By the second day, Bai Liu was already able to sit up, which the doctors found unbelievable.

But before they could investigate the reason behind this astonishing recovery speed, Bai Liu was taken over, hospital bed and all, by the domestic observation station.

At present, Bai Liu was sitting quietly on a hospital bed at the observation station, his head turned toward the howling wind and snow outside the window. Beside the bed, Du Sanying was sprawled over the edge, dozing.

A light knock came at the door.

“Mr. Bai Liu, may we come in?”

Du Sanying jerked awake from his dream. He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and looked at Bai Liu on the bed.

Bai Liu did not turn back. He was still looking out the window.

“Please come in.”

The door was pushed open. The five escorts and the station manager of the observation station walked inside. They stood at the foot of Bai Liu’s bed with a certain respectfulness, lowering their heads.

“We must trouble you for helping us resolve the heretic object we were escorting this time.”

Bai Liu gave a noncommittal hum and said faintly, “I didn’t do much.”

“Mr. Bai, you did something very meaningful.” The station manager looked up, his face full of joy.

“Previously, I heard that the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau intended to transfer the original plant that led to the formation of the Dry Leaf Roses to Antarctica for safekeeping. I didn’t quite agree with it, but because no way had yet been found to destroy the original rose plant, it had to be transferred here, where there are few people.”

The station manager breathed a long sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, you found a way to destroy it in time, preventing the other research personnel at the observation station from being bewitched by the rose and developing the desire to seize it.”

Only then did Bai Liu turn his head to look at them. Suddenly, he gave a light laugh and slowly repeated the station manager’s words.

“The thing transferred to Antarctica was the rose’s original plant?”

The station manager was startled. “...Yes.”

“I see,” Bai Liu murmured softly to himself. “Your memories were corrected into a rose plant...”

“...Only I remember that he died. Only I remember that he lived.”

Bai Liu turned his head back again. After nodding to show that he understood the situation, he stopped speaking.

What other people remembered was nothing more than the withering of an insignificant, fragrant rose.

Only he remembered that what had died was his soul.

The five escorts exchanged looks. In the end, they bowed to Bai Liu and thanked him, expressing their gratitude for his saving them when the plane had nearly crashed. Then they bid him farewell and told him to rest well.

The captain walked at the very back. Just as he was about to close the door, he turned back to look at Bai Liu, pale on the hospital bed.

For some reason, the words this person had said to him on the plane echoed in his mind.

[You have people you want to save, and I also have a monster I want to save.]

At that time, Bai Liu’s eyes had been so sincere.

The captain had served in the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau for so long. He had contained countless high-risk heretics, large and small, yet he had never seen such moving eyes on a monster.

Even though this living heretic had only shown such eyes in order to save a sinful, seductive rose, the captain could not help being moved in that instant.

That rose might have been equivalent to a friend, a lover, or a family member to Bai Liu.

Equivalent to everything he would have tried to save on the plane, even if he had to cut himself into pieces.

But in the end, he had saved the people he wanted to save, while Bai Liu had failed to save the rose he wanted to save.

For some reason, the captain felt a deep sense of guilt.

He fell silent for a moment, then spoke.

“I’ve already reported the process of you helping us to Captain Su. He said he would apply to the higher-ups to consider lowering your danger level and granting you greater freedom of movement.”

“The two locks on your body were removed during your transfer to the domestic observation station. Before the new danger-level assessment for you is released, the Third Branch will not carry out any monitoring actions against you.”

“Thank you for saving us, and for saving the people here.” The captain opened his mouth. “...Regarding the rose, I’m very sorry.”

Bai Liu did not respond to any of his words.

After the captain bowed slightly in farewell, he closed the door and left.

Once they were gone, Bai Liu quickly pulled the IV needle from the back of his hand. Under Du Sanying’s utterly shocked gaze, he ordered,

“Go lock the door. Don’t let any normal person in. Pack up and prepare to enter the game.”

Du Sanying looked tremblingly at the blood continuously dripping from the back of Bai Liu’s hand and could not help advising him in a small voice,

“The doctor said they gave you anticoagulants to prevent blood clots. He told you not to move around casually, or you’ll keep bleeding...”

Bai Liu gave him a fleeting glance.

Du Sanying shrank his neck and obediently went to lock the door.

“Enter the game. Liu Jiayi and the others should be waiting for me there,” Bai Liu told Du Sanying. “Liu Jiayi has healing medicine that suits me better than anticoagulants.”

Du Sanying asked foolishly, “What medicine?”

Bai Liu said, “The antidote.”

Inside the game.

Outside the small building of the Wandering Circus guild, Liu Jiayi was pacing back and forth anxiously. Mu Shicheng crouched blankly at the entrance, his hands on his knees.

Mu Ke leaned against the doorframe, motionless, arms crossed and head lowered so that his expression could not be seen.

Tang Erda stood beside a trash can, a lit cigarette in his mouth, distractedly playing with the gun in his hand. His movements were so fast that the naked eye could only catch afterimages.

Unloading, assembling, removing bullets and loading them again.

The magazine and chamber collided against each other.

Across all these timelines, Tang Erda had never imagined that Bai Liu would get into trouble while saving people from the Heretic Management Bureau.

His heart gouged out. Massive hemorrhaging. Collapsing in the cold snow and being held by Du Sanying for nearly half an hour before rescue arrived. The clothes on his body soaked through with the blood that seeped out of him.

Tang Erda had never seen such a... miserable Bai Liu.

Bai Liu had always been omnipotent, possessing everything. He was the evil god’s sole believer, the one chosen by the evil god. The meaning of this world’s existence had been to indulge him and allow him to play games to his heart’s content.

But this time...

The god who had always favored Bai Liu seemed to be punishing him harshly because Bai Liu had refused to follow the designed trajectory.

While Tang Erda was deep in thought, Mu Shicheng’s startled cry interrupted his line of thinking.

“Bai Liu!”

Everyone’s gaze instantly swished over.

Bai Liu was wearing an extremely loose hospital gown. His hand was still dripping blood, and a person was sneaking along behind him. Bai Liu’s eyes looked straight ahead at them as he walked directly toward the guild entrance.

Mu Ke lowered his arms. Mu Shicheng jumped up. Liu Jiayi stopped pacing. Tang Erda put away his gun.

Although Bai Liu looked to be in very bad condition, after they had worried for so long, this guy had finally appeared!

As soon as Bai Liu walked over, Mu Ke handed him a bandage, signaling for Bai Liu to wrap his arm.

Bai Liu nodded as he took it. While wrapping his arm and walking inside, he began issuing orders.

“I still have injuries on my body. You’ve all learned about my situation from Du Sanying. These injuries aren’t difficult to handle.”

“Later, go to the Game Pool and find a lower-difficulty game. After entering, Liu Jiayi will use her skill to treat my injuries.”

Liu Jiayi nodded. “Understood.”

Bai Liu looked at Mu Ke beside him.

“Is Wang Shun in the guild?”

Mu Ke nodded.

Bai Liu gave a nod and stepped aside, revealing Du Sanying, who had been hiding behind him the whole time.

“Have Wang Shun explain the basic knowledge of the game to Du Sanying. Record his number of games for me, and have Wang Shun set aside a fixed time every week to teach Du Sanying. The same content every time—because Du Sanying will forget.”

“Right. Remind Wang Shun not to have excessive contact with Du Sanying during lessons, especially emotional contact.” Bai Liu gave a simple reminder. “Du Sanying’s luck value will affect him.”

“Mu Ke, explain the team and the league to Du Sanying. Take him through one or two Level 1 games first so he can adapt.”

“Understood.” Mu Ke accepted the order and led Du Sanying away. “Follow me.”

Du Sanying looked at Bai Liu hesitantly. Only after receiving Bai Liu’s approving nod did he run after Mu Ke.

“Mu Shicheng.” Bai Liu turned to look at him. “I have a task for you.”

Mu Shicheng asked solemnly, “What task?”

“Because of... certain things Spades of Killer Sequence did, some of my usual weapons and props were cleared out. But the league requires these things, so I need better replacements.”

“I personally believe this cost should be borne by Killer Sequence.” Bai Liu raised his eyes. “They were the number-one ranked guild last year. Their prop inventory this year must be quite good.”

“Have Charles go negotiate first. If the other side is willing to sell, then buy. If they aren’t willing...”

Bai Liu’s gaze shifted down to Mu Shicheng’s monkey claws.

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Mu Shicheng bared his teeth and laughed, rubbing his wrists.

“Understood. Scope out their guild’s inventory master and corner him, right?”

Bai Liu nodded.

Mu Shicheng made an OK gesture and left.

Bai Liu looked at Tang Erda.

“You and Jiayi will enter the game with me. My current state isn’t suitable for entering a game alone with Jiayi. We would be surrounded and attacked. We need offensive support.”

Hearing this, Tang Erda’s tense nerves finally relaxed. He nodded.

“Naturally. Are we going to the Game Pool now?”

Bai Liu nodded.

Liu Jiayi also breathed a sigh of relief. She had actually been quite afraid that this guy Bai Liu would try to act heroic and enter a game alone with her.

He looked far too weak right now.

But it had to be said—even with Bai Liu’s haggard appearance, the moment he appeared, he had the presence of a stabilizing force. The entire guild immediately began operating, and everyone’s hearts settled.

He truly was a natural tactician. His ability to control the field was too strong...

Liu Jiayi stole a glance at the center of Bai Liu’s chest.

Bai Liu’s current calm and composed manner as he arranged matters for the league did not look at all like someone who had suffered massive psychological trauma, or someone whose consciousness had blurred so severely that he had been pulled out of the game.

Who exactly had the ability to wound Bai Liu’s heart?

In the last game, only Spades could possibly have hurt Bai Liu. But that guy’s level of natural airheadedness did not make him seem like someone capable of inflicting psychological damage on Bai Liu at all...

But the way Bai Liu wanted to target Killer Sequence and Spades the instant he came online made it feel like he really had been provoked by Spades.

So what exactly had Spades done to ruffle the feathers of Bai Liu, this perennial calm utilitarian?

Liu Jiayi rubbed her chin and fell into deep thought.

She felt more curious than ever before.

——————

Killer Sequence Guild Lounge.

Spades sat on one side of the sofa with his head lowered.

Sitting on the sofa opposite him was the Judge, propped forward on his knees as he scolded this “rebellious son” with bitter earnestness.

“Look at you. I don’t forbid you from playing games alone if that’s what you want. If you want to win, having conflicts with other players is normal. Who hasn’t been young and hot-blooded, wanting to be first in everything? As your tactician, it isn’t as if I can’t understand that.”

The Judge waved his hand in anger, his voice rising.

“But how could you go and pop another little kid’s—ptui, no—another player’s heart?!”

“This was just the Game Pool! It wasn’t the league at all! Was that necessary?! Huh?!”

The Judge slapped his thigh in distress.

“Spades, was what you did right?!”

Spades sat with his arms and whip crossed over his chest, leaning back against the sofa. His head nodded slightly, as if he were admitting his mistake.

Seeing Spades make such a rare and honest admission of fault, the gloom filling the Judge’s heart could only dissipate by more than half.

He softened his tone and advised,

“Spades, we’re still in the support season. If you arrogantly bully people from small guilds like this and word gets out, it will seriously affect the guild’s support rate. Killer Sequence doesn’t have many members to begin with, and our image is already intimidating. Many ordinary players aren’t willing to support us.”

“How about this? Let’s take some items and go visit them to apologize. Everyone can shake hands and pretend nothing happened. How does that sound?”

Spades was still nodding, his head almost low enough to touch his chest.

The Judge looked pleasantly surprised.

“Spades, you agreed! You can’t go back on your word!”

A team member nearby felt that something was not quite right. He cautiously stepped forward, squatted down, and peeked at Spades.

The member fell silent for a long while before turning to look at the Judge.

“Judge, Spades is asleep.”

The Judge: “...”

The Judge rolled up his sleeves and roared at Spades,

“Axksaj—Spades—you askjhdc—sooner or later, you’re going to kneel in front of the person you bullied and beg for forgiveness! You idiot!”

The other team members hurried forward to restrain the exploding Judge.

“Calm down, calm down! We still need him to play games!”

“It’s not the first day he’s fallen asleep during a meeting!”

“Right, right, right! According to the rules, if he falls asleep or zones out during a meeting, his penalty is that he must be forced to lose the next three games!”

“The whole team will monitor and block Spades for the next three games, strictly forbidding him from obtaining any victory from us or from the enemies. This is a punishment for him, and also a test and training exercise for us. Did you hear me?!”

The entire team was full of fighting spirit.

“We heard you!”

The half-awake Spades slowly opened his eyes and heard the Judge issuing orders while taking deep breaths.

“Alright. According to the rules, Spades fell asleep during a meeting, so he’s being penalized. He must be forced to lose the next three games.”

Spades, who had just woken up, slowly went,

“?”

Why was he being punished again?

Hadn’t he just been punished?