Bai Liu's ambush had indeed made Miao Gaojiang panic for a moment. But once he calmed down, he realized they couldn't possibly lose.
Miao Gaojiang patiently toyed with the constantly attacking Bai Liu, dangling him like a monkey. From time to time, he glanced sideways at the battle between Miao Feichi and Liu Huai.
Liu Huai was indeed a capable assassin when it came to offense, but Bai Liu was not a competent thief.
Bai Liu hadn't stolen anything that would allow them to retreat in time. Liu Huai, a player ill-suited for head-on combat, soon began to falter under Miao Feichi's close-range assault.
Miao Feichi tore open a bag of mental bleach with his teeth. The combined effect of his attacks and dropping mental value drove him into mania, the twin blades in his hands flashing wildly.
Liu Huai was clearly struggling against the rampaging senior player. Miao Feichi had no intention of playing with him. With a clean cross-slash of his twin blades, he activated a skill and severed Liu Huai's arms before turning to rejoin Miao Gaojiang.
[System notification: Player Miao Feichi has attacked Liu Huai with his twin blades. Attack successful. Player Liu Huai's health has decreased by 17. Remaining health: 20.]
Removing an opponent's attacking limb was a common and effective strategy in the game. In essence, severing an arm was a crude form of disarmament, preventing the player from using weapon-based skills. That was why Liu Huai had cut off Mu Sicheng's hands.
And it was why Bai Liu, before—and now Miao Feichi—had chosen to sever Liu Huai's arms.
Blood sprayed from Liu Huai's shoulders as his arms and daggers fell to the ground together with a crisp clang. Liu Huai collapsed to his knees, his face pale as soaked paper. He gasped for breath, clearly stripped of any offensive capability.
He had done his best. This was as long as he could delay Miao Feichi.
[System warning: Player Liu Huai's mental value is fluctuating violently and has dropped to 57. Hallucinations are imminent. Please restore mental value immediately.]
Normally, Miao Feichi would have finished Liu Huai off. But time was tight. Killing an A-grade panel player would still take some effort. And right now, there was someone he wanted to kill even more.
Miao Feichi gritted his teeth and turned, blades flashing. "Bai Liu—!"
He crouched and vaulted over the wall, twin blades surging with violent, destructive force as he slashed toward Bai Liu, who was still attacking Miao Gaojiang. The wall split beneath his blades, wallpaper and plaster exploding outward. Debris filled the air.
Midair, Bai Liu twisted sideways and raised his claws to block the descending twin slashes.
For a brief moment, Mu Sicheng's Monkey Hand skill held the blades back. Most of the force was deflected—but not all of it. Miao Feichi, consumed by fury, forced the strike through. One of Bai Liu's arms was severed, blood spraying into the air.
[System warning: Player Bai Liu's health has dropped from 6 to 3! Health continues to decline! Please leave the dangerous area immediately!]
One more slash. Just one more, and Bai Liu would be dead.
Liu Huai lay in a pool of blood, coughing weakly. As his mental value plummeted, the world around him began to distort and slow, as if viewed through a broken camera running at a millionth speed. Sound vanished. All he could see was Bai Liu's blood-soaked arm falling slowly through the air.
And Bai Liu's unmoving eyes seemed to meet his.
That gaze yanked Liu Huai out of the distorted world. He shook his head violently and struggled to rise.
It wasn't over. It wasn't over yet.
In Bai Liu's plan, this was only the beginning.
For Jiayi—Bai Liu must not die.
Liu Huai forced his gaze downward, searching the ground. At last, he found them: the severed arms still loosely gripping their daggers.
The dagger tips glinted faintly with blood. Liu Huai's eyes locked onto that crimson shimmer.
Bai Liu was locked in combat with Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang. No one noticed this blood-soaked corner.
Liu Huai's expression hardened.
Kneeling, he dragged himself forward. He crawled to where his arms lay. Staring at the upward-pointing dagger, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes—and threw himself onto the blade.
[System warning: Player Liu Huai has been struck by the Shadow Dagger. Mental value decreasing… Calculating mental value reduction caused by the player's own skill weapon… Calculation complete. Player Liu Huai's mental value has dropped to 7.]
[System warning: Player Liu Huai has activated the Rage Panel.]
[Player Liu Huai's Personal Panel (Rage State)]
Mental Value: 57 → 7Physical Strength: 39 → 319Agility: 1140 → 1510Attack Power: 731 → 2200Resistance: 1003 → 2100
[Comprehensive combat stats have exceeded 5000. Player rating upgraded to A++ level. Player Liu Huai has advanced from A to A++.]
[System notification: Does player Liu Huai wish to activate the skill "One Hit Flash"? After full activation, the skill will upgrade to A++ level. Physical strength will be overdrawn and cannot be restored with recovery agents for 24 hours.]
Liu Huai pushed himself upright. Blood covered his body. His arms lay discarded on the floor. He gripped a dagger between his teeth, eyes cold and inorganic. There was a desperation and sorrow in his expression that made him look like a true assassin—one trained to kill at any cost.
Bai Liu was the one who wielded this assassin.
And likely the last one.
Tears gathered in Liu Huai's eyes.
[I am sure.]
[System notification: Player Liu Huai has confirmed activation. Dagger attack +6037. Panel attack bonus +2200. Total attack value: 8237. Physical strength rapidly declining…]
Miao Feichi's twin blades were about to fall when a cold wind brushed his back. A sharp sense of danger flared. His battle-honed instincts forced him to turn.
He saw Liu Huai—armless, dagger clenched between his teeth—charging at him. His eyes burned with grim resolve.
"Feichi, be careful!" Miao Gaojiang yanked Miao Feichi aside.
But Liu Huai reacted instantly. Lowering his body while biting down on the dagger, he shifted targets mid-charge. With a twisted, ferocious expression, he let out a silent roar and drove the dagger viciously into Miao Gaojiang's abdomen.
"How can you…" Miao Gaojiang stared at the blade embedded in him. "…break through my defense?"
[System notification: Player Liu Huai has activated One Hit Flash. Critical hit has broken through Player Miao Gaojiang's defense. Target stiffened for 30 seconds. Mental value reduced to 51. Hallucinations imminent. Defense value declining due to mental shock…]
As Miao Gaojiang stiffened, Bai Liu felt it—the once iron-hard skin had softened.
He seized the opening.
With his only remaining Monkey Hand, Bai Liu lunged toward Miao Gaojiang.
Miao Feichi, dragged aside moments earlier, saw Bai Liu's movement. His eyes turned bloodshot.
"Don't you fucking dare touch my father!"
His twin blades rose high—one aimed at Bai Liu, the other slashing toward Liu Huai.
Liu Huai ripped the dagger from Miao Gaojiang's abdomen. His strength was nearly gone. He barely managed to dodge Miao Feichi's strike. He had no power left to counter.
Meanwhile, Bai Liu didn't even glance at the blade descending toward him. His eyes were utterly focused. Life and death no longer mattered. The Monkey Hand continued reaching for Miao Gaojiang.
He entrusted his back to Liu Huai—the armless assassin.
This had been their plan from the beginning.
"…I don't think I can stab Miao Gaojiang and then block Miao Feichi's attack. This is too risky. Bai Liu, if you give me your back, you'll die!"
"You cooperated with Mu Sicheng many times. He gave you his back. You didn't let him die."
"…But I let him lose his hands."
"You betrayed Mu Sicheng with that dagger. But when the time comes, you won't even have arms to betray me. Liu Huai—my rule is simple. Before anything happens, I assume the other person can do it. You can do it. Right?"
As his mental value collapsed, Liu Huai's vision blurred.
Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu's faces overlapped in front of him. The familiar coordinated assault made it impossible to tell them apart—the thief who stole wildly in front, trusting the rear without hesitation.
"Brother Si…" Liu Huai mouthed silently.
The betrayal was like a dagger lodged in his own heart.
Crying without realizing it, Liu Huai threw himself into Miao Feichi's path. He shielded Bai Liu. He didn't know whether the one behind him was Bai Liu or Mu Sicheng.
He only knew what the assassin in a thief-and-assassin pair was meant to do—
Stand at the rear and eliminate every obstacle for the reckless monkey thief.
Miao Feichi couldn't withdraw his blades in time. They plunged deep into Liu Huai's body as he screamed, covering Bai Liu.
At that same moment, Bai Liu turned his head. His Monkey Hand finally hooked onto Miao Gaojiang.
[System warning: Player Liu Huai has been struck by Miao Feichi's twin blades. Health dropping: 17…16…14…4 remaining! Leave the dangerous area immediately! Health continuing to decline!]
[System notification: Player Bai Liu has successfully stolen: Siren's Fishbone, Ghost Mirror (fully fused)… and other items.]
From Miao Gaojiang's body, Bai Liu pulled out a white, fluorescent whip.
Still stiffened, Miao Gaojiang could only watch as Bai Liu swung the whip without hesitation toward Miao Feichi's twin blades.
In the hands of an F-grade panel player, Siren's Fishbone couldn't unleash much raw power.
But it had one unique bug—
Its attack judgment was overwhelmingly strong.
A strong attack judgment meant that, regardless of whether the item actually dealt damage, the attack would still be recognized as valid.
Bai Liu's whip lashed out at Miao Feichi's twin blades and instantly knocked them aside. Liu Huai, who had been struck by the blades moments earlier, felt his legs give out. His eyes were unfocused as he collapsed to his knees on the blood-soaked floor.
[System warning: Player Liu Huai has only 2 health remaining! Please leave the dangerous area immediately!]
Miao Gaojiang's thirty seconds of stiffness were nearly over. Yet an inexplicable sense of unease filled him as he stared at the unresponsive Liu Huai and Bai Liu, whose health was nearly depleted. One more strike from Miao Feichi would be enough to finish them both.
Even if they had successfully stolen something, there was no way to overturn the situation. None of the items in that pile could turn defeat into victory.
So where was this suffocating sense of crisis coming from?
Miao Gaojiang quickly reviewed the items Bai Liu had taken. They were all things Bai Liu had deliberately dropped earlier while pretending to be dead.
He made such a huge move just to retrieve items he abandoned during a trick?
Wait. That wasn't right.
Miao Gaojiang's eyes froze as he recalled a very peculiar item—something that both belonged to Bai Liu and didn't belong to him.
The Ghost Mirror.
After collecting all the shattered pieces the previous night, they had reassembled it. But the mirror had shown no special function. The system provided no clear description, and its attributes were unknown. It could only be used once per instance and required independent exploration.
Yet after assembling it, the mirror showed no reaction. It looked like an ordinary mirror—except that it could store objects inside.
Miao Feichi had even complained about it for a long time.
"That's it? A storage device shaped like a mirror? Isn't the system backpack good enough? Who would risk storing things in this? What if it disappears halfway?"
But one thing had indeed been stored inside the Ghost Mirror—
The bomb from "Exploding Last Train."
Miao Gaojiang hadn't paid attention to it. With his resistance and skills, a bomb like that wouldn't kill him easily. Under his protection, Miao Feichi wouldn't die either. His reasoning had been correct: there was no single item in the backpack capable of killing them outright.
What he hadn't anticipated—
Was it someone in this instance who could immobilize him for thirty seconds?
He himself might survive the blast with his defenses.
But Miao Feichi, whose resistance was far lower, would never survive a close-range explosion.
Miao Gaojiang had never imagined Bai Liu would actually use the bomb. After all, even if he and Miao Feichi survived, Bai Liu and Liu Huai—both with critically low health—would certainly die.
These two lunatics weren't executing a coordinated thief-and-assassin ambush.
This was a suicidal assault. Bai Liu was aiming for mutual destruction. From beginning to end, he hadn't been trying to steal—
He had been trying to kill them.
"Feichi! Don't attack! Stay away from them!" Miao Gaojiang broke free from the stiffness, his eyes bloodshot as he roared hoarsely. "Hide behind me!"
Bai Liu stood with one foot on the bookcase and the other on the tall frame of the Ghost Mirror. Crouched atop the mirror, his intact monkey hand rested casually on his bent knee as blood dripped down and splattered across the mirror's surface.
He held the faintly glowing fishbone whip. A gash on his forehead had soaked his eyelashes red, but he kept his eyes open.
A peaceful smile spread across his bloodstained face as he looked down at Miao Feichi—still recovering—and at Miao Gaojiang, who was shouting in panic.
Bai Liu slowly reached his hand into the mirror, as if pulling something out with deliberate force.
"It's too late, Father Miao," Bai Liu said with a smile. "Isn't it nice to see your son die? Still, let me reassure you—I wouldn't do something as cruel as separating father and son. You'll both die together. Well… not exactly together. Your resistance is higher than his. You'll get to watch your son die first before accompanying him."
Miao Feichi had already hidden behind Miao Gaojiang. He didn't fully understand what was happening, but judging from his father's reaction, it was no trivial matter.
Miao Gaojiang looked up at Bai Liu, barefoot atop the mirror, and forced himself to remain calm. "The explosive power of that bomb can't kill me."
Under normal circumstances, it would take at least five such explosions to kill him.
Bai Liu lifted his blood-dyed eyelids and gazed down at them without emotion—like a god passing judgment out of boredom.
"You might think this bomb can't kill you because of your high resistance," Bai Liu said calmly. "But you've forgotten something."
"You're not just a player. You're also a monster."
"—A terminally ill monster that feeds on children's blood. And monsters have weaknesses."
Miao Gaojiang's breathing halted. His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
He knew.
If a player possessed a monster identity, they would inherit that monster's weaknesses. The effect might normally be minor—but in a critical moment, even a small weakness could become the final straw.
This place was damp and dark—perfect for cultivating mushrooms.
The patients' weaknesses had been obvious from the beginning. The system simply hadn't sold any related items.
"You can't tolerate light," Bai Liu said as ripples spread across the mirror's surface. He pulled out a massive black bomb. "You can't tolerate fire. Or dryness."
He tossed it to the ground. The bomb detonated in a blaze of heat and blinding light.
The red glow swallowed Bai Liu's calm expression and Liu Huai's hollow gaze.
Miao Gaojiang screamed, "STOP—!!!"
The entire building shook with a deafening explosion. Smoke and flames erupted outward.
[Love Welfare Institute Monster Book Updated — Plant Patient (2/3)]
[Monster Name: Plant Patient]
[Features: Movement Speed 500; requires abundant water; prefers humid environments]
[Weaknesses: Blood Ganoderma Lucidum, dryness, light (3/3)]
[Attack Method: Drains bodily fluids; poisonous mist contamination.]
[Congratulations to Player Bai Liu for collecting the Plant Patient page of the Monster Book.]
[System notification: Player Bai Liu has used the Ghost Mirror once. The item has entered cooldown in the "Love Welfare Institute" instance and cannot be used again.]
—————————————————
"So?" Bai Liu (6) asked with rare curiosity as he read the Monster Book interface. "How did you survive? I heard what you said earlier. Liu Jiayi's brother, Liu Huai, survived too. How did you survive that explosion?"
Bai Liu replied lazily, "At the last moment before the blast, I dragged Liu Huai into the mirror with the whip. The Ghost Mirror can withstand explosions, so we were lucky. Honestly, I thought I would die. My health was too low—any slight contact with the explosion would've killed me. I passed out from the blast and only just woke up."
"Are the Miao father and son dead?" Bai Liu (6) asked.
"Unfortunately, no." Bai Liu showed no frustration—only a calm assessment. "I miscalculated. I don't know what method Miao Gaojiang used, but he attacked himself and lowered his mental value below 20. The Rage panel let him endure the explosion."
"Still, their health dropped significantly. The nurses arrived quickly and dragged them to surgery. At the very least, they won't interfere with you tomorrow. The nurses won't allow it, and the welfare home won't reopen immediately."
"Several investors' rooms were destroyed. The Blood Ganoderma on the beds is being salvaged. Tomorrow's matching has been canceled. Overall, my objective was achieved."
Bai Liu (6) remained silent for a long time. He could hear only Bai Liu's increasingly weak breathing.
It felt… unpleasant.
He wanted to ask about Bai Liu's condition—but asking felt unnecessary. So silence lingered.
"Hello?" Bai Liu said lightly. "If you're not going to talk, I'll report you for passive chatting and scamming me out of money."
"How are you?" Bai Liu (6) finally asked expressionlessly. "It's a bit disgusting, but I need to know your condition. After all, you're risking your life to create an opportunity for me."
Bai Liu lay on the ground, one arm severed, unable to move. With difficulty, he held the phone in his remaining hand and stared up at the ceiling—now torn open by his own explosion.
There were no stars outside. Only endless night.
The sky above and the scorched ground beneath him were the same color—charred black. For a moment, he felt as if he were already dead, like a drifting soul calling his fourteen-year-old self beneath a starless sky.
"It's fine," Bai Liu said with a tired smile. "Everyone's still alive."
"We did well tonight."