The central hall of the game—the core screen area.
Due to their previous duel with Bai Liu, the positions of Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang's small TVs had declined slightly. Their data had dropped, causing them to slip from a position near the "King Promotion Position" down to the Core Promotion Position. Meanwhile, Bai Liu's small TV had risen slightly, but his data wasn't strong enough to push him into the Nightmare Rising Star Promotion Position.
Now, both parties had converged at the Core Promotion Position. Bai Liu still held the upper hand, his ranking just above that of Miao Feichi and his father.
Audience circulation among players in the same promotion tier was intense because viewers could see neighboring small TVs. If a player performed well, their audience would cheer and grow excited. Though viewers couldn't hear each other directly, the atmosphere was contagious, often drawing surrounding viewers over. One side would soar while the other declined. At present, Bai Liu and the Miao father-and-son duo were locked in such a stalemate.
And stalemates often led to audience loss.
Fortunately, Bai Liu's losses weren't significant. The rare bigshots standing before his small TV hadn't left. Wang Shun couldn't help sighing. Bai Liu's gameplay was simply too extreme—constantly teetering on the edge of collapse. This precarious style was thrilling to watch.
A senior member of the Kabbalah Guild commented, "He really knows how to keep people in suspense. His gameplay is perfect for the death comedy zone. No wonder he ended up there before."
Members of the Kabbalah Guild (Fourth Rank) wore green branch-shaped pendants in their hair. The darker the shade, the higher the rank. The one who spoke had a pendant close to dark green—clearly a high-level member. Wang Shun recognized it immediately.
"It's true. I rarely see a player this desperate." Another audience member nodded. He wore a neat white uniform embroidered with a golden lyre over the heart.
Wang Shun recognized the uniform as belonging to the Golden Dawn Guild (Third Rank). The speaker had a handsome, mixed-race face and slicked-back golden hair, exuding elegance and aloofness. Wang Shun didn't recall seeing him compete before. With so many foreign members in the guild, he was somewhat face-blind regarding their roster. This was likely a new candidate who had joined the team this year—someone in the same position Puppet Zhang had once held.
"Still, Bai Liu is walking a tightrope," the Golden Dawn member continued calmly. "One misstep and Miao Gaojiang will kill him."
A lazy-looking audience member dressed like a street beggar chimed in. There was only one guild in the game known for such attire—the Freemasons' Paradise. (Seventh Rank)
This guild had a peculiar origin. Its founder had been an extremely wealthy beggar who died in the game. Under his influence, the entire guild adopted the ragged aesthetic. Their name frequently appeared on the game's "Report Wall," as players regularly complained that members dressed indecently.
The Freemason member who had spoken seemed unfazed by potential reports. He pointed at Bai Liu's small TV with interest. "This newcomer has presence. The small TV system exists to prevent newcomers from dying too easily due to a lack of points. Viewers can reward them with points to buy items."
"For veteran players who've been in the game over a year, their small TV points are transferred to their system wallet. After the game ends, 5–20% is deducted as tax and distributed to live viewers."
"Newcomers can gauge whether their actions are correct based on the points they receive. Veterans don't get that feedback. They rely solely on experience." He raised an eyebrow. "But in this case, the newcomer aura isn't helping much. He's not receiving many rewards."
"If a newcomer notices their reward points plummet due to a mistake, they often lose their composure—and eventually die." The Freemason member stared intently at Bai Liu's screen. "What will you do, Bai Liu?"
"How are you going to take the next step, you poor, penniless guy?" he murmured thoughtfully. "Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang are waiting for you at the hospital entrance, demanding the life recovery medicine. They've made it clear they'll kill you if you refuse. Miao Feichi doesn't tolerate unstable factors. Will you honestly reveal the clue you worked so hard to obtain?"
On the screen, Bai Liu hurried down the hospital corridor toward the gathering point for investors.
Besides Bai Liu and the other players, several NPC investors were also present—but they all looked identical, making them hard to distinguish unless they spoke.
Still, Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang were easy to identify. Miao Feichi casually toyed with his twin ragweed knives while Miao Gaojiang stood calmly beside him.
Pretending to be Mu Ke, Bai Liu approached respectfully and greeted them. Miao Gaojiang immediately brought up the life recovery medicine.
Bai Liu couldn't conceal it, nor could he deceive them. The system would only unlock the main quest if the correct life recovery medicine were obtained; otherwise, it wouldn't respond. He met Miao Gaojiang's scrutinizing gaze. To survive, he had to prove his value.
Without hesitation, Bai Liu handed over the torn pages—though he had deliberately mixed in irrelevant information to confuse them.
After reviewing the pages, Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang paused. A system notification likely appeared confirming the quest unlock. Miao Gaojiang's expression eased slightly.
"It is indeed the life recovery medicine."
Despite the misleading details, Miao Gaojiang quickly extracted the key information. His expression darkened. "We need to kill the child to obtain their blood. That means sacrificing half our health."
"This old Level 2 mechanic forces us to consume half the player's total health," Miao Feichi scoffed, picking his ear. "I don't like that brat anyway. He's annoying and useless. He keeps staring at me like he wants to eat my flesh. Disgusting. Just kill him."
"And there's little Bai Liu." He rubbed his hands and licked his lips with visible hunger. "The game design suits my tastes. I love killing children and eating their flesh. Once the blood is drawn, I can eat the meat. Nothing wasted."
"Not today," Miao Gaojiang warned calmly. "Your physical strength needs at least a day to recover with physical recovery agents. If you act again during the day, your skills may malfunction."
"Tsk." Miao Feichi glanced at him. "I know. The monsters here are only A+. We've cleared Level 3 games plenty of times."
"Be cautious," Miao Gaojiang advised warmly.
He was exceedingly vigilant. Even after taking Bai Liu's items and points, he didn't add them directly to his system inventory, wary that Bai Liu's trading skill might still apply. Instead, he wrapped them in a cloth-type item similar to Du Sanying's camouflage cloth from a previous game.
The cloth's system description was "Hypocritical Reality." It physically existed but couldn't be touched. Items wrapped inside weren't considered the player's direct possession, rendering Bai Liu's trading skill invalid. It was like an online purchase marked as paid but not yet received.
Moreover, Miao Gaojiang carefully avoided responding to Bai Liu's imperative sentences. Any probing question Bai Liu posed was deflected. When Bai Liu attempted to converse with Miao Feichi, Miao Gaojiang intercepted.
Bai Liu finally understood the popular vote note describing Miao Gaojiang as "cautious as dirt, shrewd and profound."
He was indeed difficult to handle. His meticulous attention to detail left Bai Liu no openings to exploit. After several failed attempts, Bai Liu fell silent under Miao Gaojiang's increasingly suspicious gaze. He would need another approach.
Around ten o'clock, the dean of the welfare institute arrived—the same one who had guided them the previous day. He led the investors back to the welfare institute for the baptism.
Following yesterday's route past the classroom building Bai Liu had logged into, they reached a large church structure—one that didn't exist in reality due to budget cuts.
It was a typical church with a pure white marble spire. Strange runes were carved along its base—symbols Bai Liu didn't recognize. They weren't from the Old or New Testament. Instead, they resembled twisted, ferocious hieroglyphs arranged in unfamiliar prayers.
The tallest structure contained niches filled with child-sized angels. They were eerily lifelike, as though sculpted from real faces. Their features were strange—vein-like lines across their skin, or cracks like peeling paint weathered by time. Yet the rest of the church looked newly built, and stone statues shouldn't age like that.
Bai Liu withdrew his gaze and followed the other investors into the church.
The interior of the church was vast, high-ceilinged, and wide. The sound of their footsteps reverberated across the floor as they walked. Light streamed in through the tall windows on both sides, falling onto the pale faces of the terminally ill patients, whose expressions seemed already touched by death. Their seats faced an altar bearing a cross more than one meter high. It was a common sight in a church, yet Bai Liu narrowed his eyes, sensing something was wrong.
Religious imagery was often used in horror games. Bai Liu had seen hundreds of depictions of Jesus bound to a cross, but this was clearly different.
It was an inverted cross, and the figure upon it was not Jesus as Bai Liu remembered him. It was a teenager.
The boy on the inverted cross looked slightly older than little Bai Liu (6). His eyes were closed, and his hands and feet were bound with thorns. The Crucifixion of Jesus was said to be agonizing, yet the boy on this cross wore none of the usual expressions of suffering. His face was utterly blank—almost indifferent. It was as though he felt nothing at all.
Thorns wrapped around his ankles, his neck, even his face. Bai Liu could almost see the shadow of long eyelashes resting against skin marred by the thorns. Yet the statue was pure white marble; no such intricate details had actually been carved.
Even so, it was breathtakingly beautiful. The limbs were smooth and graceful, the proportions of his face strikingly refined. He lay among the thorns sprouting from the inverted cross, his head tilted slightly to one side, resting against his bound arms. Light from the windows illuminated his peaceful, sleeping face, casting a faint holy radiance through the dim church.
He looked like a sleeping god.
The dean stepped forward, blocking Bai Liu's view as she addressed the seated patients.
"Today, we welcome the new students. However, the baptism is only the beginning. Killing children is forbidden within the church. Investors, please remain calm and rest assured. Once you confirm the child you desire—and determine that the child can grant you new life—you may take them away."
"Not all children can bring you new life." The dean's gaze swept deeply over the audience. Raising her arms, she declared, "Only children of pure blood can grant you a brand-new life!"
The investors cried out in excitement, "A brand-new fate!"
Bai Liu sat in the back row behind Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang. At this, Miao Feichi leaned toward Miao Gaojiang and muttered, "Why did this game set up a safe house for the children? If killing children is forbidden in the church, it'll be troublesome if they run here."
"That's normal," Miao Gaojiang replied calmly. "It's only a Level 2 game. It won't be cleared that easily. Still, I think the key is catching the children. 'Blood purity' must be the core requirement. We share the same blood, and only qualified children can produce the blood ganoderma lucidum we need."
He paused before adding, "Given it's a Level 2 game, one child's blood probably isn't enough to save a single player. Otherwise, the mortality rate would drop too much. To be safe, we should capture a few more children. Most likely, one player corresponds to two children."
The two continued discussing strategies as if they were planning a hunt. Ever since learning about the life-recovery medicine, they had unhesitatingly regarded the children as prey. Now they were even discussing how to extract blood from their child counterparts. Miao Feichi laughed, joking about purchasing an oversized juicer from the system and throwing the children inside to squeeze out more blood.
Bai Liu listened silently.
He wasn't surprised that the investors couldn't act against the children today. According to the nursery rhyme—and his understanding of baptism—children before baptism were guilty, impure, and unfit for blood extraction.
Two highly dangerous players, Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang, were participating in today's baptism. If they had been allowed to attack the children directly, the children would have stood no chance. Otherwise, Bai Liu would have had little Bai Liu (6) lead the others in an escape attempt the night before.
Soon, the dean led the investors through several prayers before summoning the children. They entered barefoot, dressed in wide, ankle-length white robes.
A stir ran through the investors. Identical expressions spread across their matching faces as they greedily surveyed the children—children who radiated a steady breath of life.
This was their new life.
Even Miao Feichi straightened in his seat. He stared at the children as if he were a juicer and they were fruit about to be fed into him. Cruel excitement gleamed in his eyes. He sniffed twice, his expression turning intoxicated.
"These children smell delicious," he murmured, licking his lips. "That little Bai Liu (6)—his skin looks so soft and tender. I haven't devoured a child whole in a long time. Maybe I'll start with him."
Little Bai Liu (6) wore a white robe that dragged along the floor. Barefoot, he held a burning candle, its flame flickering over his calm face as he walked at the end of the line. Under the dean's guidance, he stepped onto the platform.
At her command, the children lined up in a horizontal row. Little Bai Liu (6) raised his eyes.
Below them were countless identical faces—thin, pale, smiling strangely. Under the wavering candlelight, their features seemed to twist in the rising heat, morphing into distorted, wailing shapes lunging forward with open mouths.
Little Mu Ke, standing beside little Bai Liu (6), glanced up timidly before quickly lowering his head in fright.
Meanwhile, little Bai Liu (6) calmly scanned the crowd. At last, his gaze settled on Bai Liu—and did not move away. He had clearly recognized him among the investors.
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. The investors all looked like ghosts. How had this child recognized him?
A large tub—resembling a bathtub—was brought in. The dean explained it would be used for baptism. The water inside rippled gently. Around its rim lingered a dark ring of dried blood that could not be scrubbed away.
The tub was placed before the children.
The dean stood in front of them and raised her hand, signaling them to look up.
She smiled kindly. "Now, children, let us sing the hymn once more. After that, I will baptize you one by one. Remember to add your own name at the end."
Their uneven voices rose in song. Clear and childlike, they sang as candle flames flickered brightly before their innocent eyes:
"Born on a Monday,Christened on a Tuesday,Married on Wednesday,Took ill on Thursday,Grew worse on Friday,Died on Saturday,Buried on Sunday.This is the end of Bai Liu (6)."
"Very good." After the eerie hymn, the dean opened the register in her hands and began reading names.
"Next, each investor will baptize their sponsored child. It is very simple. You need only immerse the child in this clear water. However, this water can wash away only the bacteria they brought from the outside world. Oh—pardon me—not bacteria. Sin. My mistake. This water alone cannot cleanse them of sin."
Her eyes swept over the children as her smile turned grim.
"After washing them, you will take a portion of the child's blood to purify them completely. The blood will be sent to the hospital for examination to determine whether other sins remain. If none are found, you may return on Wednesday to adopt your child."
Bai Liu's gaze flickered.
So that was the purpose of the baptism. The investors feared contamination within the children's bodies. The ritual served to cleanse them spiritually, while the blood test ensured physical purity—no bacteria, no infectious disease.
They were thorough. In their eyes, children from the outside world were tainted—both spiritually and physically. The baptism screened the quality of their blood.
It was nothing more than a preliminary matching test.
If they passed, the children could officially be taken away on Wednesday.