Rose Day in May.

The open-air square of the rose factory was decorated with thorny rose vines and dried flowers. None of the employees who came and went had roses in their eyes anymore, and they happily carried the unwanted perfume-making equipment and threw it out.

Bai Liu sat beside the withered flower field with a pale face. He had not yet recovered from the previous sacrificial ceremony that had sucked a lot of his blood.

Liu Jiayi and Tang Erda stood on the left and right behind Bai Liu.

"I didn't expect you to be so selfless and put yourself in this situation." Liu Jiayi leaned over and sat down next to Bai Liu, her two feet swaying as she spoke with a sigh, "--So many blood ganoderma have grown, and now you have come up with the idea of ​​making blood ganoderma into perfume spray, which can save many more people."

"But that's not all." Tang Er interrupted Liu Jiayi harshly.

Liu Jiayi rolled her eyes and was about to retort, but Bai Liu spoke with a smile, his eyes looking far away: "I have already given them a solution. They chose the [poison] themselves. If they want to go back to the [antidote] path, they will have to pay a price."

"Are you going to let them cultivate the blood ganoderma themselves?" Tang Erda quickly understood Bai Liu's implication. He squatted down, frowned, and retorted, "But the cultivation method of blood ganoderma is too dangerous. It requires the blood of special children to be infused..."

"If there were no dried rose, that would be true." Bai Liu half-bent one leg and rested his chin lazily on his knee. "But dried rose and blood ganoderma are companion plants. The blood of people who have been contaminated by dried rose has a miraculous effect on blood ganoderma."

Tang Erda asked back: "How do you know?"

Bai Liu faced the wind blowing from the flower field and squinted her eyes in satisfaction: "Didn't you notice that the blood ganoderma absorbed the rose essence as it grew? And it grew exceptionally luxuriantly."

"The hint of the game is already very obvious." Bai Liu turned around, raised his chin and looked at Tang Erda, "--Just like Tavel, the poison grows from the dirty desires of these people, but the antidote is also hidden in their own bodies."

"It just depends on what they choose." Bai Liu turned his head away again and said calmly, "--see if they have the courage to choose the path of the [antidote] that will encircle their bones and pierce their hearts to save themselves."

Bai Liu was helped by Liu Jiayi to stand up. He patted the mud and grass on his trousers and legs:

"Whether good or bad, people always have to pay the price for their choices." Bai Liu turned around and looked at the stunned Tang Erda, smiling, "It's just that they never had a choice, and now I give them an extra choice. In essence, how this world develops is not something you or I can decide."

Bai Liu looked behind Tang Erda and saw the people running towards him with joy: "——It was decided by those who made the choice besides you and me."

“Mr. Bai——!!”

"Mr. Bai - we have finished the display for the May Rose Festival!"

"——!! Walk slowly, Mr. Bai! Your injuries haven't fully recovered yet!"

These people witnessed the tragic scene of Bai Liu bleeding to save them, and now they wanted to hold Bai Liu in their hearts. They would be startled for a long time if Bai Liu staggered a little while, and they would walk respectfully one step behind Bai Liu, guarding him carefully.

"We held the May Rose Festival as you instructed. We destroyed all the perfumes in the rose factory, leaving only the premium perfumes to be auctioned at the Rose Festival."

"——The people who came to the Rose Festival this time are all top-tier wealthy people. They all made their fortunes from certain links in the dry rose production chain and are vigorously promoting rose perfume around the world. Every year they come here to buy one or two bottles of premium perfume for their own enjoyment——"

"Now they are all waiting in the Piazza, waiting for you to come over."

This was another point that Tang Erda couldn't understand Bai Liu. He walked up to Bai Liu's side and said, "You have already destroyed most of the roses and perfumes, why do you still keep these premium perfumes?"

Bai Liu straightened his shirt, turned his head to give Tang Erda an ambiguous smile, and said casually: "——It is fair to give everyone the same choice."

The person in front led Bai Liu from the factory to the back of the square, opened the back door, and revealed a small staircase to help Bai Liu get on the stage. He lowered his head excitedly and proudly to open the curtain for Bai Liu:

"Sir, they are waiting for you out front."

Bai Liu stepped onto the stairs without hesitation, the sunlight shining on his face which was pale and almost transparent due to excessive blood loss.

In front of him was a small wooden podium built specifically for him, with a microphone standing at his lips. Below were a group of dignitaries in gorgeous clothes who were waiting impatiently.

Bai Liu smiled, lowered his eyes and leaned closer to the microphone. His hoarse voice was amplified through the loudspeakers in the open-air square:

"Sorry for the long wait, my dear guests."

"I am the new agent of Rose Factory, Bai Liu."

After a brief self-introduction, Bai Liu waved his hand to the left and politely pointed to a pile of blood ganoderma mother strips cut into 1 to 2 cm long on a wooden board, and introduced them methodically:

"The one on your left is a new product we just developed. You can also say it's a byproduct of rose perfume. It's made from fresh branches that have been cut off and dried in the sun. The thorns on top still retain their vigorous vitality."

Bai Liu raised his eyes and looked around at the people below: "I believe everyone must be very curious about why I want to introduce a piece of thorn like this. Next, I will tell you its value - this small piece of thorn can eliminate the addictive effect of rose perfume on the human body."

There was a commotion below. After a brief discussion, a man sitting in the front row raised his hand and said sternly, "Agent, I am willing to pay for the patent of this thorn, but you cannot promote it on a large scale!"

"Yes, yes! If this thing is promoted on a large scale, perfume will not be sold anymore..."

"I just used perfume to control a high-ranking official, and I can use this to get promoted..."

"Everyone, don't worry so much." Bai Liu smiled and interrupted the discussion in the audience. "If you want to use this thorn, the side effects are also very strong - it needs to be swallowed, and then you have to endure the pain of the thorn growing in your body all the time. It sucks your blood and makes you feel weak. In the end, you can make a mature antidote."

"And it's because this thorn has a requirement for pure blood. Just like an organ transplant, only one's own blood can produce the medicine to detoxify oneself."

"So everyone who comes to buy the thorn detoxification must be prepared to be in excruciating pain."

The people below fell silent again.

Liu Jiayi stood behind the scenes and lifted a small piece of cloth to look at Bai Liu on the stage. She couldn't help but exclaim: "Bai Liu is such a wicked guy."

Although she was cursing Bai Liu, Liu Jiayi's face was clearly filled with a smile of watching a good show: "Obviously, the blood ganoderma was used by investors to exploit children, but this guy used the purity of the blood to turn it into self-torture for these investors."

"Thorns, Bai Liu actually thought of using thorns to grow and cultivate them in the human body." Liu Jiayi sighed repeatedly, "He is really a genius at torturing people."

"What on earth is he going to do?" Tang Erda became more and more confused.

Liu Jiayi looked up at the big fool speechlessly: "Don't you see it yet?"

Tang Er frowned and thought deeply: "...what did you see?"

Liu Jiayi put his eyes close to the gap behind the curtain, with an unconcealable evil smile on his face: "He is transferring the choice made by the person behind the scenes to other people——"

"—he's letting these people make their own choices."

Bai Liu waved his hand again, this time he waved to the right.

On the display table on the right are premium perfumes neatly stacked up into a small mountain. The beautiful diamond-shaped glass perfume bottles sparkle in the sun, and the light pink liquid flowing inside is so beautiful that it looks like a dream.

"Of course, as usual, we have prepared premium perfumes for the auction for all the guests. This time, the perfumes are all blended by me personally and are of extremely high concentration."

Bai Liu pointed to the left and right at the same time, then said with a smile: "Antidote or poison, which one do you choose to auction?"

The sounds of crazy auctions rang out one after another.

Some swallowed the thorns, some breathed in the subtle fragrance, and soon they turned into all kinds of strange objects on the ground of the open square. The thorns pierced their hearts and spines, and the roses burned away their reason and pain.

Some people began to turn into monsters uncontrollably.

When the first person who turned into a monster roared and rushed towards Bai Liu who was standing motionless on the stage, a silver bullet shot into the monster's forehead from behind. Bai Liu slowly opened his eyelids, looked away from the beautiful scene of humans struggling on the ground, and looked at Tang Erda who was standing at the gate of the factory, holding a gun and breathing heavily.

Killing a monster would not make Tang Er gasp like this. What really stimulated him were the people on the ground who were rolling around in pain from the growing thorns or who were addicted to perfume.

Ten minutes ago, these people were a group of well-dressed, spotless people, and the symbols of the top of the world - and ten minutes later, they were lingering in front of Bai Liu without any dignity.

And Bai Liu didn't even force them to do anything.

Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu on the stage with a distracted look. He opened his mouth, wanting to say that you could have saved them, but also wanted to say that if it was for punishment, you could have just killed them -

——You are torturing them, why?

Bai Liu seemed to understand his eyes. He smiled implicitly: "This is not torture. They know the consequences of their choices. I have told them to be careful of roses, whether they are thorns or flowers."

"I just let them choose and then pay the price of the choice - it's a transaction between us."

Bai Liu walked down the stage, and walked slowly to Tang Erda in the bloody and messy background, then looked up at him. There were no roses or light in his dark eyes:

"—like what was done to me, to Tawil."

Bai Liu patted Tang Erda's shoulder nonchalantly, brushed past him and walked out of the open-air square without looking back: "Help me clean up."

Tang Erda stood there in silence, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he took out his gun without saying a word and helped Bai Liu clean up the monsters he had created.

In other words, these monsters choose to be monsters.

After experiencing such a bloody scene, Bai Liu actually began to take a walk beside the flower field opposite Tang Erda - he seemed to like this withered flower field very much.

Liu Jiayi followed at his side, walking backwards with her hands behind her back and chattering to him. No one knew what she was saying. Bai Liu would curl his eyes and smile from time to time.

If Tang Er hadn't seen a pile of monster body parts in front of him, he would not have been able to tell that Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi had passed by here - the scene was too heartwarming.

Tang Erda was stunned for a moment, and without paying attention, a monster slipped out from behind him and ran towards Bai Liu. He quickly ran up and shot the monster.

Bai Liuyun raised his eyes and glanced at Tang Erda calmly: "Have you finished cleaning?"

"It's over." Tang Er squeezed the gun in his hand, exhaled, and said without thinking, "You don't have to do this."

"Torture people?" Bai Liu instantly understood what Tang Erda meant. He turned around with interest and looked at Tang Erda. The look in his eyes made Tang Erda feel cold on the back of his neck.

Bai Liu asked: "I am actually very curious about something, which is also about torturing people. I saw in the mirror that I am not the only one who likes to torture people. There is also a team member named Xiao Chou."

"But your hatred is mainly focused on me." Bai Liu smiled, "He also did something excessive, but you have an inexplicable forgiveness for Xiao Chou - you don't seem to hate him that much, why?"

Tang Er squeezed the gun in his hand until it creaked, and said hoarsely: "I don't know why you think I am forgiving Xiao Chou. I hate him too."

"But it's different from your hatred for me. Your hatred for Xiao Chou is hatred for the accomplice, and your hatred for me is hatred for the principal offender. The relationship between the primary and the secondary in your hatred is very clear." Bai Liu touched his chin thoughtfully, "-- You are not an unfair person, but there is something that makes you subconsciously feel that he does not need to be punished so severely, and this thing is in line with judicial procedures--"

"--You think I am in a position of absolute control, tempting him to commit a crime--"

Tang Erda couldn't help but stabbed Bai Liu: "You are tempting everyone to commit a crime--"

"This little idiot——" Bai Liu looked directly at Tang Erda, "——does he have some special relationship with me?"

Tang Er was about to say that they hadn't found anything, but when Bai Liu reminded him, he frowned and began to think: "...we had guesses."

"Because Xiao Chou has the strongest following relationship with you, he only obeys you and is very exclusive to other people in the wandering circus."

"In... one of our attempts to capture you." Tang Erda seemed to have thought of something bad. He took two deep breaths to calm down. "During the fight, he even suddenly shot and injured Mu Sicheng, and then left Mu Sicheng to us, asking us to kill him."

"After research and psychological profiling, we found that he has no sense of teamwork towards other people in the wandering circus, and he is very hostile. This hostility comes from the fact that these people share you." Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu, "--He is your little clown."

Bai Liu raised an eyebrow: "It takes a long time to cultivate this kind of overly loyal psychological relationship."

"It's domestication!" Tang Er seriously corrected Bai Liu's wording.

Bai Liu readily accepted Tang Erda's correction: "And it must have been a high-intensity training since he was a minor. I think I know why you have a filter for him - how old is Xiao Chou?"

Tang Er beat one: "We guessed that he was only fourteen years old when he first met you, and you were 21 years old at that time."

"In the second year, his father died, and you met him in reality and helped him seize his father's inheritance - a huge smuggling chain that included many things, such as arms."

"He worships you madly, regards you as a god, calls himself your only believer, and is the first member of your circus."

Tang Er raised his head: "Xiao Chou called you King most of the time, but there were a few times when he called you other titles. We guess that after his father passed away, you may have become his God father."

"I'm already 24 now..." Bai Liu said softly, "If this little ugly guy is still alive, then he should--"

Tang Erda gave Bai Liu a complicated look and said, "The day before you entered the game "Rose Factory" was his seventeenth birthday. Bai Liu in other timelines would hold a huge birthday party for him every year."

"You dote on him."

———————

no man's land.

Small TVs kept going out and leaving the place. Members carefully explored deeper into the no-man's land, surrounding the towering mountain of TVs, constantly charging their hands with likes and collections, and would breathe a sigh of relief when they saw a small TV go out.

Some members were running back and forth in different areas, reporting whether the small TV that just came out was Bai Liu's.

A large number of small TVs owned by unfamiliar players flooded into the general area. The confused audience seemed to realize that something big had happened. They checked the forums and, after understanding what had happened, they flocked to the deserted area to watch the excitement.

At the same time, some No Man's Land players who received funding have successfully passed the level, and the flow of people at the exit has gradually increased. These players, who have been struggling alone in the game for who knows how long, began to lie on the ground and cry exhaustedly as soon as they left the game.

Most of these players were newcomers. They cried loudly to vent their anger, and then wandered around the exit like ghosts in a daze.

The game has drained away their emotions and motivation. They don't know what to do or where to go. Now they are just zombie-like bodies.

At this time, the people around them looked at them in amazement and whispered, which attracted their attention:

"Did they really come out? They rescued so many people?"

"The battles Bai Liu creates are getting bigger and bigger each time..."

"Damn, I really don't understand the games of the rich! Cleaning up the no-man's land for Bai Liu is too outrageous!"

These people seemed to realize that they were being talked about. After a long while, a man with tears on his face came forward and asked these old players: "Excuse me, was it Comrade Bai Liu who saved us just now?"

"...You can't say that he saved you." The player's expression was also complicated, "But if it weren't for him, you definitely wouldn't be able to get out."

This man seemed to have finally found a backbone, his eyes brightened amazingly: "Then, where should I go to find him?"

The man sighed: "No Man's Land, where you came out."

The author has something to say:

The real son appears!

Xiao Ke is about to meet his lifelong enemy (not

My friend: What is the name of your wandering circus? It should be called Happy Family. The scene that is about to be performed is called "Two Children Defend Their Father" (referring to distinguish which Bai Liu is their father).

Me: You’re making me laugh to death!!!