In the Small Black Room area, Bai Liu’s small TV screen flickered out. The next moment, it reappeared in the Multiplayer Game Zone.
The Queen of Hearts leisurely resumed her original appearance and turned to leave without another glance.
There was no point fighting in the Small Black Room area. As long as the opposing side could gather enough points, they would inevitably be able to redeem Bai Liu. After all, the Small Black Room system was specifically designed to encourage players to spend points.
But even if Bai Liu was redeemed, so what?
The Queen of Hearts waved casually toward her subordinates, her eyes indifferent.
“Return to the Multiplayer Game Zone and surround Bai Liu again.”
The subordinates, who were still frustrated over being interrupted by Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng, immediately looked up in shock.
“Q-Queen, you want us to surround him again?!”
It was already humiliating enough that such a large guild had failed to corner a newcomer who was only on his fourth game.
And now they were going to do it again?
“Why not?” The Queen of Hearts tilted her waist slightly and glanced back over her shoulder. Even while questioning them, her gaze remained languid and fluid, carrying an irresistible charm. “Do you not want to?”
The man she addressed instantly stiffened. From his scalp to his throat, every nerve seemed to tighten.
Like a recruit singled out by a drill instructor, he straightened his back and pressed his hands against his thighs.
“It’s not that...” he answered weakly. “But if we surround him again and those people interfere again, what then?”
The ransom demanded by the Small Black Room system varied according to the points possessed by those capable of paying it.
If Bai Liu was locked up again, the ransom would likely be adjusted according to the circumstances and might even become lower than before.
Previously, Bai Liu had been like the child of a wealthy family. Since Mu Ke and the others could afford it, the system could set his ransom at 100,000 points.
Now, however, Bai Liu was essentially the child of a group of paupers.
Naturally, the ransom demanded by the system would not remain so high.
And judging from Mu Ke’s group—who were already scraping together every point they could find, borrowing and exhausting every available resource—they would undoubtedly rescue Bai Liu again if the price became more reasonable.
In other words, there was still a chance they would fail to keep him trapped.
“Then we surround him a third time,” the Queen of Hearts replied.
The man’s face filled with disbelief.
“A third time? Is that really necessary?!”
The Queen of Hearts looked at him calmly.
“Why did you assume we would catch him the first time?”
“He’s a guild leader. This is a contest between guilds.”
“Besides, Bai Liu is exceptionally skilled at both strategy and recruiting people. His individual strength is also remarkable. The last player who reached a Level Three game within three games was Spades—the same Spades who wiped out our entire team during last year’s league in less than two dimensional clocks.”
The man fell silent.
The Queen of Hearts lifted her eyelids slightly and looked at him.
“We are dealing with a player who could become a major threat once he enters the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) league.”
“Do you really expect to eliminate someone like that in a single attempt without paying any price?”
Her voice remained calm.
“You’re not only underestimating Bai Liu. You think I’m wasting my effort by focusing on him.”
“Are you questioning my judgment?”
The man immediately lowered his head.
“No! I would never, Queen!”
The Queen of Hearts brushed past him and issued her final order.
“Do everything possible to kill him before he clears the game.”
“Keep surrounding him until the Carrion Guild can no longer afford the ransom and he falls into the No-Name Zone.”
At the back of the crowd, Mu Ke watched her leave, his expression grave.
“The Queen of Hearts will most likely launch a second encirclement.”
“We need to find every possible way in the lobby to increase the likes and favorites on Bai Liu’s small TV. The longer we can delay his transfer to the Small Black Room area, the better.”
“Our points may be completely exhausted after paying one more ransom.”
“If there’s a third time...”
Mu Ke took a deep breath.
“All we’ll be able to do is watch Bai Liu fall into the No-Name Zone.”
He stared at Bai Liu’s small TV.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Small Black Room area, the Queen of Hearts also turned to look at the same screen.
One wore a heavy expression.
The other smiled faintly.
“The rest depends on Bai Liu,” she said.
“Whether he can clear the game before the third ransom becomes necessary.”
“If he can’t...”
“He’ll be trapped in the No-Name Zone forever.”
***
Inside the game.
Tang Erda and two members of the Kings Guild followed behind Liu Jiayi as she headed toward the processing factory.
The two Kings Guild members deliberately positioned themselves behind her while keeping a wary eye on Tang Erda, who walked at the rear, ready to prevent any sudden attack.
Liu Jiayi, however, paid no attention to what was happening behind her.
After completing the sun-drying stage, she immediately moved on to the next process: roasting and drying.
The dried rose leaves were poured into a massive iron cauldron and continuously stir-fried until their moisture evaporated further, their color darkened into a deep reddish-brown, and a peculiar, suffocating fragrance emerged.
Only then was the roasting process considered complete.
It sounded simple.
In reality, the work was brutal.
The roses had to be stir-fried continuously for more than eight hours. The moment the process stopped, the leaves could scorch, stick to the bottom of the pot, and turn black.
To make matters worse, newcomers could only use old, heavily burned pots that were especially prone to sticking.
To prevent veteran processors from seizing their equipment, new workers typically processed more than 360 kilograms of roses at once.
It was a job that demanded nothing but raw physical strength.
Liu Jiayi poured the dried rose leaves into the furnace pot.
The mountain of roses inside was taller than she was.
The shovel used for stirring stood more than a head taller than her when placed upright.
After lighting the furnace, Liu Jiayi inserted the shovel and jumped onto it, using her body weight to press it down.
The long handle rocked back and forth like a seesaw as she struggled to stir the roses.
It was obvious she genuinely wanted to do the work herself.
Unfortunately, the sight was almost painful to watch.
The overwhelming feeling of child labor made everyone nearby—including several NPC processors—stare at her with complicated expressions.
Liu Jiayi panted heavily while hopping up and down on the shovel handle, desperately trying to keep it moving.
This was work that depended entirely on strength.
Tang Erda handled it effortlessly.
His eyes were sharp, his movements powerful, and the shovel moved with astonishing speed.
Before long, wisps of white smoke began rising from the iron cauldron, carrying a fragrance so intoxicating that merely smelling it made one feel dazed.
Tang Erda swayed slightly.
He planted the shovel into the ground to steady himself and shook his head.
A piece of skin near the corner of his mouth peeled away and fell, like flaking paint from a decaying puppet.
[System Notification: Player Tang Erda’s mental value has dropped to 51. Please recover it promptly.]
Tang Erda frowned and pulled out the bottle of perfume from his pocket.
He sprayed it over himself.
His mental value immediately rose back above the danger line.
The cracks spreading across his face gradually healed under the perfume’s effect.
Yet the rose blooming within his eyes became even more luxuriant.
The tenth petal had already unfolded.
A fully bloomed dried rose possessed twenty petals.
Only ten remained before the rose in Tang Erda’s eyes opened completely.
The two Kings Guild members watched for a while before finally stepping forward in resignation.
They lifted up the exhausted Liu Jiayi.
Sweat soaked her entire body, and her limbs trembled from strain, yet she still stubbornly refused to stop.
One of them sighed.
“Little Witch, leave this kind of work to us grown men.”
Whether this Little Witch was real or fake, she felt subtly different from the one they remembered.
The Little Witch never forced herself to do things she wasn’t good at.
She understood her own limitations and usually found more suitable ways to solve problems.
For example, she would use items.
The Liu Jiayi standing before them felt different.
She almost seemed to be deliberately acting pitiful so that others would step in and help her.
That shameless tendency to make use of people reminded them far more of Bai Liu than Liu Jiayi.
[We owe her.]
[This is the first time she’s ever wanted to protect someone like this.]
[If we can help, we should.]
Remembering Qi Yihang’s words, the two Kings Guild members exchanged glances.
Then they sighed once more.
Even if this Liu Jiayi was fake, they still couldn’t bring themselves to stand by and watch.
The Little Witch was risking everything to shield Bai Liu from Tang Erda.
No matter how much resentment, bitterness, or pain remained in their hearts, they simply could not be that cruel.
Because—
What if she really was the Little Witch?
She had saved their lives before.
Could they truly watch her fail and suffer because of it?
Accepting their fate, one grabbed the shovel and began stir-frying while the other carried sacks of dried rose leaves and poured them into the cauldron.
Both threw themselves into the work with determination.
Sweat streamed down their foreheads, soaking their protective suits before being shaken away.
Even after exhausting themselves and drinking stamina recovery agents, they forced themselves to continue.
Off to the side, Liu Jiayi lowered her head and drank a physical recovery potion.
She appeared utterly spent.
Her breathing remained uneven, and she looked weak and dispirited.
But Tang Erda, who had been quietly observing from the corner of his eye, frowned.
Something about the situation felt wrong.
His gaze settled on the 360 kilograms of dried rose leaves Liu Jiayi had brought.
He simply could not believe that two people as intelligent and efficient as Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi had managed to collect only 360 kilograms.
The number was too convenient.
Three hundred and sixty kilograms happened to be exactly the amount required for a processor to maintain their position.
If they had collected more than that—and Tang Erda was certain they had—then where had the rest gone?
His suspicion was correct.
The two of them had gathered far more than 360 kilograms.
Together, Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi had collected a full 900 kilograms of roses from the flower pickers, reaching the maximum amount obtainable in a single day.
Liu Jiayi lowered her eyes to the traces of rose juice still staining her hands.
Those stains had been left behind that morning—
when she secretly helped move the extra roses out of the factory.
