Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 27: The Escape Route

Liu Xing was now certain that the walls of the Castle were indeed covered with wallpaper, and the Elder Signs were nothing more than patterns on it!

Liu Xing was initially baffled, but he quickly came to realize that such a situation was to be expected.

After all, for the Elder Sign to have its intended effect, it must be drawn by a professional well-versed in the Cthulhu mythos, using magic and their own sanity to craft the Elder Sign. Only then would the symbol be effective, offering "protection" against the Eldritch Gods and mythical creatures.

For an ordinary person like Liu Xing, even if he knew what the Elder Sign looked like (and they were quite easy to replicate, significantly simpler than the talismans of Taoism), without the knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos, any Elder Sign he drew would be but an empty gesture, with its effectiveness being all too predictable.

Moreover, even for someone with specialized knowledge, drawing so many Elder Signs was impractical. After all, even the most powerful wizard remains human, and each drawing of an Elder Sign would diminish their sanity. Since human sanity is limited, at most, one might manage to draw a few dozen Elder Signs before succumbing to utter madness.

Thus, if the Elder Signs on this Castle's walls were genuine, Liu Xing could only remark that the walls might as well be renamed "the Walls of Madness"; it would be impossible to create so many Elder Signs without driving tens of thousands of wizards to insanity.

Now, Liu Xing had to admire the ingenuity of the Castle's lord, who had thought of such a cunning tactic. To print the pattern of the Elder Sign and make it into wallpaper before affixing it to the walls was a stroke of genius, creating the grand illusion of a formidable wall of Elder Signs.

Wang Qi, who stood nearby and saw Liu Xing lost in thought, couldn't help but be curious. He mimicked Liu Xing and carefully felt the walls, also discovering the truth about the wallpaper. He was about to express his amazement when he remembered the close call he had with an extraordinary punishment. He promptly closed his mouth, pondered for a moment, and then finally organized his thoughts.

"Liu Xing, the lord of this Castle is quite trendy, isn't he? Nowadays, we only wallpaper our homes, and yet he has started wallpapering the castle walls. It's indeed a colossal undertaking," Wang Qi said with a laugh.

Liu Xing came back to his senses and nodded in response to Wang Qi's words, remarking with some emotion, "You're right. The walls of EinsCastle must be nearly a kilometer long, with an average height of about eight meters. That would require at least sixteen thousand square meters of wallpaper. Applying such a vast amount of wallpaper to the walls is indeed a massive project."

Liu Xing had wallpapered his own home and even had Wu Lei come over to help. It took nearly two hours for the two men to cover an area of about four square meters. Liu Xing found it hard to imagine the amount of labor and resources needed to apply such a vast expanse of Elder Sign wallpaper!

Yet, Liu Xing had come to another conclusion: the lord of EinsCastle must have completely lost his mind; otherwise, he wouldn't undertake such a thankless task. It was evident that the Elder Sign wallpaper was entirely ineffective, but still, the lord had gone to great lengths to apply it perfectly on the walls. If Liu Xing hadn't accidentally touched the wall, he would never have discovered that it was wallpaper!

After muttering a few complaints under his breath, Liu Xing returned with Wang Qi to the large room in the main building. Wang Siyi was engrossed in a nameless book, while Bai Hecheng and Chen Ling were nowhere to be seen.

Liu Xing greeted Wang Siyi before asking, "Sister Wang, where did Bai Hecheng and Chen Ling run off to? When Wang Qi and I went out to keep watch, we stumbled upon something quite intriguing."

Wang Siyi's eyes remained fixed on her book. "Oh, them. Bai Hecheng wanted to use the restroom, so Chen Ling escorted him—considering Bai Hecheng's current state, he can't be left unattended. It's been nearly five minutes; they should be back any moment now. You guys sit down and rest for a bit."

No sooner had Wang Siyi finished speaking than a visibly irked Chen Ling returned with Bai Hecheng. Clearly, Bai Hecheng had been up to his usual antics in the restroom, causing mischief yet again.

Sure enough, after Liu Xing inquired about the matter, Chen Ling, on the verge of a breakdown, relayed to Liu Xing that Bai Hecheng, under the pretense of being blind and paralyzed, not only had Chen Ling place him in the correct position but also insisted on Chen Ling helping him with his trousers. Chen Ling, a straight-laced man, had never performed such a service for anyone before, and was dismayed that his first experience was for someone like Bai Hecheng.

Fortunately, this time it was just a minor affair for Bai Hecheng, or else Chen Ling feared he might have ended up having to do even more for him.

After hearing Chen Ling's rant, Liu Xing became even more convinced of one thing: it was best to stay as far away from Bai Hecheng as possible.

Once everyone was assembled, Liu Xing contacted KP004 to reopen the Private Room, then shared the intelligence he and Wang Qi had gathered. "To determine our escape route from the Castle, we scouted the main gate and found that escaping through the small iron gate is unrealistic without the keys. Forcing it open would require an axe or a similar tool, not to mention triggering the alarm system at the gate. So, I was wondering if we could open the large wooden gate through proper means. After all, we've been in the Castle for some time and have only seen Old Wayne as a servant, and there are tire tracks outside—indicating that the gate can indeed be opened."

"I and Wang Qi found a little cabin on the castle walls with a domestically made electric gate opener inside. The manual states that after a ten-minute preheating and calibration period, the gate will slowly begin to open, and after nine more minutes, the gate will be fully open. I believe this is our best, and perhaps only, escape route."

Wang Siyi and the others in the main building of the Castle, having heard the sound of dice hitting the floor, knew Liu Xing was making a check but were unaware of its nature. Now, with Liu Xing's explanation, they finally understood.

Putting down her book, Wang Siyi spoke seriously, "Then, if everything is as you say, Liu Xing, do we really have no other escape route from EinsCastle than this one?"

Liu Xing nodded affirmatively and said, "That is indeed the case, unless we can find a secret passage leading out of the Castle or a sufficiently long and sturdy rope. Otherwise, our best option would be to use the method of opening the wooden gate."

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