The Reverse God was silent for nearly a full minute. He raised a hand, rubbed his stiff face, and forced a smile.
"Mr. Bai Liu… you must be joking."
Bai Liu interrupted him without hesitation. "You have a lie-detecting scale, don't you? Take it out and try it."
The Reverse God: "…"
Bai Liu's attitude was so firm that even the Killer Sequence members who initially didn't believe him began to waver. They exchanged looks for a long moment before Bai Jiamu finally reached into his pocket and took out a scale.
He looked steadily at Bai Liu. "Did you marry Spades yesterday?"
Bai Liu smiled, expression unchanged. "Yes."
The balance slowly tipped toward the [True] side.
The entire tent fell into a long silence. Bai Jiamu's expression nearly cracked as he stared at the scale in disbelief.
The Reverse God slowly raised a hand to cover his face, took a deep breath, then lowered it again.
He seemed to age ten years in an instant. In an incomparably weary tone, he continued, "Did… did Spades force you?"
Bai Liu fell strangely silent for a moment before replying, "You could say that."
The balance tipped toward [True] again.
Bai Jiamu looked as though he wanted to devour the scale on the spot.
The Reverse God covered his face once more. Then he bowed slightly in apology.
"I'm very sorry. Our team's main attacker, Spades, has caused you trouble, Mr. Bai Liu."
"He… perhaps he doesn't understand much about marriage. Maybe he thought it was some kind of game. He didn't mean to force you…" The Reverse God lifted his head, trying to explain.
Bai Liu kindly interrupted, "He forcibly used eighteen boxes of condoms and made me keep seven of them."
The balance tipped to [True] yet again.
Bai Jiamu's face went completely blank as he held up the scale numbly.
Behind him, a team member who had been desperately covering his own mouth to keep from speaking finally gasped loudly, "Eighteen boxes?! That's so many!"
The Reverse God turned and smacked him on the head to shut him up. Then he took a deep breath, forced his distorted expression back into place, and began whispering urgently with the other team members.
"What do we do? We never gave Spades any proper sex education, and now it's come to this. He forced another player!"
"I told you back then that we should've taught him! He doesn't understand anything—he could easily be tricked by bad women!"
"From the way he looked at Hearts, we all thought there was no way he'd be fooled by a woman! He's met Hearts over a dozen times and mistook Hearts for someone else every single time!"
"Bai Jiamu never let me play that movie for Spades! This is all Bai Jiamu's fault!"
"That wouldn't have helped anyway. This person is a man. Your heterosexual materials wouldn't have taught Spades anything."
"What's the priority right now? Spades forced someone, and now that someone has come to us!"
"Are we responsible? If someone from our side messes with someone outside, and the outsider comes knocking, what's the proper procedure for sending them away?"
"Oh! I know!"
The Reverse God suddenly turned back solemnly. He leaned forward, crossing his arms over his knees, and looked at Bai Liu with unfathomable eyes.
"Mr. Bai Liu, I will give you five million points to leave Spades."
Bai Liu: "…"
After a brief silence, Bai Liu replied briskly, "Transfer the five million points to me now, and I promise I won't harass Spades again. I also won't pursue this marriage matter any further."
The Reverse God and Bai Jiamu both froze.
—Wasn't he supposed to angrily accuse them of insulting his dignity with money?
Bai Liu, who felt no insult whatsoever from five million points, smiled pleasantly. "But more importantly, I came here to cooperate with you—to teach Spades a painful lesson in failure. I believe that's something you also want."
At that, the Reverse God finally grew serious. "What exactly are you planning?"
-----------------
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Alex sat silently in his wheelchair. His legs were heavily bandaged. He remained beside Guy's bed, staring at the unconscious man lying weakly on the cot, his breathing shallow.
A nearby nurse reminded him gently, "He was severely injured. Thirteen shrapnel fragments were just removed from his body. The anesthesia hasn't worn off yet, so he's still asleep. If you want to talk to him, you'll need to wait."
Alex shook his head softly. "There's no need for him to wake up."
He looked up at the nurse. "May I have a moment alone with him?"
The nurse smiled in understanding. "Of course. I'll come back in an hour to change his dressings. Is that enough time?"
Alex nodded. "Thank you."
The nurse waved lightly and left, drawing the curtain closed behind her.
Only Alex and Guy remained in the tent.
Alex sat quietly by the bed for a long time. Eventually, he wheeled himself closer to the head of the bed.
He reached out and lifted the white blanket slightly. Guy's left hand lay by his side. The silver ring on his ring finger gleamed, unstained and bright.
Alex slowly raised his own left hand—the one wearing a matching ring. He seemed about to clasp Guy's hand, but in the end, his trembling fingers only hovered above it, suspended in the air.
Something invisible stopped him from tightening his grip, even though he had performed this gesture a thousand times before.
Alex took a deep breath, turned his face away, and withdrew his hand.
"…Guy," he murmured softly, "I know you were never truly on my side. Your heart has always belonged elsewhere."
"—To justice. To the weak indigenous people. You told me long ago that you would rather volunteer in the army." Alex gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "Even after the person you loved most was killed by them, your beliefs never changed."
"You and your lover… you're both nobles. Both kind-hearted. Both here to help these backward natives break free from aristocratic control."
"Your ideals, your ambitions, your backgrounds—even your nobility—are so alike."
Alex murmured, "If he hadn't died, the two of you would have been perfect together."
"It wouldn't have been my place to have you—the poor boy who once asked you to carry him back after his first time on the battlefield."
Alex lowered his head and placed his hand gently on top of the blanket, lightly gripping Guy's hand beneath it.
"But I love you just as much as he did, Guy."
His eyes slowly filled with tears.
"…I know that before the accident, he proposed to you. You never told me—but I know. When you're drunk, you can't keep secrets. You told me everything, Guy."
"But you didn't say yes to him… because you thought he deserved someone better. Someone not like you."
Alex's tears slowly slid down the bridge of his nose, and his voice choked.
"—That day, after he failed to propose to you, he didn't want to go home. In his low spirits, he went to check the factory's safety equipment and happened to run into the natives arguing in front of it."
"He died in that dispute… with the ring he meant to give you still in his hand."
"His parents and brothers went mad. They rushed over, beat you, insulted you—the man they believed had dragged their son and brother to hell. They even locked you inside the factory and tried to burn you together with the natives they thought had killed him."
"You escaped with the help of the imprisoned indigenous people. They knew you were the factory director's lover, so they did everything they could to help you flee first. But when you tried to turn back and help them, the security patrol discovered you."
"You were forcibly dragged away by the patrol and could only watch as the natives who had saved you were burned alive."
Alex lowered his head and leaned against the edge of the hospital bed, sobbing.
"I know why you betrayed us, Guy. You were haunted by that fire. You kept blaming yourself for your cowardice—for escaping. So before the war began, you chose to marry me… because you didn't want to leave me with another regret."
"But Guy… it shouldn't be like this. You don't deserve to die. And neither did they."
Alex's low, grief-stricken voice echoed inside the small tent.
Outside, a line of gloomy-looking natives stood pressed against the canvas, eavesdropping. They whispered among themselves in a nasal dialect, hatred written plainly across their faces.
"The man inside—Guy, the one who joined us today—is the one responsible for the factory workers' deaths in the first place!"
"He stood by and watched the companions who saved him burn to death!"
"What was his relationship with that factory director? They were both abandoned by God! They both deserve to die!"
"Like the factory director, he's a hypocrite—claiming to help us while trying to invade our land and turn us into slaves!"
"If they had never come here, we wouldn't have suffered like this!"
"Kill him—the man abandoned by God—and God's blessing will return to us!"
A fanatical, violent fervor quickly spread among the traditionalists. Just as they were about to lift the curtain and rush in to kill Guy, Bai Liu arrived at the edge of the tent.
Behind him stood the Reverse God. To his right was Liu Jiayi, visibly tense.
Bai Liu looked at the eavesdropping natives with mild curiosity and asked pleasantly, "What's going on?"
The group seemed to fear him. The moment they saw Bai Liu, they lowered their heads, saluted, and retreated. Yet even as they withdrew, they kept casting dark, sinister glances toward the tent.
Bai Liu's unreadable gaze swept over them. Then he turned back with a faint smile, nodded goodbye to the Reverse God, and led Liu Jiayi into the tent where Alex was.
Inside, Alex had cried himself to sleep, his head resting against Guy's bedside. Guy appeared to be waking; his sleep was restless. He frowned and murmured faintly,
"…Alex."
Bai Liu spoke quietly to Liu Jiayi, introducing the situation. "Alex—another main storyline NPC. And Guy—his marriage partner."
Liu Jiayi crossed her arms and tilted her head, scrutinizing Bai Liu from head to toe. Then she raised an eyebrow.
"I'm more curious about you and your marriage partner right now. Eighteen boxes of condoms?"
Bai Liu: "…"
He coughed lightly and replied with composure, "Condom is the name of a special kind of balloon. Using eighteen boxes simply means he blew up eighteen boxes of balloons for me."
"Oh?" Liu Jiayi hopped lightly onto the edge of the bed and sat there, her calves swinging. "Do you think I've never received proper physiological education?"
She smiled sweetly. "The first lesson Hearts ever taught me was about sexual knowledge between any two biological human genders. Mainly to help me avoid certain dogs in this game who might develop inappropriate desires toward me."
"Oh—and that education sometimes includes certain non-human monsters with strong sexual capabilities." Liu Jiayi's smile grew even sweeter. "After all, everyone is free to have their own preferences. For example, using eighteen boxes of condoms in one night. Don't you agree, Bai Liu?"
Bai Liu: "…"
Hearts… was that really appropriate for you to teach?