Bai Six paused briefly on the other end before continuing his explanation.
“Also, last night you didn’t say ‘good evening’ to me. That’s a polite opening usually used by someone speaking to a benefactor while taking their money. Since you’re the benefactor, there’s no reason for you to say it to me.”
“You didn’t say it last night.”
“So starting tonight’s call with ‘good evening’ felt strange.”
That was true.
Thinking back on it, Bai Liu realized he only ever showed exaggerated politeness and formal courtesy toward strangers when there was money to be made. He could say all kinds of ridiculous things in those situations—like calling himself Zhang Kui’s master. He had never consciously noticed that habit himself.
“How did you think of having Mu Ke answer the phone for you?” Bai Liu asked with a faint smile. “And why are you together with Mu Ke tonight? Also, how’s the situation on your side?”
The phones on the players’ side were bound and couldn’t be exchanged.
But the children’s phones were different.
Under the current circumstances, however—when nearly every child had tremendous difficulty even leaving their room to make a call—the idea of one child dragging another child outside, then immediately handing them the phone the moment the line connected...
That was probably something Miao Gaojiang, who had yet to receive even a single call from his child, had never considered.
Children had far lower discipline and execution ability than adults, especially compared to players who had already crawled their way through countless games.
Given how difficult it already was to make these children call in the first place, a little psychopath like Bai Six—someone who would stay awake in the middle of the night for money and even drag Mu Ke all over the courtyard—was honestly surprising even to Bai Liu himself.
Although Bai Liu knew perfectly well that he would do almost anything for money, he still raised an eyebrow slightly when he heard little Mu Ke’s voice after the call connected.
Bai Six reported flatly, “Because there’s a baptism tomorrow, the teachers required us to notify our investors and parents. A lot of children came out tonight to make calls, but so far no one besides me has successfully gotten through.”
“There are also children being lured away by the flute music, so the Deformed Children aren’t chasing us right now. The situation is manageable.”
“As for why I’m with Mu Ke...” Bai Six’s tone turned cold and irritated. “You’re asking something you already know.”
“Didn’t you tell me last night that you’d pay me to look after two children for you?”
“One of them is a blind girl. I now know her name is Liu Jiayi. The other is Mu Ke.”
“I haven’t been able to contact the girl yet, but Mu Ke sleeps in the same room as me. Since I was already planning to call you for money tonight, obviously I would bring him along.”
“My original intention was to let you hear his voice so you could inspect the goods.” Bai Six’s tone remained emotionless. “To confirm that the brat was alive, capable of running around and crying.”
“But I didn’t expect something to happen on your end, so I simply stopped talking and handed him the phone instead, letting him pretend to be your invested child.”
Bai Six paused subtly before directly asking, “Actually, when you told me last night that you’d pay me to help those people... it was really because you wanted Mu Ke to call you tonight, wasn’t it?”
A faint trace of amusement entered Bai Liu’s voice as he leaned lazily against the wall.
“You could say that.”
From the very moment he had told Bai Six, “I’ll pay «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» you if you look after Mu Ke and Liu Jiayi for me,” Bai Liu already knew that Bai Six would absolutely drag one of them out to call him tonight.
His fourteen-year-old self possessed an almost obsessive fixation on money. He would never pass up an opportunity to get paid.
At the same time, Bai Liu had always been someone who respected transactions rather seriously, even as a child. He would not casually deceive his trading partners.
And the best way to prove that the deal had been completed successfully was to let little Mu Ke personally speak to Bai Liu and confirm that he was safe.
And Bai Six had done exactly that.
“You could’ve just directly told me to drag Mu Ke out and call you tonight instead of going around in circles.” Bai Six’s youthful voice sounded unusually cold because of how calm it was. “As long as you pay me, I can do anything for you.”
“But then you would’ve known in advance about my hostile plan toward the other two investors,” Bai Liu replied leisurely. “You would definitely have guessed what I intended to do and what sort of danger I’d face.”
“Once you realized how important this call was to me, you might’ve sold my plan to my enemies in exchange for more money.”
“That’s exactly the sort of thing you would do, isn’t it?”
Silence fell on the other end.
Bai Liu chuckled softly.
“I can’t let you figure out what I’m planning, because you’re also an extremely dangerous person.”
“In fact, in this entire game, I feel that you’re more dangerous to me than anything else.”
“But fortunately, I understand you.”
“And based on that understanding, I can tell you one thing for certain.”
“There will never be anyone in this world more generous to you than me, Bai Six.”
“I can even give you all of my money.”
Bai Liu slowly lowered his eyes.
Because I am you.
And you are me.
Money flowed strangely between them across time and dimensions, but in essence, it all belonged to the same identity—
[Me].
The money Bai Liu possessed belonged simultaneously to both Bai Liu and Bai Six. Yet no matter how it circulated, Bai Liu would never lose a single cent.
“All of your money?” Bai Six’s tone remained cold, but there was faint mockery hidden in it. “Then you really are an exceptionally rare kind-hearted person, Mister Investor. Completely selfless. Completely unselfish.”
“I am selfish.” Bai Liu smiled faintly, utterly unbothered by the sarcasm. “Very selfish. Very greedy. So naturally, I would never treat anyone else this way.”
“But how should I put it...”
“You are the most special person in this world to me.”
“So I will never hold anything back from you.”
Bai Six did not respond.
Instead, he fell into a subtle silence filled with indifference and suspicion.
Bai Liu continued unhurriedly, “But I understand what you’re thinking.”
“You think humans are selfish by nature. Everything they do is ultimately for themselves.”
“So why would an investor like me go against instinct and sacrifice so much for a complete stranger like you?”
“Someone like that simply doesn’t exist in this world.”
“And even if they did, they would only be pretending in order to gain even greater benefits later.”
“After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, right?”
Silence fell again.
Clearly, Bai Liu understood his fourteen-year-old self perfectly.
“I thought the same thing when I was your age.” Bai Liu leaned against the wall, tilting his head back slightly as he closed his eyes.
Perhaps because of his poor physical condition, the special significance this welfare home instance held for him, and the existence of the NPC Bai Six, Bai Liu rarely immersed himself in memories of the past.
What had he been like at fourteen?
He had thought he no longer remembered clearly.
Humans were forgetful creatures by nature.
Maybe memory truly only lasted seven seconds, while everything else was merely fabricated afterward from shallow sensory impressions—lies humans stitched together to deceive themselves, muddle through life, and comfort their own hearts.
But the moment he heard Bai Six’s cold, emotionless voice—
The moment he closed his eyes—
Bai Liu could suddenly remember with absolute clarity exactly what kind of person he had been at fourteen.
Withdrawn.
Cold.
Hopelessly out of place with everything around him.
No one in the welfare home could understand the skinny boy who spent every day reading horror stories and desperately searching for more horror novels and horror games to consume.
At fourteen, Bai Liu was nowhere near as skilled at hiding himself as he was now.
Whenever he looked at people, his gaze naturally carried a trace of rejection. His entire body radiated an icy aura of keep away, so very few children were willing to approach him.
Of course, that also had a lot to do with Bai Liu himself.
While the other children in the welfare home played with donated toy trains and building blocks, Bai Liu preferred grotesque dolls missing limbs and painted in horrifying styles.
While the other children read comic books and fairy tales, Bai Liu sat alone in the corner reading things like The Slender Man Slaying Records—the sort of book no one knew how it had even ended up donated to a welfare home.
But back then, before these little human cubs had been soaked and poisoned by the rules of adult society, every child in the welfare home would still fight desperately over good toys, tasty food, opportunities for adoption, or even a straw mattress that wasn’t quite so damp.
No one taught them to behave that way.
Stepping on others in order to live better was simply instinct.
Bai Liu understood that very early on.
So he distanced himself even further from everyone around him.
Within the welfare home, there were only two people who never fought over those things.
One was Bai Liu.
The other was Lu Yizhan.
Bai Liu simply did not care about those things. What he liked was money, and the welfare home rarely gave cash to children.
As for Lu Yizhan...
It was because he genuinely believed other people needed those things more than he did.
Better food. Better toys. Opportunities to be adopted.
Lu Yizhan foolishly gave all of them away.
And whenever he saw the delighted faces of the people benefiting from his sacrifices, all it took was a simple, shallow “thank you” for that idiot to scratch the back of his head and smile even more brightly than they did.
“I once believed that people who truly sacrifice themselves for others simply didn’t exist in this world,” Bai Liu said quietly. “And even if someone did sacrifice themselves for others, it was only because secular morality had brainwashed them into craving the satisfaction of self-sacrifice.”
“In the end, it was still just another form of self-gratification.”
“Purely good people do not exist in this world.”
“Only purely bad ones do.”
On the other end, Bai Six’s breathing sounded hurried.
He was dragging the softly sobbing little Mu Ke through the welfare home late at night, running while speaking.
But Bai Liu knew he was listening carefully.
The little thing still hadn’t hung up.
Since the phone charged by the minute, he was an extremely hardworking conversation partner.
Though technically still child labor.
A lazy, amused smile slipped into Bai Liu’s voice, as though he had recalled something genuinely funny.
“Then, while I stubbornly believed all of that...”
“I met a complete idiot who insisted on becoming my friend.”
“He kept asking why I was always alone. Even when he was hungry himself, he’d save food to give me. And when he found me reading those bloody, disturbing books, he only froze for a moment before secretly sneaking out to find more for me.”
Bai Liu’s tone remained very calm.
“But from beginning to end, I treated him coldly.”
“He gave and gave without receiving any satisfaction in return.”
“So I thought he would give up very quickly.”
Bai Six finally spoke again.
“Did he?”
“He stayed away from me for a while.” Bai Liu paused. “So I thought he had.”
“Then one afternoon, I saw a [Slender Man] standing behind the courtyard.”
It was an incredibly clumsy Slender Man.
The costume had been crudely sewn together from discarded welfare home bed sheets. The hat was tattered and crooked, looking like some failed elementary-school craft project.
The Slender Man waved its ragged sleeves at Bai Liu and foolishly said hello.
At the time, the horror story Bai Liu reread most often was Slender Man.
Mostly because the welfare home simply didn’t have any other books of that kind.
But Lu Yizhan had probably misunderstood and thought Bai Liu genuinely liked that bizarre urban legend creature.
So the teenage Lu Yizhan secretly stayed up late beneath the blankets making a crude Slender Man doll by hand. Then he pulled it over his head and stood in front of Bai Liu, hopping around foolishly.
He jumped until he was drenched in sweat and breathing hard.
Inside the cheap cloth costume, his eyes were bright and clean, though the skin around them had gone red from lack of sleep.
Lu Yizhan treated Bai Liu the same way other children treated kids who liked cartoon characters—he simply wanted Bai Liu to be happy.
And he never expected Bai Liu to thank him for it.
Of course, Bai Liu hadn’t felt grateful either, because honestly—
“...He’s so stupid,” Bai Six commented expressionlessly.
“Right?” Bai Liu laughed softly. “That’s what I thought too.”
“I looked at him like he was an idiot and very politely explained that I wasn’t some devoted fan of Slender Man. I just liked reading horror stories. I liked watching bizarre, twisted monsters devour humans who did foolish things or made mistakes.”
“I liked horror stories like that.”
Bai Six fell silent for a while before speaking again.
“I like them too. But he probably... wouldn’t.”
It was true.
Normal children generally did not like those things.
At the time, Bai Liu had practically been considered a freak within the welfare home. The books he read and the drawings he made were far too bloody and disturbing, so the teachers watched him closely, convinced he had antisocial tendencies.
Before long, under the teachers’ strict supervision, everything Bai Liu liked was thrown away.
Books.
Games.
Even stuffed toys that Bai Liu happened to look at twice.
They guarded against him as though they were guarding against a future criminal.
And honestly, to a certain extent, that caution wasn’t entirely wrong.
Afterward, Bai Liu learned to hide those blatant interests and pretend to be a child who had “returned to the right path.”
Lu Yizhan himself did not enjoy those strange horror stories or games.
But disliking them didn’t stop him from allowing Bai Liu to like them.
And although he knew Bai Liu was only pretending not to care, he still quietly helped him anyway.
“He really didn’t like those things,” Bai Liu recalled with his eyes still closed. “But that guy was absurdly popular. Somehow, he always managed to scrounge up all kinds of horror novels and horror games.”
“A ridiculous amount of them.”
“Then he’d secretly hide them from the teachers and bring them to me so I could read and play them.”
Bai Six stayed quiet for a long time this time.
Finally, he asked, “Why?”
“I asked him the exact same question.” Bai Liu’s voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. “He said, ‘Aren’t we friends? This is something I can do for you, so I did it.’”
Bai Six sounded genuinely confused now.
“When did you become friends with him? I remember you never agreed to that.”
“I don’t know either,” Bai Liu replied honestly. “Lu Yizhan just decided it by himself.”
“I told him I was probably a freak. That I might do terrible things in the future.”
“And he very seriously told me that if I became a bad person, then he’d become a policeman and arrest me.”
Bai Liu let out a quiet laugh.
“So he told me not to worry. A policeman’s friend couldn’t possibly become a bad person.”
“He played horror games with me for years and years. Later on, he gradually realized that I wasn’t exactly... normal.”
“But even then, he still insisted on being my friend.”
“Why?” Bai Six asked again, sounding more bewildered this time. “You couldn’t even understand each other. What benefit did being friends with you bring him?”
“None at all.” Bai Liu admitted it frankly. “I’m troublesome in every possible sense. I’m not very good at being human.”
“But my friend never became friends with me for any kind of benefit.”
“Then why?” Bai Six pressed.
Bai Liu answered simply.
“He just wanted me to have a friend.”
That was Lu Yizhan’s reason.
Nothing more complicated than that.
He wanted to be friends with Bai Liu.
He wanted Bai Liu to be a little happier.
He wanted Bai Liu to have someone by his side.
There was no pity.
No sympathy.
Lu Yizhan simply thought that way—
So he acted on it.
Lu Yizhan was the first truly strange human being Bai Liu had ever encountered.
His existence almost overturned Bai Liu’s entire worldview.
Here was someone genuinely good, someone with absurdly high moral standards and no selfish motives whatsoever—even if his brain honestly wasn’t very bright.
In Bai Liu’s eyes, Lu Yizhan was practically a textbook example of a self-sacrificing idiot.
And he was the only friend Bai Liu had ever had in his life.
“People like that really do exist in this world,” Bai Liu said softly. “Purely good people.”
“Their existence violates both evolutionary logic and human instinct, so they usually live very difficult lives.”
“But they do exist.”
“And very soon, you’re going to meet one too.”
Yes.
Bai Six, you will meet the friend who plays games with you, dresses up as Slender Man to make you laugh, and stays by your side for many years.
Bai Liu spoke those words silently in his heart.
“That kind of person is incredibly rare, isn’t it?” Bai Six’s tone remained as flat as ever. “The fact that you managed to meet one is already a miracle. I won’t run into some idiot willing to sacrifice himself so one-sidedly.”
“You will.” Bai Liu smiled faintly. “Haven’t you already met me?”
“I know perfectly well that you’re a bad kid, Bai Six. I know you might sell me out.”
“But in the end, I still told you my plan.”
Bai Liu’s voice softened, carrying an almost imperceptible hint of temptation.
“You really are important to me.”
“More important than the plan.”
“More important even than myself.”
“You are the most important person here to me.” Bai Liu smiled lightly. “I promise that I’ll become your strange but reliable friend.”
This time, Bai Six fell silent for a very, very long time.
So long that Bai Liu thought he might have hung up.
Then, stiffly changing the subject, Bai Six asked:
“You like horror games too? Have you played any good ones?”
Bai Liu lowered his eyes casually, the corners of his lips lifting ever so slightly.
“Yes,” he replied slowly. “I’ve played two particularly good ones.”
“One is called Siren Town.”
“And the other is called The Last Train to Blast Off.”
His fourteen-year-old self had actually been fairly easy to deal with.
Back then, someone like Lu Yizhan—a complete idiot overflowing with self-sacrificing sincerity—could still move him emotionally.
But if fourteen-year-old Bai Liu had met the twenty-four-year-old Bai Liu instead...
Things would have become much more complicated.
Bai Liu had no interest in spending his precious time giving psychological counseling to his fourteen-year-old self.
And honestly, he didn’t think Bai Six needed it either.
The only reason he had told such a long story was to prepare the groundwork for persuading Bai Six to fully cooperate with him.
Unfortunately, the most effective tool for controlling Bai Six—points, or more precisely, money—had already been completely thrown away by Bai Liu to Miao Feichi and the others.
That was also an extremely dangerous issue.
At present, the combined points—or wealth—of all the players under Bai Liu’s control were lower than the amount possessed by Miao Feichi’s group.
The very thing that exerted the greatest influence over Bai Six existed in greater quantity on the enemy’s side.
And tomorrow, once Bai Six met them in person, this frighteningly sharp child would immediately realize that fact:
Bai Liu did not have as much money as Miao Feichi and the others.
That would become troublesome.
Given Bai Liu’s understanding of himself, once Bai Six understood that they were enemies, he would inevitably lean toward the richer side.
He would very likely sell Bai Liu’s information directly to Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang.
Bai Liu knew better than anyone that his fourteen-year-old self was not an obedient child.
Right now, Bai Six obeyed only money.
Even if betraying Bai Liu would eventually get himself killed, Bai Six wouldn’t care.
At fourteen, his obsession with money had surpassed even his instinct for self-preservation.
So Bai Liu needed something besides money to restrain Bai Six from causing trouble for profit.
And that thing had to possess value equal to money itself.
Based on Bai Liu’s own experiences, the greatest force capable of restraining him had always been Lu Yizhan.
For so many years, Lu Yizhan had successfully kept the money-obsessed Bai Liu from crossing the line into crime.
Part of the reason was Lu Yizhan’s absurd persistence and his stubborn determination to remain Bai Liu’s friend.
But there was another important reason.
Bai Liu had always been deeply curious about Lu Yizhan.
He was, by nature, a curious person—someone fascinated by strange things, abnormal behaviors, and people who did not act like ordinary humans.
And throughout all those years, his curiosity toward Lu Yizhan had never faded.
Bai Liu wanted to know how long Lu Yizhan—a freak just like himself—could continue remaining a good person.
He wanted to understand what truly drove Lu Yizhan’s actions.
When that curiosity became strong enough, it could even suppress Bai Liu’s desire for money to a certain degree.
Lu Yizhan did not exist within this instance.
So Bai Liu told Bai Six about someone like him—
And then quietly stepped into Lu Yizhan’s role himself.
He extracted the one quality from Lu Yizhan that had once restrained him most effectively:
Curiosity.
Bai Six had begun to grow curious about him.
He wanted to understand Bai Liu’s motives.
And that curiosity was the beginning of everything.
Just as it once had been for Bai Liu and Lu Yizhan.
