Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 350: Language Barrier

At this moment, a female voice spoke up, "Hello, everyone. I am the KP (Key Person) for this module, named Snow Wind. I hope all the players can successfully complete this advancement module."

Wait, Snow Wind?!

Liu Xing was surprised. He didn’t expect the KP for this module to have such an auspicious name. Moreover, she immediately wished him success in completing the module. It seemed that unless something unexpected happened, his chances of advancing in this module were looking bleak.

"Um, I know some players might misunderstand my name, so I hope you won’t be too superstitious. This Snow Wind is not the same as the one you might be thinking of. I won’t bring you good luck," KP Snow Wind said somewhat helplessly.

After a few seconds, KP Snow Wind continued, "Well, let’s get back to business. This module is actually a special one. In simple terms, it doesn’t have a true main quest but is composed of multiple side quests. So, when a player completes a certain side quest, they will earn ’Truth’ points. When a player accumulates 100 ’Truth’ points, they can pass this module and earn 1500 points. Of course, completing side quests will also reward you with points."

"As for the Private Room time that all players are concerned about, it’s limited in this module. Each player has only two opportunities to initiate Private Room time, and each session can last for ten minutes. During Private Room time, your conversations won’t be heard by NPCs or mythical creatures. Otherwise, there will be penalties. Please pay attention to these details."

"By the way, since this module is set near Rongcheng in China, all players should be aware of the local security situation in China. As a result, some of your personal items have been automatically removed. You can check your items when you return to the real world. Now, please prepare yourselves, as we are about to officially begin the game."

As KP Snow Wind finished speaking, Liu Xing suddenly realized he was sitting inside a bus. Ling Ishikawa was sitting next to him, and outside the bus window, there was pouring rain, making it impossible for Liu Xing to see the surroundings clearly.

Looking around, Liu Xing noticed that he and Ling Ishikawa were at the back of the bus, with Zhang Jingxu sitting in front of them. In the middle and near the front of the bus, there were two other tourists. Next to the driver’s seat stood the driver and a female tour guide.

According to "WatanabeRyuusei’s" memory, since none of them had driver’s licenses, and there were no fixed buses to the remote mountain area where the Ancient One was located, "Zhang Jingxu" had suggested taking a tour bus to their destination. Due to the off-season, there were only two other tourists on the bus besides themselves.

Twenty minutes earlier, around 9 o’clock in the evening, the bus was traveling normally on the highway when suddenly a heavy rainstorm began. It caused a landslide ahead, completely blocking the highway. To ensure safety, the driver immediately found an exit and, after crossing a bridge, arrived at their current location.

At this point, the female tour guide spoke, "Dear tourists, as there are only two umbrellas on the bus, the driver and I will go seek help from the locals and arrange accommodations and meals for you tonight. Therefore, please stay on the bus temporarily to avoid any accidents."

After saying that, the female tour guide and the driver left the bus with their umbrellas.

It appeared that the remaining two tourists were also players.

"Mr. Zhang Jingxu, I told you not to rush. We could have left tomorrow morning and avoided all this," Ling Ishikawa said with a smile to Zhang Jingxu.

Originally, "WatanabeRyuusei" and "Ling Ishikawa" had planned to depart the following morning. However, "Zhang Jingxu" insisted on visiting the Ancient One as soon as possible. The Ancient One’s whereabouts were unpredictable, and a delay of just one or two hours could have made them miss the opportunity to meet him. Thus, "Zhang Jingxu" had forcefully persuaded "WatanabeRyuusei" and "Ling Ishikawa" to board this bus.

Zhang Jingxu helplessly shook his head and replied, "What can I do? I’m just as desperate right now. Who would have expected such a sudden downpour and a landslide? But this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Ryuusei’s insistence on visiting that Ancient One. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have encountered this."

Suddenly, Liu Xing was assigned the blame. He sighed and said, "Alright, I’ll take the blame for this. But with this rain, I doubt it’ll stop by tomorrow morning."

At this moment, the player sitting at the front also stood up and walked over to chat with the other player. However, Liu Xing realized that he couldn’t understand what they were saying, even though he knew they were speaking in Chinese.

This was bad.

Liu Xing remembered that after arriving in the Shoggoth Region, players would start experiencing a "language barrier." If their character card didn’t have the appropriate language skill, they wouldn’t understand what others were saying. Since Liu Xing’s character card was for an Island Nation character and didn’t include the skill "Other Language: Chinese," he was unable to communicate with these two players.

Fortunately, Zhang Jingxu’s character card included both Chinese and Island Nation Language skills. In this module, Zhang Jingxu would have to take on the role of a translator.

However, this wasn’t good news for Liu Xing. In this module, the primary language would likely be Chinese, and not understanding Chinese would make it difficult for "himself" to make any progress. Gathering information would be a challenge, and relying on Zhang Jingxu for translations could introduce inaccuracies and complications.

Ling Ishikawa also realized the issue and smiled at Zhang Jingxu, saying, "Zhang Jingxu, it looks like we’ll need you to be our translator later. After all, Ryuusei and I don’t speak Chinese."

Zhang Jingxu sighed and shrugged, "No problem. When I invited you to China, I was mentally prepared for this. But don’t expect too much from my translation skills. My Island Nation Language is only average, and I might translate some things strangely."

Liu Xing nodded. It seemed that Zhang Jingxu’s skill level for "Other Language: Island Nation Language" was around 50, allowing him to converse proficiently but struggling with more obscure or technical terms.

It looked like this module was going to be quite a challenge.

Liu Xing, Ling Ishikawa, and Zhang Jingxu exchanged glances.

At this point, the other two players finished their conversation and approached. One of them said, "@♂▲..."

Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa looked utterly bewildered.

"These two are introducing themselves. The tall and slender one is called Li Dian, a local forensic expert from Rongcheng. The darker-skinned one is Wan Chongshan, a geologist from the Western Mountains. I’ve already told them about your situation," Zhang Jingxu translated.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow. The player lineup this time was quite interesting, including roles like a forensic expert and a geologist, which could be considered "rare professions."

In the USB drive that Yin En had given him yesterday, the first piece of information Liu Xing came across was titled "Occupational Ratings in the Cthulhu RPG Game." In this document, the forensic expert was considered an intermediate-level profession, described as "usable," while the geologist was labeled as a "bottom-tier" profession, not worth choosing.

The reason for these ratings was the division of player Skill Points in the Cthulhu RPG Game into two categories: Occupational Skill Points and Interest Skill Points. Generally, a player’s Occupational Skill Points would be significantly higher than their Interest Skill Points. However, Occupational Skill Points could only be allocated to skills relevant to the player’s chosen profession.

As a result, skills related to professions like geology were rarely useful in most modules, and even when they were, the effects were mediocre at best. Some skills might also require specific items to be effective.

Therefore, professions like forensic experts and geologists were considered "endangered" in the Cthulhu RPG Game. Few players would choose to create character cards for these professions, and those who did often didn’t survive a single module.

So, Liu Xing was somewhat surprised to meet both a forensic expert and a geologist, two "endangered" professions, in this advancement module. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was good luck or bad luck.

In any case, Liu Xing felt that he needed to be prepared for an unfavorable outcome.

With Zhang Jingxu’s translation, everyone had a cheerful conversation. However, Liu Xing noticed something unusual – the female tour guide and the driver hadn’t returned yet.

Calculating the time, they had been gone for nearly twenty minutes. Normally, whether or not they had found help from locals, they should have returned to inform everyone.

Although Liu Xing initially suspected that the female tour guide and the driver were disposable NPCs who would meet a grisly fate in a Plot Encounter, he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, right at the beginning of the module.

Thinking about this, Liu Xing shared his suspicions with Zhang Jingxu. "Zhang Jingxu, why haven’t the driver and tour guide returned? Could something have happened to them?"

Zhang Jingxu furrowed his brow and first translated Liu Xing’s words for Li Dian and Wan Chongshan. Then he expressed his opinion, "It looks like there’s a possibility that something has happened to the driver and tour guide. After all, heavy rain like this can easily lead to problems."

Suddenly, the rain outside the bus lessened a bit, allowing Liu Xing to see their surroundings more clearly.

The bus was parked in the middle of a street in a small town, with rows of tightly packed three-story buildings on either side. The ground floors were shops, while the second and third floors were residential.

At this moment, the second floor of the building on the left side of the bus lit up.

"Look, there’s light over there," Liu Xing said.

Zhang Jingxu nodded, feeling conflicted. "So, what should we do now? Should we go over and knock on that resident’s door? Maybe the tour guide and driver are there."

Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa naturally agreed with Zhang Jingxu’s idea. They had already cooperated in a previous module and trusted each other, so there was no need for many words to reach a consensus.

Li Dian, after discussing with Zhang Jingxu for a while, also agreed to accompany him. As for Wan Chongshan, he decided to stay in the bus a little longer and wait for the tour guide and driver.

So, Liu Xing and the other three ran out into the heavy rain, reaching the building with the light. They knocked on the storefront’s rolling shutter door.

As they waited for the building’s resident to respond, Liu Xing couldn’t help but glance back at the bridge they had crossed earlier.

According to another rule in the Cthulhu RPG Game, essential transportation would typically become damaged for various reasons when players were stranded on a "deserted island." So, Liu Xing was curious about how this bridge might have broken. Although the module’s story background was still a mystery, he could glean some clues from its title.

"Old Town."

Liu Xing was certain that this "old" didn’t refer to the Great Old Ones, as this was just a Shoggoth Region module, and Great Old Ones were unlikely to appear. So, he believed that the word "old" in the module’s title likely meant "past" or "ancient." The buildings in front of him did indeed have a sense of age, with rusty rolling shutter doors.

Therefore, Liu Xing suspected that the bridge might have collapsed due to years of neglect, eroded by the heavy rain.

Just then, the rolling shutter door was pulled up, revealing a man who looked to be in his twenties with an ordinary appearance. He looked at the group with a puzzled expression.

Since Zhang Jingxu was responsible for translating for Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa, Li Dian took the initiative to communicate with the man.

"This man’s name is Hu Cang, a local resident. He is willing to provide us with accommodations and food for tonight," Zhang Jingxu translated concisely.

Liu Xing nodded and said, "Alright, let’s go back to the bus and bring our luggage over. It wouldn’t be good if it starts leaking."

According to another rule in the Cthulhu RPG Game, transportation vehicles were usually damaged for various reasons when players were stranded on a "deserted island." So, it was best not to leave important items on the vehicle.

With that, leaving Li Dian to continue discussing the details with Hu Cang, Liu Xing and the others ran back to the bus to retrieve their luggage.

As for Wan Chongshan, he decided to wait inside the bus for a while longer.

Just then, KP Snow Wind smiled and said, "Alright, players, it’s time for an inspiration judgment."

Inspiration judgment?

An uneasy feeling welled up within Liu Xing.

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