Bai Liu (6) surveyed the surroundings with a calm and composed air, his gaze sweeping from the environment to Yuan Guang, who had collapsed behind him, and Shi Qian, who was behind Bai Liu. He then refocused his eyes on Bai Liu, the smile on his face deepening slightly. "From the look of this map, you are in the 'How to Own Five Buildings' instance, and they are your enemies who used a skill to summon us out?"
"Very interesting." Bai Liu (6) looked at Bai Liu with a beaming smile, his eyes moving down to the somewhat worn white shirt Bai Liu was wearing. "With such cheap attire, you probably haven't completed your initial points accumulation yet. Is this your first time in the League?"
"Do you want me to help you win?" Bai Liu (6) trailed the black whip behind him, smiling as he took two steps toward Bai Liu, his tone rising at the end. "How about we make a deal? I'll help you kill our summoners—your enemies—and in exchange—"
Bai Liu calmly finished the words for him. "I sell my soul to you, right?"
Bai Liu (6) raised an eyebrow. "It seems we think alike."
"It's truly a pity. When you were younger, your sense of territory and interest wasn't this strong, and we could still cooperate." Bai Liu (6) let out a soft sigh. He leaned his left elbow on the back of his right hand, resting his chin on fingers clad in black leather gloves, wearing a half-smile. "Now that you've formed your own interest group, you aren't so easy to deceive anymore. It seems we can no longer cooperate."
Bai Liu agreed indifferently. "That should be the case."
"Since that's how it is…" Bai Liu (6) turned to look at Yuan Guang behind him. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, then knelt on one knee beside Yuan Guang.
Bai Liu (6) leaned over and whispered into the ear of the immobilized Yuan Guang. "Your teammate is about to die. You summoned me because you want to save her, kill your opponent, and win this match, correct?"
Yuan Guang nodded with great difficulty.
"I will fulfill your wish. In exchange—" Bai Liu (6) lowered his eyelashes and gently pressed a ten-thousand-point bill onto Yuan Guang's forehead, covering his eyes. "I will give you these ten thousand points, and you sell your soul to me."
Yuan Guang's chest heaved violently once. He then took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and a tear escaped the corner of his eye as he nodded with all his might.
"Then the deal is struck." Bai Liu (6) stood up. He flicked a soul bill belonging to Yuan Guang—which was slowly generating—between two fingers and looked up at Bai Liu with a smile. "Since we cannot cooperate, I have no choice but to stand on the opposite side."
"After all, when I play games—"
"Interest is the primary objective."
Bai Liu (6) folded his long fingers inward toward his palm, making the soul bill disappear. At the same time, he began issuing orders methodically. "Jiayi, first treat the injured teammate of the summoner. After settling the summoner, go to Sector B to get the land certificates, and at the same time, kill your own kind."
"Mu Shicheng, go to Sector A, take Tang Erda away, and clear the battlefield. Mu Ke, go to Sector D; your task is the same as Jiayi's. Begin the operation."
—This was exactly the same arrangement Bai Liu had made previously.
The other three responded with a lazy "OK" and scattered in an instant.
Bai Liu only heard a mature and stray "He-he" of teasing laughter by his ear. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blurred shadow flash past almost imperceptibly, and Shi Qian, who had been lying on the ground behind him, vanished.
The speed was so fast that no one had time to react.
"I'll take the irrelevant person away first. Have a good time playing with Boss later, little Boss of another world."
It was Mu Shicheng's voice.
Bai Liu saw a tall figure within the mist that had not yet dissipated, squatting high up on a lamppost. The figure's weight caused the pole to creak and sway. The figure's hands were a pair of massive monkey claws that reached past his knees, with blood—source unknown—dripping from the tips of the claws.
A pair of wicked, blood-red eyes glowed through the mist in the darkness. He gripped a person by the neck, dangling them with complete disregard for whether they lived or died. He curled his lips into a massive grin at Bai Liu on the ground.
"Don't go dying at Boss's hands so easily, little Boss. I still want to come back and play with you after I finish my task."
Having said that, he vanished after a few leaps. The other figures also disappeared in an instant.
Bai Liu (6), who remained, walked toward Bai Liu at an unhurried pace.
Wisps of curling gray-white mist lingered around Bai Liu (6)'s face, waist, and boots, framing him in a hazy, blurred border. At first glance, he looked like a character in an unfinished, detailed portrait who had gained self-awareness and was stepping out of the frame.
The heels of his boots struck the hard, cold ground, producing clear, rhythmic echoes in the narrow, dark alleyway.
Bai Liu (6) finally stood less than a meter away from Bai Liu. He had completely emerged from the mist, smiling as he looked at Bai Liu standing opposite him. He asked with interest, "Aren't you going to run?"
Bai Liu met his gaze steadily. "Running is meaningless for the two of us, isn't it? Can't you already guess what I'm thinking?"
"True." Bai Liu (6) nodded in agreement. "For example, right now you must be wondering why your main attacker, Tang Erda, hasn't made a move for a while, isn't that so?"
The smile on Bai Liu (6)'s face deepened. "I truly didn't expect that you would actually accomplish something I never could—making the famous Captain Tang, who has always opposed me, become your teammate. I'm very curious about what happened between you two?"
Bai Liu's tone was peaceful. "Naturally, something happened between us that never happened between you two."
"Such strong hostility." The smile on Bai Liu (6)'s face became more mocking. "Of all the Bai Lius I've seen, you have the strongest hostility toward me."
"Back then, in order to get along with Captain Tang, I even went out of my way to show mercy to his good friend, Captain Su, and didn't kill him. I even left a videotape in Captain Su's body to teach Captain Tang how to use professional techniques to interrogate bad people. It was meant as a gift." Bai Liu (6) looked at Bai Liu with a slight gaze and sighed. "But Captain Tang didn't like my gift. What a shame."
Bai Liu's eyes moved slightly. "If you hadn't left the videotape inside Su Yang's stomach, perhaps he would have liked that gift more."
"Is that so?" Bai Liu (6) asked indifferently. He curled his lips. "Then I hope Captain Tang likes the little gift I've sent him this time."
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Within the mist.
Tang Erda clearly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to sink and shift. Then, thick glass-like barriers rose around him and began to move rapidly. He immediately tried to move toward Bai Liu's direction, but the thick barrier blocked him. Tang Erda's gaze sharpened, and he fired two shots at the glass barrier, but the bullets passed through uselessly.
His expression changed. He recognized this item—it was the Magic Space! An item used to restrict entry and exit!
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu (6) has used the item (Magic Space) on (Rose Hunter) and (Rose Hunter).]
[(Magic Space) Restriction Condition: Only one person can leave the Magic Space alive.]
The thick white mist inside the Magic Space slowly dissipated. Tang Erda looked warily at a certain humanoid silhouette lying prone on the ground opposite him. Holding his guns in both hands, he slid the slides to chamber rounds, then pressed his side against the edge of the Magic Space and walked over step by step.
As the gray-white mist around that humanoid silhouette slowly cleared, Tang Erda's pupils constricted the moment he saw the figure clearly.
He saw a haggard, ferocious version of himself with his hands handcuffed behind his back. The figure's chin and shoulders were pressed against the ground as he struggled frantically. A videotape had been forced into his mouth, stretching the corners so far that they were tearing; blood dripped, and his teeth chattered, yet he did not dare to bite down.
Without a word, Tang Erda prepared to step forward and fire his gun to break the handcuffs. However, the bound man began to struggle violently, stopping Tang Erda from shooting the cuffs.
He spoke unclearly and with great difficulty, word by word. "Su—Yang's—handcuffs, don't touch them!"
Tang Erda felt a shock go through his entire body. He jerked his head to look at the handcuffs and discovered a pattern in the corner: a rose, a gun, and tentacles intertwined together.
—This was Su Yang's skill weapon. How could it be here?!
Tang Erda pulled the videotape out of the man's mouth and immediately pressed for answers. "How did you get here? Did Su Yang not die in the worldline you are from? Why does his skill weapon still exist?!"
In every worldline he had experienced, Su Yang had died. How could there be a worldline where Su Yang survived, and his skill weapon remained?!
The man coughed a few times violently, looking at Tang Erda with cold, dark eyes. "Su Yang is dead."
Tang Erda frowned deeply. "Then how could these handcuffs…"
"Su Yang's soul was bought by Bai Liu (6)." The man used one hand to forcefully snap the bones in his other hand, then dragged his broken, deformed palm through the ring of the handcuffs. He would rather do this than damage Su Yang's skill weapon. "This is a skill Bai Liu (6) used on me using Su Yang's character panel."
The astonishment on Tang Erda's face could not be hidden. "Su Yang sold his soul to Bai Liu (6)?"
The man leaned against the wall, panting heavily with his eyes closed, and let out a sneer. "What is there to be surprised about?"
"In the entire Heretic Management Bureau, the souls of more than half the people are already in Bai Liu (6)'s hands."
"More than half the people…" Tang Erda's face darkened completely. "I know my team members; they would never do such a thing!"
Tang Erda's gaze toward this wretched version of himself became unfriendly. He stood up and aimed his gun, his expression tense as he pointed it at the disheveled Tang Erda. "Furthermore, I already leaped from that worldline. Logically, I shouldn't exist in that worldline anymore. How can you, a version of me from over ten years later in that worldline, possibly exist?"
The Tang Erda sitting on the ground tilted his head slightly, his deep sea-blue eyes staring at the Tang Erda pointing the gun at him. A mocking smile appeared on his face. "Do you still remember the wish you made to the Evil God?"
"To be able to continuously return to the past to change events and stop everyone from entering the game—you only remember that part, don't you?"
"Did you forget the price you had to pay to fulfill your wish?"
The Tang Erda on the ground used the wall for support and stood up, wobbling. His face covered in blood, he stared deathly at the Tang Erda opposite him. "You will become a monster that continuously jumps through timelines."
"You are just a piece of memory, a piece of consciousness. The 'us' in every timeline are the ones who truly exist. You are just a monster that invaded our consciousness for a period of time, a heretic parasitizing us."
"You aren't human at all. You are Heretic 0002, the [Time Hunter]."
He laughed hoarsely and lowly. "We are the humans. After you decided to jump to the next worldline to escape a failed worldline where you couldn't defeat Bai Liu (6), we—who were parasitized by you—naturally regain our consciousness."
"The world doesn't stop turning just because you run away. Time continues to flow forward, and Bai Liu (6) continues to control everything. We Tang Erdas, who were abandoned by you, will continue to fight self-deceptively in these worldlines on the brink of collapse, until eighty percent of the people in the world have sold their souls to Bai Liu (6), and the entire world becomes a game worldline that Bai Liu (6), the believer of the Evil God, can toy with at will."
He raised his sea-blue eyes—deep as the ocean with not a single speck of light in them—and laughed neurotically. "You are just a save point designed by the Prophet and the Evil God."
"And I am merely the storage place for your save point."
Tang Erda's pupils shook as he took two steps back. For a moment, he couldn't make a sound. After a long time, he shook his head firmly. "…Even so, I don't believe the members of the Heretic Management Bureau would intentionally sell their souls to Bai Liu (6)."
"It indeed wasn't intentional." The Tang Erda opposite him gave a dull laugh, leaned against the wall, and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Then he suddenly turned his head, extended the hand with the handcuff dangling from the wrist toward Tang Erda, and crooked two fingers. "Got a light?"
Tang Erda said, "No."
"Tsk." Tang Erda bit the cigarette. One broken hand hung uselessly at his side while the other pulled a gun from behind him. He aimed randomly at the ground and fired, then raised the gun to press the tip of the cigarette against the hot barrel.
The cigarette tip was lit by the heat of the overheated barrel. He squinted his eyes, took a deep drag, coughed twice, and continued. "It indeed wasn't intentional."
"After you left, the Heretic Management Bureau and Bai Liu (6) went into an all-out war. At that time, there was a game called 'How to Own Five Buildings' that Bai Liu (6) and his group rolled in the game pool."
Tang Erda paused, then suddenly realized something and looked up at the other. "It couldn't be…"
"Yes." The man turned to look at Tang Erda, his face full of mocking laughter. "A psychopath like Bai Liu (6), who was born for money—the moment he came out, he controlled 'How to Own Five Buildings' to land in reality and pushed for its full-scale promotion. He added a clause to the agreement: when the Second Party's assets are insufficient to pay the First Party's property price, the First Party has the right to reclaim all fixed and non-fixed assets of the Second Party, including certain deeply personal assets, over which the First Party has sole right of interpretation."
"Under normal circumstances, such an agreement would never pass, and no one would sign it. But after 'How to Own Five Buildings' landed, many ordinary people who didn't realize Bai Liu (6) was pulling the strings behind the scenes signed it."
The Tang Erda opposite him took a deep drag of the cigarette. "This included many people from the Heretic Management Bureau."
"When they signed, they had no idea they were selling their souls. Later, as Bai Liu (6) expanded the range of the 'How to Own Five Buildings' landing, many who hadn't even signed the contract were forced to sell their souls to him."
"Su Yang was originally dead; his soul would never have fallen into Bai Liu (6)'s hands no matter what. But later, the residential area where Su Yang lived was hit by the 'How to Own Five Buildings' landing…"
The man opposite fell silent for a moment. He didn't even notice the cigarette burning down to his fingers. He muttered to himself, "The 'How to Own Five Buildings' instance can turn dead people into a ghost state. As long as there is a living, conscious soul, one can engage in soul trading with Bai Liu (6)."
"The deceased Su Yang was like that—his soul was snatched away by Bai Liu (6)."
"Bai Liu (6)'s skills cannot use the unconscious souls of the dead, but of course, he can't be unable to use the system panels of the dead. I originally thought Su Yang would be at peace once he died. I never thought…" His dark, uncertain gaze moved down to the cold shackles hanging from his wrist. "I never dreamed that these handcuffs would be used on me."
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Author's Note:
Team Leader Tang's heretic setting refers to the Great Race of Yith setting within the Cthulhu Mythos.
*****
(T/N: If you want to know more about the Great Race of Yith, just search for it. Cthulhu mythos is so hard to explain. But to very briefly explain, they're a race that can forcibly insert their consciousness into other living beings across time and space.)