Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 282: The First Letter

As Liu Xing gazed at Miyako Goudong, he felt it necessary to express his gratitude to the player portraying "Miyako Goudong" because embodying such a chuuni personality like Miyako Goudong's was undeniably embarrassing.

With Miyako Goudong's sudden appearance, everyone had to temporarily change their plans. They brought Miyako Goudong back to the villa for a makeover because his current appearance was rather disheveled.

After a bath and a change of clothes, Miyako Goudong finally looked somewhat presentable.

The group gathered in the mansion's ground-floor hall and began their interrogation of Miyako Goudong.edit

Firstly, they inquired about Miyako Goudong's activities from yesterday afternoon to today. What had he been doing all day?

According to Miyako Goudong's confession, upon arriving at Fisher's Village yesterday, he sensed a strange force at work within the village. Therefore, he decided not to enter Fisher's Village immediately but instead conducted observations and research on its outskirts.

Miyako Goudong slowly disembarked from the cruise ship after Dogo Aige took Liu Xing and Ling Ishikawa away, making his way to a forest where the Fisher's Village buildings were not visible.

There, Miyako Goudong used a flint he had treasured for years to prepare a meal. However, he had a sudden insight that preparing a meal might draw unwanted attention (Liu Xing suspected it was because Miyako Goudong couldn't use the flint properly to start a fire), so he decided to abandon the idea of cooking.

Even though he couldn't make a fire, being an Island Nation resident, Miyako Goudong opted to have sashimi for dinner. He found a suitable wooden stick in the forest, took out a fishing line and hook from his backpack, and dug up some earthworms. Thus, his fishing kit was ready.

However, at the moment he completed his fishing setup, Miyako Goudong felt a pang of empathy (Liu Xing suspected it was because Miyako Goudong realized he had no boat to go out to sea, and fishing at the shoreline was nearly impossible, as ocean fish generally do not come close to the shore). So, Miyako Goudong had no choice but to eat snacks from his backpack.

After consuming a few bites, Miyako Goudong decided to explore the area around Fisher's Village since the weather was favorable. He embarked on his island-wide tour.

The first place Miyako Goudong visited was the Graveyard of Fisher's Village.

Miyako Goudong noticed that Fisher's Village's Graveyard was not very large. The tombstones were closely arranged and in a neat formation. This led him to speculate that the villagers of Fisher's Village might opt for cremation after death, placing only ashes in the Graveyard.

However, Miyako Goudong also observed a peculiar detail—the Graveyard of Fisher's Village was surrounded by a thorn-like iron wire disguised as a fence. Miyako Goudong carefully touched the iron wire with his belt and discovered it was electrified!

Hearing this, Liu Xing and the others exchanged glances. After all, according to Matsui Ichiro, Fisher's Village could not have electricity, and having an electrified wire required specialized facilities.

So, Matsui Ichiro was lying.

Liu Xing furrowed his brows and asked Miyako Goudong, "Goudong, how big do you think this Graveyard is?"

Miyako Goudong pondered for a moment and replied somewhat uncertainly, "It should be about the size of a football field, but I'm not entirely sure because it was getting dark by then, and I didn't want to use my phone and reveal my location. So, my view was a bit blurry."

A football field's size.

Liu Xing calculated the perimeter of Fisher's Village Graveyard and then said, "A high-voltage wire about three to four hundred meters long would require substantial supporting facilities. Goudong, did you notice any suspicious structures around the Graveyard?"

Miyako Goudong thought for a moment and replied earnestly, "No, if I remember correctly, there were no structures within five hundred meters around the Graveyard."

Liu Xing nodded in affirmation and said, "In that case, it's very likely that there is an underground base in Fisher's Village, and the power generation equipment is located there."

The others nodded in agreement. Fisher's Village appeared small on the surface and didn't seem like it could hide many secrets, but if there was an underground base, it could conceal more mysteries. Moreover, according to Matsui Ichiro, the villagers of Fisher's Village were not allowed to enter the Graveyard under normal circumstances.

In addition to the Graveyard, Matsui Yui's home and the Ancestral Hall of Fisher's Village also had the potential to be entrances to the underground base since these places were off-limits to the villagers.

Of course, the grass hut where Dogo Aige currently resided also had a moderate chance of being the entrance to the underground base, but the probability was around fifty percent. After all, if the entrance were discovered by Dogo Aige, it would be a complicated situation.

At this point, Miyako Goudong continued to recount his experiences.

Due to the tight security of the electric wire around Fisher's Village Graveyard, Miyako Goudong believed he couldn't safely enter the Graveyard. So, he left the area and continued circling around Fisher's Village.

Soon, in a forest by the sea, Miyako Goudong spotted a dilapidated brick-and-tile house. Originally a two-story structure, the second floor had mostly collapsed, and the doors and windows were already damaged.

Therefore, Miyako Goudong easily entered the house.

Inside the house, there were only some furniture that had been damaged for many years and a black-and-white photo lying on the ground. The photo depicted five people—a senior couple, a young couple, and a small girl who appeared to be about one or two years old.

The background of this black-and-white photo was the very famous Tokyo Tower in the Island Nation, and Miyako Goudong also noticed the photo's date, which was in the year 199x. The passage of time had caused the photo to become blurry.

Miyako Goudong handed the photo to Liu Xing while recounting his experiences.

After examining the photo, Liu Xing spoke, "If the people in this photo are indeed Fisher's Village residents, it suggests that Fisher's Village maintained some form of communication with the outside world over a decade ago. Furthermore, it seems that the villagers of Fisher's Village were quite fashion-conscious at the time. If I'm not mistaken, the clothing worn by the young couple in the photo was trendy for those years."

Zhang Jingxu, standing nearby, nodded and expressed his confusion, "Indeed, though the time in the photo has become somewhat blurred, based on the clothing, I would estimate it to be around 1993 to 1995. However, there's something strange about this photo. Why is it in black and white? Considering the advanced color photography technology at the time, taking a color photo shouldn't have been a challenge."

Ling Ishikawa stroked his chin and suggested, "Perhaps the people in the photo used their own camera, and due to issues with the camera or film, it ended up being in black and white? But that's not the focus here. The key question is, who are these five people in the photo?"

Liu Xing pondered for a moment and asked Miyako Goudong, "Goudong, did you find anything else in that house?"

Miyako Goudong nodded and continued, "In that house, I also found a photo frame matching this picture. It was tucked away behind a cabinet, and most importantly, the frame had not been used yet. There was a label on the frame, and using it would have required breaking the label."

"What's strange is that, apart from ordinary furniture, items like clothing and tableware had all disappeared from the house, as if someone deliberately took them. Additionally, some small pieces of furniture, like tables and chairs, were overturned, giving the impression that a struggle had taken place here."

"Finally, I climbed up to the second floor, which had four rooms. In these rooms, I also found furniture knocked over, suggesting that someone had searched through them. Everything besides the furniture had vanished. But in the largest room, within a drawer's compartment, I found a letter."

"A letter?!" Liu Xing instantly recalled the three Side Quests, where the most rewarding one involved finding three letters.

Realizing this, Liu Xing hurriedly asked, "A letter? What was written in the letter?"

Miyako Goudong shook his head and replied, "I couldn't understand the content of the letter because it was written in Chinese characters."

Although both Liu Xing and Yin En were Chinese, their character cards, "WatanabeRyusei" and "Ling Ishikawa," didn't have the skill "Other Language: Chinese," so they couldn't read Chinese characters.

This situation felt quite awkward.

However, among those present, Zhang Jingxu and Lu Tianya were genuine Chinese individuals. Zhang Jingxu took the letter from Miyako Goudong and began reading it aloud.

In essence, the letter was addressed to someone named Li Yongjie, who appeared to be a journalist residing in Tokyo, Island Nation. The sender of the letter was a Fisher's Village villager, likely the owner of the house where the letter was found.

In the letter, the house's owner first thanked Li Yongjie for his hospitality during their stay in Tokyo, creating pleasant memories for their family. However, the tone of the letter changed as the sender mentioned that Fisher's Village villagers had become increasingly peculiar. Several close friends who used to have a good relationship with the sender were now cold and indifferent, not even acknowledging greetings as they used to. Even when the sender gave them gifts, these villagers remained silent and only nodded in response, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.

The letter then mentioned that Fisher's Village's Ancestral Hall had been completely transformed into a church. The ancestral tablets that were once displayed had disappeared, replaced by strange and grotesque statues. The sender had also encountered Matsui Ichiro, who had come to preach, and he had spoken to the sender with a condescending attitude and even taunted the sender's efforts.

Most importantly, the sender expressed concern about the religion Matsui Ichiro was spreading in Fisher's Village, describing it as foolish and inexplicable. The villagers were starting to believe Matsui Ichiro's nonsense, and this greatly disturbed the sender. Frustrated and suspecting Matsui Ichiro's religion was a cult, the sender hoped Li Yongjie could report on Fisher's Village and, ideally, portray Matsui Ichiro's religion—Ocean True Deity Sect—as a cult. This might prompt local authorities to investigate Fisher's Village.

The letter abruptly ended at this point, with ink smudges suggesting something unexpected had occurred when the sender was writing it. The sender had hurriedly placed the letter in the drawer's compartment, and it had never been retrieved since.

It was evident that the house's owner had likely met an unfortunate fate.

However, more importantly, the letter revealed significant information.

Firstly, it confirmed that Matsui Ichiro had told many lies. Fisher's Village had started following the so-called Ocean True Deity Sect only around twenty years ago, not the hundreds of years as Matsui Ichiro claimed.

Secondly, Matsui Ichiro was not a native of Fisher's Village but an outsider missionary. Yet, in just twenty years, he had managed to transform Fisher's Village into its current state, indicating Matsui Ichiro's formidable capabilities.

Lastly, Fisher's Village's Ancestral Hall had now become a place of worship, making it the most dangerous location in this module.

However, it led Liu Xing to a realization. He had initially assumed that the "class division" in Fisher's Village was hereditary, but it turned out to have been established only in recent years. This made Liu Xing think of a term—social experiment.

In many Western countries, experts conducted various social experiments to address cultural, political, economic, social, and natural issues. These experiments tested new hypotheses, assumptions, principles, theories, or verified existing ones in scientific research.

Liu Xing recalled a movie he had seen years ago called "The Wave," which depicted a teacher conducting a social experiment within his own classroom.