The day of the May Rose Festival.
The open-air plaza of the Rose Factory had been lavishly decorated, filled with thorn-covered rose vines and dried flowers. Among the employees moving back and forth, not a single pair of eyes still held the image of roses. Cheerfully, they hauled out the perfume-making machinery they no longer wanted and threw it outside.
Bai Liu sat at the edge of the withered flower field, his face pale. He had yet to recover from the previous sacrificial ritual, which had drained a great deal of his blood.
Liu Jiayi and Tang Erda stood behind Bai Liu, one on each side.
“I really didn’t expect you to be so selfless that you’d actually end up like this.” Liu Jiayi bent down and sat beside Bai Liu, swinging her feet back and forth, her tone full of feeling. “You grew such a huge Blood Lingzhi, and now you’ve even come up with that ghost of an idea to turn it into a perfume spray. It can save a lot of people.”
“But that isn’t all,” Tang Erda interrupted stiffly.
Liu Jiayi rolled her eyes and was just about to retort when Bai Liu spoke with a smile, his gaze fixed on some very distant point.
“I’ve already given them the method. They chose the [Poison] themselves. If they want to turn back and walk the path of the [Antidote], they will always have to pay a price.”
“You’re planning to let them cultivate the Blood Lingzhi themselves?” Tang Erda quickly understood the implication behind Bai Liu’s words. He crouched down, frowning as he objected. “But the cultivation method for Blood Lingzhi is too dangerous. It needs to be irrigated with the blood of special children...”
“If Dried Leaf Roses didn’t exist, that would indeed be the case.” Bai Liu drew one leg halfway up, lazily resting his chin on his knee. “But Dried Leaf Roses and Blood Lingzhi are companion plants. For people who have been polluted by Dried Leaf Roses, their blood has a miraculous effect on Blood Lingzhi.”
Tang Erda asked in return, “How do you know that?”
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes comfortably against the wind blowing in from the flower field. “Didn’t you notice? When the Blood Lingzhi was growing, it absorbed the rose raw liquid along with everything else. And it grew especially lush.”
“The game’s hints were already very obvious.” Bai Liu turned his head, lifting his chin and raising his eyes to look at Tang Erda. “Just like Tawil. The poison grows out of the filthy desires in these people’s hearts, but the antidote is hidden inside their own bodies.”
“It only depends on how they choose.” Bai Liu turned his head back again and said indifferently, “Whether they have the courage to choose the path of the [Antidote], where thorns wrap around their bones and pierce their hearts so they can save themselves.”
Liu Jiayi helped Bai Liu to his feet. He patted the mud and bits of grass from his trouser legs.
“For better or worse, people always have to pay the price for their choices.” Bai Liu turned to face the dazed Tang Erda and smiled. “They have merely gone from having no choice to having one more choice given to them by me. In essence, the development of this world isn’t something you or I can decide.”
Bai Liu looked past Tang Erda at the people running joyfully toward him.
“It is decided by the people who make the choices, aside from you and me.”
“Mr. Bai—!!”
“Mr. Bai, we’ve finished setting up the display stage for the May Rose Festival!”
“Walk slower, Mr. Bai! Your injuries haven’t fully healed yet!”
These people had witnessed the tragic sight of Bai Liu bleeding to save them, and now they wished they could cradle him in the palms of their hands. If Bai Liu so much as swayed while walking, they would immediately make a fuss, following respectfully one step behind him and guarding him with the utmost care.
“The May Rose Festival has been held on schedule according to your instructions. We destroyed all the perfume in the Rose Factory, leaving only those top-grade perfumes to be auctioned at the Rose Festival—”
“The people attending the Rose Festival this time are all top-tier magnates. Every one of them made their fortune through some link in the Dried Leaf Rose production chain, and they were vigorous in promoting rose perfume around the world. Every year, they come to bid on one or two bottles of top-grade perfume for their own use—”
“They are all waiting in the open-air plaza now, waiting for you to go over.”
This was another point Tang Erda could not understand about Bai Liu. He stepped forward to Bai Liu’s side. “You’ve already destroyed most of the roses and perfume. Why leave these top-grade perfumes?”
Bai Liu straightened the shirt over his chest and gave Tang Erda an inscrutable smile, his tone leisurely and drawn out.
“One must always give everyone the same choice. Only then is it fair.”
The people in front led Bai Liu from inside the factory around to the back of the plaza. They opened a rear door, revealing a short flight of steps meant to help Bai Liu onto the stage. Excited and deeply honored, they lowered their heads and drew back the curtain for him.
“Sir, they are waiting for you to appear out front.”
Bai Liu stepped onto the stairs without hesitation. Sunlight spilled over his face, which was almost translucent from excessive blood loss.
In front of him stood a small wooden lectern tailored to his height. A microphone stood upright beside his mouth. Below him was a crowd of richly dressed dignitaries, waiting with barely concealed impatience.
Bai Liu smiled. He lowered his eyes and leaned toward the microphone. His slightly hoarse voice spread through the speakers across the open-air plaza.
“Apologies for keeping our honored guests waiting.”
“I am the Rose Factory’s new acting manager, Bai Liu.”
After that brief self-introduction, Bai Liu waved his hand to the left, politely gesturing toward a pile of Blood Lingzhi mother-body strips cut into one- to two-centimeter lengths and arranged on a wooden board. He introduced them in an orderly manner.
“What is placed to your left is a new product we have just developed. It can also be called a byproduct of rose perfume. It is made from freshly cut and dried branches, and the thorns on them still retain vigorous vitality.”
Bai Liu looked around at the people below. “I believe everyone must be wondering why I would introduce a section of thorns in such a way. Next, I will tell you all its value. This tiny section of thorns can relieve the addictive effects rose perfume has on the human body.”
A commotion immediately broke out below. After a brief exchange, someone seated in the front row raised a hand and said sternly, “Acting Manager, I am willing to pay for the patent to these thorns. You cannot promote them on a large scale!”
“That’s right, that’s right! If this thing is promoted widely, the perfume won’t sell...”
“I just used perfume to control a high official. I can use that to get promoted...”
“There is no need for everyone to worry so much.” Bai Liu smiled as he interrupted the discussion below. “The side effects of using these thorns are also very strong. They must be swallowed, and after that, you must endure the constant pain of thorns growing inside your body, sucking your blood and leaving you weak, until you finally hold out long enough to produce a mature detoxifying product.”
“And because these thorns have a requirement for blood purity, much like an organ transplant, only your own blood can grow the medicine that will detoxify you.”
“So anyone who comes to buy the thorns for detoxification must be prepared to suffer so much that death would seem preferable.”
The people below fell silent again.
Behind the scenes, Liu Jiayi lifted a small corner of the curtain and looked at Bai Liu onstage, unable to keep herself from clicking her tongue.
“That Bai Liu really is wicked enough.”
Although she was scolding Bai Liu, Liu Jiayi’s face clearly carried the smile of someone watching a good show.
“It was obviously the Blood Lingzhi the investors used to exploit children, yet this guy used the point about blood purity to turn it into self-torture for those investors.”
“Thorns. Bai Liu actually thought of using thorns to plant and cultivate it inside the human body.” Liu Jiayi sighed again and again. “He really is a genius at torturing people.”
“What exactly is he trying to do?” Tang Erda understood less and less.
Liu Jiayi looked up at this big idiot without a word. “You still haven’t seen it?”
Tang Erda furrowed his brow in deep thought. “...Seen what?”
Liu Jiayi pressed her eyes close to the gap behind the curtain, a malicious smile she could not conceal appearing on her face.
“He is transferring the choice the person behind the scenes forced him to make onto other people—”
“He is making these people choose for themselves.”
Bai Liu waved his hand again, this time toward the right.
On the display table to the right, top-grade perfumes had been stacked neatly into a small mountain. The beautiful diamond-shaped glass bottles glittered brilliantly beneath the sun, and the pale pink liquid flowing inside them was as lovely as a dream.
“Of course, in keeping with tradition, we have also prepared top-grade perfumes for our guests to bid on. This batch of perfume was blended by me personally. They are top-grade perfumes of an extremely high concentration.”
Bai Liu pointed left and right at the same time, then said with a radiant smile, “Antidote and poison—which one will everyone choose to bid on?”
One frantic bid after another rang out.
Some swallowed the thorns, while others inhaled the dark fragrance. Soon, they turned into all manner of grotesque shapes on the ground of the open-air plaza. Thorns pierced their hearts and spines, and roses burned away their reason and pain.
People began to lose control and turn into monsters.
When the first person to become a monster roared and lunged toward Bai Liu, who stood unmoving on the stage, a silver bullet struck the monster in the brow from behind. Bai Liu slowly lifted his eyelids, drawing his gaze away from the “beautiful scenery” of those humans struggling on the ground and looking toward Tang Erda, who stood at the factory entrance with a gun in his hand, breathing heavily.
Killing one monster could not possibly have made Tang Erda pant like that. What had truly shaken him were the people rolling on the ground in pain because of the thorns growing through them, and the others addicted to the perfume.
Minutes ago, these people had been a group of well-dressed, arrogant symbols standing at the very top of this world. Minutes later, they were gasping for breath before Bai Liu without the slightest dignity left.
And Bai Liu had not forced them to do anything at all.
Tang Erda stared blankly at Bai Liu on the stage. He opened his mouth, wanting to say that Bai Liu could have saved them, then wanting to say that if this was punishment, he could simply have killed them outright—
You are torturing them. Why?
Bai Liu seemed to read the look in his eyes. He smiled with restraint.
“This can’t be considered torture. They knew the consequences of their choices. I already told them to be careful of roses, whether thorns or flowers.”
“I am merely allowing them to choose, and then allowing them to pay the price for that choice. This is a transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller.”
Bai Liu walked down from the stage. He passed unhurriedly by Tang Erda through the bloody mess, then tilted his head up to look at him. His pitch-black eyes held neither roses nor light.
“Just like what someone did to me. To Tawil.”
Bai Liu casually patted Tang Erda on the shoulder and walked out of the open-air plaza without looking back.
“Help me clean up.”
Tang Erda stood silently in place, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he did not say a single word. He took out his gun and began cleaning up the monsters Bai Liu had created for him.
Or rather, these monsters had chosen to become monsters themselves.
After experiencing such a bloody scene, Bai Liu actually began taking a walk by the flower field across from Tang Erda. He seemed to truly like this withered flower field.
Liu Jiayi followed at his feet, walking backward and chattering to him about who knew what. Bai Liu would occasionally curve his eyes and smile.
If Tang Erda did not have a pile of monster remains in front of him, he would not have been able to tell at all that these two, Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi, had come from this place. The scene was far too warm.
Tang Erda was dazed for a moment. While he was not paying attention, a monster slipped out from behind him and rushed toward Bai Liu. He quickly ran forward and shot it.
Bai Liu looked up at Tang Erda calmly. “Finished cleaning?”
“Finished.” Tang Erda tightened his grip around the gun, exhaled, and said something that seemed to come from nowhere. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Torture people?” Bai Liu instantly grasped Tang Erda’s meaning. He turned his head with interest and studied Tang Erda, that gaze making Tang Erda feel an involuntary chill at the back of his neck.
Bai Liu asked, “There is actually one point I’m curious about, also related to this matter of torturing people. In the mirror, I saw that I’m not the only one who enjoys torturing people. There is also a team member named Joker.”
“But your hatred is mainly concentrated on me.” Bai Liu smiled, though not quite. “Both of us did excessive things, but you have a strange tolerance for Joker. You don’t seem to hate him that much. Why?”
Tang Erda squeezed the gun in his hand until it creaked, his voice hoarse. “I don’t know where you got the idea that I tolerate Joker. I hate him very much too.”
“But it’s different from your hatred for me. Your hatred toward Joker is hatred for an accomplice. Your hatred toward me is hatred for the principal offender. The primary and secondary relationship in your hatred is very clear.” Bai Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You are not an unfair person, but there is something that subconsciously makes you feel he does not need to be punished so severely. And this thing conforms to judicial procedure—”
“You feel that I held a position of absolute control and induced him to commit crimes—”
Tang Erda could not help stabbing back at Bai Liu. “You induce everyone to commit crimes—”
“This Joker.” Bai Liu looked directly at Tang Erda. “Does he have some kind of special relationship with me?”
Tang Erda was about to say they had not found anything, but after Bai Liu reminded him this way, his brow furrowed and he began to recall.
“...We did have a suspicion.”
“Because Joker’s follower relationship with you is the strongest. He only obeys you and is very dismissive of the others in the Wandering Circus.”
“During... an operation when we tried to capture you.” Tang Erda seemed to remember something unpleasant and had to take two deep breaths to calm himself. “During the fight, he even suddenly opened fire and wounded Mu Shicheng, then threw Mu Shicheng to us and let us kill him.”
“We conducted research and psychological profiling and found that he has no sense of camaraderie with the others in the Wandering Circus. He even holds strong hostility toward them. That hostility comes from those people sharing you.” Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu. “He is your Joker alone.”
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. “The formation of such an excessively loyal psychological relationship requires a very long period of cultivation.”
“It’s domestication!” Tang Erda sternly corrected Bai Liu’s wording.
Bai Liu accepted Tang Erda’s correction with great ease.
“And it must be high-intensity domestication beginning when he was still a minor. I probably know why you have a filter toward him now. How old is Joker?”
Tang Erda paused. “We estimate that he was only fourteen when he first met you. You were twenty-one at the time.”
“The following year, his father passed away. At the same time, you came into contact with him in reality and assisted him in seizing his father’s inheritance—a massive smuggling chain involving many things, such as firearms.”
“He worships you fanatically, regards you as a god, calls himself your only believer, and was the first member of your circus.”
Tang Erda looked up. “Most of the time, Joker calls you King, but a few times, he called you by other titles. We speculate that after his father passed away, you very likely became his godfather.”
“I’m already twenty-four now...” Bai Liu said softly. “If this Joker is still alive, then he should be—”
Tang Erda gave Bai Liu a complicated look. “The day before you entered the Rose Factory game was his seventeenth birthday. In other timelines, Bai Six would hold an enormous birthday party for him every year.”
“You doted on him very much.”
———————
No-Man’s Land.
Small TVs continued to switch off and leave this place. The members cautiously explored deeper into No-Man’s Land, surrounding the towering mountain of televisions, their hands constantly charging, liking, and bookmarking. Every time they saw a small TV switch off, they would breathe a sigh of relief.
Members ran back and forth between the different districts, spreading news of whether the small TV that had just turned off belonged to Bai Liu.
A large number of unknown players’ small TVs poured into the ordinary districts. The viewers, who had been watching in a daze, also seemed to realize that something major had happened. After checking the forums and understanding the situation, they flocked to No-Man’s Land to watch the spectacle.
At the same time, some players in No-Man’s Land who had received funding successfully cleared their games, and the flow of people at the exit gradually increased. These players, who had struggled alone in their games for who knew how long, began wailing and crying hysterically on the ground the moment they left the game.
Most of these players were newcomers. After crying their hearts out, they wandered around the exit like lost souls.
They had been drained of emotion and motivation by the game. They did not know what to do or where to go, and now they were nothing but empty shells, like walking corpses.
At that moment, the quiet voices of the people around them discussing in amazement drew their attention.
“They really came out? So many people were saved?”
“The spectacle Bai Liu creates really gets bigger every time...”
“Damn, I really don’t understand the games of rich people! Clearing No-Man’s Land for Bai Liu is way too outrageous!”
These people seemed to realize they were the ones being discussed. After a long while, a man with a tear-streaked face stepped forward and asked these veteran players, “Excuse me, was it Mr. Bai Liu just now who saved us?”
“...It can’t exactly be said that he saved you.” This player’s expression was also very complicated. “But if it weren’t for him, you definitely wouldn’t have made it out.”
As though he had finally found something to rely on, the man’s eyes lit up with astonishing brightness.
“Then... then where can I find him?”
The person sighed. “No-Man’s Land. The place you came out of.”
—
Author’s Note:
The real son makes his appearance!
Xiao Ke is about to meet his lifelong rival. Not really.
My bestie: What kind of Wandering Circus are you calling this? Just call it “Happy Family.” The next scene should be called “Two Children Fighting Over Their Father.”
Me: You’re going to kill me from laughing!!!
