Bai Yi met Hei Tao's inquiring eyes. He opened his mouth and wanted to answer Hei Tao's question, but at that moment, he couldn't utter a single word in his throat.

The definitions of friends, relatives, and lovers are actually very simple, but for some reason, Bai Yi feels that... the answer to this question is very cruel to Hei Tao.

Although Spade himself doesn't care.

Seeing that Bai Yi didn't answer him, Heitao looked away again: "[Friends, relatives, lovers] are just like [reality]. You can't really tell what's important about them."

"Then there's no need to tell me the answer." Spade used his knee to hit the whip hanging on his leg and lowered his eyes. "It doesn't matter what you feel."

Bai Yi was silent for a long time before he gave a bitter smile and hummed, "...Indeed, to Heitao, none of this should be important."

"Because these things are just like [reality], they are just soft places for weaklings like us to escape to."

Bai Yi muttered to himself absentmindedly.

From then on, Spade never asked anyone questions about reality again, and just played alone as before.

The people in the Killer Sequence also agreed not to tell Spade anything about reality.

Spade doesn't like living in the central hall. He usually sleeps in the game. If he finds a game that he likes, he will often go to sleep or rest in this game.

For example, for a long time before, Spade slept in "Ice Age".

Bai Yi once said in amazement, "You actually like to sleep there. Don't you feel cold in such a low temperature?"

Spade calmly said that it would not happen.

Bai Yi asked in shock, why? ! Isn't it better to choose a warmer place to sleep? !

Hei Tao glanced at him and said, "My body temperature is very cold. I can't keep warm no matter where I sleep, so it's all the same."

So Bai Yi stopped talking again, staring blankly at Hei Tao as he left with the whip and went to sleep in "Ice Age".

In fact, Bai Yi knew in his heart that all the sympathy-like emotions he had towards Hei Tao were unnecessary for the other party.

Spades doesn't care about the opinions of ordinary human players like them. They are not species living in the same environment, and their standards for judging the world and the future are completely different.

If anything, Spade is more like a monster that accidentally escaped from the game and accidentally entered the ranks of players.

It is foolish to look at spades from a human perspective.

But sometimes... when Bai Yi occasionally discovered something that was even slightly human in Hei Tao, he would really feel sad.

——It’s sad that Spade is a human being sometimes. Why can’t he enter reality?

But Bai Yi knew in his heart that this sadness was unnecessary.

Because not allowing Spades to enter reality is the consensus of all players in reality.

Bai Yi couldn't understand before why Ni Shen strictly prohibited everyone from encoding spades, but later he understood.

Once, when Bai Yi was in the lounge, the door was half-closed. At the moment when he was about to push it open, he heard the sound of Spades coming from inside.

"Ni Shen, are you the one who forbids everyone to encode the reality for me?" Spade asked calmly.

Bai Yi's hand, which was about to open the door, stopped there.

After a while, Nishen replied, "Well, I forbad it. So, do you want to enter reality?"

"No." Spade paused, "But why can't I go?"

Nishen smiled. Bai Yi could see through the crack in the door that Nishen was leaning on the sofa, tilting his head back and looking at the ceiling, as if he was in deep thought: "Heitao, it's not that you can't go to reality. You can go."

“But not now.”

Spade asked, "Why?"

Nishen said: "Because when [reality] has no meaning to you, [reality] is just a copy of your game, and you will look at [reality] with the eyes of looking at the game."

"If one day, [reality] loses its meaning to you, or [reality] makes you unhappy, you will choose to destroy [reality] without hesitation. You have the ability to do so."

"But the most fundamental reason is that reality is not important to you."

"In that case, you will become a monster in this copy of [reality]." Nishen raised his head and looked at Spade. "You will destroy the [reality] that others are trying their best to protect."

Spade raised his eyes and said, "Isn't reality just a copy of a game?"

Nishen stroked his chin and thought for a while: "You can say it is."

Spade continued to ask: "Then destroying the game copy, isn't that something [players] often do?"

"I've met players who hate all dungeons. They're terrified of them and often scream about destroying them completely."

"Why do these players want to protect this instance of [reality]?"

Spade looked at Nishen: "Is it because these players like [real] copies?"

"No." Nishen thought about it, and he smiled as if he found it very interesting, and looked at Hei Tao, "On the contrary, many players who come to this system hate [reality]."

“There must be something in [reality] that makes them very unhappy and greatly stimulates their desires, so they will enter the game. For many players, the horror of [reality] may not be less than the horror of any game here.”

Spade stared at Nishen: "Why do they want to protect reality? Shouldn't they destroy it by any means possible?"

Nishen smiled and said, "It's hard to understand, right?"

Spade paused and hummed.

"What they want to protect is not the copy of [reality] itself." Ni Shen looked at Hei Tao, "but some specific people in this copy."

"So no matter how hideous, terrifying, and gloomy this copy of [reality] is, and how it forces them to suffer and tortures them to survive, they will protect [reality] for these people."

"Humans, or the players you see in Spades, are just such creatures."

“People instinctively seek their own existence, feelings, and values ​​in other people, and the desire generated by this pursuit is often more tenacious than the desire generated from themselves.”

"If people only rely on making profits for themselves, they will become the subjects of desires and spiritual needs. Games will soon drive such people crazy. This is normal because people are the product of the group. It is difficult for them to completely rely on themselves to meet their emotional and spiritual needs. They must rely on others."

"You must have seen many players who enter the game just for themselves and then die in the game very quickly."

“So most of the high-level players in this game enter the game not for themselves, but because of someone, or some very important people in [reality].”

Nishen held his chin and looked at Hei Tao with a smile: "But for Hei Tao now, these things are still difficult to understand, so just listen to them."

"If Spade wants to enter reality, then you must make reality have irreplaceable meaning to you." Nishen patted Spade's shoulder.

“When there is someone in reality who is very important to you, and you are willing to not destroy reality no matter how reality tortures you, then you can enter reality.”

Hei Tao was silent for a long time. When Ni Shen stood up and prepared to leave, Hei Tao suddenly spoke again: "Those very important people, are they friends, relatives, lovers?"

Bai Yi who was standing outside the door and Nishen who was inside the door were both startled at the same time.

Nishen sat back down with amusement: "Did Bai Yi tell you that?"

Hei Tao hummed and lowered his head: "But he didn't tell me what these are."

"In a popular sense, relatives are people who are related to you by blood, friends are people who have a good relationship with you and are willing to help you and accompany you at all times, and lovers are -"

When talking about "lover", Nishen clenched his fist and coughed. His face turned red and he said distressedly: "Lover... Although I already have a wife, it is difficult for me to explain this to you clearly."

Hei Tao squinted at Ni Shen and said, "My love, is it complicated?"

"It's not complicated." Nishen scratched the back of his head and said embarrassedly, "I fell in love with my wife at first sight."

"But it's not complicated, it's also complicated." Nishen sighed helplessly, "I have been my wife's boyfriend for so many times. She was very good to every boyfriend, and every boyfriend was also okay. But I don't know why, maybe it's because of bad luck, we can never make it to the end."

"Before the wedding, I was so anxious that I didn't sleep well for several days." Nishen clasped his hands together and prayed devoutly, "Thank God for allowing her and I to marry smoothly."

Bai Yi, who was standing outside the door, gasped when he suddenly heard such a big gossip - wow, even a highly intelligent person like Nishen would worry about his marriage problems.

Bai Yi thought that only an idiot like himself would worry about this.

"Your intelligence is 96, and you can predict the future." Spade looked at Nishen, "If you really want to know about your future marriage with her, there is always a way."

Nishen slowly sat up straight, put his hands on his knees and clasped them together, lowered his head and remained silent for a long time before speaking: "...I can't predict her."

Hei Tao looked at Ni Shen: "Your skills have no limits, why not?"

"Because I'm afraid." Nishen slowly raised his head and looked at Hei Tao. "I can predict the future of my friends and relatives, but I can't predict the future of her."

Spade stared at Nishen: "What are you afraid of?"

Nishen paused and said, "Among all the relationships that people need according to common sense, love relationships are the most special. You can have expectations about your friendships, and most of your family relationships are innate, but love is hard to define."

"Before I met her, no matter how smart I was, it was hard for me to predict what kind of relationships I would have and how they would progress."

“Romance relationships are full of unknowns.”

"You don't know who you will fall in love with, nor do you know whether someone will love you or for how long." Nishen half closed his eyes, "I don't know how far we can go, so while I still love her, I am afraid of not being able to see her future."

"I'm not going to make any predictions about lovers."

"For me..." Nishen lay back on the sofa and said softly, "A lover is probably the one who makes me afraid of a future without her."

Spade was silent for a moment, as if thinking, and then gave a serious evaluation: "It's hard to understand."

Nishen put his hands behind his head, turned his head to look at Hei Tao, and laughed: "Indeed, for Hei Tao, whether it is friends, relatives, or lovers, it is difficult to understand."

"Your birth is different from that of normal humans. You don't have any relatives with whom you have a natural blood relationship. As for friends..."

"All the players around Spade are afraid of you, let alone being friends with you." Nishen sighed, "Although we teammates know your background, we can't empathize with you. The best we can do is not be afraid of you."

"It's hard for us ordinary humans living in [reality] to understand your thoughts, and it's hard for you to understand our thoughts, too."

"If friends can't understand each other, the relationship is meaningless."

Nishen glanced at Bai Yi outside the door with a blank look: "It is very disrespectful to make friends with others based on superficial sympathy, and the other party does not need it."

Bai Yi's fingers on the door shrank slightly, and he slowly put them down.

"As for my love..." Nishen sighed, "I really can't understand this relationship. I am still troubled by it and can't give you more explanation."

Spade was silent for a while: "If I have [relatives, friends, lover], will you give me the code to enter reality?"

"I won't give it to you." Nishen looked at Hei Tao and smiled, "But when that time comes, Hei Tao, your [friends, relatives, and lovers] will give you the code."

Spade said "oh", nodded as if he got the answer, then stood up and left.

When Hei Tao opened the door, he saw Bai Yi standing outside. Bai Yi smiled and greeted Hei Tao. Hei Tao nodded to indicate that he saw it, and left without saying hello.

Bai Yi was silent for a moment and walked into the lounge.

He walked in and sat on the sofa. The smile on his face quickly disappeared. He sat in silence for a while, then took out a box of cigarettes, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then handed the box of cigarettes to Ni Shen opposite him.

"Apologize." Bai Yi paused and said, "Ni Shen, I was wrong. I didn't think it through. I will never think of secretly encoding the Spade Reality again."

Nishen lifted his eyelids, stretched out his index and middle fingers to pinch a cigarette in the box, took it out and lit it.

Then Nishen spoke slowly: "Don't help someone you are deeply afraid of just because of momentary sympathy, and naively think of becoming friends with them."

He exhaled a puff of smoke, and white smoke spread out on the side of his face.

Nishen turned around and smiled, "It's easy to get punished, Bai Yi."

From that time on, Bai Yi barely understood why Ni Shen did not allow anyone to encode the Spade reality.

But Bo Jiamu didn't understand. He asked Ni Shen several times why he couldn't give the code to Hei Tao.

[This guy Heitao is an idiot! He won't do anything to destroy reality! So what if you give it to him! At least let this guy sleep in a normal, warm bed for once!] Bai Jiamu yelled.

Nishen always laughed it off when it came to the younger Bo Jiamu, saying with a smile, "You can give it to him, but not now, and not by you."

【wrong time!】Nishen always said to Bo Jiamu in a funny tone.

It was not until this moment, when Nishen was covered in blood and Heitao was lying on the ground with wounds all over his body, that Bai Yi suddenly realized.

When a monster has the power to destroy [reality], it will never be allowed to enter this copy of [reality] until it has a weakness.

Although this is unfair to the monsters.

Bai Yi took a look at Hei Tao, who was lying face down in a pool of blood, then retracted his gaze and was pulled out of the meeting room by Bai Jiamu.

Nishen lay on the sofa without moving. After a while, the door of the conference room was opened again and Liao Ke walked in carrying a cross-shaped medical box.

Liao Ke is a team member with very little presence. His appearance does not match the name of Killer Sequence at all. He is very gentle, with long and thin eyebrows. He wears a pair of plain reading glasses. There are some unintentional fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, but at a glance he looks only about 27 or 28 years old, less than 30 years old.

But in fact, the second child is already in high school.

Liao Ke looks very young and doesn't look old at all, but he is actually 48 years old this year, and his eldest son has graduated from university for more than a year.

"Oh, Liao Ke, you're here." Nishen rubbed his shoulders and chatted casually, "Is your little daughter going to be a senior in high school next year?"

"It's not easy that you still remember this." Liao Ke teased, then half-knelt beside Hei Tao, turned him over and tied him up with restraints.

Nishen squatted down to help.

Liao Ke tied Heitao's hands and feet to the wall with straps, then bandaged Heitao's wounds with bandages. He looked up at Nishen and smiled: "My daughter has a hard time studying, but she has things she wants to do, and it's good to work hard for what she wants to do."

Ni Shen also smiled: "It's great that you have found what you want to do at such a young age."

Liao Ke glanced at Ni Shen and said, "Aren't you the same? You entered the game at a young age just for what you wanted to do."

Nishen was silent for a few seconds, then smiled as if nothing had happened: "Let's not talk about this anymore. I asked you to come here today to give Hei Tao psychological counseling."

"I do have a harmless skill that can be used directly in the central hall." Liao Ke half-knelt in front of Hei Tao, who was hung up by the restraints, with a strange expression on his face. "But this is the first time I use this skill on Hei Tao. Are you sure this guy won't wake up and beat me up halfway through?"

Ni Shen Pan sat beside him and said, "I can't beat you. I broke his whip into pieces."

Liao Ke smiled and said, "Then I feel relieved."

Liao Ke's eyes sank, he looked directly at Hei Tao whose head was hanging in front of him, and pulled out a stethoscope, a pen, and a notebook.

[System prompt: Player Liao Ke used his personal skills (interview) and (medical record writing) on ​​player Spade].

The stethoscope was suspended and extended, with the head placed on Hei Tao's heart and the ear hooks floating in the air, emitting a rhythmic heartbeat sound like an amplified speaker.

Liao Ke took out a pen and wrote on the paper: "Patient Heitao, what are your main psychological symptoms? How long has this situation lasted?"

"Tell me with your heart."

The heartbeat in the stethoscope became chaotic, gradually changing from a regular thump to the sound of poor electrical contact, and finally to Spade's own voice.

Spade's voice came out calmly from the ear hook: "I feel happy and sad, and I continued for one copy."

Liao Ke nodded: "Why are you happy and why are you sad?"

"I'm happy because I met Bai Liu, and I'm sad because I met Bai Liu." said the stethoscope.

"Do your happiness and sadness coexist all the time, or are you sometimes happy and sometimes sad?" Liao Ke asked.

The stethoscope was silent for a while: "Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am sad, and sometimes they coexist at the same time."

Liao Ke wrote on his notebook, the tip of his pen making a rustling sound on the paper: "Can you give me some examples of your happiness, sadness, and different scenes coexisting at the same time?"

"I was happy when I slept with Bai Liu. His body was warm. I was happy when I drank with Bai Liu. I had never drunk before. I was happy when I married Bai Liu. He hugged me..." The stethoscope suddenly fell silent. "It's hard for me to list all the sad scenes."

Liao Keshu stopped writing: "Why?"

"Because I don't really feel sad, but I do feel sad," the stethoscope said.

Liao Ke asked: "If in a scene, you don't feel very sad, but you are indeed very sad, then this sadness may come from someone else. Who is this person?"

"Bai Liu." The stethoscope answered smoothly this time. "He is very sad, but I don't understand why."

Liao Ke asked softly: "Under what circumstances would Bai Liu be so sad that you would also feel sad?"

"When you hugged me," the stethoscope said, "When you dug out my heart, when you married me, when you said goodbye to me, when you performed a ritual of evil against me..."

The stethoscope was silent for a long time: "He seems to be sad all the time."