After formally shaking hands and bidding farewell to the defeated Fanatic Lambs, the spectators around the viewing pool, though still engrossed, gradually dispersed as well.
Amid the crowd moving outward, Hearts sat languidly in the viewing pool. With one hand propping up her chin, she looked at Bai Liu, who was talking with Reverse God beside the big screen. She then shifted her gaze to Spades beside them, who was staring motionlessly at Bai Liu's profile. Her curled lashes lowered slightly, and her red lips suddenly curved into a smile:
"I know what Spades' weakness is."
Beside her, Qi Yifang, who had gotten up and was about to leave, suddenly raised his head. "What is it?"
Hearts didn't respond to Qi Yifang. Her gaze, full of lingering affection, fell on Bai Liu's side profile. Bai Liu seemed to feel Hearts' gaze and turned to look toward her. With a courteous smile, he raised his hand and bowed slightly to Hearts, expressing his thanks.
It seemed like he knew Hearts had splurged tens of millions of points on him earlier.
Hearts rose gracefully, tipping the brim of her hat as she waved back to Bai Liu in return. She then turned to leave, the smile on her face becoming clearer. "Adjust our strategy against the Killer Sequence. In the next match, allow me to fight against Spades."
Qi Yifang's expression became more bewildered. "But, Queen, hasn't your skill always been ineffective against Spades? He seems to be able to see through all of your disguises. The strategy for this match was also specifically designed to keep you from facing Spades one-on-one."
"It was originally like that." Hearts stepped out of the now-empty viewing pool in high heels. Her constantly changing, graceful figure began shifting. Her shoulders broadened; her long dress transformed into suit pants and a white shirt tucked neatly at the waist, cinching it tightly. Her height shortened slightly, and her wavy red hair turned into a casually tied ponytail at the back of her head, swaying lightly against her fair neck.
Within a few minutes, Hearts had become Bai Liu. She—or rather, he—smiled, gripping the white bone whip in his leather gloves, and turned sideways to look at Qi Yifang. "But Spades likes someone."
"Those who harbor love and desire have nowhere to hide before me." Hearts—or rather, Hearts wearing Bai Liu's face—smiled faintly. She lifted her gaze and leaned in front of Qi Yifang's face, whispering into his ear. "Including you, my teammate."
Qi Yifang was shocked stupid by Hearts' transformation on the spot, staring blankly at [Bai Liu] in front of him, who somehow seemed more filled with desire, though he couldn't say exactly how. He felt his heart pounding wildly, completely captivated by that smile, stammering as he spoke: "Q-Queen!"
Hearts reached out to lightly pat Qi Yifang's face, gently smiling as she walked forward. "Friendly tip—best if you don't use that gaze to look at [Bai Liu] in front of Spades."
Qi Yifang dizzily patted his face, his whole face flushed red as he silently recited I'm not gay three times before catching up to Hearts.
He had just been completely mesmerized by [Bai Liu]'s smile, his soul nearly flying away, and hadn't yet caught on to who Hearts said Spades liked. Still, he nervously and foolishly kept asking, "Q-Queen, Spades likes someone—are you not heartbroken?"
Hearts gave him a side glance, her lips carrying a smile. "Why would I be heartbroken?"
Qi Yifang was stunned, almost thrown off by the logic of that rhetorical question.
You like Spades, Spades likes another person—should you not be heartbroken?
As if seeing the confusion on Qi Yifang's face, Hearts withdrew her gaze, half-smiling. "Such a gullible little boy. You didn't think that when I said I liked a man, I actually liked him, did you?"
Qi Yifang froze for a moment, then stammered in protest, "I—I'm almost 26, I'm not a little boy…"
"Oh, is that so?" Hearts nodded understandingly. As she spoke, she unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt, undid the ponytail at the back of her head, tousled her hair, then shook it loosely from side to side.
Beneath the damp strands of hair was Bai Liu's always composed and handsome face. A large expanse of pale chest showed faintly through the shirt, as if someone had just stripped him. Hearts leaned in toward Qi Yifang, lowering her gaze with a soft laugh. "Then, little boy, want to sleep with me?"
Qi Yifang's mind went blank for a moment.
Hearts lowered her gaze for a second, then lifted it again. She straightened up and walked forward, her voice carrying a subtle hint of teasing. "Control your reactions before saying you're not a little boy in front of me again."
Qi Yifang blushed all the way down to the base of his neck, his mind utterly shaken, and stood frozen in place, completely motionless.
If someone had walked past Qi Yifang at this moment, they would see this strong King's Guild newcomer staring blankly as he muttered to himself:
"I'm not gay, right? Could I be gay…"
"Bai Liu is really good-looking…"
Still unaware that someone had deliriously called him good-looking, Bai Liu was politely shaking hands and saying goodbye to the members of the Killer Sequence, but this farewell handshake was interrupted halfway and couldn't continue.
Bai Liu lowered his gaze and looked at Spades, whose hand was gripping his own firmly, not letting go, his face completely expressionless.
Reverse God, beside them, coughed loudly into his fist. "We came out today to watch Bai Liu's match. After delaying for so long, it's about time to go back!"
Bai Yi joined the fake coughing. "There's still a lot of practice we haven't done, don't you think, Spades?!"
Bai Jiamu put both of his hands in his pockets and looked away, pretending that he and Spades—who was gripping the opposing team's leader and tactician tightly—weren't on the same team.
Liao Ke didn't know whether to cry or laugh as he watched this clownery and apologized to Bai Liu helplessly with the manner of an elder. "We'll have to trouble Guild Leader Bai to excuse us. Our team's Spades is sometimes rather stubborn. A lot of times, we also can't figure out what he's thinking and don't have any way to deal with him."
The group of people put on both angry and calm expressions, yet still acted as if they didn't see anything. Not a single person stepped forward to separate Bai Liu and Spades.
Mu Ke and Mu Sicheng both watched with scowls.
What was the intention of these Killer Sequence people, indulging Spades so much and letting him grip Bai Liu's hand so tightly to provoke them?
Yes, that's right. Having never seen Bai Liu and Spades interact before, Mu Sicheng and Mu Ke had no hesitation in believing that gripping the other's hand so firmly was a form of provocation.
And Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi, who both knew better…
Liu Jiayi took off her goggles and expressionlessly started pretending to be blind.
Tang Erda watched these two grip hands for so long, lifting his hand multiple times, wanting to say something, but hesitating.
If they separated… it felt like something wasn't right. If they didn't separate… it still felt like something wasn't right.
Captain Tang, who had never felt so conflicted in his life, empathized deeply with Bai Liu and Spades as they were caught in the whirlpool of emotional choices.
Bai Liu opened his eyes and calmly said, "Let go of my hand, and we can talk about that matter you wanted to discuss."
Spades froze for a moment, then let go of his hand.
"You all go back first." Bai Liu turned around and called out to Wang Shun and the others. "Wang Shun, prepare a report for the next league match. First report to Liu Jiayi and the others. I'll be back later."
Wang Shun nodded. "Understood, Guild Leader."
Mu Ke and Mu Sicheng didn't really want to go, but were pulled away by Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi.
Seeing Bai Liu finally break the silence, Reverse God let out a long breath, clasped his hands together, and repeatedly bowed to Bai Liu. "Greatly compassionate Guild Leader Bai, we kindly ask you to have a good talk with our team's Spades. On behalf of all members of the Killer Sequence, I am deeply grateful for your immense kindness and generosity."
After speaking, Reverse God grabbed Bai Yi, who was craning his neck to watch the gossip, and tactfully left the scene swiftly.
Spades and Bai Liu were the only two people left in the empty viewing pool.
Spades stared fixedly at Bai Liu. "Why are you avoiding me?"
"Then why do you care so much about me avoiding you?" Bai Liu threw the question back at Spades, neither too lightly nor too heavily.
Bai Liu lifted his eyes to look directly at Spades, his gaze calm and indifferent, as if he hadn't been emotionally moved by the person in front of him from the start. "We've only met twice inside the game. I'm avoiding a stranger who is always unrelentingly chasing after me—is that strange?"
Spades fell silent. His back was straight as a rod, his hand clenched tightly around the whip at his side, and he asked in a low voice:
"…a stranger—would you grab a stranger's hand the first time you meet?"
"I can feel it. You don't hate me."
Bai Liu fell silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I indeed find it hard to hate your face."
Pulled out of the viewing pool, Bai Yi finally, reluctantly withdrew his gossipy gaze. He turned back to look at Reverse God beside him and gave him a nudge with his elbow. "Hey, is it okay to just throw Spades at Bai Liu like this?"
"Spades, this guy, is a complete blank sheet when it comes to relationships. No matter how you look at it, he's the kind of person who'll be totally played around in circles by that guy, Bai Liu."
Bai Yi recalled something, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. "You see, in the Dense Jungle Frontier, Spades was so infatuated with Bai Liu that he couldn't tell four from five, but in the end, Bai Liu was just using him. Even after coming out, he can't stop thinking about him."
As he spoke, Bai Yi even started sighing with emotion. He sorrowfully stroked his own face. "What has the world come to? Good boys like Spades and me have all been deceived by bad men and women who don't know how to cherish us."
Bai Jiamu, beside him, was so disgusted that he broke out in goosebumps. "How much face do you have to put yourself and Spades on the same level?"
"I actually think what Bai Yi said isn't wrong." Reverse God's expression was gentle as he looked in the direction of the viewing pool. "If Bai Liu calms down, he's able to see his own thoughts rationally. I really don't know if he will treasure Spades."
"The one he wants isn't Spades."
Both Bai Jiamu and Bai Yi were stunned.
Bai Yi grew a little panicked. "Hey, what do you mean the one he wants isn't Spades? In the Dense Forest Frontier, Bai Liu still looked at Spades with some affection. It can't be that…"
Reverse God calmly looked at Bai Yi. "En, it's just as you think."
"Fuck!" Bai Yi jumped and cried out in disbelief. "Does Spades know?! And you still threw Spades to Bai Liu like that?!"
Reverse God withdrew his gaze from the viewing pool. "…Spades probably knows by now."
Bai Liu slowly met Spades's gaze, saying word by word, "Because the person I liked from very long ago has the same appearance as you."
"He died, so I find it very hard to hate an appearance exactly like his—someone who is even constantly approaching me."
Bai Liu took a step forward. He raised his hand and caressed Spades's face, but his eyes contained no emotion. "Because it'll be very hard for me to find such a good memento again."