Bai Liu stared blankly for a second or two after Xiao Mu Ke hung up.
It seemed these children really didn’t like him very much... Apparently, he had been unpopular with children since he was young.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps rang out beyond the door—the sharp clicking of nurses’ high heels against the floor. They were heading toward the elevator. Clearly, something had happened that required them to gather.
Bai Liu’s gaze darkened. “A patient woke up.”
“It can’t be that much of a coincidence...” Mu Ke’s expression stiffened as he turned to look at Bai Liu. “It can’t be Miao Gaojiang and the others waking up, right?”
7:30 AM, Second Floor, Intensive Care Unit.
Miao Gaojiang’s body was covered in overlapping red-and-black burns. He coughed as a nurse helped him sit up, then turned his head to look at Miao Feichi, who was still unconscious in the next bed.
He gritted his teeth.
Although he had blocked most of the attacks for Miao Feichi, his fragile son’s health points must have fallen even lower than his own.
And his own loss was not small either.
Miao Gaojiang struggled to shift his body and lean back against the pillow. His gloomy eyes fixed on his health panel.
[System Notification: Player Miao Gaojiang’s Health Points: 23]
Bai Liu’s move had directly taken more than half his health.
Even in league matches, relying on his high defensive attributes, Miao Gaojiang rarely suffered such massive damage in a single blow.
Suffering from a splitting headache, he bit open tubes of Stamina Recovery Agent and Mental Bleach and drank them down. His expression was unreadable.
His health had dropped to 23 points.
Then Miao Feichi’s would only be lower.
At last, Miao Gaojiang’s expression turned truly grave.
Bai Liu, that madman.
That man had completely disregarded his own life just to wear down their health, taking whatever amount he could scrape away.
Clearly, Bai Liu had already abandoned the route of clearing the game as an investor and had placed every bet on the children. At this point, confronting Bai Liu and his group head-on would be meaningless. It would only consume more of their health.
Their priority now was to obtain enough blood to clear the game, then kill Bai Liu’s group of children.
Once his thoughts were clear, Miao Gaojiang used points to buy several protective bandages and wrapped his still-bleeding wounds. Then he got up and bandaged Miao Feichi as well before gently shaking him awake.
Miao Feichi woke with his face twisted in pain. Dizzily, he grabbed the bed rail and was ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) helped upright by the nurse and Miao Gaojiang.
While Miao Feichi was still half-conscious, his father shoved one tube of Mental Bleach and one tube of Stamina Recovery Agent into his mouth.
The large amount of liquid made Miao Feichi retch several times over the side of the bed before his mind finally cleared.
“Feichi, how many health points do you have?” Miao Gaojiang asked with a frown the moment he saw him wake up.
Miao Feichi opened his attribute panel. His face instantly darkened, and he couldn’t help cursing.
“Damn it. Only eleven left.”
“...That’s too low.” Miao Gaojiang’s brows nearly knitted together. “I originally thought that if your health was high enough, we would kill Bai Liu first before going to the child welfare home. But if you lose even two more points in a fight and fall below ten, that’s already [Death Prediction] health.”
[Death Prediction] was a term commonly used by league spectators, also known as the [Death Threshold].
It referred to a certain point in league matches where, once a player’s health dropped below a specific value, the system would issue a [Death Threshold] notification. It meant the player’s current lifeline was extremely dangerous and that they could likely be taken out by a single wave of attacks during a team fight or siege.
Players who dropped below this threshold would almost certainly be focused down and quickly removed from the field.
Because of that, when a player reached this level of health, spectators would often predict their death. That was why the system’s [Death Threshold] notification was also called [Death Prediction].
Miao Feichi’s [Death Threshold] was usually 9.
Miao Gaojiang’s was usually 1, because his defense was higher and he was not so easily taken out in one blow.
Miao Feichi touched the bloody wounds on his face and hissed.
“To hell with Death Prediction. Bai Liu is just a non-league player with a Rank F panel. My death threshold is meant for high-level professional players in the league. How is he worthy of being compared to—”
“He hasn’t even entered the league yet, and his panel is only Rank F.” Miao Gaojiang calmly interrupted Miao Feichi’s furious cursing. “Yet with one attack, he compressed your lifeline close to the threshold while cutting my health in half.”
“Don’t you think that makes him even more terrifying?”
Miao Feichi’s grimacing expression froze.
Miao Gaojiang took a deep breath.
“We chose the wrong target to sacrifice for publicity. Open your system panel and look. We have to give up on using Bai Liu as our sacrifice and clear the game as quickly as possible. Otherwise, both of us will fold in this game.”
Miao Feichi frowned and opened his system panel.
A bright red system notification appeared there.
[System Friendly Reminder: Tomorrow is Thursday. Thursday is “Critically Ill Day.” Investor players who have not been cured of their terminal illness with Blood Lingzhi in time will receive the [Critically Ill] debuff once 00:00 passes. The [Critically Ill] debuff will cause the player’s health bar to slowly decrease. Players are requested to speed up their clearing progress.]
Miao Gaojiang’s expression was solemn.
“This [Critically Ill] is a forced weakening debuff that eats away at our health. According to the nursery rhyme, we will [Die of Illness] on [Friday]. That means this debuff may very well finish consuming our health by Friday.”
“Right now, health is extremely precious to us. But for Bai Liu’s group, who have already abandoned the investor route, health is irrelevant. They can waste it however they like.”
Miao Gaojiang leaned forward and half-crouched in front of the dazed Miao Feichi, staring at him.
“Because they never planned to clear the game through the investor route at all. Do you understand, Feichi? Every one of them, including Liu Huai, has chosen to sacrifice themselves to protect the children.”
“And we chose ourselves.”
“Killing them means nothing to us, because their hope and desire are pinned on another version of themselves.”
His gaze gradually turned dark and sinister.
“Killing those children and draining their blood to survive is the first thing we must do to clear the game. Understand, Feichi? Stop obsessing over Bai Liu and focus on what actually matters.”
Miao Feichi gritted his teeth unwillingly.
But in the end, he nodded.
Miao Gaojiang let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Miao Feichi was impulsive and irritable by nature, but fortunately, when it came to matters of survival, he still listened to his father.
Perhaps that was why Miao Gaojiang could never help spoiling him, even helping him commit evil.
He really was a “good boy” who listened to his father.
He just didn’t listen to his mother very much.
But he truly listened to his father.
When he saw his father growing more and more tormented because of his critically ill mother; when his father wanted to kill the woman who had dragged the whole family down; when his father wanted to end that life and find a better woman, yet feared that the mother’s resistance and screams would prevent him from obtaining her inheritance and house—
little Miao Feichi had stepped forward to become his father’s hero.
He ended that painful life for him.
“This time, we’ll survive too. You know that, don’t you, Feichi?”
Miao Gaojiang stroked Miao Feichi’s face as his son leaned against his abdomen, speaking softly.
His sanity had dropped below 20 and then been forcibly restored, leaving his state faintly abnormal. This was the aftereffect of a sanity collapse.
Miao Gaojiang seemed to be regulating his breathing. Every inhale and exhale was unusually deep.
Beneath the surface of apparent calm lurked fear, brutality, and madness. His words carried a distorted, neurotic edge.
“We even overcame something like your mother. There’s nothing we can’t overcome.”
Wrapped in bandages, Miao Feichi looked up at Miao Gaojiang with a pale face.
His weakness made him appear much more obedient than usual.
For one split second, static flashed across Miao Gaojiang’s vision like a television screen.
Miao Feichi’s face on the hospital bed flickered in black and white, overlapping with another face—
a lifeless woman who had died with her eyes open.
The woman’s eyes were wide, unblinking, staring fixedly at the cup of cold water on the bedside table.
She lay on the bed with her mouth twisted wide open, her lower jaw hanging down toward her chest, exposing a pitch-black throat.
There was no tongue inside.
Her tongue had been cut off and eaten by Miao Feichi.
Eaten by this “good son” who listened to his father.
Little Miao Feichi had once stood by his mother’s bed, leaning forward with greedy eyes as he watched his mother’s tongue dip into the cup while she drank hot water, creating tempting ripples in the glass.
The little boy’s eyes had shifted with those ripples as he swallowed his saliva.
And that gaze slowly overlapped with the current Miao Feichi sitting on the hospital bed.
Miao Gaojiang’s heart jolted.
He abruptly pushed away Miao Feichi, who had been leaning against him.
Miao Feichi was shoved back painfully and looked at Miao Gaojiang with confusion and impatience.
“Dad, what are you doing?!”
Miao Gaojiang forced a smile.
“No. It’s nothing. My mental state isn’t very good.”
Turning away, Miao Gaojiang tilted his head back and drained another bottle of Mental Bleach.
His sanity was extremely unstable because of the aftereffects, jumping up and down uncontrollably.
Now, Miao Gaojiang knew very clearly that he was suffering the sequelae of his sanity dropping below 20.
But he did not want to admit it.
Nor did he dare to.
He was beginning to lose the boundary between reality and illusion. The fears buried deep in his subconscious were eroding his brain.
This was the prelude to madness.
They had to leave this game as soon as possible.
Miao Gaojiang gritted his teeth. Cold sweat seeped from his forehead. He raised a hand to wipe it away, forcing himself to calm down.
Then he turned to the nurse.
“What time are we going to the welfare home today for the adoption?”
The nurse looked somewhat troubled.
“Because many investors were injured in the private hospital explosion, today’s matching with the welfare home was originally canceled.”
Miao Gaojiang’s face darkened.
“But tomorrow we’ll become [Critically Ill]. Can you arrange a separate matching for us?”
“...It is possible,” the nurse said hesitantly. “But if only the two of you go, the welfare home won’t open its doors, in order to prevent children from escaping.”
“If you insist on going, you can only use the tunnel from the hospital that leads directly to the welfare home chapel.”
The nurse’s eyes shifted evasively.
“Previously, children who had been baptized in the chapel would be sent directly to the hospital through this tunnel. But recently, more and more investors have become critically ill, which led to the [Matching] selection process.”
“However, since you have already matched with your children, you may use this tunnel directly to collect them.”
Miao Gaojiang sighed in relief.
“Where is the entrance to this tunnel?”
The nurse fell into an eerie silence for two seconds.
“Directly beneath the emergency exit.”
————————
“Bai Liu, how can you be sure the tunnel exit is directly under the emergency exit?”
Mu Ke’s voice carried both confusion and fear. He swallowed hard and glanced at the clock hanging in the ward.
“It’s already past eight in the morning. Those deformed child monsters inside the emergency exit won’t completely disappear until after nine. They should still be lingering near the exit.”
“Are we really going there just like this?”
Mu Ke’s gaze shifted painfully from Liu Huai’s severed arms to Bai Liu’s still bloodstained sleeve.
Although he did not want to admit it, he still spoke honestly.
“I have no combat ability. Both of you are in terrible condition. If we go there now and directly clash with those child monsters, it’ll be very easy for us to die.”
“And if your guess is wrong, if the tunnel entrance isn’t under the emergency exit, then we’re just throwing our lives away.”
At this point, Mu Ke’s eyes and tone both turned serious.
He sat with his legs pressed together, gripping his clothes tightly with both hands as he leaned forward and stared at Bai Liu.
“Xiao Bai Six is already dead. You can’t gamble recklessly anymore, Bai Liu.”
“We can’t make any risky decisions now. Because if that decision is wrong, you will definitely be the first of us to die.”
“Your health is only 0.5.”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain,” Bai Liu said calmly. “But I’m about ninety percent sure it’s there.”
He glanced at Mu Ke.
“I deduced this mainly for two reasons.”
“First, if a tunnel exists between this private hospital and the welfare home, then its function is most likely to transport children. Xiao Mu Ke also told us this. The ones traveling back and forth through this tunnel are the child monsters whose blood has been drained, and the place in the hospital with the most child monsters is the emergency exit.”
Bai Liu calmly raised a second finger.
“Second, Mu Ke, do you remember the welfare home we visited in reality?”
Mu Ke froze, then nodded.
Bai Liu continued, “That teacher told us the welfare home was later greatly reduced in scale. After returning, I checked a 3D comparison between the original architectural plans and the current layout of that welfare home.”
“This welfare home originally had a chapel as well. Later, when the welfare home was downsized, the chapel area was separated and renovated into a hospital.”
“Guess where the emergency exit on the first floor of the renovated hospital was built?”
Mu Ke held his breath and looked at Bai Liu.
Bai Liu gave the answer with absolute composure.
“It was built exactly where the statue in the original welfare home chapel once stood. That matches the tunnel’s entrance and exit in the game perfectly.”
“Can’t we go after nine?” Mu Ke frowned. “After nine, it would be much safer for you.”
“For me, yes.”
Bai Liu stood up.
He picked up the white bone whip and flicked his wrist, cracking it once as a simple warm-up before the fight.
His face was pale, and there was no emotion in his eyes as he looked down at Mu Ke, who was still kneeling on the floor.
“But for the other ‘you,’ that may not be true.”
“Miao Gaojiang and Miao Feichi should be awake by now. They most likely won’t come hunting us, because to them, we ‘investors’ who don’t plan to clear the game will only waste their health. Killing us has no value.”
“If I were Miao Gaojiang, I would immediately go to the welfare home to drain the children’s blood.”
“And Xiao Mu Ke just told us over the phone that the welfare home doors are not open. That means Miao Gaojiang and his son are unlikely to enter through the front gate.”
“The nurses here must know about the tunnel used to transport children. If a nurse tells them about it, then they are very likely to use the tunnel to reach the welfare home.”
Bai Liu’s gaze lowered, landing on Mu Ke’s clenched hands.
“In other words, if we don’t hurry over, Xiao Mu Ke will be ambushed.”
“And then you’ll be in just as much danger as I am.”
“You know that, don’t you?”
Mu Ke pressed his lips together and lowered his head.
Even so, he refuted in a small voice, “But even then, it doesn’t matter, right? I think we should prioritize keeping you alive. You only have 0.5 health points. I still have six.”
“Look me in the eye when you say that, Mu Ke.”
Bai Liu’s expression was nearly blank.
“Your hands are shaking. Since you’re scared, don’t talk nonsense.”
“Get up. We’re going.”
“We’ll deal with things once we get there. It’s true that we’re at a disadvantage—”
Bai Liu lowered his head and lightly tapped Mu Ke’s forehead with the handle of the whip.
Mu Ke looked up at him blankly.
Bai Liu gazed back with an almost tranquil calm.
“—But Mu Ke, that doesn’t mean we’re definitely going to lose.”
“Especially when losing would cost me a very heavy price.”
“I will win this game by any means necessary.”
