"I won't ask any more questions. No one can force you to say anything you don't want to." Liao Ke fell silent and took out a roll of bandages. "May I treat your wounds?"
"Sure, sure, of course!" the Reverse God joked with a grin. "It's my honor that Brother Liao is willing to take care of me."
"Stop talking nonsense. Turn around and take off your clothes," Liao Ke said flatly.
The Reverse God bared his teeth in a grin as he removed his shirt, revealing his bare, muscular upper body. Whip marks crisscrossed from his shoulders to his chest. The wounds were torn open, fresh blood still seeping out.
"I think you and Spades both have abnormal pain perception," Liao Ke sighed. "You're this seriously injured, yet it doesn't show on your faces at all."
He wrapped the Reverse God's back layer by layer until it was almost entirely covered in white bandages.
Spades wasn't much better off than the Reverse God. He was nearly wrapped up like a mummy.
After finishing, Liao Ke picked up his medicine box and moved toward the door. Just as he stepped outside, he paused. Turning back, he looked at the Reverse God, who was sitting on the floor guarding the still-unconscious Spades. His expression was complicated as he called out softly, "Reverse God."
The Reverse God turned with a smile. "What's wrong?"
Liao Ke looked at him and said calmly, "If you die recklessly, my sister-in-law will definitely remarry."
"Hey!" The Reverse God's expression cracked instantly. He watched Liao Ke push the door open and leave. "It's hard enough for me to get married. Don't joke about that!"
Liao Ke waved without turning back and shut the door. His smiling voice drifted in from outside: "If you don't want your wife to remarry, then try your best to stay alive, Captain."
The Reverse God leaned against the wall and suddenly laughed.
He staggered to his feet with the help of the wall, grabbed the cigarette pack from the table, shrugged on his coat, and pushed open the balcony door of the meeting room.
He leaned against the railing with a cigarette between his lips, but didn't light it.
His gaze drifted into the distance, taking in the entire game hall. A faint breeze brushed through his hair and stirred the coat hanging loosely from his shoulders.
There was no natural wind in the system hall, but the constant movement of people created subtle air currents, giving the illusion of one.
He stood there quietly for a long time before finally taking out a lighter. Shielding the flame with his hand, he lit the cigarette.
The flickering glow softened his otherwise ordinary features, making him look unexpectedly gentle. The tip of the cigarette glowed red as he inhaled. When he exhaled, white smoke rose and quickly swallowed that brief tranquility, leaving behind only a hazy, sinking heaviness.
At some point, the balcony door behind him was pushed open.
Spades—wrapped in bandages like a mummy—staggered over and leaned against him.
The Reverse God instinctively moved to stub out the cigarette.
Spades stopped him and tilted his head. "What does smoke taste like?"
The Reverse God chuckled. "Why are you suddenly curious? Weren't you interested before?"
Of course, that was partly because the Reverse God rarely smoked in front of him.
"This is something from reality." Spades stared at the burning cigarette between the Reverse God's fingers. "Would Bai Liu like this?"
The Reverse God smiled faintly and patted the back of Spades' head. "I taught you so many good things before, and you never learned them… Don't learn to smoke. Bai Liu doesn't like cigarettes."
After saying that, he extinguished the cigarette.
Holding the unlit cigarette between his lips out of habit, he glanced sideways at Spades and teased, "I didn't expect you to fall in love with Bai Liu at first sight."
Spades was silent for a moment before asking, "What is love at first sight?"
"It's when you see someone for the first time and feel like you could spend your whole life with them." The Reverse God's smile turned distant, as if recalling something long past. "Whether you actually spend your life with them doesn't matter. That moment—when she looked at me in the crowd and smiled—was truly happy."
Spades looked at him. "Can't I fall in love with Bai Liu at first sight?"
"It's not that you can't," the Reverse God said lazily, "it's just… strange."
He leaned back against the railing. "In my opinion, someone like Bai Liu would never take the initiative to approach anyone easily."
"Maybe you're the one who makes him happy. That's why he took the initiative."
Spades asked, "What is the happiness Bai Liu feels?"
The Reverse God was quiet for a while. Then he asked instead, "Are you happy?"
"To explain it in a way you can understand, Spades—" he turned with a faint smile, "when Bai Liu hugged you, aside from sadness, you felt something else from him."
"That's happiness."
"How did psychological counseling feel?" the Reverse God suddenly asked.
Spades paused. "I didn't feel anything."
The Reverse God burst out laughing, coughing as he nearly dropped the cigarette from his mouth. "Bai Yi and Bai Jiamu were both silent for a long time after theirs."
"It's embarrassing to speak your inner thoughts aloud."
"But you still have to, to figure out where the problem lies…"
Spades glanced at him. "Have you ever received psychological counseling?"
The Reverse God quieted. His hand slipped into his pocket, touching the lighter as if by reflex. For a moment, it seemed he might light another cigarette, but he restrained himself.
"I have," he said with a faint, wry smile. "Unfortunately, I didn't finish."
"Why?"
"Because there are too many things in my heart. I couldn't finish talking about them."
"Then why not continue?"
The Reverse God leaned lazily against the railing. "The purpose of counseling is to help you understand your problems. I already know mine, so there was no need to continue asking Liao Ke."
"And counseling isn't a cure-all. Even if you know your problem, when the time comes, you still have to endure the hurt you deserve."
Spades noticed the bandages covering his back. After a pause, he asked, "If you know your psychological problems, why do you still get hurt?"
The Reverse God removed the unlit cigarette from his lips and turned, leaning his back against the railing as he looked at Spades with a faint smile.
"Because humans are emotional creatures, Spades."
"Even if you know someone will hurt you, you still can't help getting close to them."
He smiled again. "For example, if you get another chance to play a game with Bai Liu, even knowing he might hurt you, you'd still go without hesitation, right?"
"Yes," Spades answered immediately.
The Reverse God laughed softly. "You're quite persistent."
The illusion of wind brushed past them again.
After standing there for a while, the Reverse God straightened and pushed open the balcony door.
"The whip I used on you two brats broke my heavy sword. I'm going to have the weapons master repair it. Fix your whip, too."
"The league's about to start. Get ready."
With a smile, he waved and left.
-----------------
Inside the Wandering Circus guild Headquarters:
Wang Shun stood anxiously outside Mu Ke's room, while Mu Sicheng squatted beside him, yawning.
"It's been so long. Mu Ke locked himself in that small warehouse as soon as he woke up. There hasn't been any movement since." Wang Shun was so anxious that he almost broke down the door. Seeing Mu Sicheng yawning beside him, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How can you still be sleepy?"
Mu Sicheng sat cross-legged on the floor and stretched lazily. "Why are you in such a rush? As long as he's not dead, we can wait for Bai Liu to come back and deal with it."
Mid-stretch, Mu Sicheng glanced down the corridor. His eyes widened suddenly, and he sprang to his feet. "Bai Liu's back!"
Bai Liu walked at the front without looking around, with Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi following on either side behind him.
When Bai Liu approached, Mu Sicheng froze. "Wait—Bai Liu, why are you injured? And why is your hair longer?"
"Something happened. Let Jiayi explain later." Bai Liu replied casually before turning to Wang Shun. "What happened?"
The moment Wang Shun met Bai Liu's gaze, he instinctively stood straight and lifted his notebook, reporting in a precise, orderly manner.
"When Mu Sicheng went to attack the Assassin Sequence, he was sent to the Golden Dawn Union. He was ambushed and trapped but managed to escape. After removing the restraining props, he's now fine."
Mu Sicheng shouted from the side, "Ambushed, okay? Not 'attacked.' That sounds weak!"
Bai Liu ignored him. "What about Mu Ke?"
"When Mu Ke brought Du Sanying into the game pool, he encountered a new member of the Deer Hunter team." Wang Shun's expression turned serious. "The other party used a very special memory prop on him—something that transfers the user's memories into Mu Ke's brain."
"When Mu Ke returned, he was unconscious. After waking up, he took the warehouse key along with a stack of paper and pens and locked himself inside. He said he needed to separate his own memories from that clown's."
Wang Shun hesitated. "The warehouse is basically a small dark room. Mu Ke's mental state isn't stable. If he stays inside too long, something will definitely go wrong."
"I wanted to force the door open, but if he's in a critical stage of memory separation, breaking in might cause a stronger psychological shock."
Bai Liu studied the tightly shut door thoughtfully. Then he stepped forward and knocked three times, slow and steady. "Mu Ke," he said calmly, "it's Bai Liu. May I come in?"
A trembling, fractured voice came from inside the warehouse. "No!"