Liu Jiayi and the others waited outside the tightly shut door.
She frowned as she watched the rose undiluted solution seep out through the crack beneath it. Its color grew deeper and deeper, until at last it turned into a vivid brilliance almost identical to blood.
Liu Jiayi wrinkled her nose.
Beneath the faint rose fragrance of the undiluted solution, she smelled an extremely unpleasant scent of blood and mushrooms. It reminded her of the previous instance.
...The previous instance—
In a flash, Liu Jiayi thought of the Monster Book reward from Love Welfare Home.
Blood Lingzhi.
She had not been able to trigger the Monster Book reward from the Welfare Home herself, so she did not have any Blood Lingzhi.
Before this, Liu Jiayi had never thought in the direction of Blood Lingzhi at all. It was far too far-fetched.
But the instant she smelled that scent now, Liu Jiayi understood what the antidote Bai Liu had mentioned really was.
—It was Blood Lingzhi.
And paired with all those inexplicable questions Bai Liu had asked her about the Queen of Hearts’ skill card...
Only a ghost would fail to guess what he wanted to do!
Liu Jiayi took a deep breath, feeling the rare headache that came with having a teammate who loved throwing himself into reckless gambles.
She waved away the refugees standing behind her, sprayed enough rose perfume on herself to lower her mental value, removed her visualization tool, and walked toward the door.
—The most powerful part of that god-level NPC’s mutation attack was the eyes. If she could not see, then she should be able to slow the speed of her mutation to a certain extent.
But the moment Liu Jiayi took a step forward, countless thorn-covered vines spilled softly out from beneath the door.
The vines were like creepers in a time-lapse shot, climbing and spreading rapidly along the narrow corridor of the Rose Factory. In the blink of an eye, they transformed the passage leading outside into a dense, primitive jungle. Everywhere the eye could reach, vines stretched outward, curling their branches and leaves.
The thick, sharp thorns growing densely across the vines were like the teeth of a vampire that had just been pulled free and was still feeding. In an instant, they sucked dry the blood-colored liquid flowing across the ground, then began to grow rapidly.
Dark red fluorescent spots pulsed like hearts, gathering beside the thorns as if they would burst open in the very next second.
“What’s going on?”
Tang Erda alertly drew his gun and aimed at the rapidly expanding thorns.
“These aren’t dried rose plants. What did Bai Liu do?”
Liu Jiayi lowered her head and put the visualization tool back on. Then she lifted her gaze toward the closed door.
“He did what he always wanted to do.”
Tang Erda froze.
The huge, tightly sealed door was forced open by the surging vines. Tang Erda turned and looked inside.
At the center of the room, Tang Erda saw the core from which the vines were continuously growing and spreading.
For a moment, his breath stopped.
Inside a transparent display case filled with blood, two people lay in the bloody water, leaning against each other.
One of them was leaning against the other’s heart.
Thorn-covered vines continuously pierced out from their bodies, yet they seemed completely unable to feel the pain. They were immersed in the warm blood, embracing each other, peaceful and quiet, as if this moment were an eternal sleep.
A bloodstained Ace of Hearts poker card floated on the surface of the bloody water.
The thorns bloomed with dazzling brilliance.
Dark red points of light drifted out from beneath the mushroom caps, passed through the pitch-black corridor, and wandered along the ends of the vines toward the place reached by the May sunlight—
There lay the sixteen thousand mu of flower fields where old friends were buried.
The rose petals that had lost their source of nourishment—the hazy pink dreamscape stretching all the way to the horizon—withered with the god’s departure.
They were sixteen thousand portions of torn-up, hidden longing, briefly appearing at the instant when the blazing sun announced summer’s arrival, then vanishing as the falling petals turned to dust.
The rough winds shake the darling buds of May; summer’s lease has all too short a date; the sun burns like the fallen eye of a god.
The sixteen thousand mu of roses in the upside-down world have withered.
But your eternal summer shall not fade.
—That was a summer whose beauty even the gods boasted of and praised.
————————————————————
In the Game Lobby, an empty block in the small television area that had been affected by Titan’s skill flickered twice, then suddenly reappeared.
Mu Shicheng and Mu Ke, who had been sitting nearby waiting, shot to their feet.
Mu Shicheng glanced at the time.
It was nowhere near one dimensional hour, yet the people from the Kings Guild had actually come out...
The ominous premonition in his and Mu Ke’s hearts grew heavier and heavier.
Titan stepped out from the small television area with earth-shaking strides. He held his powerful arms level, and the Queen of Hearts sat lazily on his shoulder, covering her mouth with one hand as she yawned.
As if noticing Mu Ke and Mu Shicheng blocking her path, the Queen of Hearts lowered her eyes.
Her gaze drifted between the two of them, and she suddenly propped her chin on her hand with a soft laugh.
“Glaring at me here with such hatred won’t do anything.”
Her eyes were full of laughter, her gaze soft and charming.
“If you go to No-Man’s Land and look around now, perhaps you can still find your boss.”
“Of course, if you can’t find him, and Bai Liu fails to come out of the game alive, and you have nowhere else to go—”
The Queen of Hearts lazily extended a hand toward Mu Ke, her smile deepening.
“—the gates of the Kings Guild are always open to promising players like you.”
Mu Ke grabbed Mu Shicheng, who was about to rush up and punch someone in a fit of fury, and took two deep breaths to control his emotions.
The moment he heard the words about Bai Liu possibly being unable to come out of the game alive, his face turned completely white, without a trace of blood, like a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering.
Even though he clearly knew the Queen of Hearts’ words were most likely bait meant to provoke them, in a situation where Bai Liu’s small television had fallen into No-Man’s Land and there was no way to obtain any news about him, Mu Ke could not help biting down on the hook.
But this situation, where they had completely lost track of Bai Liu, instead made Mu Ke’s mind operate at an abnormal speed.
He could not panic.
If he panicked, everything would be lost.
It would also cause the remaining forces behind him—the people who could still help Bai Liu—to scatter.
After Mu Ke grabbed Mu Shicheng by the back of the neck, stopping him as his eyes turned blood-red with anxiety and he cursed at the Queen of Hearts, Mu Ke closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Then he turned to look at the trembling guild members behind him. His face once again wore an impeccable mask of a smile.
“Everyone, we have just achieved a phased victory.”
The originally anxious team members, and Mu Shicheng as well, all looked at the incomparably dignified Mu Ke with expressions that clearly said:
[Have you completely lost your mind?!]
Mu Ke continued, his logic clear and his tone unhurried.
“Is the most important person in this guild Bai Liu? No. The most important people in this guild are you. Bai Liu is only a manager, someone dispensable. Anyone can take on the role of this manager, this person who serves all of you. But you are the body of this guild. You are what matters most.”
Mu Ke narrated calmly.
“And just now, through Bai Liu, this least important existence, you proved your own strength. Your gathering was even able to shake the Kings Guild, forcing them to dispatch one of their strongest team members to stop you. Is that not also a kind of victory?”
“This can absolutely be called a great victory!”
The guild members looked uneasily at one another.
They felt something was wrong with Mu Ke’s logic, but they could not find any point to refute. Instead, against their will, they were encouraged by him and pulled along by the logic of his words.
“What we need to do now is never give up, and then press forward from this victory.”
Mu Ke smiled with perfect propriety and sincerity.
“We have already won half the battle. Next, as long as we find Bai Liu in No-Man’s Land, we win!”
Finding someone in [No-Man’s Land] was clearly an impossible task.
But when Mu Ke threw it out so lightly, it sounded as if it were something that could be accomplished with only a little more time and effort.
Mu Shicheng leaned close to Mu Ke’s ear and ground out through clenched teeth as a warning:
“Who knows how many scrapped small televisions there are in No-Man’s Land. Even if all these people worked together, they might not find him in ten years.”
“Then we’ll search for twenty years. With the sunk cost from the early stage, they won’t easily run away.”
Mu Ke answered in a low voice while maintaining his steady smile.
He narrowed his eyes slightly at Mu Shicheng, his gaze burning.
“If they die in the game, I’ll recruit new members. I will definitely find Bai Liu. I will not give up.”
Mu Ke lifted his chin slightly, and somehow there was a faint arrogance in his expression.
“If you want to leave, you can leave. I’m going to become someone more useful to Bai Liu than you are.”
Mu Shicheng was stunned.
Mu Ke paid him no further attention. He turned back around and raised his voice to the members.
“Now, we head for No-Man’s Land!”
Sitting on Titan’s shoulder, the Queen of Hearts raised an eyebrow slightly at this scene.
This one named Mu Ke had quite a way with words.
She tilted her high-heeled shoe, and the team members below, as if sharing a telepathic connection, looked up at her.
“Queen, do you have any instructions?”
The Queen of Hearts’ gaze fell on Mu Ke’s back.
“Tell Wang Shun to investigate this newcomer named Mu Ke.”
Before her voice had completely faded, someone approached while clapping.
“Clap, clap, clap—!”
Charles clapped and laughed, stepping aside to reveal Wang Shun behind him.
“Wang Shun, I’ve found someone more suitable than you to handle the promotion for Bai Liu’s team.”
The neatly dressed Wang Shun lowered his head, his scalp tingling. His hands were pressed tightly against the sides of his trousers, and he did not dare look at the Queen gazing down at him from above at all. His voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
“...Qu-Queen.”
Charles skipped forward, one heel touching the ground. He removed his top hat, flipped it smoothly twice in his hand, pressed it to his heart, and bowed to the Queen with a somewhat street-performer-like flourish.
“Good afternoon, my beautiful Queen.”
All the smiles on the Queen of Hearts’ face vanished.
She looked back and forth several times between Wang Shun and Charles before speaking, her voice carrying little emotion.
“Charles, I thought not [N O V E L I G H T] touching each other’s information members was a conventional agreement between guilds.”
“For large guilds, that is naturally true.”
Charles flipped his hat twice and set it steadily back on his head. He straightened, looking up at the Queen seated on Titan’s shoulder with a smile.
“But for a newcomer guild, shouldn’t a certain special tolerance be granted?”
“If the newcomer guild you are referring to is the Carrion Guild...”
The Queen of Hearts spread her hands and pressed them against the skirt fanning out around her waist. Leaning against Titan, her eyes grew hazy.
“Then, Charles, I regret to inform you that about three dimensional minutes ago, the leader of this guild—Bai Liu—fell into No-Man’s Land.”
“That is truly unfortunate news. Oh, poor Bai Liu.”
Charles clasped his hands tightly over his heart, appearing deeply grieved.
But that expression of grief did not remain on his face for even a second before it turned back into an unfathomable smile.
“Perhaps this is not a bad result either.”
The Queen of Hearts finally realized what Charles intended to do.
She sat up straight, frowning, her tone carrying a warning.
“Charles, the support season has only just begun. You have plenty of better choices. There is no need to waste it on a newcomer.”
“But I fell in love with him at first sight. I can no longer look at any other player.”
Charles leaned on his cane and covered his forehead, making a gesture as if he were utterly lovestruck.
Then he slumped his shoulders and looked at the Queen with a cynical, playful smile.
“Queen, gambling is just like falling in love. When you are immersed in it, you must be single-minded. A racehorse I like is worth betting a thousand gold pieces on.”
“Even if he has only played three games, fallen into No-Man’s Land, and owns nothing but a ragged guild?”
The Queen of Hearts asked calmly, “You still won’t change the target of your bet?”
Charles shrugged.
“You know, Queen, for a gambler like me, choosing a racehorse is just like falling in love with someone. It doesn’t follow logic.”
He lifted his head and met the Queen’s eyes, a teasing, mocking smile on his face.
“I think Her Highness the Queen, who has been deeply hurt by a man before, should be able to understand this state of knowing perfectly well that it is wrong, yet still being unable to extricate oneself, shouldn’t she?”
—
The Author Has Something to Say:
“The rough winds shake the darling buds of May; summer’s lease has all too short a date; the sun burns like the fallen eye of a god.”
This sentence is also quoted from that previous Shakespeare poem. It’s all from the same poem! I didn’t write it! I adapted it!
The original lines are:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
Charles, when you say these words now, you probably never imagined that later, you too would be deeply hurt by a certain dog man, 86!
My base friend: Mu Ke really is miserable. He finally felt like he was more useful than 4, and then 2 came along. Poor little Ke.
Interview:
Me: 86, who do you like most on the team?
86, without hesitation: Captain Tang. Because he’s useful.
Mu Ke: Wailing and sobbing qaq
+1: Empathizing with and pitying Mu Ke.
4: So love disappears, does it?
2, panicked and at a loss: Don’t try to bewitch me! Bai Liu! I won’t be bewitched by you!
86: I’m not bewitching you. I really do like you the most. Because you’re the most useful.
2: Violently shaken.
