Free Web Novel“Fuck!” Mu Shicheng cursed, so frustrated he wanted to punch the air. “A Level 3 game! Even I can’t guarantee I’d survive that! Bai Liu’s got a shitty beginner panel, so where the hell does he get the confidence to charge straight in like that?!”
After taking a few moments to steady his breathing, Mu Ke turned toward Mu Shicheng, who had far more experience as a player than he did.
“What can we still do for Bai Liu right now?”
“The only thing we can do is stay out of the game,” Mu Shicheng said after a long silence. “As long as we remain outside, Bai Liu can still freely use our skills. Right now... that’s the only value we have left to him.”
A bitter laugh escaped him.
“Back then, I even told him he was getting a bargain buying my soul for a hundred points, said I was the one taking a loss.” Mu Shicheng lowered his head and slowly clenched his fist. “Who would’ve thought that after just one game, I’d already become useless to him? Turns out... those hundred points really were an overpayment.”
That same helplessness rose inside him again—the same helplessness he had felt when Liu Huai had been manipulated, step by step, until he died right before his eyes.
It always happened like this.
The people he had only just begun to care about would inevitably be swept away by fate, walking toward danger and death while he stood there powerless to stop it.
The first one had been like that.
Liu Huai had been like that.
And now Bai Liu was the same.
He always thought he could still do something, only to realize in the end that he was already too late.
Mu Shicheng tightened his fist hard, forcibly suppressing that feeling of losing control.
But Mu Ke recovered faster than he did.
He stared at the rapidly exploding forum discussions, then abruptly lifted his head.
“There’s still one thing we can do.”
Mu Shicheng looked over. “What?”
Mu Ke’s eyes shone with startling clarity.
“The guild. Bai Liu’s guild—the Carrion Guild he took over in the previous game.”
“He mentioned some management ideas to me before.” Having finally found something he could do for Bai Liu, Mu Ke calmed down with astonishing speed, regaining his usual composure and rationality. “A lot of the stronger players already left the Carrion Guild. The people remaining are basically just leftovers hoping to rely on Bai Liu. But that doesn’t mean they’re worthless.”
Mu Ke’s gaze sharpened.
“I need every single one of their player profiles. Then I can reorganize them and figure out where each of them can be most useful to Bai Liu.”
He began systematically laying out everything they needed to do for Bai Liu, one point after another, while Mu Shicheng listened in complete silence.
If Tang Erda had been there, he would have been shocked to discover that ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the “refugee’s Circus,” which he had believed only ten minutes earlier had not yet begun to take shape, was already rapidly evolving into the exact prototype of the team he had seen in countless other timelines after Bai Liu entered a Level 3 game carrying the injured Liu Jiayi.
The thief desperately seeking strength.
Mu Ke, beginning to assume the role of the guild’s manager.
The Little Witch who had taken a bullet for Bai Liu.
Everything was moving as though guided by fate itself, hurtling unstoppably toward an already predetermined trajectory.
The only uncertain variable left was the hunter who had fallen into the abyss.
—
After entering the game, Tang Erda immediately exchanged for a bottle of Mental Bleach and swallowed a large mouthful.
Only then did he barely suppress the violent impulse clawing through his mind—the urge to either kill someone else or kill himself.
Leaning against the entrance of the Central Lobby, Tang Erda rested briefly, making no move to immediately pursue Bai Liu.
Even if he caught up to Bai Liu inside the Central Lobby, he still wouldn’t be able to kill him.
He could only wait for Bai Liu to enter a game.
And Tang Erda was certain Bai Liu would enter one very soon.
Because Liu Jiayi was injured.
Just as Tang Erda expected, the system notification soon rang out.
[System Notification: The player you bookmarked on the small TV, Bai Liu, has entered a game~ Please proceed to watch~]
The moment he heard it, Tang Erda turned and headed straight for the game entrance without hesitation.
As he walked, he coldly sent notifications to every high-ranking guild that had tried recruiting him for this year’s league.
The contents were simple and direct.
He wanted to kill Bai Liu.
Any guild willing to lend him manpower to corner Bai Liu would gain Tang Erda as a free member for this year’s league.
It was an irresistible offer.
The mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful Rose Hunter—rumored to have long since reached an S-grade panel yet never publicly confirmed it—was suddenly willing to join a league team.
That kind of news was enough to completely reshape the balance of the entire competition.
The instant Tang Erda’s message was sent out, the top guilds exploded into heated discussion.
In truth, Tang Erda was fully capable of hunting Bai Liu alone.
But there was one critical condition.
Bai Liu could not be allowed to escape between games.
If Bai Liu continuously speed-cleared low-level games, using the settlement mechanics to constantly slip away while rapidly transferring between easy instances, then even Tang Erda would find it nearly impossible to catch him.
Without people helping seal off the other games and limiting Bai Liu’s routes, Tang Erda would simply end up being dragged around by him over and over again while audiences watched in awe of Bai Liu’s absurd clear speed.
As for how Tang Erda knew that—
Because he had already experienced it once before in another timeline.
Bai Liu was born for horror games.
As long as Bai Liu was inside a game, nobody could truly defeat him there. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Absolute suppression through combat power alone was meaningless against Bai Liu. Tang Erda understood that better than anyone.
Otherwise, Bai Liu would have died at his hands thousands of times already, and Tang Erda would never have been forced to develop the skill “Russian Roulette” just to barely manage to kill him.
That skill was what allowed Tang Erda to defeat the “refugee’s Circus” during the league.
Because he killed Bai Liu.
Of course, Bai Liu had not truly died.
His immense popularity had granted him a “death immunity medal” on the league stage. But the instant Tang Erda shot him down using Russian Roulette, every member of the circus immediately chose to forfeit the match simultaneously in order to confirm Bai Liu’s safety.
It was effectively a surrender.
At the time, Tang Erda had been the only one left standing on stage.
Yet not a single member of the circus hesitated, even for a second, before abandoning the match.
To that pack of thoroughly trained mad dogs, Bai Liu’s life mattered far more than victory in the league.
Perhaps only a lunatic like Bai Liu himself would place money and victory above his own survival.
Tang Erda arrived at the game entrance.
At the same time, replies to his notifications began pouring in.
The fastest response came from the Kings’ Guild.
[System Notification: Player Tang Erda, you have received a guild notification from (Queen of Hearts)~]
Tang Erda opened the message on his system panel.
The envelope seal was a crimson heart from a deck of cards.
[Queen of Hearts’ Reply: Honored Hunter, we are also currently pursuing Bai Liu. He has taken away our guild’s beloved Little Witch. If you do not object, we sincerely hope to cooperate with you in killing Bai Liu and retrieving the Little Witch.]
[Naturally, if you are willing to join our guild afterward, the Kings’ Guild would consider it a tremendous honor. However, should you refuse, we will not force the matter. Regardless, I believe we can still enjoy a brief and mutually pleasant cooperation regarding Bai Liu~]
Tang Erda’s expression darkened slightly as he read the message.
Hearts.
A truly extraordinary woman.
Across all the timelines Tang Erda had witnessed, aside from the Little Witch, Hearts was the only woman who consistently maintained some kind of direct connection with Bai Liu.
And yet, looking at the cooperation request she had sent him now, Tang Erda felt a strange sense of dissonance.
Because in most timelines, the Queen of Hearts had never been this friendly toward him.
In different timelines, people’s identities and circumstances changed.
Different choices made during the same events created entirely different futures.
That was the foundation of Parallel Universe Theory.
Just as no two leaves in the world were identical, no person could possess the exact same future across every timeline. At countless branching points, every individual made different choices, and those differences eventually led their lives down completely separate paths.
Except for Bai Liu.
Bai Liu existed like a system bug—a complete exception to the theory itself.
No matter the timeline, whenever Bai Liu faced a major turning point capable of changing the course of his future, he would always make the exact same choice.
The choice that earned him the most money.
And so, regardless of how many twists and variations occurred along the way, every version of Bai Liu eventually became a heretic smuggler.
Once, the Bai Liu from another timeline had smilingly told Tang Erda something unforgettable.
Most methods of rapid wealth accumulation in this world, Bai Liu said, rely on exploiting human desire and stimulating the impulse to consume.
But was there anything in this world more capable of provoking human desire than evil itself being put up for sale?
There wasn’t.
Across countless timelines, Bai Liu had personally proven that fact to Tang Erda again and again.
His obsession with money was terrifyingly stable.
Like a fixed coordinate that never shifted no matter the timeline.
Without the slightest deviation, Bai Liu would always walk toward the same future.
That in itself was abnormal.
Human beings were not supposed to be that stable.
Take Hearts, for example.
In some timelines, she was rumored to be Bai Liu’s lover.
In some, she was his smuggling partner.
In others, she cooperated with the Bureau to help kill him.
And sometimes, she had absolutely nothing to do with him at all.
That was what a normal person’s “future fluctuation curve” looked like.
As long as someone’s environment had not undergone drastic change, the rough direction of their future could still be predicted within certain limits.
In other words, people did not possess infinite possible futures.
Their timelines merely fluctuated around a “standard future value,” varying within an approximate upper and lower range.
Hearts was exactly that kind of person. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
In most timelines, she would still become connected to Bai Liu in some way.
But her stance toward him would always differ.
Because every version of her made different choices.
—
Author’s Note:
The first game after the formation of the “refugee’s Circus” begins—Rose Factory (1/5).
The team is officially coming together!
(Though honestly, it’s more accurate to say Bai Liu has forced a bunch of people into a corner.)
The “Hearts” mentioned here refers to the Queen of Hearts, leader of the Kings’ Guild.
