The split in the ground, just torn open by Bai Liu's whip, was writhing at the edges, extending tentacle-like blood vessels that pulled and connected to each other. The mud-like earth was slowly dragged together until it reconnected, and the split closed.
The earth emitted a satisfied yet hoarse wheeze.
Bai Liu glanced at his system panel and noticed that after he struck this land-like developer with his whip, his own rate of blood loss had actually accelerated.
Tang Erda also noticed this and frowned. "What's going on?"
Bai Liu calmly explained, "The damage has been transferred. Every time I attack this monster developer, it loses blood but can instantly heal the damage by draining blood from the other tenants and me on the land in District E."
"Attacking it is equivalent to letting it attack you." Tang Erda looked intently at Bai Liu, whose lips were drained of all color. "Then at this rate, won't it keep draining your blood endlessly? It would be better to transfer the property rights of the buildings in District E to me."
Bai Liu shook his head, his tone flat. "That only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. Is there any difference between it draining my blood and yours?"
Tang Erda was silent for a moment.
Bai Liu continued, "If seizing the property rights of the buildings attracts the big developers of each district, and this game requires us to own five buildings, then one of the five of us must hold the properties and be drained of blood to death by the big developer."
"This is a game. If this type of monster exists in the game, it must have a weakness. We need to find this weakness." Bai Liu's gaze was faint as he looked at Tang Erda. "Since attacks on the land the monster is attached to are useless, we need to find a way to cut the connection between it and the land, forcing it out of the land."
"The connection between the land and this monster?" Tang Erda asked back. "What do you think it could be?"
A smile slowly appeared at the corner of Bai Liu's mouth. "Based on the information from the game so far, I am indeed not clear, but thanks to your reminder, Team Leader Tang, this is very likely a game that can log into reality. If so, the most basic settings of this game must conform to the rules of reality."
"For example, how could land and a dead person be connected—" Bai Liu raised his eyelids, smiling but not smiling. "Naturally, it is because this person still owned this piece of land after death, which is why they attached themselves to it."
"In reality, what would make a person own a piece of land?" Bai Liu asked lightly.
Tang Erda paused abruptly. "A land-use certificate?!"
—————————————————
Reality, Sunshine Property Project.
Su Yang scanned the information on this developer surnamed Li at a glance, then looked up at his team members. "Besides this developer surnamed Li who is currently in prison, what about the other four developers?"
"It's been a long time since last year. As soon as the one surnamed Li was interrogated, they all fled. It wasn't until July of this year that we tracked their whereabouts again." A team member sighed and handed over a report. "But these four people are all dead. They died in a traffic accident."
"They're all dead?" Su Yang's voice dropped. He took the report with a solemn expression, his eyebrows arching. "Last June, they used the excuse of a company team-building trip to go abroad, bringing their parents, relatives, wives, and mistresses, and chartered four large buses to head to the border in low-key fashion. But they encountered a bizarre chain collision involving heavy trucks on the highway. The out-of-control, overweight heavy truck kept ramming forward, and all four buses tumbled over the guardrail. No one in the vehicles survived."
The team member nodded. "Because they had used fake documents and fake identities and even altered their appearances, and because everyone in the exploding buses had varying degrees of burns—and since everyone they were related to was on those buses—no one came to claim the bodies of these four developers. It wasn't until May this year that we dug up their whereabouts and confirmed they were indeed on those buses."
Su Yang looked up, staring straight at the team member. "If I remember correctly, there was an eighteen-year-old survivor of that major traffic accident last June."
"Yes." The team member looked at Su Yang in surprise. "Team Leader Su, how did you know?! This survivor is named Du Ying."
(T/N: Reminder, Du Ying is Du Sanying's real name.)
Su Yang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently.
Of course he knew. Tang Erda had specifically instructed him two months ago to investigate that traffic accident and look for a child named Du Ying.
He didn't expect to encounter it here again, and for it to have led to the deaths of these four developers…
All the coincidences were strung together so perfectly, weaving an invisible web that led them into a certain path.
It was as if some capricious god was flicking at a certain point in the world, dropping a card or a chess piece according to their own preferences and arrangements. These light, toy-like objects were enough to make the earth roar and cave in, leaving the ordinary people standing on the ground to be smashed to pieces, crying out in a bloody mess.
This kind of thing that descends upon a person, uncontrollable and like a joke, is called fate.
What is it called when it descends upon a group of people?
When a person is in pain, they can use the excuse, "Maybe this is fate, maybe I just have bad luck, I'm just unfortunate," to explain everything rationally, then watch those around them who are happy and endure living for the sake of this probability of happiness.
But what about a group of people?
When everyone around you is in such pain because of the same coincidence, what would a person think? Is the pain of one person diluted by collective understanding, or is the pain of the group, because of empathy and mutual understanding, actually concentrated on the head of every individual?
Can… can people still continue to endure and live under such circumstances?
Su Yang was dazed for a moment; he found that he couldn't give an answer.
A team member rushed into the room, pushed the door open with a bang, and shouted in a mental breakdown, "Team Leader Su! Seven patients from the Sixth Municipal Hospital who had just recovered have snatched razor blades from the nurses and committed suicide!"
—————————————————
Sixth Municipal Hospital, inpatient department rooftop.
Seven people in hospital gowns, their wrists bleeding, stood with their backs to the edge of the rooftop, pale and numb. In front of them stood a group of panicked medical staff, security guards, members of the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau, and police officers.
The medical staff was communicating anxiously:
"They suddenly grabbed the razor blade I was using for stitches! It scared me to death!"
"Luckily, the attending physician reacted quickly and snatched the blade away; the cuts weren't deep."
"Now they've run to the rooftop…"
One of the police officers pressed his hands down, hunched his body, and walked forward slowly. "Everyone, we can discuss anything; please don't act rashly."
An aunt with a thin build, dry lips, and withered yellow curly hair, dressed in a hospital gown, looked at the police officer with an expressionless face. Before she could speak, tears slowly dripped down.
"It's useless. What's the point of discussing?"
Her eyes stared blankly at a spot in the air, her gaze unfocused. She suddenly let out a laugh and lifted her hand to wipe the tears from her face.
"I don't blame you all. I know you tried your best. You were all helping us get relocation certificates today, but then this strange thing suddenly happened, and we had to move back…"
"We can only say that we were fated to be this way, unable to escape this blood-draining unfinished building."
As she spoke, the aunt slowly began to edge backward toward the rooftop behind her. She tilted her head to look into the distance, talking to herself in a trance.
"…Xiao Yuan has been holding on for us for three years. Xiao Yuan entered the competition today too. This child can't hold on anymore either…"
"If we continue to live, and continue to use our deaths to press all hope of survival onto him, that would be too selfish."
"Let's just end it like this. We've lived long enough. This old lady accepts it."
She closed her eyes, smiled twice, spread her arms, and fell backward.
"Don't die! You have to work hard and live well today!"
A man's voice came from the ground.
The aunt, who was just about to fall backward, opened her eyes abruptly and turned her waist and head to look at the ground. "Xiao Yuan?!"
The other patients with bleeding wrists also hurriedly leaned against the railing to peek downward. "I heard Xiao Yuan's voice too!"
"But isn't Xiao Yuan in the competition?"
"Did he win?!"
The same voice came from downstairs again. "Don't die! You have to work hard and live well today!"
When the voice sounded for the second time, the people in the building finally realized something was wrong—the voice had an electronic quality, like a recording.
Su Yang stood downstairs, aiming a megaphone at a SpongeBob-shaped alarm clock and pressing the play button again. "Don't die! You have to work hard and live well today!"
Then Su Yang moved the megaphone to his mouth and stated calmly, "People in the building, what you just heard is the alarm clock sound of Yuan Guang. I know he has a deep connection with you and has always been representing you in disputes with the developers."
"Yuan Guang plays this alarm clock sound for himself every morning, hoping to live well to secure more benefits for you. I believe he also hopes that you will live well and enjoy everything he has secured for you."
Su Yang looked up at the people swaying on the edge of the rooftop. "Please trust us. We will definitely do our best to deal with everything that troubles you."
His gaze was firm and clear. "Regardless of who imposed this misfortune upon you, we will give our lives to solve it for you!"
The aunt gripped the rooftop railing tightly. Her eye sockets were red, and then she slowly released her hands and stepped back.
The personnel behind her immediately moved in, pulling her and the other six people down.
Su Yang let out a long sigh of relief.
The team member beside him had a complicated look in his eyes. "Captain, how did you know this was the ringtone for that alarm clock?"
A hint of a smile finally appeared on Su Yang's face. He tapped the team member's head with the megaphone. "I found it when testing the device. This alarm clock rings whenever you press it, and it rings very loudly with great vigor, so I remembered it."
Collective fate, is it… Su Yang thought as he walked back.
If this group encounters someone capable of changing their fate, perhaps this path of life, which resembles an arrangement of malicious gods, can also be changed…
Su Yang was startled. He couldn't help but think of Bai Liu at the Rose Factory.
That guy also relied on his own strength to change the fate of everyone, including him.
The team member next to Su Yang followed him forward while looking down and quickly checking messages. "Team Leader Su, you just asked us to search to see if there were any land ownership certificates or the like in the four cars that had the accident, but we haven't found anything yet."
Su Yang nodded. "Then did you find anything at the location of the traffic accident?"
"This is what I wanted to tell you." The team member looked up. "When we searched the accident site, we found several file bags. The file bags contained almost all the real estate information of the four developers, except for the four illegal secondary contracting contracts for the Sunshine Property Project."
Su Yang stopped in his tracks and turned his head slowly. "Where is the body of that developer surnamed Li buried?"
"The body of that developer surnamed Li was cremated and picked up by his son. His son has not yet reported a burial location, saying he is keeping the ashes at home." The team member flipped through the pages quickly, then paused. "But our people found that his son has been frequently entering and leaving a certain cemetery since August, after the developer surnamed Li died."
Su Yang immediately issued an order. "Have people surround that cemetery! Do not allow anyone in!"
—————————————————
In the game, District E.
Bai Liu and Tang Erda quickly returned to the place where Liu Jiayi and the others were staying. Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke were crouching on the ground.
Lying on the ground was a dying NPC who barely had any breath left. His skin was shriveled, sticking to his cheekbones and forehead, and he was so thin that he was deformed. He looked more like a praying mantis than a person.
Tang Erda couldn't bear to look and looked away.
"Is he still alive?" Bai Liu asked calmly. "Can you calculate the rate of blood loss from this NPC?"
Liu Jiayi shook her head. "Although he's dying, he's still alive. I can't calculate the exact rate of blood loss, but if you calculate the speed of death, this monster should drain a person dry in about an hour."
Mu Ke frowned. "This rate of blood loss is too fast."
Mu Shicheng looked at Bai Liu. "Did you solve the monster?"
"No, that monster is very tricky." Tang Erda tightened his jaw. "We have to stay here for the time being to look for weaknesses. Bai Liu means for you to take this NPC to other districts first."
Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng were both shocked.
Especially Mu Shicheng, who jumped up. "Damn, you've got to be kidding, Bai Liu! You've got a blood-loss buff on your back that can drain someone to death in an hour, and then you want us to split up? Don't you know that splitting up in a horror story is an act of seeking death?!"
Mu Ke also frowned in disapproval. "Bai Liu, at least let Liu Jiayi stay."
Liu Jiayi looked up at Bai Liu, just about to speak.
Bai Liu scanned the circle with a faint gaze. He didn't speak.
Everyone fell silent.
Only then did Bai Liu speak, giving orders calmly and methodically. "This is not a casual confrontational match between me and you in the game pool, nor is it a horror movie. This is a competitive horror game tournament, and I am your tactician."
"Now I need you to split up, so you must split up."
Liu Jiayi, Mu Ke, and Mu Shicheng all lowered their heads and said in a low voice, "Yes."
"Mu Shicheng goes to District A, Liu Jiayi goes to District B, and Mu Ke goes to District D. A new property project appeared in District C, which should be a new branch line; the information should be richer. Team Leader Tang and I will go there after dealing with District E. Don't explore on your way."
"The first thing you do in each district is to clear the cemetery buildings. After clearing them, don't take the cemetery property rights. Keep clearing until you provoke the developer. That cemetery building is the developer's cemetery. Go inside to find the land ownership certificate. Once you find it, gather with me in District C."
Bai Liu looked at everyone. "Move out now."