Free Web NovelThe chaotic noise in the background abruptly dulled, stretching into a long, ringing roar inside Tang Erda’s ears.
Not a single team member spoke.
The silence lasted less than a second.
Soon, one of the members staggered forward with trembling hands, tears in his eyes as he held up another laptop.
“C-Captain... they sent the photos for the next round.”
“The next group scheduled to die.”
Tang Erda swayed slightly and braced himself against the back of a chair before forcing himself upright.
He lowered his head for a long time without speaking.
When he finally looked up again, there was no light left in his eyes.
Looking at the team members surrounding him, he asked in a low, hoarse voice:
“Bai Six... is afraid of water, right?”
It was as though something inside Tang Erda had completely shattered at the exact moment Su Yang died beneath the clown’s frenzied, grotesque laughter.
From then on, every memory would begin and end with Bai Six’s calm eyes—
Eyes like stagnant water covered in duckweed, utterly still, without the slightest ripple.
This time was no exception.
Tang Erda slowly rose from atop Lu Yizhan.
His deep blue eyes were completely devoid of light as he lifted his ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) arm and aimed his gun directly at Bai Liu.
Just as the laughing clown had once pointed a gun at the innocent Su Yang—
Tang Erda now pointed his gun at the innocent Bai Liu with the same numb expression.
Across countless recursions, the righteous hunter had finally been stained by the colors of a wanderer.
At last, he had become exactly what he hated most:
A member of the [Wanderer’s Circus].
Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke immediately tightened their aim and moved closer warily.
Mu Shicheng’s gun was nearly pressed against Tang Erda’s head by now, yet Tang Erda did not react in the slightest. He simply continued aiming at Bai Liu.
The sheer indifference puzzled Mu Shicheng.
“Hey, whatever-your-name-is Captain Tang,” he said, frowning, “before you can even shoot Bai Liu, we’ll blow your head into popcorn first.”
Mu Ke spoke much more calmly.
“So you’d better lower the gun.”
Lu Yizhan, who had just been slammed to the floor by Tang Erda, climbed shakily back to his feet while rubbing his aching wrist.
Liu Jiayi darted past him and landed neatly beside Bai Liu. She inspected Bai Liu from head to toe like she was checking merchandise. Only after confirming he was unharmed did she turn to look at the four armed men facing off at the end of the corridor.
Under normal circumstances, Liu Jiayi would already have told them to kill Tang Erda and enter the game immediately to settle everything.
But Lu Yizhan was here.
An [Observer] who had never entered the game.
With him present, they couldn’t casually enter the game world.
More importantly, if they really killed Tang Erda here, then according to Liu Jiayi’s understanding of Lu Yizhan, this upright little investigator would immediately drag all of them to the authorities the very next second.
Liu Jiayi suddenly imagined Lu Yizhan discovering she had been involved in illegal criminal activity.
He would definitely be horrified.
Then he would spend an eternity seriously lecturing her about it.
Back when Lu Yizhan had been watching over her, he had possessed an almost terrifying talent for nagging.
His ability to meddle in every tiny detail of daily life was comparable to having fifty newly retired menopausal mothers surrounding her at once.
He could nag so relentlessly that Liu Jiayi’s eyes went blank and goosebumps crawled across her skin.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down her spine.
Subconsciously, she hid a little farther behind Bai Liu and adjusted the oversized goggles covering her face, trying to conceal herself better.
Bai Liu glanced sideways at Liu Jiayi’s tiny movement.
Liu Jiayi looked up at him.
Then both of them silently looked away at the same time.
One glance was enough.
Neither needed to say a word.
They were both victims who had nearly been nagged to death by Lu Yizhan.
Sure enough, the moment Lu Yizhan stood up, his first instinct was to mediate the armed standoff.
He stepped directly in front of Tang Erda’s gun and blocked the muzzle aimed at Bai Liu with his own chest.
At the same time, he grabbed Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke’s guns with both hands, preventing them from firing.
Then he sighed deeply, preparing to launch into a speech.
“Do things really have to escalate to fighting and killing?” Lu Yizhan said earnestly. “Can’t everyone just sit down, eat hot pot together, and talk things out peacefully?”
“What kind of problem absolutely requires guns to solve?”
“Look around. This corridor is narrow, and the walls are metal. If a bullet ricochets, it could easily hit one of you instead.”
“That’s actually a very important lesson in life, you know. Bullets fired at others eventually come back to yourself. So why bother...”
Mu Shicheng stared at him in complete shock.
“...Who the hell are you?”
Mu Ke tried to pull his gun back.
It wouldn’t budge.
“????”
Behind them, Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi simultaneously revealed expressions of sudden realization.
Ah.
It had started again.
Liu Jiayi rubbed her arms in disgust.
That familiar feeling.
Tang Erda suddenly interrupted Lu Yizhan’s endless lecture.
“You’re right,” he said quietly.
“A bullet fired at someone else eventually returns to oneself.”
As he spoke, he slowly raised his elbow and rotated the gun ninety degrees. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Under Lu Yizhan’s horrified stare, Tang Erda calmly turned the muzzle toward himself.
The silver Rose Revolver gleamed coldly against his temple.
Tang Erda clicked the safety off with his thumb.
His voice was soft.
“No one understands that better than I do.”
[System Notification: Player Tang Erda’s mental value has fallen to 0 in reality.]
[Player has completely monsterized and may now enter a Reality Instance.]
[System Notification: Player Tang Erda has activated monsterization skill.]
[Unlocked Form: Monster Book — Withered Rose Hunter]
[Personal Skill Unlocked: Russian Roulette]
[Russian Roulette]
[The revolver contains six bullets.]
[Three bullets will kill the user.]
[Three bullets will kill the target.]
[The hunter raises the suicidal Rose Revolver. The moment the trigger is pulled, the gamble begins.]
[Will he kill himself first... or his enemy?]
[Do you wish to activate this skill?]
[...Yes... Loading...]
[Locked Target: Bai Liu]
[System Notification: The wheel begins spinning.]
[The gamble is about to begin.]
The revolver pressed against Tang Erda’s temple began rotating unnaturally.
The spinning chamber.
The metallic click of bullets.
The sound of gambling with one’s life.
All of it was terrifyingly familiar to Tang Erda.
Lu Yizhan watched in horror as Tang Erda stood there with unfocused eyes, looking exactly like a man about to commit suicide.
Even Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng froze.
Though they still had guns trained on Tang Erda, neither knew what to do anymore.
Only Liu Jiayi sensed immediately that something was wrong.
She frowned sharply and stepped in front of Bai Liu.
Wang Shun’s earlier words suddenly echoed inside her mind.
[The Rose Hunter is a sniper-type player.]
[You never know where he’s aiming from.]
[The moment he fires, the target dies.]
[Sometimes he can kill monsters or players from thousands of miles away with terrifying precision...]
[A silver revolver...]
[A skill related to roses...]
Liu Jiayi’s gaze locked onto the gun in Tang Erda’s hand.
That was a skill weapon.
But how could someone use a skill weapon in reality?!
It made absolutely no sense.
Yet whether it made sense or not no longer mattered.
The current situation left no room for hesitation.
“Mu Ke! Mu Shicheng!” Liu Jiayi shouted sharply. “Shoot him now! There’s something wrong with that gun!!”
Tang Erda suddenly let out a soft laugh.
The abrupt sound mixed with Liu Jiayi’s shrill warning, forming a spine-chilling harmony.
His deep blue eyes—so dark they were nearly black—looked toward Bai Liu beyond Lu Yizhan.
Their gazes met.
Tang Erda spoke lightly, almost dreamily.
“Did you know, Bai Six?”
“I have never once lost this game of life and death against you.”
“This is the only game I can win.”
“Because your luck is terrible.”
“Every bullet I fire...”
“...will definitely kill you.”
This was a skill specifically born from the God-chosen hunter’s obsession with killing the “Werewolf” designated by the Prophet as evil and doomed by misfortune—
As well as killing the monstrous version of himself.
Lu Yizhan’s pupils contracted violently.
Tang Erda pulled the trigger.
BANG!
A silver bullet spiraled from the barrel.
Time seemed to slow.
The bullet passed straight through Tang Erda’s skull.
The impact slammed his body hard against the wall—
Yet impossibly, the bullet itself emerged completely undamaged.
It scraped against the metal wall, scattering sparks, before shooting directly toward Bai Liu.
Liu Jiayi moved instantly.
So fast the naked eye could barely follow her.
Before Bai Liu could react, she threw herself onto him, gritting her teeth as she wrapped both arms around his head.
She twisted her waist deliberately, arching her body to create a precise gap between herself and Bai Liu’s head.
If Tang Erda’s ability mirrored the location of the self-inflicted shot—
Then the corresponding target point on Bai Liu would also be the temple.
The right eye.
The bullet struck Liu Jiayi’s waist like a cannon shell.
A muffled groan escaped her throat.
The force drove her body violently forward, but the impact was perfectly cushioned by the angle she had calculated beforehand.
It looked like a small clay jar overflowing with blood had suddenly shattered.
Blood burst from the wound continuously, instantly soaking Bai Liu’s white shirt crimson.
The moment the bullet hit her, Liu Jiayi clutched tightly at Bai Liu’s shirt.
A second later, her fingers loosened weakly.
Her body fell backward.
Bai Liu caught her in his arms.
Blood trickled endlessly between his fingers as he pressed down on the wound at her waist.
Liu Jiayi’s breathing became weaker and weaker.
Blood slid from the corner of her mouth as she forced her thumb open and grabbed Bai Liu’s collar, leaving behind a vivid bloody handprint.
“...Get...” she coughed weakly.
Bai Liu lowered his eyes toward her and calmly finished the sentence for her.
“Get rid of Lu Yizhan and take you into the game.”
“I know.”
Liu Jiayi slowly closed her eyes and curled weakly into Bai Liu’s arms.
Blood continued dripping steadily from the wound as her voice faded softer and softer.
“...The rest... handle it yourself...”
“...I’m... losing consciousness...”
—
Author’s Note:
Everyone who does wrong in this story will receive punishment eventually, so there’s no need to argue. Just keep reading. There’s still a large portion of the world-building that hasn’t been revealed yet.
Also, I’ve been stockpiling chapters recently, so updates may be slower for a while. Once I’ve built up enough chapters, I’ll release them together.
And please, everyone, don’t get too emotionally invested! This is only a web novel. Everything here—characters, plot, and world—is fictional, so don’t take it too seriously!
