1:30 a.m., Dangerous Heretics Handling Bureau Base.
Bai Liu might've been captured, but he slept peacefully against the wall. The patrols' footsteps outside were loud, yet they didn't disturb him in the slightest.
His eyes were closed, his eyelids unmoving. The patrol members ordered by Tang Erda to check on Bai Liu's condition were speechless.
"This man's psychological resilience is too strong..."
"I'm starting to wonder if he really is a heretic..."
"Hey, do you think he can really solve the rose dry leaf gas problem? The bureau said the situation is very serious. Most of the personnel have been transferred to deal with it. There aren't many people left at the base, and many team members are still out on missions..."
"Is the third team investigating the perfume factory tomorrow?"
"I heard Vice-Captain Su is leading the team. Many members of the first two teams started to wither soon after returning. The heretic this time is too terrifying. It's already classified as a third-degree heretic..."
Not long after they left, Bai Liu—who had appeared to be sound asleep—silently opened his eyes. He counted the seconds in his mind. The patrols passed by every five minutes, roughly 300 seconds each round.
Bai Liu took the Game Manager coin from around his neck and narrowed his eyes.
He had lost the inverse cross and the scale. Most of his special items couldn't be used in reality.
There was only one thing he could still use. Bai Liu possessed an item that aligned with his core desire and could function in reality—it was money.
This Magic Space item controlled the entry and exit of people, but it couldn't control the flow of material objects. In other words, money could freely enter and leave this space.
Then what if Bai Liu himself became a piece of money?
The operating principle of an extraordinary-rated item capable of trapping people inside and outside the game should function at the soul level. If Bai Liu exited this Magic Space in the form of a soul banknote, would the space release him, unable to continue restraining him?
Bai Liu slowly pulled a soul banknote from his pocket.
The banknote bore the indifferent face of little Bai Liu (6). It had been created when half of Bai Liu (6)'s soul was imprisoned in his wallet for defaulting on a transaction in the last game.
Bai Liu looked down at the soul banknote, lowered his head, and smiled.
Now the only problem left was getting the patrols to open the door for him.
—————————————————
Fifteen minutes later, a patrolman opened the small observation window to check on Bai Liu.
But what he saw wasn't the familiar sight of Bai Liu sleeping peacefully. Instead, a steady stream of coins began pouring out of the window.
A mixture of small bills and various coins spilled outward continuously. It was as if the patrolman hadn't opened a room imprisoning the heretic Bai Liu, but a coin dispenser overflowing with money.
Coins and banknotes mingled together, forming a metallic stream flowing from the opening.
Among them was a banknote folded into a triangular shape.
This banknote looked no different from the others, except that it didn't bear the print of a standard bill. However, that subtle difference was completely concealed by its folded shape.
The moment the banknote slipped out, Bai Liu lay atop the mountain of coins inside and licked his lips in satisfaction.
He could feel it—he was no longer under the control of that space.
However, with an ordinary patrolman still present, Bai Liu couldn't directly enter the game. He had to leave this environment filled with "onlookers."
The patrolman hurriedly contacted his superiors through his communicator.
"Reporting to the night watch officer! Room 006 has a large number of coins constantly pouring out! The heretic originally detained inside is nowhere to be seen! He's buried under coins!"
"What?!" The night watch officer sounded shocked but quickly regained composure. "Open the door and search for the human heretic. You must find him! Captain Tang has placed great importance on this case and activated Heretic No. 2617, Magic Space, in that room. This heretic can control the entry and exit of people. Don't panic. I'll transfer you to Captain Tang now!"
The patrolman nodded. "Understood. I'll search!"
The moment the door opened, the transferred signal connected.
Tang Erda's unprecedented stern shout came through the communicator. "Don't open it!"
He gritted his teeth. "Once he starts spending money, he must have a way to retrieve it. He's found a way to escape!"
"Eh—?" The patrolman sounded confused. "I've already opened it. Still, it should be fine. With 2617 active, trapped individuals can't easily escape—"
The patrolman, whose back was turned to the door, made a muffled sound—like something heavy hitting the floor. Then his voice disappeared.
There was a burst of static before the communicator was picked up again.
Bai Liu's smiling voice sounded leisurely from the other end. "Captain Tang, shall we discuss a deal?"
Tang Erda pressed harder on the accelerator, then forced himself to calm down and stall for time. "What deal? If you're referring to selling the rose dry leaf gas solution for money, we've already discussed that..."
He paused, clearly reluctant. "I can purchase the solution at the original price—if you swear you won't smuggle it out again. And you must not stage anything resembling an accident that spreads the gas again."
Through the communicator, Tang Erda soon heard rapid footsteps and shouts. Base patrol members had spotted the escaped Bai Liu.
"A heretic has escaped!"
Bai Liu began running. The communicator crackled with movement and noise.
"Oh?" Despite being chased, Bai Liu sounded utterly unhurried. "It sounds like I previously reneged on a deal with you?"
Tang Erda closed his eyes. The moment he heard Bai Liu's voice, his blood surged, and the vein on his forehead throbbed.
Yes. Tang Erda hadn't intended to trade the rose dry leaf gas solution with Bai Liu from the beginning. It was because Bai Liu (6) had broken his word last time.
After being paid, Bai Liu (6) had indeed helped the Dangerous Heretics Handling Bureau deal with the gas.
However, his treatment method was his exclusive patent. He never disclosed the specifics to the bureau. After treating all the affected victims—and under Su Yang's insistence that Bai Liu (6) wasn't guilty—Tang Erda eventually released him.
Then, a year later, the previously shut-down production plant resumed operations. People began suffering from the gas again. The bureau had no choice but to approach Bai Liu (6) once more, pay him, and request his assistance.
He agreed. The third team escorted him to the factory to investigate the cause.
Then he climbed to the top of the factory building.
Suddenly, he looked down, smiled, and asked the team member guarding him, "Do you know what gas made of roses smells like?"
The team member was bewildered. He didn't understand the question.
Bai Liu (6) raised his hand and mimed an explosion. His smile was bright, almost joyful. His eyebrows curved as he said, "Boom. Then you'll all smell burning roses. It's beautiful."
The factory exploded.
Rose-colored smoke surged outward with sparks, flooding the area.
Su Yang's home had been within the blast radius. The explosion wiped out the entire third team.
Tang Erda would never forget that day. He had been leading an inspection team at the perfume factory. He had been looking toward the vast rose fields when the smoke began to spread.
When he turned back, he saw Bai Liu.
Amid the romantic crimson haze, wind and fire intertwined. The scent of roses was thick in the air. Bai Liu stood atop the factory, rose petals swirling around him. His hair and coat whipped violently in the explosion's wind, as if he might fall with the petals at any second.
Even from that distance, Tang Erda saw it clearly. Bai Liu (6) stared at him lazily, one hand in his coat pocket, mouthing:
"Does it smell good, Captain Tang?"
Tang Erda took a deep breath and suppressed the shattered memories.
He steadied his boiling emotions and continued speaking. "As long as you don't go back on your word, I'll make the deal. I can apply for a substantial sum."
"I must admit, I'm tempted," Bai Liu replied honestly. "But you're probably thinking that the moment you obtain the solution, you'll kill me. After all, the dead can't break their promises."
Tang Erda clenched his jaw and glanced at the base's circular building ahead. He was almost there.
"Captain Tang, you clearly care about me," Bai Liu said lightly, though his footsteps were quick. "Yet after capturing me, you left me alone all night. That's not something a mature man would do."
"Let me guess who you went to behind my back." His tone was ambiguous, detached.
"You find it difficult to control me and don't want to trade money for the rose gas solution because I've broken my word before. So you're searching for someone who can restrain me better than money can."
Bai Liu spoke softly. "Lu Yizhan. You brought him, didn't you?"
—————————————————
Lu Yizhan was sitting in the passenger seat of Tang Erda's car, his eyes sleepy and his hair messy.
He watched Tang Erda drive as if he were racing and nervously grabbed his seatbelt, trying to stop the policeman—who had caught him while he was working overtime—from speeding. "Sir! You're driving too fast!"
Tang Erda struck the steering wheel with one hand and let out a fierce, almost manic laugh.
"I always wondered why you're like this in this timeline. I repeatedly checked your profile and compared it with the other timelines in my memory. To be honest, I really don't want to recall your disgusting, hateful face or anything related to you. Yet when I thought back carefully, I found a deviation point in your life. And that deviation point is sitting in my passenger seat. Lu Yizhan, right?"
Lu Yizhan looked over in a daze, his ears still ringing from the high-speed drive. "Huh? Did you call me, Sir?"
Tang Erda slammed on the brakes. He flashed his work permit to quickly open the base parking entrance and drove inside.
Even in the parking lot, he drove recklessly. At high speed, the tail of the car swung sharply into a parking space. The tires screeched against the ground, leaving dark skid marks. He flung the door open, got out, and yanked Lu Yizhan—who was slightly motion-sick—out of the passenger seat.
Lu Yizhan, exhausted from days of overtime and the reckless ride, staggered out and clutched the door, dry heaving.
Tang Erda tucked the communicator under his arm, glanced sideways at the retching Lu Yizhan, removed his gloves, and tossed them onto the driver's seat. "Bai Liu (6), you actually have a friend you're willing to change for. That's a big surprise to me."
Lu Yizhan, barely steadying himself with the car door, wiped the corner of his mouth and looked at Tang Erda in confusion and concern. "Sir, did you just say Bai Liu? What happened to him? Is he okay?"
Tang Erda raised an eyebrow and deliberately lengthened his tone as he spoke into the communicator. "Bai Liu (6), what do you think will happen when your honest police officer friend learns your true face?"
In the corridor, Bai Liu's rapid footsteps abruptly stopped. Only his slightly uneven breathing could be heard.
They paused for only a second before resuming at full speed. Bai Liu's tone remained unchanged as he replied, "Captain Tang, do you really think he doesn't know who I am?"
"How do you think he's managed to be my friend for ten years?"
Lu Yizhan straightened, glancing repeatedly at Tang Erda's tense expression.
The illusion he had been clinging to finally cracked. Bai Liu might really have done something wrong. Lu Yizhan covered his face, his expression collapsing. "Sir… did Bai Liu commit a crime? He's like half a brother to me. Can relatives of a police officer receive a lighter sentence?"
"He didn't kill anyone or commit arson, did he?" Lu Yizhan looked at Tang Erda anxiously. "Officer, he has some antisocial personality traits, but he wouldn't intentionally commit a crime! He usually has strong self-control. He's generally fine as long as no one provokes him…"
Tang Erda's strange silence made Lu Yizhan's imagination spiral further.
Lu Yizhan covered his face and spoke miserably, "Did he become a perverted serial killer? Or get involved in some major international financial crime? God… I worked overtime for two days and didn't keep an eye on him. He became like this—"
"It's all my fault. I knew I shouldn't have worked overtime tonight." Lu Yizhan sank into overwhelming guilt.
Tang Erda: "..."
What the hell was wrong with this guy?!
Bai Liu clicked his tongue. "Do you see what I mean?"
"Why don't you consider making a deal with me?" Bai Liu spoke casually, as if discussing business over dinner, while deftly evading the pursuing patrol officers.
Tang Erda's expression darkened as he dragged Lu Yizhan toward the elevator in the underground parking lot. He swiped his ID card, entered the elevator, and pressed the emergency warning button inside.
"I can give you money. Name your price—as long as you give me the solution to the rose gas!" Tang Erda's tone grew irritable.
The moment he pressed the warning button, a shrill alarm echoed through the corridor where Bai Liu was. The bright white lights shifted into flashing red.
"Warning! Warning! A heretic is fleeing!"
Bai Liu calmly turned into a side corridor, evading pursuit without haste.
Fifteen minutes of patrol observation and an entire night of waiting had allowed him to deduce one thing: there weren't many team members left at the base. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been the same patrolman checking on him each time.
Under such circumstances, Bai Liu's escape appeared remarkably composed. He wasn't anxious. The anxious one should be the other party. After all, a heretic capable of escaping confinement was clearly dangerous. Ordinary patrol officers would hesitate to approach him. Even if they caught him, they likely wouldn't know where to detain him.
However, that was before Tang Erda arrived.
Through the communicator, Bai Liu heard the elevator's mechanical hum. He listened to the floor indicators and counted silently: one, two, three.
The parking lot should be three floors down—or up. Given his limited familiarity with the circular structure, underground seemed more likely.
This should be the fourth basement level.
Bai Liu casually stuffed the retrieved soul banknotes into his pocket and continued speaking through the communicator. "What I want to discuss isn't a money transaction. I can give you the solution to the rose dry leaf gas, but in exchange, I want something else."
This was the first time Tang Erda had heard Bai Liu (6) refuse money. He frowned. "What do you want?"
"I want you to sell me your soul and join my team." Bai Liu spoke shocking words with perfect calm. "I plan to join this year's league, but my team is still practicing coordination. They need an experienced coach."
"You've won the league before and possess extensive experience. You know the teams, the strategies, the details." Bai Liu praised him sincerely. "There's no one more suitable to coach my team than you, Captain Tang."
"I left a room full of money to purchase your soul. Why not consider it? I haven't spent that much on someone in a long time." Bai Liu's tone was light, teasing—like he was playing with a pet.
A murderous scoff came through the communicator. Tang Erda was clearly enraged. He took two deep breaths. "Bai Liu (6), you'd better pray I don't catch you."
The elevator chimed. Tang Erda hung up coldly.
He dragged Lu Yizhan out and immediately began calling another number. "Reporting. This is Tang Erda, captain of the third team. I am pursuing escaped Heretic 006. Requesting immediate lockdown of all base entrances and exits. Notify me of any sightings on surveillance."
He paused.
Tang Erda's dark blue eyes deepened into near black. His tone lowered, eerily calm.
"The weakness of Heretic 006 is water. I request authorization to use the containment room of Heretic 1087, 'Swallowing the Spring,' tonight. After capturing 006, I will interrogate him there."
Tang Erda licked his lips. His pupils dilated; his breathing slowed with a predator's anticipation. "Do you require me to report the interrogation method now? Heretic 006 dislikes being repeatedly submerged underwater. That will be my method."
Lu Yizhan slowly turned to look at Tang Erda, his expression shifting.
He grabbed Tang Erda's hand to stop him from moving forward. "You can't do that. Even if he committed a crime, he still has human rights."
"I can't do that?" Tang Erda laughed strangely. His eyes were astonishingly bright, but his face remained expressionless. He looked at Lu Yizhan and tried to shake him off. "Do you know how many times I've said those exact words to Bai Liu (6)? 'You can't do that.' If he had stopped even once, I wouldn't be standing here."
Tang Erda violently tried to pull away. The veins in his hand bulged, but Lu Yizhan gritted his teeth and refused to let go.
The next second, Tang Erda expressionlessly seized Lu Yizhan's wrist and twisted—dislocating it with ease.
Lu Yizhan hissed in pain, his face paling.
"Human rights?" Tang Erda's dark blue eyes burned with a terrifying light. He stepped closer, grabbed Lu Yizhan's dislocated wrist, and snapped it back into place with a sharp crack.
Sweat rolled down Lu Yizhan's forehead.
"People around the world can live," Tang Erda said, his eyes trembling, his mouth twitching uncontrollably. "But heretics can't."
"It's because we are monsters—not humans. Monsters don't have human rights."