"I just want to find someone I can entrust my soul to. I heard from someone in the guild that when a player dies in the game, their soul is recycled by the system."
He fell silent for a moment.
"I don't want that."
[System notification: Player Liu Huai is mentioning content related to soul trading that involves violations. The small TV will automatically receive a silence block. Player Liu Huai, please reduce the number of such mentions, or the system will block your small TV.]
Liu Huai quieted down.
"In addition to my soul, I have something else I can give you, Bai Liu." Liu Huai raised his tear-filled eyes. "This thing is more useful than my soul. After all, I'm going to die. My soul would just be a banknote to you—you wouldn't get much value from it. But if you sign this contract with me, you'll be able to use my personal skill as if it were your own."
A strange sheet of yellowed parchment appeared in front of Liu Huai.
It drifted down like an unburned scrap of ash, fluttering lightly through the air. Bai Liu reached out, and the parchment landed in his hand.
He scanned it.
[24 Related Notices and Instructions on the Transfer of Personal Skills Prior to a Player's Death]
[Party A voluntarily transfers their desire-derived personal skill to Party B before death. If Party B agrees to inherit Party A's personal skill, Party B will also inherit Party A's desire, becoming the bearer of that desire and fulfilling it on Party A's behalf…]
[…If Party B already possesses a desire-derived personal skill fueled by a strong desire, the desires will become saturated. If Party B signs this contract and acquires Party A's personal skill, Party B may be unable to withstand excessive desire. The effectiveness of the second skill will be reduced accordingly. If a third skill is obtained, its effectiveness will be further reduced. If Party B finds the transferred skill ineffective, this is not due to a system malfunction. We ask both parties for their understanding…]
[…Before signing, Party A is obligated to inform Party B of the origin of their desire. Party B should decide whether to sign only after careful consideration…]
[The signing unit of this contract is the souls of both parties. Once signed, neither party may renege unless the soul is extinguished. This contract involves both desire and soul, and requires voluntary consent from the depths of both parties' hearts. It may not be signed under coercion.]
[Upon signing, one copy of this contract will be entered into both parties' system panels. The original will be retained by the impartial public agency system on behalf of both parties.]
[Party A: —]
[Party B: —]
After a brief review, Bai Liu looked up at Liu Huai.
"I can't sign this right now. The system isn't with me, so the contract copy can't be entered after signing. Also, this contract places too many restrictions on me. I would need to inherit your desire, and as a second skill, I wouldn't be able to use it at full capacity."
His gaze shifted to Liu Huai's severed arms—and to the daggers lying by his feet, which had automatically returned to their owner. The pure black blades reflected faint light, the word Blood engraved along their surfaces.
Bai Liu paused.
"Your skills are interesting. They are indeed your most valuable asset. But they aren't the most effective option for me."
"Besides, your real purpose is for me to inherit your desire—to protect Liu Jiayi," Bai Liu stated evenly.
Liu Huai looked up at him in alarm. He had already taken out his final bargaining chip, yet Bai Liu showed no eagerness to accept it. That unsettled him.
"You don't want my skill?" Liu Huai asked, his voice trembling.
"I didn't say that," Bai Liu replied calmly. "Your skills are very useful—but not for me. There is someone more suitable than I am to take this contract. Someone better aligned with your desire. Someone more capable of maximizing your skill."
He looked directly into Liu Huai's eyes.
"It just depends on whether you're willing to change the recipient."
Liu Huai frowned in confusion. "Who?"
Bai Liu answered, "Mu Ke."
—————————————————
Mu Ke climbed up through the lower levels of the bombed-out ruins, teeth clenched, his hands and knees scraping against still-scorching concrete.
Because of his chronic illness, Mu Ke had never been particularly strong. The climb took him a long time. Fortunately, all the nurses had rushed off to rescue the half-dead patients, so no one stopped him.
He gritted his teeth and kept going.
At last, he reached the ninth floor.
The moment he arrived, Mu Ke sprinted frantically toward Ward 906. He stumbled several times along the way, tears streaming down his face. When he finally saw Bai Liu—alive—and Liu Huai beside him with one arm missing, Mu Ke collapsed to his knees and burst into tears.
He had been terrified all night.
He had run downstairs to call the nurses, and when he saw the explosion on the ninth floor, he had nearly lost his soul. He had climbed back up in desperation, rushing toward the blast—
Fortunately, Bai Liu was fine.
Mu Ke wiped his tears as he scrambled toward Bai Liu and clung to him.
"You scared me to death!"
"Stop crying. Let's talk business." Bai Liu patted Mu Ke's shoulder with his remaining hand and turned him toward Liu Huai.
Mu Ke, eyes still red, looked blankly at Liu Huai, who was staring at him with an unusually serious expression. Liu Huai's gaze made Mu Ke shrink back instinctively, his voice lowering.
"…What's going on?"
Bai Liu patted Mu Ke's shoulder again. "Give a brief introduction of yourself. Your age. Family background. Future plans for marriage. How many children do you plan to have? Any bad habits? Educational background. And how many girlfriends or boyfriends have you had?"
"?????"
What was this? Was he being set up on a blind date with Liu Huai?!
Mu Ke grew increasingly confused, but Bai Liu merely glanced at him calmly, signaling for him to begin.
Still baffled—but obedient—Mu Ke cautiously introduced himself.
"My family's financial situation is… pretty good? Probably tens of billions? I'm not entirely sure. I can check when I get back if you need exact numbers. I'm almost 21. I don't smoke or drink, and I don't have any bad habits. As for marriage… I haven't really thought about it yet. I've never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. I have a bachelor's degree, but I could apply for a master's program anytime."
After finishing, Mu Ke shot Bai Liu a pleading look: What is happening?!
Bai Liu raised his chin toward Liu Huai. "You should introduce yourself, too."
Liu Huai took a slow breath and looked Mu Ke up and down with a faintly critical gaze.
"The person I was most satisfied with wasn't you. I wanted Bai Liu, but he refused. So you'll do."
Mu Ke stared blankly at Bai Liu, whose expression didn't change at all.
There was way too much information in that sentence.
You were trying to sign with Bai Liu first? You didn't even want me?!
Bai Liu handed the parchment to Mu Ke and motioned for him to read it.
Mu Ke lowered his head and carefully read through the contract. When he looked up again, his expression toward Liu Huai had become complicated.
This was a personal skill transfer contract.
He had known Liu Huai's death was part of Bai Liu's long-term plan. But he hadn't expected this.
"I have a sister…" Liu Huai began quietly.
He started telling Mu Ke about his past.
Bai Liu waited patiently until Liu Huai finished. Then he spoke, his gaze sharp and perceptive.
"What is the core of your desire, Liu Huai? If you want Mu Ke to inherit your lifelong desire—and your sister—you must tell him everything honestly. Otherwise, I won't let him sign."
He added calmly:
"This contract is engraved into his soul. And his soul belongs to me. I am responsible for the souls in my possession."
"I need to know everything."
Liu Huai opened his mouth—then closed it.
[System notification: Does player Liu Huai want to spend 200 points to purchase the silencing service?]
[I confirm.]
[System notification: Purchase successful. For the next 10 minutes, everything you say will be muted to the small TV audience. Please speak freely.]
Liu Huai turned away slightly. His eyes were red as he spoke hoarsely.
"…Jiayi and I are half-siblings."
"Our home was in a very small and remote countryside village. You might not know how remote this is. When you get off the bus, you have to walk for an hour and a half in rubber shoes. After heavy rain, the road will even be closed. The road is full of mud. People inside can't get out, and people outside can't get in."
Liu Huai closed his eyes as he thought of the muddy, dark village.
"I had a sister when I was a child, but she drowned in the pond on a rainy day. My father was waiting by the pond and waiting for my sister to grab fish for him. He didn't go down to save my sister, who was struggling in the mud. I didn't understand why at the time… Although my father sent me to school, he didn't care about anything else. My sister raised me before, and later, he occasionally looked after me. My father said my mother ran away early. I don't know where she ran to, and I have never seen her."
Liu Huai was crying while his eyes were wandering and hollow.
"I really wanted to leave that place. I studied hard, but I wasn't smart, so I didn't get good results."
"Later, someone from our village got admitted to a famous university. It was my aunt's daughter. The village gave us a 20,000 yuan bonus, which could be called an astronomical amount for us."
"From that day on, my father changed. He never cared about my performance before, but after that, he would ask about my performance every day. If I didn't do well in the exams, he would start beating me and scolding me, saying I was my grandfather's seed. How could I, a male, be inferior to my aunt's daughter, a female? Apart from being able to get pregnant, how was she any better than the roots of the Liu family?"
"The more he beat me, the more scared I became. I started shaking whenever I took the exams, and my performance became worse. Finally, he felt that I might really be a waste and gave up beating me. I was relieved. He told me that he wanted to find my cousin, the one who was admitted to the famous university, to teach me for a few months. I was very happy at the time."
Liu Huai talked for a long time, so long that Bai Liu thought his story was over. Then Liu Huai suddenly bent over like he couldn't accept it. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and smiled sadly.
"Do you know why Jiayi was born blind?"
Bai Liu understood. He was quiet for a few seconds, his eyes looking at the night sky, before he answered in a light tone. "Birth defects in children are commonly caused by close relations. Liu Jiayi is the same, right?"
Mu Ke suddenly realized the meaning of Bai Liu's words. His suspicious and uncertain eyes stopped on Liu Huai, and he got goosebumps. "…No way?! So lawless? Didn't anyone care about it?"
Liu Huai looked like his bones were being crushed by a heavy load as his head hung down deeply.
Liu Huai's voice was hoarse, dry, and cracked. It seemed to contain a piece of charcoal as he laughed and cried mockingly.
"No one cared about it because it was so dirty that no one wanted to care about it. People who knew about it treated it as a scandal to cover up and didn't talk about it. My cousin wanted to call the police and get an abortion after she became pregnant, but my father said she must have a new university student in her stomach and all sorts of other things. He is the only son of the Liu family, so after the coordination of my grandfather, he finally succeeded."
Liu Huai's eyes closed. "A few months later, my cousin failed to go back to university. After Jiayi's premature birth, she went to dig fish in the pond and drowned like my sister. My father also stood on the edge of the pond, watching my cousin struggling in the mud without trying to save her."
"I started studying like crazy and was admitted to a famous university. I took the 20,000 yuan and ran away from the small village with Jiayi. However, my father soon came to the door and asked me to give him money to support me. He tortured Jiayi to torture me. I spied on this man in the dark thousands of times and wanted to kill him, but I didn't dare. I couldn't bear to let go of the university I was admitted to or to let go of Jiayi."
Liu Huai choked, his tears hitting the ground as he howled and cried in a depressed and dull manner. He was like a weak beast whose head was stabbed, but he didn't dare resist. He kneeled on the ground, head aimed toward the ground as tears burst out freely.
Beside him lay the daggers engraved with Blood. It was as if the sins of his blood had entered his desire and soul, changing him to a pained fish struggling in the mud but unable to change.
"Yes." Liu Huai's forehead touched the floor. "…I'm a cowardly assassin."
[System notification: Player Liu Huai's skill identity 'Cowardly Assassin' has activated its background story and core desire. Do you want to initiate personal skill transfer?]
[Open.]
Liu Huai slowly straightened and looked at Mu Ke with dim, tear-filled eyes.
"Can you live bravely for me? Pick up my daggers. Play this game well. Protect Jiayi."
"That's my only desire."
"Do you have the resolve to bear it?"
Mu Ke instinctively looked toward Bai Liu, overwhelmed by the weight of it all.
Bai Liu met his gaze calmly.
"If you're asking for my opinion, I suggest you accept it. Having a skill is beneficial. But the choice is yours."
"Abilities are tied to desire," Bai Liu added. "If you pick up Liu Huai's daggers, you will become an assassin like him."
"…Can I hold them first?" Mu Ke asked softly.
Liu Huai nodded.
Mu Ke reached for the two black daggers on the ground. Dark patterns flowed faintly across their surfaces like congealed blood.
The moment he grasped them, his body trembled.
The handles pulsed faintly in his palms, warm—like veins growing into his skin. A powerful surge of vitality and hatred flooded from the daggers into his chest.
For an instant, Mu Ke felt the entirety of Liu Huai's life—his fear, his rage, his helplessness.
He looked at Liu Huai, who seemed on the verge of collapse. Armless. Covered in dirt. Breathing weakly, like a fish stranded in drying mud.
A pampered cat raised in a crystal palace would never understand the struggle of a dying fish.
Yet at that moment, Mu Ke felt something resonate. Their weak hearts pounded violently in unison.
They simply wanted to live. But the world would not allow it.
"I agree," Mu Ke said hoarsely, gripping the daggers tightly. "I want to inherit your skill. I'll become an assassin."
Liu Huai's head drooped, exhaustion overtaking him. His voice was faint as smoke.
"…Thank you."
[System notification: Players Mu Ke and Liu Huai have officially signed the '24 Related Notices and Instructions on the Transfer of Personal Skills Prior to a Player's Death.']
[The agreement will take effect upon Liu Huai's death.]
[Third-party witness: Bai Liu.]