Bai Liu glanced at Lu Yizhan. "Tell me exactly what happened last night."
Lu Yizhan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a cloud of smoke. "At three in the morning, thirty-seven children began vomiting severely…"
"They vomited up whole mushrooms. But when they were admitted the day before yesterday, all of them had already undergone induced vomiting and gastric lavage. Yesterday, they fasted the entire day and were on IV fluids. They didn't eat anything. There's no way there should have been anything left in their stomachs."
Lu Yizhan paused and tapped the ash from his cigarette into the corridor trash can. "The doctors and nurses were terrified. They immediately called the police and prepared to conduct blood tests on all the children…"
He slowly exhaled again. "Except for the child who survived, when the nurses inserted needles into the others' veins, what they drew out wasn't blood. It was a pale green, translucent liquid. They couldn't extract a single drop of blood. Lab results showed that the liquid was… mushroom juice."
Bai Liu wasn't frightened.
In a reality where a horror game could insert antique mirrors capable of hiding massive bombs and bypassing security checks, something like blood turning into mushroom juice was merely a predictable escalation.
After a moment of thought, Bai Liu asked, "What about the surviving child? Her blood is normal, right? Have her test results come back?"
"They have. She's slightly anemic, but otherwise normal."
Bai Liu fell silent for a moment. "Did you get any key information from her?"
"No." Lu Yizhan gave a bitter smile. "The girl is blind. She doesn't recognize our voices and refuses to communicate. She only nods or shakes her head occasionally. And since she can't see, she probably didn't even know what she was eating that day were mushrooms."
He sighed. "Her name is Liu Jiayi. She has a half-brother named Liu Huai. She won't speak unless her brother is present."
After a pause, he added, "If she were willing to talk, I would've brought you in to chat with her already. You're good at deceiving children."
Bai Liu paused slightly before looking up slowly. "What did you say her brother's name was?"
Lu Yizhan blinked. "Liu Huai. He's a student at a prestigious university and has been working to support her. Six months ago, he placed her in foster care at the welfare home where the incident happened. He visits once a week. Legally, he isn't obligated to support her—they share the same father but have different mothers. Do you know him?"
"We've crossed paths," Bai Liu said with a faint smile. "We played online games together. He should still remember me. Maybe he'll allow me to speak with his sister."
-----------------
Liu Huai sat stiffly in the hospital ward. On the bed was a thin girl curled into herself, arms wrapped around her knees. This was Liu Jiayi. But the reason Liu Huai was so tense wasn't his sister. It was Bai Liu, sitting across from him with a gentle smile.
Liu Huai couldn't understand why he would run into this demon king outside the game. The moment he arrived at the hospital, Bai Liu had slung an arm over his shoulder familiarly and said he wanted to speak to Liu Jiayi. Cursing his bad luck internally, Liu Huai had still brought him in.
Liu Jiayi couldn't tolerate too many people around her—it would make her scream. So Liu Huai refused to allow anyone else into the ward. The police guarded the door but didn't enter. After Liu Huai tried persuading her first, he brought Bai Liu inside under the pretense that he was a friend.
At present, only three people were in the room: Liu Huai, Bai Liu, and Liu Jiayi.
Bai Liu and Liu Huai sat on opposite sides of the bed. Liu Jiayi remained in the middle, hugging her knees, her face buried in the space between her arms. The hospital gown hung loosely off her frail frame, swallowing her thin body.
She was exactly as Lu Yizhan had described—malnourished, her skeletal structure slightly underdeveloped. Unlike modern children overfed on fast food, she looked small and fragile.
Unable to endure the oppressive silence, Liu Huai pulled the quilt up to block Bai Liu's view of her and stood protectively in front of the bed. He stared at Bai Liu like a wild animal shielding its cub.
"Bai Liu, what do you want?"
"I'm not here for you," Bai Liu said plainly. "I'm here for your sister."
"My sister?" Liu Huai tightened the quilt around Liu Jiayi and held her closer. His eyes were filled with hostility. "Why are you looking for her?"
"How old is the youngest player you've ever seen in the game?" Bai Liu suddenly asked.
There might have been surveillance cameras in the ward being monitored by the police, but due to the shielding mechanism, Bai Liu's words would likely be distorted. He spoke without hesitation.
"Why are you asking that?" Liu Huai frowned.
Bai Liu raised his eyes and looked directly at the trembling girl in Liu Huai's arms. "I'm wondering if your sister is about to become the youngest player in the game."
Liu Jiayi was the only child who survived the mushroom poisoning incident, just like Bai Liu survived the Mirror City Bombing, and Mu Ke survived the haunted Japanese school dormitory.
There were similarities.
So far, Bai Liu had identified two conditions required to become a player.
First: a player must already be nearby. The game spread like a virus, through mutual influence—human to human. Mu Ke influenced Bai Liu. Li Gou influenced Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu. Liu Jiayi was constantly around Liu Huai. She met this condition.
Second: the person must have experienced at least one official horror game instance in reality and survived it.
Liu Jiayi clearly met both conditions.
Bai Liu suspected she was about to be selected as a reserve player.
Liu Huai froze.
He slowly turned his head to look at the trembling girl in his arms, disbelief spreading across his face. Then he looked back at Bai Liu, shaking.
"She's only eight years old… How could she be a player? I've deliberately limited contact with her. I only see her once a week. That frequency shouldn't be enough to influence her into entering the game!"
"Why not?" Bai Liu asked calmly. "Does the system prohibit minors from playing the game like a responsible parent?"
Liu Huai was momentarily speechless. He instinctively held Liu Jiayi tighter. "She's blind! If she enters the game, she won't survive in that kind of environment! It wouldn't make sense for the system to choose her!"
"Then how did she survive this mushroom poisoning incident?" Bai Liu asked evenly.
She was the sole survivor of a real-world horror instance. Even without sight, Bai Liu didn't believe Liu Jiayi was an ordinary child.
Liu Huai was rendered speechless. He could only retort stubbornly, "Jia Jia survived because of luck! But she's not Du Sanying. She can't gamble her life on luck!"
Just then, Liu Jiayi spoke in a faint voice. "Brother… no."
Her thin hand gently tugged at Liu Huai's coat. Slowly, she lifted her head out from under the quilt. Her eyes were clouded with a grayish haze.
"Brother, I didn't survive because of luck. I secretly threw away the meal the teacher gave me."
Liu Huai stared at her in shock. "Why would you throw away your food?"
Liu Jiayi pursed her pale lips. "Don't be angry, Brother. I felt something was wrong with the teacher that day. She tried to feed me herself. Before, she always handed me the bowl and let me eat on my own. So when she went to serve the other children, I pretended to eat."
Bai Liu smiled faintly. "It seems your sister is smarter than you."
"I don't care how smart she is. I won't let her enter the game!" Liu Huai's eyes were red with agitation. "Bai Liu, whatever you're planning, my sister won't be involved!"
Liu Jiayi, confused by his reaction, clung to his neck. "Brother… what are you talking about? What am I entering?"
She was clearly shielded from the conversation. Since she hadn't entered the game, she couldn't perceive its contents.
"Liu Huai," Bai Liu said evenly, "I want to cooperate with you. If Liu Jiayi is truly selected, you won't be able to stop her."
He met Liu Huai's eyes. "I can help you. And I can help her."
Liu Huai sneered. "You mean control us? Bai Liu, you're no different from Puppet Zhang. I'm grateful you once helped me, but I won't let my sister fall into your hands!"
"I don't know what use she has to you that made you come here, but get out!" He looked like a ferocious beast guarding its cub, back slightly arched as though ready to lunge.
Bai Liu remained silent for a few seconds before standing up. He didn't defend himself.
Yes, he wanted to save Liu Jiayi, but only because Lu Yizhan was considering adopting her. If Lu Yizhan chose this girl as his daughter, Bai Liu would ensure she survived.
Lu Yizhan genuinely wanted to help her. Bai Liu understood him. Lu Yizhan had always liked meddling in other people's affairs. Back at the welfare home, he would secretly give Bai Liu extra food when Bai Liu wasn't fed, even though Bai Liu never felt hungry.
Bai Liu had never understood Lu Yizhan's logic for helping others. But as someone who had benefited from it, he was usually willing to indulge Lu Yizhan's self-righteous decisions. After all, Lu Yizhan paid him. Bai Liu never did anything for free, and Lu Yizhan understood that very well.
That was precisely why they could remain friends.
Bai Liu casually tore a sheet from a notepad, wrote down his phone number, and placed it on Liu Jiayi's bedside table.
"I can help Liu Jiayi survive her first game," he said evenly. "But only if her soul is sold to me. That's the only way I can guide her through it." Only by obtaining Liu Jiayi's soul could Bai Liu manipulate her player panel.
Liu Huai exploded. He grabbed the paper and raised it as if to throw it in Bai Liu's face. "I won't allow it!"
"I think you forfeited your custodial rights when you placed her in the welfare home," Bai Liu replied calmly. "You aren't her legal guardian. So I don't believe you have the authority to decide for Liu Jiayi."
The casual tone in Bai Liu's voice completely ignited Liu Huai's anger. His eyes reddened from the surge of emotion, yet he smiled instead.
"Bai Liu, do you know what desire drove me into the game? I want her to see the light."
He drew in a shaky breath and turned away. "Leave. I won't entrust her to someone like you. If I do, her future will be nothing but darkness."
His eyes were rimmed with red as he continued hoarsely, "I've had enough of being controlled. Her life will not be controlled by you. I was manipulated by Puppet Zhang into betraying Brother Si… The one who lost his best friend and most tacit partner that day wasn't only Brother Si." Liu Huai lowered his head, his expression hidden. "You don't understand what it feels like to be forced to hold the blade, the one who hurts others. So I won't let her fall to my level."
Bai Liu's voice remained steady. "Controlling a young girl has no value to me. The only reason I'm here is that my best friend wants to save her."
Liu Huai looked at him in astonishment.
Liu Jiayi also turned her head slightly, her clouded eyes unfocused. Her thin face, sharp and fragile, carried a strange vulnerability. Held tightly in Liu Huai's arms, she looked like a delicate butterfly caught in someone's grasp. She rubbed her head gently against Liu Huai's chin, as if soothing his emotions.
Seeing Liu Huai's guarded gaze, Bai Liu said nothing more. He simply turned and left.
-----------------
Lu Yizhan was waiting at the stairwell corner, smoking. A pile of cigarette butts overflowed from the trash can beside him. It was impossible to tell how many he had gone through. When he saw Bai Liu approach, his eyes lit up. "How did it go? Did you figure anything out?"
Then he noticed Bai Liu's expression and paused.
Bai Liu always wore a faint smile, whether calm or pleased. His face rarely revealed emotional fluctuations. But when something troubled him, a heavy, distant look would appear in his eyes.
It meant he had encountered something he couldn't fully comprehend. In short, Bai Liu was in a bad mood.
"What happened?" Lu Yizhan lowered his voice instinctively. "Did he scold you? I heard Liu Huai shouting. The surveillance couldn't capture your conversation, but the victims' families are very emotional right now. Don't take it personally."
"Sometimes I don't understand human emotional logic," Bai Liu murmured, his gaze slightly unfocused.
"It's strange. By nature, Liu Huai should be selfish. Yet he's willing to go this far for her, even though the law doesn't require him to raise her." Bai Liu didn't believe Liu Huai had been pretending. Subconscious reactions couldn't be faked. Liu Huai had been afraid of him, yet he still held Liu Jiayi protectively, shielding her from Bai Liu.
Bai Liu soon recovered from his brief confusion. "It's not the first time I've encountered this kind of self-sacrificial logic that confuses me," he said lightly. "Let's go to the welfare home."
-----------------
Bai Liu later went to the welfare home with Mu Ke.
Mu Ke had arrived at Bai Liu's house very early that morning, but Bai Liu had already left for the hospital. When Bai Liu returned briefly to pick something up, he saw Mu Ke sitting obediently outside his door, hugging his knees.
The young master had knocked but received no response. Assuming Bai Liu was still asleep, he didn't even dare call. So he simply waited.
Even more surprising, Mu Ke had been sent by his father, the same business tycoon Bai Liu had seen countless times on television. Father Mu had waited quietly with his son outside Bai Liu's door, whispering so as not to disturb him.
It wasn't clear what Mu Ke had told his family, but his father clearly regarded Bai Liu as his son's life-saving benefactor. He seemed to believe Bai Liu was taking Mu Ke away for two months for medical treatment.
Bai Liu didn't bother asking how Mu Ke had convinced him. In any case, Father Mu appeared fully convinced that Bai Liu was some kind of genius doctor and thanked him repeatedly.
When he learned Bai Liu was heading to the welfare home, Father Mu declared generously that he would donate money there as an act of goodwill for his son's recovery. He personally drove a Maybach worth over ten million yuan and delivered Bai Liu and Mu Ke to the welfare home in grand fashion.
At the welfare home, Mu Ke followed closely behind Bai Liu rather than his father. His eyes kept drifting toward Bai Liu, like a cat longing to cling to its owner but lacking permission.
Bai Liu sensed Mu Ke's anxiety. It wouldn't be beneficial once they entered the game. So he silently allowed the young master to stay close.
After greeting Lu Yizhan, Bai Liu stated that he and Mu Ke would look around inside. Meanwhile, Lu Yizhan entered with his colleagues to investigate.
Because Mu Ke's father had expressed intent to donate, the dean received Bai Liu and Mu Ke with exaggerated politeness.
The dean was an elderly woman. Dark age spots covered her nose and cheeks, reminding Bai Liu unsettlingly of livor mortis. Her eyes were murky, her back hunched. A faint odor of rotten fungi seemed to cling to her body.
She looked at people as if assessing merchandise.
Father Mu accompanied her to discuss the donation, while a teacher was assigned to show Bai Liu and Mu Ke around.
The welfare home was dilapidated, its architectural style clearly from a decade ago. Three low buildings formed a triangular enclosure. The walls were peeling and damp, moss creeping through cracks.
The courtyard in the center resembled a small kindergarten playground. Rusted iron horses, faded swings, and a seesaw with peeling paint stood in muddy grass. They swayed on their own. The seesaw creaked, rising and falling slightly in the wind. The swings moved with increasing amplitude, as though someone invisible sat upon them.
The teacher leading them turned pale and avoided looking at the playground. He quickened his pace toward the outermost building.
Outside hung two faded golden plaques:
"National Top 10 Children's Welfare Home."
"National Minors Protection Model Unit."
The award dates were from over ten years ago, the year the institution was founded.
"Our welfare home used to be large," the teacher said nervously. "Twenty-five acres, nearly ten thousand square meters. Over three hundred beds. Two hundred caretakers…"
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. "Twenty-five acres? Two hundred caretakers?" He hadn't seen a single caretaker.
"That was before…" The teacher's voice faltered. "Due to funding issues, parts were sold. Staff was dismissed."
"There were originally forty-six children. On Children's Day this year, we rehearsed a performance for the investors. But after funding us for ten years, they decided to withdraw support. We couldn't find new sponsors…"
"You had forty-six children," Bai Liu said evenly. "Thirty-seven are hospitalized. That leaves nine. Where are they?"
The teacher's face turned ashen. He twisted his fingers nervously.
"Can the remaining nine come meet us?" Bai Liu pressed.
After exchanging a look with Bai Liu, Mu Ke stepped forward and lifted his chin slightly. "We're prepared to donate ten million. It's not unreasonable to meet the children, is it?"
The number clearly shook the teacher. After a long silence, he whispered, "Only five can meet you."
"What about the other four?" Bai Liu asked.
Panic flickered in the teacher's eyes. "They disappeared last night. They sneaked out to play on the swings and seesaw. But while they were playing… they vanished." He swallowed.
"The swings and seesaw moved all night." A sudden gust of wind tore through the courtyard. The swings began to sway violently. The seesaw rose and fell faster.
Then, abruptly, everything stopped. The swings froze mid-air. The seesaw balanced perfectly, horizontal, like a scale. As if someone had just stepped off. Then the left side dipped slowly.
Something rolled down. A doll's head. The headless doll lay on the seesaw, dressed in a white shirt and black pants. Its limbs were cracked and broken. A crude coin-shaped necklace hung around its neck.
The doll was dressed exactly like Bai Liu. And it was smiling.