Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 460: Tricks of the Cult of the Cadaver

Chapter 460: Tricks of the Cult of the Cadaver

The lead follower of the Cult of the Cadaver was a straightforward person, answering directly, "You can think of us as some extreme organization. The reason we chose to kidnap you all is merely to negotiate with the English authorities. However, let me make it clear, regardless of the outcome, within a month, we will release you. During this time, we won’t mistreat you. Of course, since you all are from the villa area, you might find it initially uncomfortable to adapt to the life of ordinary people."

Alice nodded and continued, "So, you’re saying that the recent kidnapping cases across England were all done by you?"

"Exactly," the lead member of the Cult of the Cadaver admitted without hesitation. "Because we are still an emerging organization with little influence in this world. So, in order to expand rapidly and negotiate with the English authorities as soon as possible, we had to resort to mass kidnappings. This way, the English authorities won’t take long to come to the negotiating table with us."

Surprised by their cooperation, Alice decided to ask a sharper question, "In that case, were the previous cases of missing foreign tourists also your doing?"

To Liu Xing’s surprise, the lead follower of the Cult of the Cadaver shook their head and denied, "The cases of missing foreign tourists were not our doing. You see, we’re just copycats. But later, when negotiating with the English authorities, we might also take responsibility for the cases of missing foreign tourists."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, not expecting the lead follower of the Cult of the Cadaver to say this. But soon, Liu Xing realized that it was still a conspiracy by the Cult of the Cadaver.

In simple terms, this time, the Cult of the Cadaver suddenly started kidnapping local people in England not primarily to pressure the English authorities but to develop a group of "casual supporters."

After all, in today’s Western countries, there is no shortage of white knights. Even ISIS has people trying to whitewash its image, so it’s quite normal for the Cult of the Cadaver to want to use this section of society to create public opinion.

Therefore, the Cult of the Cadaver now wants to package itself as a "vulnerable" organization oppressed by the English authorities, intending to gain support from some ordinary English people. This way, when the Cult of the Cadaver officially seizes power from the English authorities, they won’t be without a single supporter. Furthermore, the Cult of the Cadaver can also portray itself as "fighting for the people."

So, the reason why the Cult of the Cadaver is kidnapping these local English people might indeed be as they say – they won’t mistreat these kidnapped locals but will brainwash them to some extent before releasing them.

As for why the Cult of the Cadaver doesn’t admit to the missing foreign tourists’ cases being their doing, it’s probably because they don’t intend to let go of these foreign tourists.

Thinking of this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but furrow his brow, starting to worry about Tian Qing.

Soon, under the coercion of the Cult of the Cadaver followers, Liu Xing and others arrived at the underground base of the Cult of the Cadaver in the villa area.

Although this underground base was relatively crude, it was also fully equipped, roughly divided into two areas: internal and external. The external area was guarded by the Cult of the Cadaver’s followers, while the internal area was naturally provided for the kidnapped people to live in.

As for this internal area, it was arranged by the Cult of the Cadaver into large suites resembling hotel apartments, complete with kitchens and bathrooms.

Between the internal and external areas, there was only an iron fence for separation.

In this internal area, besides Liu Xing and others, there were seven other kidnapped victims. However, judging from the condition and expressions of these victims, they seemed to be treated quite well here.

At this moment, the Cult of the Cadaver follower who led Liu Xing and others into the internal area spoke up, "Alright, you can now choose a room to rest in. We will notify you at meal times. If you have any dietary restrictions, please inform us in advance so we can make arrangements. And one last thing, we have installed signal jammers here, so don’t expect to make calls for help. However, if you want to inform your family of your safety, you can submit an application to us, and we will handle it accordingly."

With that, the Cult of the Cadaver follower left.

Liu Xing furrowed his brow, feeling that these people from the Cult of the Cadaver were overly confident, not even conducting body searches.

Alice looked around and said, "This secret base seems to have been built recently because many places look new and quite rough. But surprisingly, there isn’t even a single surveillance camera here."

Zhang Jingxu nodded, taking out his mobile phone, "That’s right, not only are there no cameras here, but there aren’t even any listening devices. It seems this underground base is disposable for the Cult of the Cadaver."

"Mr. Zhang Jingxu, how can you be so sure that there are no listening devices here? Compared to cameras, listening devices are much more covert," Ryuzaki asked curiously.

Zhang Jingxu chuckled and shook his mobile phone, "My mobile phone here has a kind of black technology. Simply put, it can detect listening devices within a certain range. As for the specific theoretical basis, I can’t explain it, but I can assure you that the effectiveness of this black technology is very good, with an accuracy rate almost reaching one hundred percent."

Liu Xing knew that what Zhang Jingxu referred to as black technology was an item sold in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall’s Shop called "Yis People’s Black Technology Chip," which could be directly implanted into the mobile phone carried by a character card, granting the mobile phone a special function.

However, because the granted function had randomness, and there were all sorts of weird and bizarre functions, such as determining the age of everyone within a certain range; rating the appearance of everyone within a certain range (according to Yis People’s aesthetic standards); querying how many insects there were within a certain range...

Of course, although there were many practical functions, there were also many useless ones. For example, detecting the number of nearby listening devices; determining the number of mythical creatures within a certain range; being able to bypass any signal jamming.

However, because the Yis People’s Black Technology Chip could only be used once on the same character card, it was evident that Zhang Jingxu had pretty good luck to obtain a very practical function. After all, in many modules set in modern urban settings, the presence of listening devices was quite common.

So, now that it’s confirmed there are no cameras or listening devices here, Liu Xing and the others relaxed a bit.

"If everything goes as planned, Chris and his team should have already located our position. According to the plan, they should launch an attack here in twenty minutes. We just need to hold our ground, and luckily, there are plenty of sofas here we can use as cover," Yis People said, surveying the surroundings.

At this moment, a victim who had been previously captured walked over, smiling, "Hello, I’m Martha. Nice to meet you all."

Alice nodded, pretending to be puzzled, "Hello, I’m Alice. But Martha, aren’t we being kidnapped right now? Why do you seem so cheerful?"

Martha shrugged, still smiling, "Those people already said they won’t harm us, and they’ll eventually let us go. Plus, they’ve been treating us fairly well these past few days, so our mindset has improved a lot, even though the feeling of being restricted is still awful."

Alice nodded thoughtfully, "Let’s hope they keep their promise. But speaking of which, were you all kidnapped together?"

When Martha nodded, Liu Xing knew that this Martha and the other six "victims" were most likely also followers of the Cult of the Cadaver.

The reason is simple: Chris had mentioned before that there hadn’t been any similar kidnapping incidents in Manchester. According to the modus operandi of the Cult of the Cadaver, they would definitely let the police know when they commit a crime.

So, it can be inferred that Martha and the others are also followers of the Cult of the Cadaver, disguised as victims to gain the trust of the real victims and assist other followers of the Cult of the Cadaver in brainwashing the victims.

After all, people tend to follow the crowd. When the real victims see these fake victims believing in the Cult of the Cadaver’s rhetoric, they will also be more likely to accept and believe in the Cult of the Cadaver’s story. Then, gradually, these victims will be successfully brainwashed within a month.

Thinking of this, Liu Xing couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of the Cult of the Cadaver. If he and his group didn’t know the truth, they might have been fooled by them.

After chatting with Martha for a while, Alice finally persuaded her to leave.

After Martha left, Alice sighed and said, "It seems the Cult of the Cadaver is quite skilled at playing tricks. Martha and the others should also be from the Cult of the Cadaver. So, when Chris arrives, we’ll arrange for two people to keep an eye on them to prevent them from causing trouble."

Liu Xing nodded. Just as he was about to speak, he felt like someone was watching him from behind, or rather, watching his group.

When Liu Xing turned around, he saw a familiar figure—Bai Hecheng!

At this moment, Bai Hecheng wasn’t wearing a mask like the other followers of the Cult of the Cadaver, just a face mask. So, Liu Xing immediately recognized Bai Hecheng.

At this moment, Bai Hecheng was talking to a follower of the Cult of the Cadaver, occasionally glancing at Liu Xing’s group.

This made Liu Xing somewhat worried. Had Bai Hecheng also recognized them?

Of course, Liu Xing was now torn. Should he take the initiative and shoot Bai Hecheng?

Firstly, he had a reason to attack Bai Hecheng. Secondly, they were only about ten meters apart, separated by what seemed to be a not very sturdy iron fence. If he attacked, he would definitely hit Bai Hecheng. Moreover, with the Vityaz-SN submachine gun’s high rate of fire and damage, he should be able to kill Bai Hecheng instantly. Most importantly, Chris would also bring people to attack here soon. So, even if he took the initiative to attack, they should be able to hold on until Chris came to support them. And maybe with just their group alone, they could defeat the followers of the Cult of the Cadaver here.

So, what should he choose?

After thinking for a moment, Liu Xing spoke, "Be careful, act natural. Bai Hecheng is now outside watching us. I didn’t expect him to be here, but since he is, we have a chance to deal with a big problem in advance. So, should we wait for Chris and coordinate with him, or should we take action now to prevent Bai Hecheng from escaping?"

Before Liu Xing could finish speaking, he heard a gunshot from above.

Clearly, Chris had already begun his operation, and the followers of the Cult of the Cadaver in the external area had entered a state of chaos.

Seeing this situation, Liu Xing and the others no longer hesitated. While seeking cover, they also took out their weapons.

And Liu Xing’s primary target was naturally Bai Hecheng.

But before Liu Xing could pull the trigger, Ryuzaki shouted, "Get down!"

Liu Xing instinctively lowered his body, then heard a loud noise. He felt a wave of heat coming from behind, pushing him forward!

At that moment, time seemed to stop. KP Li Shunchan also stepped forward to join in the fun, saying, "Because you were hit by a human bomb. However, due to the inferior power of this poor-quality bomb, coupled with your location within the cover range, you only lose 1 HP this time. But because you have unhealed wounds, your wounds have burst again, and you will continue bleeding until proper treatment is received, losing 1d2 HP every hour."

Liu Xing furrowed his brow. It seemed he couldn’t heal his wounds well in this module.

After KP Li Shunchan finished speaking, Liu Xing slammed into the wall, feeling his body in turmoil. In short, he felt extremely uncomfortable and lost the ability to think for a while.

After lying on the ground for more than ten seconds, Liu Xing finally came to his senses, struggling to get up from the ground. Zhang Jingxu and the others also stood up at this time. Although they looked a bit disheveled, they didn’t seem to have suffered too much damage.

As for Martha and the others, they had turned into a pile of flesh by now...

Liu Xing quickly looked away and glanced at the external area, only to find that Bai Hecheng was gone, leaving behind some of the Cult of the Cadaver’s followers holding guns to cover their retreat. And at this time, Chris had already entered the underground base with a group of fully armed police officers, engaging in a gunfight with the followers of the Cult of the Cadaver.

Due to the advantage in weapons and equipment, Chris quickly gained control of the situation. However, those remaining followers of the Cult of the Cadaver, seeing that they had no way out, chose to commit suicide by swallowing their guns.

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