After Bai Liu finished speaking about his three guesses, he put down the pen. The pen rolled twice on the table and rolled to the hand of Mu Sicheng, who had an expressionless face.
Bai Liu's attitude remained calm, as if he didn't think he had said anything extraordinary. Finally, Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng, whose face was numb, and added sincerely, "Of course, this is just my personal opinion. It may not be true."
The narrow rental house fell into a long silence. Only the wind occasionally brushed across Bai Liu's fingertips, blowing the piece of paper where he had written the truth of the world.
It is midsummer now, and the sun is shining brightly through the window behind Bai Liu. It is already noon, and one can hear the noisy chirping of cicadas and the noisy honking of cars outside the window.
But these visual and auditory experiences that seemed to give the world a sense of fireworks suddenly turned black and white in Mu Sicheng's world, just like Bai Liu who was sitting in front of the desk, looking at him quietly and intently against the light, and kept retreating in the curling digitized multi-dimensional lines, disappearing in the gap between his closed eyes.
The moment Bai Liu put down his pen, Mu Sicheng felt tinnitus in his ears for a few seconds, and it seemed as if even his breathing was fake for a moment.
Reality is a game?
The promised land, a place away from his base desires, that he had fought so hard to preserve, turned out to be nothing more than a game.
Mu Sicheng then leaned back in his chair, with the back of one hand resting on his eyes and the other hand hanging down. He remained in this position for a long time without saying a word.
Bai Liu didn't bother him.
After an unknown amount of time, Mu Sicheng finally sneered and said, "Bai Liu, I was wondering if you made up such a horrible story to trick me into joining you in the league? This is fake, right? It can't be true, right?"
"Most of the real things in this world are horrific, otherwise where would we get the materials for making games?" Bai Liu stood up, folded the paper with these words on it and put it into a book, then turned to look at Mu Sicheng again.
Mu Sicheng looked at Bai Liu dimly.
Bai Liu shrugged: "But it seems that you are not willing to accept it, so emotionally I feel that I should give you a buffer space to escape and accept. That's why I said that this matter may not be like this. After all, it is indeed possible that the first and second situations are possible."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
Damn it, but what's the difference between that and just telling me it's the third case!
Mu Sicheng sat paralyzed in the chair for a long time before he looked at Bai Liu blankly and asked, "Bai Liu, if the reality we are in is just a game, then where is the real reality? Does the real reality exist? What is truly meaningful to us? Why aren't you afraid of this game-like reality?"
Bai Liu was not confused by Mu Sicheng's rapid-fire questions. He thought for a moment.
"I started asking myself what reality is and what is most meaningful to me when I was a teenager," Bai Liu said, "but except for one of my best friends, most of my peers couldn't understand me. I later realized that they might never think about this question in their entire lives and could live well in this false reality."
"Whether reality is a game or real, believe me, for most people, it actually has no effect on them. To interpret it from an objective idealist point of view, people's objective cognition of the entity and the world constitutes a logical chain of human values. As long as [I] am real and what [I] pursue is real, then the world is real to [me]."
Bai Liu said calmly: "To me, this world is a game or something else, it doesn't matter."
"As long as human currency exists, my desire for money will not be extinguished. This is my truth and meaning."
"If you can't find your own meaning for the time being, why don't you try using mine?" Bai Liu picked up the key hanging behind the door and looked back at the stunned Mu Sicheng. "Why don't you try to find some visible currency, such as the 500 million points of the game competition champion?"
"Then maybe you can use money to buy the reality you want." Bai Liu pushed open the door. "With 500 million points, I think you can buy an entire Earth to create the kind of [real world] you want."
Mu Sicheng was silent for a while with a distorted expression.
"Bai Liu, your eloquence really comes from working in MLM, right?"
Once again, he was convinced by this psychopath's bizarre logic!
"So what is your answer?" Bai Liu raised an eyebrow and asked, "Participate in the league?"
Mu Sicheng gritted his teeth and said, "I'll join!" Then he quickly asked, "But you need to gather at least five players, right? Otherwise, how can we join?"
"Don't worry about that. I will take care of it. Just wait for my notification." Bai Liu turned to Mu Sicheng and asked, "I'm going out to have hotpot with my friends. Do you want to join me?"
Mu Sicheng: "..."
What time is it? Why are you still in the mood to eat hot pot? !
Perhaps Mu Sicheng's overly sly expression revealed his questioning, Bai Liu took out two discount coupons from his pocket and shook them, and briefly explained: "Because I have two discount coupons for a hot pot restaurant, they will expire if I don't eat today."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
Mu Sicheng could not compare with Bai Liu, a man with a mental condition so strong that it was abnormal. This college student whose worldview was impacted by Bai Liu was obviously still a little dazed. After rejecting Bai Liu's invitation to eat hot pot together, Mu Sicheng exchanged contact information and school addresses with Bai Liu, and returned to the dormitory alone to think about life.
Bai Liu went out with two hot pot discount coupons in his pocket. He looked happy. He didn't look like someone who had just come out of a life-and-death escape game, nor did he look like someone who had just revealed the truth about the magical world in front of Mu Sicheng.
Mu Sicheng sighed in disbelief and speechlessness: "You seem to be in a good mood?"
"Yes." Bai Liu nodded in acknowledgement. He smiled and squinted his eyes. "Now it's my off-get off work time. Of course I'm in a good mood."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
He thought again of Bai Liu's horror game talk at work.
Fuck!! This guy really thinks he is off duty!!
Such a tough mentality - what kind of environment could have produced such a monster? !
But after saying goodbye to the dazed Mu Sicheng, Bai Liu went to look for Lu Station.
Because when Bai Liu woke up, he found that Lu Yizhang had called him twice, but he didn't answer either of the calls because he was in the game. Bai Liu sent a text message to Lu Yizhang asking him what was wrong, and Lu Yizhang said they could talk in person.
Speaking of face-to-face chats, Bai Liu thought that he would most likely lose contact with him for the next two months. If he just disappeared without a word, Lu Yizhang, the policeman, would definitely report the case if he couldn't find him. Bai Liu felt that he needed to report to Lu Yizhang in person, so he sent a text message to Lu Yizhang to meet at a hot pot restaurant, ready to have a face-to-face chat with Lu Yizhang.
Bai Liu arrived at the hot pot restaurant quite early and there were not many people in the restaurant. He ordered a hot pot base and some dishes, and after confirming with the boss that the coupon was still valid, he waited patiently.
Before going downstairs, the boss turned on the TV in the store for Bai Liu. A news program was being broadcast on TV at noon. When Bai Liu looked at it, he saw a photo of Li Gou with his eyes blurred on the TV screen.
The TV host in a suit and leather shoes crossed his hands in front of the table and reported in a very orthodox broadcasting tone:
"Welcome to the "Midday News" column. Recently, the key evidence of Li, a major suspect in the high school girl's dismemberment case, was finally found... If Li's crime is true, he could be sentenced to death. But before the verdict was made, Li was suddenly hacked into pieces by Wang, a cellmate who was also guilty of murder, yesterday..."
The male host lowered his head and flipped through the script on the table, then raised his head to continue broadcasting:
"Recently, a small-scale food poisoning incident broke out in a privately-funded orphanage in our city. A large number of children were admitted to the orphanage in an emergency. After the police intervened to investigate, they found that the orphanage was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management, so they purchased a lot of cheap ingredients. Many of these ingredients were rotten and spoiled, causing the children to suffer from diarrhea and vomiting after eating them. In severe cases, they suffered from dehydration and shock... In response, we call on caring people from all walks of life to donate money to the orphanage..."
Bai Liu was watching with great interest when Lu Yizhan arrived, looking tired and dusty.
As soon as Bai Liu saw his typical office worker face, he knew that this person had been staying up late a lot recently.
Lu Yizhan sat down and gulped down two gulps of tea. He looked at Bai Liu and started to complain bitterly: "Damn it! You don't know how busy I am recently! I'm almost dying of busyness! I didn't even have time to drink a cup of tea in the whole morning!"
"It's only been a few days since I had dinner with you last time, right?" Bai Liu raised her eyebrows. "Is it so scary to prepare for marriage?"
Lu Yizhan waved his hands tiredly. He looked up and saw the news on TV. His face changed. He called the waiter and lowered his voice: "It's not just about the wedding. Waiter, can you change to another private room for us?"
There weren't many people here at the moment, so the waiter readily changed Bai Liu and Lu Yizhan to a small private room.
As Lu Yizhan entered the private room, his face looked solemn. He took out a cigarette and smoked it.
Bai Liu hasn't seen Lu Yizhang smoking for a long time. After he got a girlfriend, he was controlled like a filial boyfriend. He gave up all bad habits like smoking, playing games and cards. He even went out to drink a bottle of Coke secretly because of his girlfriend, no, now I should say his fiancée.
Lu Yizhang's fiancée firmly believed that cola was harmful to sperm and health, and strictly forbade Lu Yizhang to drink any carbonated drinks.
對此白柳表示，幸好陸驿站未婚妻不知道啤酒也算是碳酸飲料的一種，不然陸驿站喝酒吃燒烤這點唯一的人生樂趣都要被剝奪。
白柳很從容地笑問抽煙抽得一臉苦大仇深的陸驿站：“我現在是不是應該很擔憂地問，出什麽事情了陸驿站，你怎麽抽煙了？你當年不是發誓除了世界崩塌再也不會碰煙這種軟性毒品嗎？怎麽，你的世界在我離去短短幾天之內崩塌了是嗎？”
“咳咳咳！”陸驿站被白柳調戲得嗆了一口煙，他沒忍住笑了一下，陸驿站是很标準很讨老年人喜歡的那種很方正大氣的年輕人長相，笑起來有點憨帥，“白柳，你問問題就問！非要提我的中二黑歷史！”
“說吧。”白柳給陸驿站倒了一杯茶推過去，“我現在下班了，可以浪費一點我寶貴的時間聽一下讓你世界崩塌的人生煩惱。”
“結婚的事情的确很多很煩。”陸驿站接過白柳遞給他的茶杯沉默了幾秒，“但我最煩的不是結婚，你看到剛剛那個電視上幼兒福利院的新聞了吧？”
白柳點頭：“看到了，怎麽了？”
“我一個同事在處理這件事，他說看起來不像是尋常的食物中毒，很多小孩兒現在都在緊急搶救，還沒調查出具體結果。”陸驿站擰眉，“但菌菇類中毒，福利院你和我都待過的，鏡城又不是什麽菌菇産地，菌菇價格偏高，這裏的福利院很少會采買菌菇這種相對價格較貴又容易出事的素菜，又是一個瀕臨倒閉的私人捐贈的福利院……”
“總而言之我覺得這事不對勁，但目前的解決方案還是傾向于把這個福利院保存下來，在還沒查清楚的情況下，留在福利院內的孩子其實安全是得不到很好保障的……”
“聽起來好像挺複雜的。”白柳很冷靜地反問，“但這又關你什麽事嗎陸驿站，雖然你是警察，但這不是你的工作吧？”
陸驿站沉默了一會兒，說：“我主動去參與調查組了。”
白柳看了陸驿站一眼，沒說話。
“你也知道我快結婚了，點姐（陸驿站的未婚妻）的身體不太好……醫生說她很有可能不能懷孕，我們在懷孕之前就商量着要不要領養一個孩子……”陸驿站的手指扣緊了杯子，他苦笑了一下，“白柳，我知道你一定會覺得我太沖動了，我現在的經濟狀況也不算很好……”
陸驿站吸氣：“但我和點姐商量了之後，準備去這個福利院領養一個孩子，畢竟少一個孩子處在那種不安定的情況都好，畢竟我也是從福利院裏出來的，算是回饋社會吧。”
“所以你和我說一件，你明知道我應該不太會贊同你做法的事情，目的是什麽呢？”白柳語氣很平靜地詢問，“你想我幫你做什麽？”
陸驿站低着頭撥弄了一下他指尖上的香煙，沒說話。
服務員來上了一口火辣辣的紅鍋，在沉默的兩個人之間咕嚕嚕地冒着泡。
然後陸驿站自言自語般地開口了：“白柳，其實我很不想把你攪進這種事情裏來，但你的腦子在這種事情上，實在是太好用了。”
“如果一件事情涉及的犯罪利益很大，你幾乎立馬就能猜出對方的下一步做法，你是這個這方面的天才。”
白柳目無表情地喝了一口茶：“我就當你誇我了，你也不是第一次多管閑事找上我了，有事直說。”
“你能不能幫我看看這次的事情？”陸驿站擡頭看向白柳，“我同事那邊的調查思路卡住了，之前關于這種事情找你你給我的破局思路都很對，所以……”
陸站似有幾分難以啓齒地開了口：“我知道我是在多管閑事，但我知道了，就沒辦法看着不管，都是些小孩兒……”
白柳擡手拆開了”啪“一聲拆開了一雙一次性筷子，打斷了陸驿站還沒說完的話：“我可以幫你看看，但我不白幹，老規矩——這頓你請。”
陸驿站點頭，對白柳要求報酬這點已經很熟悉了。
”而且我只有一天時間可以幫你多管閑事。“白柳說，“我明天要出一趟差，兩個月不會回來。”
陸驿站驚了一下：“兩個月？這麽久？你這工作到底是做什麽的？如果是上次你說的那種表演性質工作，不用兩個月那麽久吧？”
白柳頓了一下，考慮到游戲的屏蔽機制，他換了一種說法：”這次我要帶着一個猴和一個小少爺一些人組隊，在臺子上玩游戲表演給觀衆看，要表演兩個月。”
“……”陸驿站的表情十分複雜，“你這工作真的合法嗎？”
白柳說：“合法。”
“又是猴子又是少爺，還玩游戲給觀衆看，還合法的，還有表演兩個月……”陸驿站思考了一會兒，恍然大悟地拍了一下大腿，看着白柳斬釘截鐵地下了判斷，“你們是一個馬戲團表演團隊對吧？兩個月你們是要開巡演了對嗎？”
“……”白柳沉默幾秒，“是的。”
——————
白柳回家之後看了一下陸驿站給他的一些這個私立福利院的相關資料和信息。
他們所在的這個世界大部分兒童福利院都是政府主持建辦的公立兒童福利院，白柳和陸驿站都是這種從公立福利院裏出來的。
陸驿站倒是被教育成了一個心地善良滿心感恩社會的當代五好青年，從小就立志要當警察報效社會。
而白柳這個怪胎，一路鑽到錢眼裏就沒有出來過，如果不是陸驿站一直警惕緊繃地拉着白柳讓他走在遵紀守法的道路上，白柳這個神經病能為了錢幹出什麽事情來還真不好說。
但這次出事這個兒童福利院卻不是公立的，而是十年前一大批企業慈善家聯合起來捐贈成立的私立兒童福利院。
這裏面很多企業家據說是得了絕症，按照【人之将死其行也善】的傳統做法，這些人捐獻了一大筆錢出來修建了這所私人福利院，說是自己臨死之前要做點好事積德，當時還贏得了很多贊譽，陸驿站也對這個行為一直誇獎。
說來也巧，在修建完了這所兒童福利院不久之後，這些企業家的病好些就像是【善有善報】般的好轉了。
但【人之将死其行也善】，人不将死了自然就不想花大筆錢來做善事求好報了，之後這些企業家對這個福利院漸漸也就沒那麽上心了，于是這所私人福利院在十年內慢慢地落敗了。
看了陸驿站給的資料，白柳明白他為什麽會覺得不對勁了。
這所經營不善的私立兒童福利院已經鬧出過各種各樣的事故，大部分都是各種菌菇類中毒，只是這次鬧得最大。
陸驿站說這些食物中毒的意外堆在一起，打眼一看都不像是意外，但調查下來之後，的确沒有發現任何犯案的蛛絲馬跡，不是刻意投毒，就是單純的食物意外中毒，和這次的事件是一樣的。
就像是有什麽更高一級的存在抹去了所有“食物意外中毒”之外的線索一樣。
陸驿站甚至都懷疑是不是他們內部的人裏出問題，有什麽犯案痕跡被人刻意抹消了。
白柳從一個毫無人性的游戲設計師的角度來看，這簡直是一個用來設計恐怖游戲的天然好素材——一個瀕危的兒童福利院，和一個食物中毒古怪的事故，和在因為中毒慘死的小孩。
比起陸驿站懷疑內部有人抹消了犯案痕跡，白柳更懷疑抹消痕跡的不是人，如果他之前的猜測是正确的——
——他覺得這個兒童福利院很有可能是一個正在被投放到【現實世界】的【恐怖游戲副本】。
——————
第二天一大早，淩晨，白柳就被陸驿站的奪命連環call給吵醒了，他一接起電話，對面陸驿站的語氣是前所未有的嚴肅：“白柳，你來一趟鏡城的第一人民醫院，送到醫院來的小孩昨夜——”
“死了很多是吧？”白柳平靜地說出了下文。
對面的陸驿站呼吸一窒，然後緩慢地吐息，他開口道：“你查到了什麽嗎？”
“還沒有。”白柳很坦誠地說，“但我從你給我的資料來看，如果是有人蓄意投毒，對方反複了這麽多次，目的應該就是殺人，而且這次情況這麽嚴重，所以我覺得送入醫院的這些兒童食用的蘑菇應該是致死量的。”
“……是的，很多都搶救無效去世了。”陸驿站的聲音艱澀幹啞，“但有個孩子還活着。”
“還有一個活着的小孩？”白柳明顯察覺了不對勁。
如果是這個兒童福利院是【系統】正在投放到現實世界的【恐怖游戲副本】，作為游戲背景的這批小孩大概率會全軍覆沒才對，就和《爆裂末班車》裏那節車廂的乘客一樣。
白柳輕聲詢問，“我可以過來嗎？”
陸驿站：“可以，你過來吧。”
When Bai Liu put on her clothes and walked over, the hospital entrance was crowded with reporters from various news media.
Bai Liu was picked up by Lu Yizhang from the operating room elevator. When he passed by the operating room, he could see small corpses with their heads covered with white cloths placed in the corridor. Because there were too many corpses, some of them had not been transported away in time, and were piled up in a crooked manner in the corridor of the operating room, turning the operating room into a small morgue.
From time to time, nurses with numb faces would come up and push the dead children's bodies down. Occasionally, they would hit the wall, and a purple little hand covered with various corpse spots would emerge from under the white cloth.
These corpse spots and some blood swellings appeared on the surface of the child's body, like mushroom patterns covering the back of the corpse's hands, as if a mushroom would break out of the corpse's skin in the next second.
A disgusting smell of fermented mushrooms filled the entire operating room, as if the mushrooms that were accidentally eaten by the children had been fermented overnight using the fresh corpses as a culture medium. It was a strong smell that was both rotten and full of the vitality of the fungi.
Bai Liu calmly withdrew his gaze, turned his head to look at Lu Yizhan, and waited until he passed the operating room before asking softly: "Are you sure these children died last night? The degree of decay of these bodies is not right."
"Yes." Lu Yizhan rubbed his forehead. "The time when the corpse spots appeared in large numbers was too early, and the time of rigor mortis was also wrong."
Bai Liu squinted at Lu Yizhan and asked, "Why is it wrong?"
Lu Yizhan stopped when he heard Bai Liu's words. He leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and took several long puffs. The whole corner of the stairs was filled with smoke, which showed that Lu Yizhan was in a very bad mood.
"The corpse spots all emerged from the child's body within a few minutes after the death was confirmed. They appeared and spread very quickly. This usually happens more than 24 hours after death." Lu Yizhan used the thumb of the hand that lit the cigarette to touch his forehead, trying to open up his wrinkled brows, but it seemed to have no effect. "Zombie... that's right. After death, the body hardens quickly. It had already entered the softening and decaying stage in the early morning this morning. This usually happens more than 24 hours after death."
"It's almost as if..." Lu Yizhan paused and said, "These poisoned children died before they entered the hospital."
They were talking as they walked and had already reached the stairs of the children's emergency ward on the first floor. Through the half-open door of the emergency exit, they could see the bodies of children with their heads covered on the beds in the hospital ward corridor, and the nurses who were putting the bodies into body bags.
The faces of those children's corpses were not the bluish-white color of dead people, but were covered with colorful protruding spots.
Bai Liu knew that some mushroom poisoning could cause dermatophytes similar to allergies, but the spots on these children's faces were so dense that they looked like a color blindness test. They were also raised on the skin surface. Even though Bai Liu was not trypophobic, she still felt a little uncomfortable just looking at them.
It feels like there are mushrooms growing under the face that haven't sprouted yet.
The author has something to say:
Note: According to the information I found in my country, you have to be married for many years and one of you cannot have children before you can adopt a child. Dianjie and Lu Yizhan have made some changes here. The welfare home system here is also different from the reality, because we do not allow private individuals to fully run a children's welfare home. The government must participate in the hosting in order to supervise the safety of the children. This is really good.
Almost all systems have been changed in this game world. All the settings here are for game loading services. Please don't bring them into the real world. This is an imaginary game world with very outrageous settings. Thank you thank you (covering face