Free Web Novel1:30 a.m., Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau Base.
Despite having been captured, Bai Liu showed no sign of concern. He leaned against the wall, sleeping soundly.
The footsteps of the patrolling guards echoed loudly through the corridor, but they did not disturb him in the slightest. His eyes remained closed, his lashes still. Even his eyelids did not twitch.
The patrol members, who had been repeatedly instructed by Tang Erda to monitor Bai Liu’s condition, could not help clicking their tongues in amazement.
“This guy’s nerves are way too steady...”
“I’m starting to wonder if he really is a heretic...”
“Hey, do you think he can actually solve the Dried Rose Leaf Gas problem? The Bureau says the situation is already extremely serious. Most of our people have been deployed to handle it, so there aren’t many left at base. A lot of team members have already fallen in the line of duty...”
“Tomorrow it’s the Third Branch’s turn to investigate that perfume factory, right?”
“Yeah. I heard Captain Su is leading the team. A lot of people from the first two branches began withering not long after they returned. This heretic is terrifying. It must already be a Level 3 Red Heretic by now...”
Not long after they left, Bai Liu, whom they all thought was fast asleep, quietly opened his eyes.
He counted the seconds in his head.
The patrol here made a round every fifteen minutes.
Roughly nine hundred seconds.
Bai Liu took the game manager coin from around his neck and narrowed his eyes.
After losing the cross and the scales, he could no longer use most of his special items in reality.
But there was one thing he could still use.
Bai Liu possessed an item that perfectly matched his core desire and could function in reality.
Money.
This Magic Space controlled the entry and exit of people, but it could not control the movement of objects.
In other words, money could freely enter and leave this space.
Then what if Bai Liu himself was also a piece of money?
The operating principle of this transcendent-grade item, which could trap a person and prevent them from entering the game, should function on the level of the soul. If Bai Liu left this Magic Space in the form of a soul banknote, then in a certain sense, would the space not have already released him?
Could it still trap him then?
Bai Liu slowly drew a soul banknote from his pocket.
Printed on the banknote was Xiao Bai Liu’s cold, expressionless face.
This was the banknote generated from the half of his soul he had collateralized in the wallet after defaulting on a trade in the previous game.
Bai Liu lowered his gaze to the soul banknote between his fingers.
Then he dipped his head and smiled.
Now, the only problem left was how to make those patrollers open the door for him of their own accord.
***
Fifteen minutes later, when the patrol member habitually opened the small observation window to check on Bai Liu, what he saw was no longer Bai Liu sleeping quietly by the bed.
Instead, money was pouring out of the window.
Coins, cents, one-yuan bills, and various denominations of currency surged wildly through the small opening, as though the patrolman had not opened the window of a room imprisoning the heretic Bai Liu, but the overflowing coin slot of a broken arcade machine.
Notes and coins gushed out together, forming a fountain of money.
Mixed into that flowing torrent was a banknote folded into a small square.
At first glance, it looked no different from the others. The only difference was that the pattern printed on it was not that of an ordinary banknote. But because it had been folded up, that tiny abnormality was completely hidden.
The moment the banknote flowed out, Bai Liu, lying atop the mountain of coins he had created, licked his lips in pleasure.
As the money poured away and the pile beneath him gradually sank, he clearly felt himself breaking free of certain constraints.
However, because ordinary patrollers were still present, Bai Liu could not enter the game directly.
He first had to leave this environment full of “onlookers.”
Outside the room, the patrolman frantically contacted his superior through the communicator.
“Reporting to the Night Watchman! Room No. 006 is currently gushing out a massive amount of money! The humanoid heretic originally detained inside is no longer visible! He’s been buried in money!”
“What?!”
The Night Watchman’s voice was equally shocked, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
“Open the door and locate the humanoid heretic. You must find him! Captain Tang attaches great importance to this humanoid heretic. He even applied to use Heretic 2617, the Magic Space, for this room. That heretic controls the entry and exit of personnel, so don’t panic. I’ll connect you to Captain Tang right now!”
The patrolman nodded.
“Understood. Searching now!”
The moment he opened the door, the signal connected.
Tang Erda’s furious roar blasted through the communicator.
“Do not open it!”
He gnashed his teeth.
“Once that person starts spending money, it means he has definitely found a way to recover it. He’s found a way to escape!”
“Eh?”
The patrolman froze.
“But I’ve already opened it? It should be fine, right? With 2617 in use, any creature trapped inside absolutely can’t easily—”
With his back to the door, the patrolman suddenly let out a muffled sound.
It sounded like something had hit the floor.
Then his voice disappeared, along with his unfinished sentence.
After a burst of static, Tang Erda heard the communicator being picked up again.
Bai Liu’s smiling voice came leisurely from the other end.
“Captain Tang, how about we discuss a deal?”
Tang Erda slammed the accelerator to the floor.
Forcing himself to stay calm, he began talking to Bai Liu to stall for time.
“What deal? If you mean buying the solution to the Dried Rose Leaf Gas with money, we’ve already discussed that...”
He paused.
Then, with extreme reluctance, he ground out through clenched teeth,
“I can pay you the original price for the Dried Rose Leaf Gas solution. But you must swear that you will never smuggle this thing back again. And you must not create any ‘accidents’ or ‘incidents’ that allow the Dried Rose Leaf Gas to spread again.”
Through the communicator came the sounds of hurried footsteps and startled shouts.
The patrollers at the base had discovered Bai Liu’s escape.
“A heretic has escaped!”
Bai Liu also began running. The sounds through the communicator became shaky and chaotic.
“Oh?”
Yet even while being chased, Bai Liu sounded utterly unhurried. He still had the leisure to chat with Tang Erda.
“Speaking of which, Captain Tang, have I ever broken my word in a deal with you before?”
Tang Erda closed his eyes.
Just hearing this man’s voice made his blood surge and his temples throb.
Yes.
The reason Tang Erda had never intended to trade money for the Dried Rose Leaf Gas solution from the very beginning was because Bai Liu had gone back on their deal last time.
After receiving his reward, Bai Liu had indeed helped the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau handle the Dried Rose Leaf Gas incident at the time.
However, Bai Liu claimed that the treatment method was his exclusive patent and required protection. As a result, he refused to disclose the specific processing method to the Bureau.
After treating everyone harmed by the Dried Rose Leaf Gas at the time, and with Su Yang insisting that Bai Liu was innocent, Bai Liu was eventually released.
But one year later, a Dried Rose Leaf Gas perfume factory that had originally been shut down suddenly resumed operation.
People began suffering from the gas’s effects again.
The Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau had no choice but to invite Bai Liu back and pay him to help.
Bai Liu agreed.
He was escorted by the Third Branch to that factory to investigate the specific cause.
But once that man reached the top of the factory, he suddenly looked down at the team members guarding him and smiled.
“Do you want to know what rose-made gas smells like when it explodes?”
The team members stared blankly at him, completely unable to understand what he meant.
Bai Liu raised his hand and made an explosion gesture.
He smiled with visible delight, his eyes curving as he imitated the sound.
“BOOM.”
“Then all of you will be able to smell it.”
“The scent of burning roses is very beautiful.”
And then the factory exploded.
Rose-colored smoke, carrying burning sparks, swallowed the area and surged in every direction.
Su Yang’s home was inside the hazard zone of the smoke explosion.
In that explosion, the entire Third ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Branch was wiped out.
That day, Tang Erda had been leading the team investigating the perfume factory.
He would never forget it.
When the smoke exploded, he had been facing away from the factory, looking out over the vast fields of brilliant roses.
The instant the smoke spread, Tang Erda turned around.
And he saw Bai Liu.
Amid the swirling, romantic rose-red smoke, wind and fire burned together. The fragrance of roses was rich and overwhelming, spreading across the entire land.
That man stood atop the factory as rose petals scattered around him. His hair and coat were whipped into disorder by the wind from the explosion, making him look as though he might scatter and fall with the roses at any moment.
They were so far apart.
And yet Tang Erda remembered it with perfect clarity.
He saw Bai Liu looking at him lazily, almost casually, with one hand tucked into the pocket of his trench coat.
With a faint smile, Bai Liu silently mouthed to him:
Does it smell good, Captain Tang?
Tang Erda drew in a deep breath and forced those shattered memories back into place.
He stabilized his nearly boiling emotions and continued speaking to Bai Liu.
“As long as you don’t go back on your word, I can trade with you. I can apply for a large amount of funding for you.”
“I have to admit, that is tempting,” Bai Liu answered honestly.
“But what you’re thinking right now is that once you get the solution from me, you’ll kill me, isn’t it?”
“There’s no better way to prevent me from going back on my word.”
“Only a dead man can absolutely never break a promise.”
Tang Erda clenched his teeth and glanced out the car window.
He could already see the circular building of the base.
He was almost there.
“Captain Tang,” Bai Liu said casually, “you clearly care so much about me, yet after catching me, you left me alone in a room for an entire night.”
“That is not the behavior of a mature man.”
“Let me guess. Who did you go see behind my back?”
Bai Liu’s tone carried an indescribable mixture of ambiguity and coldness.
“You think I’m difficult to control. You don’t want to trade money for the rose gas solution because ‘I’ broke a previous agreement. So you wanted to find someone who could restrain me better than money and use them to interrogate me.”
“Lu Yizhan,” Bai Liu said calmly. “You brought him here, didn’t you?”
In Tang Erda’s passenger seat, Lu Yizhan sat with bleary eyes and hair sticking up in every direction.
He looked completely lost as he watched Tang Erda drive an official vehicle like a race car. Clutching his seatbelt nervously, he tried to stop this Captain Tang—who had practically kidnapped him into overtime and was now drag racing—from speeding even more.
“C-Captain! Aren’t you going too fast?!”
Tang Erda jerked the steering wheel with one hand. A fierce, almost crazed smile tugged at his lips.
“I’ve always been curious why the ‘you’ in this timeline turned out like this. I repeatedly searched through your resume and compared it with the other timelines in my memory.”
“To be honest, I truly didn’t want to recall that disgusting, hateful face of yours, or anything related to you.”
“But after looking back, I found the turning point in your life.”
“That turning point is the guy sitting in my passenger seat.”
“Lu Yizhan, right?”
Lu Yizhan looked over in confusion, his ears ringing from the speed.
“Huh? Captain, did you call me?”
Tang Erda slammed on the brakes.
He swiftly swiped his work ID to open the base parking lot gate and continued driving inside.
Even inside the parking lot, he did not slow down.
At high speed, the rear of the car swung around and slid perfectly into a parking space, the tires leaving dusty skid marks across the ground.
Tang Erda slammed the door open and got out, then dragged the motion-sick Lu Yizhan out of the passenger seat by the collar.
Lu Yizhan had finally managed to get a little sleep after several days of overtime, only to be dragged out and thrown into this nightmare drive. The moment his feet touched the ground, he leaned against the car door and began dry-heaving.
Tang Erda tucked the communicator between his shoulder and ear. Glancing sideways at Lu Yizhan, who was still retching, he tossed his gloves onto the driver’s seat and sneered into the communicator.
“Bai Liu, to think you actually have a friend you’re willing to change for.”
“What an eye-opener.”
Lu Yizhan, having barely recovered, finally found the strength to lean against the car door and stand upright.
He wiped the corner of his mouth and looked at Tang Erda with both confusion and worry.
“Captain, you were talking about Bai Liu just now, right? What happened to Bai Liu? Is he okay?”
Tang Erda raised an eyebrow and deliberately drew out his words into the communicator.
“Bai Liu, tell me. What do you think will happen when your righteous police officer friend learns your true colors?”
The sound of Bai Liu running through the hallway suddenly stopped.
Only his slightly hurried breathing remained.
But the footsteps paused for less than a second before starting again.
Bai Liu’s tone did not change at all. He even teased Tang Erda in return.
“Captain Tang, do you think he doesn’t already know what kind of person I am?”
“Why do you think he’s been my friend for ten years?”
Once Lu Yizhan stood properly, he stole several glances at Tang Erda’s tense expression.
Lu Yizhan, who had been desperately denying reality, finally realized that Bai Liu might actually have gotten into trouble.
His expression collapsed. He pulled at his own face in distress.
“Captain, don’t tell me Bai Liu committed a crime?! He’s like a didi to me. Surely family members of investigators can get a reduced sentence, right?!”
“He didn’t kill anyone or set anything on fire, did he?!”
Lu Yizhan looked anxiously at Tang Erda.
“Sir, he does have a bit of an antisocial personality, but he wouldn’t deliberately commit a crime! Usually, his self-control is quite strong. As long as no one provokes him, he’s normally fine...”
Tang Erda’s eerie silence clearly sent Lu Yizhan’s thoughts spiraling in an even worse direction.
Lu Yizhan could not help covering his face, his voice filled with grief.
“Has he become a psychopathic serial killer? Or gotten involved in some international financial fraud scheme?”
“Heavens, I only worked overtime for two days and didn’t keep an eye on him, and he already turned into this—”
“It’s all my fault. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have worked overtime tonight.”
Lu Yizhan sank into unprecedented guilt.
Tang Erda: “...”
Damn it.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?!
Bai Liu clicked his tongue twice.
“See?”
“How about considering a deal with me instead?”
While dodging the patrollers pursuing him from behind, Bai Liu chatted with Tang Erda as calmly as if they were negotiating across a dinner table.
Tang Erda’s face darkened.
He dragged Lu Yizhan by the collar toward the elevator in the underground parking lot.
When he reached the elevator doors, he swiped his ID without hesitation, stepped inside, and pressed the special warning button.
“I can give you money. Name your price. Just give me the rose gas solution!”
Tang Erda’s tone turned irritable.
The moment he pressed the alarm button, a piercing siren blared through the corridor where Bai Liu was.
The bright white lights abruptly switched to flashing dark red alarm lamps.
“Warning! Warning! A heretic has escaped!”
Bai Liu remained unruffled.
He turned into a side corridor and avoided the people chasing him.
The fifteen-minute patrol pattern and the long night of waiting had been enough for him to determine one thing.
There were not many team members left at this base.
Otherwise, it would not have been the same patrolman coming to check on him every time.
Under these circumstances, Bai Liu’s escape seemed almost leisurely.
He was not the one in a hurry.
The other side should be.
Because if he, a heretic, escaped successfully, it proved that he was difficult to handle. Ordinary patrollers likely would not dare approach him. Even if they managed to catch him, they probably would not know where to imprison him.
But that was before Tang Erda arrived.
Bai Liu listened to the sound of the elevator on Tang Erda’s side, hearing the chime as it passed each floor.
He counted silently.
One.
Two.
Three.
That should be three floors down or three floors up from the parking lot Tang Erda had entered.
But in Bai Liu’s impression, the circular building was not especially tall.
So it was more likely going down.
Around the fourth basement level, Bai Liu mused.
He casually stuffed the soul banknote he had retrieved from the mountain of coins back into his pocket and continued speaking into the communicator.
“The deal I want to discuss isn’t about money.”
“I can give you the solution to the Dried Rose Leaf Gas, but I want something else from you.”
Tang Erda frowned deeply at hearing Bai Liu refuse money for the first time.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to sell your soul to me and join my team,” Bai Liu said, shocking him outright.
“I want to play in this year’s league, but my team is currently in a transition period. They need an experienced coach to lead them.”
“You’ve won the league before and have extensive league experience. You should also know the data and backgrounds of the teams currently competing very well.”
Bai Liu praised him sincerely.
“No one is more suitable to be our coach than you, Captain Tang.”
“I left an entire room of money for you to buy your soul with. Why not think it over?”
“It’s been a long time since I was this generous to anyone.”
His tone was casual and teasing, carrying a blatantly irreverent smile, as though he were teasing a small pet.
A cold, murderous laugh came through the communicator.
Tang Erda was clearly enraged.
He took two deep breaths.
“Bai Liu, you’d better not let me catch you.”
With a ding from the communicator, the elevator arrived.
Tang Erda hung up coldly.
Dragging Lu Yizhan out of the elevator, he immediately switched to another frequency.
“Reporting. Third Branch Captain Tang Erda. Currently pursuing escaped Heretic 006. Requesting full lockdown of all base entrances and exits.”
“You can see him on surveillance, correct?”
He paused.
Tang Erda’s deep blue eyes were stained with intense hatred, darkening until they were almost black-blue.
His voice lowered.
Yet his expression became eerily calm.
“Heretic 006’s weakness is water.”
“Requesting use of the room for Heretic 1087, Devouring Spring.”
“After capturing 006 tonight, I will use that room to interrogate him.”
Tang Erda ran his tongue over one canine tooth.
His pupils dilated, and his breathing slowed with the thrill of impending slaughter.
“Do I need to report the interrogation method now?”
“Heretic 006 truly hates having his head pressed down and repeatedly dunked into water.”
“That is my interrogation method.”
Lu Yizhan slowly turned to look at Tang Erda, who appeared almost normal on the surface.
His expression changed.
Then Lu Yizhan looked at him with complete seriousness and grabbed Tang Erda’s hand, stopping him from moving forward.
“You can’t do that.”
“Even if he really committed a crime, he still has human rights.”
“I can’t do that?”
Tang Erda laughed neurotically. His eyes shone with an intense, terrifying light, yet his face remained expressionless. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
He looked up at Lu Yizhan, seized the hand gripping his wrist, and began prying it away.
“You know, I once said those exact words to Bai Liu countless times.”
“You can’t do that.”
“If he had listened even once...”
“I wouldn’t be here.”
Tang Erda wrenched Lu Yizhan’s hand away with brutal force, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
Lu Yizhan gritted his teeth and refused to let go.
The next second, Tang Erda glanced at him expressionlessly.
He gripped Lu Yizhan’s wrist bone and twisted it cleanly downward.
Lu Yizhan’s wrist dislocated.
He could not help hissing in pain, his brows knitting tightly.
“Human rights?”
A shocking light gleamed in Tang Erda’s deep blue eyes.
He leaned closer to Lu Yizhan, grabbed the limp wrist, and shoved it sharply back into place with a crisp crack.
Lu Yizhan’s face turned pale.
Cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
“Everyone in the world can live,” Tang Erda said, his pupils trembling as his lips curled into a manic grin.
“But heretics cannot.”
“Because we are not humans.”
“We are monsters.”
“Monsters have no human rights.”
