Chapter 974: Ithaqua's Escape Route |
After discussing the issue of "sparring," Mai Yuqiang left contentedly with Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen, knowing that Liu Xing and Sirius, old friends, were reunited and likely had much to talk about.
The situation was indeed as expected.
After Mai Yuqiang and the others left, Liu Xing couldn't help but ask, "Sirius, I heard you arrived in Morio Town quite early, and your resume looks impressive. Is that so?"
"That's right. My resumes are all genuine because Ithaqua brought me to the Island Nation decades ago. At that time, Bao's parents were secretly researching human body modification technology, so Ithaqua possessed Bao's adoptive father, stirred things up, and successfully developed Bao into a humanoid weapon," Sirius nodded and said, "You probably know the rest of the story. Ithaqua set up a scheme to kill Bao's parents, then created a secret cult to level me up while also accomplishing some tasks for Ithaqua, like going to the United States of America to assassinate a high-ranking Freemason."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xing had an epiphany. "I see. So the Soul Casket must be what you placed in Fisher's Village, right?"
Liu Xing remembered discussing the peculiar movement patterns of the Soul Casket with Sirius back then.
Sirius's expression turned serious as he explained, "Exactly. When I was preparing to come to Morio Town, I suddenly realized my Soul Casket was still with me, which didn't seem right. So I secretly infiltrated Morio Town and placed the Soul Casket in the room you were living in at the time... But now here's the problem: I'm still here."
Liu Xing understood Sirius's implication—if everything were to form a perfect loop, Sirius would have to die, specifically before Liu Xing arrived in Morio Town or reached Fisher's Village.
But Sirius was still alive and well.
Sirius sighed helplessly, "Yes, theoretically, it should be like that... But what scares me the most now is that I seem to be trapped in a time loop, endlessly repeating, with only me stuck in it while you, Liu Xing, have moved on."
Liu Xing nodded silently because, based on the current situation, Sirius was indeed caught in an infinite loop—first entering the Soul Casket from an unknown war years ago, unknowingly arriving in Fisher's Village and being discovered by himself, then being possessed by Ithaqua who helped him gain a new body, placing the Soul Casket in Fisher's Village before coming to Morio Town, and somehow returning to the past and re-entering the Soul Casket.
The order of these events isn't necessarily sequential.
Of course, there must be other details in this infinite loop... For instance, when Sirius returns to the Soul Casket, he loses his memory.
Otherwise, Sirius might already have hundreds of memories about the looping process.
Frankly, this isn't good news for Sirius. It's like a sword of Damocles hanging over him—no one knows when it will drop, forcing him back into the Soul Casket for the next loop.
Thinking of this, Liu Xing could only sigh and say, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you with that as it's beyond my abilities. However, I'm curious about one thing: why did Ithaqua help you?"
From Liu Xing's perspective, a "bug" like Ithaqua wouldn't intervene without reason. It wasn't necessary for Ithaqua to help Sirius rebuild a new body.
Ithaqua could have done so, but there was no need.
After all, Ithaqua at the time should have been well aware of its own situation and knew that a malicious bug like itself would certainly be targeted by the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall. So, it's better to avoid unnecessary actions to better evade the "antivirus programs" sent by the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall.
Yet, Ithaqua still went through great lengths to help Sirius regain a body and even brought him back to the past.
"I mentioned before why Ithaqua helped me. It wanted me to stay in Morio Town until 2020, as long as I didn't leave its boundaries... Beyond that, Ithaqua didn't ask me to do anything else," Sirius frowned, "And since you, Liu Xing, have regained control of this body, it means Ithaqua has failed."
Liu Xing looked at Sirius in surprise and asked, "Oh, so Sirius, do you know what Ithaqua intended to do?"
Sirius nodded, then shook his head, "Our Ancient Ones Clan and the Yis People are old acquaintances, so we understand each other well. After confirming that Ithaqua had possessed your body, I kept an eye on Ithaqua's actions and found them odd. Normally, when Yis People possess a human body, they stay at home collecting various information. But Ithaqua was running around all day."
"Besides, I saw the things Ithaqua created. Although they used a lot of high-tech I wasn't familiar with, I could still determine their general functions. So I knew Ithaqua planned to occupy your body long-term, not just return it after a few years. At that point, I decided to cooperate with Ithaqua because, frankly, Ithaqua is much more reliable than you, Liu Xing."
"Before cooperating with Ithaqua, it first created a temporary robot for me to use or had me assist in making things like the Time-Space Shuttle that sent us back to the past, among other miscellaneous items. These things combined indicated that Ithaqua wanted to completely eliminate you, Liu Xing, because I saw a terrifying presence capable of erasing souls among those items."
"However, Ithaqua first finished its tasks on my side before moving on to other things, so I knew nothing about what happened afterward... Wait, I do know some things. For instance, during the series of major events in England, I could see Ithaqua's presence because it used some devices we developed together. I could sense familiar energy fluctuations and saw the effects of those items in news reports."
"So, Sirius, you're betraying me. You knew Ithaqua wanted to take over my body, yet you still aided it." Liu Xing couldn't help but complain.
Sirius awkwardly nodded and laughed, "That's true, but Liu Xing, you have to admit, if you were in my position, would you choose to cooperate with humans or the Yis People? I'm sure you'd unhesitatingly choose to work with the Yis People."
That's undeniably true.
Liu Xing shrugged, "Alright, I admit Sirius, you made the right choice at the time. After all, an ordinary human stands no chance against the Yis People. And indeed, if I hadn't been lucky, I might have already been annihilated."
Just as Sirius was about to nod, he hesitated, looking uncertainly at Liu Xing, about to speak but stopping.
Liu Xing looked at Sirius, puzzled, and said, "Sirius, if you have something to say, just say it. Don't leave me guessing."
After hesitating for a while, Sirius finally mustered the courage to say, "I think Ithaqua might still be alive."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xing frowned deeply.
How could Ithaqua still be alive?
Perhaps, in Sirius's unclear understanding, Ithaqua only wanted to seize his body. Although this behavior doesn't align with the typical actions of the Yis People, Ithaqua might not have any issues doing so, as there's no rule limiting how long Ithaqua can temporarily possess Liu Xing's body.
That wouldn't be a big deal.
However, the truth was that Ithaqua had broken the rules of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, becoming a severe malicious bug. Therefore, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall would certainly find ways to eliminate this bug to prevent it from causing more serious issues... like creating more bugs.
This was definitely a situation the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall wanted to avoid.
So, Liu Xing could be certain that in England at that time, when he "successfully" completed the main quest, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall would legitimately take action to handle Ithaqua—not just manage it but completely eradicate it.
Since the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall had already intervened, Ithaqua should be dead, utterly annihilated.
Therefore, Liu Xing didn't believe Ithaqua could still be alive now.
However, he knew Sirius must have his reasons for saying that, as Sirius wasn't one to speak nonsense.
Thinking this, Liu Xing put on a serious expression and said, "Oh, Sirius, can you elaborate on why you think so? Although I can't be sure if I truly eradicated Ithaqua back then, given the circumstances, even if Ithaqua were part of the Yis People, there's a 90% chance it was dealt with because it wouldn't have had time to use its racial abilities to hide with others or in different time spaces."
Sirius thought for a moment, touching his chin, "When I was cooperating with Ithaqua, I left a contingency plan—a very hidden mechanism in some of the items. This mechanism could collect information about the possessed items, like whether they were activated, damaged, or destroyed. So after the outpatient building in the England hospital collapsed, I noticed something was activated. I'm not entirely sure of its specific effects, but I know it was meant for emergency escape, though the side effects could be severe."
Liu Xing instinctively nodded, then suddenly remembered something—character card!
When Ithaqua controlled the "Liu Xing" character card, it could use some of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall's features, like purchasing items and character cards in the shop.
When he regained control of the "Liu Xing" character card, he noticed his original points had decreased significantly, and some items had disappeared. At the time, he thought Ithaqua had messed things up.
But now, Liu Xing realized a possibility: Ithaqua might have purchased and used a new character card, transferring certain items to that card.
The Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall had two ways to tear a card—detachment and death.
Detachment was special; the player-controlled character would temporarily become an NPC. If the player couldn't complete the Resurrection Module in a short time, the character card would permanently become an NPC.
So, there was a possibility that after Ithaqua armed that character card, it deliberately caused the Mission card to detach. Of course, Ithaqua might have left an item on that character card—a fallback.
Then, when Ithaqua realized it was doomed in that module, it activated the escape item Sirius mentioned with significant side effects, perhaps transferring part of its soul to the NPC character card.
Successfully escaping.
Of course, because the item's side effects were severe, or perhaps intentionally, Ithaqua's portion of the soul fell into a dormant or near-dead state in the new body, evading the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall's detection and successfully hiding.
Alternatively, the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall might have "keen eyes" and successfully discovered and eradicated Ithaqua, which is why Ithaqua hasn't been heard from in years.
Better to believe it exists than not.
Liu Xing still believed the former, thinking Ithaqua had turned back into an NPC, hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportunity... or perhaps hadn't remembered who it truly was.
Thinking of this, Liu Xing had a flash of insight. He realized that Ithaqua arranging for Sirius to stay in Morio Town until 2020 wasn't to await his arrival, but because Ithaqua's other character card was acting as an NPC in Morio Town!
"This is my Escape Route! Liu Xing!"
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Chapter 975: The Troublemaker Chrisiano