Bai Liu slowly curved his lips into a smile. “If my guess is right, the Puppet Master will come looking for us soon. He should already know that the mirror fragments are hidden inside the passengers’ bodies. Right now, he’s short on manpower. He needs to control us and use us to search the passengers for fragments. We obviously can’t beat him, so my plan is this—”
“—why don’t we cooperate with the Puppet Master in exchange for letting him control me and Mu Shicheng?”
Mu Shicheng froze for a second before exploding in fury. “Bai Liu, what the fuck are you talking about?!”
————————
Zhang Kui casually played with a distorted, diamond-shaped object condensed from mirror fragments in his hand. His narrow eyes slowly narrowed further.
“I have twenty fragments here. Someone like Mu Shicheng, who specializes in stealing, should also have around twenty. One station yields roughly forty fragments. There are ten stations total...”
He abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
Several of his puppets stared blankly at him, clearly not understanding why he had suddenly fallen silent. Their stupid expressions made Zhang Kui sneer inwardly.
For a moment just now, he had almost revealed the flaw in this game to them.
One health point could be exchanged for one fragment. Four hundred fragments meant four people had to die. Even if he killed all three members of Mu Shicheng’s group, he would still be one person short and would have to sacrifice one of his own puppets to make up the difference.
Zhang Kui had never pitied his puppets.
To him, puppets were consumables—nothing more.
The Kings Guild had no shortage of replacements for him. Even if every puppet at his side died, the guild would simply recruit new ones. Because of that, Zhang Kui had never felt attachment or sympathy toward his puppets, unless one happened to be particularly useful.
And yet, despite the way he treated them, there were always people eager to cling to him and become his marionettes.
After all, surviving alone in a game was far harder than surviving under Zhang Kui’s protection.
“We’ve already confirmed the key clues. Next, we find Bai Liu’s group.” Zhang Kui spoke with false gentleness. “There’s no need to keep exhausting you lot. I’ll control them instead and have them search for fragments for me.”
Li Gou, whose body was covered in burns, immediately brightened. “Master, are we finally going after Bai Liu?”
“No.” Zhang Kui lowered his gaze to the misshapen mirror-diamond in his palm and slowly smiled. “First, we kill those three troublesome players. I’m now certain that one of them is most likely Du Sanying.”
Li Gou looked puzzled. “Master, how can you be sure?”
“Just deduction.” Zhang Kui casually rolled the fragment between his fingers. “Bai Liu’s luck stat is 0. With luck that low, he should’ve run into me during the chase sequences a long time ago. If he’s managed to avoid me every single time, then a high-luck player must be traveling with him and causing those coincidences.”
“After all, in this game, I should be Bai Liu’s greatest misfortune.”
Zhang Kui smiled with restrained arrogance. Then he casually tossed the broken mirror fragment to Li Gou.
Li Gou fumbled to catch it, then looked up at Zhang Kui with fear and reverence. “Master?! Why are you giving this to me?!”
“Because I value you, Li Gou.” Zhang Kui wore the hypocritical smile unique to people in power as he patted Li Gou’s shoulder. “Take good care of it. This is an important task. Don’t disappoint me.”
If Bai Liu had been there, he definitely would have recognized that smile as the classic [Leadership-Style Scapegoating Smile].
In truth, Zhang Kui giving the fragment to Li Gou and Bai Liu giving the fragment to Du Sanying stemmed from the exact same logic:
reduce their own risk while carrying an important item, and confuse the enemy at the same time.
Both Du Sanying and Li Gou were already under Bai Liu’s and Zhang Kui’s control respectively. Even if the fragment was handed to someone else, it wouldn’t truly affect them. They could reclaim it whenever they wanted before the game ended.
But these two utterly cold-blooded bastards had coincidentally wrapped their schemes in warm, pleasant words.
Bai Liu’s version was:
[This is my trust in you, Du Sanying.]
While Zhang Kui’s was:
[This is because I value you, Li Gou.]
“Let’s go. Time to find where they’re hiding.” Zhang Kui flicked his fingers lightly.
Transparent silk threads sank into the joints of the puppets’ limbs. The moment Zhang Kui tugged on the threads, the puppets convulsed as if electrocuted.
“But before that, I’ll strengthen all of you. Everyone except Liu Huai... Puppet Enhancement.”
[System Notification: Player Zhang Kui has activated personal skill (Puppet Enhancement), sacrificing half of his puppets’ mental value in exchange for doubling all panel attributes.]
[Player Li Gou Personal Panel]
[Mental Value: 80 → 40]
[Stamina: 251 → 502]
[Agility: 270 → 540]
[Attack: 310 → 620]
[Defense: 350 → 700]
[Overall combat ability greatly increased. Total panel attributes exceed 2000. Player evaluated as A- rank. Player Li Gou has advanced from B-rank to A-rank.]
[Player Fang Ke Personal Panel]
[Mental Value: 82 → 41]
...
[Overall combat ability greatly increased. Total panel attributes exceed 2000. Player evaluated as A- rank. Player Fang Ke has advanced from B-rank to A-rank.]
The light vanished from Li Gou and Fang Ke’s eyes almost instantly.
They stood there blankly, as though trapped inside some horrifying hallucination. Their expressions twisted in pain and struggle. The sharp drop in mental value had immediately forced them into a hallucinatory state, and they were clearly suffering inside whatever visions they saw.
Zhang Kui didn’t care in the slightest.
He casually tugged at the joints of their limbs, and the two moved in perfect synchronization.
Satisfied, Zhang Kui smiled.
An unmistakable sense of superiority filled his eyes as he manipulated the threads wrapped around his fingers, controlling the newly strengthened puppets with relaxed delight.
“When mental value drops, independent thought disappears,” he said lazily. “But the ideas produced by fools are worthless anyway. Better to trade that thinking ability for something useful.”
Liu Huai, the only puppet who hadn’t been enhanced, shrank into a corner trembling so hard he could barely speak.
The way Zhang Kui looked at his puppets resembled an artist admiring perfect works of art—masterpieces stripped of brains, stripped of thought, existing solely to obey him.
That gaze sent chills crawling down Liu Huai’s spine.
Zhang Kui was a monster devoid of humanity. He genuinely enjoyed the sensation of controlling and slaughtering other people.
For the first time, Liu Huai truly regretted betraying Mu Shicheng.
Mu Shicheng might have been a liar, a cheat, and far from a good person, but at the very least, he would never use people until they broke and then casually throw them away like Zhang Kui did.
But regret was meaningless now.
There was no way back for him anymore.
Zhang Kui crouched atop a subway seat while Li Gou and Fang Ke sprawled at his feet, empty-eyed and limp like dolls whose batteries had run out.
He crooked a finger at Liu Huai and smiled.
“Come here. I have a task for you. Go to Mu Shicheng and tell him you betrayed me because you want to join them.”
Liu Huai swallowed nervously. “They... they won’t believe me, will they? I’m already your puppet, Master.”
“Is it really so hard to believe a traitor would betray someone a second time?” Zhang Kui sneered, spreading his arms lazily across the seat. Then he leaned back, fingers interlocked beneath his chin.
“Tell them I’m inhuman. Tell them I plan to endlessly consume your health points in exchange for fragments. Say you don’t want to die. Say you betrayed me because you want to live.”
“But... but...” Liu Huai panicked. “Even then, they won’t accept me that easily, right?! Your puppet silk is still inside me! You can control me whenever you want!”
Zhang Kui made a grasping motion.
Instantly, agonizing pain tore through Liu Huai’s joints as though his tendons were being ripped apart. He screamed and collapsed to his knees, clutching his elbows.
A bloodstained bundle of transparent silk appeared in Zhang Kui’s hand.
With visible irritation, Zhang Kui flicked the blood away. “Fine. I removed the puppet silk. Now go.”
Liu Huai stared blankly at him.
He had never expected Zhang Kui to retrieve the [Puppet Silk] so easily. For a moment, he didn’t even know how to react.
As Zhang Kui wiped the bloodied silk against Li Gou’s clothes, he spoke unhurriedly:
“They’ll definitely take you in. Like I said, they’re short on people. They need expendable players. Even if they suspect you have ulterior motives, they won’t reject someone who delivers himself to their doorstep to search for fragments.”
Liu Huai opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
He slowly removed the puppet mask hanging around his neck, carefully placed it on the seat, and spoke cautiously:
“Then... I’m leaving, Master.”
Just as the anxious Liu Huai turned to go, Zhang Kui’s slow voice drifted over from behind him.
“Liu Huai, do you know how to control someone who might betray you more than once?”
Liu Huai froze.
“I... I don’t know, Master.”
“You make sure he never has the chance to betray you.”
Zhang Kui suddenly laughed softly.
“Liu Huai, you didn’t actually think I removed all the puppet silk from your body, did you? Look down.”
Liu Huai lowered his head.
His pupils contracted violently.
An almost invisible thread, thin as fishing line, pierced straight through his chest.
He slowly followed the thread upward until his gaze landed on Zhang Kui.
The silk running through his heart was wrapped around Zhang Kui’s little finger.
Zhang Kui smiled faintly.
“Did you really think I’m an idiot like Mu Shicheng, relying on trust to maintain relationships? Liu Huai, make one wrong move, and I’ll kill you.”
“I have plenty of everything...”
He slowly curled his finger inward.
“...except self-righteous idiots and puppet players.”
Zhang Kui raised an eyebrow, smiling as he watched Liu Huai tremble violently, face deathly pale.
“And unfortunately for you, you happen to be both.”
————————
Pale-faced, Liu Huai clutched his chest as he staggered through the swaying subway car.
He might once have entertained faint thoughts of betraying Zhang Kui, but now he didn’t even dare think about disobeying him.
Zhang Kui never left loopholes in his plans.
Liu Huai didn’t think Mu Shicheng and Bai Liu stood any chance against him. The gap between them was simply too wide. Mu Shicheng might possess terrifying combat abilities, but when it came to manipulating human nature, he was nowhere near Zhang Kui—a monster with 93 intelligence points.
As for Bai Liu...
Liu Huai had watched Bai Liu’s game videos before. He admitted Bai Liu was frighteningly smart, but compared to Zhang Kui, he still fell short. At the very least, Zhang Kui would never team up with people like Mu Shicheng and Du Sanying in a collection-based game. One was a thief, the other a notorious scavenger who only picked up leftovers. Put together, they were practically doomed to gain nothing.
Still, Zhang Kui had never underestimated Bai Liu.
His words echoed through Liu Huai’s mind.
“Now that fragments can only be exchanged with health points, this game has become a contest over lives.”
“Right now, I have four lives on my side. Naturally, I don’t count myself.”
“Bai Liu’s side has three. But because my side is bound together, they won’t be able to attack easily. Bai Liu will definitely assume I’ll take the initiative and try to lure us into a trap. That’s why I’m sending you over—to test them.”
“Since this damn game requires four hundred fragments, I can’t afford to consume myself. You’ll tell them I planned to sacrifice my own puppets for fragments, causing internal conflict among us. That way, they’ll believe I’m no longer in a completely secure position.”
“My puppet-control skill isn’t flawless. If a puppet resists desperately enough, I suffer backlash too. That’s why I’ll temporarily remove the obvious Puppet Silk from your body. The thread through your heart, however, can only be seen by you and me. You can tell them you resisted violently enough that I had to remove the rest to avoid backlash.”
“Du Sanying can’t be consumed. Bai Liu is only an F-rank player. That leaves Mu Shicheng as the ideal target.”
“After two chase battles, his mental value should already be close to collapse. Even though he can recover it with bleach, Bai Liu probably won’t let him.”
“Because Bai Liu needs Mu Shicheng’s mental value low enough for him to enter a berserk state and increase his combat power. That means Mu Shicheng’s current mental condition should be unstable. The last time he entered berserk mode, he slaughtered four of my puppets. I doubt Bai Liu can keep him under control.”
“So before the next station and the next chase battle begin, a certain thief who hates me and feels cornered by the situation will definitely be tempted.”
“He’ll try to ambush us, steal our fragments, and attack me. Once I’m restrained, the rest of my puppets will merely be ordinary B-rank players without enhancement. They can be eliminated one by one.”
Liu Huai still didn’t fully understand why Zhang Kui insisted on making things so complicated.
With Zhang Kui’s strength, he could easily crush them head-on. There was no need for elaborate double-agent games and psychological traps.
Back then, Zhang Kui had looked at him almost speechlessly, as though staring at an idiot.
“To preserve health points, obviously.” Zhang Kui had sneered. “I don’t want to waste my side’s health points, and I don’t want to waste Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng’s either. An ambush with minimal losses is far better. A frontal clash costs too much. If everyone’s combined health points fall below four hundred, then we can all sit here and wait to die together.”
“Since Bai Liu has managed to survive until now, I assume he’s reached some sort of cooperative agreement with Mu Shicheng. But that cooperation is definitely unstable.”
Zhang Kui had smiled faintly then, lowering his eyes as he lazily slapped Liu Huai’s cheek with the back of his hand.
“I think that the moment Mu Shicheng sees you, Liu Huai, he’ll remember that ugly little partnership of yours.”
“People remember pain especially clearly when their mental value is low. Those memories breed hallucinations. Hallucinations drive people insane.”
“My only requirement is this: in front of Mu Shicheng, constantly remind him that you betrayed him.”
Liu Huai snapped out of his memories and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Zhang Kui had beaten him on purpose to make the act more convincing—to create the appearance of internal conflict.
But Liu Huai still felt deeply uneasy.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that Mu Shicheng wouldn’t believe him. After all, he had already betrayed Mu Shicheng once just to survive.
But Zhang Kui had merely smiled strangely and said:
“That’s exactly why it’ll look real.”
“You betrayed Mu Shicheng because you wanted to live. Now you’re betraying me because you want to live. Remember that. You genuinely wanted to betray me. You genuinely want to survive.”
“That’s why I chose you.”
Liu Huai took a deep breath and continued forward.
Bloody handprints gradually appeared throughout the carriage—the remnants of previous fights and attacks. Players had clearly passed through recently.
Which meant he was getting closer.
Closer and closer to Mu Shicheng.
His heartbeat quickened uncontrollably.
[The train is about to arrive at the station. Next stop: Yellow Springs Road. Passengers exiting, please line up by the doors. Please allow passengers to exit before boarding.]
The lights flickered overhead.
Liu Huai stepped into the final carriage.
Mu Shicheng leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, while Du Sanying crouched nearby beside the shattered remains of his Bumper Car.
The instant Liu Huai entered, Mu Shicheng’s expression sharpened. His monkey claws snapped out instantly.
Liu Huai hurriedly raised both hands in surrender, his face pale and fearful.
“Shi-ge...” he said cautiously to the stunned Mu Shicheng. “I came to surrender.”
Mu Shicheng stared at him uncertainly before retracting his claws with a sneer.
“So Zhang Kui actually brought you along this time.”
“I... Shi-ge...” Liu Huai lowered his head, unable to meet his eyes. His voice weakened. “Back then... I did it to survive.”
“To survive?” Mu Shicheng sneered coldly. “You chopped off both my arms yourself and handed them to Zhang Kui as your admission fee.”
The crimson light in his eyes deepened until it looked ready to bleed.
“So you joined the Kings Guild? Zhang Kui’s leading you now? Looks like he’s treating you pretty well. A player like him actually took you in. Seems your life in the Kings Guild hasn’t been too bad.”
“And now you’re telling me you betrayed Zhang Kui?” Mu Shicheng’s smile grew sharper and colder. “Another one of his tricks, right? You think I’ll fall for the same thing twice?”
As he spoke, he took a step forward.
Seeing the murderous look in his eyes, Du Sanying hurriedly stepped between them.
They were desperately short on manpower. Even if Liu Huai was suspicious, there was no reason to drive away someone who willingly came to them.
Liu Huai repeated everything Zhang Kui had instructed him to say.
Mu Shicheng and Du Sanying exchanged glances.
What Liu Huai described matched Bai Liu’s earlier analysis almost perfectly: Zhang Kui was sacrificing his own puppets for fragments.
“Wait.” Mu Shicheng’s eyes darkened abruptly.
Without warning, he grabbed Liu Huai by the throat and slammed him against the wall.
Blood splashed near the corner of Mu Shicheng’s eye. The red glow in his pupils intensified violently.
Liu Huai clawed at his hand desperately, choking and gasping for air. His face flushed red as he struggled.
“I’m not lying!” he croaked. “I really came to ask for help!!”
Mu Shicheng sneered, expression twisted with something cruel and unstable as his grip tightened further.
“Whether you’re lying or not,” he said softly, “I’ll decide that myself.”
[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng has activated tool (Judge’s Scale) on player Liu Huai — Honesty or lies, your conscience has weight.]
[Judge’s Scale may only be used once per day on the same player. It can only determine answers to simple Yes-or-No questions. Overly complex questions cannot be judged.]
“Answer what I ask.”
Mu Shicheng held Liu Huai pinned against the wall with one hand while holding a strangely shaped scale in the other.
The left side bore the ancient character for [Truth].
The right side read [Lie].
“First question.” Mu Shicheng smiled darkly. “Did Zhang Kui send you here?”
Liu Huai looked at the scale in terror.
Instinctively, he lied.
“No! No!!”
The scale tipped heavily toward [Lie].
Mu Shicheng sneered.
“Second question. Is Zhang Kui currently in a safe position?”
Liu Huai was nearly suffocating now, tears streaming down his face.
“Shi-ge! Shi-ge! I didn’t know you had a tool like this! Please let me go! You still need me!”
Mu Shicheng remained expressionless, fingers tightening around his throat inch by inch.
“Answer.”
“Yes!!” Liu Huai finally screamed under the terror of death. “He’s safe right now! He’s protected by two enhanced puppets! Even though he sent me here, Shi-ge, I truly didn’t come to hurt you!! I really came to join you!! I won’t betray you again like last time!! I’ll never cut off your hands for Zhang Kui again!! He’s insane! I couldn’t survive beside him, so I came to find you, Shi-ge!!”
“Good.” Mu Shicheng lowered his gaze. “Last question.”
He stared down at Liu Huai struggling beneath his grip.
Suddenly, hallucinations flooded his vision.
Blood dripped from his hands.
Mu Shicheng slowly lowered his eyes.
His arms were gone.
Blood poured endlessly from the severed stumps of his shoulders, flowing all the way down his fingers—exactly like the day Liu Huai had cut them off.
[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng’s emotions are fluctuating intensely. Mental Value has fallen to 60. Mild hallucinations have begun. Please restore Mental Value immediately.]
Mu Shicheng blinked slowly.
A drop of blood slid down his cheek and landed on Liu Huai’s face.
At last, he spoke expressionlessly.
“Fine. Last question.”
“You said you won’t betray me again.”
“So tell me this.”
“Are you still loyal to Zhang Kui? Are you still part of his plan, still under his control...”
“...or have you truly betrayed him, escaped his control completely, and joined our side?”
Mu Shicheng’s gaze never wavered.
Liu Huai’s chest rose and fell violently.
Sweat streamed down his face. His palms had gone numb from panic.
He had the overwhelming feeling that if his answer displeased Mu Shicheng even slightly, Mu Shicheng would kill him on the spot.
He had seen this state before.
Whenever Mu Shicheng’s mental value dropped below the safe threshold, he became dangerously unstable.
Back then, Mu Shicheng had slaughtered four of Zhang Kui’s puppets in exactly this state.
Liu Huai himself had only survived because his betrayal had shocked Mu Shicheng so badly.
“My coming here was part of Zhang Kui’s plan,” Liu Huai said shakily, “but I truly wanted to betray Zhang—”
Before he could finish, the transparent thread buried in his heart suddenly tightened viciously.
Zhang Kui wanted to kill him.
The realization hit Liu Huai instantly.
Because he had tried to say he truly belonged to Mu Shicheng’s side now.
Pain exploded through his chest.
Desperate to survive, Liu Huai clenched his teeth and shouted:
“I won’t betray Zhang Kui!”
The scale trembled twice.
Then slowly tilted toward [Lie].
Mu Shicheng finally released him.
His expression turned mocking and strange.
“...Looks like you couldn’t survive beside Zhang Kui either.”
“You betrayed him for the same reason you betrayed me back then.”
“Because you wanted to live.”
Mu Shicheng sneered.
“You’re loyal only to yourself, Liu Huai.”
“But that’s fine.”
“I can still use you.”
Liu Huai collapsed to the ground coughing violently, but his eyes remained fixed on the small scale in Mu Shicheng’s hand with lingering terror.
The moment Zhang Kui had tried to kill him, Liu Huai truly had wanted to betray him.
No—
That thought had never disappeared from the moment Zhang Kui turned him into a puppet.
Did Zhang Kui predict all of this?
Did he know Mu Shicheng possessed a tool like this?
Was that why he sent Liu Huai here in the first place?
A chill suddenly ran through Liu Huai’s entire body.
Mu Shicheng questioned him again about everything that had happened before he came here.
This time, Liu Huai hid nothing.
After hearing everything, Mu Shicheng sneered.
“So he wants to provoke me into ambushing him?”
“Even if I were going to attack him, I’d wait until he finished collecting most of the fragments first. And he even tried to drive a wedge between me and Bai Liu.”
Mu Shicheng clicked his tongue dismissively.
“Completely unnecessary.”
Only then did Liu Huai suddenly realize something strange.
He had been here this whole time, but Bai Liu was nowhere to be seen.
He looked around uncertainly.
“Wait... where’s Bai Liu?”
Du Sanying scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Uh... while we were discussing the plan earlier, Bai Liu suggested cooperating with the Puppet Master. But Mu Shicheng refused.”
“So the two of them had a huge fight.”
“...Then Bai Liu split off from us and went to join Zhang Kui.”
Mu Shicheng snorted and turned away coldly.
“Like Bai Liu and I need anyone else to drive a wedge between us.”
“We’re perfectly capable of falling apart on our own.”
Liu Huai: “...”
Liu Huai: “?????”
What the hell?!
Bai Liu joined who?!
[The train is about to arrive at the station. Next stop: Yellow Springs Road. Passengers exiting, please line up by the doors. Please allow passengers to exit before boarding.]
Bai Liu walked all the way to the front carriage of the train.
Zhang Kui was sitting leisurely in one of the seats, two empty-eyed puppets standing motionless before him.
He didn’t look surprised to see Bai Liu at all.
Instead, he greeted him naturally, almost warmly.
“You’re here.” Zhang Kui smiled. “Sit down. You arrived a little earlier than I expected.”
Bai Liu sat across from him and let out a faint sigh.
“Since you even sent Liu Huai over, Mu Shicheng has lost all value to me as a chess piece. I had no choice but to come surrender.”
“You’re a smart man.” Zhang Kui smiled meaningfully. “Just a little unlucky. After all, you happened to meet someone even smarter.”
He crossed one leg over the other and spread his arms lazily along the backrest behind him.
It was an extremely relaxed posture—one full of arrogance and absolute confidence.
Tilting his chin slightly upward, Zhang Kui looked down at Bai Liu with the gaze of someone who had already secured victory.
“This game requires the sacrifice of four people to clear. If you insist on opposing me, your attributes are far too weak. I would inevitably win.”
“But if things reached that point, everyone’s health points would be heavily depleted. And once I controlled you...” Zhang Kui smiled faintly. “There’s a high chance I’d simply use you to make up the remaining health points needed to clear the game.”
“So for someone like you, Bai Liu, cooperating with me is obviously the best option.”
“Yes, you’ll be under my control. But at least I won’t casually sacrifice you.”
“But Mu Shicheng would never agree to cooperate with me.” Zhang Kui sighed with mock regret. “And you wouldn’t willingly come negotiate with me either. After all, very few people enjoy being controlled by someone else.”
“You probably even considered using Mu Shicheng to steal from me.”
“So I had no choice but to send Liu Huai over to persuade you.”
From the very beginning, the real target Zhang Kui wanted was never Mu Shicheng.
It was Bai Liu.
And to catch someone like Bai Liu, he first needed to destabilize the alliance between Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng.
Nothing was more effective at shattering Mu Shicheng’s trust in his teammates than Liu Huai’s existence.
A Mu Shicheng with stable mental value might still force himself to cooperate with Bai Liu for the sake of clearing a Level 2 game.
But a mentally unstable Mu Shicheng—especially with Liu Huai constantly reminding him of that betrayal from the past—would never be able to suppress his suspicion and hostility toward his own teammates.
Of course, Mu Shicheng could restore his mental value with bleach.
But Bai Liu would never want that.
If Bai Liu truly intended to oppose Zhang Kui alongside Mu Shicheng, then he needed Mu Shicheng in his berserk state to maintain enough combat power to fight Zhang Kui head-on.
Bai Liu himself could also enter a berserk state to increase his combat ability.
But Zhang Kui didn’t think Bai Liu would choose that option lightly.
Because it was too dangerous.
There were still eight stations remaining.
An F-rank player like Bai Liu possessed far weaker base attributes than an A-rank player like Mu Shicheng. If Bai Liu went berserk, he would become nothing more than a glass cannon—high damage, low survivability, easy to kill.
Zhang Kui’s plan had always been simple:
deal with them one at a time.
First control Bai Liu.
Then use Liu Huai to manipulate Mu Shicheng.
As for Du Sanying...
Zhang Kui could simply let him die whenever the timing became appropriate. He had no interest in someone who relied entirely on luck rather than actual strength.
Bai Liu spoke honestly.
“I did try to persuade Mu Shicheng to cooperate with you. Not only did he refuse, he even beat me up.”
As he spoke, Bai Liu opened his personal panel for Zhang Kui to see.
[Health reduced by 40 due to attack from player Mu Shicheng.]
In reality, the damage came from earlier, when Mu Shicheng punched Bai Liu during his furious outburst after being used as a “vehicle.”
Now Bai Liu shamelessly repurposed it as evidence of his “sincerity.”
He sighed regretfully.
“My health is only around twenty now. If I stay with them, I definitely won’t survive long enough to clear the game.”
“Originally, I hoped berserk Mu Shicheng might be able to kill you. Didn’t he slaughter four of your puppets last time he lost control?”
“But after learning Liu Huai was here...” Bai Liu shook his head lightly. “I completely gave up on cooperating with Mu Shicheng.”
Zhang Kui looked at him with open approval.
“Because with Liu Huai present, Mu Shicheng’s berserk state becomes even more unstable. He’s more likely to attack his own teammates.”
“My health is too low.” Bai Liu spread his hands helplessly. “It’s far too easy for me to die.”
“I want to clear the game, yes. But more than that...”
“...I want to stay alive.”
“So I came to cooperate with you.”
If Mu Shicheng had heard this, he definitely would’ve cursed Bai Liu as a money-grubbing lunatic spouting utter nonsense.
Unfortunately, Zhang Kui had no idea Bai Liu was exactly that kind of lunatic.
So he merely smiled in satisfaction.
He pulled out a roll of transparent puppet silk and raised an eyebrow.
“Then you already know the condition for cooperating with me.”
“You’ll become my puppet.”
“Fine.” Bai Liu agreed immediately, as though he had anticipated this outcome from the start.
Then he touched his chin thoughtfully.
“But cooperation goes both ways, doesn’t it?”
“Since I’m becoming your puppet, Zhang Kui, you should at least show a little sincerity too.”
“For example?” Zhang Kui asked casually. “What do you want from me?”
“There’s a tool Mu Shicheng stole from me.” Bai Liu slowly lowered his eyes. “The Siren’s Amulet.”
“The reason we fought earlier was because of it.”
“If possible, I’d like you to help me get it back.”
“That’s all?” Zhang Kui looked mildly surprised, clearly not expecting such a simple condition.
“It’s a life-saving item.” A faint smile curled at the corner of Bai Liu’s lips. “My health is critically low. I’d like you to retrieve it before the train departs again.”
“That way, I’ll at least have a slightly better chance of surviving later.”
Bai Liu looked up calmly.
“You finally managed to get control over me.”
“You wouldn’t want me to die immediately afterward, would you?”
“Fair enough.” Zhang Kui smiled. “I prefer obedient puppets.”
“Since you’re being so reasonable, Bai Liu, and willing to negotiate...”
The puppet silk in Zhang Kui’s hand suddenly moved.
The needle-thin thread pierced violently into Bai Liu’s bone, winding tightly around it several times.
Bai Liu’s body shuddered uncontrollably from the pain. A sharp gasp escaped him before he could stop it.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has become the puppet of player Zhang Kui.]
The smile on Zhang Kui’s face slowly widened.
His previously ordinary features suddenly looked sinister and twisted.
“...Did you really think,” he said softly, “that after things reached this stage, you still had the right to negotiate with me?”
“Bai Liu, it seems I’ll have to teach you the rules.”
[System Notification: Player Zhang Kui has activated personal skill (Marionette) on player Bai Liu.]
“Now,” Zhang Kui said lazily, tugging lightly on the silk wrapped around his fingers, “hand over everything you have.”
“Especially your weapons.”
“I won’t give you another opportunity to turn the tables.”
Bai Liu moved stiffly.
His face was pale from pain as he shakily opened his system panel and began taking items out one by one.
A snow-white fish bone.
A pile of miscellaneous junk.
An old wallet.
The instant the old wallet appeared, Bai Liu’s expression changed sharply.
That immediately caught Zhang Kui’s attention.
“What’s this?” He bent down and picked up the battered old wallet. “Your personal skill item?”
He slapped it lightly against his palm and laughed mockingly.
“How shabby.”
Then he opened it.
The moment he saw what was inside, his eyebrows lifted.
Zhang Kui pulled out a thick stack of points banknotes and waved them in front of Bai Liu with interest.
“What’s this? A physical points wallet?”
“You really do like collecting useless little trinkets.”
“There’s quite a lot in here too...”
He casually counted through the bills.
“Twelve thousand points.”
Zhang Kui laughed.
“Then I’ll gladly accept them.”
Bai Liu lowered his head silently.
His face remained pale as he bit down on his lower lip, looking unwilling and deeply frustrated.
After a long moment, he finally muttered stubbornly:
“Take it.”
“Consider it payment for helping me.”
Zhang Kui gave a mocking smile.
“If thinking that way makes you feel better, then sure.”
But if Zhang Kui had bothered looking carefully at Bai Liu’s expression, he would have noticed something strange.
Bai Liu’s eyes were perfectly calm.
And the lip he was biting down on...
...was slowly curving upward into the faintest smile.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has transferred 12,000 points to player Zhang Kui to complete a transaction.]
[Transaction Requirement: Player Zhang Kui must retrieve and return the tool (Siren’s Amulet) to player Bai Liu before the train departs again.]
[If either party fails to fulfill the transaction, the system will impose punishment.]
[The defaulting party will be imprisoned inside the item (Old Wallet) and transformed into a Soul Coin.]
