Bai Liu looked at Lu Yizhan. “Start from the beginning. Tell me exactly what happened last night.”
Lu Yizhan closed his eyes briefly. He took a long drag from his cigarette, then slowly exhaled. “Around three in the morning last night, all thirty-seven children who had been admitted suddenly began vomiting violently at the same time...”
“What they threw up were complete, intact mushrooms. But the day before yesterday, when these children were brought in for emergency treatment, they’d already undergone induced vomiting and gastric lavage. Yesterday they were kept fasting the entire day and put on IV fluids. Not a single child ate anything. There should have been absolutely nothing left in their stomachs.”
He paused, flicking ash into the trash can in the corridor. “The doctors and nurses were terrified. They immediately called the police, then prepared to draw emergency blood samples from the children for testing...”
Lu Yizhan slowly breathed out a cloud of smoke. “But aside from the one surviving child, when the nurses inserted the needles, what came out wasn’t blood. From the bodies of those children who kept vomiting, they could only extract a pale green, semi-transparent liquid. The lab results later confirmed that the liquid was mushroom juice.”
Bai Liu showed no sign of fear.
To him, this was no different from the antique mirror capable of concealing a bomb from a security scan. Everything belonged to the [Horror Game] that had been loaded into this [Reality Public Beta Mode]. In a horror game, no matter how bizarre something was, it could still happen. Compared to everything else he had seen, drawing mushroom juice from a human body barely counted as unusual. It was well within Bai Liu’s expectations.
After thinking for a moment, Bai Liu asked, “What about the child who survived? Her blood was normal, right? Have the test results come back?”
“They have,” Lu Yizhan replied. “Mild anemia, but otherwise everything’s normal.”
Bai Liu lowered his eyes in thought before asking another question. “Did you get anything useful out of her? Any key information related to the case?”
“Nothing.” Lu Yizhan let out a weary sigh and smiled bitterly. “The little girl is blind. She can’t recognize our voices and refuses to communicate with us. At most, she’ll occasionally nod or shake her head. And since she can’t see, she genuinely may not know anything. She didn’t even realize the things she ate that day were mushrooms.”
“The girl’s name is Liu Jiayi. She has an older half-brother named Liu Huai. She refuses to speak until her Gege gets here.” Lu Yizhan rubbed at his brow helplessly. “Honestly, if she were willing to talk, I would’ve already brought you in to speak with her. You’re surprisingly good with kids.”
Bai Liu’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
He slowly raised his eyes to look at Lu Yizhan. “What did you say her Gege’s name was?”
Lu Yizhan blinked in surprise. “Liu Huai. He’s a student at a top university. He used to work to support the girl himself, but about six months ago, he suddenly sent her to the welfare home where the incident happened. He visits her around once a week. Though legally speaking, he actually has no obligation to support his half-sister. Why? Do you know him?”
“We’ve crossed paths once before.” Bai Liu smiled faintly. “We played an online game together. He probably still remembers me. Maybe he’ll let me speak to his sister.”
——————
Liu Huai sat rigidly inside the hospital room.
Curled up on the bed was a frail little girl hugging her knees tightly to her chest. This was Liu Jiayi.
But Liu Jiayi wasn’t the reason for Liu Huai’s stiffness.
The real reason was Bai Liu, who sat opposite him with a pleasant smile, looking thoroughly approachable and friendly.
Liu Huai genuinely could not understand how his luck could be this bad. Even after escaping the game, he still managed to run into this Great Demon King.
The moment Bai Liu saw him, he had acted as though they were old friends, casually slinging an arm around Liu Huai’s shoulders and smiling as he said he wanted to talk to Liu Jiayi.
Liu Huai cursed his terrible luck inwardly, but in the end, he still brought Bai Liu in.
Liu Jiayi could not tolerate crowded environments. If too many people entered the room, she would immediately begin screaming uncontrollably. Because of that, Liu Huai refused to allow anyone else inside. The police officers remained outside on standby, intending to let Liu Huai calm her down first. Later, using the excuse that Bai Liu was his friend, Liu Huai brought him into the room alone.
At present, only three people occupied the hospital room: Liu Huai, Bai Liu, and Liu Jiayi.
Bai Liu and Liu Huai sat on opposite sides of the hospital bed, while Liu Jiayi sat in the center hugging her knees. She buried her face between her arms and legs. The oversized hospital gown hung loosely from her body, swallowing her tiny frame whole.
She was exactly as Lu Yizhan had described.
Thin to the point of deformity, like a stunted little skeleton.
Compared to the overfed children Bai Liu often saw running around fast-food restaurants, Liu Jiayi looked several sizes too small.
Eventually, Liu Huai could no longer endure the suffocating silence.
He pulled the blanket up, deliberately blocking Bai Liu’s gaze from lingering on Liu Jiayi, shielding her from view.
Like a beast guarding its cub, Liu Huai stared at Bai Liu with open vigilance. “Bai Liu, what exactly do you want from me?”
Bai Liu answered bluntly. “I’m not here for you. I’m here for your sister.”
“My sister?!” Liu Huai immediately wrapped Liu Jiayi tightly in the blanket and pulled her into his arms, glaring at Bai Liu with naked hostility. “What do you want with her?”
“Liu Huai,” Bai Liu suddenly asked, changing the subject without warning, “what’s the youngest player you’ve ever seen in the game?”
Although the hospital room was under police surveillance, the system’s [Silence] effect would most likely censor anything related to the game. Bai Liu therefore asked the question without concern.
Liu Huai frowned in confusion. “Why are you asking that?”
Bai Liu lifted his eyes and looked directly at Liu Jiayi, whose body trembled continuously in Liu Huai’s arms.
“I’m wondering,” Bai Liu said calmly, “whether your sister is about to become the youngest player in the game.”
As the sole survivor of the [Welfare Home Mushroom Poisoning Incident], Liu Jiayi’s survival resembled Bai Liu escaping the [Jingcheng Explosion Case], or Mu Ke narrowly surviving the haunted dormitory at that Japanese school.
There were obvious similarities.
At present, Bai Liu believed there were two conditions required for someone to become a player.
The first was: [A player must already exist nearby.]
The game spread almost like a virus, transmitting through contact and mutual influence between people. Mu Ke had influenced Bai Liu; Li Gou had influenced Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu.
And beside Liu Jiayi stood Liu Huai.
She fulfilled the first condition.
The second condition, Bai Liu believed, was surviving at least one [Horror Game Official Version] instance.
And Liu Jiayi clearly fulfilled that condition as well.
Bai Liu suspected that this little girl who had escaped death was highly likely to become the game’s next reserve player.
Liu Huai froze.
Slowly, he looked from Bai Liu to the faintly trembling Liu Jiayi in his arms. Disbelief flooded his face. A moment later, even his own body began shaking uncontrollably. He stared at Bai Liu with shock and uncertainty.
“...But she’s only eight years old. How could she possibly become a player? And I deliberately limited myself to visiting her only once a week. That level of contact shouldn’t have been enough to drag her into the game...”
“Why not?” Bai Liu replied calmly. “Does the system ban minors from playing games the way parents do?”
The “parent” Liu Huai was struck speechless.
Instinctively, he tightened his hold around Liu Jiayi. Panic spread visibly across his face. “But she’s blind! If she enters the game, there’s no way she can survive in that kind of environment! There’s no reason for the system to choose her!”
“Then how did she survive the mushroom poisoning incident?” Bai Liu countered evenly.
As the sole surviving child of a real-world horror game instance, even blind, Liu Jiayi was never someone Bai Liu would regard as ordinary.
Liu Huai found himself unable to refute him. He could only force out a stiff defense. “Jiajia survived because she got lucky! But she’s not Du Sanying. She can’t rely on luck forever!”
At that moment, Liu Jiayi spoke softly from his arms.
“Gege... that’s not it.”
Her thin little hand tugged gently at Liu Huai’s coat. A small, messy head poked out from beneath his jacket. Her pupils were clouded grey-white, as though veiled in mist, but her voice remained soft and clear.
“Gege, I didn’t avoid getting poisoned because I was lucky. I secretly dumped the food the teacher gave me.”
Liu Huai froze. “Why would you dump your food?”
Liu Jiayi pursed her dry, pale lips. She spoke quietly, almost guiltily.
“Gege, don’t be angry at me for wasting food... but that day, the teacher felt strange. She insisted on feeding me personally. Before, she always just threw the bowl at me and told me to eat by myself. So while she was serving the other children, I secretly poured the food away and pretended I’d eaten it.”
Bai Liu spread his hands slightly and smiled. “Looks like your sister is smarter than you.”
“No matter how smart she is, I won’t let her enter the game!” Liu Huai suddenly exploded.
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Bai Liu. “Bai Liu, I don’t care what you want—my sister is off limits!”
Caught in Liu Huai’s fierce embrace, Liu Jiayi wrapped her arms around his neck in confusion. “Gege... what are you talking about? Enter what?”
Clearly, Liu Jiayi was still being [Shielded] from the conversation between Bai Liu and Liu Huai. Since she had not yet officially entered the game, she could not hear any direct discussion related to the [Game].
“Liu Huai, I only want to cooperate with you,” Bai Liu said calmly. “If Liu Jiayi really has been chosen by the game, you won’t be able to stop her from entering.”
“And I have a way to help you. To help Liu Jiayi.”
Bai Liu lifted his gaze toward Liu Huai and spoke softly.
Liu Huai let out a cold laugh. “By ‘help,’ you mean controlling us, right? Bai Liu, deep down, you and Zhang Kui are the same kind of garbage. I appreciate that you helped me before, but I won’t let my sister end up in your hands!”
“I don’t know what use she has to you that made you come looking for us, but get out!”
Like a beast protecting its cub, Liu Huai glared at Bai Liu with murderous hostility. His back arched slightly, as though he might leap across the room and strangle him at any moment.
Bai Liu fell silent for two seconds.
Then he stood.
He offered no further explanation.
He did intend to save Liu Jiayi, but only because he had noticed that Lu Yizhan wanted to adopt the little girl.
And if Lu Yizhan wanted this child as his adopted daughter, then Bai Liu would try to keep her alive.
Lu Yizhan genuinely wanted to help Liu Jiayi. Bai Liu could tell. That man had always loved meddling in other people’s problems.
Just like back at the welfare home, where Lu Yizhan would secretly share food with the Bai Liu he assumed was starving, even though Bai Liu himself had never particularly felt hungry.
Bai Liu had never understood Lu Yizhan’s compulsive need to help others.
But as someone who had once benefited from that irrational kindness, Bai Liu usually chose to indulge Lu Yizhan’s self-righteous decisions. Besides, Lu Yizhan always compensated him afterward. Bai Liu never worked for free, and Lu Yizhan understood that logic perfectly well.
That, too, was one of the reasons Bai Liu remained friends with him.
Casually, Bai Liu tore off a scrap of paper, wrote down his phone number, and placed it beside Liu Jiayi’s pillow.
“I can help Liu Jiayi survive her first game,” he said. “But only if she sells her soul to me. That’s the prerequisite.”
Only by obtaining Liu Jiayi’s soul could Bai Liu manipulate her player panel.
Liu Huai roared in fury, snatching up the paper and shredding it. “I said I won’t allow it!”
“I think the moment you left her at the children’s welfare home, you forfeited your right to act as her guardian.” Bai Liu looked down at Liu Huai, expression utterly flat. “Legally, you are not her guardian. Which means you have no right to decide things on Liu Jiayi’s behalf.”
Those casual words completely ignited Liu Huai’s rage.
His eyes turned crimson with fury, yet instead of lashing out, he laughed.
“Bai Liu, do you know why I entered the game?”
“So she could see the light.”
Liu Huai took a deep breath and turned his face away. “Leave. I will never entrust her to someone like you. If she followed you, her future would only become darker.”
His eyes were faintly red.
“I already know what it feels like to live under someone else’s control,” he said hoarsely. “So her life absolutely cannot become the same.”
“When Zhang Kui controlled me and forced me to betray Shi-ge... the person who lost his best friend and closest teammate wasn’t only Mu Shicheng.”
Liu Huai lowered his head. His expression was hidden from view. His voice had become dry and rough.
“The one forced to hold the knife... the one forced to hurt someone... doesn’t feel any better.”
“So I don’t want her to become like me.”
Bai Liu was quiet for a moment.
“Controlling a little girl offers me no value,” he finally said. “The only reason I’m doing this is because my best friend wants to save your sister.”
Liu Huai turned back in astonishment.
Beside him, Liu Jiayi tilted her head in confusion. Those clouded eyes, set in her thin, delicate face, gave her a strange kind of fragile beauty. Wrapped in Liu Huai’s arms, she resembled a pale grey butterfly with bound antennae.
She rubbed her head gently against Liu Huai’s chin, as though trying to comfort his violently fluctuating emotions.
Under Liu Huai’s wary gaze, Bai Liu said nothing further. He simply turned, opened the hospital room door, and left.
—
Lu Yizhan was waiting for him near the stairwell corner.
He was still smoking. The trash can beside him overflowed with cigarette butts; who knew how many he had already gone through.
The moment he spotted Bai Liu approaching, his eyes brightened. “How’d it go? Any leads?”
But after seeing Bai Liu’s expression clearly, Lu Yizhan paused.
Whenever Bai Liu was calm—or in a good mood—he usually wore that faint smiling expression that made him impossible to read. But when his emotions truly fluctuated, he rarely displayed anything obvious on the surface. Instead, something dark and oppressive would quietly settle into his eyes.
It was the expression he wore whenever he encountered something he could not fully understand and became trapped in thought.
In simpler terms:
Bai Liu was currently in a very bad mood.
“What happened?” Lu Yizhan unconsciously softened his voice. “Did someone yell at you? I heard Liu Huai shouting from inside the room. What exactly did you say to upset him? Though from the surveillance audio, it didn’t sound like you said anything particularly offensive. Still, family members of victims can get emotional. You don’t need to take it personally.”
“Sometimes, I still can’t understand the emotional logic of humans.”
Bai Liu’s gaze remained slightly unfocused—a clear sign he was still thinking.
“Humans are strange,” he murmured to himself. “I can’t understand Liu Huai’s logic. Fundamentally, he should be an extremely selfish person. Legally, he isn’t even obligated to care for his sister, yet he’s willing to go this far for her.”
Bai Liu did not think Liu Huai had been lying.
Instinctive reactions could not be faked. Liu Huai had clearly been terrified of him, yet even then, he had instinctively shielded Liu Jiayi in his arms.
Still, Bai Liu quickly emerged from his thoughts.
He glanced at Lu Yizhan. “This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this sort of irrational self-sacrifice. Let’s go check the welfare home.”
——————
Bai Liu entered the children’s welfare home together with Mu Ke.
Mu Ke had arrived outside Bai Liu’s apartment very early in the morning to wait for him. Unfortunately, Lu Yizhan had called Bai Liu away even earlier. He had rushed to the hospital before dawn after receiving Lu Yizhan’s phone call.
Fortunately, Bai Liu returned home midway to pick up a few things, only to discover Young Master Mu Ke squatting obediently outside his door with his arms wrapped around his knees.
Mu Ke had knocked before, but no one answered. Apparently assuming Bai Liu was still asleep, he hadn’t even dared call him. Instead, he simply waited outside the door like an idiot for Bai Liu to wake up.
Even more absurdly, Mu Ke’s father—the business tycoon Bai Liu frequently saw on television—had personally driven him there and waited alongside him outside the apartment.
Father Mu treated Bai Liu with astonishing respect.
Knowing Bai Liu might still be asleep, he had quietly waited outside with his son instead of disturbing him.
When Bai Liu returned and saw the father-son pair standing outside his apartment, they were even speaking in hushed voices, afraid of waking him.
Who knew what nonsense Mu Ke had told his family?
This wealthy chairman had completely accepted Bai Liu as his son’s lifesaving benefactor. He seemed convinced that Bai Liu taking Mu Ke away for two months had been part of some sort of medical treatment. Bai Liu never bothered asking how exactly Mu Ke had fooled his father, but regardless, the man firmly believed Bai Liu was both savior and miracle doctor, repeatedly thanking him for saving his youngest son.
And after learning that Bai Liu planned to visit the children’s welfare home to check on the children there, the chairman had been deeply moved.
Declaring that he also wanted to accumulate good karma for his son’s upcoming “treatment,” he immediately announced his intention to donate money to the welfare home. Then he personally drove them there in an outrageously conspicuous Maybach worth over ten million.
After arriving at the welfare home, Mu Ke did not stay beside his father. Instead, he obediently followed behind Bai Liu.
He kept sneaking glances at him, even yawning occasionally, like a cat desperately wanting to rub against its owner but still waiting for permission.
Bai Liu could sense the intense anxiety radiating from Mu Ke.
That kind of emotional state was not conducive to entering the game. As Mu Ke’s handler, Bai Liu had an obligation to calm this overly tense young master down.
So he allowed Mu Ke to stay close beside him.
After greeting Lu Yizhan, Bai Liu informed him that he and his friend—namely Mu Ke—would first look around inside the welfare home.
Meanwhile, Lu Yizhan entered together with the other officers to begin the investigation.
Because Mu Ke’s father had abruptly decided to donate money, Bai Liu and Mu Ke were treated with extreme politeness by the welfare home director and personally escorted inside.
The director of the children’s welfare home was an elderly woman whose body had aged far beyond normal.
Dark age spots spread across the tip of her nose and both cheeks, nearly merging together into corpse-like stains that reminded Bai Liu of livor mortis. Her eyes were clouded and muddy, her back deeply hunched, and a faint smell of rotting fungus lingered around her body.
Worst of all was the way she looked at people.
Not like people.
Like inventory.
The sensation left Bai Liu faintly uncomfortable.
Mu Ke’s father followed the director away to discuss the donation, while another teacher was assigned to guide Bai Liu and Mu Ke through the welfare home.
The welfare home itself was extremely dilapidated.
Its architecture clearly belonged to a decade earlier. Three low-rise buildings formed a rough triangular enclosure. Both the interior and exterior walls were peeling away in layers, exposing damp stone underneath thick with moss.
At the center of the enclosure sat a tiny playground.
There were rusted miniature iron horses painted in faded colors, an old seesaw, and a pair of swings.
But all of them were ancient.
They swayed alone amid muddy weeds.
As the wind blew, the seesaw creaked once, the empty seat lowering and rising again. Nearby, the swing began rocking rhythmically back and forth. The movement grew larger and larger, accompanied by long creaking noises, as though invisible children were sitting there playing.
The teacher guiding them visibly paled.
She lowered her head immediately, refusing to look toward the playground, and hurried toward the outermost building. Bai Liu followed behind her and casually glanced at the plaques hanging beside the entrance.
Two faded golden signs remained mounted there:
[National Top Ten Children’s Welfare Home]
[National Advanced Unit for the Protection of Minors]
Bai Liu glanced at the dates beneath them.
Both awards had been issued over ten years ago, not long after the welfare home was first established.
Ahead of him, the teacher continued introducing the facility in a low voice.
“Our welfare home used to be very reputable. At its peak, it covered twenty-five mu with nearly ten thousand square meters of facilities. We had specialized classrooms for disabled children, music rooms, our own medical clinic... over three hundred beds, capacity for three hundred children, and more than two hundred caretakers...”
After surveying the surroundings, Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. “Twenty-five mu? Ten thousand square meters? Two hundred caretakers?”
From the moment he entered, he had barely seen any staff at all.
This welfare home was most likely operating with almost nobody left.
The teacher faltered immediately. “T-That was back when it first opened. Later... parts of the facility were abandoned. Funding became difficult, so the welfare home gradually shrank. Most of the staff were laid off...”
“Originally, there were forty-six children here. For this year’s Children’s Day, we even prepared a performance for the investors supporting the welfare home...” Her voice became increasingly strained. “But they’ve sponsored us for ten years already. They said the costs had become too high, so... this year they decided to withdraw their funding. And for now, we still haven’t found a new sponsor...”
Bai Liu asked evenly, “There were originally forty-six children. Thirty-seven are currently hospitalized. That leaves nine children still here.”
“I haven’t seen a single one.”
“Can you bring the remaining nine children out for us to meet?”
The teacher’s face instantly turned pale again.
She twisted her fingers nervously without speaking, clearly reluctant to let them see the children.
There’s a problem here.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes slightly.
He exchanged a glance with Mu Ke. The young master understood immediately.
Mu Ke coughed twice in an affected manner, stepped forward arrogantly, and lifted his chin. “We’re currently considering a donation of ten million yuan to your welfare home. Surely requesting to see the remaining children isn’t too much to ask?”
The enormous sum visibly shook the teacher.
Her lips and eyes twitched strangely. After a very long silence, she finally seemed to steel herself.
“You... you really intend to donate? Ten million?”
To Mu Ke, ten million truly seemed no different from pocket money.
He nodded without hesitation.
The teacher inhaled sharply before speaking in a low, hurried voice.
“There aren’t nine children left who can meet you.”
“There are only five.”
“What happened to the other four?” Bai Liu asked.
A naked look of terror surfaced in the teacher’s eyes.
Lowering her head, she whispered, “The other four children disappeared last night. They sneaked out to the playground after dark to ride the swings and the seesaw. But while they were playing... they vanished.”
“And yet the swings and seesaw kept moving the entire night.”
A violent gust of wind suddenly swept through the courtyard.
The playground equipment behind Bai Liu began creaking and swaying all at once. The temperature plummeted instantly.
The seesaw started rising and falling faster and faster.
The swing arced higher and higher through the air.
Then—
Everything stopped simultaneously.
The swing froze motionless at the peak of its arc despite the wind.
The seesaw ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ hung perfectly suspended in midair like a balanced scale.
It looked as though whatever had been playing there had suddenly jumped off and now stood silently nearby, gripping the equipment while staring at the adults.
A moment later, the suspended seesaw slowly tilted left at an unnatural speed.
Something rolled downward with a hollow clattering sound.
Gulu... gulu...
Bai Liu followed the motion with his eyes.
At the bottom of the seesaw lay a rag doll with its head twisted off.
What had rolled down moments earlier had been the doll’s severed head.
The rag doll wore a white shirt and black trousers. Its limbs and head had all been violently twisted backward. A bizarre smile was stitched across its face, and a cheap coin-shaped necklace hung around its neck.
It was dressed exactly like Bai Liu.
