Free Web NovelBai Liu’s movement speed was not particularly high, and the nurses behind them were about to catch up.
It was unclear how these nurses, despite wearing stilettos, could run faster across a slippery floor than three grown men—but there was nothing they could do about it.
They were simply fast.
Liu Huai gritted his teeth and activated a skill. Grabbing Bai Liu and Mu Ke, the two low-level players, he dragged them along as they sped through the dark corridor.
[System notification: Player Liu Huai has used personal skill (Assassin’s Stealth). This skill covers player Liu Huai himself, player Bai Liu, and player Mu Ke.]
[Skill Description: Assassin’s Stealth is an A-grade personal skill. It reduces the probability of being discovered by others or non-human entities during escape or ambush. It gives players protective coloration similar to a chameleon, allowing them to blend into their surroundings. Because player Liu Huai is currently carrying player Mu Ke and player Bai Liu, the skill duration has been reduced to one minute.]
Almost instantly, Liu Huai vanished into the dim corridor like a drifting wisp of mist.
Bai Liu and Mu Ke disappeared with him.
It was as if a barrier had settled over them. The nurses rushed straight past without noticing their position.
They seemed to be wrapped in transparent cloaks—difficult to detect, though faint, blurred outlines remained visible if one looked closely.
Liu Huai moved slowly along the wall, leading Bai Liu and Mu Ke toward the safety exit. They brushed past the nurses hurrying toward the elevators, catching fragments of their hushed conversation.
“A patient is night-walking.”
“No patients came out of the rooms on the first floor. Which floor is it from?”
“I don’t know. Let’s take the elevator and check upstairs. It’s already night. Notify the other nurses to gather at the elevator entrance. Don’t go to the safety exit. After nine o’clock, that isn’t somewhere we’re allowed to go...”
The nurses would not use the safety exit.
After discovering a night-walking patient, they needed to check every floor, but they generally relied on the elevator. For reasons still unknown, the nurses never used the emergency stairs.
The stairs seemed almost redundant.
Or rather, they seemed deliberately designed for patients sneaking out.
But as they approached the exit, Liu Huai’s expression darkened.
He finally understood why the nurses avoided the emergency stairs.
Because something else was using them.
Outside the safety stair exit stood a child holding an oversized telephone.
Unremoved injectors protruded from the child’s neck and body. Dried blood still clung inside the tubes. It was obvious that the child had been bled many times. He had been drained until only skin and bones remained, his face a ghastly greenish-white, like a walking skeleton.
He swayed in place, oversized head wobbling as he muttered into the phone.
Then he slowly turned around, revealing his front.
The child’s pupils had rolled upward, leaving mostly the whites of his eyes exposed. His expression was vacant and idiotic. Drool dripped from his mouth while his limbs flailed loosely, and he let out a strange, cheerful clucking laugh.
In a muffled voice, the child said into the phone, “Mr. Investor, are you coming to see me?”
“Are you going to take me away?”
His tone abruptly twisted.
Two trails of bloody tears slowly slid from his eyes. He waved his hands and shook his head frantically.
“So you’re not taking me away. You’re taking my blood...”
“One tube, two tubes, three...”
“I don’t have any blood left, Mr. Investor. I don’t have any left.”
“It hurts so much!! Please don’t draw my blood anymore!”
The child suddenly let out a shrill, mournful scream and threw himself onto the floor in a frenzy, trampling the silent telephone beneath him.
The injectors embedded all over his body trembled.
Then, with a pop, the child tilted his head and yanked an injector out of his neck.
He clutched it in his hand.
His vacant face twisted into a grin that split all the way to his ears, grotesque and eerie.
“I need blood too, Mr. Investor.”
[“Love Welfare Home Monster Book” refreshed — Deformed Child (1/3)]
[Monster Name: Deformed Child (Berserk Version after Blood Extraction)]
[Characteristics: Movement speed 1500—2000. Indiscriminate berserk attacks on any Investor with blood.]
[Weakness: ??? (To be explored)]
[Attack Method: Injection Blood Extraction. A+ grade skill. Inserts the injector into the Investor’s neck and continuously draws blood until the target dies from blood loss.]
[Attack Method: Telephone Positioning. A+ grade tracking skill. To you Investors wandering outside late at night, your little friends will call to find you naughty ones. As long as your phone rings, if you don’t answer, they can follow the ringtone to find you. If you do answer, they can find you even faster.]
[Whether you answer or not, you will be discovered. Of course, if you pick up, your little friend will find you faster and jump onto your back to talk on the phone with you~]
“Damn it, my Assassin’s Stealth is only A-grade!” Liu Huai’s expression changed. “This monster’s ringtone can break through my stealth!”
These phones were forcibly bound to them. The system did not allow players to throw them away, since they existed to let the “children” call the Investors at any time.
Liu Huai had originally thought the children only existed back at the welfare home.
He had not expected this private hospital to have Deformed Children calling them as well.
In the next instant, Bai Liu’s, Mu Ke’s, and Liu Huai’s phones all began ringing at once.
Liu Huai immediately hung up.
The phone rang again.
His expression grew grim as he gripped the phone and slowly backed away.
One Deformed Child could not possibly be calling all three of them at once.
All three phones ringing simultaneously meant only one thing.
Bai Liu said calmly, “There’s more than one Deformed Child here.”
In the darkness, the beep-beep of outgoing calls became increasingly dense.
More and more Deformed Children, drained dry until they were nothing but skin and bone, slowly emerged from the pitch-black stairwell.
Some had withered limbs.
Some were lame.
Some crouched on the ground, clutching their chests.
They held oversized telephones in their hands, their bulging eyes wide as ping-pong balls, their heads tilted toward the receivers. Their eyes were pitch-black, faintly tinged with a bloody dark red.
They cried out in shrill, distorted voices, like children wailing.
Their mouths opened so wide that the bright red uvulas in their throats could be seen trembling.
“Investor!! I want blood!!”
As they screamed, they dropped to all fours and hissed, following the ringing phones as their hands and feet scuttled rapidly toward Bai Liu and the others.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes and hung up his phone again.
Almost immediately, another call came through.
So that was what the rule meant.
The children were only allowed to call Investors from 9:00 PM to midnight and from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM. At any other time, their calls would result in a busy signal.
Because at all other times, these ghostly Deformed Children were using phone calls to track the Investors.
With so many Deformed Children calling constantly and occupying the lines, any call from a normal child would naturally fail to connect.
“Bai Liu, my movement speed drops when I carry both of you...” Liu Huai met Bai Liu’s steady gaze and gritted his teeth. “If I only take one, there’s a chance I can break through these children...”
Then he stopped himself.
“Fine. I know you won’t abandon your teammate.”
He inhaled sharply.
“Then what do we do? You insisted on saving him, so you’d better think of something!”
Mu Ke struggled weakly, trying to pull his arm free from Bai Liu’s shoulder.
But Bai Liu’s grip was too firm.
He couldn’t break away.
Mu Ke’s eyes reddened again. His voice was hoarse and strained. “Bai Liu, give up on me. There’s still Xiao Mu Ke. If I die and you take him through the game, then I won’t—”
“Shut up.”
Bai Liu swept a cold, piercing glance over him.
“Your suicidal behavior disrupted my plan.”
“You wasted your own HP and forced me to spend a large number of points saving you.”
“You’d better earn all of it back for me yourself.”
“I haven’t settled that debt with you yet.”
Mu Ke froze.
He realized Bai Liu was genuinely angry.
Because his suicidal behavior had wasted HP.
And Bai Liu hated waste.
Mu Ke pressed his lips together in fear and did not dare speak again.
Bai Liu’s expression was somewhat terrifying.
When this man was truly displeased, his aura became frighteningly oppressive. His face barely changed, yet something about him made people instinctively fall silent.
For a moment, even Liu Huai shut his mouth guiltily and said nothing more.
Bai Liu quickly regained his calm expression and began issuing orders in a cool voice.
“These Deformed Children locate us through the phones. Although it’s an A+ skill, it isn’t completely impossible to deal with.”
He looked at Liu Huai and suddenly asked, “It’s been a long time, Liu Huai, but do you still remember how you used to cooperate with Mu Shicheng during thefts?”
Liu Huai was stunned.
He didn’t understand why Bai Liu was bringing that up now, but he still answered while panting and dragging them forward.
“I remember.”
“He steals something to draw the mobs. Then I transfer the aggro and pull the monsters onto myself. When the monsters are about to catch me, he attacks again.”
“By repeatedly switching the aggro between the two of us, we can kite the mobs around and keep ourselves safe.”
Liu Huai immediately rejected the idea himself.
“But these phones won’t stop ringing! These Deformed Children aren’t chasing us based on normal aggro logic! They track the sound of the phones!”
“All three of our phones are ringing. That plan won’t work!”
Before Liu Huai could finish speaking, Bai Liu’s gaze sharpened.
He reached out and snatched something from the child rushing toward them.
[System notification: Player Bai Liu has used player Mu Shicheng’s personal skill (Thief’s Trained Capuchin Monkey) to steal the (Deformed Child’s) telephone. The Deformed Child is very angry and has decided to give him an injection.]
The child let out a shrill, miserable scream and lunged toward Bai Liu.
Everything happened in only a few seconds.
Before Liu Huai could even react, Bai Liu decisively ducked behind him and ordered, “Liu Huai, lead this child away.”
Liu Huai had cooperated with Mu Shicheng too many times before.
His body remembered the pattern better than his mind did.
The moment a theft succeeded and the thief needed protection, Liu Huai instinctively moved to transfer aggro.
Before his brain even caught up, his hand had already shot out.
His dagger stabbed straight into the child.
[System notification: Player Liu Huai has used his personal skill weapon (Shadow Dagger) to stab the (Deformed Child). The Deformed Child is very angry and has decided to call him!]
The child shrieked again and lunged toward Liu Huai.
At the same time, Liu Huai’s phone began ringing even more violently.
The child’s movements and the sound of the phone drew more and more children toward him, injectors in hand. Liu Huai couldn’t help cursing inwardly.
Bai Liu, you bastard!
Was he setting him up?!
As more children followed the phone calls and swarmed in his direction, cold sweat broke out across Liu Huai’s forehead.
But in the next second, after Liu Huai’s phone rang once, Bai Liu suddenly said, “Liu Huai, answer it.”
Liu Huai was about to lose his mind. “If I answer, the Deformed Child calling me will locate me instantly through Telephone Positioning! I’ll be found directly! I’ll die!”
“No,” Bai Liu said, holding a large black telephone as he looked at Liu Huai. “Because I’m the one calling you.”
“Investors can’t call each other!” Liu Huai felt like his skull was going to split open. “The phones here are designed for one-way contact. Only children can call Investors. You can’t call me—”
“I told you to answer it.”
Bai Liu repeated himself in an utterly indifferent tone.
There was a faint, cold killing intent in his eyes, though his voice remained perfectly calm. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
“You can answer this call.”
“Don’t make me repeat myself a third time.”
Liu Huai’s breath caught under Bai Liu’s emotionless gaze.
He immediately pressed answer.
Sure enough, the ringtone stopped.
On the other end came Bai Liu’s steady breathing.
The children searching for Liu Huai in the darkness immediately lost their direction.
Only the child whose phone had been stolen continued chasing him.
Liu Huai stared in shock at the phone in Bai Liu’s hand.
It wasn’t Bai Liu’s own phone.
It belonged to one of the Deformed Children.
That was why he could call him.
When had Bai Liu stolen that phone?!
And why could he steal a monster’s item?!
Wasn’t his skill supposed to be control-type?!
While Liu Huai was still reeling, Bai Liu walked toward another child without the slightest hesitation.
The monkey paw flashed with sharp precision.
His expression remained calm, not at all like a shameless adult robbing a child.
The robbed Deformed Child froze for a moment.
It looked down at its empty hands.
Its eyes quickly filled with tears, and it began to sob.
“Wuuu... the Investor stole my phone. Give it back!”
[System notification: Player Bai Liu has used player Mu Shicheng’s personal skill (Thief’s Trained Capuchin Monkey) to steal the (Deformed Child’s) telephone. Player Bai Liu’s stamina is about to be exhausted! Please rest and replenish stamina immediately!]
Bai Liu’s legs gave out.
He nearly dropped to one knee, catching himself against the wall as he panted.
Back in the ICU, he had been forced to use Mu Shicheng’s Thief’s Stealth, which meant his stamina bar could not be restored with stamina supplements for at least one day. He could only recover naturally through rest.
He had only rested for a few hours in Mu Ke’s ward.
The stamina he had recovered was barely enough to use Thief’s Trained Capuchin Monkey twice.
For an F-rank player like Bai Liu, using an A+ skill was still far too heavy a burden.
“Liu Huai!”
Seeing the Deformed Child whose phone had been stolen approach Bai Liu with an injector raised high, ready to stab down viciously, Bai Liu called out weakly.
Liu Huai snapped back to himself and stabbed forward.
The child was pierced through from behind.
It let out a shrill scream, bloody tears spilling down its face as it turned and staggered toward Liu Huai with the injector in hand.
[System notification: Player Liu Huai has used his personal skill (Shadow Stab) to stab the (Deformed Child). The Deformed Child is both aggrieved and angry; he has decided to give this bad guy an injection first.]
Bai Liu leaned against the wall.
Mu Ke’s phone and his own were still ringing.
Bai Liu quickly dialed Mu Ke’s number. After several busy signals, the call finally connected.
He turned to Mu Ke. “Answer it.”
Mu Ke answered at once.
His phone stopped ringing.
The children approaching him suddenly became like headless flies.
But soon, as Bai Liu’s own phone continued ringing, the children turned and began moving toward him instead.
Mu Ke looked at him nervously. “Bai Liu, your phone is still ringing!”
“Yes.” Bai Liu exhaled calmly. “But I don’t have the stamina to steal a third phone.”
Mu Ke panicked.
Only now did he realize how poor Bai Liu’s condition was, and how much risk he had taken to save him.
He moved toward Bai Liu, who was gradually being surrounded by the Deformed Children, instinctively wanting to shield him.
He was almost crying. “What are you going to do?! You should have called yourself just now! Why did you call me?!”
Bai Liu took several cold steps back.
“Stay away from me, Mu Ke.”
“If you continue this suicidal waste of HP, I don’t mind killing you myself.”
Mu Ke’s expression froze.
He stood rooted in place, completely at a loss.
He clearly realized Bai Liu was still angry with him.
That felt even worse than facing death.
Bai Liu glanced at Mu Ke and, still panting, gave the order.
“...Run back to 501 immediately. That’s Liu Huai’s ward.”
“Liu Huai and I will lead these children and the nurses away.”
“Run fast. Be careful to avoid the children.”
Mu Ke bit his lip and didn’t move.
He looked at Bai Liu pitifully, his expression clearly asking, Then what will you do alone?
Like this, he didn’t look much different from the Deformed Child Bai Liu had just robbed.
Bai Liu finally sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Then he tossed the stolen phone to Mu Ke.
“After you run back, use this phone to call me and cut off my ringtone.”
“That way, I’ll be fine.”
Hearing that, Mu Ke nodded frantically.
His mental value had recovered, and his stamina was still decent. After receiving Bai Liu’s instruction, he gritted his teeth and sprinted toward the emergency stairs where the children were pouring out.
Bai Liu watched Mu Ke run desperately, feeling a trace of exhaustion.
His breathing was heavy.
This body, burdened with a terminal illness, had already been pushed to its limit after two days of continuous strain.
Mu Ke was still a little childish.
He truly treated Bai Liu as his pillar of support.
That strengthened Bai Liu’s position, but it also excessively weakened Mu Ke’s own agency, which was not a good thing.
Bai Liu only had six HP.
Mu Ke clearly trusted this identity too much. That was why he had developed thoughts of dying with him, or dying for him.
But Mu Ke could not die.
In this information-heavy game instance, Bai Liu believed Mu Ke’s value was significantly greater than his own—and Mu Ke’s performance had already proven it.
Even without Bai Liu, Mu Ke could have joined Miao Gaojiang and his son, used his excellent memory to organize the information related to the Life-Saving Remedy, and gained a measure of initiative.
As long as Mu Ke cooperated with Bai Six and ensured Bai Six’s survival, Bai Liu could at least clear the game.
Conversely, Bai Liu, who was being targeted for assassination by Miao Gaojiang and his son and whose memory was only average, had far lower odds of leading Xiao Mu Ke safely through the instance than Mu Ke had of leading Bai Six.
Especially with Liu Huai’s cooperation, Mu Ke’s chances of clearing the game with Bai Six would more than double.
Bai Liu looked toward Liu Huai.
The phone at Liu Huai’s waist was still ringing, and children were crawling grotesquely toward him with injectors in hand.
But Bai Liu truly no longer had the strength to run.
When Bai Liu needed something from someone, he could say any pleasant thing without hesitation.
He lazily opened his arms toward Liu Huai.
“Great Assassin, now that you’re only carrying me, your movement speed should be enough to outrun these children, right?”
“It is,” Liu Huai replied simply.
In the next second, a dagger flew through the air and embedded itself into the wall above Bai Liu’s head.
With a fluid series of movements, Liu Huai leapt onto the wall behind him.
He crouched lightly on the dagger he had thrown, poised and steady as a dragonfly skimming water. With one hand, he swept in a circle to force back the Deformed Children approaching Bai Liu. With the other, he grabbed Bai Liu by the collar.
Just as one child was about to drive an injector into Bai Liu’s neck, Liu Huai hauled the weak, panting man out of the monster’s encirclement.
With a twist of his wrists and arms, Liu Huai threw Bai Liu clear.
The person trapped inside the encirclement changed from Bai Liu to Liu Huai.
But Liu Huai was currently on a call with Bai Liu, so his own phone was not ringing and could not receive another call. Without a ringtone to locate him, many of the children immediately became lost.
Soon, Bai Liu’s phone began ringing again.
The children’s dark-red eyes turned grimly toward Bai Liu, who had just climbed back to his feet, and they moved toward him in all kinds of distorted postures.
Meanwhile, Liu Huai pulled out his dagger and jumped, kicking off the wall in several agile leaps until he was close to Bai Liu again.
Bai Liu could barely see the hidden assassin.
There was only a faint, flickering shadow on the walls.
Liu Huai appeared behind him as though teleporting, grabbed the collar of Bai Liu’s oversized hospital gown, and sprinted along the wall, dragging him across the slippery floor.
If being carried by Mu Shicheng felt like being thrown onto a high-speed train, then being carried by Liu Huai felt like riding a low-flying swallow.
His movement was light and silent, occasionally skimming the surface with a brief, precise pause.
This alternation between two completely different movement styles was one reason Mu Shicheng and Liu Huai’s cooperation had once been so effective.
Together, they could lead monsters around like they were pulling them on strings.
The Deformed Children chased them relentlessly.
Every time they were about to catch up, Liu Huai would throw the ringing Bai Liu forward to draw them away, then switch positions, just like the aggro transfers he used to perform with Mu Shicheng.
For a brief moment, Liu Huai fell into a trance.
He remembered the days when he and Mu Shicheng had fought side by side.
But Bai Liu’s soft voice soon pulled him back.
“My phone stopped ringing. Mu Ke runs quite fast. He must have reached the ward and called me.”
“Let’s go up through the emergency stairs. There are no nurses there.”
Bai Liu and Liu Huai had been buying time until Mu Ke safely returned to the room and called him, thereby canceling the Deformed Children’s Telephone Positioning.
There were only two ways upstairs in this private hospital: the emergency stairs and the elevator.
The elevator was guarded by nurses and far too passive. If they were caught, they might be barred from participating in the next day’s baptism.
Their only option was the stairs.
Since Bai Liu could only use his skill twice and steal two phones, meaning he could only stop the ringing for two people, he chose the most cost-effective arrangement.
First, keep Liu Huai safe—the fastest person among them.
Second, keep Mu Ke safe—the one he needed to survive.
In this situation, Bai Liu had placed himself in the most dangerous position.
He was the only one whose phone kept ringing.
But Bai Liu did not care.
Right now, he truly was the least valuable character on the board.
Even if Liu Huai made a mistake and Bai Liu died with only six HP remaining, he would not have considered it a pity.
However, Liu Huai protected him more carefully than he had expected.
In the end, Bai Liu did not lose a single HP.
Aside from a few scrapes from being thrown around by Liu Huai, he returned safely to Ward 501.
Ward 501 was Liu Huai’s room.
Mu Ke was drenched in cold sweat, clutching his chest as he crouched on the floor.
A heart patient could not run too fast, especially not up the stairs.
He had sprinted as if his life depended on it just to get back to the ward and call Bai Liu. Now he was in severe distress, curled into a tight ball and gasping desperately for air.
Liu Huai sat on the edge of the bed as well, daggers in hand, head tipped back as he panted.
His hospital gown was soaked through.
Dragging a player like Bai Liu through a high-speed chase was not something an assassin like Liu Huai was used to. His stamina bar was not as high as Mu Shicheng’s, whose physical stats as a thief were better suited to movement.
The chase had exhausted him too.
Sweat dripped from Liu Huai’s jaw.
He wiped it away, then tilted his head back and downed a bottle of stamina recovery agent.
Overall, Bai Liu seemed to be in the best condition among the three.
But that was only on the surface.
His stamina had also been depleted, and with only six HP remaining, his physical condition had dropped to its lowest point.
Bai Liu sat on the edge of the straw bed he had previously refused to touch. His hands rested weakly on his knees, fingers trembling slightly. He lowered his head and slowly adjusted his breathing, his chest rising and falling heavily.
His face was frighteningly pale.
Once Mu Ke recovered slightly and saw him like this, he tried to shuffle over in worry.
But before he could take even one step, Bai Liu, who had been propping his elbows against his knees, lifted his head.
The gaze he directed at Mu Ke held no emotion whatsoever.
Bai Liu watched Mu Ke’s attempt to approach with a quiet, indifferent, almost weary look.
It was the gaze one gave a disobedient tool.
Mu Ke’s heart trembled.
Instinctively, he stopped.
“Mu Ke,” Bai Liu said tiredly, “who gave you the right to decide your own death over my head?”
“Your soul belongs to me.”
“I have the right to dispose of every single one of your HP.”
“You can only die when I tell you to die.”
“Before I give that order—”
Bai Liu looked at the trembling Mu Ke, his face completely expressionless.
“—you do not have the right to grant yourself death.”
“I hope I never see you send another ‘delete me’ command again.”
“The relationship between us is one-way. That means I give you commands.”
“I have the right to reject and ignore any command you give me.”
“Do you understand?”
Mu Ke looked like a child who had done something wrong.
He gazed at Bai Liu in confusion, and when he realized Bai Liu was serious, he nodded frantically in panic.
“I understand.”
“As punishment for acting on your own,” Bai Liu said calmly, “all point rewards you receive from clearing this game will belong to me.”
“Any objections?”
Mu Ke lowered his head and picked at his fingers.
“...No.”
After a while, Mu Ke suddenly began to sob.
He tried desperately to hold it back, but the intense emotions of narrowly escaping death, followed immediately by Bai Liu’s scolding and punishment, overwhelmed him completely.
He curled into a small ball on the floor, clutching his knees as large tears fell.
He scrubbed them away roughly with his sleeve, trying his hardest to control the unruly tears.
Anger at his own helplessness. freewёbnoνel.com
The powerlessness of dragging Bai Liu into danger to save him.
The fact that he had tried to sacrifice himself to protect Bai Liu, only to receive cold disapproval.
The relief of being dragged back from death again.
All of it tangled together into a mass of grievances Mu Ke could not unravel.
He couldn’t stop crying.
“What are you crying for?”
Bai Liu’s tone carried the faintest hint of a sigh.
“Look up, Mu Ke.”
“Are you dissatisfied with my decision?”
Mu Ke’s eyes and nose were red.
He looked up, tears dripping from his lashes onto the floor. He was crying so hard he had started hiccuping, and his words came out broken.
“No... hic... dissatisfaction.”
“Then why are you crying?” Bai Liu asked softly.
Mu Ke only sobbed and stared at him stubbornly, refusing to speak.
So Bai Liu asked directly.
“I order you to tell me why you’re crying.”
“I just... don’t understand.”
Mu Ke cried so hard his voice cracked.
“Why did you come save me?”
“I don’t have any value left. I’ll only drag you down.”
“What if you died?”
“I definitely wouldn’t be able to clear the game alone.”
“I was going to die anyway... waaa...”
“If only I were Mu Shicheng, he definitely would’ve been able to help you more.”
“Except for that last bit tonight, you handled everything else very well.”
Bai Liu looked at Mu Ke, his tone softening as he stated it calmly.
“Pretending to be a normal player and infiltrating Miao Gaojiang’s team.”
“Passing the Judge’s Balance test.”
“And finally, reading all those books and efficiently passing the information about the Life-Saving Remedy to me.”
“You did all of it well.”
“Those are things Mu Shicheng couldn’t do for me.”
“Things even I couldn’t do myself.”
“Only you could.”
“In your own eyes, you might have no value.”
Bai Liu patted the stunned Mu Ke on the head. His expression relaxed into a gentle, reassuring smile.
“But in my eyes, keeping you alive is very important.”
“You have irreplaceable value.”
“That’s why I came to save you.”
Bai Liu’s gentle smile was reflected in Mu Ke’s eyes.
If Mu Shicheng had been there, he would absolutely have told Mu Ke to run.
Fast.
Because this was Bai Liu’s fake, business-style comforting smile—the one he used when deceiving people.
Mu Ke could sense that too.
But he also knew Bai Liu was telling the truth.
His vision blurred again.
He wiped his tears hard, trying again and again to hold them back.
But in the end, he couldn’t stop himself from wailing aloud.
“I was scared too!”
“I thought I was really going to die!”
“I didn’t have any other way!”
Mu Ke cried loudly, wiping his eyes with his sleeve like a child who had been bullied outside and was now complaining to his parents.
“I really did my best!”
“I used every method I could to survive!”
“But that monster was too ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) strong!”
“It suddenly—suddenly came back to life!”
Bai Liu interrupted him.
“You didn’t use every method.”
Mu Ke looked at Bai Liu through his tears.
He was so emotional that he even found the courage to talk back.
“I really did!”
“You haven’t tried asking me for help yet,” Bai Liu said calmly.
“Remember to try that method in the future.”
“Overall, though, you did well tonight, Mu Ke.”
He patted Mu Ke’s head again, the gesture almost like a kindergarten teacher rewarding a child with a little red flower.
Mu Ke froze beneath the pat.
Then his tears burst out completely.
“Waaaaaa!”
Mu Ke cried so hard he could barely breathe.
“Ugh, okay!”
“Next time, I’ll... I’ll definitely remember!”
