Wang Shun was currently buried in preseason team data, overwhelmed by the task of organizing it all, when his office door was suddenly pushed open.

A figure so tangled in messy steel-wire nets and handcuffs that it no longer looked human stumbled in a few steps, then collapsed weakly onto the sofa directly across from Wang Shun, giving him a tremendous fright.

The lump that could barely be called human-shaped slowly raised a trembling hand. At least eight or nine pairs of handcuffs dangled from it, along with three or four layers of steel-wire mesh. Its voice was listless.

“...It’s me, Mu Shicheng.”

Wang Shun said in shock, “You are... What happened?”

“Had the misfortune of running into a busybody.” Mu Shicheng laboriously tugged at the steel-wire mesh hanging all over his face.

However, the steel-wire mesh was strangely elastic and sticky. Instead of being pulled off by Mu Shicheng, it snapped back with a pa sound. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

His tone grew even more dispirited.

“...That Armand from Golden Dawn developed this thing for catching thieves specifically to target me.”

“So you were dealt with like this by him?” As Wang Shun spoke, he buried his head in the pile of documents and fished out the information on Armand.

Wang Shun pushed up his glasses and scanned the file. Then he came to a realization.

“No wonder you fell into his hands. He is a member of a special organization responsible for guarding certain valuable and dangerous items. He reached the position of vice captain at a young age.”

Wang Shun looked at Mu Shicheng.

“Supposedly, he specializes in dealing with thieves.”

Mu Shicheng let out a disdainful sneer.

“I’ve seen plenty of people who supposedly specialize in dealing with thieves. Not many of them can actually do anything to me.”

Wang Shun silently signaled with his eyes for Mu Shicheng to look at his current “decorations” before saying that.

Mu Shicheng noticed Wang Shun’s gesture and could not help becoming even more irritable. He shook the handcuffs hanging from both sides of his arms, his expression rarely turning dark.

“It’s different,” Mu Shicheng said, frowning. “This Armand gives me the feeling that he understands me especially well.”

“He knows my offensive habits, my style, the transition points between every attack skill, and uses that to restrain me in advance. This Armand even knows some...” Mu Shicheng paused. “Some things only I know, things I haven’t told anyone.”

“It’s like he has known me for a very long time, like he understands me even better than I understand myself...”

Mu Shicheng grew increasingly agitated. He frantically clawed at the steel-wire mesh caught in his hair.

“Damn it. Just thinking about having to face this kind of person as an opponent makes me want to explode from frustration!”

At this point, Mu Shicheng abruptly turned his head and looked at Wang Shun with vigilance.

“Don’t you dare use your [Universal Expert] skill on me right now!”

Wang Shun raised both hands to show that he held neither paper nor pen, and said helplessly, “I wouldn’t do that to my own teammate.”

Mu Shicheng stared subtly at Wang Shun for a while. Then he sat with his legs spread, his arms draped over the back of the sofa, and his chin resting on the backs of his hands.

“Hey, Wang Shun, do you know whether anyone has a skill that can peep into other people’s memories? Something like yours.”

He knitted his brows in recollection.

“That guy Armand said ‘long time no see’ as soon as he saw me. If I didn’t remember that I’d only seen him once, I really would have been fooled by him.”

Wang Shun hesitated for a moment.

“As far as the players I know go, there aren’t any.”

Although there was a kind of prop that could achieve a shared-memory effect—he remembered that the leader of Deer Hunter had one—it was not the same as the peeping type Mu Shicheng was describing.

“Tsk.” Mu Shicheng stood up and waved his hand impatiently. “Then you’re useless.”

After saying that, he turned to leave, only to trip over the shackles on his ankles and the tangled steel-wire mesh after two steps. He fell directly to his knees at the doorway, then began pointing at the pile of restraints and cursing them furiously.

Behind him, Wang Shun: “...”

He pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.

“First sit properly on the sofa and get that pile of things off you. Then we’ll talk.”

Wang Shun found a pair of scissors and pliers, but they could only solve the problem of the steel-wire mesh. The handcuffs could not be removed no matter what.

In the end, he sighed.

“We can only wait for Bai Liu to come back. He has the lava used for forging weapons. Maybe he can melt these things off you directly.”

Mu Shicheng took a deep breath and was about to explode, but someone else screamed even faster.

“Ahhh—!!” Du Sanying cried until his eyes looked like wavy poached eggs as he dragged a blood-covered Mu Ke, whose head lolled weakly, into Wang Shun’s office. “Help—!!”

Wang Shun was startled for the second time in one day.

“What happened now?!”

Du Sanying pointed frantically at Mu Ke, so terrified that he was incoherent.

“He, he ran into a lunatic who used a sniper rifle on him, but my luck value is maxed out, so that lunatic couldn’t hit the two of us!”

Wang Shun was puzzled.

“If he didn’t hit either of you, why did Mu Ke end up like this?”

At this point, Du Sanying finally broke down. He looked like a screaming groundhog with both hands splayed.

“That person realized he couldn’t snipe us with the gun, so he said something like, [Since he chose you to stay by his side, then as a counterfeit who possesses my memories, you can temporarily exist behind him. One day, I will take back this position that belongs to me from you.]”

“Then he used some very strange prop on Mu Ke, saying he had placed his memories into Mu Ke’s brain, and then he left.”

“After Mu Ke was hit by that prop, he went crazy. He used a knife to hack apart and kill a lot of monsters before regaining some reason and agreeing to leave the game with me. But he fainted as soon as he exited.”

Du Sanying said tearfully, “...Mu Ke looked so scary in the game...”

“He could have exited the game pool in time.” Mu Shicheng glanced sideways at Mu Ke, who was lying on the floor, and tugged at the shackles on his legs as he tried to go forward and help him up. “Why did Mu Ke have to stay there and waste time with a lunatic?”

“Mu Ke stayed for a reason.” Du Sanying swallowed hard and explained in a small voice, “Because that person said he was Bai Liu’s son...”

Mu Shicheng: “...”

Wang Shun gasped.

Mu Shicheng broke down.

“?!? What the hell?!”

Inside the game.

Bai Liu, unaware that he had gained a son, sat cross-legged on the bed, expressionlessly watching Spades sit on the floor and bandage his own wounds. Bai Liu’s fingers occasionally brushed over the muzzle of the gun in his arms.

...This person had lost so much blood, yet he seemed perfectly fine. He also recovered very quickly.

Spades straightened his back and frowned. He sensed a displeased murderous intent.

He was currently bare-chested as he wrapped his gunshot wound. From Bai Liu’s perspective, Spades’ waist, abdomen, and back were lean and solid, but the muscles were not overly bulky. They formed a well-proportioned, powerful layer pressed tight against his frame. As he moved to wrap the bandages and turned his waist, the muscles tensed and shifted beneath his cool white skin, carrying a smooth sense of beauty.

Spades seemed to notice Bai Liu’s gaze and looked at him inquiringly.

Bai Liu imperceptibly shifted his gaze away. His fingers stopped moving over the muzzle as he abruptly said, “You have a good physique. No wonder your popularity is so high.”

Spades slowly: “?”

He did not quite understand the connection between the two, but Spades keenly realized that Bai Liu’s current mood did not seem very good.

So, to avoid further conflict, Spades chose to agree with Bai Liu’s point of view. To make himself more persuasive, he even nodded and gave an “Oh.”

Bai Liu’s gaze became subtly unfriendly again, and he smiled.

“So the top-ranked Spades from last year truly climbed up through such channels. I really was ill-informed.”

Spades: “...”

He felt that he had answered incorrectly.

Before Spades could attempt another answer, a faint rustling sound came from the jungle outside.

Spades instantly retracted all his props, his gaze sharpening. His whip lashed out and curled back, and in the blink of an eye, he had encircled Bai Liu in his arms. With lightning speed, the two of them hid beneath the bed, and he pulled two medicine boxes in front of them to prevent anyone outside from discovering them.

“My teammates are here.” Spades held Bai Liu from behind—or rather, clamped down on Bai Liu’s waist. “If they find out I’m suspected of harming you again, I will be punished again.”

There were still bloodstains on the floor, and the traces of conflict in the room were obvious. Given Spades’ usual style and past record, he would be judged as the “perpetrator” one hundred percent of the time.

“Sorry. Cooperate with me for a moment.” Spades trapped Bai Liu in his arms.

This guy Spades had no sense of personal space at all. Seemingly afraid that Bai Liu would break free, he kept pulling him closer. The distance was truly too close. Ever since Bai Liu had slept with Xie Ta in the welfare home, he had not had such close physical contact with this person for a full ten years.

The texture was completely different from when they were children. His body felt much larger, and very aggressive...

Bai Liu leaned his neck forward, trying to pull away from Spades, his breathing quickening.

“...I won’t run. Loosen your hands a little.”

“I don’t believe you.” Spades’ voice was calm. His palm slid from Bai Liu’s neck up past his Adam’s apple, hooking Bai Liu’s lower jaw and pressing it back against his own shoulder, forcing him to stay tightly against his body without the slightest gap. He seemed to believe this was the only way to control Bai Liu.

“You are very smart, and you can use any small prop to escape another person’s control.” Spades’ gaze was serious as his hands pressed Bai Liu down, but his tone was solemn and held no trace of desire. “I’ve seen your videos. You may have hidden a prop somewhere on your body to resist me.”

The Judge was a very troublesome tactician to deal with, and Spades did not want to be found by him in the game. That would make this racing game much more troublesome.

Bai Liu had originally had no intention of escaping, but Spades’ sudden imprisonment made him subconsciously resist. However, this guy’s strength was simply too great. Bai Liu struggled several times without moving even an inch out of his embrace, and now his eyes were reddening from the effort.

His breathing was hurried, and his voice was hoarse, yet he spoke with a smile.

“If I wanted to hide something...” Do you think you could find where I hid it?

Bai Liu had not finished his sentence, but Spades behind him had clearly misunderstood.

After hesitating for a moment, Spades properly said another “sorry.”

This was the social etiquette The Judge had taught him: when doing something that might offend someone else, he should apologize.

But when The Judge taught him that, he probably had not expected Spades to apply it so literally—usually apologizing while simultaneously doing the very thing that offended the other person.

Like now.

Spades unhesitatingly reached his hand into Bai Liu’s soaked shirt. Bai Liu’s pupils contracted, and he could not help shuddering. He threw back a vicious elbow strike, but Spades’ reaction was swift. He caught Bai Liu’s elbow, pinned it down, and continued his search without being moved.

In terms of strength and speed, he held absolute suppression over Bai Liu. At such close range, once Spades wanted to do something to Bai Liu, it was very difficult for Bai Liu to resist.

There was a thin layer of calluses on Spades’ palm, likely formed by years of holding a whip.

Bai Liu arched his body. After his skin was rubbed by those calluses, it flushed red. He lowered his head and began to pant, his thin shoulder blades trembling.

Spades finally finished his inspection. Looking at Bai Liu curled into a ball in his arms, he felt a faint trace of guilt and said again, “Sorry.”

Bai Liu lowered his head and did not answer. His breathing was heavy and rapid. Spades could hear Bai Liu’s quick heartbeat and sense a strange emotion from him. It seemed like anger, but also something more than that...

“Are you still angry because of what happened earlier?” Spades tried to soothe the silent Bai Liu, choosing a different answer. “My physique is not good.”

Bai Liu remained silent for a long time. Spades thought he might shoot him.

But Bai Liu only waited until his breathing calmed before letting out a light, unreadable laugh.

“No. Your physique is very good.”

“I like it very much.”

—

Author’s Note:

Moderator, sir, this is only a body search and verbal inspection. I swear to heaven nothing happened!