Chapter 471: Challenge Match |
A massive amount of mental bleach fog suddenly sprayed from the viewing pool, shrouding the entire area in a white mist. Everything became invisible, and only the constant sound of the audience coughing and complaining could be heard.
“What’s the situation? What NPC escaped?”
“I’m still waiting for the match results! This is great, now I can’t see anything.”
Bai Yi hadn’t reacted yet. He saw Spades, who was not far from him, fall to the ground and subconsciously reached out to help, but was forcibly stopped by Liao Ke.
“Don’t!!” Liao Ke dragged Bai Yi behind him and brought up the item panel in his system, fully armed as he faced Spades, who was lying on the ground covered in wounds and struggling to stand up. He turned his head and warned with a deep, grim gaze, “Spades is extremely dangerous right now.”
“If you don’t want to leave the game or go crazy and commit suicide, stay put for now!”
“Whatever you do, do not look into his eyes.”
Liao Ke dragged Bai Jiamu and Bai Yi back quickly until they reached the inner edge of the viewing pool. From where they stood, they could only see a faint, shimmering human outline of Spades amidst the white fog.
This outline was working hard to stand up, but perhaps because the injuries were too severe, he simply couldn’t manage to stand on his own. He would stand for a few steps and then collapse again, yet he was exceptionally persistent, swaying as he propped his body up and stood once more.
Spades seemed to be looking for someone, moving toward a certain direction in a way that was almost like crawling. He looked like a lizard that had just turned into a human, whose limbs were not yet coordinated and could not walk normally.
Bai Yi’s heart trembled as he watched: “Are we just going to leave him like that?”
Liao Ke’s expression was solemn: “We don’t have the ability to manage him right now.”
“We are his teammates! We can’t even give him a hand?!” Bai Yi’s eyes grew red, and his voice shook. “He ended up like this for our competition!”
“He doesn’t understand anything! We were the ones who forced him onto the field, taught him how to compete, made him win these games, and forbade him from going to reality.”
“We taught him so many rules that benefit us humans living in reality, but we haven’t given him the friendly treatment we give to people in reality even once. Even when he’s right in front of us, he still lives like a monster.”
“Everyone fears him.”
Tears streamed down Bai Yi’s face as he asked hoarsely, “If even we, the teammates who utilized him, aren’t willing to help him now, he really will have nothing left.”
*(T/N: I’m glad Bai Yi is at least a good person.)*
Liao Ke opened his mouth, clenched his fists, and lowered his head: “You are not allowed to help.”
“I will go,” he said, lifting his head.
Bai Yi panicked: “I didn’t mean to force you! I meant I could go myself!”
“None of you need to go.” From the mist, a slender man walked out, slightly hunched over as he coughed into his fist. He had the most genial smile on his face, though he looked somewhat pale, and a uniform with bloodstains that hadn’t yet dried was draped over his shoulders. He said softly, “Someone will go.”
Liao Ke let out a long breath. Looking at the man opposite him, a trace of a sincere smile finally appeared on his face: “You’ve finally come.”
Bai Yi and Bai Jiamu stared blankly at the man who had suddenly emerged from the white fog.
Bai Jiamu’s originally tense shoulders instantly relaxed and slumped down. Bai Yi’s tears burst out even more as he lunged forward to hug the other person like he’d found his backbone, wailing loudly, “Captain!!”
“We lost the singles match!!”
Lu Yizhan’s eyes curved as he caught the wailing Bai Yi: “Is that so? It seems I just missed a very exciting match.”
“I arrived late.”
In the white fog, Spades stumbled forward alone. His clothes were completely soaked; he fell with every step he took. Blood dripped from the ends of his hair and the corners of his clothes onto the ground. His face held no expression whatsoever, and the piercing warning of the system played on a loop in his ears:
>[System Notice: All players, please do not approach player Spades! He is currently in a dangerous Monster Book state!]
>[System Notice: All players, please stay away from player Spades!]
>[System Notice: No one is to approach player Spades!]
Oh, they’re telling them to stay away from me.
Only now did his brain slowly process the auditory information reaching his ears.
Spades collapsed to the ground. He bent his knee, kneeling on one leg and bracing himself against the ground to try and climb up again. As he rose, he thought calmly:
This warning system probably isn’t even necessary. It’s redundant.
These people, these players—they wouldn’t approach me even without a warning.
They are so afraid of me.
—Just like they fear the monsters in the game.
*(T/N: Oh my sweetheart…)*
Spades took a step, his knee buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ground.
Blood and seawater dripped from the hair hanging by his face. A pool of blood spread from beneath his kneeling knee. Spades thought back somewhat dazed:
That’s right, I was originally a monster in a game.
Originally, no one was supposed to approach me. My natural duty was to kill those who approached me, to make them feel fear and pain, to let them drown in their own desires.
The only value of my birth and existence was this.
[It’s not like that.]
Spades suddenly remembered what Lu Yizhan had said to him. That strange Prophet had leaned against the balcony railing of Killer Sequence, smiling as he looked at him, reaching out to gently pat his head, telling him:
[It’s not like that. Our Spades’ existence isn’t for making others feel pain and fear. No life in this world is born for that purpose.]
[You must have been born because of someone’s love for you.]
[And your existence will surely make that person feel incomparably happy.]
“Then who is that person?” Spades had asked.
Lu Yizhan replied with a smile: [That person is the one who will bring you into reality, the one who will turn you into a human.]
Does such a person really exist?
Looking at the blood under his knees, looking at his blood-stained hands, and looking at the empty, desolate white fog around him, Spades felt a genuine doubt arise from within.
With so many humans, why would this person love a loathsome monster like him?
*(T/N: So… he doesn’t have Tawil’s memories yet?)*
“Bai Liu, where are you going!” Mu Shicheng’s voice rang out urgently. “Shit! Spades is over there! The system won’t let anyone go near! Didn’t you hear how dangerous it is!”
“Bai Liu, you’re so heavily injured right now, don’t start acting up again!” Tang Erda warned with a slightly stern tone.
“Don’t go over there,” Mu Ke pleaded softly. “Spades’ teammates will handle his business first. You rest first, okay?”
“Bai Liu.” Finally, the one standing in front of Bai Liu was Liu Jiayi. She was silent for a very, very long time before she spoke, “If you want to go, then go.”
“I know you’ve already made your choice.”
*(T/N: Jiayi I love you. I think only she has the capacity to somewhat understand.)*
From beginning to end, there was no sound of Bai Liu answering. He seemed to only silently and resolutely push aside the people blocking him, swaying as he parted the white fog and walked toward Spades.
Spades slowly raised his head. A similarly battered figure appeared before his eyes. This thin, frail figure was like him, swaying every few steps, approaching where he was one step at a time.
No matter how many people tried to stop him, he didn’t retreat a single step.
The piercing warning sound grew increasingly sharp:
>[System Notice: No one is to approach player Spades!]
[With so many humans, why would this person love a monster that makes people afraid?] Spades had asked Lu Yizhan in confusion.
[He’s so strange.]
Lu Yizhan smiled: [I also think he’s very strange.]
[But when you meet him, you should like him very much.]
At that time, Spades had said without a second thought: [I won’t like him.]
Lu Yizhan asked with a smile: [Why?]
Spades replied bluntly: [Because I don’t understand ‘liking’.]
Bai Liu walked to the front of the kneeling Spades. His face was deathly pale, his breathing rapid, and the wounds on his ankles and wrists were still seeping blood, trailing all the way across the ground.
He looked down at Spades, who was looking up at him, a drop of blood mixed with seawater clinging to his eyelashes.
Bai Liu reached out his hand to Spades. In his palm was that game coin. He spoke plainly: “I won.”
In that instant, Spades could not suppress his tears.
He didn’t understand the meaning of these tears, just as he didn’t understand many things. He didn’t know that at this moment, all the human emotions he had always been confused by—liking, loathing, hate, love, jealousy, pursuit, pain, and resentment—were all experienced by him in this instant.
“I lost.” Spades wept unconsciously as he clenched his fist. “I am an unqualified souvenir.”
Bai Liu paused. He tucked the coin away and knelt on one knee in front of Spades. He took out a roll of bandages and wrapped them over Spades’ silver-blue eyes. Bai Liu wrapped them loop by loop, serious and meticulous, their breaths intermingling at close range.
“No.” Spades heard Bai Liu say into his ear, his voice seemingly carrying a hint of a smile. “You’re qualified.”
>[System Notice: Player Spades’ danger has been handled. Danger alarm cleared.]
The rotating nozzles spraying the mental bleach stopped.
The moment the white fog dissipated, Bai Yi rushed forward excitedly: “Spades!! The Captain is back!”
At the same time, Wandering Circus also came over to help Bai Liu up.
Spades, whose eyes were wrapped, was placed on a stretcher. Liao Ke held his hands at his side with considerable guilt: “Is there anywhere you’re uncomfortable? I’ll take you back to the Killer Sequence office in a moment to look at your wounds.”
“It hurts so much,” Spades said hoarsely. “And it’s so heavy.”
Since the beginning of the match, Liao Ke had never once heard Spades call out in pain. Hearing it now made his heart skip a beat, but he was immediately confused by the second half: “Heavy? What’s heavy?”
“I feel my body…” Spades described it word by word, “becoming very heavy.”
“That’s normal.” Lu Yizhan stepped forward and rubbed Spades’ forehead with a smile. “Because soul and love are both very heavy things.”
“Eh…” Bai Yi noticed Spades was clutching something like a piece of paper in his left hand. He reached for it curiously, “Spades, what’s in your hand?”
Spades suddenly gripped it tight: “Mine!”
“I won’t take it, I won’t take it!” Bai Yi immediately let go and raised his hands in surrender, stuck between laughter and tears. “I thought it was some bad thing you brought out from the game, so I wanted to check it for you.”
“It’s not,” Spades said. “Bai Liu just gave it to me.”
Bai Yi asked carefully: “Your eyes are covered right now. Do you want me to help you see what Bai Liu gave you?”
Spades lay on the stretcher in silence for a very, very long time before he slowly loosened his grip on the crumpled small slip of paper.
When Bai Yi saw clearly what was written on the slip, he was stunned.
It was the simplest little slip of paper, and the thing written on it was also very simple—a string of twelve digits.
—It was a reality coordinate.
Leading to Bai Liu’s rental apartment.
—
Author’s Note:
Small Theater:
Spades (studied the paper for a month): What is this?
A certain unnamed Mr. Bai, who gave out his room door number and waited all night for his boyfriend to come find him: ……
Spades’ memories are currently not fully integrated and he is in a stage of confusion.
Many readers are worried about the identity issues of Ta-ta and Tao-tao (Tawil and Spades). I will reply here; below are minor spoilers:
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Spades is a monster, and Tawil is a god; both are names and identities bestowed by Bai Six and will be controlled by Bai Six. In the end, Bai Liu experiences some things and breaks these two identities, allowing him to be with Bai Liu for a long time in the identity of the human Xie Ta.
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*(T/N: LOL, poor Bai Liu waiting for his husband, and his oblivious husband not even knowing what the numbers mean. God this arc has made me feel so ill. I need fluff please)*
