"So you're telling me you kissed a silver-blue-tailed mermaid who lives in a jar, and also locked lips with a ghost trapped in a mirror on a burning, soon-to-explode train?" Xiao Bai Liu clicked his tongue, his tone unreadable. "Your romantic history sounds rather extraordinary."
Bai Liu was unfazed. "They were only characters in a game. But you've listened to me ramble for so long tonight without hanging up—what's this, are you hoping to talk for the full three hours?"
"If I could, I would indeed like to talk with you for three hours," Xiao Bai Liu replied coolly. "After all, I'm paid by the minute, and tonight, with everyone else busy distracting the deformed children, only Mu Ke and I have managed to successfully notify our investors about tomorrow's events."
"That blind girl, Liu Jiayi, is quick as well. Though she can't see, she always keeps to the wall. I just helped her by luring away the deformed child on her side—she should be able to finish her call and return soon."
"The other two children—Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang, I believe—run quite fast. They made their calls, but kept crying and never managed to properly inform their investors about tomorrow's ceremony."
Xiao Bai Liu relayed the situation as he ran, his breath a little short but his report still crisp and methodical. "And don't worry, I'm cautious. Not knowing whether you and those two children's investors are enemies, I made sure Mu Ke and I avoided them while running. They never saw us making calls together. Maybe because they were running around and attracting the monsters' attention, the rest of us had an easier time making our calls tonight."
"Oh, and I forgot to mention—there's more than one deformed child out tonight," Xiao Bai Liu added calmly. "There are three, all different from last night's. One crawls on all fours, lips tinged purple; another's limbs are twisted inward, so he limps when he runs, and his proportions are all wrong; the last has unnaturally white hair and skin. I watched from the slide, didn't get a clear look, but I think his eyes are purple."
Bai Liu, who had spent time in the orphanage, was familiar with many congenital deformities. He mused, "That sounds like congenital heart disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, and albinism."
All are hereditary conditions, and they overlap significantly with the illnesses of the five surviving children in the real world.
Bai Liu quickly noticed two peculiarities.
First: While the orphanage did have many disabled children, both the dead and surviving ones all suffered from specific congenital diseases—a highly unusual pattern. What did it mean?
Second: Why do the deformed children survive in the real world, but become ghosts in this one?
Bai Liu needed more information to reason out the first, but he felt he already had an answer to the second.
He absently toyed with the damaged coin at his chest, lost in thought—
—According to the information so far, the normal children—those without deformities—were lured away by the flute and vanished, never to be seen again. The deformed children's cause of death is unknown, but after dying, they become monsters, roaming and playing.
But they are not immortal.
From the rules of the "Loving Welfare Home" game, Bai Liu deduced that the six real-world children with congenital defects, including Liu Jiayi, were projected into the game as the "deformed children" NPCs. If all these NPCs die in the game, then, by the logic of the dungeon, the six real children are also likely to die.
Yet, under Lu Yizhan's watchful care, their chances of dying are slim. The only one at real risk is Liu Jiayi, who entered the game.
But, knowing the system's usual design, to maintain narrative logic, these children are probably still fated to die.
So the question is: if they must die, how will it happen?
"It's likely that the surviving deformed children in reality will eventually die, but when I entered the game, they were still alive. If they do die, what will be the cause…"
Bai Liu murmured to himself, leaning against the wall.
The game cannot forcibly load NPC deaths without breaking logic; if it did, the real world would bug out, and Lu Yizhan, who is closely monitoring the case, would notice. The system could erase the memories of all NPCs involved, but it cannot erase a player's memory—Bai Liu would know there was a bug, and the real world's version would lose meaning for many players.
So, how can these six children die in a way that fits both game and world logic, without being a forced, bugged death?
Bai Liu suddenly recalled the pile of corpses he'd seen at the hospital, and Lu Yizhan's grave words:
"These children were all basically healthy when admitted, but a day later, symptoms suddenly appeared… Rigor mortis and livor mortis set in too early, as if they'd died long before, only for the signs to show up later…"
Yes, that was it—delayed death.
Bai Liu realized this was the most reasonable, logical, and unobtrusive way for the deaths to be loaded.
These six children may not have been poisoned by mushrooms at all; perhaps they are more resistant than others, and their symptoms are simply delayed. So, when Bai Liu entered the game, they showed no signs, but that doesn't mean they won't. Or perhaps they are already dying, but medical tests can't detect it—so, apart from Bai Liu in the game, no one has noticed.
No one has realized that these six "survivors" are still shrouded by death.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes—if the real-world dungeon is a projection of the game, will the children's deaths be the same in both?
Xiao Bai Liu did not interrupt Bai Liu's silence, waiting patiently for his next question—after all, he was paid by the minute.
After a while, Bai Liu suddenly asked, "Have you eaten any mushrooms at the orphanage recently?"
"No," Xiao Bai Liu replied succinctly. "I'm sensitive to the taste of mushrooms. None of the food I've eaten contained any."
"Do the deformed children chasing you smell of mushrooms?" Bai Liu tried another angle.
Xiao Bai Liu answered quickly, "I don't know. We've kept our distance, never close enough to smell them. Do you need me to get closer and check? But that won't be free."
"No, not for now," Bai Liu immediately vetoed the idea. "Those children move quickly. If you get too close without a distraction, you could easily be caught."
And according to the monster book, if a player's child is caught, they disappear for good. With only 6 HP left, Bai Liu's earlier words to Xiao Bai Liu were not entirely a lie—compared to himself, the still-healthy Xiao Bai Liu was far more important. Bai Liu would do anything to keep this greedy little boy safe.
"But you do need me to get close, don't you?" Xiao Bai Liu's tone was calm.
"Yes," Bai Liu admitted. "I need you to get close, and I need you to find their weaknesses."
He needed to unlock the monsters' weaknesses in the book, to control the deformed children who roamed each night. That was far safer than letting them hunt the children at will—their attacks were even more terrifying and unpredictable than the plant patient's, a true instant kill.
No children had disappeared yet, likely only because the monsters' targets were too scattered. Once they locked on, it would be easy to snatch one away.
And what worried Bai Liu most was that there had been one deformed child last night, but three tonight—their numbers seemed to be growing.
"I do need you to get close and help me find their weaknesses. It's important to me, and I'll pay you, of course," Bai Liu said softly. "But not tonight. Tonight is too dangerous. I won't sacrifice you for this. Once I find a way to protect you, we'll do it tomorrow night."
A strange silence fell. After about a minute, Xiao Bai Liu abruptly changed the subject as if nothing had happened. "Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang have gone inside. The three deformed children are chasing me now. Investor, tonight's call totals thirty-one minutes. I'll round it down to thirty—three thousand yuan. You now owe me six thousand."
His tone was polite but relentless. "It's a bad habit to delay payment for underage companionship. I hope you'll settle up when we meet tomorrow. Thank you for your patronage, Investor. Good night."
By yesterday's pattern, Xiao Bai Liu would have hung up crisply at this point. But tonight, he didn't.
Bai Liu could hear his breathing as he ran across the empty ground, the giggling of the children chasing him, little Mu Ke's suppressed sobs and gasps, the footsteps slowing as they moved from sandy earth to the hard slap of cement. The laughter faded—they must be returning to their rooms.
Little Mu Ke, dragged along all night, was purple-faced from his weak heart, but still obediently kept up, teeth clenched, never complaining. He seemed to know that if Xiao Bai Liu hadn't pulled him along, he wouldn't have lasted long enough to call his investor.
If he couldn't notify his investor, he wouldn't be able to attend the baptism tomorrow—a serious matter for any orphanage child, who might be punished otherwise.
And if Xiao Bai Liu's investor hadn't asked him to look after Mu Ke, this cold, indifferent boy would never have cared about Mu Ke's fate.
Little Mu Ke glanced at the phone in Xiao Bai Liu's hand, wondering why this kind investor had asked Xiao Bai Liu to help him.
And why hadn't Xiao Bai Liu hung up yet? They were nearly back in their room—if the teacher saw, they'd be scolded.
"Is there something else you want to say?" Bai Liu prompted tactfully. "You're about to go back, aren't you? Why haven't you hung up? Do you just want to earn more of my money?"
"…These last few minutes are on the house." Xiao Bai Liu's breath was still uneven, his tone oddly low, as if hiding something. He spoke quickly, "The two horror games you mentioned tonight were good. That covers it."
Bai Liu raised his brows in surprise. "So generous tonight? Waiving the fee, even giving me a discount…"
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The call was cut off without hesitation.
Bai Liu: "…"
So it was just to praise his taste in games? Was he really this awkward at fourteen?
How embarrassing.
Bai Liu put away the phone, his gaze falling on the overly damp straw mattress. His eyes narrowed.
All night, he'd caught a faint scent of rotting vegetation from the patient. He'd been too focused on dealing with Miao Feichi to identify it, only noting it was a humus-like plant odor, reminiscent of decaying straw, but with something else beneath it.
He touched the bite on his neck, where the plant patient's saliva lingered. Scraping a bit off, he brought it to his nose—his own blood, the damp, rotten straw, and beneath that, a faint…
Bai Liu calmly put his finger in his mouth.
—There was a subtle taste of mushroom in the mucus.
Too faint to smell, but he could taste it.
The children hadn't eaten mushrooms, but the patients had?
The only thing ICU patients consumed was the "medicine" delivered by the nurse.
But the "medicine" was a liquid, not a mushroom—though it could contain mushroom extract. Still, Bai Liu suspected another possibility.
His gaze fixed on the straw bed.
He circled it, the more he looked, the more a strange sense of déjà vu crept over him. In this dim light, with constant humidity and thick, moldy straw, the place looked less like a bed and more like a mushroom cultivation room, the straw mattress a perfect substrate.
He lifted the white sheet, revealing a mass of yellowing straw. A little digging uncovered mushrooms sprouting from the decaying straw. He recognized them all—some edible, some poisonous, but all common species, none that could prolong life, some even deadly.
His fingers sifted through the fungi, confirming they were all familiar types. He pondered.
The patients must not be eating these mushrooms—so what are they eating?
His gaze lingered on the straw bed. In the ICU, the plant patient had lain motionless, and with Bai Liu's low health, he hadn't dared disturb him to check what kind of mushrooms grew beneath his bed.
Now, it seemed likely that everyone's "substrate"—the mushrooms growing from their beds—was different.
But why? What species were they?
Bai Liu felt the answer lay in the so-called "Elixir of Life" the system mentioned.
"Mu Ke," he murmured, almost a sigh, "it's up to you now to discover, in a single night, what exactly the patients' 'Elixir of Life' is."
———
ICU ward.
Mu Ke, barely alive, crawled out from beneath the chaotic bed, clutching the frame as he struggled to stand.
His head spun as he rose, and after a few steps, he sat back down, breathless.
He collapsed onto the bed Bai Liu had used, burying his face in the blanket that still held Bai Liu's scent, like a fledgling seeking shelter beneath its mother's wing—a search for comfort.
The terror of his narrow escape left his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably. Though he'd drunk several bottles of sanity bleach to restore his rationality, his health was so depleted that his body was in dire straits.
He'd lost too much blood, his body cold and near shock, limbs shivering as if convulsing.
Mu Ke curled up, biting his lip, pressing his left hand over his right to steady himself, eyes red. When the monster had been draining his blood, he'd truly thought he would die—his vision had gone black, the veins on his hands collapsing.
But he had to be drained to this extent, so that he and Bai Liu would appear equally weakened, allowing Bai Liu to impersonate him and infiltrate Miao Feichi's team.
Mu Ke closed his eyes, recalling Bai Liu's plan to distract himself from the pain.
The plan was simple yet audacious—a shell game with cups and an orange.
Hide an orange under one of three cups, shuffle them, and let the opponent guess which cup conceals the fruit. The identical exteriors of the investors were the cups; Bai Liu, hidden beneath, was the orange Miao Feichi and his father had to find.
But the plan had many complications.
First, Mu Ke's gaze fell on the three mismatched cups Bai Liu had left on the table. He frowned, "You and the patient don't look exactly alike—he's thinner and taller."
"True, and not just that. Miao Feichi and his father are S-players—they don't have to play by our rules." Bai Liu shuffled the cups deftly. "They could simply crush all three cups and check which one hides the orange—me."
As he spoke, Bai Liu calmly crushed all three cups, revealing the squashed orange, then tossed the cups in the trash.
Mu Ke swallowed nervously. "…So what do we do?"
"First, we must make them believe they can't simply crush the cups. Only then will they play by the rules." Bai Liu tapped a cup, marking it A+. "I'll disguise myself as an A+ monster, impersonating all three. The nurses' shift is only fifteen minutes—even S-players, facing three A+ monsters at once, will likely choose to kill just one."
"But you're only one person—how can you be three…" Mu Ke trailed off.
Bai Liu's hands blurred, shuffling the cups so quickly that the A+ mark seemed to appear on all three at once. He smiled. "Speed."
"As for appearances, the sicker the patient, the thinner they are. For us, 'sicker' means two things: health and sanity. We just need to lower both to match the monster."
"Lowering health is easy. For sanity, we use the patient monster."
Mu Ke's face showed clear misgivings. "Miao Feichi and his father are veterans. This trick won't fool them. Even I could remember which cup is correct. But if we lower our health and sanity to match the monster, and they see through it…"
"You'll die, Bai Liu." Mu Ke's eyes pleaded. "You'll really die."
"Mu Ke, the point isn't whether I live or die—I'm only half my health." Bai Liu's voice was cold, almost cruel. "The point is for you to survive the night in the ICU and find the Elixir."
"Once you have the Elixir, your mainline task is complete. As for the side quest, Xiao Bai Liu is already ahead—just pay him and he'll help you. If I die, take my remaining health and clear the game. Understand?"
Mu Ke, on the verge of tears, shook his head desperately. "I can't! I really can't!"
"Then we die together, Mu Ke." Bai Liu's gaze was calm, almost indifferent, as he spoke.
He wasn't threatening Mu Ke, just stating a fact: if Mu Ke couldn't do it, they'd both die here.
Mu Ke shivered at Bai Liu's smile, biting his lip in silent struggle. After a long time, he looked up, eyes brimming with tears. "I—I'll try my best…"
Bai Liu softened, patting his shoulder. "But my death is the worst outcome, so we must prevent it. A simple shell game is too easy for veterans. My childhood friend could guess right every time after a dozen tries. So we're not giving them a simple game."
Mu Ke, eyes blurred with tears, looked at him. "Not a simple shell game?"
"No—a double-layered shell game, just like this dungeon's dual identity lines."
"And we'll prepare the answer for the first round." Bai Liu placed six identical cups on the table.
He took a marker, wrote "Bai Liu" on one cup, "Mu Ke" on another, and calmly placed the "Bai Liu" cup over the "Mu Ke" cup.
He wrote "Mu Ke" on a cup and covered the "Monster" cup.
Finally, he placed a "Monster" cup over the "Bai Liu" cup.
Mu Ke watched, bewildered.
"This is the answer to the first round," Bai Liu explained, matching each cup to its identity. "Three cups: Bai Liu, Mu Ke, Monster. But they won't trust it, so we prepare a second answer."
He lifted the cups, revealing a second layer. "This is what they'll see. Then—" Bai Liu's hands moved in a blur, shuffling the cups, then stopped, chin raised, smiling. "Now, guess where I am."
Mu Ke, confident in his memory, placed his hand on the "Mu Ke" cup. "This one."
"Wrong." Bai Liu smiled, revealing the orange under the "Monster" cup.
"How? I saw you put it under the 'Mu Ke' cup."
"Humans are easily deceived by immediate information. You remembered right, but I cheated." Bai Liu's smile was enigmatic as he opened the "Bai Liu" cup, using his pinky and forefinger to split it into three.
He looked up, lazy smile on his lips. "A crude sleight of hand. You remembered and guessed right, but I cheated—there were three cups stacked as 'Bai Liu.' You only saw the second, but the orange was under the third."
He picked up the orange. "In other words, at the end, I'll use other information to add a third shell to my identity, protecting myself and confusing Miao Feichi and his father."
"And they'll never doubt the information they receive." Bai Liu peeled the orange, handing half to Mu Ke.
He smiled, half-mocking. "Because the information comes from the other half of the orange—the one who called them. Mu Ke, want some orange?"
Mu Ke shook his head, dazed by Bai Liu's tricks, unable to process it all. Bai Liu shrugged, popped a segment in his mouth.
His face twisted as he spat it into the "Bai Liu" cup. "…Ugh, the oranges in this hospital are so sour."
The most successful outcome of this identity swap was for the monster patient to die as "Bai Liu," for Mu Ke to survive the night in the ICU as the "monster patient," and for Bai Liu, the orange, to remain under the noses of Miao Feichi and his father as "Mu Ke."
To achieve this, Bai Liu gave all three—no, all three "monsters"—at least two layers of identity shells.
After the first round, he gave Miao Gaojiang a simple answer: the monster killed was "Bai Liu," the one under the bed was the real monster, and the one he took away was "Mu Ke."
But Miao Gaojiang would never trust such an obvious answer.
So Bai Liu prepared a second round for him.
In this second round, Bai Liu boldly let Miao Gaojiang handle the shell game, while he and Mu Ke subtly hinted at their true identities—Mu Ke helping Bai Liu, Bai Liu helping the patient—arousing suspicion, making Miao Gaojiang constantly revise his mental labels. In the end, Miao Gaojiang, trusting his memory as much as Mu Ke did, would make the same mistake.
Overconfident in his experience and information, Miao Gaojiang would suspect Bai Liu, the orange under the "Mu Ke" cup, triggering Bai Liu's third shell—a self-verifying call from little Mu Ke.
Mu Ke glanced at the clock—already half past nine. The nurses were making their rounds, but he hadn't heard of any deaths or fighting, so Bai Liu's final layer of protection must have worked.
He lay on the bed, eyes blank from overstimulation, exhaling deeply.
Throughout the plan, Mu Ke's job was to lure the Miao father and son into the ICU, lower his sanity and health to match the monster, stay lucid enough to cooperate, and, most importantly, survive the night in the monster's ward to find the Elixir.
All the remaining danger—Bai Liu bore alone.
Mu Ke closed his eyes, heart still racing, pressing his hand to his chest to feel its frantic, fragile beat—fear, relief, the memory of how close they'd come to disaster.
Miao Feichi had never played by the rules, relying on his stats and strength to try to kill all the monsters—and nearly succeeded. If Bai Liu hadn't held out for ten minutes with skills and items, Miao Feichi might have achieved a triple kill, and Mu Ke would be dead.
Once his heart calmed, Mu Ke took a shaky breath, curled up on the bed for a while, then, when he'd adjusted to his condition, forced himself to his feet and began tidying the chaotic ward.
Time was short. He had to hurry and complete his task.