Bai Liu walked toward Tawil step by step. He lifted Tawil's hand, slid the black bone whip ring back onto his finger, and smiled with deceptive gentleness.
"Have you thought it through?"
Across the collapsing illusion, Tawil gazed at him calmly. His silver-blue eyes were silent and fathomless. A pitch-black whip materialized in his hand, its surface smooth as ink.
"Perhaps one day," Tawil said evenly, "I will die in exchange for your love. But not now."
The smile on Bai Liu's face deepened. "Why not? Your existence only causes me pain, doesn't it?"
Tawil raised his eyes and met Bai Liu's without flinching. "Because I don't want to."
Bai Liu's expression stiffened.
"Even if all I can give you is suffering, I will remain by your side." A hurricane roared up behind Tawil, lifting his long hair and tearing his suit collar into disarray. His voice cut through the storm. "Your pain and your faith can belong only to me. Your desire and your love can only be bound to me."
"Until you kill me completely, I will never allow you to believe in any other evil god."
"You are mine."
He lifted the whip and held Bai Liu's gaze. "It's despicable. But when I fall in love, I am this greedy."
"Is that so?" Bai Liu sighed, almost regretful. He raised his own whip and smiled faintly. "Then I suppose I have no choice."
"Then I can only kill you."
The tavern before them shattered like a burning photograph, curling into ash. The illusion collapsed. Tawil stood at the bottom of a muddy lake, black whip in hand.
Everything else dissolved into chaotic, leaping bands of color—like unfinished drafts stacked carelessly in Photoshop. Only the mud beneath their feet remained a solid, lifeless gray. Beneath the surface, bloated corpses writhed and struggled, rotting hands clawing upward.
This was the true game world.
And it was on the verge of collapse.
Bai Liu stood at a distance from Spades, a whip darkened completely to black, clenched in his right hand. His shirt clung to him, soaked through, water dripping steadily from the hem.
"You refuse to accept the power of the evil god," Tawil said calmly. "You would rather destroy it."
Bai Liu slowly lifted his head. "Xie Ta, we both chose the path we hate most to solve this."
"If I turned back now—"
"It would be meaningless, wouldn't it?" Tawil finished quietly. "Is obtaining value truly that important to you?"
"The essence of all human desire is the pursuit of value." Bai Liu's voice was steady. "Some value can be drawn from oneself. Some must be taken from others."
A wind from nowhere tore through the lakebed. Tawil's long hair whipped wildly, and even his voice seemed distant, unreal.
"Bai Liu… what value do you want?"
Bai Liu studied the blurred silhouette before him and spoke slowly.
"I want to dominate the value of God's existence."
"Even if that value consumes you entirely?" Tawil asked softly. "Even if you are devoured by your own desire?"
Bai Liu exhaled. Then he smiled.
"Devoured by desire?"
"Is this your first day knowing me, Xie Ta? When have I ever existed without desire?"
"I am desire itself. If anything is to be swallowed, it will be me swallowing desire—not desire swallowing me."
The wind howled louder. The inverted cross at Bai Liu's throat fluttered violently, its metal flashing with an eerie halo.
Tawil burst from the storm. His whip lashed forward, clean and merciless, aimed straight at Bai Liu's face. Bai Liu twisted his shoulder and barely avoided it—but Tawil was already upon him.
Without breaking eye contact, Tawil reached for the inverted cross at Bai Liu's chest. His fingers brushed its surface.
Bai Liu did not hesitate. He countered instantly, whip snapping down. Tawil blocked.
When the two black whips collided, the entire space trembled and warped.
[System Warning: The world line of "Dense Forest Frontier" is collapsing due to excessive evil god data… Collapse at 80%…]
The impact forced Bai Liu back several steps. He nearly dropped to one knee. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Tawil saw it. His grip faltered. He stepped back slightly, lips pressed thin.
No matter how resolute he was, he could not be ruthless to Bai Liu.
Bai Liu showed no such hesitation. He struck again.
This time, Tawil abandoned the whip. He sidestepped, caught Bai Liu's weapon with one hand, and with the other hooked a finger into the inverted cross hanging from Bai Liu's collar.
The moment Tawil touched it, Bai Liu looked straight into his eyes—and smiled.
He lowered his head and caught the pendant in his mouth, pressing it beneath his tongue. His teeth closed down without mercy. Even Tawil's fingers were bitten.
Tawil stilled for half a heartbeat.
Then he released the whip, bent his knee to pin Bai Liu down, pried open his mouth with one hand, and reached in with the other to seize the cross.
In close combat, Bai Liu had no advantage. He was pinned firmly beneath Tawil.
The next second, countless corpse hands burst from the mud. They seized Tawil's ankles and dragged him downward.
Bai Liu wrenched free. He spat out the inverted cross, turned, and lashed his whip again.
[System Warning: Collapse at 95%…]
Tawil tore himself free of the corpse's hands and looked up just as the bone-spurred whip cut toward him.
"It's forbidden to fight like this in the game pool—!!"
A furious roar ripped across the lakebed. The Reverse God strode out from the fractured bands of color, a massive sword in hand, landing heavily in the mud.
He staggered the instant his feet touched down and shouted hoarsely, "You two brats, have some sense! If you keep this up, the entire world line will collapse! There's no need to drag the whole world down just because of your lovers' quarrel!"
Neither of them stopped.
The lakebed shuddered. The hardened edges of the world cracked like sunbaked earth beneath their relentless movements.
[System Warning: Collapse at 99%…]
Ignored completely, the Reverse God inhaled deeply. His face darkened.
"—Activate judge authority—Judgment of the Evil God."
[System Prompt: Does player Reverse God wish to activate the highest-level personal skill "Judgment of the Evil God" under monster book identity "Judge of the God of Rebellion"?]
[Yes.]
The instant the two whips clashed again, the Reverse God flashed between them, greatsword raised.
With a solemn expression, he brought it down upon the crossing point of the two black whips.
Blinding white light exploded outward.
The shockwave forced Bai Liu and Tawil to release their weapons and hurled them apart.
The two pitch-black whips and the heavy sword shattered almost simultaneously. The world line erupted into distorted halos of color. The sky flickered like a broken mosaic. Fragments rained down into the lake, swallowed by mud.
The corpses below let out agonized, heart-rending wails.
A sharp crack rang out. Fissures spiderwebbed across the blade of the heavy sword like shattered glass. At last, the violently trembling world began to stabilize.
The Reverse God gritted his teeth and pressed the broken sword down with both hands. Veins bulged along his forehead and neck. His face flushed red. Blood seeped from his mouth, nose, and even his pores. One by one, the bones in his hands fractured. His shoulders caved inward.
[System Warning: Player Reverse God's health rapidly decreasing…]
He coughed up a mouthful of dark blood and rasped, word by word:
"I told you… Children shouldn't play with weapons that are too dangerous in a game. It's easy to hurt each other…"
"In the end… you'll be the ones destroyed."
"There's no need… to continue this fratricidal game."
[System Alert: Player Reverse God has used "Judgment of the Evil God." Evil God Succession Ceremony terminated. Evil god power neutralized. World line collapse halted.]
[System Notice: World line of "Dense Forest Frontier" is undergoing full repair. All players will be forcibly logged out.]
[System Alert: Player Bai Liu has exited the game.]
Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi had been standing guard beside the game pool. When the surface of the water began to churn violently, both of them turned at once.
A pale hand broke through the water.
Bai Liu dragged himself out of the pool, long hair plastered to his back, clothes drenched as though he had just crawled out of a storm. Tang Erda reacted instantly, stepping forward to grip his wrist and haul him up.
The moment Liu Jiayi saw his face, her expression darkened. "How did you get hurt this badly?"
Blood seeped from the corner of Bai Liu's mouth. His long hair clung in wet strands to his colorless face. The whip in his hand was reduced to a broken handle, fragments of bone still crumbling from it. His shirt was stained through with blood and water.
"It's nothing serious." Bai Liu casually wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. His tone remained calm. "Someone else is worse off than I am."
"That tactician—the Reverse God—might die in the game."
Tang Erda stiffened. "You killed him?!"
"No." Bai Liu's voice was steady. "I don't know what method he used to rush in and sever both my whip and Xie… Spades' whip. Some kind of power connected to the evil god rebounded and struck him instead."
"When I logged out, he was kneeling with both hands braced against his heavy sword, coughing up blood. He looked like he wouldn't last much longer."
Even Liu Jiayi was shaken. "He broke both your whips? Yours is just an added item, fine—but Spades' is a skill weapon. How could that possibly be destroyed?!"
"I'm not sure." Bai Liu lowered his gaze and began walking forward. "It seemed related to his ability."
"Bai Liu." Tang Erda stepped in front of him, gripping his shoulders to stop him. He drew in a slow breath. "…Let me ask you something. Did you complete the evil god's inheritance ceremony?"
Bai Liu cast him a sidelong glance. "When did Captain Tang start caring about this kind of second-rate, game-style identity ritual?"
"I don't fully understand what that ceremony entails," Tang Erda said, eyes dark blue and unwavering. "But I don't believe it's as simple as you make it sound. Did you complete it?"
There was a brief silence.
"If I must answer," Bai Liu said at last, frank and unhurried, "then I completed half of it."
"I obtained the status of the evil god's successor and a reinforced body. But the whip was destroyed. And the most crucial item in the ritual—the inverted cross—was forcibly taken by Spades."
For reasons he couldn't quite name, Tang Erda exhaled in relief. He released Bai Liu's shoulders, looking faintly awkward. "…I was overthinking. Are you really all right?"
"I'm fine." Bai Liu turned, his brows curving as he smiled at Tang Erda. "It's Captain Tang's duty to supervise me and make sure I don't go astray. As a law-abiding citizen, of course, I'll cooperate fully with any official inquiry."
Tang Erda froze.
In the past, Bai Liu's smiles had carried an obvious, almost playful hypocrisy—so blatant it was as though he wanted to write I'm lying to you across his face. Casual. Indifferent. Never bothering to disguise his deceit.
But now—
His face was pale, blood still lingering at his lips. Yet there was not the slightest trace of weakness. When he smiled, there was an indescribable sense of composure—of quiet superiority. It was the expression of someone who could grant salvation if he wished. As though he were the one you would instinctively turn to for help, the one who would listen patiently to your troubles, indulgent and magnanimous, prepared to resolve everything for you.
…This was the way a god regarded the world.
"I'm not badly hurt," Bai Liu said. "I'll head back to the guild and check on the others."
He walked off without looking back.
Tang Erda hesitated, glancing once at the surface of the game pool before calling out, "Aren't you going to… wait for Spades?"
Bai Liu turned slightly, smiling. "I didn't kill Spades. I didn't kill the Reverse God either. I haven't killed any decent person in this game. You don't need to worry."
He paused, then added considerately, "Or are you worried about me? Do you think I'm lying? If so, we can stay and wait."
"No." Tang Erda lifted a hand, unconsciously drawing an invisible line between Bai Liu and the game pool. He hesitated. "You and Spades… in the game, the two of you…"
They had gotten married. Kissed. Carried each other through life and death.
"It looked like you were… very close," Tang Erda finished awkwardly. "Don't you want to confirm his condition?"
He had exited the game early. He hadn't witnessed the conflict that followed. In his memory, Spades had still been the one who rescued them and went searching for Bai Liu.
Bai Liu blinked slowly, as if suddenly enlightened.
"Oh. That."
He smiled lightly.
"It was just part of the game."
"I didn't take it seriously."