Free Web NovelTang Erda was hurled against the wall by the recoil of the bullet.
He shook his head violently and braced a hand against the wall, trying to force himself upright, but failed several times in succession. It was obvious that using the skill had drained him heavily.
[System Notification: Skill 《Russian Roulette》 has entered cooldown.]
[Time Remaining: 10 minutes.]
[Player Tang Erda’s physical condition is deteriorating rapidly...]
Veins bulged sharply across Tang Erda’s forearm.
At last, he managed to stagger to his feet.
Without the slightest hesitation, he drew another gun—a real firearm this time—and aimed it at Bai Liu again.
Earlier, after hearing Liu Jiayi’s warning, Mu Ke had already been prepared to shoot Tang Erda immediately.
But Lu Yizhan blocked his muzzle.
Even though Lu Yizhan still looked completely stunned, he stubbornly refused to release either Mu Ke’s or Mu Shicheng’s gun hand.
Mu Ke knew perfectly well what kind of relationship existed between Bai Liu and Lu Yizhan.
Because of that, he couldn’t simply fire through him.
Mu Shicheng had still been too shocked to react before, but the moment he saw Liu Jiayi collapsed in Bai Liu’s arms, covered in blood, fury exploded across his face.
He kicked Lu Yizhan away violently.
“Who the hell are you?!” he snapped. “Let go of me!!”
The dazed Lu Yizhan was sent sprawling across the floor.
Taking advantage of Tang Erda’s weakened state, Mu Shicheng immediately twisted around and disarmed the gun Tang Erda was pointing at Bai Liu.
Just as Mu Shicheng was about to continue venting his rage, Mu Ke had already regained his composure.
He pressed his gun directly against Tang Erda’s skull.
Holding Liu Jiayi’s increasingly cold body, Bai Liu spoke calmly:
“Take Lu Yizhan away.”
“I’m entering the game immediately.”
Still lying on the ground, Lu Yizhan stared blankly.
“Entering what?!”
The moment Bai Liu gave the order, Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng responded almost instinctively, as though they had reached agreement without words.
“Understood.”
Mu Ke pressed his gun against Lu Yizhan’s head and forcibly dragged the still-shocked investigator away, while Mu Shicheng remained behind to keep Tang Erda under control at gunpoint.
Bai Liu picked up Liu Jiayi, whose chest was barely rising anymore.
The moment Lu Yizhan disappeared from sight—
The instant there were no remaining observers—
Both Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi vanished from in front of the [Heretic 0001] containment room.
Immediately afterward, Mu Shicheng and Tang Erda, still confronting one another, glanced briefly at each other—
Then vanished one after another as well.
Mu Ke dragged Lu Yizhan deeper into the darkness.
Lu Yizhan kept trying to turn back and look for Bai Liu, but he also understood that he had only become an obstacle moments ago.
Mu Ke coldly kept the gun pressed against his back, refusing to let him turn around as he forced him all the way toward the elevator.
At gunpoint, Lu Yizhan was shoved into the elevator with both hands raised.
Mu Ke expressionlessly pressed the close-door button before stepping backward out of the elevator.
The instant the doors closed—
Mu Ke disappeared.
Along with the Rose Revolver he had taken from Lu Yizhan’s lower back.
At the same moment, the monitoring personnel watching the area outside the [Heretic 0001] room saw the surveillance screens distort with heavy static, like snow flickering across old televisions.
When the image stabilized again—
Everyone was gone.
Only a pool of blood of unknown origin remained before the door to [0001].
And a battered, unsteady Lu Yizhan stepping out of the elevator.
Recalling the instructions Tang Erda had left before descending underground, one of the members solemnly picked up the communicator.
“Attention all units.”
“Heretics 0006, 0601, 0004, as well as an unidentified humanoid heretic intruder, have vanished from the lowest level of the base exactly as Captain Tang predicted.”
“Notify all external personnel to prepare for containment operations at the coordinates designated by Captain Tang.”
“The following locations are priority targets.”
“Humanoid Heretic 0006 may appear at the rental apartment near Yingbin Middle Road.”
“Humanoid Heretic 0601 may appear at this city’s Love Welfare Home, as well as Caojiagou in Bingzhou City.”
“Humanoid Heretic 0004 may appear at the Jingda dormitory building.”
“As for the unidentified humanoid heretic, possible appearance coordinates include the Xiangfeng Mountain villa district.”
The member paused briefly before continuing in a heavier voice.
“And the final location where all targets disappeared...”
“...the lowest level of the base, outside the [Heretic 0001] containment room.”
“Once containment operations conclude, branch members cleared to enter the forbidden zone are to stand by at this coordinate with weapons prepared.”
“We will station armed personnel at every listed coordinate.”
“The moment any humanoid heretic appears...”
“...shoot to kill immediately.”
“I believe that after tonight’s events, every current member of the base fully understands the danger posed by these humanoid heretics.”
“Captain Tang was correct.”
“They are extremely dangerous.”
Silence filled the base.
The remaining members looked around at the devastation left behind by the escaping heretics.
At the injured personnel being wheeled past on stretchers by medics.
At teammates lying unconscious, pale and weak from the containment operation.
Inside the monitoring room, the reporting member looked up at the blood pooled before the [0001] door on the surveillance screen.
He clenched his fist tightly.
His voice grew heavier with every word.
“If any responsibility arises from this pursuit operation...”
“...we will bear it together with the Captain of the Third Branch.”
“We absolutely cannot allow these highly dangerous humanoid heretics to control monsters and harm ordinary civilians.”
—
[System Notification: Welcome back to the game, Player Bai Liu.]
The instant Bai Liu appeared in the Game Lobby carrying the heavily bleeding Liu Jiayi, countless gazes immediately focused on them.
Both of them were already major topics within the game community.
And appearing in such a shocking state only intensified the attention.
In less than ten seconds, the forums exploded once more with discussions about Bai Liu’s first appearance after entering the King’s Rank, along with news that the Little Witch had been seriously injured.
Last time, Bai Liu had vanished quietly without a trace.
Members of both Kings’ Guild and the Scavengers’ Guild had been searching for him everywhere.
Now his appearance was impossible to ignore.
Although no one dared approach the expressionless Bai Liu directly, a massive crowd still gathered behind him to watch.
Bai Liu ignored every single one of them.
Carrying Liu Jiayi, whose condition was worsening by the second, he walked straight toward the game entrance.
Liu Jiayi’s personal skill, [Poison or Antidote], possessed offensive properties and therefore could not be used inside the Game Lobby.
Which meant that if Bai Liu wanted to save her, they had to enter a game instance immediately.
As he walked, Bai Liu spoke rapidly and calmly.
“Level One and Level Two instances use Health Points to suppress mortality rates. That restriction heavily limits your skills.”
“If we enter another game like the last one and your skill cooldown is forcibly extended to six hours again, your injury will become extremely difficult to manage.”
“You’ve cleared a Level Three instance before. Were your skills heavily restricted there?”
Liu Jiayi clutched her bleeding abdomen and answered with difficulty:
“...No.”
Bai Liu immediately made a decision.
“Then we’re entering a Level Three game.”
“But Level Three games...” Liu Jiayi struggled to continue, her face growing increasingly pale from blood loss. “There are... player-clearance restrictions...”
“Only a specific number of players can clear them.”
“Don’t enter blindly...”
“...you’ll die...”
“We’ll deal with that afterward,” Bai Liu interrupted simply.
“Your condition comes first.”
“Leave the rest to me.”
He finally lifted his eyes.
They had reached the game selection interface.
Bai Liu’s gaze swept rapidly across the available instances before finally stopping at a game hidden in the corner—one no player had entered yet.
The game icon showed a fluorescent rose slowly withering inside a long semicircular glass vessel.
Bai Liu tapped the interface.
[Game Instance Name: 《Rose Factory》]
[Difficulty Level: Level 3]
[Instances with player mortality rates above 80% and below 90% are classified as Level 3.]
[Mode: Multiplayer Mode (0/6)]
[General Description:]
[This is an upgrade-oriented multiplayer game.]
[The fragrance of roses drifts across the lands of May.]
[Within a single day, workers immersed in the scent will wither away.]
[A short lifespan is the secret behind the precious May Rose.]
[Only a true perfumer can uncover the secret hidden deep within the stamens...]
[And understand how to extract even more fragrance from the bodies of the withered.]
[The human heart weighs 250 grams.]
[Do you know how much a rose weighs?]
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes slightly.
Once again, a game connected to his current circumstances had appeared at the exact moment he encountered a related event.
Clearly, the game interface was not refreshing instances randomly.
There was a pattern.
A rule he had not fully grasped yet.
It was the same unsettling sensation as before—
As though the game had always been quietly waiting for Bai Liu within the system, while Bai Liu himself was unknowingly being guided toward it outside the game.
Just like 《Love Welfare Home》.
Ever since entering the game, Bai Liu had constantly felt an uncomfortable sense of manipulation surrounding him.
Or perhaps it had begun even earlier than that.
He could vaguely sense it, yet could never identify its true source.
And judging by the [Oracle] Tawil had shown him beforehand, the existence manipulating Bai Liu’s fate was likely something Tawil himself knew about—
Or perhaps Tawil, too, was merely another piece being manipulated.
But Bai Liu had never been the type to avoid things he didn’t understand.
On the contrary—
He preferred confronting them head-on until he figured them out.
So without even a moment’s hesitation, Bai Liu entered the game while carrying the dying Liu Jiayi in his arms.
[Game 《Rose Factory》 has gathered 2 players.]
[4 additional players are required before the game can begin.]
At the same time, Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke, who had been chasing after Bai Liu, both heard the system notification.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu, whose Small TV you follow, has entered a game~ Please proceed to spectate~]
[System Notification: Player Liu Jiayi, whose Small TV you follow...]
Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke exchanged grim looks.
Mu Shicheng spoke first.
“Bai Liu entered a game already?”
“Damn it, he’s alone with an injured Liu Jiayi—what kind of game did he enter?!”
“What’s the rush?! Couldn’t he wait one damn second for me?!”
Mu Shicheng ground his teeth as he stared at the endless game screens before them. freewebnσvel.cøm
“How the hell are we supposed to find him now?!”
Mu Ke barely maintained his composure.
“He didn’t wait because he probably doesn’t need us.”
“If Bai Liu believed he needed us, he would definitely have waited.”
“The fact that he entered first means there’s a reason.”
At this point, even Mu Ke’s eyes reddened with frustration.
“This only proves one thing.”
“Bai Liu believes we won’t be very useful in the game he’s about to enter.”
He inhaled deeply before continuing his analysis in a controlled voice.
“In the last game, Liu Jiayi’s abilities were heavily restricted because the system balanced mortality through Health Points.” freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
“If Bai Liu wants to use Liu Jiayi’s healing skill to save her, then he’ll definitely choose an instance that won’t suppress her abilities.”
“Is there such a game?”
Mu Shicheng fell silent briefly.
Then he slowly clenched his fist and exhaled.
“...Yes.”
“A Level Three game.”
—
Author’s Note:
6: Do you know how much a rose weighs?
Liu: I don’t know. But I know how much a bullet weighs. (Expressionless)
