After leaving Ains Castle, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, whenever Gary got angry, he chose to pull out a gun rather than use magic. Even if he was a magician, his abilities probably were not much to speak of. He likely did not know magic such as Teleportation.
Then again, this was only a beginner-level Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG. How could an overly powerful magician possibly appear?
Thus, Liu Xing finally put his mind at ease. As long as nothing unexpected happened, he would clear this Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG without taking any damage.
With Wang Si Yi's Navigation Skill, Chen Ling no longer needed to make Driving checks. The van traveled smoothly, gradually moving farther away from Ains Castle and Ains Town.
Since everything had gone smoothly in their escape from Ains Town, everyone relaxed and began chatting. Wang Qi and the others were especially curious about and fond of Isabella. After all, Isabella was such an adorable little girl.
Back at Ains Castle, only Liu Xing had interacted with Isabella. While they had waited for the main gate to open, everyone had been on high alert, worried that Gary might suddenly appear and attack them. Naturally, they had had no time to speak much with Isabella.
Wang Si Yi held Isabella in her arms and could not resist stroking her head. "Miss Isabella, do you really want to leave Ains Castle with us? Won't Mr. Gary worry about you?"
"No. Gary only cares about his own affairs. There's no way he would worry about me." Isabella shook her head, her tone resolute.
Even the most impartial judge could not settle family disputes.
Liu Xing decided to skip over this somewhat awkward topic and asked Isabella a question that had been troubling him. "Miss Isabella, do you know where Mr. Gary went just now? We made such a huge commotion opening the door, so why didn't he come out to take a look?"
Just as Liu Xing had said, the tremendous noise from opening the door was impossible for Gary to miss unless he was deaf. Yet more than ten minutes had passed, and Gary still had not appeared. That was undoubtedly very unusual.
Isabella pondered for a moment before saying to Liu Xing, "Mr. Liu Xing, if nothing unexpected happened, I think Gary must have gone to the basement. Aside from the study and his bedroom, Gary liked spending all day in the basement. I have no idea what he tinkered with down there. Sometimes, I could hear piercing roars coming from the basement. They were very strange sounds, like something made by both humans and animals."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and continued, "Miss Isabella, is the basement you mentioned the Locked Room on the first floor?"
Isabella nodded. "Yes, that is the basement. More precisely, it is the entrance to the basement. Only Gary has the key to the lock on that door, and he has always kept it in his room. Gary does not allow anyone to enter that secret room. I remember that several years ago, a few travelers like you, Mr. Liu Xing, wanted to enter out of curiosity. They triggered the alarm while attempting Lockpicking, and Gary drove them out of the castle. I heard that those travelers were attacked by a pack of wolves on their way back from the castle to Ains Town. In the end, they all died in the wilderness, their bodies mangled beyond recognition."
Isabella's words made everyone look at one another, lingering fear rising in their hearts. The fate of those travelers she mentioned, who had been driven from the castle, was undoubtedly the ending Liu Xing's group would have faced if they had failed their mission.
However, what concerned Liu Xing even more was what exactly lay in the basement. Based on Isabella's description, there was a very high chance that a Mythical Creature was guarding it. If Liu Xing and the others had succeeded at Investigation back then, they would have faced that Mythical Creature upon entering the basement.
Liu Xing could not help feeling fortunate. After all, as the saying went, even the weakest Mythical Creatures had attributes that mostly reached the peak of human capability. Their fighting prowess rivaled that of a boxing champion or fighting master. Dealing with a few unarmed Ordinary Humans like them would have been effortless.
This truly proved the saying: in a Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, the more you knew, the closer death came to you. Luckily, Liu Xing and the others had all failed their Investigation checks. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Even the best possible outcome would probably have been leaving behind a corpse...
Still, Liu Xing remained deeply puzzled. Even if Gary had been in the basement, he should definitely have heard the commotion. So why had Gary not left the basement to pursue them?
Just as Liu Xing was wracking his brain, Bai He Cheng, who was tied to the roof of the van, slapped the window. This was the signal Liu Xing and Bai He Cheng had agreed on earlier: if anything went wrong for Bai He Cheng on the roof, he was to smack the window hard.
Liu Xing hurriedly opened the window, and Bai He Cheng stuck his head inside. "When I heard Wang Qi activate the Electric Door Opener, I wanted to go outside first and meet up with you, Liu Xing. But my eyesight had not fully recovered, so I accidentally tripped. Then I saw that the door to that Locked Room was actually ajar. Curious, I went in to take a look and found an open entrance to the basement. There was a foul stench coming from it, along with some strange sounds. So I casually shut the entrance, locked the room again, and then went to wait for you in the living room."
Bai He Cheng's explanation finally made everyone understand why Gary had not come after them. Bai He Cheng had inadvertently locked him in the basement. Isabella had also said that only Gary possessed the key to the room. Now that Gary was trapped in the basement, even if Old Wayne knew where he was, rescuing Gary would probably be extremely difficult. Given Old Wayne's frail body, forcing his way through the door would take quite some effort. Thus, during that time, Liu Xing and the others had managed to leave Ains Castle without incident.
Liu Xing had to admit that although Bai He Cheng usually loved stirring up trouble, he could still be useful when it mattered. If they were selecting the MVP Player of this Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, Bai He Cheng deserved it without question.
Just as Liu Xing was about to praise Bai He Cheng, KP004 suddenly spoke. "Congratulations on completing the Main Quest of this Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG. In five seconds, you will lose control of your characters and enter the ending scene. After the ending scene finishes playing, you may settle the game and return to the Real World."
The moment KP004 finished speaking, Liu Xing felt a powerful centrifugal force tear his soul from his body. Then, without any resistance, it passed through the roof of the van and floated into the air!
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