"What, what's going on?!" Liao Ke in the audience was stunned, "Did Bai Liu really shoot?!"

"Yes." Lu Yizhan stared at the golden sculptures in the background of the big screen with an uncertain expression. He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up, his tone and expression were terribly gloomy, "I'm going to the third game."

"There's something wrong with Heretic 0073."

"Wait?!" Liao Ke was shocked. "Now? But Georgia is playing. There is no one who knows you and can support you in the three games. If you go over there and force your way in, you will get into trouble!"

"Their defense is very strict!"

"Besides, our competition is about to start. We may not have enough time to log out and come back!"

"I can't worry about that. I will try to resolve this issue quickly." Lu Yizhan gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. "I made a huge mistake... I accepted the wrong heretic."

Liao Ke was stunned: "Did you take in the wrong heretic?"

"I shouldn't have taken in heretic 0073." Lu Yizhan took a deep breath, "Because this is not a heresy at all!"

Liao Ke was puzzled: "0073 is a complete heresy."

"No." Lu Yizhan shook his head slowly, "Bai Liu deceived Georgia and fooled us all."

"In order to take away the pain of Gu Luolun's thousand-year gold, he deliberately lured me into taking in Gu Luolun. This was a trap he had set up long ago in order to take away my pain!"

Liao Ke stood up, patted Lu Yizhan on the shoulder, and sighed: "...I'll go to the third game with you."

"Let's log out at the point closest to the Gu Luo Sea."

Beside the Gu Luo Sea, heretic dealt with three rounds.

After logging out of Lu Station, he calmly instructed Liao Ke: "Contact Cen Mingming and ask him to urgently give me the approval to enter the Third Bureau."

"Yes, Captain." Liao Ke responded straightforwardly. A few minutes later, he handed the phone to Lu Yizhan, "It's Captain Cen's call. He asked you what you want to do?"

"It's a long story, but the situation is urgent, so I'll make it short." Lu Yizhan replied calmly, "Junior brother, I need your approval document to save the world."

Cen was silent for two minutes in a distorted manner: "...wait."

He hung up the phone, and about a minute later, Cen Mingming called again. His tone became a little cold: "Something happened in the third bureau."

"Two days ago, they received a strange letter of warning, saying that they wanted to steal Heretic 0073. The Third Bureau is now under full martial law, prohibiting any outsiders from entering or leaving, and the temporary approval cannot be issued."

"Sounds familiar, right? It's the monkey's way of stealing things, but the weird thing is..."

"The Mu Sicheng in this world is currently playing in the league, so it's impossible for him to come out and steal Heretic 0073." Lu Yizhan took a deep breath, "If this notice is true, then it must be the Mu Sicheng from another world line. If the Mu Sicheng from another world line can come here, then it can only mean one thing."

"——The evil god Bai Liu intervened in this matter. He wanted to attack heresy 0073."

"I found some special channels to get you another approval document, using the power of the prophet, saying that you are a special commissioner to investigate this matter." Cen Mingming said coldly, "But it's hard to say whether the Third Bureau will use the power of the prophet. After all, it is a special product of the First Bureau, and the Third Bureau does not have such a position."

Special Product Lu Station: "...Thank you, Junior Brother."

Cen Mingming sneered, didn't appreciate it, and simply hung up the phone.

"Let's go!" Lu Yizhan trotted, "Cen Mingming should have sent the approval document. Let's try and see if we can get into the third round."

"No." The investigation team from Bureau 3 shook their heads solemnly. "We have verified the approval document and it is authentic. We can let you enter Bureau 3 and learn some information, but I'm sorry, we can't let you as a special agent come into contact with Heretic 0073."

Lu Yizhan softened his tone and pleaded, "This document was approved before, why not today?"

The investigation team member hesitated for a moment, then looked at Lu Yizhan who looked anxious, and finally explained: "Because Captain Georgia said that we must be extremely vigilant today, he raised the alert of the Third Bureau to the highest level, and issued a death order, saying that no one is allowed to contact Heretic 0073 before he returns."

——This is what the notice letter caused.

Lu Yizhan closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "...Based on my understanding of Captain Georgia, he would not easily be so vigilant about a warning letter from an unknown source."

The Georgia in this world line has never come into contact with the thief Mu Sicheng, and she has always been cautious in doing things. She would not make such a fuss over a warning letter without investigating the other party's origins clearly, and would not raise the alert to the red second level at most, which is impossible to be the highest.

——The highest alert level of the Third Bureau is the [Judge] level. Since Georgia became the head of the Third Bureau, he has never used this level of alert.

The investigator paused and said, "Since you hold the approval document for the power of a prophet, you should know that there are some people in this world who can dream or predict the future."

Lu Yizhan opened his eyes, and the premonition in his heart became more and more serious: "...You mean?"

"Captains Georgia and Armand both had prophetic dreams a few months ago." The investigator looked up at Lu Yizhan. "You should know that those of us who guard heretics are the most affected by them. Sometimes we can indeed get some vague revelations from heretics through this influence, and some of them will appear in the form of dreams."

"Captain Georgia and Vice Captain Armand have both dreamed of this kind of notice. They believe that the person who sent this notice will pose a great threat to the third game. After we discussed it, we felt that such dreams were reflected in both captains and were of reference value."

Lu Yizhan's heart sank to the bottom.

...Dream, Bai Liu’s favorite method of inducement.

This was a well-planned scheme that Bai Liu had been setting up several months ago, but he was unaware of it when he left the Heretic Administration.

"One last request. Can you confirm the current status of the team members guarding Heretic 0073?" Lu Yizhan raised his head.

"We just contacted them. There is no problem." The investigator nodded. "We will contact them again now."

Less than a minute later, the investigator came back with a pale face: "...The members guarding Heretic 0073 have lost contact."

Lu Yizhan exhaled a breath of foul air from his chest: "You are going to send a new group of members over soon. I can wear a surveillance camera. Can you make an exception and let me go to the island with this new group of members?"

...If the thousand-year gold trade with Bai Liu and the Kingdom of Ancient Luolun is not terminated, and [Mu Sicheng] really opens 0073 in reality and spreads the powder of the philosopher's stone to the entire world, then all living things will turn into golden sculptures.

Heresy spreads across the world, the contest between the prophet and the evil god ends in failure, and Bai Liu will receive endless suffering in this last world line.

And the moment the heresy is opened, the people of Ancient Loren will...

The transaction can only be terminated when the hourglass is full.

Lu Yizhan lowered his eyes to look at the coin hanging on his chest and clenched it tightly - new prophet Bai Liu, do you have any ideas?

Where do the tears that can withstand the pain of a thousand years of gold come from?

In-game.

After Liu Jiayi quit the game, Bai Liu calmly turned the gun around, aimed at Belloc and Moore who were trapping Tang Erda, and fired again.

Chris gritted her teeth and covered the shield made of non-Newtonian fluid, blocking Belloc and Moore.

Shortly after Liu Jiayi quit the game, her poison skill expired, and Chris's non-Newtonian fluid turned white again without the poison enchantment, which means that the [Shield] function was restored.

But even though he saw the shield blocking Belloc and More, Bai Liu continued to fire indifferently. He pulled the trigger repeatedly, aiming at the flowing solid shield and emptied the entire magazine.

Chris was confused - her shield was 100% immune to offensive actions such as bullets, so why was Bai Liu still wasting his skills attacking her shield?

And this guy... just killed the most valuable member of his team, right?

Even if what Bai Liu did was beneficial to her team, it was not just Chris who was confused and questioned - what on earth was Bai Liu doing?

Tang Erda, who was trapped in the bird cage, also frowned.

He had attacked Chris's [Non-Newtonian Fluid] shield before, and was basically certain that bullets could not penetrate it, not even at his highest attack power. He didn't understand why Bai Liu had to attack again when he knew it clearly.

From the beginning till now, everything Bai Liu did made him feel confused, but on the court, as a main attacker, he would never question Bai Liu's behavior - even if the opponent did something as outrageous as a knock-out treatment.

The silver bullets spun in a spiral, as if in slow motion, and pierced into the milky white liquid shield.

——Then it passed through smoothly as if it had hit the air, and accurately hit Belloc and More, who were hiding behind the shield with extremely stunned expressions.

The bullet hit the chest, splashing blood, which melted into the fluid and formed a bloody red pattern.

Chris: “?!?!”

Chris's mind went blank for a moment. She subconsciously opened her system panel to check if there was something wrong with her skills. After repeated verification, she confirmed that her skill description had not changed at all - it had a certain shield effect against all offensive behaviors, especially against physical attacks such as firearms.

As long as it was an offensive behavior, or even ordinary behavior with an aggressive mentality, her shield could provide some protection. There had never been such a strange situation where a bullet hit her, and the high thickness of her shield seemed to be non-existent.

It was just like when this guy shot through her shield and killed her healer... It was like her shield, which had protected her teammates countless times, was completely ineffective in front of this guy, this strange tactician.

It's a top-level shield that can defend against even psychological attacks, so why does it fail in front of this person?

If her [shield] is completely ineffective... What will happen to her teammates in front of this tactician who is so cruel and brutal even to his own teammates...

Chris shuddered, feeling a sense of uncontrollable fear.

Moore and Belloc had already been covered in wounds in the fight with Tang Er. Their bodies also showed signs of being transformed into protective golden sculptures. Their movements became slow and stiff. Now they were completely unable to move after being shot by Bai Liu. They lay on the ground, holding their legs that were hit by Bai Liu, and shouted at Chris at the top of their lungs: "Run! Chris! Run!"

Chris gritted her teeth and tore off the last layer of shallow shield fluid protecting herself, trying her best to stack the thickness of the shield to the thickest circle, completely wrapping the two team members.

Blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. Chris, without a shield, stood in front of the shield without retreating a single step, her eyes fixed on Bai Liu who was high above.

If the [Shield] fails, she is the team members' last shield - this is the awareness and responsibility of the [Shield] team members.

Bai Liu changed the magazine slowly and leisurely. He walked down from the height of the mine step by step. The bullet shells under his feet fell with a crisp sound. After changing the magazine, he raised his hand again and aimed the muzzle of the gun at the two team members in the shield.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang-!!"

The bullet passed by Chris and hit the shield behind her, and then, just like before, it passed through smoothly as if it hit the air, and the breathing of Belloc and Moore inside stopped.

Chris' pupils shrank.

[System prompt: Player Belloc's health points are reset to zero, exit the game.]

[System prompt: Player Mor's health points are reset to zero, exit the game.]

Blood flowed out from under the shield, and her fluid shield was completely dyed red.

"Why..." Chris sat on the ground in a trance. Her fingertips and ankles also began to turn golden. The tears falling from her eyes brought out the glittering luster of gold powder. She looked at Bai Liu who walked in front of her and pointed his gun at her head with a choked voice, "Why is the [shield] ineffective?"

"A shield is for guarding and protecting. The meaning of a shield is to protect those close to you from harm."

"My desire to protect everyone has not changed in the slightest, so why is my shield ineffective?"

Chris' tears turned into scattered gold dust, and she cried, "The Golden Dawn exists to protect."

"As the [Shield] of the Golden Dawn, my desire to protect cannot fail! How could you penetrate my [Shield] and kill the one I wanted to protect!"

"Your desire to protect has never failed. To be more precise, it is precisely because your desire to protect has never failed." Bai Liu raised the gun and smiled, "My bullets can penetrate your shield and successfully kill them."

Chris looked up in realization. The golden color of her body had spread to her heart, which made her words become choppy and hard: "...Why?"

"Your desire to protect is very strong, just as strong as your captain Georgia." Bai Liu lowered his eyelids, and a thin layer of gold powder hung on his eyelids. "Your shield will even block a person with malicious intent and non-aggressive behavior. It is indeed a very powerful shield."

"But correspondingly, if someone behaves aggressively but has no intention of harming you, your shield will not be able to stop it."

"Like right now." Bai Liu chuckled and pointed the gun at Chris' temple. Her lips began to turn golden. "I'm going to kill you, but I'm not thinking about hurting you at all."

"What I meant was, I'm not killing you—"

"——I'm saving you."

"Bang bang bang bang bang-!!"

Chris fell to the ground just before she was about to turn into a golden statue.

The bird cage that trapped Tang Erda disappeared, and Bai Liu handed the gun over with a smile: "The situation was urgent and we needed a long-range weapon, so I borrowed it. Thank you, Captain Tang."

Tang Erda, who was forced to borrow it, took it helplessly: "Tell me, what did you find out?"

"He suddenly shot Jiayi and sent her out of the game. This is too outrageous..."

"What's the theory of killing without attacking?" Tang Erda put the gun behind his waist, turned around, clenched his fist, coughed twice, and sighed, "...What is this all about? I have been using guns for so many years, and I have never seen anyone kill without attacking. How can you kill without attacking?"

"Are you fooling people again?"

"No." Bai Liu shrugged innocently, "I really didn't lie this time. I killed them just to save them."

He smiled with a gentle expression, "Just the same reason as killing Jiayi."

"I might even kill you to save you later, Captain Tang."

Tang Er paused, raised his eyebrows and looked over: "So, Master Bai, what do you know? Can you explain it to the confused main attacker?"

Just as Bai Liu was about to speak, the system prompt sounded.

[System prompt: Player Mu Ke's health points are reset to zero, exit the game.]

Bai Liu narrowed his eyes, took out his communication tool, and saw the last message Mu Ke sent him - [Palace, gold powder, tears.]

"It is indeed the case." Bai Liu stroked his chin thoughtfully, "It is consistent with my inference."

Tang Erda helplessly stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Bai Liu: "You don't look surprised at all. It was you who planned to have Mu Ke kicked out of the game, right?"

"Yes." Bai Liu replied with a smile, "I asked him to clear the two brothers Georgia and Armand out of the mine at any cost."

"One against two, and they are the two most advantageous people on the other side." Tang Er frowned, "Mu Ke is really amazing for being able to drag it out until now."

"You mean to say that Mu Ke is not the most suitable candidate? Because there is a key thing that only he can do, so let him go." Bai Liu said with a smile, "I asked Mu Ke to tell Georgia that he has a way to fill the hourglass."

Tang Erda was stunned: "You already knew how to install an hourglass so early?!"

"Of course I don't know." Bai Liu shook his head honestly, "I lied to Georgia."

Tang Er frowned, "Georgia should have brought a lie detector with him when he entered the dungeon. And as someone from the Third... Golden Dawn, the lie detector he had should not be something as low-level as a scale. How did you fool him?"

"Oh, that's it." Bai Liu said calmly, "I also deceived Mu Ke."

"I told him that I really knew how to install an hourglass, and he believed me. He really thought I knew it, so he trusted me very much and went to ask Georgia. Because Mu Ke really believed that I had it, I thought this kind of sincere trust could fool Georgia's lie detector, so I let him go."

"Because if I told you guys I know how to install an hourglass right after entering the game, you would probably ask me about it. If I couldn't tell you, you would probably suspect I was lying, but Mu Ke wouldn't do that."

"I just need to tell him I know, but now is not the time to tell you, and he will believe it completely and carry out the task without asking any more questions."

"Mu Ke will follow me and trust me blindly 100%, so only he can complete this task and he is the most suitable person."

Bai Liu touched his chin. "When he was interrogated by Georgia and Armand until his health points were reduced to zero, he should have remained loyal and believed that I really knew how to install the hourglass. That's why Georgia chose to fight him until now."

"..." Tang Er sighed from the bottom of his heart, "Bai Liu, you are such a beast."