xing could be certain that this trip to the Ancestral Hall was the pivotal turning point for this module. The main challenge for the players now was Matsui Yui’s skyrocketing tension.

Liu Xing was sure that this trip to the Ancestral Hall would most likely trigger Matsui Yui’s tension. Currently, Matsui Yui’s tension had reached a critical point, or it could be said that it was like a tightly drawn bowstring. All it needed was a slight disturbance, and the "arrow" would be shot towards one of the players.

Thinking about the concept of "Matsui Yui’s tension," Liu Xing felt a headache coming on. This concept was a near-death setting. Once "Matsui Yui’s tension" reached its maximum value, one of the players would undoubtedly meet their demise. There was almost no chance of survival, except for killing Matsui Ichiro and Matsui Yui before that happened.

Liu Xing’s eyes lit up as if a new world had opened before him, and he had a bold idea in mind.

Without hesitation, Liu Xing immediately contacted KP Green Light and asked, "KP, do you think the Nether Wedding can be considered a wedding? Can it count as completing the Main quest?"

After a few seconds of silence, KP Green Light responded with surprise, "What? Liu Xing, why would you suddenly think of this? According to various wedding customs in this parallel world, the Nether Wedding does indeed exist and is recognized in certain regions. Therefore, I believe the Nether Wedding can be considered a wedding and count as completing the Main quest... Are you planning to kill Matsui Yui?"

A faint smile curved on Liu Xing’s lips as he tacitly agreed with KP Green Light’s statement.

Indeed, Liu Xing’s bold idea was that if the Nether Wedding could also be considered a wedding, it would be better to seize the opportunity to kill Matsui Ichiro and Matsui Yui. Although Matsui Ichiro might possess some magical abilities, he was just an ordinary person when facing an attack. As for Matsui Yui, she was even less of a threat.

The reason for killing Matsui Yui for the Nether Wedding instead of forcing her to marry Dogo Aige was because Liu Xing believed in taking all necessary measures. If Matsui Yui continued to assist Matsui Ichiro in his evil deeds, she couldn’t be considered a good person. Liu Xing had no sympathy for the idea that "Matsui Yui was just brainwashed and forced to assist in evil deeds, so she is just a victim who took the wrong path."

Of course, Liu Xing’s primary concern for killing Matsui Yui was to prevent any potential trouble. If Matsui Yui refused to participate in the wedding or, worse, reported to the police after Liu Xing and the others left Fisher’s Village, they would be labeled as "fugitives from a murder case." In future module interludes, they would have to deal with "evading police pursuit."

To be on the safe side, after killing Matsui Yui, Liu Xing planned to find a reason for Dogo Aige and Matsui Yui to hold a Nether Wedding, effectively completing the Main quest of this module.

However, Liu Xing had some reservations about this bold idea. The biggest variable in his plan was the other intelligent NPCs in the module.

The villagers in Fisher’s Village were still under Matsui Ichiro’s control, so they could be set aside for now. The remaining NPCs were Alice, Inoue Haruto, and the Inoue family elder, whose name Liu Xing had already forgotten.

The Inoue family elder could be disregarded, as despite regaining some memories, he had deteriorated to the point of resembling someone with dementia. Therefore, Liu Xing could easily ignore him.

Alice, on the other hand, was causing some inner conflict. If Alice sided with Matsui Yui, Liu Xing could kill her without hesitation. However, if Alice, like the players, was a victim deceived into coming to Fisher’s Village by Matsui Yui, Liu Xing found it difficult to go through with it.

Although for "Watanabe Ryuusei," Alice was already an enemy as a member of the Deep Sea Gospel Society, Liu Xing still hesitated because he hadn’t had a direct conflict with her in reality.

Moreover, the most significant reason was that Liu Xing was starting to hesitate when it came to killing "people."

Though this was just a Cthulhu RPG Game, it felt incredibly real. Liu Xing even began to doubt if he and the other players were playing in another parallel world.

As a result, despite his prior mental preparation, Liu Xing warned himself that as the game progressed, he would eventually find himself opposed to human NPCs while dealing with mythical creatures. To survive in such situations, he would have to eliminate these human NPCs.

So, during Professor Yang’s module, Liu Xing had contemplated, for the first time, taking action against Professor Yang if necessary.

Now, Liu Xing believed that he could kill Matsui Ichiro and Matsui Yui without any psychological burden because they were villains and opposed him. To secure his own survival, Liu Xing could go through with it.

However, when it came to Alice, who might be innocent but still an "enemy," Liu Xing hesitated. After all, in reality, he was just an ordinary person who couldn’t even harm a chicken.

With these thoughts in mind, Liu Xing felt a headache coming on. This Cthulhu RPG Game was indeed too realistic, making it impossible for him to fully treat it as a game.

So, for now, Liu Xing had to shelve his bold idea. He was still too hesitant at the moment. He would have to seek advice from Ling Ishikawa and others during their Private Room time in the evening.

At this moment, Liu Xing and the others had already followed Matsui Ichiro to the central area of Fisher’s Village Ancestral Hall.

The weather was decent today, so the lighting inside the Ancestral Hall was adequate. However, Liu Xing could still sense an inexplicable chill in the air.

And, just like Inoue Kenjiro’s letter had mentioned, Fisher’s Village’s Ancestral Hall indeed housed a plethora of deity statues, and the style of these deity statues... was incredibly Cthulhu-esque.

Liu Xing surveyed the Ancestral Hall, noticing that there were over thirty deity statues inside. Most of them were relatively small, about thirty centimeters in size, resembling the typical statues of wealth deities found in many households. However, their style was undeniably eerie, featuring humanoid figures with fish heads and various tentacles.

Among the mentioned fish heads, Liu Xing could identify shark heads, octopus heads, crab heads, and similar variations.

But what was most important were the twelve relatively large and intricately crafted deity statues among them. These statues appeared to be the true focus of the Ocean True Deity Sect, representing the so-called Twelve True Gods.

At this moment, Alice suddenly remarked to Matsui Ichiro, "Mr. Matsui Ichiro, you have quite a variety of deities in your village, and the style of these sculptures is rather avant-garde."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised that Alice was the first to ask, and it seemed that Alice’s tone was somewhat unfriendly. Given Alice’s relationship with Matsui Yui, she should address Matsui Ichiro as "Uncle Matsui."

This was intriguing. If Alice and Matsui Ichiro were not acting, it could prove that Alice’s role in this module was that of an innocent bystander, which had now turned into a Taoist of sorts.

It was worth noting that disputes among secret cults were common, as secret cults typically had a focus on "self-supremacy" and viewed other secret cults as heretics, even if they worshiped the same deity.

So, it seemed that Alice needed to speak up for her secret cult.

As for Liu Xing and the others, they focused their attention on Matsui Ichiro and Alice, prepared to witness the unfolding drama. After all, it wasn’t their concern, so they maintained a bystander’s attitude.

Matsui Ichiro chuckled and pointed at the statues, saying, "Regarding these sculptures, they were brought back by some villagers who went out in the past. They said these were crafts from Ryukyu and found them very interesting. They are believed to have warding-off-evil effects, so the former Village Chief decided to place these deity statues in the Ancestral Hall."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised by Matsui Ichiro’s explanation of the presence of these deity statues.

Could it be that Matsui Ichiro was not a member of the Ocean True Deity Sect?

After all, for believers of secret cults, deity statues were considered sacred objects. Believers wouldn’t casually discuss these statues or refer to them as crafts from elsewhere.

However, based on the two letters written by Inoue Kenjiro, it was clear that Matsui Ichiro was spreading his faith in Fisher’s Village and using Hypnotic Incense on the villagers. These facts indicated that Matsui Ichiro should be a secret cult believer and likely a member of the Ocean True Deity Sect.

After all, if Matsui Ichiro belonged to another secret cult, he would not willingly allow deity statues from the Ocean True Deity Sect to be displayed in his presence; this was a matter of principle.

Therefore, Liu Xing was increasingly puzzled about who Matsui Ichiro really was.

Suddenly, Liu Xing recalled a childhood memory when he had visited his grandparents’ hometown. His grandfather had mentioned a swindler who had come to a neighboring town, disguised as a wandering Taoist, and had scammed many people of their belongings. This swindler had also gathered a group of followers and planned to establish a Taoist temple on the spot.

Fortunately, during that time, a real Taoist had come to visit a friend in the neighboring town and had noticed something was amiss. After some confrontation, the swindler had been exposed and fled the town in embarrassment. (This was an actual event the author had experienced, and he even went to see the so-called "Taoist" and his fraudulent practices.)

Therefore, Liu Xing had a suspicion that Matsui Ichiro might be a swindler who had stumbled upon Fisher’s Village by chance. Seeing that Fisher’s Village had been isolated for many years and its residents were simple, Matsui Ichiro might have had ill intentions, wanting to take control of the village.

Matsui Ichiro had likely chosen to use the guise of a religious leader to make the villagers his followers.

So, Matsui Ichiro had presented the deity statues he had acquired through certain means, combined with some mythological stories he had heard, to create a new secret cult. However, to maintain credibility, Matsui Ichiro dared not call himself the cult’s leader and instead referred to himself as a missionary, as the idea of a solitary cult leader lacked conviction.

But what had frustrated Matsui Ichiro was encountering someone like Inoue Kenjiro, who saw through his plans and prompted Matsui Ichiro to use the Hypnotic Incense he possessed.

Although Hypnotic Incense was beyond the reach of ordinary people, in the world of the Cthulhu RPG Game modules, anything was possible. Liu Xing had once read a forum post in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, where a powerful wizard with an impressive background turned out to be a destitute beggar. He had merely stumbled upon a magical book by chance, and the spells within the book were all superficial, causing minimal harm.

However, at first, both the player and their team were unaware of this, so they proceeded with extreme caution, fearing to provoke the wizard and risk being killed by his spells. They were also wary of the powerful forces behind him.

In the end, the desperate players, after several crucial judgments had failed, had to face a life-and-death battle with the wizard. Liu Xing found himself smiling at the memory of this post.

In the end, these players, who had become somewhat desperate, had exhausted all their brainpower and devised a nearly perfect plan to confront the wizard. They had successfully defeated the wizard.

Those players who had learned the truth were left with mixed emotions. They posted on the forum to vent their frustrations and advised other players not to be overly cautious and not to overcomplicate matters, especially when dealing with human enemies who had too many set parameters.

With these thoughts, Liu Xing began to doubt whether Matsui Ichiro was just a paper tiger, relying on luck more than anything else.

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