Bai Liu looked at the system panel that had popped up before him. After Alex’s favorability briefly dropped, it rose again. He realized that things on Tang Erda’s side had been handled.

At the moment, he was in a dormitory converted from an inn in the small town. Dozens of bunks for new recruits were crammed into a small room—this was already the best accommodation available.

Fortunately, everyone else was out right now, leaving only Spades sitting beside Bai Liu and Guy sitting opposite him.

Guy spread his hands and braced them on the bed. Noticing Bai Liu’s gaze moving around the room, he smiled in a friendly way. “Not used to it, are you? These are already the best conditions here.”

“Still, I’d say you two can enjoy this room to yourselves tonight and have a pleasant little world for two.” Guy winked. “Those new guys will be carousing all night in the town’s little taverns and brothels.”

“After all, they don’t know whether they’ll come back alive from the assault mission. They have to take the military pay issued in advance and indulge themselves at least once.”

Bai Liu looked at Guy. “You’re going too, aren’t you?”

Guy shrugged. “Everyone from Assault Team One is going. Usually, Alex doesn’t allow me to attend gatherings like this, but this time should be an exception.”

He smiled nonchalantly. “After all, even people about to be executed get a final meal.”

Bai Liu thought over Alex’s approach. “Alex will go with you, won’t he?”

“Of course!” Guy seemed helpless about being kept under such strict watch, but his smile was filled with happiness. “He wouldn’t feel at ease letting me go alone.”

Knowing that the main storyline NPC Alex would be there, Bai Liu immediately asked, “Can we go with you?”

Guy looked up, slightly surprised, then leaned forward and grabbed Bai Liu’s hand. “Of course you can! I thought you wouldn’t like that kind of occasion.”

Sitting to the side, Spades’s gaze slowly moved downward and landed on Bai Liu’s hand, which Guy was holding. He paused for a moment, then °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° looked away, lowering his eyes to his own toes and grinding them slightly.

Guy was completely unaware of Spades’s gaze and continued excitedly, “I’ve even prepared a program for Alex tonight. It would be wonderful if you two could come as friends!”

Bai Liu realized that this might be a hidden plot trigger. He smiled and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“My God, you really hit the nail on the head, Bai Liu!” Guy looked both troubled and happy. “I was really worried there would be no one to help me. This is a big program, and it has to be done behind Alex’s back. Those fellows I know don’t have the sense to keep a secret, so I could only work on it quietly by myself.”

“It would be wonderful if you and Spades were willing to help.”

Bai Liu smiled and said, “Of course.”

Guy stood up excitedly. “Then I’ll go get the checklist now. There are quite a few things to prepare for this program.”

Once Guy left, the smile on Bai Liu’s face vanished. Spades sat silently to the side. Between them remained a distance of exactly fifty centimeters.

Since leaving the camp, Bai Liu had kept this distance from Spades and had not said a single word to him.

Bai Liu talked to Alex, he talked to Tang Erda, and he talked a great deal with Guy. He had even shaken hands.

But he simply would not talk to Spades.

“Are you deliberately not talking to me?” Spades asked, his gaze lowered.

There were only him and Bai Liu in the room. Although he was not looking at Bai Liu, it was obvious that these words were meant for him.

Bai Liu was quiet for a few seconds. He turned his head to look at the door Guy had left open when he went out. “Yes.”

Spades looked up at him. “Are you angry because I kissed you?”

Bai Liu replied calmly, “No.”

Spades was puzzled. “Then why won’t you talk to me?”

Bai Liu turned to look at Spades and countered calmly, “Am I obligated to talk to you?”

Spades paused, then spoke again. “But we are in a special relationship. We should talk more.”

“That is in front of Guy, for the sake of following the main mission. Privately, we are nothing.” Bai Liu looked up. “I dislike you quite a lot, Spades. I’ve said it three times. The most recent time was forty-seven minutes ago. Do I need to repeat it again?”

Spades was silent for a while. The whip in his left hand dangled by the bed. He swayed it lightly, then said,

“That was forty-seven minutes ago. I thought you didn’t dislike me now.”

Bai Liu looked away. “Mr. Spades, has anything happened in these forty-seven minutes that would make me stop disliking you?”

Spades stared at him. “I helped you carry your bag.”

Bai Liu said coldly, “Tang Erda helped me carry it too.”

Spades said seriously, “When I helped you carry it, you were happier.”

“I saw you looking at me and smiling several times.”

Bai Liu: “...”

Bai Liu refuted him calmly. “I didn’t.”

Spades repeated with even greater seriousness, “You did. You were behind my back...”

“Enough. Shut up.” Bai Liu interrupted Spades. He took a deep breath, his face expressionless as he turned his head away. His fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the bed. “That smile wasn’t for you. It was for Tang Erda.”

Spades’s swaying whip paused for a moment. He gave an “Oh” and fell silent again.

“In front of Guy, we are in a special relationship, but privately, we are not, right?” After a while, Spades asked again.

With his eyes half-lidded, Bai Liu gave a hum of confirmation without turning his head.

Guy came back dragging several large boxes, a long pole tucked under his arm, and a notebook clenched between his teeth. There were too many things, and Guy got stuck at the door, unable to come in.

Bai Liu stood up to help, and Spades also helped take the boxes.

Guy collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily. “My God, doing this is more tiring than fighting a war.”

“What are all these things?” Bai Liu asked.

Guy sat up and gave Bai Liu a mysterious smile. “Things that can make that little rascal Alex smile at me all day. Of course, Alex usually smiles at me all the time anyway.”

“You know, when you like someone, you can’t help smiling at them.” Guy winked at Bai Liu. “Just like you do at Spades.”

The expression on Bai Liu’s face froze.

Spades, who was organizing the boxes, slowly straightened his back. He was staring at Bai Liu without blinking. Although he did not say a word, Bai Liu could read a triumphant You were indeed smiling at me from that guy’s flat gaze.

Bai Liu explained calmly, “No. I was smiling at Tang Erda.”

“Oh, come on!” Guy waved his hand and lay back down. “You can fool others, but that look and smile you gave Spades were exactly the same as mine when I was with Alex just now.”

“What a beautiful honeymoon period,” Guy sighed from where he lay on the bed.

Spades nodded in clear agreement.

Bai Liu slowly cast Spades a sideways glare. Spades’s nod paused for a second, then, with a complete lack of survival instinct, he said, “You were smiling at me.”

“You didn’t smile at Tang Erda.” He even emphasized, “You were wrong.”

Bai Liu smiled unhurriedly. He lifted his eyelids. “I was wrong. So what?”

“I smiled at you this time, but I can simply not smile at you next time. I can smile at Tang Erda all the time. After all...” Bai Liu smiled very “kindly” as he leaned close to Spades’s ear and whispered, “Guy isn’t here. I can smile at whoever I want, for as long as I want.”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

After speaking, Bai Liu turned around and went over the contents of the checklist with Guy.

Spades’s originally high spirits slowly plummeted again. He sat down slowly by the bed, lowering his head as he organized the items in the boxes Guy had brought back. He seemed to be deep in thought, and also somewhat dejected, as though he could not understand why things had turned out like this.

Guy took out the checklist and went through the items one by one. He noticed the little interactions between Bai Liu and Spades and nudged Bai Liu with his elbow, smiling knowingly. “What kind of little flirtation are you and Spades up to?”

“No flirtation could be as shocking as this program you’ve planned for Alex.” Bai Liu brushed the subject aside naturally. He scanned the items on the checklist and looked up at Guy. “The feelings between you and him really are good.”

Guy propped up his chin, reminiscence in his eyes and a faint smile on his lips. “It hasn’t always been good. He and I have argued.”

He quietly recalled something for a moment, then abruptly said, “Alex has a fiancée back in his hometown.” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Bai Liu showed the appropriate amount of surprise.

“What’s with that expression?” Guy raised an eyebrow. “I don’t do things like steal someone else’s lover. When Alex and I got together, he didn’t have a fiancée yet. His parents chose her for him later. After Alex received the photograph of the fiancée his parents sent, he immediately wrote a letter refusing the arrangement.”

“But do you know what? I think there may be something wrong with my head.”

Guy smiled a little helplessly, a little sadly. “At that time, I actually had a momentary urge to stop Alex from refusing. But that wouldn’t have been fair to that young lady. Alex thought the same.”

Bai Liu listened quietly.

“Alex is a very outstanding medical student. He made quite a few achievements during university and invented a reagent that can preserve a body on the verge of death. It can extend the time before death, allowing more dying people to be saved. That’s also why he became a clearing soldier; he wanted to see whether he could help these soldiers.”

Guy recalled, “That young lady, Alex’s fiancée, is just a small-town girl who admires him. Even after Alex wrote to tell her he had a lover, she was still determined to wait for Alex to return. She said that even if you are going to abandon me, you must do it in person. Come back alive and abandon me properly.”

“—I do not accept a letter rejecting my love from someone whose life or death is unknown. That is disrespectful to me.”

Guy laughed. “She is a very good girl. She knows I’m a man, but in her letters, she would even provocatively send regards to me, proudly demanding that we return alive and give her love a proper conclusion.”

He lowered his head gently and stroked a wedding dress he had taken out of the box.

“I am a cunning person. I didn’t tell Alex I was selected for the assault team, but I wrote and told his fiancée. In the letter, I begged her, imploring her to let me marry Alex before she did.”

“What a despicable thing to do. Anyone who heard it would find it disgusting.” Guy smiled mockingly at himself as he looked at the wedding dress. “That young lady didn’t write a single word back to me.”

“She simply... stayed up all night making this adult male-sized wedding dress and sent it to the front line, straight into my hands. Sewn onto the dress was the sentence: [God bless you two with eternal happiness].”

Guy raised his reddened eyes, smiling both tenderly and strained. “You know, Bai Liu, I am a very lucky person. I’ve never met many bad people. The people around me all treat me very well. They are so kind, so upright, and their souls shine so brightly.”

“But I am also in so much pain, so much sorrow.” Tears filled Guy’s eyes. “Because every single one of them is living badly because of the war.”

“No one can gain happiness from war. So why does war still exist?”

Bai Liu looked calmly at the weeping Guy.

He said, “Because God does not wish for you to be happy, so it created war.”

At night, the small town was brightly lit.

The impending great battle had lit the town up in advance. Everyone was drinking heavily, as though they had already won a victory. Beer foam was everywhere in the streets.

Assault Team One had taken over a small tavern. The veterans had nearly emptied the tavern’s wine racks. The owner was busy hauling more alcohol up from the cellar below. The concentration of alcohol in the air was so high that a person could feel slightly tipsy just by taking a few breaths.

Under these circumstances, people who did not drink stood out a little.

Tang Erda sat beside Alex with a glass of wine in his hand. They were drinking low-alcohol liquor. Even Spades had a glass of fruit wine on the table.

Only Bai Liu held a glass of plain water with ice cubes.

“You... don’t know how to drink at all?” Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu with slight surprise.

In his mind, it was quite inconceivable that Bai Liu would not drink, because he remembered that Bai Six drank...

Bai Liu looked at him gloomily. “A corporate slave doesn’t have the right to drink. The headache from looking at a computer while working overtime the next day would be explosive. I’m not going to look for trouble for no reason.”

Tang Erda: “...”

Life really has changed you a lot, Bai Liu.

Spades sat to the side, watching Bai Liu and Tang Erda talk without saying a word. He opened his mouth, as if trying to say something, but when he remembered Bai Liu’s earlier threatening smile and that sentence, I can smile at Tang Erda all the time, he silently swallowed it back.

He lowered his eyelids and looked at the vodka in the glass.

Generally speaking, The Judge also strictly forbade him from drinking. Although Spades was not the type to have an awful temper when drunk, nor the type to go crazy or lose his head, once drunk, he became especially stubborn. He would insist on getting to the bottom of everything, and anyone who spoke to him would be half-killed by frustration.

To put it simply, he would become a professional contrarian.

For safety’s sake, Spades did not plan to touch the alcohol. After all, The Judge had lectured him many times, saying that he easily offended people when he drank.

Although Spades did not know what was so frightening about offending people, after being lectured by The Judge so many times, he would not take the initiative to drink.

Bai Liu took a sip of ice water and watched Tang Erda drink as if he were drinking water, his interest piqued. “Your alcohol tolerance is actually quite good.”

Tang Erda’s motion of lifting his glass paused. “There was a time... when I drowned my sorrows in alcohol. I built up a tolerance from drinking too much.”

Bai Liu immediately realized what Tang Erda was referring to. He said apologetically, “I’m sorry.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Tang Erda shook his head. He was quiet for a moment, then drank another half glass, yet his eyes remained clear. “I don’t do that anymore. I drink much less now.”

Bai Liu smiled. “A high tolerance is a good thing. I actually rather like that about you.”

Sitting behind Bai Liu, Spades inconspicuously straightened his back.

Tang Erda had helped Bai Liu fend off quite a few NPCs who had come over to drink with him because of his high tolerance. That was why Bai Liu had said that.

But Spades’s understanding was flawed. He sat down in front of Tang Erda with his whip, expressionless, pushing Bai Liu aside. He placed his glass in front of Tang Erda. “Do you want to drink?”

Tang Erda, who had been immersed in his memories: “???”

Tang Erda looked past Spades toward Bai Liu behind him, full of question marks. But before he could see him, Spades tilted his shoulder and completely blocked Bai Liu from his view.

Spades said coldly, “I’m asking you to drink. Why are you looking at Bai Liu?”

Bai Liu’s calm voice came from behind Spades. “Drinking causes trouble. Don’t drink with him—”

Before he could finish, several drunkards nearby were drawn over by this tense atmosphere. They sat at the bar with wide eyes, clapping and jeering, “Someone’s having a vodka showdown!”

“Come on, come on! Boss, bring out all the vodka in your inn!”

“Have a drinking war before the great war!”

In this atmosphere of extreme indulgence, almost in the blink of an eye, the bar around Spades and Tang Erda was densely packed with all kinds of distilled liquor. A crowd of people whistled and screamed, fully enjoying the spectacle.

Spades’s face remained expressionless. He jerked his chin at Tang Erda. “Drinking?”

As a main attacker, Tang Erda would completely follow Bai Liu’s instructions inside a game. He instinctively looked through the crowd for Bai Liu.

Spades stood up to block Tang Erda’s line of sight, meeting his eyes. “How long do you need to think about it?”

“He’s not drinking with you.” Bai Liu stepped out from the crowd. He stood in front of Tang Erda and looked up directly at Spades.

Tang Erda breathed a sigh of relief, raising his hands in surrender.

A great wave of boos erupted from the side as the onlookers prepared to leave in disappointment.

“You and I are a couple.” Spades refused to give up. He reached out and pulled Alex, who was trying to sneak out of the crowd, into the circle. Then he stared straight at Bai Liu. “Alex is here. You should stand on my side. We are in a special relationship now.”

Alex, who had inexplicably been dragged into the field of conflict, covered his face and pretended he did not exist.

God! I’d rather go to the front line!

Bai Liu sneered. “So what if it’s a special relationship? Tang Erda and I are also in a special relationship—soulmates. You’re nothing but an act.”

Tang Erda felt a chill run down his spine from Bai Liu’s smile. He felt that this time, Spades had truly provoked Bai Liu into real anger.

Not wanting to be dragged into the mess, Tang Erda tried to stay calm and stiffly retreat, but Bai Liu grabbed him by the collar and pulled him forward. Bai Liu even patted Tang Erda’s shoulder twice.

Spades’s eyes darkened as he looked at Tang Erda’s shoulder. “A special relationship can only accommodate two people.”

“Bai Liu, you were wrong again.”

Bai Liu smiled with unprecedented tenderness. “How could I be wrong? He and I are in a special relationship. I just need to end the special relationship with you, don’t I?”

Spades bit his lower lip, some faint emotion lurking in his dark eyes.

Tang Erda: “...”

No, Bai Liu is really angry! He can’t handle this scene!

If only Liu Jiayi were here. He completely did not understand what Bai Liu and Spades were doing!

Spades seemed to realize that he could not argue Bai Liu down. He bypassed Bai Liu and gazed at Tang Erda. “Are you drinking with me or not?”

Bai Liu’s smile was kind and friendly as he turned to block Tang Erda. “He is my soulmate. I have to be responsible for him. If you want to drink with him, there is no reason for me to just stand by and watch.”

He reached out and snatched the glass of vodka from Spades’s hand, drinking it down in one go. Then he turned the glass upside down and placed it steadily on the table.

Bai Liu looked up and smiled. “How about you and I have a drinking contest instead?”

Spades stared at Bai Liu for a while. Realizing that Bai Liu truly would not back down and would definitely block the drink for Tang Erda, he went completely quiet. He stood motionless in place, the fingers gripping his whip curling slightly.

Alex, whose arm was being held so tightly by Spades that he could not leave: “...”

Brother, don’t take your anger out on my arm. It hurts!

Guy, help—!!

Just when Alex thought Spades was about to directly hit the “homewrecker” Tang Erda and the “scumbag” Bai Liu, Spades drank a glass without hesitation.

Spades imitated Bai Liu’s motion of putting down the glass, his eyes staring straight at Bai Liu. “Fine. We compete. If I win, we are still in a special relationship. You have to admit that you were smiling at me before, not at Tang Erda.”

Bai Liu paused imperceptibly. His fingers tightened around the glass. A very faint flush from the alcohol appeared beneath his eyes. For some reason, his voice softened slightly.

“...Then I’ll admit it.”

—

Author’s Note:

Minors are strictly forbidden from drinking!!!!

Issuing a warning at the top of my lungs!!

Spades is the kind of person who, if he goes to see a movie with Bai Liu and finds that a certain detail he remembers is different from Bai Liu’s version, will seriously debate with Bai Liu until the next morning. He might even buy another ticket for a midnight showing to check the details, then come back and wake Bai Liu, who is already asleep, just to prove that he himself was right—that kind of blunt, clueless boyfriend behavior.

Also, two people with an extremely strong desire to win, but who actually can’t drink at all, are having a drinking contest. Well.