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Liu Jiayi and her group stood guard outside the closed door.
She frowned as the color of the rose essence flowing from the crack in the door grew darker and darker, finally turning into an almost bloody splendor.
Liu Jiayi’s nose wrinkled. She could smell the very unpleasant smell of blood and mushrooms hidden under the light rose aroma of the original liquid. This reminded her of the previous instance.
The last instance—Liu Jiayi remembered the monster book reward for the Love Welfare Institute game: the blood ganoderma lucidum.
She failed to get the monster book reward for the welfare home so she didn’t have the blood ganoderma lucidum.
Liu Jiayi hadn’t thought in the direction of the blood ganoderma lucidum before because it was too outrageous. Now she smelled this scent and Liu Jiayi understood what the antidote mentioned by Bai Liu was.
—It was the blood ganoderma lucidum.
In addition, Bai Liu inexplicably asked her about the A of Hearts skill card… it was impossible not to think about what he wanted to do!
Liu Jiayi took a deep breath and had a rare headache due to her team member who liked to fool around. She waved away the vagrant standing in front of her and sprayed herself with enough rose perfume to raise her mental value. Then she took off the vision item and walked to the door.
The most powerful alienation attack from the god-level NPC was his eyes. If she couldn’t see then she should be able to reduce the speed of her alienation.
Yet the moment Liu Jiayi took a step forward, countless thorny vines emerged from the crack in the door.
These vines were like creepers moving at double the speed. They quickly climbed and spread rapidly along the narrow corridor of the Rose Factory. In the blink of an eye, the corridor leading outside turned into a dense jungle and curled vines were stretched out everywhere.
The thick thorns that grew densely on these vines were like the teeth of a vampire that were still eating after being pulled out. They sucked up the blood-colored liquid flowing on the surface of the vine in an instant and grew quickly.
Dark red dots gathered next to the thorns and beat like a heart, pounding and pounding like they were about to explode in the next second.
“What’s going on?” Tang Erda alertly pulled out his gun and aimed at these rapidly expanding spikes. “This isn’t the dry leaf rose plant. What did Bai Liu do?”
Liu Jiayi lowered her head and put on the vision item. Then she looked up at the closed door. “He did what he always wanted to do.”
Tang Erda was startled.
The huge, tightly closed door was pushed open by the swelling vines and Tang Erda turned to look inside.
Tang Edra saw the core of these growing vines in the middle of the room and his breathing paused for a moment.
In the transparent display case filled with blood, two people lay in the bloody water while leaning on each other.
They were pressed against the other’s heart and spiked thorns pierced their bodies. They seemed to feel no pain as they were immersed in warm blood and embraced each other. They were serene and quiet, as if this moment was like an eternal sleep.
Floating in the bloody water was the red-stained A of Hearts playing card.
The thorns burst brightly and the dark red dots of light floated away under the mushroom umbrella through the dark and deep corridors, along the ends of the vines to the place where the May sunlight was shining—it was to the 16,000 acres of flower fields where old friends were buried.
The roses that lacked nutritional roots withered with the departure of their god and became an illusionary powder that filled the sky. It was 16,000 thoughts that were chopped up and hidden. They briefly appeared in the moment when the blazing sun was wrapped around the imminent coming of summer and dissipated with the petals that had fallen into dust.
The fierce winds trampled on the delicate stamens of early summer. The summer period was too short and the sun burned like an eye left by the gods.
The 16,000 acres of roses that turned the world upside down have withered but your long summer will never wither.
It was a beautiful summer that even the gods boasted about and praised.
***
In the game hall, the small TV area that had been surrounded and covered by the skill flashed twice before reappearing.
Mu Sicheng and Mu Ke, who had been sitting next to each other, stood up violently and Mu Sicheng checked the time. It was far from one dimensional clock but the skill of this Kings Guild member was actually released…
The ominous premonition in his and Mu Ke’s hearts grew heavier.
Titan stepped outside the area of the small TV with shaking strides. He raised his sturdy arms flat while on his shoulder, Hearts sat. She lazily covered her mouth and yawned.
Hearts narrowed her eyes when she saw Mu Ke and Mu Sicheng, who were blocking her path. Her eyes flickered between them before she smiled softly.
“Staring at me with hatred here won’t do anything.” She smiled with soft eyes. “You should go to the No Man’s Land and search. Maybe you can still find your boss.”
“Of course, if you can’t find it, Bai Liu can’t come out of the game alive and you don’t have anywhere to go—” Hearts languidly held out her hand to Mu Ke and her smile deepened. “The doors of the Kings Guild will always be open to players with potential like you.”
Mu Ke was so angry that he wanted to pull a Mu Sicheng and rush up to beat her. He had to take several deep breaths to control his emotions.
His face was completely white when he heard that Bai Liu couldn’t come out of the game alive. There was no blood at all and he looked like a porcelain doll about to shatter.
He knew that Hearts’ words were most likely meant to deceive him but the small TV had fallen into the No Man’s Land. There was no way to find out any news about Bai Liu and Mu Ke couldn’t help biting the hook.
However, the situation where Bai Liu was absent made Mu Ke’s mind move at a surprisingly high speed.
Don’t panic, it will be completely over when I panic. I will lose the only remaining power that can help Bai Liu.
Mu Ke pulled Mu Sicheng, whose eyes were red as he scolded Hearts, and closed his eyes while taking deep breaths. He turned to look at the panicked guild members behind him and there was an impeccable mask of a smile on his face.
“Everyone, we have just achieved a stage victory.”
The originally anxious guild members and Mu Sicheng all had expressions that asked ‘Are you crazy?’ as they looked at the smiling Mu Ke.
Mu Ke organized his thoughts and continued without hesitation.
“Is Bai Liu the most important person in our guild? No, the most important thing in our guild is all of you. Bai Liu is just an agent and he is dispensable. Anyone can be this agent as this person serves everyone. You are the main body of the guild and you are the most important.”
Mu Ke calmly narrated it. “You just proved your strength through the unimportant existence of Bai Liu. You gathered together to shake even the Kings Guild and forced them to send one of the strongest members of their team to stop you. Isn’t this a victory?”
“It is a big victory!”
The guild members looked at each other anxiously. They thought there was something wrong with Mu Ke’s logic but they couldn’t find anywhere to refute. They were involuntarily encouraged as they followed the logic of his words.
“The thing we have to do now is not give up and to take advantage of this victory.” Mu Ke smiled with grace and sincerity. “We have already won half the battle. We just have to find Bai Liu in the No Man’s Land and we will have won all of it!”
It was obviously impossible to find someone in the No Man’s Land but they were carried away by Mu Ke and it seemed like something that could be done with more time and energy.
Mu Sicheng approached Mu Ke’s ear and whispered to remind him, “There are an unknown amount of scrapped TVs in the No Man’s Land. We might not be able to find a person even after 10 years of searching.”
“Then look for 20 years. The upfront cost is heavy so they won’t run away easily.” Mu Ke smiled and whispered back in response. He glanced at Mu Sicheng with cold eyes. “If they die in the game then I will recruit new members. I must find Bai Liu and I won’t give up.”
Mu Ke raised his chin and looked a bit arrogant for some reason. “You can go if you want. I want to become someone more useful to Bai Liu than you.”
Mu Sicheng was startled.
Mu Ke didn’t care about him at all and turned back to all the guild members. “Now let’s go to the No Man’s Land!”
Hearts sitting on Titan’s shoulder raised an eyebrow slightly when she saw this scene. This person called Mu Ke spoke very well.
She cocked up her legs and the team members below raised their heads like they had a tacit connection. “Queen, do you have any orders?”
Hearts’ eyes fell on Mu Ke’s back. “Tell Wang Shun to check out this newcomer called Mu Ke.”
Before she could finish speaking, someone clapped.
Clap clap! Charles clapped his hands and smiled. He turned sideways to give way to Wang Shun, who was following him. “Wang Shun, I have found someone more suitable than you to promote Bai Liu’s team.”
The well-dressed Wang Shun felt numb and his head was lowered. His hands were on the sides of his legs and he didn’t dare look at Hearts, who was condescendingly examining him. His voice was as thin as a mosquito. “…Q-Queen.”
Charles jumped out and touched the ground with one heel. He took off his top hat and flipped it fluidly in his hand. Then he bent over and raised his hand to his chest to salute Hearts. “Good afternoon, my beautiful queen.”
The smile on Hearts’ face faded. She lowered her eyes and looked between Wang Shun and Charles several times without any emotions. “Charles, I thought that it was a convention between guilds to not touch each other’s information members.”
“Of course, that is true for a big guild.” Charles flipped his hat twice and put it firmly on his head. Then he stood up straight and looked at Hearts on Titan’s shoulder with a smile. “However, there should be a special tolerance for a newcomer guild, right?”
“Are you referring to the Scavengers Guild when you mean a newcomer guild?” Hearts spread open her hands and pressed them against the hem of her skirt at her waist. She leaned on Titan, eyes blurred. “Charles, I regret to inform you that around three minutes ago, the leader of this guild, Bai Liu, fell into the No Man’s Land.”
“That is unfortunate news. Oh poor Bai Liu.” Charles’ hands were tightly folded over his heart. He seemed extremely pained but the sad expression on his face lasted less than a second. Then it turned into an imperceptible smile. “Maybe this isn’t a bad result.”
Hearts finally realized what Charles was going to do and sat up straight, frowning while giving a warning, “Charles, the season has just begun. There are many better options. You don’t need to spend points on a newcomer.”
“However, I fell in love with him at first sight and can’t look at other players any longer.” Charles braced himself on the cane and covered his forehead with a bewitched action.
Charles’ shoulders slumped and he looked at Hearts with a cynical, playful expression. “Queen, gambling is like love. Once you are immersed in it, you must be single-minded. The horse I bet on that I like is worth a lot of money.”
“Even if he has only played three games, fell into the No Man’s Land and only has a tattered guild?” Hearts asked. “You won’t change the object of your bet?”
Charles shrugged. “Queen, you know that for a gambler like me, choosing a horse is as unreasonable as falling in love with someone.”
He looked at Hearts with a teasing and mocking smile on his face. “I think that Your Majesty, who has been deeply hurt by men, should be able to understand my state of knowing it isn’t right yet still being unable to extricate myself from someone, right?”