Xiao Bai Liu paused for a moment, then continued, "And last night, you didn't greet me with a polite 'good evening'—that's something I usually say to a benefactor when I'm about to receive money, but you are the benefactor, so there's no need for you to say it to me. You didn't say it last night, but tonight you opened with it. It's a little odd."
Indeed, Bai Liu recalled that he only ever used such courteous phrases with strangers when there was money to be gained—strange words, the kind he might use with Zhang Kui's master. He hadn't noticed this about himself before.
"How did you think to have Mu Ke use your phone to speak with me?" Bai Liu asked with a smile. "And why are you with Mu Ke tonight? How are things on your end?"
While the players' phones are bound and cannot be exchanged, the children's phones are not. Yet, in a place where it's nearly impossible for children to sneak out and make calls, for one child to bring another out and hand over the phone at the crucial moment is a maneuver that would never occur to someone like Miao Gaojiang, who has never received a call from a child.
Children are far less obedient and efficient than adults—especially compared to these battle-hardened players. Even getting them to make a call is a challenge. For Xiao Bai Liu to drag Mu Ke out in the middle of the night, running around the orphanage for the sake of money, is so outlandish that even Bai Liu himself was surprised by his younger self's rare initiative.
Though he knew he'd do anything for money, Bai Liu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise when he heard little Mu Ke's voice on the line.
Xiao Bai Liu reported in a flat tone, "Tomorrow is the baptism, so the teachers asked us to notify our investors and guardians. That's why many children are out making calls tonight, but so far, I'm the only one who's succeeded. Some kids have been lured out by the flute, so the deformed children aren't chasing us. Things are fine."
"As for why I'm with Mu Ke tonight, I think you're asking the obvious." Xiao Bai Liu's voice was cold and tinged with disdain. "Didn't you ask me last night to look after two children for you? You said you'd pay me, and one of them is a blind girl—I now know her name is Liu Jiayi—the other is Mu Ke. I can't get close to the girl for now, but I share a room with Mu Ke. So, for the sake of money, when I called you tonight, of course I brought Mu Ke."
"My intention was to let you hear his voice, to verify that he's in good shape—able to run and cry. But when I realized something was wrong on your end, I just handed him the phone and had him pretend to be your investment child."
There was a subtle pause, then Xiao Bai Liu bluntly questioned Bai Liu, "Honestly, I think when you asked me last night to help for money, it was just so you could have Mu Ke call you tonight, wasn't it?"
A faint smile colored Bai Liu's voice as he leaned lazily against the wall. "You could say that."
When he'd asked Xiao Bai Liu to look after Mu Ke and Liu Jiayi, he'd known that tonight, Xiao Bai Liu would drag one of them out to make the call.
At fourteen, his obsession with money was stronger than ever—he would never pass up a chance to earn. But Bai Liu had always been a man of his word, so the best way to prove the deal was to let little Mu Ke speak for himself.
And, as expected, Xiao Bai Liu had done just that.
"You could have just told me to bring Mu Ke out to call you tonight, instead of all this roundabout talk." Xiao Bai Liu's voice, though still tinged with adolescent inexperience, was cool and detached. "If you pay me, I'll do anything for you."
"But then you'd have known in advance about my plans against the other two investors," Bai Liu replied unhurriedly. "You'd have guessed what I was up to, what dangers I'd face, and what this call meant to me. You might even have sold out my plan to my enemies for more money—that's exactly the sort of thing you'd do, isn't it?"
A long silence followed.
Bai Liu chuckled softly. "I can't let you guess my intentions, because you're a dangerous one yourself."
"In fact, in this game, you're more dangerous to me than anything else. But fortunately, I know you well. And based on that, I can tell you this, Bai Liu: the money I give you will always exceed what anyone else in this world can offer. I could even give you everything I have."
Bai Liu's gaze dropped. "No one will ever be more generous to you than I am, Bai Liu."
Because I am you, and you are me. Money flows between us, across time and space, yet ultimately belongs to the same self. What I possess, you possess, and not a single coin is lost.
"All your money?" Xiao Bai Liu's tone remained cold, but his words carried a strange, mocking edge. "You must be a rare, selfless soul, Investor."
"I am selfish and greedy, so I'm never like this with anyone else," Bai Liu replied, unruffled by the sarcasm, his smile gentle. "But you are the most special person to me in this world, so I will hold nothing back from you."
Xiao Bai Liu did not answer, maintaining a subtle, skeptical silence.
Bai Liu continued, unhurried, "But I understand what you're thinking. You must be wondering why a human, by nature selfish, would go to such lengths for a stranger. Surely such a person doesn't exist, and if they do, it's only an act to gain more—after all, there's no such thing as a free lunch, is there?"
Another strange silence from the other end—Bai Liu clearly understood what his fourteen-year-old self was thinking.
"I thought the same at your age," Bai Liu said, leaning against the wall, eyes half-closed.
His frail body, the orphanage with its peculiar significance, and the presence of this game's NPC, Xiao Bai Liu, drew him into rare reminiscence.
What was he like at fourteen? Bai Liu thought he wouldn't remember.
People are forgetful creatures—perhaps memory truly lasts only seven seconds, and the rest is just a patchwork of impressions, constructed to comfort and deceive ourselves.
But the moment he heard Xiao Bai Liu's cold, emotionless voice, Bai Liu could recall exactly what he was like at fourteen.
Aloof, indifferent, out of place—no one could understand the thin boy who read horror stories and devoured every terrifying tale and game he could find in the orphanage.
At fourteen, Bai Liu was less adept at hiding his feelings, his gaze always tinged with rejection, his whole being radiating a chill that warned others away. No child wanted to approach him.
Of course, Bai Liu himself was partly to blame.
While the other children played with donated trains and blocks, Bai Liu's favorite toys were grotesque, broken dolls. While others read picture books, he pored over "The Slender Man's Murder Chronicles"—a book no one knew how it ended up in the orphanage.
But even then, before these children had been tainted by adult rules, they would fight tooth and nail for the best toys, the tastiest food, the chance to be adopted, even for a less damp straw bed.
No one taught them to do this—trampling others for a better life was a kind of biological instinct. Bai Liu realized this early and kept his distance.
Yet there were two children in the orphanage who never fought for anything: Bai Liu, who didn't care for such things and preferred money (which the orphanage never gave), and Lu Yizhan, who always gave up the best food, toys, and adoption opportunities, watching others enjoy what he'd surrendered with a smile brighter than theirs, content with a simple thank you.
"I once believed there was no such thing as a person who gave everything for others," Bai Liu said softly. "Even those who do, do so for the satisfaction of self-sacrifice, for the pleasure of being virtuous. In the end, it's still for themselves."
"There are no purely good people in the world—only purely bad ones."
On the other end, Xiao Bai Liu's breathing quickened as he ran through the orphanage at night, dragging a quietly sobbing little Mu Ke. But Bai Liu knew he was listening.
The boy hadn't hung up—he was paid by the minute, after all. A diligent little companion, even if he was a child laborer.
A lazy, amused note crept into Bai Liu's voice, as if recalling something funny. "Then, just as I was convinced of these ideas, I met an idiot who insisted on being my friend."
"He kept asking why I was always alone, went hungry to give me food, and when he saw me reading bloody, strange books, he just blinked and then snuck out to find more for me." Bai Liu's tone was even. "But I was always cold to him. He gave without any satisfaction, and I thought he'd give up soon."
At last, Xiao Bai Liu spoke. "Did he give up?"
"He stayed away for a while, and I thought he had," Bai Liu replied. "Then one afternoon, I found a Slender Man doll behind the yard."
It was a clumsy, homemade Slender Man, its costume sewn from discarded sheets, its hat ragged—a failed school project if ever there was one. The doll waved its tattered arms at Bai Liu, saying a silly "hi."
At the time, Bai Liu was reading Slender Man stories, as there were no other horror books in the orphanage. Lu Yizhan must have thought Bai Liu loved such creatures, so he stayed up late, sewing the doll in secret, then donned it himself, jumping and sweating, his eyes clear but rimmed red from exhaustion.
Lu Yizhan thought Bai Liu was like those kids who loved cartoon characters—he simply wanted Bai Liu to be happy.
He never expected thanks, and Bai Liu never felt grateful—because, honestly…
"…He was so stupid," Xiao Bai Liu said flatly.
"Yes, that's what I thought too," Bai Liu laughed quietly. "I looked at him like he was an idiot and politely explained that I wasn't a Slender Man fan—I just liked horror stories, liked reading about monsters devouring foolish humans. That's what I enjoyed."
After a pause, Xiao Bai Liu said, "I like that too, but he probably… didn't."
Most children wouldn't. Bai Liu was the orphanage's oddball, his books and drawings so gory that teachers watched him closely, suspecting antisocial tendencies. Soon, they confiscated everything he liked.
Books, games, even dolls he glanced at too long—they guarded against Bai Liu as if he were a future criminal.
In a way, they weren't wrong.
Bai Liu learned to hide his interests, pretending to be a reformed, obedient child.
Lu Yizhan didn't like horror stories or games, but that didn't stop him from letting Bai Liu enjoy them. He knew Bai Liu liked them, so he pretended not to.
"He really didn't like them, but he was always popular. Somehow, he found all sorts of horror games and books," Bai Liu recalled, eyes still closed. "He brought them to me in secret, let me play, let me read."
This time, Xiao Bai Liu was silent for a long while. Then he asked, "Why did he do that?"
"I asked him the same thing," Bai Liu's voice was barely audible. "He said, 'Aren't we friends? This is what I can do for you, so I do it.'"
Xiao Bai Liu, genuinely puzzled, asked, "When did you become friends? I don't remember you agreeing to that."
"I don't know," Bai Liu replied. "But Lu Yizhan just decided it was so. I told him I was probably a freak, might do bad things one day. He told me, very seriously, that if I became a villain, he'd be the policeman to catch me."
Bai Liu laughed softly. "He told me not to worry—policemen's friends can't be bad people."
"He played horror games with me for years. Eventually, he realized I wasn't normal, but he still insisted on being my friend."
"Why?" Xiao Bai Liu asked again, a little lost. "You couldn't understand each other. What did he gain from being your friend?"
"Nothing at all. I was trouble in every way," Bai Liu admitted cheerfully. "I'm not good at being a person, but my friend didn't befriend me for any benefit."
"Then why?"
"He just wanted me to have a friend."
Lu Yizhan's reason was that simple—he wanted to be Bai Liu's friend, to make him a little happier, to give him a friend. No pity, no condescension—just a wish, so he acted on it.
Lu Yizhan was the first truly strange person Bai Liu had ever met, someone who upended his worldview—a selfless, high-minded, slightly foolish good man, a textbook example of self-sacrifice.
The only friend Bai Liu ever had.
"There really are such pure-hearted people in the world. Their existence defies evolution and human instinct, so they live hard lives," Bai Liu said softly. "But they exist, and you'll meet one soon."
Yes, Bai Liu thought silently, you'll meet someone who'll play games with you, dress up as Slender Man to make you laugh, and stay by your side for years.
"Such people are rare, aren't they?" Xiao Bai Liu's tone was still cool. "You're lucky to have met one. I doubt I'll ever meet such a fool."
"You will," Bai Liu smiled. "You've already met me, haven't you?"
"I know you're a bad kid, Bai Liu. I know you might betray me, but I still told you my plan." Bai Liu's voice was gentle, with a strange, enticing warmth. "You matter to me—a great deal. More than my plan, more than myself."
"You are the most important person to me here," Bai Liu said with a smile. "I promise I'll be your strange, reliable friend."
This time, Xiao Bai Liu was silent for so long that Bai Liu thought he'd hung up. Then, in a stiff voice, he abruptly changed the subject: "You like horror games too? Have you played any good ones?"
Bai Liu's eyes lowered, a faint smile on his lips as he replied, "Yes, I've played two excellent games—one called 'Siren Town,' and another, 'Explosive Last Train.'"
At fourteen, he was still easy to move, still susceptible to the kindness of a self-sacrificing fool like Lu Yizhan.
If he'd met the twenty-four-year-old Bai Liu, things would have been much more complicated.
Bai Liu had no desire to play therapist to his fourteen-year-old self, nor did he think Xiao Bai Liu needed it. He told this long story only to lay the groundwork for persuading Xiao Bai Liu to cooperate fully—for, in the end, the best way to sway him was with points, or money, all of which Bai Liu had just given to Miao Feichi and the others.
This was dangerous—Bai Liu now controlled fewer points, and thus less money, than his enemies. Soon, when Xiao Bai Liu met them, he would realize that Bai Liu was not as wealthy as Miao Feichi and his father.
That would be awkward. Knowing they were adversaries, Xiao Bai Liu would, by Bai Liu's own reckoning, side with whoever had more money—he knew his younger self was not a particularly loyal child, and for now, Xiao Bai Liu's only loyalty was to his wallet.
Even if it meant risking Bai Liu's life, Xiao Bai Liu would not care—at fourteen, his desire for money far outweighed his concern for survival.
So Bai Liu needed something besides money to restrain Xiao Bai Liu—a force as strong as greed. From experience, he knew the best tool for this was Lu Yizhan.
Lu Yizhan had kept Bai Liu on the straight and narrow for years, not just through stubbornness and friendship, but because Bai Liu was deeply curious about him.
Bai Liu was a curious person, always drawn to the strange and inhuman, and his curiosity about Lu Yizhan had never faded.
Lu Yizhan did not exist in this scenario, so Bai Liu told Xiao Bai Liu about him, and took on his role himself, extracting from Lu Yizhan the one element that had always restrained him—curiosity.
If Xiao Bai Liu became curious about him, wanted to understand his motives, that would be the beginning of everything.
Just as it had been for Bai Liu and Lu Yizhan.