Chapter 440: Dreamwalking in R’lyeh

Chapter 440: Dreamwalking in R’lyeh

According to KP Li Shunchan, the first NPC Liu Xing thought of was Isabella.

Considering the current situation, Isabella should be associated with the Cult of the Cadaver. However, due to the influence of the Castle Lord, Isabella likely has severed ties with the Cult of the Cadaver. Now, Isabella stands as a neutral NPC, open to being swayed by players from either faction.

Most importantly, Isabella currently holds dual intelligence on both the Cult of the Cadaver and the Manchester police force. Therefore, whichever faction manages to sway Isabella to their side will gain a significant advantage in terms of information.

In Liu Xing’s view, Isabella should be the most worthwhile NPC to recruit in the second stage, but also the most challenging.

Isabella is not merely a lawful loli, but rather a seasoned elder. Despite her age of a hundred years, Liu Xing couldn’t deny Isabella’s exceptional acting skills and remarkable psychological resilience. She effortlessly portrays a loli without a hint of flaw.

Thus, for such a skilled NPC, unless KP Li Shunchan explicitly informs him that Isabella has joined their faction, Liu Xing would doubt whether he truly managed to recruit her.

Furthermore, Liu Xing is aware of Isabella’s ambition. To win her allegiance would demand a hefty price, causing significant strain on his faction. If players from the opposing faction offer better terms, Liu Xing believes Isabella would readily defect.

At that moment, Zhang Jingxu entered the room.

Liu Xing noticed a slap mark on Zhang Jingxu’s face.

Observing this, Ling Ishikawa chuckled and said, "Zhang Jingxu, it seems things are not too bad on your end if you’ve only taken a slap."

Zhang Jingxu shrugged and replied resignedly, "Luckily, my persuasion with Judgment just scored a major success. After getting slapped by Chen Fuping, I managed to successfully dissuade her. But to be honest, Chen Fuping’s slap was quite fierce, it even deducted some of my HP."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow in surprise, "What? Chen Fuping actually deducted your HP? Then it seems Chen Fuping’s close combat ability must be formidable."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and continued, "Indeed, Chen Fuping has been practicing martial arts since childhood. So in terms of close combat ability alone, Chen Fuping should be on par with Ryuzaki. That’s why she could lead a group of foreign tourists, despite being hindered by Cult of the Cadaver, to escape."

"I see. I didn’t expect Chen Fuping to be proficient in both magic and martial arts," Ling Ishikawa remarked with a smile.

After some thought, Liu Xing decided to inform Ling Ishikawa and Zhang Jingxu about Isabella’s situation and the current status of the main quest’s second stage.

Furrowing his brows, Zhang Jingxu expressed concern, "According to your description, Isabella seems to be quite a formidable character. Our chances of successfully recruiting Isabella are only thirty percent at best. Even if we manage to recruit her, I suspect she’ll only provide us with some information and not contribute much else."

"Indeed, I share the same sentiment. From Isabella’s current behavior, she’s definitely a self-serving individual who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice others for her own gain. She’s skilled in deception and willing to forsake her dignity to play the role of a loli. So unless we offer her substantial benefits, recruiting Isabella would be of little value to us," Ling Ishikawa earnestly remarked.

Liu Xing nodded, sighing, "Indeed, even though recruiting Isabella may not be greatly beneficial to us, if we let her fall into the hands of the enemy faction, she would become a major threat. After all, Isabella is currently Chris’s adopted daughter, and with her cunning and intelligence, she must have already gained Chris’s favor. Moreover, with Isabella’s charm skill, if she were to be recruited by the enemy faction, our every move would be within their grasp."

After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Jingxu sighed and said, "You’re right, Liu Xing. Regardless, we must recruit Isabella. The key lies in whether Yis People will assist us. Among us players, only Yis People knows Isabella and can communicate with her. Besides, Yis People should have figured out by now that Isabella is associated with the Cult of the Cadaver."

"However, Yis People might not necessarily be aware of Isabella’s association with the Cult of the Cadaver. Because my knowledge of Isabella’s true identity only came after completing the module and receiving the ending scene, as well as obtaining Isabella’s character card as the MVP of that module. So if Yis People only inherited memories from my character card during the module, then Yis People might not know Isabella’s true identity," Liu Xing expressed his concern.

Ling Ishikawa frowned helplessly, saying, "If Yis People can’t guess Isabella’s true identity, then that’s a real problem. After all, unless we expose Liu Xing’s identity, it’s impossible to alert Yis People about Isabella. So, in that case, we won’t have any chance to recruit Isabella."

As they discussed this, everyone fell silent.

However, at that moment, KP Li Shunchan suddenly spoke up, saying, "Alright, congratulations to all players for successfully completing the first stage of the Main quest. You’ve performed exceptionally well in the first stage. If it were graded, you would have scored eighty points. Of course, I won’t disclose where the remaining twenty points went. Nevertheless, although the Main quest has now entered the second stage, players can still conduct a second investigation."

After pondering for a while without finding an explanation, Liu Xing gave up thinking and continued forward.

As Liu Xing walked, he also tried contacting KP Li Shunchan, but as expected, KP Li Shunchan didn’t respond.

And so, Liu Xing didn’t know how long he had walked until he finally emerged from the fog!

"I didn’t expect to be able to walk out of this fog. I thought I would keep walking in it until I woke up from my dream," Liu Xing muttered to himself.

As Liu Xing emerged from the fog, he looked around and realized he was standing in front of a vast ruin.

The reason why this ruin was called "vast" was that the bricks scattered in front of Liu Xing were each three times his height.

But most importantly, these bricks were all green, and some of them bore reliefs that made Liu Xing feel extremely uncomfortable, even though these reliefs were incomplete, and some were just simple lines.

In an instant, Liu Xing understood that the ruin before his eyes was likely the legendary R’lyeh.

Because, in the Cthulhu mythos, only R’lyeh is a city built of giant green stones, emitting a strong aura of impurity from within.

With this thought, Liu Xing couldn’t help but look up and see, on a high mountain in the far distance, a completely closed giant stone fort looming amidst the dark clouds.

That was the resting place of the Great Old One—Cthulhu.

Realizing this, Liu Xing wanted to shift his gaze away, but found that he had lost control of his body.

And then, Liu Xing...woke up.

Liu Xing looked at the white ceiling, taking quite some time to come back to his senses.

A feeling of surviving a disaster swept over Liu Xing, making him shiver involuntarily.

After a while, Liu Xing calmed down.

Obviously, Liu Xing knew that he was most likely targeted by Cthulhu now, which was why Cthulhu guided him to R’lyeh in his dream.

So, it seemed that he was in big trouble!

After all, the character card he was currently using was a follower of King Hastur in Yellow Robes, who was an enemy of Cthulhu. So, why would Cthulhu bring a follower of his enemy into his dream, if not to kill him?

Perhaps, it was to try to turn him?

Shaking his head, Liu Xing realized that he was doomed either way. If he didn’t accept Cthulhu’s turn, he would be killed by Cthulhu. But if he did accept Cthulhu’s turn, King Hastur in Yellow Robes would certainly not spare him.

It was a lose-lose situation...

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