[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has been attacked by Thief Gege. Health -2. Mental Value -2. Remaining Health: 1. Warning! Player is approaching the death threshold!]
Bai Liu casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Mu Shicheng, whose face had gone pale with shock.
“What are you yelling for?” he said leisurely. “I’m not dead. Damage calculation for these monsters isn’t based on body parts. Thief Gege only deals two points of damage. I had three health points left, so even if my brain got pierced, I’d still survive.”
He smiled faintly.
“Hurry up and help me.”
The moment Mu Shicheng snapped out of it, the sight of Bai Liu covered in blood nearly made him lose it completely.
This was even more terrifying than having his own heart pierced.
Mu Shicheng darted diagonally aside to avoid the incoming Thief Didi. Only then did he notice that Bai Liu had actually used his whip to bind Thief Gege’s arms—the very arms that had pierced through his body.
The whip had trapped Thief Gege in place behind Bai Liu, leaving him screeching furiously but unable to break free.
Bai Liu glanced at Mu Shicheng.
His voice was weak from blood loss, but still calm and steady.
“The hand,” he said. “It’s in the hand.”
Mu Shicheng froze.
Then realization struck him instantly.
“You think Thief Gege hid the mirror fragments inside the bones of his hands?!”
“Yes. Hurry.” Bai Liu smiled. “I can’t hold him much longer, and we’re running out of time.”
“For a thief, the most important body part should be the hands, right? That’s why Liu Huai cut yours off back then. Your hands have the strongest attack power.”
“So for Thief Gege, the most important place should also be the hands.”
Mu Shicheng stared blankly for a second.
Then, suddenly, he burst into laughter louder than ever before.
He laughed until ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) tears came out.
“That’s right,” he said at last. “I actually forgot. For a thief, the most important thing really is the hands.”
“Probably because mine have been cut off so many times.”
“But you’re right.”
Mu Shicheng lowered his eyes, hiding the dark emotion within them.
Since both his hands were occupied, he slowly lowered his head instead.
His eyes glowed red.
After partial beastification, his mouth had become unnaturally large and feral-looking. With savage force, he bit down viciously onto the hands of Thief Gege—the hands still bound by Bai Liu’s whip and embedded through Bai Liu’s body.
Then he jerked backward violently.
The moment those hands were torn free, Bai Liu hissed sharply and arched backward from the pain.
Blood splattered across Mu Shicheng’s face.
Carrying a vicious, almost demonic air, Mu Shicheng gnawed through Thief Gege’s severed hands and spoke indistinctly through clenched teeth.
“For a thief...”
Crunch.
“...the hands really are the most important thing.”
The dry, wood-like hands snapped apart.
The instant they were detached from his body, Thief Gege released a shrill scream and struggled violently. But Mu Shicheng’s gaze remained cold as he bit down harder.
Crack.
Thief Gege abruptly stopped moving.
[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng used skill (Thief’s Monkey Paw) and stole twenty mirror fragments from Thief Gege.]
The second Thief Gege lost his hands, his body visibly weakened.
He shriveled rapidly, becoming even smaller and more withered. Blood leaked from his eyes as he glared resentfully at the severed hands in Mu Shicheng’s grasp.
Once the blackened soot was wiped away from the fingertips, faint light shimmered beneath.
Each finger contained two mirror fragments.
Ten fingers.
Twenty fragments in total.
At that exact moment, Thief Didi finally completed the charge for his ultimate move.
With a crazed roar, he crouched low and slammed both fists into the ground.
Flames exploded outward from his body and flooded through every carriage of the train.
Even moving at full speed, Mu Shicheng and Bai Liu could not retreat in time. The tail end of the explosion caught up to them instantly.
Mu Shicheng turned around without hesitation and threw Bai Liu outside the range of the flames, using his own back to shield him from the fire.
A muffled groan escaped him as the flames engulfed his body.
Bai Liu hit the ground and rolled several times before finally stopping.
Mu Shicheng looked utterly miserable.
Large sections of burned flesh covered his back, the skin split open and charred. Meanwhile, Bai Liu lay sprawled across the floor where he had been thrown, pupils dilated as his chest rose and fell violently.
He gasped for air.
His stamina was completely exhausted. He could not even move a single finger.
Blood soaked his mouth and stained the front of his white shirt crimson.
Yet despite their condition, both he and Mu Shicheng were smiling.
Smiling with overwhelming exhilaration.
Because they were thieves who had successfully stolen something.
Because even with their health nearly emptied, both of them had survived.
“Wow,” Bai Liu sighed happily while struggling to lift a hand and wipe away the blood at his lips. “Successfully pulling off something bad really does feel amazing.”
“Especially when what you stole is valuable.”
[System Notification: Player Mu Shicheng has taken fire burn damage from Thief Didi. Health -20. Mental Value -20. Current Health: 16. Critical Condition!]
[System Warning: Player Bai Liu’s Health is currently at 1 and approaching zero. Please avoid intense movement and protect yourself carefully!]
Mu Shicheng finally collapsed onto the floor as well.
Leaning back against a train seat, he lowered his head and breathed heavily. Then, grinning, he lifted a foot and kicked Bai Liu, who was lying motionless nearby.
“Bai-crazy,” Mu Shicheng said with a laugh, “what the hell did you do in the real world?”
“You’re absurdly good at stealing, ridiculously good at manipulating and calculating people, and you use a whip like a professional.”
He snorted.
“You’re not secretly some high-IQ criminal mastermind or something, are you?”
“Just a poor unemployed worker,” Bai Liu replied lazily.
Mu Shicheng sneered dismissively.
“Unemployed worker? Yeah, right. I don’t believe a single word.”
At last, the train announcement rang out again:
“The train is about to depart. Passengers, please line up and exit in an orderly manner. Do not remain inside the carriages—”
Having lost all of their mirror fragments, the resentful Thief Brothers finally retreated from the carriage together with the charred corpses of the other passengers.
They stood outside the slowly closing train doors, staring venomously at Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng inside.
Despite the blood soaking his chest, Bai Liu still had the energy to turn his head and smile as he waved at them.
“Bye-bye.”
“ROAR—!”
The Thief Brothers roared furiously at him through the closing doors.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu’s mirror fragment collection progress: (360/400)]
[Updating “The Last Train to Blast Off Monster Book” — Thief Brothers (2/3)]
[Monster Name: Thief Gege]
[Characteristics: Extremely high movement speed (3400 movement points; enhanced by flames), highly skilled in theft.]
[Weakness: Mirror fragments (1/3)]
[Attack Methods: Scratching, theft]
——————
Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu emerged from the game drenched from head to toe.
Both of them collapsed to their knees outside the game entrance, coughing violently. Their bodies reeked of the fishy odor of merfolk.
As ordinary people entering a horror game for the very first time, they had been terrified pale. Even now, their hands and feet trembled uncontrollably against the ground.
If that young man had not guided them—
—and if they had not desperately wanted revenge for Guoguo—
—they never would have survived until the end of the game.
Beside Guoguo’s gravestone, the young man had told them there were many things he could not explain to them.
And even if he did explain, they would not remember.
Back then, Bai Liu had smiled and said:
“So once you go in, make sure you listen to me.”
