Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Addison raised an eyebrow, expressing some unexpected surprise: "Liu Xing, you didn’t know about the testing module?"

Liu Xing nodded, explaining: "Yeah, I just leveled up from the Ghoul region to the Shoggoth Region, so I’m still a newbie."

"Newbie, anyone who calls themselves a newbie is basically a veteran, I thought you were a seasoned driver participating in the promotion match, given our perfect teamwork earlier," Addison said with some astonishment.

Liu Xing shrugged, smiling: "I’m no veteran, I just got lucky, and I’ve played the Cthulhu RPG game before, so I’m more receptive to abilities."

Addison nodded, continuing: "The so-called testing module is actually an unofficial term. Some modules have normal mission difficulties, but players discovered strange information within them. A group member discussed their module experiences and found that several modules had consistent worldviews and timelines, and the locations where they took place were not far apart."

"So, players started discussing this in the Chat Room – you’ve just leveled up to the Shoggoth Region, so you might not have seen it on your mobile phone yet. The Chat Room is an app automatically added to your phone by the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall when you level up. While it’s called a Chat Room, most players prefer using its posting function, similar to a forum."

"Players shared their module storylines and suspicious information, and eventually, a veteran successfully organized over a hundred modules into a large one. The most important thing is that this veteran knew a big shot in the Cthulhu region, and that big shot actually participated in a large module a year later, with a storyline almost identical to the one the veteran had predicted!"

"So, people started speculating that the modules used by players in the Cthulhu region were massive in scale and time span, often requiring years of gameplay. The creation of these modules was extremely challenging, even for the Cthulhu RPG game, which needs to be reasonable and logical. Therefore, these large modules needed testing and were naturally divided into numerous smaller modules, given to us low-level region players to test. In other words, we were doing the testing, so we called them testing modules."

"Now, in the Chat Room, we’ve integrated seven large modules, with two of them already confirmed. The smallest module consists of 725 sub-modules, while the largest one has 3821 sub-modules. Of course, there might be some margin of error."

Addison’s words made Liu Xing nod repeatedly, preparing to check out the Chat Room after returning to reality, hoping to gather some useful intelligence.

"As for the Chat Room, I personally advise you, Liu Xing, to avoid joining those so-called local Chat Rooms. Once you enter the Shoggoth Region, the trading function will be activated. Although there’s a price floor set for items, there’s no cap on the price, so those local Chat Rooms will try every trick to get your real address, forcing you to sell your items at a low price and then buying junk from them at an exorbitant price. In the end, they’ll drain you dry and turn you into their ATM." Addison spoke with a serious tone.

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised to find that his suspicions about those local chat groups were correct. Fortunately, he hadn’t fallen for Wang Qi’s words earlier.

Addison noticed Liu Xing’s expression and said with interest, "Liu Xing, you look like you’ve had dealings with those local chat groups. Have you?"

Liu Xing thought for a moment and decided it wasn’t a big deal, so he smiled and said, "Yeah, I met a player who used to be in my team in reality, and he invited me to an offline gathering for a local social group. I felt something was off, so I declined and even changed my phone number."

Addison looked at Liu Xing with admiration, saying, "Well done. Those local chat groups love to take advantage of players like us from lower-level regions. Even if we can exchange items from the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, they’re mostly only effective against mythical creatures, not humans. So, when we face those people with ulterior motives, we’re almost defenseless. Liu Xing, you should keep your distance from them and avoid getting entangled."

Liu Xing nodded, but thought to himself that he should also exchange Nyarlathotep’s custom handgun into reality, so he’d have a self-defense weapon.

"Alright, time’s up. I’ll take a rest first and try to slip away tomorrow. This testing module is too difficult. You can tell Zhang Jingxu and the others; they should understand. After all, it’s about hundreds of points. Unless you’re a saint, Liu Xing." Addison said, then turned to leave.

Liu Xing thought for a moment and felt that Addison was right. He didn’t need to fight over points, and according to current information, he had no way to take Zhang Jingxu and the others out of the internet addiction treatment center. Now that he knew Captain Luo and the others were Yis People, his original plan was impossible to execute.

It’s not that our army is weak, but that the enemy is too cunning!

Liu Xing consoled himself and returned to his room.

Since it was 2003, entertainment options were limited, and Liu Xing, a man who had "traveled back" from 2017, wasn’t interested in playing with his mobile phone. He went straight to bed.

As Liu Xing slept, Aughra sat on the rooftop of the internet addiction treatment center, sipping coffee and gazing into the distance with a pretentious air.

Behind Aughra, Yang Kong, Captain Luo, Uncle Qin, and Ah Bing stood still, not daring to move.

"Ah, the moonlight is lovely tonight." Aughra looked up at the sky, only to see a dark cloud covering the moon.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward.

Aughra, whose face was somewhat unsightly, let out a cold snort, and the dark cloud instantly disappeared.

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