Under the King’s Guild’s overwhelming suppression, the overall statistics on Bai Liu’s small TV continued to plummet.

[System Notification: 0 new users liked Bai Liu’s small TV. 0 new users favorited Bai Liu’s small TV. No users have charged points for player Bai Liu.]

[System Notification: 0 viewers are currently watching Bai Liu’s small TV. The system is extremely disappointed by player Bai Liu’s lack of popularity. You have lost your qualification for the Graveyard Dance Area. Please rest in peace, player Bai Liu.]

[System Notification: Player Bai Liu’s small TV is about to be transferred from the [Graveyard Dance Area] to the [Little Black Room Area]. Please take the game seriously, player Bai Liu!]

If the Graveyard Dance Area was considered the game’s “Cold Palace,” then the Little Black Room Area was its prison.

Only players who were excessively inactive or deliberately passive toward the game would be exiled there by the system.

For example, if a player failed to enter a game before their seven-day limit expired, the system would forcibly assign them to a high-difficulty game, and their login TV would automatically appear in the Little Black Room Area.

In short, the Little Black Room Area existed as a punishment display zone.

The Graveyard Dance Area still retained a few ordinary spectators.

But the Little Black Room Area attracted only people eager to watch disasters unfold and kick others while they were down. Those viewers would never spend time liking or favoriting anyone.

In fact, small TVs in the Little Black Room didn’t even possess those functions.

The entire area was pitch-black, arranged like rows of prison cells. Small TVs sat behind iron bars inside square compartments. Their [Like] and [Favorite] buttons were locked and grayed out.

Only one option remained available:

[Charge].

In other words, charging points was the sole way for a player trapped in the Little Black Room to survive.

Among players, there was even a saying:

Once someone entered prison, only “ransom money” could buy them back out.

If nobody paid enough “ransom,” the system would eventually “execute the hostage”—

permanently discarding the player’s small TV into the game’s graveyard:

The No Name Area.

This place stood only one step away from that irreversible end.

The Queen of Hearts personally led the King’s Guild into the Little Black Room Area.

Bai Liu’s small TV had been placed in the most visible position among the prison-like shelves. Beside it glowed a line of scarlet text:

[Can leave the Little Black Room after receiving 100,000 charged points.]

Under the current circumstances, let alone one hundred thousand points—

nobody would donate even a single point to Bai Liu.

The King’s Guild had completely occupied the entire area, driving away even ordinary spectators hoping to watch drama unfold.

Without receiving any charges at all, Bai Liu’s TV would soon fall into the No Name Area.

The Queen of Hearts watched the screen calmly.

Her eyes remained half-lidded, as though she were quietly thinking about something—or perhaps simply lost in thought.

The fact that the Little Witch had exposed her trump card to Bai Liu seemed to have no visible effect on her emotions whatsoever.

She merely stood there in silence, waiting for the moment Bai Liu’s small TV turned to static and “died.”

The surrounding guild members formed a solemn circle around the screen.

At this moment, regardless of whether they hated Bai Liu, envied him, resented him, or wished him dead—

everyone maintained funeral-like silence.

It was the final respect offered to a future that the Little Witch had desperately protected with everything she had.

A future that should have become extraordinary.

Everyone silently looked up at Bai Liu’s small TV and waited for the system’s final announcement.

[System Notification: Because player Bai Liu’s small TV has failed to receive any charged points toward the 100,000-point target after entering the Little Black Room Area, the system now formally issues the following judgment.]

[Player Bai Liu has displayed severe inactivity and a negative attitude toward gameplay. Since entering the game Rose Factory, he has failed to attract a single viewer. Likes, favorites, and charges have all remained at an astonishing 0. Even after entering the Little Black Room Area, player Bai Liu has failed to surpass the zero mark, completely wasting the promotional resources previously granted by the system...]

[...Therefore, according to comprehensive system evaluation, player Bai Liu is no longer suitable for active display on small TV rankings and will now be transferred to—]

At the very last moment of the announcement, chaos suddenly erupted near Bai Liu’s screen.

A figure moved so quickly he almost became an afterimage, forcibly breaking through the King’s Guild blockade and charging directly into Bai Liu’s viewing area.

At the same instant, the numbers beside Bai Liu’s TV surged violently upward.

The crimson 0 under [Charge] instantly jumped to 14,000.

[System Notification: High-level player Mu Shicheng has charged 14,789 points to player Bai Liu’s small TV! Judgment interrupted! Player Bai Liu’s small TV has been retained.]

Mu Shicheng’s face was drenched in sweat. Even his neck glistened from how hard he had run.

He casually wiped the sweat from his chin, lifted his head toward Bai Liu’s TV, and let out a long breath.

“Made it in time.”

[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng has emptied his entire point wallet to charge player Bai Liu’s small TV.]

Right behind him came Mu Ke.

Mu Ke had clearly run just as desperately. Sweat clung to his eyelashes and nose as he stumbled through the opening Mu Shicheng had torn into the King’s Guild formation.

He finally reached Bai Liu’s viewing area before collapsing forward with both hands braced against his knees, breathing hard.

His cheeks were flushed bright red, as though he had exhausted every last ounce of strength getting here.

[System Notification: Player Mu Ke has emptied his entire point wallet to charge player Bai Liu’s small TV.]

The numbers on Bai Liu’s TV rose again—

from 14,000 directly to over 16,000.

The sudden appearance of these two troublemakers caught the King’s Guild off guard for a moment, but they quickly reacted.

“Throw them out!”

Someone sneered coldly while cracking their knuckles.

“Just the two of you, and you still dare provoke the King’s Guild? First time I’ve ever seen outsiders with this kind of courage.”

Mu Shicheng swept his gaze across the crowd.

A roguish grin spread across his face, arrogant and utterly unconcerned.

“Who told you there are only two of us?”

Mu Ke slowly straightened his posture.

After tidying his appearance, he revealed his usual refined, courteous smile.

“According to the diplomatic etiquette I recently learned...”

He slightly inclined his head toward the Queen of Hearts.

“Queen of Hearts, our entire guild has come to greet you.”

Behind them, more and more figures began appearing.

These players looked nervous, hesitant, even timid.

Their stats and levels were visibly mediocre at first glance—ordinary low-level players nobody paid attention to.

Normally, these people would flee the moment they saw the King’s Guild.

Forget confrontation.

They usually wouldn’t even dare stand nearby.

But today, despite their fear, nobody retreated.

Instead, they slowly gathered behind Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng.

One after another.

Bit by bit.

Like weak grains of sand gradually piling together into a dune large enough to swallow people whole.

Someone beside the Queen leaned over with an unpleasant expression and quietly explained:

“...They should be the low-level leftovers from the Carrion Guild Bai Liu took over during the last game. The stronger members already fled long ago. What remains are just trash players too scared to run.”

“...It’s not a serious issue. Easy to handle.”

The Queen turned her head slightly.

Her gaze landed on Mu Ke, who stood across from her with composed elegance.

“Not a serious issue?”

Her tone remained calm.

“Didn’t you tell me earlier that this guild had already been dealt with? That you informed them the King’s Guild would absorb them after Bai Liu died, so they wouldn’t interfere with our interception plan?”

Her dark eyes fixed steadily on Mu Ke’s faint smile.

“Then explain this to me.”

“How exactly were these people persuaded to gather here?” 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

—

Inside the game.

Half a dimensional hour earlier.

Carrion Guild Headquarters.

Unlike the King’s Guild, which directly purchased an entire building for its headquarters, the Carrion Guild operated out of a cramped low-rent apartment block.

Players only needed sixty points per night to stay there.

The Bronze-tier strategy videos on the room TVs were available for free, so many poor players chose these apartments simply to save the points required for buying game guides.

The Carrion Guild used those cheap accommodations as its base of operations, advertising “free low-rent housing” as a recruitment incentive to attract players eager for small benefits.

The Miao father and son who founded the guild were notoriously stingy.

Most guild profits went straight into their own pockets, while almost nothing was invested into infrastructure or ordinary members.

As a result, the overall quality of Carrion Guild players had always been mediocre.

After the Miao father and son died, any remotely capable players fled immediately.

The remaining members were even worse.

It took Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng considerable effort just to locate the guild headquarters.

But by the time they arrived, the King’s Guild had already visited first.

The remaining Carrion Guild players had gone from despair—

“Our new guild leader just took office and already offended the King’s Guild...”

—to ecstatic relief—

“We can join the King’s Guild just like that?! How can something this good happen?!”

So when Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng introduced themselves as Bai Liu’s people, the reactions they received were awkward at best and openly dismissive at worst.

Many of the guild members even looked down on Bai Liu, the new guild leader they had never properly met.

Nobody wanted to cooperate with them.

The situation quickly escalated.

Mu Shicheng slammed tables, cursed people out, and demanded explanations so aggressively that the argument nearly turned violent.

Of course, violence inside the game lobby was restricted, so the “fight” mostly consisted of people shoving each other, yelling, and crowding together.

For a while, Mu Shicheng alone looked capable of holding back an army.

Mostly because he cursed louder than everyone else combined.

He radiated the overwhelming presence of both a furious monkey and a battlefield general simultaneously.

But all of that chaos abruptly stopped after Mu Ke climbed onto a table with a megaphone in hand.

Nobody knew where he had found it in the apartment building.

Mu Ke stomped hard on the tabletop, trying to grab everyone’s attention.

Once the crowd finally quieted and stared upward at this elegant young master standing above them, Mu Ke cleared his throat solemnly and switched on the megaphone.

Then he prepared to deliver a speech.

Unfortunately—

Mu Ke had never used a cheap megaphone before.

And cheap megaphones tended to include prerecorded startup audio.

Mu Ke inhaled deeply.

“Everyone, listen carefully. We came here today regarding an extremely important matter. Bai Liu sent us as his representatives for the sake of all our futures, for—”

The megaphone suddenly blasted out a painfully loud advertisement:

“—BUYING OLD TELEVISIONS, OLD GAME MANAGERS, OLD MY LITTLE PONY GO-KARTS, OLD JUDGES’ SCALES—”

Mu Ke: “...”

Mu Shicheng, who was currently in the middle of fighting people: “...”

Everyone else: “...”

—

Author’s Note:

Carrion Guild:

“So our new guild leader is basically a junk collector?! No wonder his skill identity is called Refugee. Even the guild is called Refugee Circus. Following this guy means starving to death sooner or later.”

Bai Liu, still inside the game: ?