"The game will officially begin in ten seconds."
Liu Xing then realized he was locked in place. Although he could move his gaze, his body was completely out of his control, and he couldn't speak.
Ten seconds passed.
"Game Begin!"
As if his soul had returned to his body, Liu Xing regained control of his body.
Silence.
The four people sitting around the table looked at each other, none of them intending to speak.
After all, having encountered such an unbelievable situation, without a SAN check (SAN is the most important player attribute in Cthulhu role-playing games, and can be thought of as a sanity meter. When a player encounters something unacceptable, such as a terrifying corpse, mythical creature, or magic, a SAN check is performed. Failure to perform a SAN check permanently reduces the character's SAN. When the SAN reaches zero, the character falls into permanent insanity, equivalent to death. A decrease of more than five points in a short period of time causes a temporary state of insanity. You can search Baidu for details, as the settings on this subject could fill a whole chapter). That was considered a good thing. Who would be in the mood to chat with strangers now?
However, Liu Xing didn't want to sit and wait for death. Rather than wait anxiously for the hour-long game to end, he might as well take the initiative and identify any possible fanatics among the other three players.
To find the fanatic, he had to strike up a conversation. Although Liu Xing hadn't yet played a Cthulhu role-playing game, he had played plenty of online board games like "Close Your Eyes Before Dark" and "Werewolf." Liu Xing thought he had a good chance of finding a loophole in the fanatic's language.
"I'm an experienced Chinese medicine practitioner. In real life, I'm just an ordinary office worker."
The story background provided earlier explained that the four people met online, so Liu Xing directly revealed his in-game ID, along with the role assigned to him in the game.
"I'm Shanhe, a college student," the hatted man on his right continued.
"I'm Wugencao, the owner of a small company," the older man on his left nodded at the three and smiled.
"My name is Baiwan. I'm the initiator of this ancient house adventure and a student at Magic City No. 7 Middle School." The girl didn't look up, her voice trembling slightly.
Liu Xing looked at the girl with some confusion, because "Baiwan" didn't seem like a name a girl should have online.
"Oh, Baiwan, as the initiator, you should know something about this ancient house," Liu Xing said, looking at the girl. He was already certain she held a key clue. After all, in the Cthulhu role-playing game, each player would receive different information at the beginning due to their different identities. For example, Baiwan, as the initiator of this expedition, would surely have access to more information.
Liu Xing's companion was an ordinary office worker, so he only knew the background information of the game and nothing else.
Of course, Liu Xing began to suspect that Baiwan was a fanatic. Since Baiwan was the initiator of this expedition, there was an over 80% chance that she was a fanatic.
At this moment, Wugencao suddenly interrupted, "I should know more than she does, because I personally witnessed the tragedy that occurred in this old house ten years ago."
Wugencao reminisced for a moment before sighing, "Ten years ago, I lived next door to this old house. One night, I suddenly heard several screams coming from within. I immediately called the police, but it was too late. The family of three living in this old house had been brutally murdered. The perpetrator was later apprehended. He was a high school classmate of the family's youngest son. The motive seemed to be a relationship dispute."
Liu Xing was now certain that this middle-aged man, nicknamed Wugencao online, must have participated in the Cthulhu role-playing game in real life. Cthulhu role-playing games are all about immersion, requiring players to recount information learned from a third party's perspective from a first-person perspective. Wugencao's actions and narration clearly met this requirement.
After listening to Wu Gencao's account, the girl nodded immediately. Liu Xing vaguely noticed a red necklace around her neck.
Baiwan then spoke up: "Yes, the suspect and the victim were both seniors at Magic City No. 7 Middle School, so this incident has become a major school mystery. A few days ago, I heard from my classmates that there were many strange aspects of this tragedy, and that this ancient house was often haunted, so I launched this expedition online."
"Ding, side quest activated! Find out the story behind this tragedy. Completing the side quest will instantly end the game and earn a rating bonus. Failure carries no penalty."
Liu Xing hadn't expected a side quest to be triggered in just a few words. Thankfully, there was no penalty for failure, which reassured him considerably.
"I saw this news online, too. I also found three so-called photos of the scene, but I don't know if they're real or fake," Shanhe said as he pulled his phone from his pocket. After fiddling with it for a bit, he handed it to Liu Xing, motioning for him to take a look.
Liu Xing took the phone. On it was a large, somewhat blurry picture, but judging by the layout, it looked like it was in the kitchen: a body lying face down on the floor, its face thickly blurred.
There was also a large hole in the body's stomach. This time a shadow had been directly photoshopped in.
Liu Xing swiped at the touchscreen. The second picture changed the scene, showing a bedroom. A body slumped on the bed, a large pool of blood next to the head, apparently killed by a severe blow to the head.
As for the last picture, it was probably taken in the living room where Liu Xing and the others were currently staying. The body was sitting on a chair, its neck clearly lacerated, causing the head to slump at an impossible angle next to the shoulders.
Despite the blur, Liu Xing noticed the body had long hair and was wearing something resembling a school uniform. Combined with her slender figure, she looked like a young woman.
So, the family of three murdered ten years ago consisted of two men and one woman?
Liu Xing handed Wu Gencao his phone, and a glimpse into the tragedy dawned on him.
"These photos are indeed real," Wu Gencao took one look at them, then sighed and said, "Even though this happened ten years ago, I'm still certain these are them."
With that, Wu Gencao stood up.
Liu Xing's mind fluttered. Could Wu Gencao be a fanatic? Trying to blow out the candle?
But Liu Xing quickly dismissed the thought. It would take a full five seconds to blow out the candle, plenty of time for him to stop Wu Gencao. Unless Wu Gencao was desperate, he wouldn't choose to do so now.
"Here, I'll give you your phone back." Wugencao leaned forward and handed it to Shanhe.
"It's okay." Shanhe also stood up and took the phone.
Everything was so natural.
Liu Xing reached out to push his nonexistent glasses, staring at the candle, lost in thought for a moment.
Liu Xing loved challenges (and even suicidal tendencies), and he also had a certain degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Since this novice room mission also triggered a side quest, he was determined to complete it. This was his self-improvement as an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
So, combining the game background with the information provided by the other three people, Liu Xing deduced a lot of information.
First, there might be three mythical creatures in this ancient house, but it seemed their abilities were very limited, as a single candle could now restrain their movements.
Second, according to the main quest, holding onto this candle shouldn't be difficult. However, since the side quest can be triggered so easily, the evaluation for completing the game by holding onto the candle is likely to be very low. Therefore, the focus of this game is on this side quest. Liu Xing wants to improve the stats of his first character card and survive longer in future Cthulhu role-playing games, so he must complete this side quest.
Third, the other three players all have clues to the side quest, so why don't I have any? Did I just not find them?
Third, thinking of this, Liu Xing began to search his pockets, only to find a wallet and a cell phone.
This phone was a Nokia 5230, a five-star phone from back in the day. Liu Xing still remembered using it in high school.
"It seems like I'm a bit down on myself as a working person, still using such an old-fashioned phone, yet it looks brand new. I wonder where this person got this antique," Liu Xing scoffed inwardly.
Liu Xing opened his phone awkwardly, only to discover it contained only a few Nokia apps—not even QQ.
And according to the phone's display, there was no signal at all. This put an end to Liu Xing's desire to search online and he could only flip through his address book.
The address book was filled with completely unfamiliar numbers, but in the call log, Liu Xing spotted the last entry, from Shanhe, an hour ago, lasting 12 seconds.
"Shanhe, we spoke on the phone an hour ago. What did we say? I can't remember it at all." Liu Xing glanced at his phone and formed a bold guess.
"Oh, I remember it was me asking why you weren't there yet. You were already ten minutes late, and Wugencao, Baiwan, and I were already at the door," Shanhe said without hesitation.
"Yeah, no wonder it was only 12 seconds," Liu Xing replied with a smile, continuing to gather clues on his phone.
In the text messages, there were hundreds of messages from more than a dozen contacts.
Liu Xing thought there might be a lot of important information here, so he read through it word for word.
Sure enough, he found a text message from his "girlfriend" two days ago.
"Dear, I've put the amulet I asked for at Longhua Temple in your wallet. Don't lose it. I heard it's very powerful and can protect you from all evil."
Liu Xing opened his wallet and found the amulet inside. And on it, a familiar pattern—the Old Seal!
Please give me your votes! The Old Seal, one of the three great artifacts in the Cthulhu game, has now appeared.