Mu Sicheng stared at the one-point silver coin as if he had seen a ghost. He looked at Bai Liu, who was holding the coin, utterly speechless.
"Bai Liu, are you messing with me? You want mental bleach for one point? Do you even know how expensive mental bleach is? The ones I have are all high-quality and cost over 1,000 points. What's the difference between your offer and robbery in broad daylight?"
"One point, plus a demonstration of my personal skill. Isn't that a deal?" Bai Liu continued smiling. "You can look at my skill first, then give me the mental bleach. How about it? You'll probably be the first player to ever see my personal skill."
Hearing Bai Liu's slightly seductive tone, Mu Sicheng couldn't help but waver. Still, he remained suspicious.
Technically, he could simply watch Bai Liu reveal his skill and then refuse to hand over the mental bleach. Bai Liu's mental value was in the single digits. Even if he seemed sober, he clearly couldn't overpower Mu Sicheng. Besides, skills involving theft or robbery were prohibited in the game hall. Even if Bai Liu's ability allowed him to steal, it shouldn't work here.
And Bai Liu probably didn't know that yet.
After weighing the pros and cons, Mu Sicheng concluded he wouldn't lose anything by agreeing. He was genuinely curious about this newcomer's personal skills. Rubbing his nose, he reached out and plucked the coin from Bai Liu's fingers, flashing a sly grin.
"Deal. Then Bai Liu—show me your skill."
[System Alert: A transaction has been established between Player Bai Liu and Player Mu Sicheng. The Poor Wanderer Bai Liu has received a bottle of mental bleach.]
[System Reminder: Player Mu Sicheng has given Player Bai Liu one bottle of high-quality mental bleach worth 1,700 points. This item restores a player's mental value below 20 to its original level.]
An aluminum can of mental bleach dropped into Bai Liu's hands. It resembled a can of spray paint. Bai Liu weighed it, gave it a shake, and before Mu Sicheng could react, sprayed it directly onto himself.
White mist enveloped Bai Liu's face.
Mu Sicheng finally snapped out of his shock and shrieked, "That's the high-quality bleach I hoarded during the discount sale!"
Before he could snatch it back, Bai Liu had already finished using it.
Mu Sicheng stared at the refreshed Bai Liu with a resentful and devastated expression. "What is your personal skill? Stealing? But in the game hall, players are only allowed to trade—they can't steal or rob! How did you steal the bleach from my system warehouse?!"
"I already showed it to you," Bai Liu replied with a smile as he stood up. He lightly patted Mu Sicheng's shoulder, where the latter was gloomily squatting and drawing circles on the ground. "Thank you, Player Mu Sicheng, for the mental bleach. It works very well."
Mu Sicheng couldn't make sense of it at all. He leapt up and chased after Bai Liu like an agitated monkey, jumping around and demanding an explanation. He even used a peculiar item to test whether Bai Liu was lying. The result came back: truthful.
That only made him more confused.
Meanwhile, at Bai Liu's request, Wang Shun began explaining some basic knowledge about the game. When he mentioned that almost all the newcomers from this batch had been wiped out except for Bai Liu, he sighed regretfully.
"There's actually another newcomer in your group named Mu Ke. He's quite capable, too. He's still struggling, but he'll probably die in the end. I just checked—he's already fallen into the Death Comedy section. There are no more rewards coming in. His chances of survival are slim."
"What did you say his name was?" Bai Liu paused.
Mu Ke.
Bai Liu had been fired from his job. A major reason was the young master of a wealthy family who had been parachuted into the company to "experience life." To make room for this young master, Bai Liu had been dismissed by a boss who already disliked him.
The young master's name was Mu Ke.
Mu Ke had a notoriously bad temper. On the day the position was handed over, Bai Liu didn't even have time to copy the horror game files and important design data from his computer. When he returned the next day, he discovered that his computer had been thrown out by the arrogant young master.
Not just the computer—everything Bai Liu had left in his office had vanished.
The official handover date was supposed to be the next day. Yet Mu Ke hadn't even given him time to clean up. In full view of the company, he had packed Bai Liu's belongings with visible disgust and thrown them out.
Bai Liu had always worked in a small, shabby corner of the office due to being suppressed by his boss. He'd originally used an ancient XP computer. Later, he brought his own—also old, but at least slightly better.
Mu Ke had thrown that personal computer away.
When Bai Liu confronted him, Mu Ke replied indifferently that it looked outdated and annoyed him, so he discarded it. If Bai Liu wanted, he would compensate him with a brand-new top-of-the-line machine.
Bai Liu's computer had contained dozens of gigabytes of data and several new horror game concepts. But he was already unemployed, and arguing further was pointless. He wasn't in a position to challenge someone like Mu Ke.
It was said that Mu Ke had a congenital heart condition and had been spoiled excessively since childhood. Whatever he wanted, he got. When he decided he wanted to "experience life" in a game company, layoffs were arranged so he could occupy any position he pleased.
Bai Liu knew his own tongue could be sharp. If he said too much and provoked Mu Ke into a medical episode, he might end up responsible for the hospital bill. That wouldn't be worth it.
So he simply nodded, accepted the brand-new top-tier Alienware computer worth tens of thousands of yuan, and demanded compensation for everything he'd lost—including a half-used pack of tissues. After receiving the money, he left, ignoring Mu Ke's disdainful gaze.
Now, Bai Liu said he wanted to see this Mu Ke.
Wang Shun found it strange but obediently led him to the Death Comedy section.
Mu Ke's small TV was tucked away in a desolate corner.
This type of powerless struggle before death was unpopular even in the Death Comedy section. It was too dull and lacked comedic value. Only one or two people occasionally glanced at the screen before quickly looking away in boredom.
Players dying in the game were an everyday sight. It wasn't unusual and no longer attracted attention.
Bai Liu opened the game panel to check Mu Ke's progress. He discovered that Mu Ke had already collected two pages of the monster book—one of them the Mermaid Sailor page.
That page granted the Mermaid Amulet.
Bai Liu paused when he saw this.
"Mu Ke's desire to survive is very strong," Wang Shun commented, sighing at the screen. He was accustomed to life and death and didn't show much pity. "But it's too difficult for him to clear the instance. He used his rewards to obtain a water bubble, but it was quickly destroyed by the mermaids. After that, no one gave him any more rewards, and he ended up here."
"The newcomer's performance is actually pretty good," Mu Sicheng added. "If Mu Ke were willing to sell me that Mermaid Amulet after clearing the game, I'd give him enough rewards to help him pass. That item is extremely useful. But no player would easily give up a monster book item, so I can only watch him die."
Bai Liu also wanted the Mermaid Amulet. With his years of experience designing games, he could tell it was highly valuable.
But Mu Sicheng was right. Even if Bai Liu funded Mu Ke's clearance, Mu Ke would never hand over such an item afterward. Nor would he feel any obligation toward Bai Liu.
Still, watching a valuable item sink to the bottom of the sea was not Bai Liu's style.
Bai Liu asked the system silently in his mind:
[System, can I trade with Mu Ke while he is still inside the game?]
[System: You and Player Mu Ke are not in the same latitude world and therefore cannot conduct a transaction.]
Bai Liu lowered his eyes slightly. So trades could only occur within the same latitude.
[What is the definition of latitude?]
[System: The time and space between you and the trading party must exist in a unified, continuous, and unbroken state. Currently, the time and space between you and Player Mu Ke are separated and not within the same dimension. Therefore, a transaction cannot be established.]
"Time and space…" Bai Liu murmured, unconsciously fiddling with the coin hanging at his neck. "That doesn't sound entirely impossible."
[System, give me the Siren's Fishbone.]
[System: Loading item for player.]
A fishbone nearly three meters long, glowing with faint white fluorescence, appeared before Bai Liu.
It was pure white and flawless, elegant in shape, translucent like amber. Just like its former owner—the Siren King—it was beautiful down to the bone. Yet it had clearly been extracted whole from a mermaid's spine, giving that beauty a cruel, bloody undertone.
One end tapered into a sharp point, while the other was smooth and rounded. It looked almost like an exquisite whip.
The fishbone slowly coiled around Bai Liu's waist. Its surface felt cold, like fish scales, making him shiver involuntarily. In the end, it rested gently against his waist, hanging loosely like a bone chain.
The pointed end pressed lightly against his navel, while the smooth end slipped past his belt. It looked like some bizarre avant-garde accessory, completely out of place with Bai Liu's white shirt and suit pants.
Mu Sicheng reached out curiously to touch the fishbone at Bai Liu's waist. Just as his fingers were about to make contact, the fishbone suddenly moved as if alive and stabbed into his hand.
Mu Sicheng jerked back, shaking his numb, icy, stiffened fingers. He exclaimed in shock, "What the hell is this? Players in the system hall are isolated in independent spaces—how can it attack me?!"
Mu Sicheng possessed the physical stats of an A-grade player, yet his health bar instantly dropped by half from that single strike.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
The terrifying part was that players were not supposed to be attackable in the hall at all.