“Wait, what?! Pregnant?!” Lu Xiaotian jumped three feet high. “Who in the world would dare… dare to do that to Brother Lin…”
“My god, this person must be a real hero…” The fat guy wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Who would have thought that even in an infinite flow world, such hidden rules exist everywhere…” Butterfly rubbed the goosebumps on her arm. “Brother Lin’s fourth-place debut must have been rigged…”
“Hey!! How did you all so smoothly accept this pregnancy setting?!” The only rational white-collar worker shouted. “Who said men can get pregnant?!”
But his voice was quickly drowned out in the sea of responses.
“I believe Brother Lin is capable of anything,” Lu Xiaotian said. “So even something as small as getting pregnant…”
“And after all, we’re in Jinjiang, not Qidian,” Butterfly added. “Since we’re in the Jinjiang world, this is quite normal…”
Lin Huai stood amidst their discussions, feeling a bit desolate.
As the saying goes, hard work pays off, and if you do everything perfectly, the world will reward you with love. Yet, he had given so much love to the world, even putting in the effort to perfect something as small as checking a pulse, but…
Why did it turn out like this?
“A slippery pulse can also appear in cases of food stagnation or excessive heat,” Zhao Jingtian added. “Which means…”
“You overate,” he concluded.
…Lin Huai felt an itch in his hands.
Before the smile on his face could grow wide enough for him to explode into a killing spree, Lu Xiaotian had already raised a new question: “Let’s put aside the issue of which middle school Brother Lin’s child will attend for now. What we should consider is how to deal with this group of people.”
“Already discussing middle schools in just a few minutes…” The white-collar worker felt powerless.
Although they were still eager to discuss which school district would be more cost-effective, the immediate issue of handling these ninety-plus potential offenders couldn’t be delayed. Their gazes swept over the ninety-plus people, and those who met their eyes lowered their heads in fear.
“…In three weeks, we’ll be leaving this place,” Zhao Jingtian said. “So next, we need to address their disposal…”
Taking these ninety-plus people with them out of the “civilized world” was clearly not a realistic option. At the same time, taking care of their food and drink over the next three weeks would be a new problem.
After causing chaos in the museum, everyone was unusually overwhelmed. Although in many past instances, they had developed a decisive and ruthless character, they were not as ruthless as the Gu people. Therefore, they couldn’t immediately eliminate this group without them harming their own interests.
“We’ll find a way to take care of ourselves,” the red-haired Eileen said upon hearing their conversation.
But after hearing her voice, Butterfly shrugged. “You? Take care of yourselves?”
The sarcasm in her tone made the hot-tempered Niohuru Eva want to step forward, but Eileen held her back.
“She’s right,” Eileen whispered. “Outside here, it’s all siege walls.”
Eva also fell silent.
Eileen was right. Where could they go after leaving this museum? These people, seen as freaks, would take decades, if not centuries, to gain public acceptance. What was once a man-made boundary had now become a chasm.
They were already the abandoned freaks of the world. Although they had never been exposed to radiation, although they were healthy. They hadn’t been locked outside the glass shields protecting humanity during the nuclear winter era due to physical mutations, but in the greenhouse era, they had been abandoned outside the world due to man-made regulations.
Their former parents and relatives were no longer their home. Yet, under the guidance of Lin Huai and others, they had mistakenly thought they had found a new direction, but…
These people said that in three weeks, they would leave.
“But at least we still have three weeks,” another clear male voice rang out in the crowd. It was Adam, who had guided them earlier. “As long as we truly live through these three weeks, we’ll have no regrets.”
There were quite a few people who shared his thoughts. Immediately, scattered voices of agreement rose from the crowd. However, more people were still frowning, burdened with sorrow.
Eileen cast a pleading look at Lin Huai, but Lin Huai raised his hands. “Why are you looking at me?”
“I…”
For some reason, she always felt that this person was someone to rely on. But Lin Huai’s ruthless words shattered their illusions. “Tsk tsk tsk, why do you think I would help you again? I’m not your babysitter…”
Eileen’s eyes dimmed, and then she heard his voice: “If here is no good, go outside. If outside is no good, go even further.”
“But where is even further?” Adam smiled bitterly. “It’s easy to say…”
An idea suddenly popped into Eva’s mind.
“You mean… the surface?” she said cautiously. “But the surface…”
“Becoming a physical mutant, or being a freak artificially defined, which one would you choose?” Lin Huai shrugged. “Besides, becoming a physical mutant might not be a bad thing. Like having laser eyes, becoming a green man, or even having psychic powers, and being gifted a German boyfriend who can lift a stadium to propose…”
“I feel like you’re hinting at something,” Lu Xiaotian commented. “Huh? Where’s Xia Xia? Brother Lin, have you seen her…”
“Oh, she turned into a butterfly and flew away.”
“Don’t give such a perfunctory answer!”
“Anyway, I’ve had enough of all this chaos. I just want to live a peaceful life now.” Lin Huai patted his pants and stood up from the stairs. “Now I’ve decided to find some fun of my own…”
“What fun?”
“The broadcast room.”
The three cold words fell from Lin Huai’s lips. After a brief silence, the broadcast room erupted into commotion.
“The broadcast room…”
“Those people… are all inside?”
It was rare to see expressions of fear, disgust, or hatred on the faces of the potential offenders. One young man twisted his expression and stepped out of the line, shouting, “They…”
“They?” Lin Huai looked at his watch. “Now, perhaps there are only 16 left.”
With that, he turned and walked away. After he took a few steps, several people followed him.
They trailed Lin Huai until they reached a deserted corridor. In front of a huge painting of the Virgin Mary, Lin Huai stopped.
He turned around and looked at the people in front of him. “Why are you following me?”
“I… I want…” one young man gritted his teeth. “I want to see their miserable state, especially…”
Lucifer.
“I want to kill him with my own hands,” another young man raised his face, his expression fanatical. “Kill him, kill everyone in the broadcast room!”
“And the people outside the broadcast room!” a young man shouted.
Their faces were filled with terrifying fanaticism and obsession, and they spoke one after another:
“And the people watching the livestream, yes, everyone…”
“No one in this underground greenhouse is clean!”
“Kill them all, kill them all!”
“No, lock them up. From today, we are the normal ones, and they are the potential offenders!”
The dim light shone on the painting of the Virgin Mary and on their extremely excited faces. They twisted their smiles, filled with extreme hatred and extreme excitement, describing the end they had prepared for everyone.
‘Hehe… hehe…’
A cold, eerie laughter rang in Lin Huai’s heart.
The feeling of being watched by a huge shadow made him turn his head in horror. The voice spoke word by word:
‘Look, Lin Huai.’
‘Look at them, look at them.’
‘Look at these people you saved.’
He looked at the people released from the glass cabinets. The huge shadows projected on their faces, their expressions twisted, their laughter eerie, and they cursed the former perpetrators with the most bloody and vicious words.
He didn’t notice that the shadow behind him began to twist and enlarge. A huge black shadow extended from behind him, following his ankles all the way up.
“Let them feel the pain we once felt!”
“Everyone in this world is not clean!”
“I hate them so much!! I hate them!!”
“Those bastards… those scoundrels!”
“Wah, wah…”
The sound of a little girl’s crying rang out.
This crying sound was like an alarm bell, shocking everyone who was discussing.
They pushed aside the armor and found a black-haired, black-eyed little girl behind it, and a green-uniformed servant boy who had tried to cover her mouth but failed.
“Oh…” the leader’s face twisted into a smile. “Here, there are two bastards…”
“Right, let’s use them to practice?” another young man said fanatically. “They are part of those people, right?”
“Don’t touch my master!” The green-clad boy, despite his fear, stood in front of the little girl. “Get away from me!”
His shouts were in vain. The leader punched him in the face.
He spat out blood and fell to the ground.
The little girl’s screams pierced the sky. Lin Huai wanted to move, but he was almost horrified to find—
His body couldn’t move!
He struggled to turn his eyeballs and was shocked to find that his body was surrounded by black shadows.
“…Damn.”
He struggled to make a sound from his bones, but the shadows were like deep sea, tightly locking him within.
‘Take a good look,’ he heard the shadow’s laughter. ‘Take a good look—’
“Ah!”
The green-clad boy’s screams continued to be heard. He heard the sound of the boy being beaten. Several former potential offenders vented all their anger and violence on the body in front of them.
‘These are the people you saved… This is what you did…’ The shadow whispered in his ear. ‘Look, he’s dying… because of you…’
The boy’s voice grew weaker, and the little girl also cried herself hoarse. He watched all this, his heart feeling like it was being grabbed, powerless. The shadow wrapped around his neck and whispered intimately to him: “Come here, my dear Sisyphus, come to me… fall to me…”
Lin Huai stared at the violence in front of him. His wide eyes seemed to have countless blood vessels spreading.
‘Everyone is the same, only you are different, my dear Sisyphus…’ The shadow continued. “Come here, come to me…”
The green-clad boy was lying on the ground, barely alive. The man who had been standing on the side picked up a spear from the ground and raised it.
“Watch me!” he shouted.
The spear pierced the green-clad boy’s body. The little girl let out a desperate cry. And Lin Huai’s consciousness fell into darkness.
The last thing he heard was the shadow’s laughter.
‘Welcome to merge with me. My nemesis, my seal.’
“Tsk, there’s still a small one here.” A few people reluctantly threw down the spear and turned to the little girl in front of them. “Yo, look at this fabric—she must be from a wealthy family, right?”
“Let me go!” the little girl cried. “You are all devils! Just like my mom said, you are all devils!”
“Damn it!” The furious young man slapped her. “Do you have the right to say that? You dog—”
“Kill her! Kill her!”
The young man grabbed the little girl’s collar and was about to punch her between the eyebrows. But at that moment—
He looked at his abdomen in disbelief.
His body had been pierced by another person’s hand.
“You…”
He didn’t have time to say the next sentence.
The young man’s body fell softly to the ground. Along with him, another young man also fell.
“You—weren’t you here to help us?!”
The man who had raised the spear shouted, trying to escape. But before he could run away, his abdomen had already been pierced by the spear that had been thrown.
—Just like he had pierced the green-clad boy’s abdomen with the spear.
The little girl had already fainted after being slapped. She lay on the ground, unconscious, and did not see such a cruel scene. The black shadow that had risen up staggered out.
His eyes were dull, extremely dark and deep.
…Madmen.
…The people in this world are all madmen.
He heard his soul crying and laughing, the shadow crying and laughing. He walked through the long corridor, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
—These people should all die.
—Ah.
He trembled, trying to control his steps, but his shadow twisted on the ground, trying to lead him forward. The shadow twisted and laughed, as if it was collapsing and reorganizing.
In this rapid collapse and reorganization, he heard a voice.
A voice from the side, from the broadcast.
“Ah Xu.”
These two short words were like a spell, making him raise his head in extreme resentment and despair.
“Ah Xu, look at me.”
He turned his eyes to the screen that was emitting the voice.
“I’m here, look at me.”
He stopped trembling.
He saw on the screen, the former potential offenders who had stayed in the hall. A girl was hugging her legs and crying. Eileen was taking out a tissue from her bag to wipe her tears.
There were also people angrily saying something, cursing something. But when he saw the boy who was still trembling next to him, he stopped his anger, showed a complicated expression, and hugged him.
There were also people, he heard their voices. They said, I want to go home.
A drop of liquid fell from the corner of his eye at that moment.
At the same time, the shadow that had wrapped around him let out a dissatisfied howl and quickly dissipated. It went from Lin Huai’s neck, all the way down, and finally sank into his shadow.
And he, at that moment, regained his sanity.
“…”
He leaned against the wall and returned to the corridor. The little girl was still sleeping, and the green-clad boy next to her was barely alive, but still breathing faintly.
Lin Huai took out a bottle of the red medicine that Chu Tianshu had given him from his bag and silently poured it into the green-clad boy’s mouth.
The green-clad boy’s wounds began to heal, and his pale face became rosy again. He threw down the medicine bottle and looked at the sleeping girl next to the boy.
She was frowning tightly, as if she was having some kind of dream.
‘If only there was a way for me to enter her dream,’ he suddenly thought. ‘Maybe then I could erase her memory?’
At that moment, he suddenly thought of someone.
Ren Chun.
That day in the Taoist temple, he had seen Ren Chun. Even when she was taking revenge, Ren Chun’s expression was still blank. The only time her expression changed was when she saw the white dress on Du Xiaoran.
At that moment, her expression was very lonely—perhaps that’s why, when Lin Huai bid farewell to Ying Xia, he couldn’t help but say, “She might not be grateful for this.”
He had always been a person who did as he pleased, never claiming to be kind, always evil and chaotic, and never caring about how others viewed him. But at that moment, he suddenly felt relieved that he had actually written the card in the white dress packaging box under Chu Tianshu’s nagging.
And now…
‘What should I do?’ He felt a strong sense of confusion for the first time. ‘I…’
“Just do what you want to do.”
Lu Xiaotian’s voice rang out beside him, and Lin Huai turned his head.
“You don’t need to be responsible for them. Just do what you want to do, and that’s enough.” He said dryly. “Don’t worry about what they will become, don’t worry about what their future will be like. Because…”
“When they are under the sun, every color will be reflected more brightly. Whether it’s white, black, or red. But one thing is absolutely clear—where there is sunlight, seeds will always take root and sprout.” He said. “What we need to do is open this skylight.”
Lu Xiaotian secretly clenched his fingers, and a more gloomy and violent aura came from Lin Huai’s body. He couldn’t find the source of the baleful aura, but he was endlessly terrified, grabbing the amulet he had hidden in his pocket with his fingers.
“Is that so…” He heard Lin Huai’s deep voice.
‘Big brother… you’d better come quickly…’ He was secretly afraid in his heart. ‘If you keep transmitting messages like this, I can’t hold on…’
“What you said makes sense.” Lin Huai said.
“Actually, I just did a little bit of work…”
“But if you have something to say to me.” Lin Huai looked quietly at the amulet that Lu Xiaotian was holding. “Why convey it through someone else?”
“Huh?”
Lu Xiaotian’s eyes widened, but Lin Huai’s gaze was already accurately fixed on the voice transmission amulet that Chu Tianshu had left for Lu Xiaotian. “Chu Tianshu.”
“Lu Xiaotian was following your words one by one, wasn’t he?” He said. “It smells like Chu-style chicken soup…”
“Yes.” A muffled voice came from the amulet in Lu Xiaotian’s pocket. “Because I think face-to-face communication is more sincere… Stop stop stop, don’t hit me, we’re on the same side, we’re on the same side… Lu Xiaotian.”
“Huh?”
“Feed that candy to the little girl and the boy.” Chu Tianshu said lazily. “The candy that beautifies memories. After they eat it, send them out. Speaking of which, this little girl is really pitiful. In theory, children under 12 are not allowed to enter this museum, but her profit-driven stepmother, in order to seize all the family property, actually used connections to bring her in, just to harm her mental health, so that she would be judged as a potential offender and deprived of her inheritance rights…”
Lu Xiaotian crouched down to feed the candy. On Chu Tianshu’s side, the sound of battle was deafening, and Lin Huai snorted. “I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable about mental health.”
“Yes, to ensure your mental stability, I read a lot of success books and prepared dozens of persuasion plans. If one doesn’t work, I’ll just read them one by one—”
“I heard your voice,” Lin Huai suddenly said.
Chu Tianshu paused.
“In that room, I heard your voice,” Lin Huai insisted. “You calmed me down from my rage… Why? Why does your voice have such power?”
He didn’t remember much about the aftermath of his mental breakdown. But the one thing he did remember was the voice that woke him from the chaos.
What exactly does he know? How many secrets is he still hiding?
“It sounds like you were prepared for this,” Lin Huai squatted down, staring directly at the source of the voice. “You better come clean…”
He had so many questions, but for a moment, he couldn’t articulate them, only glaring at Lu Xiaotian’s pocket in a daze.
“Let’s talk when I fly over the day after tomorrow. I’m in the middle of something here,” Chu Tianshu said. “Alright, I admit it. I’ve kept a lot from you, but there’s one thing I’ve never lied about…”
“What?”
“That is,” Chu Tianshu said seriously, “you really owe me a lot of money.”
Lin Huai: …
“By the way, isolate those ‘former potential offenders’ from the others to avoid similar tragedies… I can’t talk anymore, the signal’s bad, gotta go—oh, my phone’s only at 98%, I’m going to take a shower—”
“Wait,” Lin Huai suddenly said. “Since you’ve already had someone else deliver your messages… will the hug be delivered by Lu Xiaotian too?”
Chu Tianshu’s voice suddenly halted: “What did you say?”
“Right now, I really want to hug you,” Lin Huai continued. “But you’re not here, so I can only…”
Chu Tianshu: “…Damn it, I’m on my way.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the talisman in Lu Xiaotian’s pocket began to self-destruct. Before Lin Huai could ask anything, Lu Xiaotian raised his hands: “I confess, I’ll be honest. Chu gave me this talisman on the second day after the Game started—”
“And you just took it?”
“…He also gave me two items that let me skip a level,” Lu Xiaotian scratched his head.
Lin Huai: …
“What’s wrong?” Lu Xiaotian asked nervously. “Should I… offer them to you, Lin?”
Lin Huai: “Do I look like that kind of person?!”
Lu Xiaotian: “Yes, Lin! You never bully people…”
Lin Huai: “I’ve never been the kind of person who’s short on items.”
He suddenly felt disinterested.
After arranging everything to prevent similar tragedies from happening again, he wandered off to a corner to zone out.
‘…This feels so troublesome…’ he suddenly felt overwhelmed. ‘It feels like since I entered the intermediate stage, everything’s gotten so much more complicated. At this point, even if it’s revealed that I’m the Game’s main god, I wouldn’t be too shocked…’
But there was one thing that bothered him even more. Thinking about it, Lin Huai’s expression darkened further.
Seeing Lin Huai’s pale face, Lu Xiaotian hurried over: “Lin, I…”
“There’s one more thing you need to come clean about,” Lin Huai suddenly grabbed his collar, speaking seriously.
“…Wh-what?” Lu Xiaotian looked miserable. “Lin, I’ve already told you everything I can…”
“This is very important,” Lin Huai said earnestly. “This is probably the thing I care about the most personally.”
“This…”
A drop of cold sweat slid down Lu Xiaotian’s forehead. After a long pause, he finally heard Lin Huai’s voice: “…Are you really my fan, or did Chu Tianshu buy you to be my fan?”
Author’s note: Lu Xiaotian: I’m a real fan! Truly!!
