At first, Tang Erda had only stayed in contact with Queen of Hearts because he suspected that, in this timeline, she might have some connection to Bai Six.
He wanted to use her to uncover clues about him.
At the time, Tang Erda had only just left the Love Welfare Institute and confirmed the death of the other “Bai Six.” He was still trapped in a state of lingering doubt and unwillingness to fully believe it. That was why he approached Queen of Hearts in the first place.
What he never expected was that, in this timeline, Queen of Hearts had absolutely no relationship with Bai Six at all.
After all, who could have predicted that the Bai Six of this timeline would enter the game so late, only to accomplish everything he wanted within three games at a speed eight times faster than normal?
In just three games, he had already led a newly formed team to the point where they could contend against veterans like them.
If this continued...
Tang Erda ground his teeth together and replied to Queen of Hearts:
[Fine. Have your people seal off the other games. I’ll personally hunt him down.]
Queen of Hearts replied almost immediately.
[Do you know which game he entered?]
Tang Erda answered:
[A Grade 3 game.]
Liu Jiayi was injured.
To avoid Grade 2 games—which calibrated death rates using HP and heavily restricted her abilities—Bai Liu would absolutely take the risk of entering a Grade 3 game to save her.
He had always treated his teammates well.
Queen of Hearts responded quickly.
[If you’re certain Bai Liu entered a Grade 3 game, then I can provide three upper-tier guild players with decent combat abilities. They’ve trained in Grade 3 games before and are reserve members of our league team. Let them assist you in surrounding and intercepting Bai Liu.]
[Bai Liu is not an easy opponent to deal with. We’ll meet at the game entrance.]
The clear rate for Grade 3 games hovered around ten to twenty percent.
Yet Queen of Hearts casually offered up three guild members for him to “use.”
This woman truly was cold-blooded in every timeline.
She had never regarded the lives of her guild members as lives at all.
Or perhaps, after entering this game world, nobody considered lives to be lives anymore.
Under the premise of resurrection, human lives had merely become strings of soul-bound data.
—
Game Entrance Area.
Queen of Hearts arrived wearing a tilted crimson high-crowned hat atop her wine-red wavy hair.
Her fitted suit jacket exposed elegant shoulders, paired with a matching bodycon skirt and impossibly thin stiletto heels shaped like hearts at the tips. She walked forward with graceful confidence, gaze fixed straight ahead.
Behind her followed hundreds of Kings’ Guild members.
Their uniforms were themed around poker suits—black, white, and crimson woven together with patterns of spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds.
As they followed behind the Queen, the guild members rapidly dispersed toward the giant game-selection screens near the entrance area.
Based on their levels, panels, and skills, they swiftly filtered through games they were capable of clearing before systematically entering them one after another.
From beginning to end, the entire formation remained perfectly disciplined.
Not a single unnecessary sound could be heard.
Their movements were efficient to a frightening degree; most only needed a glance at a game interface before instantly judging whether it was clearable.
As they entered the games, system notifications continuously echoed throughout the lobby.
[System Notification: A player bookmarked on your small TV has entered a game~ Please proceed to watch~]
By the time Queen of Hearts reached Tang Erda, nearly every guild member behind her had already disappeared into various game instances.
At the same moment, the hundred public game screens behind her rapidly flipped from green [Waiting...] labels to red [Full] markers, one after another like pages turning in a book.
All it took was the few short steps she used to approach Tang Erda.
The ordinary players selecting games nearby stared blankly at the sea of suddenly red screens and instinctively moved aside for the massive, incomprehensible operation unfolding before them.
Some players who recognized the reserve members brought by Queen of Hearts were already whispering in shock.
“What the hell? Aren’t those all reserve members from the Kings’ Guild? Shouldn’t they be training in the game pool right now? Why are they here in the regular player zone? And Queen of Hearts is personally leading them?”
“The pressure they’re giving off is insane... As expected from league-level players. They’re completely different from ordinary players.”
“But why now? The league starts in two months. Shouldn’t they be focused on training? What kind of ordinary player managed to provoke something like this? This feels like a full-scale encirclement...”
“Am I the only one noticing how terrifying those reserve players’ panels are? Some of their total stats are practically reaching S-rank!”
“Probably the result of the Kings’ Guild’s so-called Devil Training. Didn’t a bunch of high-level players go insane during it? I heard the Puppet Master barely made the reserve team because his skills matched well with the Little Witch. His overall stats were supposedly too low, so the guild kept hyping up his intelligence instead—but then he completely crashed and burned against a newcomer...”
“My god... Are Queen of Hearts and Spades finally at war? Did love turn into hatred?”
“Wake up. Spades is still training in the game pool. There’s no way he’s here...”
Of all the public game screens, only the one in the upper-right corner still displayed a green [Waiting...] label.
The screen showed a rain of withering roses.
Tang Erda was standing guard in front of it, which was why Queen of Hearts had prevented anyone from entering.
She walked up beside him, one hand lightly resting on the brim of her hat, her gaze following his toward the rose-covered interface.
“Mr. Hunter,” Queen of Hearts asked casually, as though completely unconcerned by the enormous commotion she had just caused, “are you certain it’s this game? Or are you simply being sentimental?”
She was referring to Tang Erda’s skill title—
[Withered Rose Hunter].
The moment Tang Erda looked at her, goosebumps crawled across his skin.
Queen of Hearts’ skill was deeply unsettling.
The instant their eyes met, her face began distorting within his vision.
It was as though invisible hands were reshaping her features before his eyes.
Her soft, alluring jawline sharpened into distinctly masculine contours. Her dark red eyes gradually faded into light brown, while her flowing curls shortened rapidly. Even the elegant dress she wore slowly transformed into the uniform of the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau.
Tang Erda immediately turned his head away.
Queen of Hearts had begun transforming into Su Yang.
“If this is your idea of sincerity in our cooperation,” Tang Erda said coldly without looking at her, “then we can end this partnership right now.”
Queen of Hearts laughed softly and withdrew her skill, returning to her original appearance.
“Mr. Hunter is awfully protective of his lover’s appearance,” she teased lightly. “But what is there to be embarrassed about? He seems like a very adorable man.”
Tang Erda shot her a sharp glance.
“Who he is has nothing to do with you. Stop using your skill to pry into me. We’re here to discuss Bai Liu.”
Queen of Hearts smiled beneath the shadow of her hat, crimson lips curling upward.
“You’re right. My curiosity crossed the line.” Her tone carried that same ambiguous softness as always. “I was simply too interested in you, Mr. Hunter. My apologies.”
Every gesture and every word from this woman carried a subtle sense of seduction.
And every time she appeared, her face looked slightly different.
Yet the moment someone saw her, they could instantly recognize her as Queen of Hearts herself rather than mistake her for an illusion.
At the same time, however, they would also see traces of the person they cared about most reflected in her face.
That was the nature of her skill.
Queen of Hearts could transform into the appearance of the person closest to a target’s heart based on the target’s subconscious imagination, thereby confusing and manipulating them more effectively.
It was a beautiful and deadly shell.
As dangerous as ever, no matter the timeline.
Back then, Tang Erda had once used Queen of Hearts’ skill to confirm the existence of Xie Ta.
In the timeline where Queen of Hearts cooperated with the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau, she had told Tang Erda that the moment Bai Six saw her, her appearance transformed into Xie Ta’s.
Not long afterward, Bai Six began pursuing her in much the same way countless men obsessed over Queen of Hearts herself.
Soon after that, Bai Six did something almost unimaginable.
He invited Queen of Hearts into his team.
Bai Six never made emotionally driven decisions.
He would never allow someone into the [refugee’s Circus] without first purchasing their soul, especially considering how dangerous his position had already become at the time.
Every member of the Circus opposed the decision.
But nobody could ever stop Bai Liu from doing what he wanted.
Following the Bureau’s orders, Queen of Hearts accepted Bai Six’s invitation and infiltrated the core of the [refugee’s Circus].
Although Bai Six’s control over her was surprisingly loose, the other members of the Circus monitored her constantly, making it increasingly difficult for her to maintain contact with Tang Erda and the Bureau.
The few messages she managed to send back were fragmented and almost impossible to piece together into anything useful.
On the surface, Bai Six appeared deeply infatuated with Queen of Hearts.
It was as though he had made an exception for her like a man blinded by love, even creating conflict between himself and the other Circus members because of her.
But the information Queen of Hearts sent back painted a completely different picture.
Every time Bai Six met her, it was always inside a game.
Always in a dim underwater chamber beneath the guild headquarters of the refugee’s Circus.
The rippling water above cast faint, wavering light that illuminated only her face.
Each time, Bai Six would hand her an old, badly patched picture book titled Slender Man’s Murder Record.
Every page inside had been torn apart.
No one understood why someone like Bai Six—who lacked absolutely nothing—would treasure such a ruined object.
Then Bai Six would retreat into the darkness and silently watch as Queen of Hearts’ face transformed into someone else’s.
At that point, he would quietly instruct her to lower her head and read.
And as Queen of Hearts obeyed, Bai Six would spend the next stretch of time calmly observing—almost admiring—the “appearance” reflected before him.
Sometimes Queen of Hearts would attempt casual conversation.
Contrary to the terrifying rumors surrounding him, Bai Six was often unexpectedly relaxed, even lazy.
Toward the face she wore, he displayed extraordinary tolerance, allowing her to probe him repeatedly and stir up trouble without consequence.
“Is the person reflected on my face very important to you, Mr. Bai?” Queen of Hearts once asked casually.
“I don’t know,” Bai Six replied faintly.
Eyes half-lidded, he leaned back loosely in his chair with his hands folded over his stomach.
“I don’t recognize the person appearing on your face. Or rather... I don’t remember them.”
Queen of Hearts smiled.
“Then why let me join your team? You once said you never keep teammates who lack long-term value. I don’t think I offer much long-term value to you.”
Bai Six closed his eyes.
“Even though I don’t recognize this face, the moment I saw it, I wanted to completely possess it.”
His voice remained calm.
“You don’t have much long-term value to me. But you allow me to see this face. That alone is enough value for me to permit you into the [refugee’s Circus].”
Then he slowly opened his dark eyes once more.
By then, Queen of Hearts had already silently approached him with a magical item, preparing to activate it and trap him.
But Bai Six merely continued speaking in the same unhurried tone.
“Whatever purpose you have doesn’t matter to me.”
He lifted his gaze.
“Just protect your skill. And protect that face.”
“That is the entirety of your value here.”
The next instant, a black bone whip lashed out from behind Bai Six, instantly pinning Queen of Hearts’ hands behind her back and slamming her to the ground.
Bai Six lowered his eyes toward her.
Then he reached down, hooking her chin upward between his thumb and forefinger.
Xie Ta’s pale, fragile face—marked by needle scars—reappeared upon hers.
With his thumb, Bai Six slowly brushed aside the damp curls covering Xie Ta’s forehead and stared directly into those silver-blue eyes hidden beneath them.
The underwater chamber smelled of blood and cold dampness.
Familiar.
Yet alien.
Queen of Hearts, wearing Xie Ta’s face, stared back at the pale and shadowed Bai Six through strands of wet hair.
She perfectly imitated that drowned god-like figure from beneath the water, slowly reaching out toward Bai Six.
Using a deliberately hoarse imitation of a young man’s voice, she whispered with soft reverence:
“Bai Six... don’t you remember me?”
Bai Six’s breathing faltered for just an instant.
The black whip hovering beside Queen of Hearts’ delicate throat slowly withdrew.
Bai Six turned away and sat back down in his chair, eyelids drooping once more as though exhaustion had settled over him again.
Meanwhile, Queen of Hearts calmly rose to her feet and dusted herself off.
Neither of them found the scene unusual.
Something like this happened seven or eight times every time Bai Six came to see her.
Queen of Hearts had never abandoned the idea of assassinating Bai Six.
And she knew very well ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that Bai Six would never kill her.
Because of that face.
Bai Six tolerated even her repeated murder attempts, allowing her to remain by his side for the sole purpose of recreating a person he himself no longer remembered.
All so he could watch that face lower its head and quietly read a book.
“Continue reading,” Bai Six said indifferently.
“And don’t ever use his face to call my name again.”
—
Author’s Note
The disclaimer and translator commentary were omitted since they are personal translator reactions rather than relevant story content.
