Another player frowned as he approached Qi Yifang, interrupting his daydreaming.
He was the same player Tang Erda had just saved moments earlier after he nearly failed to withstand the refugees’ assault. His voice still carried lingering panic as he spoke.
“Qi-ge... something feels off.”
Among the three Kings Guild members, Qi Yifang possessed the strongest overall panel and was also the most likely candidate to enter the Guild’s core tactical team in the future. Compared to the unfamiliar, taciturn, and frighteningly powerful Tang Erda, the other two instinctively trusted Qi Yifang more whenever problems arose.
Qi Yifang withdrew his gaze from Tang Erda and turned toward him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) “Did something happen?”
The player’s expression darkened.
“Qi-ge... don’t you think...” He hesitated. “The roses around us are slowly disappearing?”
Qi Yifang froze.
Behind him, even Tang Erda’s gun-hand paused momentarily.
The two of them immediately swept their eyes across the surroundings.
At first glance, there was no obvious reduction in the number of roses.
But that itself was abnormal.
Because after fighting refugees nonstop for three straight hours, the roses should have been increasing dramatically.
Qi Yifang’s face changed instantly.
“Did someone sneak in and steal them?!” he shouted. “Was Bai Liu here?!”
The only reason they had stayed trapped inside this space slaughtering monsters was because they were waiting for Bai Liu to appear and collect the roses himself.
“Impossible.” Tang Erda rejected the idea immediately. “Aside from the refugees attracted by the perfume, I haven’t seen a single living thing approach this place.”
But the moment he said it, his expression turned extremely grim.
Tang Erda had been monitoring the battlefield the entire time.
If Bai Six had truly appeared nearby, there was no way Tang Erda would have failed to notice him.
So then...
who exactly had stolen the roses?
In the distance, Bai Liu lowered his binoculars slightly and smiled.
Beside him, piles of Dried Leaf Roses had already accumulated into small hills, and they were still increasing steadily as more and more roses were transported over.
Or rather—
stolen over.
The ones transporting them were a group of ragged refugees.
But unlike the crazed monsters inside the flower field, these refugees retained clear awareness in their eyes.
They were the very same refugees who had attacked Bai Liu earlier at the abandoned factory.
Hidden among the swarming hordes assaulting Tang Erda and the others, these refugees quietly slipped along the edges of the [Magic Space], gathering roses as discreetly as possible while carefully avoiding Tang Erda’s attention and staying out of his attack range.
Because they had regained their sanity, they could resist the perfume’s influence to a certain extent.
They weren’t mindlessly driven to attack Tang Erda’s group like the monster refugees were.
And so, while the four trapped players focused entirely on endless combat, this group of recovered refugees silently transferred massive amounts of Dried Leaf Roses to Bai Liu without anyone realizing.
Originally, Bai Liu had considered directly using the refugees within the flower fields to help him steal from the other flower pickers.
But after interacting with the refugees at the abandoned factory—and personally observing the situation—he realized that the refugees trapped inside the flower fields were already beyond saving.
Even high concentrations of perfume could no longer restore their minds.
The perfume could suppress their attacks temporarily and acted as their weakness, but it could no longer bring back their sanity.
The refugees wandering the fields at night had already become complete symbiotic creatures fused with the Dried Leaf Roses.
Their human souls were gone.
They had become true monsters.
Which was exactly why they appeared inside the Rose Factory Monster Book.
Fortunately, the refugees Bai Liu had encountered at the abandoned factory hadn’t yet become deeply addicted to the perfume and could still recover their awareness.
Both Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi had already guessed this earlier.
Otherwise, the mechanic of [Perfume = Mental Bleach] would have been meaningless.
And games never included useless mechanics.
“Mr. Bai Liu.” The leader of the refugee group bowed respectfully. Though severe withering marks still covered his face, his eyes were much clearer than before. “There are already one hundred and sixty kilograms of Dried Leaf Roses transported here. Should we continue?”
Bai Liu nodded.
Nearby, Liu Jiayi was treating several injured refugees. Since these refugees mainly stayed near the edges of the battlefield and avoided the central fighting, their injuries were relatively minor. Usually, a single drop of antidote was enough.
Yet even while being treated, the refugees looked utterly overwhelmed.
Terrified.
At a complete loss.
It had been far too long since anyone treated them like human beings.
Inside the factory, people only called them “lowly commoners.”
The refugee leader hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
His exhausted face was filled with cautious hope.
“We are deeply grateful for your kindness.” He lowered his head slightly. “At the abandoned factory during the day, you were willing to share precious perfume with lowly refugees like us—people who were already losing our minds because we couldn’t afford perfume anymore. Thanks to you, we were able to speak with clear minds again, even if only briefly.”
He nervously stepped forward.
“Please forgive my rudeness... but I truly wish to ask one more time...” His voice trembled. “Is what you said earlier really true? Can all wandering refugees really use perfume in the future?”
“Of course it’s true.”
Bai Liu lowered the binoculars leisurely and turned around.
The smile on his face was so gentle it would’ve given Liu Jiayi goosebumps.
“As long as you cooperate with me fully and support me in becoming Factory Manager,” Bai Liu said sincerely, “I guarantee that refugees will no longer fall into ruin. You’ll be able to live like ordinary people again.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll continue distributing the perfume I earn to everyone. Just wait for me at the same place.”
The refugees erupted into commotion at those dreamlike words.
But under Bai Liu’s calm gaze, they quickly quieted again, staring at him with eyes full of disbelief and hope.
“However,” Bai Liu added mildly, “I’ll need your help with one thing.”
“Tomorrow, gather as many nearby refugees as possible and guide them here.”
Bai Liu extended his hand with a smile.
“I’ll also do everything I can to help them recover their sanity. Then everyone can cooperate together.”
The refugee leader stared blankly at the hand Bai Liu offered him.
The rose patterns spreading through his eyes were already close to withering away completely. His damaged eye sockets glistened with tears born from surviving utter despair.
He repeatedly wiped his filthy hands against his ragged clothes before cautiously reaching out his own withered hand to shake Bai Liu’s.
“We believe you!”
His voice choked with emotion.
“We... we’re willing to do anything for someone as kind and selfless as you! We’d even give our lives!”
Bathed in what practically looked like holy light, Bai Liu smiled warmly.
“There’s no need to thank me. We’re cooperating with each other. This is simply what I should do.”
The refugee leader gripped Bai Liu’s hand tightly as tears streamed down his face.
“No...” he stammered emotionally. “You only had so little perfume yourself... and you earned it through your own hard work... yet you gave it all away to save us... This is truly... you really are a great person!”
Liu Jiayi silently looked at the one hundred and sixty kilograms of roses piled nearby—the very roses these refugees had risked their lives to steal for Bai Liu.
Then she looked toward the four trapped players still fighting desperately inside the [Magic Space].
Finally, her numb gaze landed on Bai Liu, who stood there smiling like a benevolent saint despite having done absolutely nothing all night.
“It’s nothing, really.” Bai Liu waved modestly, sighing as though he deeply sympathized with the refugees’ suffering. “No matter where you go, working under capitalists just means getting exploited by capitalists. Since there’s no time to enjoy the perfume anyway, it’s better to use it to help others.”
The refugees burst into emotional tears.
“Waaahhh! Mr. Bai Liu is such a good person!”
Liu Jiayi: “...”
Bai Liu was genuinely terrifying.
————————
As dawn approached, the roses within the flower fields slowly closed their petals.
The endless waves of refugees finally stopped emerging.
And at some point, the invisible walls of the [Magic Space] disappeared without anyone noticing.
After Tang Erda shot down the final refugee, Qi Yifang collapsed to his knees from sheer exhaustion.
His limbs twitched uncontrollably.
He couldn’t even stand properly anymore.
Hours of nonstop, high-intensity combat had pushed both his body and mind beyond their limits. Not even the best stamina recovery items could completely offset that level of exhaustion.
Even after undergoing special training from the Queen of Hearts inside the [Game Pool], enduring this kind of overnight battle was still overwhelming for him.
The other two Kings Guild members looked equally terrible as they collapsed limply into the muddy ground.
Only Tang Erda remained standing steadily after lowering his gun, as though he were already accustomed to this level of prolonged attrition warfare.
Without a word, Tang Erda bent down and gathered part of the roses scattered nearby. After stuffing them into several sacks, he slung them over one shoulder single-handedly.
“I’m taking these,” he said coldly. “You three split the rest evenly. The factory worker assigned to tally my roses is waiting for me in the other flower field.”
Then he turned and left without another glance.
Qi Yifang stared blankly at Tang Erda’s departing back.
He instinctively reached out as if wanting to stop him, but after opening his mouth, he realized he didn’t know what to say.
Part of him felt he should thank the hunter who had protected all of them throughout the night.
But Tang Erda’s indifferent departure made one thing perfectly clear—
he had never fought for their gratitude.
Protecting them seemed less like kindness and more like instinct.
As though safeguarding teammates during battle had simply become second nature to him.
Nearby, the remaining players hurriedly scrambled to count the roses after seeing Tang Erda take his share.
Halfway through counting, one of them suddenly froze and looked at Qi Yifang blankly.
“Qi-ge...”
“Our roses from last night...” he said slowly. “Didn’t seem like enough to reach eighty kilograms per person, right?”
“No.” Qi Yifang rubbed his aching temples tiredly while forcing himself upright. “I counted midway through the night. We were still far short.”
He frowned.
“What’s wrong? Did the hunter take too many?”
“Although honestly, he did do most of the fighting. He handled more than eighty percent of the battlefield by himself. It’s only fair that he takes enough roses to complete his mission...”
In Qi Yifang’s estimation, the three of them probably hadn’t gathered enough roses collectively to meet all their quotas.
Especially with roses mysteriously disappearing throughout the night.
Most likely, among the four of them, only the hunter himself would be able to clear the mission successfully.
“Qi-ge...” The player interrupted him dazedly while holding the roses. “That hunter... left enough Dried Leaf Roses for all of us.”
“We each have enough to complete today’s mission.”
Qi Yifang: “?!”
This time, he was genuinely stunned.
“In a situation where roses were constantly disappearing...” Qi Yifang slowly sat upright in disbelief. “He still left eighty kilograms for each of us?”
The player nodded blankly.
“Y-Yeah...”
Qi Yifang fell silent.
Then he murmured almost absentmindedly:
“Just how many monsters did that hunter kill by himself...?”
Only after the three Kings Guild members left Bai Liu’s flower field and returned to their own settlement area did Bai Liu finally emerge from hiding with Liu Jiayi.
Although staying far away from the flower fields had slowed the deterioration of their sanity values, Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi had distributed all of their perfume to the refugees and hadn’t used any on themselves during the night.
As a result, both of their mental values were currently dangerously low.
But that problem would soon cease to matter.
The processing worker responsible for tallying Bai Liu’s results nearly dropped his jaw when he saw the mountain of roses pushed out before him.
He circled the pile repeatedly in utter disbelief, praising it over and over while suspiciously sizing up the innocent-looking Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi.
“Two hundred kilograms of Dried Leaf Roses?!”
The worker raised an eyebrow sharply.
“You picked all of this in one night?”
