By the time Bai Six climbed out of the baptismal pool, his head was spinning badly enough that he slammed his knee against the stone edge.
He limped toward the exit and shoved open the church’s heavy doors with considerable effort.
Outside, the teachers were running frantically in every direction.
The same people who had been chasing Bai Six only moments ago now wore expressions of pure panic and disbelief. They stared in horror toward the building still engulfed in the aftermath of the explosion. Burning debris drifted through the night sky like glowing fireflies, carrying sparks and waves of heat with them.
“The seventh floor of the private hospital suddenly exploded! All the investors on that floor were severely injured!”
“...The hospital just informed us that tomorrow’s matching procedure has been postponed. The investors need time to recover. We’ll have to wait until Thursday...”
“There’s no choice. This batch of children will have to remain here until Thursday before being transferred to the hospital...”
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Bai Six leaned silently against the church doors.
He looked toward the distant building burning beneath the night sky, glowing like a piece of red-hot charcoal buried within black ash.
The sparks spiraled upward in dazzling streams, brilliant and warm like fireworks blooming against the earth itself.
Standing inside this frozen welfare home church after crawling out of an icy baptismal pool, Bai Six almost felt as though that reckless brightness and heat were warming him from afar, stopping him from shivering quite so much.
That was another version of himself.
Using his life to buy Bai Six one more chance.
Bai Six pulled out the phone that had been soaked underwater and gave it a shake, uncertain whether it would still function.
Originally, the Dean had intended to confiscate both the phone and the coin manager from him.
But before she could, she herself had been “taken away.”
Bai Six dialed Bai Liu’s number.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No connection.
But Bai Six stubbornly kept trying.
At some point, the call finally went through.
“Hey,” Bai Six asked flatly. “You still alive?”
On the other end came the sound of someone coughing through smoke before a lazy, smiling voice answered:
“I thought I was going to get blown to pieces, but surprisingly, I’m still alive.”
A faint chuckle followed.
“What’s wrong? You all failed to escape after all? Calling me this early?”
“No,” Bai Six replied calmly, without the slightest trace of frustration. “There were investor monsters guarding the main gate, so I abandoned the attempt.”
Bai Liu sounded unsurprised.
“It is a Level Two game. If escaping were that easy, they wouldn’t be able to maintain the death rate.”
After speaking, he coughed twice more before continuing slowly:
“But giving up the moment you saw monsters doesn’t sound like you. I thought you’d try forcing your way out using the game manager items.”
“It was a rare chance to escape.”
“So what happened? Did something unexpected make you change your mind?”
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Bai Six parted his lips slightly before answering.
“Yes. I considered using [Passenger’s Blessing] to break through.”
“My original plan was to have Xiao Miao Feichi and the others rush out first and see whether they could find faster transportation outside the welfare home map. Preferably a car.”
“So many wealthy investors came today, and the private hospital is nearby. Since they were supposed to pick us up tomorrow, there’s a high probability some investor left a vehicle outside.”
“With a vehicle, I could’ve used [Passenger’s Blessing] to repel the investor monsters blocking the entrance.”
“It was risky, but worth trying.”
Bai Liu gave a low laugh.
“And while scouting ahead, Xiao Miao Feichi and Xiao Miao Gaojiang would conveniently become disposable sacrifices.”
“That way, you could indirectly kill those two while still technically fulfilling your agreement with them.”
“After all, you did help them leave through the welfare home gate, so it wouldn’t count as violating the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) deal.”
“And in the end, you’d successfully bring out the little friend I asked you to save.”
“Killing two birds with one stone.”
“It’s a very good plan. Definitely worth attempting.”
There was even a hint of admiration in Bai Liu’s voice.
The corners of Bai Six’s lips lifted instinctively at the praise before flattening again almost immediately.
“Then why give up such a good plan?” Bai Liu asked softly.
“What happened?”
Bai Six fell silent for a long while.
Finally, he answered:
“Something happened to Liu Jiayi.”
“She started coughing blood while we were escaping. If we kept running, she wouldn’t receive treatment in time.”
“I felt like she would die very quickly.”
“But there are doctors inside the welfare home,” Bai Liu said, sounding faintly surprised.
“So you stayed for her.”
A pause.
“Wow...”
“So that’s the choice you’d make.”
“I honestly thought you’d abandon her immediately and continue escaping, because objectively, that choice benefited you more.”
Bai Six clenched his fists.
His lips pressed into a thin line.
For once, he didn’t argue back against Bai Liu’s almost mocking tone.
“...Did I make the wrong choice by staying?”
“Not necessarily.” Bai Liu’s voice softened again, slow and gentle. “From the perspective of ordinary morality, the choice you made would probably be considered the correct one.”
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Bai Six lowered his voice.
There was something strangely heavy and gloomy in it.
“But neither you nor I gained anything.”
“The correctness of ordinary morality is strange.”
Bai Liu laughed quietly.
“Because ordinary morality usually means sacrificing your own interests for someone else.”
“The people who benefit are others, not you or me.”
“Liu Jiayi kept her life.”
“Her gege got his meimei back alive.”
“Right now, he’s grateful to me.”
“And he’s grateful to you too.”
“You did very well, Bai Six.”
Bai Six froze briefly.
A rare trace of confusion crossed his face before it disappeared beneath his usual blank expression.
“...Oh.”
“Then remember to charge her gege properly,” he replied flatly.
“I don’t work for free.”
“The compensation should exceed the profit we lost.”
“But overall, this was still the wrong choice for me.”
“...I failed to escape the welfare home.”
“That’s fine.” Bai Liu sounded entirely unconcerned. “I already anticipated the possibility that you wouldn’t escape tonight.”
“So I prepared a backup plan in advance.”
“The hospital can’t receive you tomorrow anymore.”
“You still have one more day.”
Bai Six lifted his gaze toward the private hospital still burning violently in the distance.
“You exchanged that extra day with the explosion and nearly got yourself killed, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Bai Liu admitted with a smile.
“But I’m not the type to give things away for free either.”
His tone remained casual.
“So next, it’s your turn to pay for me, Bai Six.”
Silence fell again.
This time it lasted even longer, as though Bai Six were seriously considering something.
At last, his eyelashes lowered slightly.
Instead of responding directly, he changed the subject.
“I’m curious how you pulled it off.”
“Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang’s main identity routes clearly aren’t simple.”
“And the system shop is on my side. Purchasing large-scale explosives is prohibited.”
“So how did you, a player more than one level below them, fight those two within ten minutes...”
“...and successfully blow up the hospital using explosives that came from who-knows-where?”
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Bai Liu lay sprawled across ground blackened by the explosion.
His entire body was covered in burns and cuts. His hospital gown had been torn to shreds, the hem still faintly scorched.
One of his arms was gone completely, leaving behind only a mangled, bloody stump.
He looked miserable beyond words.
And yet—
he was smiling.
The satisfied smile of someone whose plan had succeeded perfectly.
With difficulty, Bai Liu raised the phone still clutched in his remaining hand.
The system-issued phone item truly was absurdly durable.
Even after an explosion like that, it remained completely intact.
Neither shattered nor water-damaged.
“That...” Bai Liu drawled lazily, clearly avoiding the question, “is a very complicated plan.”
“Our phone call is billed by the minute,” Bai Six replied calmly.
“You can explain slowly.”
Bai Liu: “...”
