Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 381: Hu Cang’s Corruption Begins

So, in this module, the condition for NPCs to awaken their memories doesn’t include certain attributes reaching a certain value?

If that’s the case, then can all the NPCs in the module awaken their memories?

Thinking of this, Liu Xing shook his head. Even if all the NPCs in this module could awaken their memories, Liu Xing felt that his group wouldn’t choose to awaken the memories of all the NPCs. After all, it wasn’t a good thing. Not everyone had the mental fortitude of Hu Li, who could accept reality directly. Those NPCs who couldn’t accept reality would definitely cause a lot of trouble for his group.

Liu Xing remembered that in the real world in the year 2000, the so-called doomsday prophecy had caused panic and riots in many parts of the world. For the residents of Panlong Town, the current situation in Panlong Town was no different from the end of the world. Who knew how many residents of Panlong Town would fall into a state of temporary madness and do crazy things?

Therefore, although there was strength in numbers, the side effects could be even greater.

At this moment, Zhang Jingxu and the others also came back together.

Zhang Jingxu and the others saw that Hu Cang seemed to be talking about something important with Xiao Mochen, so they sat down beside Liu Xing.

"What’s the situation? Why did Xiao Mochen come here?" Zhang Jingxu asked in a low voice.

Liu Xing didn’t beat around the bush and told them about the current situation, including his conversation with Hu Li.

Zhang Jingxu frowned and said in surprise, "I didn’t expect Hu Li and Xiao Mochen to awaken their memories. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing."

Wan Chongshan nodded and said, "I think it should be both good and bad. The good thing is that we have two more allies, especially Hu Li, who has provided us with so much useful information. Moreover, Hu Li’s ability is exactly what we need right now. However, the bad thing is also very obvious. We still don’t know much about Hu Li. If Hu Li is plotting something sinister in secret, then we might suffer a great loss."

"Wan Chongshan is right. Although we need Hu Li’s help very much right now, we also have to be careful of Hu Li’s possible schemes. After all, Hu Li has already wiped us out once." Li Dian shrugged and said.

At this moment, Hu Cang had already told Xiao Mochen everything he knew. Xiao Mochen, who had received too much shocking information at once, was now dumbfounded.

Hu Cang could only sigh when he saw this and said to Liu Xing and the others, "Mr. Zhang Jingxu, how was your harvest this morning? Did you find Wang Anquan’s house?"

Zhang Jingxu shook his head helplessly and said, "We found Wang Anquan’s house, but Wang Anquan’s family wasn’t home. We heard from people passing by that Wang Anquan’s family seemed to have gone to Rongcheng to visit relatives and wouldn’t be back for a few days."

Hu Cang nodded and said apologetically, "Uh, I see. Because Wang Anquan and I aren’t very familiar, I didn’t know that Wang Anquan wouldn’t be in Panlong Town at this time. I’m sorry that Mr. Zhang Jingxu and the others made a wasted trip."

When Zhang Jingxu heard Hu Cang say this, he quickly shook his head and said, "Mr. Hu Cang, don’t blame yourself. You can’t possibly know everything. Moreover, if it weren’t for your reminder, we wouldn’t have known that we could get enough gasoline from Wang Anquan’s place. Besides, we’re not in a hurry right now. We don’t need to get rid of the pig head butcher at this point in time."

Liu Xing continued, "That’s right. We have to take things one step at a time. Our goal at this point in time is to get rid of that Troll."

"Troll?" Hu Cang asked with a puzzled look.

Then, Liu Xing told Hu Cang about the Troll and its relationship with Zhong Rensan.

Hu Cang was stunned at first, and then he said in shock, "I see. I didn’t expect that there would be a man-eating Troll living in the basement of the Panlong Town Clinic. Speaking of which, my childhood friend Gangzi might have been killed by the Troll."

When Hu Cang was young, besides Xiao Mochen, he had another very good friend called Gangzi. Gangzi was born on the same day, month, and year as Hu Cang, and their parents had a good relationship. However, because Gangzi’s father had a bad temper and was very strict with Gangzi, whenever Gangzi made a small mistake, he would beat Gangzi up badly. Therefore, every time Gangzi made a mistake before his father found out, he would first come to Hu Cang to discuss how to deal with it, or ask Hu Cang to take the blame for him.

At that time, Zhong Rensan had just become the director of the Panlong Town Clinic. Because his medical skills were very good, he quickly gained the trust of the residents of Panlong Town. No matter if it was a major or minor illness, they would first go to Zhong Rensan for treatment. Moreover, because Zhong Rensan’s children were all living in other places (Liu Xing felt that the reason why Zhong Rensan let his children live in other places was probably because he was afraid that the Troll would harm his children), Zhong Rensan was very good to the children of Panlong Town. Usually, if they had any minor illnesses, he would treat them for free and even give them candies and biscuits.

So, one summer afternoon, Hu Cang, Gangzi, and a few other friends secretly went to the Panlong Reservoir to swim. As a result, Gangzi accidentally stepped on a piece of gravel and got a small wound. However, Hu Cang was worried that Gangzi’s wound would get infected and he would get tetanus, so he asked Gangzi to go to Zhong Rensan for treatment.

So, Hu Cang helped Gangzi to Zhong Rensan’s place.

However, halfway there, Hu Cang saw from afar Gangzi’s father riding his motorcycle back to Panlong Town. He immediately asked Gangzi to hide in the woods by the side of the road. Gangzi told Hu Cang not to tell his father that he had gone swimming in the reservoir, and to find a way to delay his father from going home.

Then, Gangzi’s father saw Hu Cang and stopped his motorcycle to let Hu Cang get on and go together. So, Hu Cang got on Gangzi’s father’s motorcycle and returned home. During this time, Gangzi’s father also asked Hu Cang why he was wandering around outside alone in the middle of the day. Hu Cang changed the topic and asked Gangzi’s father to play chess with him.

Gangzi’s father didn’t smoke or drink. His only hobby was playing chess. He would occasionally play a few games with Hu Cang, but for Hu Cang, playing chess wasn’t as fun as playing with his friends. So, as soon as Hu Cang saw Gangzi’s father take out the chessboard, he ran away.

Therefore, when Gangzi’s father saw that Hu Cang was so proactive in playing chess with him today, he agreed without hesitation and started playing chess with Hu Cang.

Just like that, they played for two hours. Gangzi’s father saw that it was getting late and that he should go back to his own business, so he said goodbye to Hu Cang with a smile. Hu Cang also felt that Gangzi should have already treated his wound and returned home by now, so he sent Gangzi’s father away.

However, what Hu Cang didn’t expect was that at five o’clock in the afternoon, Gangzi’s father came to him again, asking Hu Cang if he knew where Gangzi had gone. He had gone out after lunch and hadn’t returned home yet.

Although Hu Cang was a little surprised that Gangzi hadn’t returned home by five o’clock, he was worried that something had happened to Gangzi. However, looking at Gangzi’s furious father, Hu Cang decided to continue to keep his promise with Gangzi, lest Gangzi’s father would go to the clinic to drag Gangzi out and beat him up again after learning the truth.

Therefore, Hu Cang kept his mouth shut about Gangzi’s matter. Gangzi’s father could only leave helplessly and continue to search for Gangzi with his relatives and friends.

Then, at nine o’clock, Gangzi’s father came to Hu Cang again, asking him if he knew where Gangzi had gone, because Gangzi still hadn’t returned home, and it seemed that no one in Panlong Town had seen Gangzi since noon.

This included Zhong Rensan.

Just as Hu Cang was about to tell the truth, he remembered that when he, Gangzi, and Xiao Mochen had gone to Zhong Rensan’s place to get candy, Zhong Rensan had told them a joke—two children were so engrossed in playing that they didn’t return home before the time agreed with their parents. Therefore, they knew that if they went back now, they would be beaten up by their parents. So, one of the children suggested that they simply play until the next day and then go back, and then make up an excuse that they had encountered human traffickers and had a hard time escaping, so they wouldn’t be beaten up. In the end, they really didn’t get beaten up.

Thinking of this, Hu Cang felt that Gangzi was probably really planning to do this, so he once again denied knowing Gangzi’s whereabouts in front of Gangzi’s father.

So, Gangzi’s father could only leave helplessly and then searched for Gangzi with some relatives and friends around Panlong Town overnight.

The next day, they didn’t find Gangzi.

The third day, they still didn’t find Gangzi.

At this time, Hu Cang started to panic. After all, Hu Cang knew Gangzi very well. Although Gangzi was very afraid of being beaten by his father, it was impossible for Gangzi not to return home for three days. Therefore, Hu Cang made up his mind to go and tell the truth to Gangzi’s father.

However, before Hu Cang could even enter Gangzi’s house, he saw Gangzi’s father riding his motorcycle away in a hurry. Then, Hu Cang heard that Gangzi had been found, but by then, Gangzi was already dead. He had died on the mountain opposite the Panlong River. His body had been eaten by either a wolf or a wild boar. When he was found, he was already torn apart, his stomach was ripped open, and his internal organs were nowhere to be seen.

At that time, Hu Cang was so scared that he thought Gangzi’s death was related to him. If he hadn’t been hiding Gangzi’s whereabouts, Gangzi might not have died.

However, looking at the heartbroken expressions of Gangzi’s family, Hu Cang, who was still a child at that time, couldn’t make up his mind whether to tell the truth or not.

Before Hu Cang could figure it out, Gangzi’s family left Panlong Town, the place that had brought them so much grief, and disappeared without a trace.

So, Hu Cang kept this truth hidden in his heart forever.

After listening to Hu Cang’s story, Liu Xing asked curiously, "Excuse me, Hu Cang, didn’t you feel that something was wrong at that time? Where else could Gangzi have gone besides the clinic with his injured foot?"

Hu Cang nodded helplessly and said with a bitter smile, "I thought about that too at the time. After all, the weather was so hot that day, and Gangzi couldn’t have just run to the small mountain on the other side of the river with his injury. However, because Zhong Rensan had always said that he hadn’t seen Gangzi, and because I had a very good impression of Zhong Rensan at that time, and I didn’t know about the existence of the Troll, I didn’t dare to tell the truth, for fear that Gangzi’s father would blame or even take revenge on Zhong Rensan. At that time, Gangzi’s father would most likely try to kill Zhong Rensan. Therefore, I decided to keep my mouth shut..."

Liu Xing sighed and said, "From the looks of it now, Gangzi’s death should be related to Zhong Rensan."

Hu Cang thought for a moment and said affirmatively, "That’s right. Gangzi’s death is most likely related to Zhong Rensan. Because I just recalled the situation back then, I remembered that in that year, other than Gangzi, no one else died in Panlong Town. So, based on what Mr. Ryuusei said about the Troll’s settings just now, I can now be sure that Zhong Rensan killed Gangzi in order to feed the Troll."

"After all, it was noon in the summer, and the streets of Panlong Town were empty. No one would see Gangzi entering the clinic. Therefore, Zhong Rensan’s evil thoughts took over him. He lured Gangzi into the basement and fed him to the Troll. Then, he found an opportunity to throw Gangzi’s body on the mountain on the other side of the river, pretending that Gangzi had been attacked by a wild beast. Haha, thank you, Mr. Ryuusei, for bringing me such important information. I finally know the truth about Gangzi’s death."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and looked at Hu Cang, who was calm and composed. He knew that Hu Cang had been corrupted.

This was troublesome.

Liu Xing didn’t expect that Hu Cang would suddenly become corrupted because of his words. Moreover, looking at Hu Cang’s expression, he was probably planning to go and cause trouble for Zhong Rensan, and he most likely already had the intention to kill.

After all, in this temporally distorted Panlong Town, Hu Cang’s actions would no longer be subject to any constraints, except for his own conscience.

And now, Hu Cang, in order to avenge his good friend Gangzi, wouldn’t care about his own conscience?

Moreover, Liu Xing felt that Hu Cang didn’t intend to avenge Gangzi, but rather to atone for his own sins. Because it was not difficult to hear from Hu Cang’s words that Hu Cang felt that Gangzi’s death was largely due to himself, because he didn’t tell the truth.

So, Liu Xing put himself in Hu Cang’s shoes and looked at this matter from Hu Cang’s perspective. He found that other than killing Zhong Rensan, he seemed to have no other choice. After all, given the current situation, it was impossible to arrest Zhong Rensan and send him to court.

However, here came the problem.

Zhong Rensan was also an important NPC in this module. It was impossible for his group to watch Hu Cang kill Zhong Rensan!

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