Tang Erda couldn’t believe it and frowned. “It is as simple as you looking in a mirror? Then you can completely become me?”
Su Yang looked up at him with a smile. “It is that simple. Nothing else is needed. Just look in the mirror and that’s it.”
Tang Erda looked at another player. “Su Yang, you are a support and your attack value is too low. You can’t even fight head-on as a decoy. Give the item to…”
“Captain, it won’t work.” Su Yang stared straight at Tang Erda. Something seemed to be flickering in his eyes but the smile on his face was very real. “This item can only be used by me. I can become you just by looking in the mirror.”
“I am probably the only one in the world who can use the item this way.”
Tang Erda and Su Yang stared at each other. Su Yang didn’t dodge away from looking at Tang Erda. In fact, they all knew in their hearts that it didn’t matter if the bait had high attack or not.
They were doomed to lose.
The question was who would get hit by the clown sniper.
Tang Erda hoped that he would be the one who was hit. At the very least, the other person couldn’t be Su Yang.
Su Yang stood up, straightened his back and saluted Tang Erda. “Captain! Please let me support you until the last moment as your vice-captain!”
Tang Erda was defeated by Su Yang’s frank and straightforward gaze. He felt as if his meager selfishness had been seen through by Su Yang.
Just like he couldn’t stop Su Yang from going to him and following him into the game, he couldn’t stop this person from continuing to follow him. Su Yang became another Tang Erda as he wished.
They were divided into groups while the other team member supported them from a distance, observing which bait the clown sniper would choose to take on. There were two baits and the clown could only choose one to wander around and besiege. Otherwise, the firepower of Tang Erda’s attack would reversely cause pressure on the Wandering Circus.
Sure enough, the clown soon made a choice. Tang Erda was relieved when he saw that strangely smiling face approach him. He had become the bait that the clown wanted to eat.
After fighting for a while, Tang Erda made a frantic suicide attack that caused the death of Mu Ke in the Wandering Circus and dealt a serious injury to Mu Sicheng. He even decreased Bai Liu (6)’s health by half. This made the clown sniper finally go out of control.
The moment the clown saw that Bai Liu (6) was injured, he disobeyed Bai Liu (6)’s orders and no longer used his skills as a deterrent. Instead, he raised his gun toward Tang Erda.
A gray-white flame in the shape of a skeleton gathered at the muzzle of the gun. Tang Erda realized that this was the opponent’s skill.
Soul shattering? It seemed to be a good ending. Tang Erda had this thought as he stared at the muzzle.
He even made a relaxed smile. For the next 15 minutes, Su Yang and the other person would be safe.
They just needed to end the game within 15 minutes. It didn’t matter if they won or lost. Just—
One second before Tang Erda was hit by the bullet, he thought about the appearance of Su Yang whispering that he liked Tang Erda. For some unknown reason, Tang Erda’s heart thumped.
Fortunately, he didn’t agree. Otherwise, he would’ve died and Su Yang would’ve been very sad.
[System notification: Player Su Yang has activated the skill card A of Spades. The skill Heart to Heart has exchanged positions with player Tang Erda.]
Tang Erda might never be able to forget the next scene.
His kind and decent vice-captain, who stuttered when he lied to help his teammates be lazy and ask for leave, actually told him such an unrecognized lie.
This lie made Tang Erda remember it to this day.
Hearts didn’t have only one skill card but a pair. Su Yang had already decided that no matter which bait the clown chose, Su Yang would block it for him. This was why Su Yang was determined to come with him.
The white bone whip flew from behind and followed Su Yang, who had changed positions with him. The ‘z’ shape of the whip prevented Su Yang from escaping.
The moment Bai Liu (6) realized that the clown had used his skill, Bai Liu (6) decided not to waste it. He reacted very quickly and cooperated with the clown’s sniping. He threw the bone whip and pulled Su Yang’s neck, trapping him in place.
A second later, the silver bullet penetrated Su Yang’s temple.
Blood burst on Tang Erda’s face, who still hadn’t come to his senses.
Su Yang instantly lost the appearance of Tang Erda. His eyes were blank as he returned to his original appearance and fell to the ground.
He died too quickly and left no words for Tang Erda. He was still holding the playing card that released the skill and the appearance in the heart was Tang Erda’s appearance.
The only other member of the team was surrounded and killed by Liu Jiayi and Mu Sicheng.
Tang Erda was left alone on the field to fight. He knelt in front of Su Yang’s corpse in a daze while the rest of the Wandering Circus members were rushing to this side. Victory and defeat had been decided.
Tang Erda could only hear the exaggerated voice of the pre-match commentator in his head.
[The Soul Shattering Gun? What is more powerful, this gun or the hunter’s revolver? The only thing we know is that the Soul Shattering Gun must hurt more. After all, the people who were hit by the Soul Shattering Gun all had ugly expressions before they died. Wow, the pain must be to the extreme! They don’t produce this expression when hit by the hunter’s revolver!]
Tang Erda’s gaze slowly moved down. He originally didn’t want to look at Su Yang’s face, but at this moment, it seemed it wasn’t right if he didn’t look again. This was his vice-captain, so he looked.
The strange thing was that Su Yang didn’t have a hideous expression. He had a serene smile and the whip mark around his neck. He seemed very happy as he lay in a pool of blood.
At this moment, Tang Erda understood what Su Yang was thinking—this guy had the same idea as Tang Erda before he died.
He was happy at the thought that another person could survive because of his death. It was a happiness that even the pain of death and the pain of the soul shattering couldn’t hide—it was because the other person was the most important person in his heart.
[Being able to stand with the captain now is the biggest reward for me.]
[Captain! Are you taking another leave of absence to go drinking? You can’t do this even if there are no heretics!]
[Captain, you are already 36 years old. Why don’t you consider starting a family… you don’t have the idea of starting a family? = = This type of answer. No wonder why every year, you are the one who is urged to marry the most among the captains…]
[Me? Why don’t I start a family? It is probably because… the person I like doesn’t have the idea of starting a family.]
It was the year-end celebration of the Dangerous Heretics Bureau.
Tang Erda took a sip of wine and persuaded his vice-captain, who seemed too pure. “You should give up on this type of person early. She is just leading you on. You are almost 30 years old and she hasn’t talked about marriage with you. She is more likely a scumbag.”
Su Yang, who was a little drunk, leaned on Tang Erda’s body. He squinted and smiled like a child eating candy. “They aren’t leading me on. They are just… really dull.”
Su Yang drunkenly hugged Tang Erda. “But… it is okay. You can’t get rid of me. I’ll always, always…”
His eyes gradually closed due to drunkenness. “—Wait.”
Bai Liu (6) brought the members of Wandering Circus over to deal the final blow to Tang Erda. The hunter finally raised his gun and pointed it at himself with the same happy smile as Su Yang lying on the ground.
Tang Erda closed his eyes and muttered to himself like he was whispering to Su Yang.
“You won’t be left to wait any longer.”
[System notification: The core desire of player Tang Erda has changed. Generating the derivative attack skill Russian Roulette.]
[System notification: Player Tang Erda has set the skill lock target as himself. Since the skill locked target already contains the player himself, it is forbidden to lock onto himself twice. The locked target is automatically replaced by the player he has the heaviest killing intent toward—player Bai Liu (6).]
[System notification: The roulette has started to rotate…]
The bullet passed through the hunter’s head and dramatically hit the enemy captain. Then the Wandering Circus collectively withdrew from the game.
Tang Erda absurdly won the game that cost him everything.
One man’s victory.
The opponents didn’t care about winning the game at all, which was why they gave up so easily. They simply got pleasure from playing with their opponents in the game.
This fierce match for Tang Erda was just a game for the Wandering Circus.
The god asked him what his wish was. The hunter who had won everything looked up in confusion and made an unstoppable wish.
[I want everyone, especially Su Yang, to leave the game alive.]
The god asked him: [Can you pay anything for this?]
Tang Erda closed his eyes and tears silently dripped down his cheeks. [Yes.]
Tang Erda, who was lying on the ground, seemed absent-minded as he stared at the ceiling of the corridor. His soul seemed to have drifted far, far away before he could hear and answer Bai Liu.
Bai Liu asked him, “Is there any meaning to you saving these Su Yangs? They aren’t the Su Yang you wanted to save at the beginning.”
“I know…” Tang Erda opened and closed his dry mouth, his voice choked up and hoarse. “I know that there is no way to save him. I am just unwilling, unwilling to be unable to save Su Yang from your hands once.”
“I don’t want you to torture him every time!” Tang Erda reluctantly propped himself up on the ground, face full of tears. He knelt on the ground, raised his silver gun and aimed straight at Bai Liu.
The man’s hands and body were shaking. Liu Jiayi had checked just now and found that Tang Erda probably had half his brain blown away by himself. The fact that he could now get up and forcibly summon a skill to attack Bai Liu—in various ways, this guy’s willpower was really outstanding.
“Only I am alive.” Tang Erda’s eyes had started to turn gray since most of his brain was shattered. Now it was hard for him to see some of the time and he couldn’t aim at Bai Liu at all. He could only shoot around like a headless fly before collapsing with a scream, “You can’t easily get past me and harm any innocent people!”
Bang bang bang!
Bai Liu stood up. He was condescending as he calmly watched Tang Erda kneeling on the ground, staggering and groping to shoot. He exhausted his physical strength and fell to the ground while spasming and struggling.
The gun landed a bit in front of Tang Erda’s fingers and flickered and flashed like it was going to disappear. Tang Erda tried to grab it but he couldn’t touch it at all.
He was a hunter without a gun, a wounded and trapped beast.
Bai Liu walked in front of Tang Erda. He got down on one knee and picked up the gun, placing it in the palm of Tang Erda’s hand. Then he held Tang Erda’s gun and raised the gun to his forehead, tone lukewarm. “You can do it now if you want to kill me.”
A look of surprise appeared on Tang Erda’s face.
“I understand that you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you, but from what I’ve learned, we should be two people in the same camp.” Bai Liu explained to Tang Erda. “I don’t know about the other world lines but at least for now, in this world line, I have no interest in torturing your vice-captain. Someone has set up a game to force me to do what he thinks I should do.”
“Unfortunately, I am a rebellious person and I’m less willing to follow other people.” Bai Liu looked up. “He wants you to kill me or for me to kill you. Then I have to save you and solve the problem of the rose perfume. Then I can see what he wants.”
“You have gone through so many world lines with me so you should know my skill well. You can’t trust me but you should believe in my transaction. I won’t have a good end if I break the trade with you.”
Bai Liu held out his hand to Tang Erda and smiled. “How about you give me your soul and I help you fulfill your wish?”
Tang Erda seemed aware of Bai Liu’s outstretched hand to him. He struggled to support half his body while hitting away Bai Liu’s hand with all his strength.
Tang Erda gasped for breath and viciously withdrew his gun from Bai Liu’s hand. He refocused on the place where he heard Bai Liu’s breathing and said, “Bai Liu (6), do you think I will believe you when you say this? Yes, the consequences of violating your trading skill are serious but this doesn’t mean you don’t have a solution.”
Bai Liu took a half step back with some regret. This guy definitely wasn’t easy to convince. He was too keen.
It was as Tang Erda said. Bai Liu did have a plan to deal with the failure of the transaction. He wasn’t completely unable to handle such a result. It seemed that Tang Erda had indeed been tortured by Bai Liu many times. Even this type of thing could be predicted.
Tang Erda struggled to raise his head and ‘looked’ at Bai Liu with the gray and lifeless blue eyes. The gun in his hand shook slightly. “I will never cooperate with a monster.”
Bai Liu asked softly, “Captain Tang, why are you so sure that I am a monster or a living heretic?”
“Look. Is there anything different from normal people?”
Tang Erda took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. He gasped twice before he continued, “Of course, it is different. You are just a monster dressed in normal human skin and mixed in with the lives of ordinary people!”
“In the other world lines, the Dangerous Heretics Bureau distinguishes between living heretics i.e. monsters that look exactly like normal people, and normal people by using an item.” Tang Erda’s face showed a very distorted expression. “You are also familiar with this item. It is the Murphy’s Theorem Magic Mirror that you used on me.”
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. “Really? This is the first time I’ve heard of using this mirror to distinguish between monsters and living people.”
Tang Erda answered, “This mirror allows a person to see what they are most afraid of. Meanwhile, monsters have nothing to fear because they have no emotions and no heart. Their souls are filled with desire and they only know how to attack and plunder.”
“We have tested you in almost every world line except this one. In every world, you have nothing you are afraid of. Every time you stand in front of the mirror, there is nothing in the mirror! Not even yourself!”
Tang Erda coughed violently due to the intense emotions that rose while speaking.
His mouth was full of blood and he slid down the wall, but the muzzle of his gun was still aimed at Bai Liu.
“Your weakness toward water is something we dug out based on your experience but it isn’t at the level of fear at all. At most, you just find it annoying.”
“You can use the two mirrors to make this endless corridor without being affected because this mirror is useless to you. Bai Liu (6), you are a monster who isn’t afraid of anything.”
“I absolutely won’t make a deal with you.” Tang Erda was about to pull the trigger again.
This time, Bai Liu stood directly opposite him and didn’t dodge. Rather, he moved closer to Tang Erda. It was to the point where he reached out and grabbed the muzzle of the gun.
“Yes.” Bai Liu lowered his eyes, eyelashes flickering slightly. “I have something I fear.”
“Would you like to see it?”
Tang Erda really froze this time.
At the same time, Liu Jiayi took out the diary as she stood outside the door and read it with her head lowered.
Qi Yifang was stopped at the door by Liu Jiayi. Now she was looking at the diary again and he couldn’t help being a bit curious. “Little Witch, haven’t you already read it once? Are there any game clues inside?”
“No.” Liu Jiayi continued to flip through it without raising her head. “It isn’t the game. I’m determining the trajectory of the god-level NPC.”
Qi Yifang who was confused again, “???”
What was this? How come it was the god-level NPC?
Liu Jiayi’s fingers were placed under the writing in the diary and she frowned as she checked the trajectory of the god statue.
It appeared in a seaside town, was transported to a welfare home and was finally purchased by this Rose Factory.
Yes, the path of this statue was roughly consistent with the games where the god-level NPC appeared. According to the narrative in this diary, the order of succession was Siren Town, Love Welfare Institute and this Rose Factory.
Liu Jiayi’s expression darkened. There was one place that didn’t match.
The god-level NPC appeared in one more game: Jing City Explosion.
According to the trajectory given by the diary, it was impossible for the god statue to be on the subway. First, he was in a museum in a remote seaside town. Then he was transported directly to the welfare home by truck. Later, he was purchased by the crazy factory manager, dismembered and buried in the rose fields.
In other words, the statue represented the god-level NPC. During the time when the subway explosion occurred in Jing City, the statue should be in the welfare home and it shouldn’t appear on the subway at all.
The appearance of the god statue in reality should correspond to the games where the god-level NPC appeared. There should be no god-level NPC in Exploding Last Train.
In other words, what appeared on the subway wasn’t the real god statue or god-level NPC, but simply a magic mirror.
Why could Bai Liu see the god-level NPC through that mirror in the game?
She remembered that the power of that mirror was—
Liu Jiayi slammed the diary shut. She looked back at the closed corridor and looked stunned.
She knew why Bai Liu could see the god-level NPC in the mirror of Exploding Last Train.
Bai Liu must be afraid of the god-level NPC. This was why after looking at the mirror, he saw the god-level NPC he was afraid of through the skill of the mirror!
“That’s not right.” Liu Jiayi spoke to herself in a strange manner as she touched her chin. “That guy Bai Liu doesn’t seem to be afraid of the god-level NPC. Then what is he afraid of that would make him see the god-level NPC in the mirror?”
“If he isn’t afraid of the god-level NPC itself then is it possible that he is afraid of some state of the god-level NPC?”
Liu Jiayi held her head with both hands and pondered on it. She tried to recall the scene she saw in the video. “I remember that the first time I saw Tawil in Bai Liu’s video of Exploding Last Train, the other person was floating in the water. His hair was scattered and the look on his face was—”
There was a very restless emotion in Bai Liu’s eyes in the corridor but strangely, his expression was unbelievably calm. Tang Erda, who was approached by such a calm Bai Liu, had the illusion that he was uncontrollably infected by Bai Liu’s emotions.
Tang Erda felt an extremely deep, unmistakable and very familiar negative emotion from Bai Liu—it was the pain and fear that ripped everything apart when he saw Su Yang’s body.
This thick and similar emotion was approaching and Tang Erda couldn’t help wanting to retreat from Bai Liu’s approach.
However, he was too weak. Bai Liu easily grabbed Tang Erda’s jaw with his right hand and held the muzzle of Tang Erda’s gun with his left hand. Then he forcefully approached.
Bai Liu whispered softly in Tang Erda’s ear, his tone casual like he was lying.
“Captain Tang, I really have something I’m afraid of.”
“I have been afraid since I was a child of seeing someone close their eyes in front of me and never opening them again.”
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