Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Liu Xing couldn't help but think that Fisher's Village could now be renamed "Mist Island," given the thick fog that shrouded it.

If Matsui Ichiro only intended to conduct a social experiment, there would be no need for him to use something as valuable as the Hypnotic Incense. It would be both wasteful and counterproductive, as using the Hypnotic Incense would wash the minds of Fisher's Village's residents entirely, rendering any experiment meaningless. So, Liu Xing began to suspect that his earlier hypothesis might have some flaws. Matsui Ichiro and the Ocean True Deity Sect behind him must have some other motives for Fisher's Village.

"That black market is quite peculiar," Zhang Jingxu said, somewhat frustrated. "It only sends invitations to Secret Cults, but most mainstream religions like Catholicism, Buddhism, and Taoism never receive these invitations. Only certain branches of the Green Faith get them."

Liu Xing raised an intrigued eyebrow. "I see. So, what happens if someone without an invitation manages to find out the location of the black market's auction through other means and sneaks in?"

There was no mention of this in "Watanabe Ryusei's" memories.

Zhang Jingxu pondered for a moment and replied, "You can go in, but the auctions are usually held inside a specific building. Only those with invitations can enter, while those without will encounter an invisible barrier. However, the barrier recognizes invitations, not individuals. So, if you have an invitation, you can enter. I heard that a bishop from a new church managed to get in using this method."

"Of course, getting in is one thing; getting out is another," Zhang Jingxu continued. "After the black market finishes auctioning off all the items, it immediately leaves. This is the most dangerous time, as the auction participants are often ruthless individuals, and conflicts may arise. After each black market auction, there are usually minor or major disputes. In the case of the new church's bishop, he was identified by his enemies, and by the time the rest of the church members arrived at the auction site, he was already gone."

Ling Ishikawa nodded and asked further, "In that case, why don't we inform the authorities to deal with these Secret Cults? It could be a way to eliminate them all at once."

Zhang Jingxu shook his head, smiling. "That's easier said than done. These Secret Cults have far more influence than you can imagine. Even the United States of America wouldn't dare to take military action against any particular Secret Cult without careful consideration. These Secret Cults have too many followers, and their influence extends into various aspects of society. Unless you can control all the followers of a particular Secret Cult at once, it will lead to serious acts of terror. You should all be familiar with the Jonestown Massacre."

Liu Xing nodded in agreement. The Jonestown Massacre was a well-known collective suicide event in recent history and a popular theme in Cthulhu RPG games. On November 18, 1978, 913 followers of the People's Temple, a Secret Cult in the United States of America led by Jim Jones, committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Among them were 276 children. Those who refused to die by suicide were either forcibly poisoned, shot, or strangled, and Jim Jones ultimately committed suicide as well.

In Jonestown, only four people survived. Two escaped, while the other two were elderly individuals with limited mobility and deafness, who were overlooked by other followers and thus survived. They revealed the truth about the mass suicide event, which shocked the world and became known as the "Jonestown Massacre" or the "People's Temple Massacre."

The root cause of this tragedy was a United States Senator's investigation into Jonestown after hearing reports of unusual activities. In response, Jim Jones ordered his followers and his private armed forces to attack the investigative team, resulting in the murder of the senator.

Panda Pig chimed in, "I know about this. The storyline of 'Escape 2' is inspired by the Jonestown Massacre."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and added, "Many horror games have drawn inspiration from the Jonestown Massacre. It underscores the potent brainwashing abilities of these Secret Cults. With just a few words from their leaders, they can convince a large number of followers to willingly die for their cause. So, these powerful Secret Cults are confident and unafraid. If the authorities dare to send forces to capture them during the black market auctions, they will mobilize their followers for protests, demonstrations, and even large-scale suicide events, leading to social upheaval."

Miyako Goudong had an epiphany. "I see now. That's why these Secret Cults have never been eradicated. After all, if a massive suicide event like that were to occur, the ruling party would likely face criticism from the opposition, and there would be a high chance of them being ousted from power. That's why the authorities use a policy of appeasement."

Liu Xing agreed, acknowledging Miyako Goudong's insight. "You're right. After all, the People's Temple had around a thousand followers, and they caused such a huge and terrifying societal impact. In this Cthulhu RPG Game, the larger Secret Cults have tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of followers as a baseline. So, if a mass suicide event involving tens of thousands were to happen, the ruling party would undoubtedly be forced to step down."

Liu Xing rubbed his chin, concluding, "Well, let's not dwell on these issues for now. We need to focus on the matter at hand. We can be sure that if Matsui Ichiro and the Ocean True Deity Sect are willing to spend such a fortune to control the villagers in Fisher's Village, there must be something valuable within Fisher's Village that justifies their actions. It can't be as simple as Matsui Ichiro wanting to be the Village Chief of Fisher's Village."

The group nodded in agreement, acknowledging Liu Xing's point.

"So, I believe that there must be some hidden secrets beneath Fisher's Village. We've explored most of the things on this island, and there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy on the surface. The truth likely lies within the island, and we've already confirmed the existence of at least one power station underground in Fisher's Village. The next step is to find a way down and investigate," Liu Xing concluded.

"But for now, let's listen to the letter that Li Yongjie wrote to Inoue Kenjiro. Inoue Saburo preserved this letter for so many years, and I'm sure it contains valuable information. So, Zhang Jingxu, could you please tell us about the contents of this letter?" Liu Xing continued.

Zhang Jingxu nodded and said with a smile, "Of course, I'd be happy to. Inoue Saburo told me that he didn't remember exactly when he received this letter. However, since the letter was written in Chinese, Inoue Saburo, who didn't understand it, decided to keep it safe. After all, it's a memento of Inoue Kenjiro."

"As I mentioned earlier, this letter is from Li Yongjie to Inoue Kenjiro, and most likely, it was written shortly after Matsui Ichiro arrived at Fisher's Village and began preaching. Li Yongjie, after exchanging pleasantries, mentioned the Ocean True Deity Sect. So, in a letter that Inoue Kenjiro wrote to Li Yongjie before this one, he probably talked about Matsui Ichiro and his preaching methods. Li Yongjie assisted Inoue Kenjiro in investigating the origin of the Ocean True Deity Sect."

"According to Li Yongjie's investigation, the Ocean True Deity Sect originated on a small island in Ryukyu, and its original name cannot be verified. They used to worship Mazu, but about a century ago, when a new leader took over, they began worshipping the twelve Ocean True Gods, which the sect now follows."

"Due to the beliefs of the Ocean True Deity Sect and the political climate in Ryukyu at the time, it quickly became the most prominent emerging religion there. However, as it's widely known, the Island Nation took over Ryukyu and started a campaign to 'de-Ryukyuanize,' suppressing local culture, including the Ocean True Deity Sect, causing it to fade into obscurity."

"However, the leader of the Ocean True Deity Sect was clever and chose to relocate the sect from Ryukyu to the mainland of the Island Nation to continue their mission. Although they faced resistance and exclusion from the mainland's existing religious organizations initially, the sect's leader managed to establish a presence through negotiation and compromise."

"Nevertheless, based on Li Yongjie's findings, the Ocean True Deity Sect is not considered a mainstream religion. Therefore, he hopes that Inoue Kenjiro can try to prevent Matsui Ichiro from spreading its teachings, and ideally, force Matsui Ichiro to leave Fisher's Village to avoid unnecessary trouble. Li Yongjie believed that the villagers in Fisher's Village had been isolated from the outside world for many years and could be easily swayed by Matsui Ichiro's influence."

"Finally, Li Yongjie mentioned something crucial. Inoue Kenjiro actually had another son at that time, who was only about two years old. However, this older son suffered from a severe illness. So, when Li Yongjie left Fisher's Village, Inoue Kenjiro entrusted his eldest son to Li Yongjie's care, hoping that Li Yongjie could take him to Tokyo for treatment."

"Therefore, Li Yongjie informed Inoue Kenjiro that, after some time of treatment, his older son's health had improved significantly, and he was soon going to undergo surgery. If the surgery succeeded, it would cure the illness completely, and after some recovery time, he would return to normal. So, Li Yongjie invited Inoue Kenjiro's entire family to visit Tokyo, which should be the content mentioned in Inoue Kenjiro's last letter."

After Zhang Jingxu finished speaking, Liu Xing couldn't help but say, "So, if Inoue Kenjiro had another son receiving medical treatment in Tokyo during his unfortunate events, Inoue Haruto must be that older son."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and said seriously, "That's what I believe as well. Inoue Haruto's age matches, and from your previous interactions with him, it's clear that he knows how dangerous it is to be discovered by Matsui Ichiro. That's why he arrived on the island with a bow and arrow and appeared so nervous when he saw you. However, I suspect that Inoue Haruto might also be planning to take the opportunity to seek revenge on Matsui Ichiro for his father's death."

Ling Ishikawa chimed in with a somewhat tricky question, "In that case, wouldn't Inoue Haruto and Matsui Yui potentially be siblings? If that's the case, will Inoue Haruto still reveal the truth to Dogo Aige? After all, it could involve his sister's true love."

Ling Ishikawa's question was a bit tricky, leaving Liu Xing unsure of how to respond.

At that moment, Liu Xing heard footsteps approaching.

It was still early, so it couldn't be Dogo Aige delivering food. The owner of the footsteps was likely Alice.

Since the living room on the first floor was spacious and had no hiding places, Ling Ishikawa had to take out his phone and pretend to be engrossed in a game. Liu Xing, on the other hand, had left his phone in the bedroom, so he pretended to be engaged in a conversation with Miyako Goudong.

A few seconds later, Alice walked in.

"Oh, it seems we have new friends here to attend Yui-chan and Dogo Aige's wedding. Nice to meet you all. I'm Alice," Alice said with a smile, looking at everyone in the living room.

To avoid raising suspicion, Liu Xing could only reply with a smile, "Hello, I'm Watanabe Ryusei, and this is Miyako Goudong. This is Ling Ishikawa. Nice to meet you, Miss Alice. Please don't mind Ling Ishikawa's rudeness; he's just a gaming addict and tends to ignore people when he's playing."

As he spoke, Liu Xing also contacted KP Green Light, "KP, I want to perform an Investigation Judgment on Alice to observe her facial expressions."

Liu Xing, 19/50, succeeded.

In the moment of the successful Investigation Judgment, Liu Xing felt like Alice's face was the only thing in his field of vision.