Mu Sicheng put on his own submersible mask. It was something from the system store, costing only three points.
He glanced at Bai Liu. "Let's go meet them."
Du Sanying and Puppet Zhang were in the same carriage. Du Sanying looked up, wiping water from his face as he gasped for breath. Puppet Zhang, Liu Huai, and Fang Ke were in equally miserable condition.
Before they could fully recover, Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng emerged from the fog at the far end of the carriage.
Without hesitation, Bai Liu took out his 360 broken lenses and placed them into Du Sanying's makeshift cloth bag. Ignoring Puppet Zhang's resentful glare, he stuffed the bag into Puppet Zhang's arms.
"You should have twenty fragments on your side. It'll explode in a few dozen seconds. Hold it carefully."
[System Tip: Player Puppet Zhang has collected 380 broken lenses. Collection Progress (380/400)]
"As for the two of you…" Bai Liu turned his gaze toward Liu Huai and Fang Ke. Both men stiffened under his steady stare.
"Now that the fragments have been gathered, you're no longer useful. In fact, you're a risk factor. So what should we do about you…?"
Liu Huai gritted his teeth. "We won't attack you. If you kill me, you'll only waste time. Our HP is already critically low. There's no benefit for us in attacking you—it would just get us killed. We'll hide."
"If you don't believe me…" Liu Huai met Bai Liu's eyes desperately. "I just want to survive. I'll do anything to prove I won't attack you."
Bai Liu considered for a second. "Then cut off your hands."
Liu Huai stared at him in shock. Even Mu Sicheng froze. The two men looked at Bai Liu simultaneously, stunned.
Bai Liu remained calm, as if he had suggested something entirely reasonable.
"I'm not interested in killing people. But your existence is a hidden danger. Your skill requires your hands, doesn't it? If you cut them off and survive, your HP will drop to around the same level as mine. In that case, attacking me would carry a much higher risk for you."
He then glanced at Mu Sicheng. "After losing his hands, can you handle Liu Huai?"
Mu Sicheng stared at Bai Liu for a few seconds. "You—I—" His expression twisted with confusion before he let out a cold laugh. "If he cuts off his hands, I can deal with him easily."
Bai Liu turned back to Liu Huai politely. "Alright. Go ahead. We don't have much time."
Liu Huai's face went pale. After a long moment, he gritted his teeth and turned to Fang Ke.
"Help me." Fang Ke's expression was complicated as he accepted the dagger.
When Liu Huai's severed hands fell to the ground, Mu Sicheng's eyes widened briefly before he looked away. He wasn't gloating. He wasn't pleased.
His eyes were red as he stood silently beside Bai Liu, his black monkey claws hanging stiffly at his sides.
"As for Fang Ke—" Bai Liu began.
Before he could finish, Fang Ke suddenly screamed and chopped off one of his own hands.
"I want to live!" he cried. "Is this enough?!"
"…I was only going to ask you and Liu Huai to hand over all your items and points," Bai Liu said calmly. "I didn't intend for you to cut off your hand."
Fang Ke: "..."
He burst into tears. He was perfectly gentle while discussing robbery.
Liu Huai and Fang Ke exchanged defeated glances and obediently transferred all their items and points.
Bai Liu nodded in satisfaction. Then his gaze shifted to Puppet Zhang.
"You should also give me your points and items. Otherwise, they'll just be wasted when you die."
Puppet Zhang, who was about to be sent to his death: "..."
This bastard even wanted to sell his ashes.
Puppet Zhang gritted his teeth in hatred, but he had no choice. In the end, Bai Liu successfully looted three veteran players.
He finally stopped, satisfied.
Du Sanying and Mu Sicheng, who had witnessed everything: "..."
They silently watched Bai Liu—so proficient in robbery, murder, and strategic flooding—and couldn't help wondering:
Which prison had collapsed to release such a scourge into the world?
The former laid-off worker looked at his now-overflowing inventory with obvious delight. He waved cheerfully at Liu Huai and Fang Ke.
"Bye-bye. If there's a next time, let's play together again. You really enhanced my gaming experience."
Liu Huai and Fang Ke: "..."
No. Our gaming experience was terrible.
They fled like stray dogs under Bai Liu's bright, happy gaze.
Mu Sicheng was speechless. It was obvious Bai Liu was already planning to rob them again if they ever met in another game.
When Bai Liu turned back toward Du Sanying and Mu Sicheng, Du Sanying almost burst into tears from nerves.
"B-Bai Liu… I really don't have any items left! I used most of them! Please don't rob me!"
Bai Liu looked surprised. "Why would I rob you? We're partners."
Then he paused, a trace of regret appearing in his eyes.
"All gone? I thought with 100 points of luck, you'd have a lot."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
Stop looking at him like a sheep ready for slaughter when you say that.
Du Sanying nodded tearfully. "I really don't have anything!"
Bai Liu wouldn't target Mu Sicheng. He relied heavily on Mu Sicheng's support, and Mu Sicheng's skill was theft. If Bai Liu took something, Mu Sicheng could simply steal it back.
Still, Mu Sicheng seemed like a very selective thief. When Bai Liu had looted Liu Huai and Fang Ke earlier, Mu Sicheng had watched him with the expression of someone observing a homeless man digging through trash.
Bai Liu rubbed his nose awkwardly. Well… he really had been a poor drifter once.
At that moment, the train began to move.
Both sides of the tunnel started collapsing. A violent surge of water flooded into the tunnel from all directions, pouring through shattered windows and broken gaps into the carriage.
Within seconds, the water reached Bai Liu's waist. A strong wave lifted him off his feet, but Mu Sicheng reacted quickly and grabbed him.
Du Sanying climbed onto a seat and shouted, "Bai Liu! Puppet Zhang will explode in this carriage! Mu Sicheng and I will guard both ends! We still have enough HP and defensive items! You stay away!"
Bai Liu adjusted his diving mask and made an "OK" gesture.
The water rose to his cheeks. He turned around and awkwardly paddled away. There was no helping it. He still couldn't swim.
Du Sanying and Mu Sicheng guarded opposite ends of the carriage, activating defensive items around themselves.
In the center of the carriage, Puppet Zhang stood wearing his diving mask. His face was pale as he clenched his teeth.
All his items had been taken by Bai Liu. Only the diving mask remained—just enough to prevent him from drowning before the explosion.
He could only clutch the cloth-wrapped mirror and wait for death.
The front and rear of the carriage were completely blocked.
No matter how clever Puppet Zhang was, he had no items left, no time to maneuver, and was under someone else's control. There was nothing he could do.
Escape was impossible.
Mu Sicheng and Du Sanying watched the scene in a daze.
For them, this situation felt strangely familiar.
Mu Sicheng had been trapped countless times by Puppet Zhang's despicable tactics. Every time, he had crawled out of the game battered and scarred. There had even been several occasions when he almost lost his life.
As for Du Sanying, he had been cornered in a carriage by Puppet Zhang just a few stops earlier, chased from one end to the other like prey.
And now—
The roles had reversed. It was their turn to trap Puppet Zhang.
After thinking about it, Mu Sicheng almost laughed. Bai Liu's luck value was 0, yet ever since meeting him… things didn't seem so bad.
This man had a way of returning every hardship in kind—calmly, methodically. Even though Mu Sicheng knew Bai Liu hadn't done any of this for him—
…he still couldn't help feeling a strange sense of satisfaction.
Puppet Zhang could clearly feel the mirror heating up through the cloth in his hands. The hotter it became, the more violently he trembled. Suddenly, something inside him seemed to snap.
He looked around frantically, eyes wide with a desperate plea. His mouth moved rapidly beneath the water, as if shouting something—but no one could hear him.
Mu Sicheng narrowed his eyes, trying to read Puppet Zhang's lips through the diving mask.
"Mirror… in… side…"
Before Mu Sicheng could decipher the next word—
A blinding red light burst from the mirror in Puppet Zhang's hands.
He let out a silent scream as violent currents tore through the water. A storm of bubbles surged around him, driven by the explosive force. Mu Sicheng instinctively raised an arm to shield his eyes.
The mirror detonated.
A violent shockwave rocked the entire train. Murky bubbles spiraled upward as the underwater carriage lurched violently from side to side.
Du Sanying failed to secure his grip on the doorframe. He tumbled across the carriage several times, losing a few HP before finally coming to a dizzy stop.
Bai Liu, however, had prepared in advance. Wrapped in the defensive items he had so efficiently "borrowed," he hid far from the blast radius and calmly waited for the explosion to subside.
[System Prompt (All Players): Player Puppet Zhang's Mental Value has reached zero. Death confirmed. Player has exited the game.]
Mu Sicheng stood in front of the bag that had fallen to the ground. Inside it was a clean, shiny, and broken mirror with a triangular gap in the middle. It looked exactly the same as before the explosion.
It lay quietly at the bottom of the water, and there were no traces of Puppet Zhang's body next to it. He faced the explosion at close range and was likely blown into pieces and scattered throughout the water. Mu Sicheng felt disgusted when he thought that he was in the water containing this person's minced meat, but something else soon attracted his attention.
Mu Sicheng lowered his head to look at the mirror. In the mirror, Mu Sicheng's eyes were missing due to the missing piece. It was strange.
Obviously, only 20 more fragments were needed to pass the game, but Mu Sicheng had a strange and ominous premonition in his heart. It was like the first time he saw Bai Liu smiling at him in this game. He had a hunch that he was about to be unlucky.