Real Cthulhu Running Game

Soon, Huang Haoran came back from shopping for groceries.

After handing the dishes to the waiter, Huang Haoran sat over and said, "Liu Xing, Tian Qing, you should be married, right?"

Well, Liu Xing didn’t expect that he would be urged to get married in this place. . .

"Well, we plan to get married next year, because there are still some things we need to be busy with recently, so today is a break from the busy schedule so we can go out and relax."

Liu Xing looked around and after making sure there were no outsiders, he went directly to the topic, "By the way, I heard that Huang Haoran is still a well-known online author. I don't know what type of your works are you? I recently I really like to read some Cthulhu-style novels, because these mysterious novels are so interesting."

When Liu Xing mentioned the three words "Cthulhu", Huang Haoran's brows suddenly frowned, but soon returned to normal. If Liu Xing hadn't been paying attention to his expression, he might have missed this detail.

Sure enough, Huang Haoran has something to do with the Cthulhu Running Group Game Hall.

"Oh, Cthulhu-style novels are indeed very popular recently, and several authors I know have also published new books in this field." Huang Haoran said with a smile: "But my own understanding of Cthulhu is quite good. Superficially, I only know some terms and relatively famous storylines, so I didn’t take advantage of the popularity to open a new book.”

"Really? Why do I remember that when Huang Haoran was in high school, you secretly read Cthulhu Mythos for a while in class? At that time, I was very curious about what kind of novel could make you desert."

Tian Qing's words made Huang Haoran frown directly, because it had been several years. However, when Tian Qing suddenly mentioned it at this time, Huang Haoran realized that something was wrong.

Seeing this situation, Liu Xing struck while the iron was hot: "So Huang Haoran, do you know about the Cthulhu Run game? When I was in college, I had a good friend who really liked playing the Cthulhu Run game, so I followed him into the game. , but at that time I just liked to watch the excitement; later, this friend of mine opened a board game store after graduation, and I would go to him to play when I had nothing to do, but it didn’t take long for him to suddenly He disappeared and his whereabouts have been unknown since.”

After hearing Liu Xing's words, Huang Haoran knew what was going on.

"Cthulhu Run Game Hall."

Huang Haoran sighed and said: "I didn't expect that you would also become players in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall, and you should have guessed that I am one of them. No, I used to be one of them, but I have made up enough. The points left the Cthulhu Run game lobby, or they didn’t leave completely.”

"Yeah, we didn't think of Huang Haoran at the beginning that you were also a player in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall. If I hadn't suddenly heard that you opened this B\u0026B, I wouldn't have remembered what happened in high school. Then it is inferred that you are also related to the Cthulhu Running Group Game Hall."

Tian Qing put down the tea cup in his hand and said seriously: "Actually, we are here to ask a question, that is, Huang Haoran, when you became a player in the Cthulhu Running Team game hall, you were in high school, right? But Cthulhu The recognized public beta date of the Sulu Running Team Game Hall was after we entered college, so is there some inside story that is not known to the public?"

"Yes, most players currently think that the open beta of the Cthulhu Run Game Hall started a few years ago, that is, after we graduated from high school. But in fact, there were several closed tests before that. However, the closed test was conducted through dreaming, so I thought I was dreaming at first, but after I added points to my character card, I found that I had indeed become stronger in the real world. , so I started to learn about the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cthulhu Run game.”

Huang Haoran looked at Liu Xing and Liu Xing and continued: "However, the closed test started very suddenly and ended without any warning. When we were in our senior year of high school, I have never been dreamed about by the Cthulhu Run Team Game Hall again. But when I was a junior in college, I entered the official version of the Cthulhu Run game lobby, and inherited my character cards and props from the closed beta, and also gained a lot of points. . Because during the closed beta period, more than 80% of the players who participated in the modding process with me did not survive, so I directly chose to run away after collecting enough points."

Speaking of this, Huang Haoran smiled self-deprecatingly, "How can the Cthulhu Running Game Hall be the kind of place where you can come and leave at any time? Although I don't need to enter the Cthulhu Running Game anymore. The lobby participates in the module, but the Cthulhu Run game lobby occasionally allows me to do some things in the real world, such as testing certain players; yes, you should also know that some players are also beaten by other players in the real world. Various pitfalls, and some players even lost their lives? Yes, half of the other players here are quitters like me."

"Or shadow players! In fact, we shadow players have a group. The group leader is said to be a big shot in the Cthulhu Run game lobby, so those tasks are sent to us directly by the group leader. The tasks can be roughly divided into There are two types. One is a general task posted directly on the bulletin board. If someone wants to accept this task, they can privately chat with the group leader. This kind of task generally has no limit on the number of people, but in the end, you can complete the task and get the reward. There is only one shadow player, because most of these tasks involve going to an area where there are no shadow players to test other ordinary players."

"Then there are special tasks given to you by the group leader in private messages. Of course, this type of tasks also tests ordinary players, but occasionally we will be asked to deal with some mythical creatures. However, most of these mythical creatures are just superficial. For example, I went there some time ago We have cleaned up a ghoul, but its strength is about the same as a human-faced rat. The group leader said that this is to maintain our combat effectiveness so that we can return to Cthulhu when necessary. Group Game Hall... Yes, even if you collect enough points to leave the Cthulhu Group Game Hall, you may still join the Cthulhu Group Game Hall again. For example, one of the shadow players I know is I collected enough points for the third time and chose to leave.”

Hearing this, Liu Xing couldn't help but feel shocked, because Liu Xing had never thought that the Cthulhu Run Game Hall would be so ungrateful. He agreed that he could choose to leave if he collected enough points, but in the end, he left. However, he is still subject to various restrictions from the Cthulhu Running Team Game Hall, and even continues to work for the Cthulhu Running Team Game Hall, and this time there is no salary for the work.

As for those superficial mythical creatures, Liu Xing suspects that they are all slipped through the cracks of certain modules. They have been assimilated into the real world for various reasons. Therefore, in order to clean up these unstable factors, the Cthulhu Running Group Game Hall has Only then did the shadow player take action.

"Well, Huang Haoran, do you know one thing? That is that the Cthulhu Run Game Hall is assimilating to the real world, because we have found that the results of some modules appear directly in the real world. For example, there was no such thing in a certain place a year ago. An earthquake occurred, and after a module, I discovered that an earthquake had occurred somewhere a year ago, and the relevant information was exactly the same as what was in the module," Liu Xing said seriously.

"What, there is such a thing?"

Huang Haoran was stunned for a moment, then turned around and said: "It is indeed possible, because I have discussed with other shadow players before what the Cthulhu Run Game Hall is trying to do. It is impossible to be idle. You want to watch us go through life and death in the game, right? That would be too boring; if that's the case, the purpose of our shadow players' existence is actually to clean up the mess in the Cthulhu Running Group game hall and solve the problems that come with the game. Mythical creatures from the real world so that ordinary people in the real world don’t realize in advance that something is wrong.”

"Yes, I think so too. In fact, I thought it was a bit strange before. Since the Cthulhu Run Game Hall has begun to assimilate the real world, why doesn't it just go all out and include the entire real world at once? What? What if we are assimilating bit by bit like this, what if we are discovered by ordinary people in the real world? As a result, I now know that the Cthulhu Run Game Hall has you shadow players responsible for cleaning up the traces." Liu Xing nodded and said.

"It seems that the Cthulhu Run Game Hall is really good at playing, and it has already started laying out the layout so early... No, it should be said that their purpose from the beginning was to assimilate the real world, and we are all their helpers ." Huang Haoran said helplessly.

The three of them fell into silence for a moment.

After a while, Huang Haoran said: "It seems that after I enter the Cthulhu Running Game Hall again, I can no longer think about collecting enough points to leave, because there is no point in leaving the Cthulhu Running Game Hall. Anyway, in the end, the Cthulhu Run Game Hall will be assimilated to the real world, so it is better to save a foundation in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall first, so that you can live a better life in the future..."

"Yeah, we think so too."

Tian Qing sighed and continued to ask: "So Huang Haoran, can you tell us what was going on in the Cthulhu Running Team game lobby during the closed beta? We are now planning to collect various information to find out Prevent the possibility of the Cthulhu Run Game Hall assimilating to the real world. After all, even if our family members can become players in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall, they may not be able to pass the first module, so for their safety, we I still want to look for the slim possibility.”

Hearing what Tian Qing said, Huang Haoran sighed again, nodded and said: "In this case, of course I will tell you everything I know, but I don't know if the information I know is of any use to you; first of all, I I entered the Cthulhu Running Game Hall in a dream. At that time, the Cthulhu Running Game Hall had a large square where players could form teams freely and decide what level of difficulty they wanted to enter. Modules at that time were divided into three types: easy, normal and difficult, but occasionally there would be nightmare difficulty modules, but as far as I know no one could pass the nightmare difficulty module."

"After passing the module, players can receive points as rewards, and the points can be used to purchase props or directly exchanged for attribute or skill points. However, players can also obtain props from the module and then exchange the props for points. In short, it is not difficult to improve the ability of your character card, but there were no blank character cards at that time, so if you failed in the module, although you would not tear up the card directly, all the values ​​​​of your character card would decrease. , the most obvious HP value among them, after all, you only have about ten HP, so a drop of five points at a time is very obvious."

"And when any of your values ​​returns to zero, then your character card will really be torn apart. As for you, you will naturally go to hell with your character card, so generally speaking, you only have two to There are three chances of failure, but many modules are of the confrontation type. Therefore, the elimination efficiency in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall during the closed test may be higher than today. After all, there will always be losers in confrontation modules; In addition, there is also a super large module that allows hundreds of players to participate at the same time, and the scope is usually a certain city, and each team needs to join forces again or fight against each other.”

“In this kind of super-large module, the tasks that players need to complete are usually to go to an evacuation point or to obtain certain props. For example, a super-large module I participated in took place in an abandoned city. Moreover, this city is located in Siberia, so the weather is very cold. As soon as we arrived, we needed to search for warm clothes and food so that we could survive ten days. As you can imagine, each player team fought for supplies. At the same time, there will also be some mythical creatures wandering in the city. In total, more than 130 players entered the module, and in the end, only 12 people successfully passed the level."

"The most important thing is that you also know that everything in the Cthulhu Run Game Hall is very real, or in other words, everything is real, but we still regard it as a game, but after experiencing that simulation After the group, many players had certain psychological problems. After all, in order to survive in that harsh environment, many people made some bad choices, so these players were constantly being harassed in subsequent modules. Eliminated, so I’m glad I got killed on day one.”