"I'm being honest, not messing with you." Fang Dian smiled mischievously, patting Bai Liu's head and laughing loudly. Her complexion quickly paled, but her expression remained energetic, her eyes brightly fixed on Bai Liu. "I've always treated you like a son I've raised anyway."
Bai Liu fell silent for a long time, slowly shifting his gaze to the side. "I've already passed the age for adoption."
Fang Dian was stunned, but quickly burst into laughter.
"Do I care that much?!" Fang Dian smiled, showing eight teeth—utterly bright and radiant. Her laughter contained the kind of happiness that came from the heart. She reached out, pulled Bai Liu's head over, and ruffled it. "Quick, call me Dad!"
Beside them, Lu Yizhan, unsure whether to laugh or cry, stopped her. "Be careful!"
Bai Liu was stuck under Fang Dian's armpit, his head squished so much that his facial features were distorted. He opened his mouth and said, "…Rest well and recover a little quicker."
After Fang Dian fell asleep, Lu Yizhan and Bai Liu left the hospital ward. They silently walked to the corner of the stairs.
At the corner was a long, narrow window.
Lu Yizhan took out a cigarette, holding it in his mouth without lighting it. He leaned against the wall and looked out the window. The sunlight streaming in fell on his face, making his complexion—already haggard and exhausted from lack of sleep—look even worse.
A look of sudden realization appeared in his eyes, and he spoke as if to himself: "…Everything is my fault."
Bai Liu looked at Lu Yizhan, his tone indifferent. "Do you need me to repeat the comforting process that your wife gave me here?"
Lu Yizhan was amused, letting out a small laugh. He took out his cigarette, coughed twice, then turned back and looked deeply at Bai Liu. His gaze was extremely complex, seemingly containing the extremes of every human emotion.
In that instant, Yang Zhi felt that through Bai Liu, Lu Yizhan saw another person.
Just a glance, and Lu Yizhan restrained himself, looking away quietly. "It really is my fault. I made a wrong decision, causing Fang Dian and me to get injured."
Bai Liu sensed something was wrong with Lu Yizhan's tone and calmly inquired, "Is it a matter from your work?"
"Can be considered so." Lu Yizhan put the cigarette back between his lips. He lowered his head, his expression hidden. "…The person who took revenge on you and Fang Dian was a criminal I once pursued. He was recently released from prison and said he wanted to get back at me. At first, he only sent me a photo of Fang Dian. I warned her to be careful."
"But didn't expect that I'd be listed too?" Bai Liu asked calmly. "Right?"
"If this were a simple matter of a criminal taking revenge on people close to a police officer, Lu Yizhan, I don't believe you wouldn't have thought I'd be put on the list. Why did you not warn me?" Bai Liu continued, calm and precise.
"The person wasn't just a criminal, was he?" Bai Liu dissected the situation quietly, layer by layer. "It was well organized and disciplined. From their actions, it seems this isn't their first time. To attack someone in the middle of the street, they must have secure backing. Furthermore, when attacking people, they were excitedly taking photos, with a clear performative and entertainment aspect. They continuously said that with this, they could win some kind of competition and gain something, treating everything like a competitive game."
"Compared to that ex-convict you just mentioned offhandedly to brush me off, I think this group of people seems more likely to be a terrorist organization with a unified purpose and shared belief. Furthermore, this kind of terrorist organization usually has some religious attributes."
"Terrorist organizations with this kind of attribute usually prefer large-scale, random attacks. From that perspective, the targets this time were far too specific—clearly aimed at people connected to you. Moreover, in this matter, you told Fang Dian but kept it from me."
"Putting all this information together, the only conclusion I can come to is this: Lu Yizhan, you're acting undercover in some highly profitable, large-scale organization with a belief system—one that's both entertaining and religious in nature. Or, to put it more precisely, you're undercover in this game, probably holding a fairly high-ranking position."
"Precisely for this reason, you know this game has some connection with me, so you're doing everything you can to keep me from knowing anything pertaining to it, while the other party knows everything about me, even to the point of luring me into this game to join their organization."
"Given that I know nothing about this organization or the game, there are two most likely reasons why the other party would do this."
"The first is: they need to recruit me as one of their believers."
Bai Liu quietly watched Lu Yizhan. "The second is: they need me to become their [God], right?"
Lu Yizhan fell silent for a long time. In the end, he lifted his head, looking straight at Bai Liu. His voice was coarse as he laughed. "…Sometimes I think having a friend who is too smart isn't such a good thing."
"Now you know about the existence of this thing," Lu Yizhan sighed. "What are you going to do?"
Bai Liu responded without hesitation: "I'll join this organization."
Lu Yizhan closed his eyes, showing an expression of resigned acceptance, as if he'd already long known. "…That is a choice you would make."
"I can promise you that after joining, I won't do anything excessive." Bai Liu looked toward Lu Yizhan, his expression and tone calm, but his words were merciless.
"But I don't like giving the advantage to another person. Like now, the scenario I'm more willing to accept is Fang Dian crashing a motorcycle into them, and then them ending up lying in a hospital—or a funeral home."
Lu Yizhan looked straight at Bai Liu, cutting to the point. "So you want to kill someone, right?"
Bai Liu fell silent and didn't speak, but Lu Yizhan knew he had quietly confirmed it.
Lu Yizhan let out a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Okay, you're going to kill someone. How many people are you killing? How are you killing them? And how are you going to deal with them after the killing?"
"I know that as I am saying this, your brain has probably already thought of a way to handle everything. I know that you're fully capable of managing these matters—even using this organization as a tool to roam freely in the world like a god, killing as you wish, possessing unfathomable wealth, and satisfying the extremes of human desires."
Lu Yizhan looked into Bai Liu's eyes. "But what about after?"
He reached out and put his hand on Bai Liu's shoulder, his eyes reflecting Bai Liu's figure, with a gentle, pleading tone. "Will you always be that kind of god?"
"Fang Dian and I both hope you become someone who can go to work and leave work, celebrate birthdays, have friends, have a job, cry, laugh, get hurt, love, and be loved."
"I have seen what you look like when you have everything." Lu Yizhan's hand on Bai Liu's shoulder tensed. "…But all of it was taken from others. You won't be happy. In that kind of world, no one will be happy."
"Bai Liu, I watched you grow up. Don't let me watch you go down that path again."
Lu Yizhan reached out and hugged the silent Bai Liu on the shoulder, then closed his eyes. "Bai Liu, I guarantee you: one day, you will execute those who have harmed Fang Dian in a way that is legal, compliant, and aligned with both my moral code and yours."
"But that's not now." Lu Yizhan stroked Bai Liu's head, then slowly lifted his hand. A strange white glow shimmered around it, and his eyes held a complex, multifaceted emotion. He quietly said, "I forgot to say this to you before. Happy birthday, Bai Liu."
[System Notice: Would you like to use god-level skill (World Memory Fold)?]
[This skill can modify the memory timelines of everyone in the entire world, overwriting specific events so that no one remembers those events ever happened, nor notices any trace of them. Everything can be flawlessly covered, making it the highest-level memory skill.]
[The reset memories become the foundational facts of the worldline, serving as truths for all inhabitants of that worldline, and cannot be erased or distorted by any items or skills.]
[System Notice: The player has already used the (World Memory Folding) skill twice on this worldline and only has one use left. Do you wish to use it now?]
Lu Yizhan closed his eyes. [Confirm.]
A blinding light burst forth as Yang Zhi, in the memory, faced this skill head-on.
This skill, World Memory Fold, caused the scenes in Yang Zhi's mind to switch back and forth at lightning speed.
The overwhelming layers of chaotic memories and emotions piled up endlessly. Yang Zhi's memory skill was merely a basic one; he simply couldn't withstand such a high-dimensional memory skill. After devouring the memories of so many people that were then forcibly folded and altered by a rule-level skill, Yang Zhi was on the verge of madness!
Yang Zhi knelt to the ground, his expression full of unbearable pain. He clutched his stomach, which was digesting the memories, as he vomited big mouthfuls of blood.
The chaotic and agonizing memories of every person that Yang Zhi had devoured surged into his mind all at once, crashing violently around inside the mental stomach of his brain. It felt like knives churning back and forth through his intestines.
To ease the stabbing pain in his stomach, Yang Zhi, his mind in chaos, grabbed fistfuls of dirt from the ground and stuffed them into his mouth. He swallowed without even chewing, desperately trying to suppress the feeling of having a stomach full of shattered glass. But instead, the pain only grew worse.
Yang Zhi rolled around, clutching his stomach and screaming. His limbs spasmed, and his face was full of tears and mucus, his pupils completely dilated.
[System Notice: Player Silent Lamb's mental value has dropped to 0, alienation complete, quitting game…]
Kong Xuyang was still stubbornly struggling. He frantically searched through his panel, trying to find some item that could defy fate and change everything. But no matter how desperately he struggled, it was all in vain, only making the hallucinations before his eyes feel more and more real.
He returned to the time he was in college. Those people mocked him, trampled on him, saying he was a wretched, poor monster, unable to afford 500-yuan shoes, and that he would be a lowly person for the rest of his life.
"I won't!" Kong Xuyang screamed with all his might in the mud, clawing upwards. His eyes were bloodshot, and long nails had grown from both his hands and feet, scratching himself until he was covered in blood.
He shouted himself hoarse in the mud: "This isn't fair! Why?!"
"I'm so much stronger than you! I could clearly win against you! You're clearly losers! Why do I have to be trampled under your feet?!"
Kong Xuyang struggled on the ground, trying to crawl upwards. He lifted his head and looked around. Everyone was stepping on his face with expensive shoes, looking down at him from above like he was a ridiculous clown. They sneered, saying, "You've already lost—you're now an utter loser."
"I will win!" Kong Xuyang convulsed wildly. He reached out to grab their shoes, his eyes with dilated pupils staring blankly into the void, blood spilling from his mouth and nose. "I will win!"
"I can afford all of your things!! Don't look down on me!!"
[System Notice: Player Kong Xuyang's mental value has dropped to 0, alienation complete, quitting game…]
[System Notice: Players Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu have won the doubles match, gaining 3 points.]
[System Notice: Players Silent Lamb and Kong Xuyang's mental values dropped to 0 in the game and have become monsters, forever remaining in the game…]
[…Confirming their deaths in reality, "Yinshan Village" game complete.]