Wang Shun raised his head suddenly and looked over. Bai Liu walked out of the exit unscathed without a single injury on his body. Before Wang Shun could smile, he saw Bai Liu raised his head.

The moment he saw Bai Liu's eyes, the smile on Wang Shun's face froze.

At the same time, the host on the big screen waved his hands vigorously: "The system has confirmed that the winner of the league is——"

"——A wandering circus!"

"Let us congratulate the circus's president and tactician, Bai Liu!"

There were extremely enthusiastic screams and cheers from the audience. Many people were so excited that they took off their clothes and threw them onto the court. They did not understand what happened in this game. They were just gamblers who were eager to bet on the winning side of the game and felt sincerely happy for doubling their points.

The whole audience stood up. Someone put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. The sound was sharp, and he laughed while whistling: "Wandering Circus! Eternal God!"

"Bai Liu, awesome!"

“The new team has entered the finals!”

"They are not standard rookies, but they are very strong. The quality of their rookies is very high. The assassin and the thief are both very powerful."

Laughter and cheers came from all directions, but Bai Liu stood motionless at the exit, staring at the motionless Wang Shun, with no trace of humanity in his eyes.

Water dripped from the ends of his hair.

Wang Shun opened his mouth, his face blank. He looked at the empty, closed exit behind him and stopped in confusion.

What about the other two?

Wandering Circus, are there two members who haven't logged out?

He wanted to ask, but he always felt that his question was very cruel to Bai Liu. However, Bai Liu seemed to understand his eyes, lowered her eyelids, and answered his question in a very soft voice: "They failed to log out."

"…The soul was completely shattered."

The moment Bai Liu said this, Wang Shun shuddered violently. Tears started to fall from his eyes, and he could only keep repeating incomprehensibly: "How could it be..."

"How could that be?!"

Lu Yizhan looked at Bai Liu very slowly. He must have a very strange expression at this moment, a mixture of fear, confusion, and pain——

——And a strange expression that seemed to be just as expected.

Bai Liu looked at him with an expression as calm as a lake where even a rock falling on it could not stir up ripples. She looked at Lu Station so quietly and peacefully, and then told him in the same tone as when he graduated from university that he would live alone in the future and that he and Fang Dian would not be allowed to go to his room in the future, and said:

"Lu Yizhan, I am going to become an evil god."

"If you continue to stand in my way, I will really kill you this time."

Lu Yizhan's heart felt empty, a very light emptiness, like a feather falling to the ground, a bubble floating on the sea. He thought that at this moment he would cry, shed tears, and collapse, but when this moment really came, he could not feel any emotion at all.

As if he had waited for a long time, the sword hanging above his head finally fell. He found that the sword itself was rusted. It was a very painful cut, but not as painful as he had imagined.

But it does make people feel suddenly, their minds go blank and they are unable to think.

——It was like the 317 world lines, the same feeling he had when he saw Cen Mingming pointing his gun at those people.

He had long expected that this day would come. He had seen this scene in the future. He even watched the sword fall and kill him. However, he was unwilling to accept this, so he tried his best to resist the future given to them by God.

But at this moment, Lu Yizhan felt deeply that the illusion of peace that he had tried his best to maintain until now finally collapsed at this moment.

Real world, dawn.

Mu Sicheng sat at the bus stop outside the school with a blank look in his eyes. Not far away, a car was driving towards him out of control. The dazzling light of its headlights illuminated his profile.

He was wearing those monkey headphones, his eyes were out of focus, and he was holding a key in his hand.

——It was not the key to his dormitory, but the key to Bai Liu’s rental house. He had originally planned to live there permanently in the future.

Because he didn't want to go home, and he didn't want to be alone, he wanted to be with his friends.

He wanted to stay with Bai Liu.

So Bai Liu gave him the key and calmly said that the rent was fifteen hundred yuan a month. He angrily scolded the other party for being heartless and snatched the key away.

The glare of the car's headlights approached him.

Mid-levels villa area.

The nanny opened the door and prepared to clean the bathroom as usual. She was a little stunned when she saw Mu Ke lying on the bed. She remembered that Master Mu Ke went out last night and said with a smile that he had something important to deal with tonight, so he would not come back.

Why are you back suddenly?

"Master Mu Ke?" the nanny asked tentatively, "When did you come back?"

Mu Ke suddenly turned over and fell off the bed. He covered his heart and curled up into a ball. His lips had turned crimson purple and his face was tightened with pain.

The babysitter's face turned pale with fright, and her scream woke everyone up: "Come quickly, doctor!!"

"Master Mu Ke is having a heart attack!!"

“Help!!”

After a while, the family doctor, whose clothes were askew, looked at the heart rate monitor next to him with a pale face: "How could it suddenly deteriorate like this?!"

"Mu Ke's situation has improved a lot!!"

Mu Ke was lying on the bed, wearing a simple breathing mask. His eyes gradually lost focus. He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the photo on his bedside table.

——It was a group photo, or maybe it wasn’t quite right to describe it as a group photo. He secretly saved the family photo from Fang Dian’s circle of friends, printed it out, and put it in a photo frame.

Mu Ke looked at every person in the photo frame, and finally his gaze stopped on Bai Liu's portrait. He smiled lightly and his eyelids drooped.

...There were things in his life that made him happy before he died.

That's enough.

The doctor looked at the heartbeat with horror and said, "The ambulance hasn't come yet!"

Residential building.

Xiang Chunhua pushed open the door of Jiayi's bedroom. She looked at the bulge on the bed and was stunned for a moment: "Jiayi?"

——Didn’t she say that she was going to play a game today, and she specifically warned them not to go into the game to watch, as it would affect her and distract her, causing her to perform poorly. Why did she come out by herself?

Game over?

But usually after the game was over, Jiayi would have dinner at Bai Liu's place before being sent back by Bai Liu. Why did she log out from the bedroom today?

Are you talking about a competition?!

Xiang Chunhua's heart sank, and she had a bad premonition. She quickly lifted the quilt, and then her pupils shrank, her face turned pale, and her voice was shrill: "Jia Yi?!"

Liu Jiayi huddled in the cup and trembled. She was obviously unconscious. She curled up into a small ball holding the doll. Her shoulders and body were shaking. Blood was all over her eyes and kept flowing. Her fists were against her sides and she shouted softly:

"Brother, it hurts..."

"Bai Liu, it hurts so much..."

"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me..."

"Liu Fu!!" Xiang Chunhua wrapped Liu Jiayi in a blanket and shouted anxiously, "Call a taxi, let's go to the hospital!"

"Jiayi is injured!"

The taxi drove to the gate of the hospital and stopped. Xiang Chunhua hurriedly carried Liu Jiayi to the emergency department. Liu Fu anxiously stood by her side. They ran past a stall selling red bean cakes.

A sweet fragrance wafts in the air.

At the gate of the residential complex where Tang Erda lived, Su Yang sorted out the things that Tang Erda had left at the Heretic Management Bureau and did not take away. It was a rare day that he had some free time, so he just happened to deliver it today.

"Tang Erda." Su Yang knocked on Tang Erda's door softly, then frowned, "Is he not here?"

That shouldn't be the case. At this time, it was exactly the time for Tang Erda, who had a regular schedule, to get up for morning exercises. He didn't see Tang Erda doing morning exercises downstairs and thought that Tang Erda had not gone out, so he brought the things up.

Su Yang was about to go downstairs, put the things at the gate, and call Tang Er to let him get them himself. The moment he turned around, out of an intuition coming from years of dealing with danger, Su Yang felt that he seemed to smell... blood.

He turned around and looked at the closed door with a serious expression.

The calls to Tang Erda were repeatedly unanswered, so Su Yang quickly went downstairs to inform the security guard, who took the spare key that Tang Erda had left at the property and opened the door. As soon as the door was opened, the faint smell of blood became apparent. Su Yang's pupils contracted as he looked at Tang Erda, who was sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed and covered in blood.

"Team Tang!"

Bai Liu logged out of the game from his rental house. There were many people around him who wanted to chase him and ask him many questions, but he just logged out of the game like that.

A man sat on a chair in the study, motionless.

Tang Erda and Heitao's coats were still draped over the chairs, the book that Mu Ke had read was lying on the floor, and on the table was a fruit plate covered with melon seed shells that Liu Jiayi had brought in and that she and Mu Sicheng had cracked open.

Bai Liu's phone vibrated. He picked it up and heard Su Yang's anxious voice:

"Bai Liu, are you home? I suspect Captain Tang was attacked by heretics. He was seriously injured. I took him to the hospital under the management of the Heretic Administration. He is being treated now."

"You are his number one emergency contact on his phone. He has no family or other friends he keeps in regular contact with. He is seriously injured now. Can you come over?"

"I'll send you the address."

Bai Liu was silent: "Okay."

Less than a second after he put down the phone, it rang again. Bai Liu picked up the phone and heard Xiang Chunhua's panicked voice:

"President Bai, Jiayi is injured! We sent her to the hospital, but we don't know what she was injured. The doctor is examining her. Can you come over for a moment?"

Bai Liu paused and said, "I'll be right there."

Before he hung up the phone, a new call came in.

"Hello, how are you? Are you Mr. Bai Liu, the parent of Mu Sicheng?"

"I'm his counselor. We can't contact his parents right now. The first emergency contact on Mu Sicheng's phone is you. He was in a car accident this morning. The situation is very urgent. We are rescuing him. Can you come over quickly?!"

"Hello? Mr. Bai Liu? I'm Master Mu Ke's housekeeper. He's having a heart attack!"

"I would like to ask, since you have been with him recently, do you know what may have triggered Master Mu Ke's heart attack? The doctor said that if he can't control it anymore, Master Mu Ke will..."

It was a very strange state. Bai Liu was able to calmly answer the phone and then put it down, plan the hospital address and route, then put down the phone, stand up with the help of the desk, and even put on an extra coat. Bai Liu raised his head and looked at these familiar yet unfamiliar things in front of him under the orange light.

The warm picture formed by these things gradually disintegrated in Bai Liu's eyes, disintegrating into something he couldn't understand, like something unreal, making him a little dazed -

——Did it really exist?

These people… these people who were leaving him, who were dying, had really been around him, in this narrow room, laughing and playing, and then they turned around and smiled at him and said, Bai Liu—

——We will accompany you to the end of the game.

...did it pass?

Or is all this just a self-projected fantasy of emotional satisfaction created by a human being who is considered a mental patient, a monster, and a heretic by everyone and has been excluded from the mainstream group of society?

For example, he saw a sunny and lively college student Mu Sicheng on the street, a well-dressed young master Mu Ke in a private styling studio, the most amazing child genius Liu Jiayi being promoted on TV, and Tang Erda, who was carrying out a mission with a serious expression, passing by.

And he is just a... gloomy and lonely monster. He imagined this scene because he fantasized about making friends with these people.

——His high school class teacher would tell him that a freak like you can only make friends through fantasy.

Maybe he really did that.

If only it were fantasy.

Bai Liu lowered his eyes and thought.

He had always disliked his high school class teacher, but at this moment, he really was thinking, what if all this was just his own fantasy, just as Xu Wei said.

Bai Liu took the key and went out.

Three days later, in game.

Bai Yi carefully poked the spade that was lying face down: "...Um, Bai Liu, how is he?"

Hei Tao was silent for a long time before answering in a muffled voice, "I waited for him at home for four days."

"But he hasn't come back in the past four days."

"He didn't go home, and no one knows where he went."

"I felt like he didn't want to see me."

"Is that so..." Bai Yi sighed. He sat next to Heitao and was stunned for a while before speaking softly, "That's right. Someone in the family passed away. I will be busy for a long time..."

"I have to go to the crematorium, register, deal with my remains, cancel my ID, and arrange for the funeral. There are so many procedures..."

"When someone in my family passed away... I was too busy to go home, and I didn't want to go home or see anyone."

The conference room fell silent.

Bai Jiamu leaned against the wall in silence. He managed to find a topic to talk about: "Where is Nishen? Have you seen him?"

Bai Yi shook his head: "I don't know. After that day, Ni Shen never returned to the game."

"He told me that he had to deal with some work matters and would definitely be back before the finals." Bai Yi sighed, "But his expression was as ugly as if he was about to die."

Bureau of Heresy, front entrance.

Following behind Lu Yizhang was Liao Ke. He stood here for the first time in a long time and stopped with his head raised.

Section Liao sighed for a long time: "You want to resume your position as the leader of the first team and deal with Cen Mingming's affairs personally, right?"

"Yeah." Lu Yizhan was silent for a long time, "I've already made an agreement with him."

"If he really did something that crossed the line, I would definitely judge him myself."

Lu Yizhan walked in.

Meanwhile, in the Sinchmani family lobby.

It was already night, and the hall was as bright as day. Various accessories were placed on display, and men and women in formal dresses and formal suits were walking around. They were talking intimately, distantly, or solemnly on the dance floor. There was an indescribable nobility about them, and a nonchalant indifference to others.

Hong Tao in the corner was wearing a long dress and white lace gloves that went over his elbows. He raised his red wine glass to the man in a suit next to him, then took a sip and said in a light tone:

"Although I don't know why you asked me to bring you here, I hope you won't regret what you have done."

Bai Liu raised a glass of red wine and responded to him in a gentlemanly manner, saying calmly, "Why do you think I will regret it?"

Hong Tao paused and said, "Because I feel like you're not very rational right now."

"I can understand your irrationality from a certain perspective, but I am still a little surprised to this extent."

Hong Tao was silent for a while, he looked at Bai Liu who was tasting the red wine with his eyes lowered: "I thought you..."

——I don’t care about them that much.

At least she didn't care enough to ask him for help and ask him to take it to Daniel's coming-of-age ceremony in the Sinchmani family. It looked like she was going to do it herself in real life.

Hong Tao helped get an invitation to the coming-of-age ceremony, and brought Bai Liu into the Sinchmani family as a male companion. Then Bai Liu and he waited in this corner for the banquet to begin. Hong Tao stared at Bai Liu's profile, and he clearly felt that something in this man was taken away by the previous game, and something more dangerous filled in this blank. "

Bai Liu sipped his red wine quietly. He raised his eyes to look at Hong Tao and smiled lightly: "What do you think of me?"

Under this smile, the very dangerous thing in Bai Liu quietly dissipated and became unclear, but it made him feel even more uncomfortable.

Hongtao shook her head: "...Nothing."

"Jiayi is really okay, right?"

Bai Liu smiled faintly and replied, "Jiayi is fine. She is recuperating in the hospital."

Hong Tao stared at Bai Liu for a while, then looked away and nodded, indicating that she had heard it.

——I can’t see anything.

He couldn't see anything.

Before the banquet started, Hong Tao had tried to test Liu Jiayi's condition three times, but Bai Liu was smiling flawlessly and Hong Tao could not find out anything.

After the game, Hong Tao confirmed that Liu Jiayi was injured and tried to search for the hospital where Liu Jiayi was. But she didn't know which hospital Bai Liu had hidden her in, so she couldn't find her. Bai Liu happened to come to her, so she chose to agree to Bai Liu's request and negotiate with him, asking him to tell her about Liu Jiayi's condition.

But the only news I got was - [Jia Yi is fine, she is recuperating in the hospital], nothing more.

Hong Tao lowered her eyes to look at her own reflection in the red wine glass and took a sip very lightly.

Liu Jiayi's injury must be related to the crazy Xiao Chou, and Phoebe was also threatened by Xiao Chou. He originally planned to take action against Daniel himself, but he didn't expect Bai Liu to find him and say that he wanted to come to the Sinchmani family.

As soon as Hong Tao saw it, she knew what Bai Liu was going to do.

He was beginning to...cross some of the lines he had always adhered to.

The guests around them suddenly started to make noises and moved towards the corner of the balcony. Hong Tao came back to her senses and leaned over to Bai Liu to explain softly, "The banquet has begun."

Daniel, wearing a pure white suit and a green bow tie, walked down the flower-filled staircase. His hair was combed back with mousse, revealing his iconic facial features and a pair of beautiful apple-green eyes. However, his expression was not so beautiful. He looked furious, irritable, and confused, as if someone had kicked him and he didn't know what to do.

It was as if something had happened that he could not understand, as if the person he had been pursuing had abandoned him.

The people in the audience were greeting each other politely. Bai Liu turned his eyes away, pretending not to hear. He didn't understand in the first place. Hong Tao next to him was playing with her bracelet from time to time, with her eyes half closed and a lazy look. Then the bracelet suddenly lit up, and Hong Tao's expression darkened.

——This is the signal of connection between Phoebe and Hearts.

This was a red warning signal that Daniel had taken action against her.

——Daniel really wanted to kill Phoebe and seize power at this birthday party.

"It's going to get chaotic here, Phoebe is ready to fight back." Hongtao raised her eyes, and his tone became cold, "I may not be able to take care of you later, if you can't stop it, just enter the game."

"I'm going to go find Phoebe first."

Bai Liu raised his eyes to look at Daniel on the platform and replied softly, "Okay."

Hong Tao looked at Bai Liu deeply, and finally said nothing and turned away.

Just as Red said, after Daniel showed up, the hall downstairs soon became chaotic, the conversations between the guests became weird, everyone was looking at each other, trying to guess what the other person's intentions were. Daniel seemed to find this scene boring, and he felt restrained in his clothes, so he went upstairs to change his clothes and make a scene.

Bai Liu also took advantage of the chaos to go upstairs. He followed Daniel, who was about to change his clothes and go downstairs, silently. He raised his eyes and called him softly, "Daniel."

Daniel was changing his clothes, but his hands stopped unbuttoning his clothes. He turned his head in disbelief, his eyes sparkling, and his voice rising: "Godfather!"

“You came to my Bar Mitzvah!”

Daniel took two quick steps over and stopped at the safest three meters distance from Bai Liu. He looked up, as if hoping Bai Liu could touch him. He half-knelt down in great reverence, clenched his right fist and placed it devoutly against his chest. His tone was filled with the expectation of finally landing:

"I knew you still needed me."

"They are not worthy of serving you on your path to godhood. Only I, the only believer who can serve you as a god, can follow you!"

Bai Liu lowered his eyes and looked at Daniel's crazy expression. He raised the corners of his lips, without a trace of light in his eyes: "As your coming-of-age gift."

"—Want to enter the system with me and play a game, Daniel?"