The colorful, rectangular, curved parachute swung violently in the gusting wind, tugging at Bai Liu, who hung from the cord below, tossing him from side to side.
Land was finally near. Below lay a base, its lights flickering dimly—the same base from which body parts had been stolen in the game.
Bai Liu had planned to avoid landing here, yet a sudden gust of wind dragged him toward it.
—Like some mysterious, inexorable destiny.
Through his goggles, Bai Liu scanned the base, spotting a remote depot. He tugged at the parachute cord, leaned back, and adjusted his landing spot. Calmly, he controlled his descent, already strategizing for when he touched down. The package on his back contained a knife—designed to cut a tangled parachute cord. Not new, not fancy, but extremely sharp.
If the game's scenario held true and the body parts were found by the Edmond Observatory and seized by force, this knife could serve more than one purpose.
In the game, the first people to discover the body parts were unarmed, ordinary Observatory researchers. Bai Liu's mind raced: I should be able to kill them all and destroy the bodies.
A violation of the legal boundaries Lu Yizhan had always imposed—but he could.
The massive base lay shrouded in the hazy Antarctic night. Nights here were long and cold; few ventured out except the occasional cameraman chasing the Aurora Borealis. Locals, weary from winter isolation, slept soundly under warm blankets, unaware of the parachute descending from the sky.
There were exceptions. The base sheriff, on routine patrol, spotted the landing. Half-awake, he scrambled to alert his superiors.
Bai Liu hit the freshly fallen snow, rolling several times to absorb the impact. He coughed up snow and squinted at the distant, dimly lit base. The blizzard reduced visibility to a vague outline of a warehouse nearby. A large fuel drum, marked with a skull and crossbones, had toppled near the back door—likely containing strong acids or fuel oil.
He couldn't stay. These substances could destroy the body parts. Whoever orchestrated this wanted him cornered—forced to confront his weaknesses.
[—If you don't destroy your weakness, you can be controlled. If you don't want to be controlled, you have to kill the one trying to control you.]
Bai Liu chose.
Knee-deep in snow, he hoisted the bundle on his back, moved away from the base, and buried the body parts in a snow pit. The snow quickly erased his footprints. Heart aching from the Ice Age aftermath, he paused briefly before regaining composure. He retrieved the knife from the discarded bundle.
Without emotion, Bai Liu gripped the hilt and approached the warehouse, hiding behind the door, waiting for the right moment. He had chosen the second path: preventing everything by killing the unknowing civilians with his own hands.
Above, the prophet in the pantheon closed his eyes.
"He could have stopped them without… killing them," he muttered hoarsely.
The hooded man smiled knowingly. "No. If Bai Liu doesn't kill them, even one survivor will report the body parts. They acted blindly but dutifully. Tragedies happen because human desire never ends. As long as such things exist, people will sacrifice anything to obtain them. That's why Bai Liu's method is clean—kill the first discoverer, and the gold mine remains hidden. He monopolizes it."
"Clever," the man continued. "Bai Liu already anticipated me. There were safer, indirect paths—but all carried latent risk. I could interfere anytime. So in the end—"
"—Bai Liu did exactly what I wanted to see."
On the tabletop, the werewolf card glowed red, its eyes fixed on the civilian card. A silent omen of death.
"This is the first time the werewolf card has killed a civilian in this world line," the prophet remarked casually. "Isn't that what you wanted to see?"
The man looked up at the seer with a pleasant expression. "Bai Liu let me have my wish and, by doing so, prevented me from manipulating fate."
He lifted his hand from the tabletop and, with a courteous sweep toward the cards, added with a smile, "If Bai Liu is willing to manipulate the world the way Bai Liu (6) does, then I would indeed be happy to cede control of the world to him."
The hooded man gracefully stepped back from the table, observing the character cards he had rearranged.
"He is my chosen heir to the evil god, and this is what he deserves."
He raised his head, smiled at the seer—whose petrification had crept to his heart, bent slightly, and sighed regretfully.
"You've lost again, prophet."
As the petrification bizarrely receded from the prophet's neck, the man raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, glancing back at the table.
The werewolf card bared its fangs—but instead of attacking the civilian card, it turned sharply and bit down on the [Idiot card]!
"The Idiot werewolf, with full luck points, cannot be taken away," the man said, sitting back down, his face now blank. "Bai Liu—what's going on?"
Outside the windy, snowy warehouse:
Du Sanying's perfect luck score guided him to land precisely near Bai Liu. Yet the snowstorm's poor visibility kept him searching in vain; he could only spot Bai Liu's parachute.
What Du Sanying didn't know was that Bai Liu was already hiding on the far side of the warehouse, waiting for the observation team.
Luck struck again when a group of torch-bearing men approached. They first found Du Sanying, half-frozen.
The moment they tried to rescue him, Bai Liu leapt from behind and pressed a short knife to his throat. "Don't come any closer! I'll kill anyone who does!"
Du Sanying nearly went into cardiac arrest. His panic immediately alarmed the scientific team, who nervously tried to dissuade him in English.
Finally, one team member realized the two men appeared Asian. They fumbled through Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, then called over an Asian researcher to communicate.
"H-Hello," the team member said warily, motioning downwards at the knife. "Can you put it down first? What are you doing?"
Bai Liu replied in English, voice calm but eyes hostile: "I've been laid off, and I want revenge on society. I'm going to blow up all of Antarctica, and I want all of you high-end talents buried with me!"
He kicked a fuel drum beside him in manic fury.
Du Sanying whispered, bewildered: "…Bai Liu, what are you doing?"
"Distracting them," Bai Liu said. "The one behind the curtain has limited influence on the [real world]. He cannot trigger random events like in the game. He can only use weather, people, and heretics to control a world not fully contaminated. All of these factors are limited here in Antarctica—extreme weather, no heretics, very few people."
He whispered close to Du Sanying's ear. "This is why Antarctica is ideal for hiding body parts. Your luck is 100%. Now I'm holding you hostage. To rescue you, either the other five escorts land here, or the domestic observatory takes over."
Du Sanying, confused but understanding enough, dutifully played the role of the innocent hostage.
The isolated researchers, having witnessed two Asians fighting and one threatening to blow up the base, quickly contacted the domestic observatory. Communication in Chinese was limited, and immediate action was urgent.
Just as Du Sanying exhaled in relief, a sudden gust of wind whipped across the ground, scattering pale body parts before the men, draped in only a thin winter jacket. Du Sanying recognized it as Bai Liu's.
Everyone froze, mesmerized, attempting to pick them up.
Bai Liu pressed the knife harder against Du Sanying's neck, stepping forward. His voice was cold, almost frozen: "Get out of here."
The men retreated, gaining only a glimmer of awareness. "What is this? Whose body parts? Did you… kill him?"
Bai Liu's eyes were expressionless. "Yes. I killed him. I split him up and hid him in the snow. If you don't want to die, get out. I'm going to blow up the base."
The group hesitated, intimidated by the threat of death. Bai Liu swayed on his feet, clinging to Du Sanying's back.
Du Sanying steadied him, dizzy at the sight of the body parts.
"Go and open the warehouse door. You can do it," Bai Liu said hoarsely. "There's a lot of fuel inside. An explosion hazard—they won't dare come in."
Du Sanying staggered to the warehouse door and found a key frozen in place. He warmed it briefly and then managed to turn it.
When he opened the warehouse, Du Sanying turned to shout at Bai Liu to come over, but his voice caught in his throat and died down.
He saw Bai Liu kneeling on the ground, carefully gathering the body parts in his cold-weather suit, brushing off the snow, and covering them with his own jacket.
Bai Liu wrapped the body parts close to his chest, clutching them where it was warmest, then staggered to his feet and headed deeper into the warehouse.
The scene felt oddly familiar. Du Sanying shivered, as if he had been on his knees long ago, holding the body parts of his family in his arms, pretending they were alive, weeping helplessly.
Once inside, Du Sanying locked the door behind him. Bai Liu sat in the corner, head hanging, face pale, and lips dark and bloodless from the cold.
Du Sanying felt anxious but afraid to approach—the pile of body parts in Bai Liu's arms was too heavy.
He hurried around the warehouse and found the hot-air switch still functional. Turning it on, he sank against the wall, holding two large red-painted chemical cans.
Fuel, corrosive liquids, and other hazardous substances.
Bai Liu remained in the corner, the bruising from the cold slowly fading from his face. For a moment, everything seemed to be looking up.
Then, ten minutes later, the sound of a key turning outside shattered the brief calm—the group was coming again.
Outside, the intruders muttered about the corpse as they fumbled with the key. Du Sanying jumped up just as the key snapped in the lock. The warehouse door was completely secured.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the men didn't give up. They shifted positions.
A small high window at the back had been wiped clean, and a stream of people pressed their faces against it, unseeing, staring at the body in Bai Liu's arms.
They began hammering at the window, trying to squeeze through the tiny opening.
Du Sanying scrambled to the window and blocked it with his back. Once again, luck favored him—the intruders fell as they tried to climb in.
Gritting his teeth, he listened to the sounds of men tumbling into the snow, folding his hands in a silent prayer of apology: "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
The pause was short. The roar of approaching snowmobiles grew louder.
Peering out, Du Sanying saw a neat line of snowmobiles, their headlights blazing, sleds plowing through the snow like a pack of wild dogs, glowing eyes and teeth bared.
—They were trying to push the warehouse itself with the snowmobiles.
Are they crazy? The whole warehouse will explode!
Terrified, Du Sanying tumbled from the small window and fell to his knees in front of Bai Liu. "Bai Liu! Bai Liu! Wake up! The warehouse is going to explode!"
Bai Liu's eyes were half-closed, as if in a deep, exhausted sleep, unresponsive.
Desperate, Du Sanying tried to shake him, but the body parts in Bai Liu's arms kept him at a distance.
"Bai Liu, wake up! You'll die if the warehouse blows! Get up and run!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
He hurled objects at Bai Liu, hoping to rouse him. But Bai Liu only tilted his head slightly, blood seeping from his mouth, breathing shallow.
Frantically, Du Sanying threw the body parts aside, knelt, and slapped Bai Liu's face. "Hey! Don't die! Didn't you say no one could harm you? Stay alive!"
Outside, lights flashed, and snowmobiles roared through the night. Du Sanying clutched Bai Liu's fallen head. "Help! Someone help him!"
The body parts he had thrown aside began to move, assembling as if alive, forming a cracked but complete statue. Blood coursed through its veins, connecting the pieces.
At last, the statue stood. Eyes closed, body cracked, yet otherwise eerily human.
Du Sanying slowly stopped crying.
The statue stepped forward, gently taking Bai Liu from Du Sanying's arms. With eyes closed and head bowed, it spoke softly: "Thank you for taking care of Bai Liu."
The voice was faint and broken, like the statue itself, yet its sincerity was undeniable.
Du Sanying shook his head in astonishment and stepped back several paces before answering carefully, "No… you're welcome."
After a pause, he whispered, "Are you… alive?"
The statue shook its head. "I am a monster."
Du Sanying glanced at Bai Liu, still resting on the statue's shoulder. "Bai Liu and you… What's your relationship?"
The statue was silent for a moment. "He is someone very important to me."
Du Sanying exhaled, relief softening his tension. "So you can save him, right?"
"I am here to save him." The statue lowered its head, seeming to want to open its eyes to look at Bai Liu, then hesitated. "Can you please turn your head? You cannot see my eyes, but I would like to see him."
Du Sanying, inexplicably flushed, covered his ears and looked away, murmuring a few embarrassed sounds.
Xie Ta lowered his head, opening silvery-blue eyes, gazing at Bai Liu with full attention. He wiped the blood from the corner of Bai Liu's mouth with his thumb and smiled faintly.
"You've worked hard."
He bowed and pressed a reverent kiss to Bai Liu's forehead.
"It's almost over. Forgive me for not daring to meet you like this; it wouldn't look right."
The roar outside the warehouse grew louder. Du Sanying turned uneasily, only to see Xie Ta holding Bai Liu securely.
"Bai Liu was injured in the game. Please continue to take care of him."
Du Sanying panicked. "What about the people outside?"
"It's not their fault." Xie Ta stood before the rattling warehouse door, voice flat, expression as cold as snow. "It's the fault of the new evil god, who used me to lure them. It was my fault the old evil god fell. I shouldn't exist. Bai Liu will be controlled because of me."
Xie Ta's hands poured fuel along the sides of the warehouse. Sparks leapt from his pale fingertips, igniting Bai Liu's winter jacket. Strong acid from the window joined the flames.
Smoke billowed and fire roared.
An ethereal, unreal voice emerged from the blaze: "After I am burned, all traces of my existence will be erased—including Bai Liu's memories, the game data, everything I gave him."
Du Sanying was stunned. "How… how is this happening?"
The reverse cross and fish-scale pendant around Bai Liu's neck turned to powder. The fishbone whip on the system panel dulled and vanished.
An ear-splitting system announcement spanned all game areas:
[System Notification: Data in all areas of God-level wandering NPC has begun to be cleared…]
[System Notification: Data cleanup complete. God-level NPC bug fully erased. Players may now enjoy the game—no more God-level NPCs roaming major scenes.]
The fire continued, the voice fading like a dream.
"Du Sanying, sometimes not remembering anything isn't a bad thing," it said.
Bai Liu leaned against Du Sanying's arm, eyes opening weakly. Dark pupils reflected the leaping firelight, a tear sliding down to his jaw.
"I hate you, Xie Ta," Bai Liu whispered. "I hate you."
From the fire came a soft reply: "I love you."
Sparks died to ash, smoke cleared, leaving nothing—not even ashes remained.
Outside, the snowmobiles' roar faded to confused chatter. They soon drove off, leaving Du Sanying stunned, staring at the burn marks in front of him.
Bai Liu collapsed onto the cold ground, clutching his chest in excruciating pain, vomiting blood. Blood poured from his ears, eyes, and nose. He coughed violently, clots flying.
Du Sanying's adrenaline surged. He grabbed Bai Liu and ran outside, shouting, "Someone! Come help! He's vomiting blood!"
Bai Liu's eyes closed. The last thing he saw was the blackened burn marks on the ground.
Du Sanying, hands covered in blood, sat stunned outside the warehouse. Bai Liu was rushed to the nearest hospital, straight to the ICU.
Doctors moved with tense expressions, signaling that Bai Liu's condition was critical. Du Sanying stopped one, asking in broken English, "How is Bai Liu?"
"He's out of immediate danger," the doctor said, relief and excitement mixed on his tired face.
"It's a miracle he survived. His heart had been cut open and reconnected—a precise operation. But parachuting and strenuous activity caused the connections to split, leading to severe internal bleeding. Almost no one survives this. I don't know who managed to keep his blood loss limited until now."
"He should be stable. But he's not awake yet—let him rest."
Dazed, Du Sanying thanked the doctor and borrowed a satellite phone to call home. Tang Erda answered immediately.
"What's your status? Where are the five team members?"
"I'm fine. They should be fine, too. But Bai Liu… he's in the hospital, still in a coma."
"Bai Liu?! What happened?!" Mu Sicheng grabbed the phone, furious.
Muke's voice followed, tense: "Did something happen during transport?"
Liu Jiayi, quick on the uptake: "The five escorts are fine, so it wasn't transit. Was it the item or game-related?"
"Both, I guess," Du Sanying sighed. "The transport items were burned. Bai Liu's injuries seem carried over from the game, not the transport."
Mu Sicheng sounded suspicious: "Carried out of the game?"
"Yes. Only if the player experiences it physically. Bai Liu didn't drop 60 mental points below in the last game, so the illusion couldn't have formed."
Du Sanying admitted his confusion: "I don't know."
Liu Jiayi pressed, "What injury?"
Du Sanying answered: "Heart."
"The doctor said someone had cut open his heart."