Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 345: The Mutation of the Deep One

To be precise, from the gruesome state of Panda Pig’s death, it was evident at a glance that Shoggoth had bound and crushed Panda Pig, simultaneously strangling him to death. Therefore, it remained unclear whether Panda Pig had died due to suffocation or internal organ rupture.

In any case, Panda Pig’s demise was utterly tragic. Nearly every bone in his body had been broken by Shoggoth, and there was an almost palm-wide ligature mark around his neck, causing him to die with his mouth wide open, in eternal terror.

Ling Ishikawa sighed and moved closer, gently closing Panda Pig’s eyelids, making him appear less horrifying and eerie.

However, at that moment, KP Green Light stepped forward once more, addressing everyone, "Alright, players, since you’ve witnessed the gruesome death of your fellow companion, Panda Pig, it’s time for a sanity points check. However, the specifics of the sanity points checks will vary for each player due to your different relationships with Panda Pig and your individual circumstances. I will contact each player separately for their sanity points check."

After a two-second pause in KP Green Light’s voice, he continued, "Player Liu Xing, your relationship with Panda Pig is quite ordinary, a bit better than a stranger’s, and as the leader of the Worshipers of the Yellow Sect, you regard human lives lightly. Therefore, you won’t need a sanity points check this time."

As expected.

Knowing he wouldn’t have to undergo a sanity points check, Liu Xing crouched next to Panda Pig and began searching his pockets, hoping to find any possible clues on Panda Pig’s body... and, of course, it would be even better if he could take possession of the items on Panda Pig.

However, Liu Xing’s search wasn’t without its disturbing discoveries. As soon as he saw what nearly caused him to lose sanity points – a large hole in Panda Pig’s pants, right at the rear end.

This discovery led Liu Xing to involuntarily make a horrifying connection. After all, the moment one thought of Shoggoth, the tentacle monster, Veteran Drivers would immediately associate it with bondage play.

Liu Xing quickly averted his gaze, to prevent himself from losing sanity points.

In the right pocket of Panda Pig’s pants, Liu Xing found Panda Pig’s cellphone.

Fortunately, Panda Pig’s cellphone was not locked.

Liu Xing first opened Panda Pig’s contacts and noticed that Panda Pig had very frequent communication with Dogo Aige, far more than with any other contacts. Especially before entering Fisher’s Village, Panda Pig and Dogo Aige were in contact almost four to five times a day, each call lasting around ten minutes.

This piqued Liu Xing’s curiosity. In theory, Panda Pig and Dogo Aige were merely colleagues, at most good friends. Such frequent communication was indeed quite unusual.

At that moment, Alice approached with a smile and asked, "Ryuusei, what are you doing?"

Liu Xing, observing Alice’s composed demeanor, understood that she probably hadn’t lost a single point of sanity during the recent check. After all, Ling Ishikawa and the others were still in a mentally distraught state.

But this was to be expected. Alice had never been close to Panda Pig, and as an undercover agent for the Deep Sea Gospel Society, she was likely accustomed to various gruesome corpses.

"I’m thinking that there must have been a special reason for Panda Pig to leave the villa alone in the middle of the night. Knowing Panda Pig’s personality as I do, he wouldn’t take such a risk without good reason. So, I want to check if there might be any useful clues on Panda Pig’s body now," Liu Xing explained.

Alice nodded and looked at the phone in Liu Xing’s hand. She said, "That’s Panda Pig’s phone, isn’t it? Ryuusei, have you found any information inside? Keep in mind that even if someone intentionally deletes or hides their private information, various contents within the phone’s applications can still reveal a lot of personal details."

Liu Xing, looking somewhat puzzled, thought Alice’s theory sounded impressive but didn’t quite understand it.

At this point, Zhang Jingxu and the others gradually began to regain their composure. It seemed that no one had fallen into temporary madness.

Ling Ishikawa, who was close to Panda Pig’s body, noticed the hole in Panda Pig’s pants and couldn’t help but change his expression. He exclaimed, "Oh my, Panda Pig endured such inhumane torture before his death. It seems that if I can’t escape Shoggoth’s pursuit, I must take matters into my own hands. I know myself well."

Hearing Ling Ishikawa’s words, Zhang Jingxu and the others also noticed the large hole in Panda Pig’s pants and simultaneously said to Ling Ishikawa, "Remember to do the same for me."

Dignity above all else.

"Alright, let’s not dwell on those details," Liu Xing interrupted. "The real issue is why Panda Pig suddenly left his room in the middle of the night. Currently, I’ve found something strange on Panda Pig’s phone – his close and abnormal connection with Dogo Aige. So, I suspect that Dogo Aige and Panda Pig may have a secret relationship."

While Liu Xing spoke, he entered the SMS interface and, as expected, saw that Panda Pig and Dogo Aige had exchanged over two hundred text messages.

"Could they be in a romantic relationship? That seems unlikely, it’s too extreme..." Miyako Goudong couldn’t help but comment.

Liu Xing, after a cursory glance at the first few dozen messages, shook his head and said, "No, no, no. Panda Pig and Dogo Aige are not in a romantic relationship. Instead, Dogo Aige has some crucial leverage over Panda Pig. Dogo Aige has been continuously blackmailing Panda Pig, demanding amounts like ten to twenty thousand today and forty to fifty thousand tomorrow."

"Wow, Dogo Aige is that ruthless? But come to think of it, what kind of leverage could Panda Pig have left in Dogo Aige’s hands that would drive him to such extremes?" Ling Ishikawa exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Xing continued to look at the messages while explaining, "Based on the current situation, it seems that Panda Pig used his position to install hidden cameras in the women’s changing room to spy on them while changing clothes. He even sold these videos through certain channels. Dogo Aige found out about it once, and ever since, he has been blackmailing Panda Pig. Just before heading to Fisher’s Village, Dogo Aige requested five hundred thousand Island Nation currency from Panda Pig as ’hush money.’"

"Five hundred thousand Island Nation currency? That’s incredibly steep," Ling Ishikawa commented, furrowing his brow.

Considering the average wage in the Island Nation, five hundred thousand Island Nation currency was equivalent to about one and a half months’ salary for an ordinary worker.

Lu Tianya shook his head with a hint of disdain and said, "That’s not even that high. Think about it, this guy Panda Pig installed hidden cameras in the women’s changing room and sold those videos online. The nature of his actions is truly despicable. And without a doubt, Panda Pig must have made a considerable profit from it, given the demand for such content online these days. So, I believe Panda Pig’s demise was well-deserved."

Lu Tianya had a point...

Liu Xing sighed and said helplessly, "Although Panda Pig was a voyeuristic pervert, it doesn’t justify his death. Moreover, with Panda Pig’s death and the blatant display of his body, it’s clear that Matsui Ichiro and his group are officially declaring war on us. They will undoubtedly continue to come after us."

The crowd fell into silence, just as Liu Xing had described. With Panda Pig’s tragic death here, the next victim might very well be one of them.

Liu Xing exited the text message interface. The reason for the frequent contact between Dogo Aige and Panda Pig had been uncovered. Their text messages followed a similar pattern: Dogo Aige initially demanded money from Panda Pig, who would claim not to have any, and then Dogo Aige threatened to expose Panda Pig, ultimately forcing Panda Pig to comply.

Therefore, Liu Xing didn’t see the need to read the remaining messages.

However, as Liu Xing was about to exit the message screen, he suddenly noticed that Panda Pig had exchanged text messages with Matsui Yui, and there were quite a few of them.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, and a bold idea crossed his mind.

Immediately, Liu Xing tapped into the messages.

As expected.

Liu Xing chuckled and said, "I see now. That’s why Panda Pig left the villa alone tonight. It turns out that Panda Pig was having an affair with Matsui Yui."

The others were taken aback, staring at Liu Xing in astonishment.

Liu Xing handed the phone to Ling Ishikawa, who was closest to him, and continued, "Take a look for yourselves. After Dogo Aige met Matsui Yui, he repeatedly invited Panda Pig to join them. Of course, Dogo Aige’s intention was probably to use Panda Pig as a scapegoat. However, Matsui Yui seemed to have taken a liking to Panda Pig and made secret advances. They had agreed to meet tonight, and Panda Pig probably thought Matsui Yui wouldn’t harm him. Unfortunately, Matsui Yui ruthlessly killed him."

"The entertainment industry is truly chaotic," Zhang Jingxu shook his head, commenting.

Miyako Goudong handed the phone to Zhang Jingxu and said with a smile, "From this perspective, Panda Pig might not have come out of this too badly. Despite being blackmailed by Dogo Aige, he managed to win over Matsui Yui. Unfortunately, he lost his life in the end."

"Now that this matter is resolved, the question remains: what should we do next? Once the arrow is loosed, there’s no turning back. Since Matsui Ichiro and his group have declared open hostility, they won’t stop," Zhang Jingxu said solemnly.

Liu Xing nodded, about to speak when he heard footsteps approaching from a distance. Thankfully, he didn’t hear the sound of Shoggoth moving, and there was only one set of footsteps.

The group exchanged glances and instinctively hid in the nearby bushes. Although the bushes were low, they could barely conceal everyone.

After a while, Liu Xing saw a swaying villager approach Panda Pig’s body and then drag it away.

Once the villager had gone far enough, Liu Xing spoke up, "Well, this is quite unexpected. Matsui Yui’s group did arrange for someone to handle Panda Pig’s body."

However, Liu Xing couldn’t help but feel regretful. He hadn’t had the chance to thoroughly search Panda Pig’s body for items.

But then, Liu Xing had another idea. Panda Pig’s room likely held some items that weren’t convenient to carry around, so he could visit Panda Pig’s room later with a plausible excuse.

At that moment, Ling Ishikawa, who had the phone last, suddenly said, "Wait, everyone, take a look at this picture!"

Liu Xing turned to see Ling Ishikawa passing the phone to him.

Liu Xing accepted the phone, and the picture on it showed a room with feminine décor, most likely belonging to a woman—presumably Matsui Yui’s room. In this picture, there was a decoration hanging on the wall, either a painting or a photograph, depicting a Deep One and a human woman embracing each other affectionately.

The most important thing was that Liu Xing found the appearance of the Deep One in the picture quite strange. It looked markedly different from the typical Deep Ones—a solid app90!

Yes, this was an app90 Deep One, exceptionally handsome, with facial features closely resembling a human and colorful scales covering its entire body.

Wait, colorful scales?

Liu Xing recalled that Inoue Kenjiro had mentioned seeing some colorful scales in the underground passage. This meant that the Deep One controlling Shoggoth in Fisher’s Village, the one in the picture, was likely the same.

Furthermore, it was highly probable that the human woman embracing the Deep One in the photo was Matsui Yui’s mother, Inoue Kenjiro’s wife.

This meant that Inoue Kenjiro had been betrayed by a Deep One...

This plot was getting quite complex. Liu Xing suspected that the author who had created this module had quite a story to tell.

If Matsui Yui turned out to be a Deep One hybrid, it would explain many things. If Matsui Yui was indeed a Deep One hybrid, it was highly likely that he was the one controlling Shoggoth in Fisher’s Village.

With this revelation, many things could be explained.

"It’s a mutated Deep One, right? Just by looking at its face, you could say it’s an actor," Miyako Goudong commented.

Zhang Jingxu nodded and said seriously, "Indeed, Deep Ones are typically depicted with fish-like heads. It’s unexpected to see a Deep One with such a human-like face, and its scales have mutated into colorful patterns. But if that’s the case, this Deep One should be one of the Deep Ones mentioned by Inoue Kenjiro, and it deceived and betrayed him."

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