Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Liu Xing frowned, unexpectedly the recent explosion had occurred in the intensive care unit.

"Well, that’s troublesome. The top floor of the hospital is the ICU, and we had basically confirmed that William was staying there. If William is dead and hasn’t been moved from the ICU, his body might be unrecognizable by now," Zhang Jingxu pretended to express concern.

However, Buke remained calm and said, "Don’t worry, it’s not a big problem. Back when I was on the battlefield in Iraq, I’ve seen all sorts of corpses, even those blown into pieces. I could determine the exact cause of death for those bodies. So as long as we can get access to William’s body, give me half an hour, and we can complete the mission."

Rhodes nodded, saying, "OK, since Mr. Buke, you’re so confident, I’ll trust you. Time is of the essence now, let’s head to the Glasgow Royal Hospital. Our informant there is ready to assist us."

Thus, Liu Xing and the others once again arrived at the Glasgow Royal Hospital and saw their contact waiting for them in the parking lot—a senior man wearing a white coat.

Alice raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, "I didn’t expect our insider to be Mendez. Mendez is quite influential in the Scottish medical community."

Liu Xing chuckled, "So Mendez is the legendary turncoat, huh?"

Alice nodded, smiling, "From the Scottish perspective, Mendez can indeed be considered a turncoat. But I remember Mendez came from a poor family. If it weren’t for the charity of a kind person when he was young, Mendez might just be an ordinary person now. Moreover, Mendez also studied at a university in England, so it’s normal for him to help us."

However, Liu Xing still had some concerns. Mendez might be a double agent; after all, betraying one’s own nation isn’t an easy decision.

At this point, Mendez took out a box and said, "Time is short. I heard they’ll soon send people to take away William’s body. We have at most half an hour to an hour."

Rhodes took the box, opened it, and found inside two sets of white coats, four sets of non-medical staff blue uniforms, and six masks.

After a brief discussion, Alice and Buke put on the white coats, while Liu Xing and the other four put on the blue uniforms.

Then, Mendez led Liu Xing and the others to the morgue of Glasgow Royal Hospital.

On the way, Rhodes couldn’t help but ask Mendez, "Mr. Mendez, do you know if the body in the morgue is indeed William?"

Mendez shook his head, somewhat helpless, "I’m not sure either. My specialty is neurology, so when William was brought in due to gunshot wounds, it didn’t pass through my hands. Besides, our director issued a gag order immediately, forbidding doctors and nurses involved in the surgery from disclosing William’s condition. So I only got some hearsay."

Rhodes nodded, this was within his expectations.

Meanwhile, Alice took the opportunity to tell Liu Xing and the others about Buke, "As you just saw, Buke is very obsessed with mysticism. But strictly speaking, he’s just a case of chuunibyou. He always believes he can communicate with corpses, which is why he’s one of the best in the English forensic circle. But my master has specifically observed him dissecting bodies and found that he doesn’t actually communicate with them. You understand what I mean."

Liu Xing nodded, understanding that Alice was hinting at Buke having delusional disorder, thinking he could communicate with corpses due to his supposedly extraordinary talent.

NPCs like Buke were quite challenging for players since they were mostly superficial enthusiasts. Although they were usually enthusiastic about mysticism, their reactions might be more severe than ordinary people when encountering mythical creatures and supernatural events.

So considering Buke’s potential delusional disorder, Liu Xing suspected Buke’s sanity points weren’t high.

At this point, Liu Xing and the others had successfully arrived at the morgue.

However, in the morgue at this moment, there was a police officer and a doctor examining a completely disfigured body wearing a police uniform.

Liu Xing frowned because the body looked a lot like Jack.

"Oh, Dr. Mendez, what brings you here?" the doctor said, somewhat surprised.

Mendez remained composed and said, "The director said to prepare to transport both William and the bodies of the deceased police officers, so we’re here to determine the identities of William and those officers, and to tidy up their appearance as much as possible. After all, they are heroes of Scotland."

Upon hearing Mendez’s words, the police officer immediately saluted Mendez and earnestly said, "Thank you, Professor Mendez. I hope you can arrange for my colleagues to rest in peace and prepare them for their journey."

Mendez nodded, pointing to the body suspected to be Jack, "Hmm, but speaking of which, do you have any issues with this body you’re examining?"

The police officer sighed, somewhat resigned, "This body was found in the ICU after the explosion. It’s the only body wearing a police uniform found at the scene. But according to our investigation, there were at least two individuals wearing police uniforms in the ICU at the time—one was our colleague, and the other was the assassin who came to attack William. So we need to confirm the true identity of this body to facilitate our police department’s decision-making."

Mendez chuckled, patting Buke beside him, "Then let us handle this matter. This is my good friend Witt. He currently serves as a forensic scientist in the Netherlands police force. So I requested to have him assist me with this work."

The doctor and the police officer exchanged a glance, then said, "We’ll leave it to you, Dr. Mendez. After all, I’m just a temporary recruit pulled in. I’ve been studying this body for half a day and still haven’t determined whether it’s a police officer or the killer."

Mendez smiled again and said earnestly, "Everyone has their specialties. Even if you ask me to identify this body, I can only say ’seek further advice’. But luckily, Witt is here. Alright, this morgue is quite small. You all go about your tasks, and I’ll contact the higher-ups once we have results."

So, the police officer and the doctor left the morgue together.

After checking the door lock, Mendez turned and said, "Alright, we can start now."

Buke had already found the body labeled "William Wallace" and, together with Rhodes, placed it on the autopsy table.

This body was also best described as completely disfigured, with severe burns all over, especially on the face, which was unrecognizable.

Buke put on rubber gloves and took out a scalpel to start his work, while Rhodes took out a small camera and began recording.

Soon, Buke came to a conclusion, "The cause of death for this body is indeed gunshot wounds. However, it’s strange because there’s only one gunshot wound in the heart area, but according to the previous video footage of William being shot, he was hit at least three times, none of which were in the heart area. So this body cannot be William’s."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised by Buke’s quick conclusion.

Rhodes, holding the camera, nodded and said, "OK, with this video footage, Scotland won’t be able to deceive us. But the most important question now is: where is William?"

"If everything goes as expected, William should still be in the hospital. Because I can confirm William was indeed brought to the hospital and fell into temporary unconsciousness due to excessive bleeding from the gunshot wounds. Since William was brought to the hospital, I’ve found an excuse to go to the hospital’s surveillance room and haven’t seen any suspicious vehicles leaving the hospital. So William should be hidden in a room somewhere in the hospital," Mendez said seriously.

Rhodes nodded, stroking his chin, "What do you all think? Should we try to find William? If we can find him, Scotland will surrender completely, and our mission will be more than accomplished."

Alice frowned, worriedly saying, "But that’s not easy. The hospital is so large, and searching for William without any clues is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Plus, we could be exposed at any moment. So I think it’s better to retreat directly. After all, our mission has already been accomplished."

At this point, Zhang Jingxu walked up to Liu Xing and whispered, "Ryuusei, what do you think now?"

Liu Xing thought for a moment and said seriously, "I think we still have a chance to find William. According to previous intelligence, William should still be in the hospital. And if William hasn’t been controlled by Scotland or the Cult of the Cadaver, then he should be hiding in the fire escape."

Zhang Jingxu nodded, smiling, "Great minds think alike. That’s what I think too. But I need to confirm one thing."

Zhang Jingxu turned and walked to Buke, pointing to the body suspected to be Jack, "Mr. Buke, can you determine the identity of this body now? I have a hypothesis that needs confirmation."

Buke nodded, not saying much, and began his work.

This time, Buke’s efficiency was even faster. In less than five minutes, Buke came to a conclusion, "The identity of this body should not be a police officer. Because the cause of death for this body is multiple gunshot wounds, and from the size of these wounds, they should all be caused by police-issue firearms. Assassins wouldn’t use lower-powered police firearms. Also, there’s something special about this body—the organs have undergone some degree of mutation, which wouldn’t be seen in a police officer, especially since they undergo annual physical examinations. If there were organ mutations, they would definitely be discovered and the officer would be suspended for treatment."

As Buke spoke, he removed various organs from the body’s abdomen, and Liu Xing could see that these organs were somewhat different from those of a normal person, appearing denser.

After carefully observing for a while, Alice said seriously, "The identity of this body should be confirmed as a follower of the Cult of the Cadaver. A long time ago, my master rescued a follower who had left the Cult of the Cadaver. That follower told my master that the Cult of the Cadaver was conducting secret research on a special drug. This drug can modify various organs of the human body, thereby improving human physical qualities to a certain extent, but it makes the appearance extremely monstrous and terrifying."

Buke nodded, suddenly realizing, "I see. I didn’t expect there to be such a miraculous drug. But what is the Cult of the Cadaver? Why haven’t I ever heard of it?"

Alice briefly explained the situation of the Cult of the Cadaver to Buke.

After pondering for a moment, Buke said seriously, "It seems that the person who contacted me today, Ling Chen, should be from the Cult of the Cadaver."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, surprised that Bai Hecheng and the others had already contacted Buke.

"Mr. Buke, can you tell us in detail how that person contacted you?" Zhang Jingxu quickly asked.

Buke nodded, somewhat embarrassed, "As you know, there are many strange websites on the internet nowadays. By chance, I entered a website that studied mysticism related to corpses. Many posts on this website seemed flawed to me, so I couldn’t help but register an account and reply, pointing out their shortcomings and my views. Then someone claiming to be a forum moderator contacted me, inviting me to participate in an offline event where I could see various valuable corpses."

"Did you agree, Mr. Buke?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

Buke scratched the back of his head and whispered, "I agreed. But at the time, I didn’t know he was from the Cult of the Cadaver. Although I’m enthusiastic about studying mysticism and corpses, my values are very upright, and I would never associate with the Cult of the Cadaver!"

Looking at the determined Buke, Liu Xing already had a plan in mind.

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