Bai Liu didnât stay at the welfare home for long. He was going to play the game with Mu Ke soon. He simply went for a brief sweep around the welfare home before being ready to leave. Yet before Bai Liu left, he needed to have a brief discussion with Lu Yizhan.
Therefore, Bai Liu asked Mu Ke to go home first to wait for him. The young master looked back reluctantly when he left and asked when Bai Liu would be back. Bai Liu simply had Mu Ke take a key to his house and go back first to wait. This made Mu Keâs father look at Bai Liu in a slightly strange manner.
The moment Bai Liu came out, he saw Lu Yizhan leaning against the entrance of the welfare home and waiting for him. Lu Yizhan saw Bai Liu and couldnât help teasing him. âWhat about the young master? He drove a 10 million yuan luxury car to follow you around and kept glaring at me. Since when did you have this type of charm?â
Bai Liuâs expression didnât change at the teasing. âWhat is the use of being charming? I turned him down for you and had him go back first.â
Lu Yizhan couldnât help laughing. Then he soon calmed down and spoke seriously. âYou took a look inside. How is it?â
Bai Liu wasnât in a rush as he answered. âIn addition to the poisoned children, there are also children missing from this welfare home. I know about all the poisoned children. As for the missing children, my guess is that this isnât the first incident at this welfare home, right?â
âHow did you know?â Lu Yizhan was surprised.
âThe attitude wasnât right.â Bai Liu calmly analyzed it. âThe teacher gave me a wrong feeling. Normal people would avoid places where disappearances have occurred. Meanwhile, the teacher was afraid but still walked through the location, the childrenâs playground.â
âThis shows it isnât the first time that a disappearance has occurred. It has probably happened a few times for this type of attitude that is âafraid but used to itâ to form.â
âYes.â Lu Yizhan took out the cigarette he had put away again with a bit of annoyance. âWe learned from the dean that it has happened every year for 10 years.â
Bai Liu wondered, âSo many disappearances annually should have a record. Why havenât you heard about this before?â
âIt is because they arenât missing. The children ran away by themselves. Even if it was reported in the past, it was treated as a runaway case.â Lu Yizhanâs teeth rubbed against the cigarette, his eyes dull. âIt was probably just a passing mention in the records. It would be inconspicuous unless one paid attention.â
The children went missing from a private welfare home and it was thankless to waste time looking for them. There were no parents or relatives to scold and urge them. Missing cases reported intermittently like this would be shelved and only a few lines left behind in the records. The disappeared children all vanished into a sea of people.
âPreviously, I found out that the entrepreneurs who invested in this childrenâs welfare home all recovered from their illnesses and I checked out the welfare home.â Lu Yizhan let out a puff of smoke. âHowever, a private welfare home isnât as strict as the public ones. It is more private and self-administered. It isnât easy to say if the records I have obtained are the true records and how many children there are.â
âFor example, if a child is missing and the dean doesnât report it for a few years then we probably wonât know.â
Lu Yizhan was silent for a moment. âI suspect that these entrepreneurs have problems but now their reputation is too high. It has also been many years and we have no evidence. There is no way to investigate further.â
Bai Liu told him indifferently, âSuppose even if the entrepreneurs did something to some of the children every year. They used such a disappearing trick to make these children disappear silently from the orphanage. You have no idea on how to investigate it.â
âYes.â Lu Yizhan took a deep puff of the cigarette and coughed a bit. âHowever, these are human lives Bai Liu.â
Lu Yizhan stared at Bai Liu with red eyes. âIâm not reconciled. The deaths of these children have been classified as accidents. Even if they truly are accidents, all possibilities that this isnât the case must be ruled out. I am willing to do so butââ
âYou have no proof.â Bai Liu watched Lu Yizhan very calmly. âYou canât rule it out and this isnât in the scope of your work. You coming to the scene to investigate is just nosiness.â
Lu Yizhan was quiet. However, he would soon talk about the disappearances with Bai Liu as if nothing had happened.
Lu Yizhan had a peculiar resilience about him. Bai Liu wouldnât touch a thing when he knew it couldnât be done but Lu Yizhan would try to do it as long as he could help others. He would spend his time in vain. He would also pull Bai Liu to do it with him.
Lu Yizhan and Bai Liu talked about the specifics of the missing cases that he had learned and showed Bai Liu the photos of the children who went missing every year. The photos were taken on June 1st every year. Lu Yizhan had taken photos of them with his phone and showed Bai Liu the missing children.
When the first one came out, Lu Yizhan was strangely silent for a while. It was because there was Bai Liu among the missing children in the photo.
âYou think he looks like the 14 year old me, right?â Bai Liu directly touched the face of Bai Liu (6) on the phone and commented plainly. âI also feel he is very similar.â
âYou arenât similar at all.â Lu Yizhanâs voice was low. His eyes were focused on Bai Liu as in a rare manner, he stubbornly refuted his friend. âIt is because he is dead while you are still alive.â
âHave you ever encountered such a situation, Mu Sicheng?â Bai Liu called Mu Sicheng as he walked home. âIn the future, as a player, I will definitely die in the game 10 years ago. However, 10 years later, I am still alive.â
âThis sounds like the grandfather paradox?â Mu Sichengâs voice came from Bai Liuâs phone, his tone startled and suspicious. âBai Liu, your luck is really against the sky. Donât mention encountering it, Iâve never even heard of such a situation in the game.â
The grandfather paradox was a time paradox proposed by a science fiction writer. It meant that if a person went back in time and killed his grandfather, he would obviously no longer exist in the future. Then how did he go back to the past?
This was the same situation Bai Liu was facing now. If he entered the game in the future and died in the instance that had a timeline of 10 years ago, how was he still alive to enter the game?
âIs it the parallel universe theory?â Mu Sicheng tried to explain. âThis is the most common explanation for the grandfather paradox. Assuming that the parallel space-time that you are in is A, the game instance you see loaded in A Space-time is likely the Bai Liu from the B Space-time who failed to pass the instance.â
âThen you better not enter this welfare home game.â Mu Sichengâs voice became serious and he advised Bai Liu, âAs long as you donât enter this game, you wonât die in the game and form another space-time parallel.â
âI donât think it is the parallel universe theory.â Bai Liu was very sober as he calmly reminded Mu Sicheng. âOur ârealityâ is the official version of the game. The results presented are from the âopen betaâ in the game world. The results presented are the final result of all existing game algorithms from the beta version of the game world. Theoretically, there is no parallel universe derived from various events going differently.â
âThe reality we are in is already the result of all possibilities. It is impossible for it to be a parallel world.â
âThatâs true.â Mu Sicheng confirmed it before quickly responding, âNo wait, if the result presented is unique then doesnât it mean you will die in the game instance 10 years ago?!â
âHowever, Iâm still alive now. It proves I didnât die in that instance.â Bai Liuâs thinking was clear. âOtherwise, the two propositions of âIâm aliveâ and âIâm deadâ will form a paradox in the only space-time that canât be a parallel world.â
âThenâŚâ Mu Sicheng was puzzled. âWhat is going on?â
Bai Liu didnât care about Mu Sichengâs question. He had already walked to the door of the house and was taking out his key to open the door. Bai Liu held the phone between his shoulder and his head and asked, âWhen are you going to enter the game?â
âWhy?â Mu Sicheng felt like he was going bald when talking about this. âFuck, Iâve had insomnia since agreeing to participate in the competition with you. What are you doing? I can work hard to play 26 games in two months but shouldnât you at least arrange people to play with me?â
âThatâs what I wanted to talk to you about. I want you to help me bring a pair of newcomers.â Bai Liu spoke quickly. âXiang Chunhua and Liu Fu tied for first in the last batch of newcomers. They both have personal skills and the panel quality is C+. Take them through a level one instance to practice their skills and teach them some basic knowledge of the game. Donât protect them too much.â
After Bai Liu came back from eating hotpot yesterday, he talked to Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu. He asked the two middle-aged people if they wanted to participate in the league and honestly informed them of the danger.
However, Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu didnât even hesitate. The two of them held hands and agreed tearfully. They only asked Bai Liu two questions from beginning to end.
The first question was, âWe can resurrect Guoguo as long as we win, right?â
âTheoretically, yes.â Bai Liu answered. âStill, you can slowly realize your wish by accumulating points in the normal game. The league is risky but your speed at gaining points is faster. You can consider it clearly and reply to me tomorrow.â
Xiang Chunhua glanced at Liu Fu awkwardly, hands holding her apron tightly. The news about Li Gouâs death sentence was being broadcasted on the TV behind her. The news was being replayed and the sound was loud. The entire room was filled with the male announcer stating that âthe suspect in the dismembered corpse of a senior high school girl has been sentenced to death.â
Xiang Chunhua looked at Bai Liu earnestly.
âWhat type of competition is it? Can we help you?â This was the second question they asked.
Bai Liu paused for a moment. âYes, but the death rate in this competition is very high. You might want to think more about itâŚ.â
âWe will go.â Xiang Chunhua smiled, wiping the tears in her eyes with the back of her hand. âDonât think about it anymore. We believe in you, Bai Liu. In addition, where else can we accumulate points? Isnât it just playing games? I belonged to my schoolâs female volleyball team, right Liu Fu?â