Liu Jiayi and Tang Erda watched from the jungle as Spades swept Bai Liu away.
"????"
What the hell?!
Without another word, they jumped out. Glancing at each other, they quickly slid in the direction where Spades had disappeared.
The jungle's dense, broad-leaved vegetation and thick undergrowth made pursuit difficult. Combined with Spades' outrageous speed, he soon put considerable distance between himself and those chasing him.
But Bai Liu, the looted "corpse," wasn't flustered in the slightest. He lazily propped up his chin and lolled over Spades' shoulder, his expression completely calm.
He wondered when Spades would realize that he wasn't actually a corpse.
Before long, Spades keenly spotted a modest canvas tent hidden beneath heavy vegetation.
The hut was draped in camouflage strips and surrounded by piles of corpses, hastily covered with sand and dirt. Nearby were half-stacked sandbags and concrete barricades, suggesting it was a temporary jungle base for soldiers assigned to clear the battlefield.
Having just discovered the stronghold, Spades claimed it for himself. With the "corpse" still slung over his shoulder, he pushed open the tent flap with his knee.
Inside were one or two steel-framed beds placed close together. Empty shells from mines and grenades were tossed into a corner, likely collected while searching the bodies and brought back.
There were also tattered, bloodstained uniforms, two aluminum enamel mugs hanging on the wall, and two half-open medical kits under the bed. The compartment that once held antibiotics was empty. Clearly, the previous occupants had left in a hurry—probably taking the medicine to treat someone. Search-and-rescue squads were sometimes responsible for handling minor traumatic injuries.
Spades casually tossed aside the headless corpse he had been carrying under one arm and was about to throw down the one on his shoulder.
Bai Liu finally spoke.
"So the famous Spades wins games by stealing his teammates' corpses?"
Spades was about to drop him, but hesitated. Instead, he caught Bai Liu around the waist and laid him flat on the bed, leaning in for a closer look at his mud-smeared face.
Because it was hard to see clearly, Spades rubbed at Bai Liu's face with considerable force, distorting his features slightly before revealing the fair skin beneath the mud.
The two were now very close. Spades gazed intently at Bai Liu, trying to identify him, as if he might close the distance even further the next second.
Bai Liu leaned back, subtly pulling away, his gaze drifting toward the pile of dirty clothes in the corner.
"Oh," Spades said blankly. "It's you. Bai Liu from the last round."
He nodded seriously.
"Well, I do sometimes steal from my teammates to win."
Spades confessed without shame and even asked, "Is that not allowed?"
Bai Liu: "..."
For a brief moment, he felt a subtle sense of pity for Spades' teammates.
Xie Ta played the game without any rules whatsoever—sometimes even stabbing his teammates in the back while wearing a completely sincere expression.
Some things truly never changed.
Bai Liu pressed his lips together. His eyes darkened as he turned to look at Spades directly, a faint smile curving his mouth.
But the smile didn't reach his eyes.
His voice was icy.
"I don't like people who prey on their teammates."
With two fingers, Bai Liu pulled out a soul note from his glove. Tang Erda's face appeared on it. He instantly activated Tang Erda's personal skill through the system panel, raised his hand, and drew a gun from his waist, smoothly loading the magazine.
Spades reacted quickly, pushing the gun back toward Bai Liu's belt. Instinctively, he moved to draw his whip against Bai Liu—but hesitated.
The Reverse God's earlier accusations echoed in his mind, along with the threat of being punished with three consecutive losses.
That single moment of hesitation was enough.
Bai Liu seized his wrist, twisted sharply, and pulled the gun free. He snapped the magazine into place with fluid precision and fired at Spades' heart.
Spades sidestepped smoothly.
The bullet struck the tent with a dull thud. A shimmer of light flickered across Bai Liu's dark eyes. They were cold and calm—devoid of warmth even in the glow—as if they contained an endless well of suppressed negativity.
Spades froze for a split second.
He had the distinct feeling that Bai Liu… was angry.
This anger was more intimidating than any emotion Spades had ever encountered. Subconsciously, he tried to create distance.
But Bai Liu gave him no chance.
Realizing Spades wouldn't attack him easily, Bai Liu dropped low at the waist and smoothly hooked his legs around Spades' midsection, pulling him off balance.
In the same motion, as Spades was dragged forward and fell into Bai Liu's arms, Bai Liu aimed at Spades' heart from behind in what looked almost like an embrace.
Spades bent forward to avoid the shot and immediately pinned Bai Liu to the bed. He forced Bai Liu's hands against the headboard and wrenched the gun away.
Pinned beneath him, Bai Liu breathed heavily.
Spades, restraining his wrists, asked in disbelief, "Why do you keep aiming for my heart?"
"Is it because I took your heart in the last round?" he asked, confused. "But I gave it back to you. It was the monster's heart I took."
Bai Liu looked up at him and smiled faintly.
"If someone must dig out your heart and destroy it," he said softly, "it might as well be me."
"After all, I've wanted to cut out your heart for a long time."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Bai Liu flicked out another brand-new soul note from his glove like a magician revealing a card. The note displayed the face of a guild member whose skill was a sharp, short blade.
The pistol Spades had taken vanished. In its place, a short knife appeared in Bai Liu's hand.
He straightened, kneeling on the bed, and unsheathed the blade in one swift motion, forcing Spades to retreat.
Yet even as Spades moved back, the knife did not falter. Instead, it flashed with a sharp, cold gleam, driving straight toward Spades' heart.
Spades instinctively drew his whip to block the strike.
A faint smile touched Bai Liu's face. "I thought you'd never use the whip."
"Where's your whip?" Spades asked. He noticed that Bai Liu hadn't drawn his weapon either.
Bai Liu lifted his eyes and replied lightly, "You ruined it in the last game."
With that, Bai Liu planted his foot against one of the steel bedframe's supports and flipped downward, slashing his knife hard into the bundle of whip Spades had raised to block him.
Metal met leather with a burst of dazzling sparks. It looked as though the blade wouldn't penetrate, but Bai Liu didn't relent. Instead, he twisted the knife and slashed again, forcing the tip between the tightly wound coils of the whip.
Spades glanced at him indifferently. He tightened his arm muscles and rolled the whip inward, coiling it around the blade Bai Liu had embedded and wrapping it completely.
This was the gap between top-tier and lower-tier skill weapons—the otherwise solid blade softened like clay under the suppressive force of Spades' whip.
But Bai Liu didn't withdraw his weapon. Instead, he advanced along the trapped blade, pinching Tang Erda's soul note between two fingers of his left hand. He reopened Tang Erda's system panel and switched skill weapons.
It was true that the regular guild member's blade wasn't enough to contend with Spades. But Bai Liu had never intended to use it against him in the first place.
The knife had only been used to open a path.
What truly mattered was Tang Erda's skill weapon—the one capable of standing against Spades' whip.
The gun.
Bai Liu's gaze lowered.
The knife, fully swallowed by the whip's coils, suddenly shifted form. It transformed into an indestructible rose-patterned revolver. The embedded blade morphed into a gun barrel, forcing open a channel within the whip's strangling grip, aimed directly at Spades' heart.
Bai Liu's dark eyes fixed on Spades as he pulled the trigger without hesitation.
"Bang!"
The bullet pierced through Spades' chest and exited his back, leaving behind a clean, blood-soaked line. The empty casing fell to the ground with two crisp bounces.
The force of the impact knocked Spades back half a step. His expression remained oddly blank, blood pouring steadily from his chest.
Bai Liu didn't stop.
Without a trace of emotion, he shoved Spades to the ground, crouched beside him, lowered the gun, and fired several more shots into Spades' heart.
"Why didn't you fight back?" Bai Liu asked calmly, looking down at him lying in a pool of blood. "Like you did in the last game. Rip out my heart."
"Aren't you good at that?"
Spades turned his head slightly to look at Bai Liu. His hair was soaked in blood, yet his voice remained steady.
"Because if I attack you again, I'll be punished."
He paused.
"Are you angry because of that?"
For a rare moment, emotion flickered across Bai Liu's face.
But before Spades could determine what kind, Bai Liu suppressed it completely.
Bai Liu spread his fingers and pressed his palm against the wound over Spades' heart. Blood seeped between his slender white fingers.
Warm. Slightly viscous. Thick like some strange mixture of acid and fuel.
"I thought your blood would be cold too," Bai Liu said, turning his head to look at him. "I didn't expect it to be warm."
His bloodstained fingertips trailed upward along Spades' chest, eventually brushing aside the hair on his forehead. Bai Liu gazed into Spades' eyes, lost in thought for a moment.
Spades' eyes were black as well. But unlike Bai Liu's—dark and lightless—his were like glass beads in an unlit house. From certain angles, they reflected a faint silvery-blue glow, as if another pair of eyes were hidden within.
"You have beautiful eyes. Why do you hide them?" Bai Liu asked suddenly in the midst of this bizarre scene.
Spades, lying on the floor, answered cooperatively, "I don't see the need to show my eyes to outsiders."
He paused before adding, "And no one has ever said they were beautiful. Except you."
"Is that so?" Bai Liu stroked the corner of Spades' eye and leaned closer. "I like your eyes very much. They're silvery blue."
His tone softened. His gaze unfocused slightly, as though he had forgiven everything and fallen into those eyes.
But in the next instant, Spades' breath hitched.
Bai Liu shifted the gun back into a knife and cut open Spades' chest. He thrust his fingers into the wound and closed them around the beating heart.
Spades thought distantly—
That's right. He's the type who always repays in kind.
Whatever had been done to him, he would return in full.
If Bai Liu cut out his heart and settled the score… perhaps he would stop being angry.
Bai Liu tightened his grip slowly. Looking down at Spades, he suddenly closed his eyes and leaned down, pressing himself against him as his fingers clenched.
Spades' pupils contracted sharply.
In the next instant, his heart was crushed.
At the same time, Bai Liu's warm lips pressed against his own.
The sensation was indescribably strange—almost as if his heart had burst because it couldn't withstand the sudden kiss.
Between breaths, Bai Liu murmured against his lips,
"I hate you. Remember that. I hate you."
Blood continued to pour from Spades' body. Confused, he wrapped his arms around Bai Liu, who had curled into him after the kiss. For a moment, it felt as though it wasn't Spades who had lost his heart—
—but Bai Liu.
"Are you still angry?" Spades asked quietly.
Bai Liu didn't answer. He shrank slightly further into Spades' arms, the gun in his hand still unholstered, pressed against Spades' chest as if ready to fire again at any moment.
Awkwardly, uncertainly, Spades patted Bai Liu on the shoulder.
"Sorry," he said. "I won't do that next time."
Bai Liu remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he lowered the gun.