Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 437: Zhang Jingxu’s Arena of Trials



Ling Ishikawa chuckled and remarked, "This is actually a good thing for us. After all, we have to stay here for another ten days to half a month. If this ’safe spot’ turns out to be just a basement, we’d be quite uncomfortable."

Liu Xing nodded and chose a room next to Ling Ishikawa’s to settle in.

After tidying up their rooms, the trio gathered once again.

Ling Ishikawa, just entering the room, frowned and said, "Wow, this module is really messing with us. I could understand the appearance of Yis People and Alice, but now even Hu Li is showing up."

Leaning against the headboard, Liu Xing nodded and said with a smile, "This module is indeed interesting. Many important NPCs from previous modules appear here. Fortunately, these NPCs are on our side, and they’re all very powerful. It’s a good thing for us."

Ling Ishikawa shrugged and said, "True. I’m really looking forward to the NPCs from the Fisher’s Village module. According to Hu Li, those Island Nation Deep Ones chased by the Cosmic Country Deep Ones should be the group of ’traitor’ Deep Ones led by Matsui Yui’s Deep One father. They should also be on our side. Even if Matsui Yui’s father doesn’t show up, there should be a few Deep Ones coming to help us."

Just as Liu Xing was about to speak, he noticed Zhang Jingxu sitting beside him lost in thought.

So, Liu Xing smiled at Zhang Jingxu and said, "Hey, Zhang Jingxu, why are you spacing out? Are you worried about your little junior sister?"

It was then that Zhang Jingxu snapped out of his reverie and said somewhat helplessly, "Liu Xing, can you not tease me right now? Though I have to admit, I am thinking about my little junior sister. But I’m not worried that she won’t be able to escape from the Cult of the Cadaver. I’m more concerned about what will happen when I meet my little junior sister later. Will Lu Tianya use the Chai Dao to kill me..."

Upon hearing this, both Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa smiled knowingly.

Zhang Jingxu nodded with a wry smile and continued, "As you guys probably guessed, my relationship with my little junior sister is somewhat ambiguous. But it’s all complications caused by my character card. I believe you guys have experienced your character cards causing trouble as well."

Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa nodded in agreement because what Zhang Jingxu said was true. After all, players could only control their character cards for two to three months within a year, and during the remaining eight to nine months, the character cards acted on their own, potentially causing all sorts of trouble.

And one of the most common occurrences was characters falling in love.

Many people have said that love can be a sudden hormonal burst, so in many cases, romantic relationships between men and women can be decided in a short period.

Therefore, in the forums of the Cthulhu RPG Game, many players complained that if they didn’t use a particular character card for over a month, when they used it again, they suddenly found themselves with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even a spouse...

For most people, this was somewhat hard to accept.

So, Ling Ishikawa walked over and patted Zhang Jingxu on the shoulder, saying, "Zhang Jingxu, I understand you in this regard. Because my other character card is in a situation similar to yours."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but interrupt, "Wait a minute, Ling Ishikawa, when you mentioned your other character card, you meant Yin En’s character card, right? What happened to your character card?"

Ling Ishikawa sighed and said helplessly, "A while ago, I managed to clear that resurrection module in my spare time. So in the ending scene of the resurrection module, I saw Yin En waking up in the sickbay, with the Miss and the policewoman standing on either side... And you can probably guess what happened next. I found that in the relationships of my character card’s characters, two additional NPCs with favorability appeared..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but laugh and tease Ling Ishikawa, "Yin En, oh Yin En, I already warned you during the Yueshihao module that trying to have it both ways will lead to disaster. But didn’t you say the ship wouldn’t capsize back then?"

Ling Ishikawa looked utterly dejected and nodded, saying, "Things change. At that time, I planned to contact my family to annul the engagement with the Miss after completing the Yueshihao module. And I had no intention of flirting with the policewoman. But unexpected things happened during the Yueshihao module, and it turned into what it is now. So, what can I do? I’m quite hopeless now. I dare not use Yin En’s character card for modules anymore because I’m afraid of encountering a major failure and then being beaten to death by the Miss..."

"Exactly. Considering the Miss’s personality, if she finds out you’re planning a harem, she will definitely beat you half to death. And I don’t think the policewoman will look kindly on you either," Liu Xing said seriously.

Ling Ishikawa looked up at the ceiling in silence.

Seeing this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but add, "By the way, there’s something I’m not sure whether to mention now. I believe Hu Li’s decision to come to England with us this time is largely because of you, Ling Ishikawa. You know what I mean."

Ling Ishikawa sighed, rubbing his temples.

After teasing Ling Ishikawa, Liu Xing decided not to spare Zhang Jingxu either. So he shifted the focus to Zhang Jingxu and said, "By the way, Zhang Jingxu, what’s the real relationship between you and your little junior sister? Just a bit ambiguous?"

Zhang Jingxu thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "More or less. Fortunately, I had a feeling at the time, so I did the module a few days in advance. So at that time, my little junior sister and I just had mutual affection, and we hadn’t confessed to each other yet. Luckily, the mission of that module brought me to the Island Nation, and my little junior sister didn’t come with me. So I chose to keep my distance, and our feelings cooled down a lot. Later, I heard she went to the United States of America as an exchange student. I thought I might never see her again in this lifetime."

Liu Xing stroked his chin and asked, "So now I want to ask you a crucial question: Does your little junior sister know Lu Tianya? Does Lu Tianya know about your little junior sister?"

Zhang Jingxu shook his head and said helplessly, "They don’t know each other. That’s also my biggest concern because I know Lu Tianya’s personality is very strong. So I dare not tell her about having a little junior sister, fearing she would be angry with me. As for my little junior sister, because before I went to the Island Nation, my character card had been communicating with her all along, my character card didn’t tell my little junior sister about Lu Tianya’s situation. After all, at that time, my relationship with Lu Tianya was just that of good friends. So my character card, while flirting with my little junior sister, maintained a normal attitude of a man and wouldn’t disclose the situation of other girls to my little junior sister..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xing said with a smile, "Well, that’s troublesome. If your little junior sister still has feelings for you, Zhang Jingxu, you’re really in trouble. The gates of the arena of trials have already opened for you."

Watching Liu Xing’s cheerful expression, Ling Ishikawa, feeling daring, decided to strike back. "Liu Xing, don’t act all high and mighty. Your situation isn’t any better. After all, you’ve been NTR’d by yourself. Your wife and children have all become Yis People’s now."

Liu Xing retreated...

"Alright, let’s stop hurting each other now and get back to the point. We all understand the situation of this module now. This module definitely involves the Main Quest of this parallel world. So our success or failure in this module will largely determine the destruction or survival of this parallel world. Therefore, we must succeed, not fail," Zhang Jingxu said solemnly.

Liu Xing nodded and said, "Exactly, we must win this module. So I have a bold idea now, which is to find an opportunity to take out a player from the enemy faction first, and that player is Shi Zixuan. From the current situation, Shi Zixuan should be responsible for monitoring us in the enemy faction. So we can use Lu Tianya and her three companions as bait to set up a trap to capture Shi Zixuan. What do you think?"

Zhang Jingxu shook his head worriedly and said, "This is too risky. After all, we already know there are two fanatical believers among the players in the enemy faction. So they are capable of anything. If we make one wrong move, we could end up losing everything. Therefore, I think it’s better not to use this plan of luring the enemy."

Of course, both Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa knew that Zhang Jingxu was mainly worried about Lu Tianya’s safety.

So, Ling Ishikawa couldn’t help but say, "On the other hand, now that the Main Quest of this parallel world has begun, the connections between players in this parallel world will become closer. So if Lu Tianya still has a character card in this parallel world, Zhang Jingxu, you should be able to meet her."

Zhang Jingxu nodded, somewhat uncertain, and said, "That should be the case. But the appearance of my character card now is somewhat different from my appearance in the real world. And Lu Tianya, she should be using a character card just like you, Liu Xing, directly possessing an NPC. So when we meet, we may not recognize each other."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Liu Xing went to open the door and found Alice standing there.

Alice held a phone and said, "Mr. Zhang Jingxu, Chris just called me and told me that the foreign tourists who disappeared from the QuarryBank Textile Factory half an hour ago have escaped from the Cult of the Cadaver’s hands, and the leader of those foreign tourists is your little junior sister, Chen Fuping, as you mentioned earlier. So Chris has arranged for someone to bring Chen Fuping over. They should arrive in five minutes. Do you want to go up and wait for your little junior sister at the door?"

As soon as it was mentioned, Zhang Jingxu nodded and said reluctantly, "Alright, I’ll go up now."

Watching Zhang Jingxu leave, Liu Xing couldn’t help but say, "The wind is chilly, and the waters are cold, the hero is gone, never to return."

On the side, Ling Ishikawa chuckled and said, "Leader, I think we should wait for Zhang Jingxu’s little junior sister to arrive in the lobby now. Because Chen Fuping should bring a lot of information about the Cult of the Cadaver, considering she just escaped from them."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, naturally agreeing with Ling Ishikawa’s suggestion. The two of them left the room and went to the lobby.

And by now, the lobby was filled with people.

Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa found a place to sit casually, eating the pistachios on the coffee table and chatting.

After a while, Liu Xing heard the sound of the elevator running, indicating that Zhang Jingxu was coming down first.

Then, Zhang Jingxu’s little junior sister, Chen Fuping, finally showed her true colors.

However, as soon as Liu Xing saw Chen Fuping, he knew that Zhang Jingxu might be in trouble this time, because Chen Fuping looked very happy, and her gaze hadn’t left Zhang Jingxu since she came out of the elevator.

Clearly, Chen Fuping still liked her senior brother Zhang Jingxu very much.

But it had to be said that Chen Fuping, with her natural beauty, had an APP value of at least 85, much more attractive than those outside female stars who relied on plastic surgery, makeup, and photo editing. No wonder "Zhang Jingxu" would flirt with her.

Of course, at this moment, Zhang Jingxu was looking at Lu Tianya with a guilty smile.

As a girl, Lu Tianya didn’t need any sixth sense. She could see that Chen Fuping was interested in Zhang Jingxu. And combined with Zhang Jingxu’s guilty look, Lu Tianya’s gaze toward Chen Fuping and Zhang Jingxu became more and more unsettling.

Seeing this scene, Liu Xing mourned for Zhang Jingxu silently for three seconds again.

Seeing that the arena of trials was about to open, Zhang Jingxu, in a moment of desperation, said, "Everyone, this is my little junior sister, Chen Fuping. She has gained a lot of useful information by going deep behind enemy lines these past few days. So let Chen Fuping tell us about this information."

However, at this point, Chen Fuping had already sensed Lu Tianya’s unfriendly gaze, so she quickly realized that Lu Tianya might be her love rival.

So, without hesitation, Chen Fuping stared back at Lu Tianya.

And thus, Lu Tianya and Chen Fuping began to stare each other down, completely ignoring Liu Xing and the others.

The big battle was about to begin.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Jingxu could only give Liu Xing and the others a pleading look, but Liu Xing and the others acted as if they were wooden, pretending not to notice.

[Thanks for reading at Patreon.com/maxnkoga , if you supporting this novel, a heartfelt thankyou, enjoy the content!]

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.