Once players showed any tendency to attack, spatial isolation would occur. So how could this thing make his health bar turn red?!
"The Siren's Fishbone." Bai Liu didn't bother to hide it. He opened his clothes and showed Mu Sicheng the fishbone wrapped around his waist. Bai Liu didn't realize it, but the fishbone shrank slightly and tightened around his waist, covering all the skin that might have been exposed.
Bai Liu spoke frankly. "You should've seen this item in my reward list."
That was also why Bai Liu didn't hide it. The system had already 'put it on public display,' so he saw no reason to conceal its function. The existence of the 'live broadcast' and 'forum' mentioned by Wang Shun meant that the moment Bai Liu used this item in a game, sooner or later, everyone would know what it did. Hiding it was completely unnecessary.
However, his personal skill was different. It could be concealed. It was a good trump card, and Bai Liu intended to keep it hidden for as long as possible.
Even so, Bai Liu himself didn't know the item's exact function. It required experimentation. He simply didn't want to test it inside a game, where the risks were too high. If the item failed against a monster, he could easily die. The safest approach was to experiment outside the game first to determine its function, then use it directly during gameplay.
Experiments required a test subject. Bai Liu had originally thought that Mu Ke, trapped and on the verge of death, would make an obedient experimental subject.
He hadn't planned to test it on Mu Sicheng, but Mu Sicheng's hands were too quick—he had touched it without thinking. This allowed Bai Liu to realize that the fishbone whip could attack players in the system hall. In other words, it truly could tear through space.
"It's said that it can tear time and space. I'm going to try it on Mu Ke." Bai Liu looked at Mu Ke on the TV and casually raised the whip.
Wang Shun was completely confused and couldn't follow Bai Liu's train of thought at all. "Wait! What are you going to do, Bai Liu? What if you throw the whip in and kill Mu Ke?"
Mu Sicheng quickly understood Bai Liu's intention and sneered. "Planning to save him? How kind of you."
"No." Bai Liu smiled faintly. "It's not a rescue. It's a trade."
He pulled the fishbone whip from his waist and flicked his wrist. Taking a deep breath, he raised it and lashed it toward Mu Ke's TV screen.
For a moment, Bai Liu felt his left hand become extremely heavy. The barely swinging fishbone struck the transparent barrier surrounding the small TV and immediately fell. Yet that small impact caused the seabed inside Mu Ke's screen to tremble violently. The TV flickered as if the signal had gone bad.
The moment the whip fell, everything around Bai Liu shattered like glass. Mu Sicheng and Wang Shun blurred like distorted figures on a poorly tuned television.
Bai Liu stood in total darkness, but he could clearly hear the crashing waves from Mu Ke's world, along with Mu Ke's hysterical cries for help. Mu Ke seemed to sense that someone had arrived at the bottom of the sea and began shouting frantically.
"Who will save me?!" Mu Ke knelt inside the cracked water bubble, tears streaming down his face. "I'm willing to do anything! Please help me!"
Bai Liu wanted to swing the whip again, but the system suddenly issued a warning.
[System Warning: Using this item consumes a large amount of player Bai Liu's physical strength. Based on the player's current physical strength, it cannot be used again. Forcing further use will reduce physical strength to negative values, and the player will be forcibly ejected from the game.]
Bai Liu immediately gave up.
[So am I now in the same latitude as Mu Ke?]
[System: Calculating… Due to an unknown type of attack, the latitudes of player Bai Liu and player Mu Ke have partially overlapped. Player Bai Liu is currently positioned within a crack in the torn latitude. Only sound can pass through. Visual transmission is impossible. Simple transactions can barely be carried out.]
"Sound?" Bai Liu murmured thoughtfully before softly calling out, "Mu Ke."
Mu Ke suddenly howled and crawled through the bubble like a stray dog. "I'm here! Who are you? Save me!"
"I am a wanderer," Bai Liu whispered while watching the TV. It was hard to reconcile this sobbing man with the arrogant young master he once was.
In a way, Bai Liu had become a poor wanderer because of Mu Ke's whim. Now Mu Ke was desperately begging the very wanderer he had driven away for help—and that wanderer would use a cruel bargain to take the last valuable thing Mu Ke possessed.
It was a perfectly logical cycle.
"I can save you, but it won't be free. I'm poor as well," Bai Liu said calmly. "You need to make a deal with me. In exchange, I will give you points to survive. Correspondingly, you must give me something."
"Yes! I'll give you anything! Please help me!" Mu Ke cried desperately, reaching out toward the unseen presence. "Are you a god? Or the system? Where are you? What do you want—money? Something else? I have nothing on me right now… Please don't abandon me. I want to live!"
"I'm not a god. Objectively speaking, I'm not something beneficial to you." Bai Liu evaluated himself rationally.
He didn't harbor any extreme malice toward the young master—just an ordinary dislike. Even so, ordinary dislike directed at a specific person could be quite terrifying. Bai Liu acknowledged this plainly.
"To you, I should probably be considered a type of devil."
"Devil… Do you want my soul?" Mu Ke's eyes dulled for a moment before suddenly lighting up with resolve. "I'm willing to give you my soul, as long as you save me."
The words I want your Mermaid Amulet stopped just short of leaving Bai Liu's mouth. He raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Mu Ke's proposal.
He did need the Mermaid Amulet. At the same time, he also needed a test subject to experiment with the strange ability of his skill, Empty Old Wallet. One of its descriptions stated that it could trade souls…
"Deal." Bai Liu smiled and took out 200 points from his worn wallet, handing them toward Mu Ke's screen. The coin hanging at his chest glowed faintly, and the points vanished.
[System: Player Bai Liu has used 200 points to purchase the soul of player Mu Ke.]
[System Alert: Player Mu Ke has been charged 200 points.]
Mu Ke nearly burst into tears of anger when he saw the deduction. "You really are a devil! I sold my soul to you, and you're this stingy? Only 200 points?! That's not even enough to buy proper items!"
"I really am stingy. I'm a poor wanderer," Bai Liu replied calmly, even a bit arrogantly. "However, you now have 200 points and that broken water bubble. Follow my instructions, and you can survive. Open the system store and buy alcohol. Yes, alcohol. Hey, can you stop crying? Your crying is louder than my voice."
Once Mu Ke successfully cleared the instance, Bai Liu felt something new appear in his wallet—a coin resembling a Polaroid photograph.
Printed on the front was a black-and-white photo of Mu Ke's face. In the corner were the words '200 points', and on the back were the words 'Soul Coin'. Bai Liu scanned it using the system manager, and a description popped up.
[Item: Prop — Mu Ke's Soul Coin]
[How to Use: You possess ownership of player Mu Ke's soul debt. You have all rights, including but not limited to domination, regulation, cultivation, and obliteration.]
Domination. Regulation. Cultivation. Obliteration.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes.
Weren't these the exact permissions the system held over players?
So this was what soul debt ownership meant.
In other words, the system held ownership over all players' soul debts. Could it be said that when players entered the game, they had essentially sold their souls to the system?
Interesting.
Bai Liu asked, [Does this mean I am now equivalent to Mu Ke's system? Between me and the official system, who has greater authority over Mu Ke?]
[System: Calculating… In the event of a conflict between the system's directives and player Bai Liu's commands toward player Mu Ke, given that player Bai Liu's current strength is insufficient, the system's decision will take precedence.]
Oh? So it depended on strength.
If he grew stronger, could he seize control of Mu Ke from the system? Could he even override the system itself one day?
For now, these were merely speculative thoughts.
Bai Liu's physical strength had already bottomed out, and there was no point dwelling on it further. He stepped out of the dark crack and was immediately struck by a wave of dizziness. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to his knees. This was the backlash from exhausting his physical strength.
Wang Shun hurried forward to support him. "What just happened? You suddenly froze after swinging the whip."
Mu Sicheng studied Bai Liu thoughtfully. "How did you do that? Mu Ke just cleared the instance using your method."