Wednesday: 4:17 a.m.
Liu Huai had become too anxious because of Bai Liu's speculation. He had already lost a great deal of blood. On top of that, he refused to rest, constantly worrying about his sister. Both his health and mental stats were showing signs of decline, so Bai Liu simply took advantage of a moment when Liu Huai was unprepared and gave him sleeping pills.
Now Liu Huai was sleeping soundly on the straw bed, while Bai Liu and Mu Ke remained awake. They were still sorting through and analyzing the information they had gathered today—mainly what Mu Ke had obtained from the medical records room and what Bai Liu had learned from little Bai Liu (6).
Mu Ke looked at Liu Huai sleeping on the bed with a complicated expression. He recalled what had happened that morning and felt that Bai Liu's method had truly been excessive. Without saying a word, he had simply drugged them. This approach was just… just—
In short, it didn't resemble something a good person would do.
Mu Ke slowly shifted his gaze to Bai Liu, who was leaning against the wall and continuing to analyze the compiled information.
Bai Liu leaned against the wall with one leg bent, the paper resting on his raised knee. His face showed no obvious fatigue. Though bruised, his eyes remained clear and calm. He lowered his head, continuing to draw diagrams on the paper as he spoke evenly, "We now have a rough understanding of how this welfare home operates, and most of our doubts have been clarified. There are still two issues left, and it's best not to discuss them in front of Liu Huai."
Mu Ke froze.
Bai Liu glanced at Liu Huai, who was still asleep on the bed. "First, why are Liu Huai and Liu Jiayi bound together, and why were their health values reduced to 50%?"
"I previously speculated that it was caused by her poisoning, but there were two unreasonable aspects to that theory. First, why was Liu Huai's health also reduced by half? This could be explained by the game's binding logic. However, after integrating the information you gave me with what I learned from little Bai Liu (6) and from Liu Huai last night, that possibility is completely overturned because of the second suspicion I discovered."
"The second point—" Bai Liu calmly looked at the little girl drawn on the paper and marked a large question mark beside her thin figure. He then looked at Liu Huai, his gaze steady and emotionless. "Liu Jiayi was screened by the blood ganoderma lucidum in reality because she was the offspring of close relatives. In other words, she had already been parasitized by the mushrooms. Under those circumstances, it makes no sense that she coughed up blood during the escape. The blood ganoderma lucidum wouldn't waste her blood by making her cough it up."
"Another strange thing is the timing of her coughing. It wasn't too early or too late—it happened exactly when they were about to reach the gate." Bai Liu narrowed his eyes. "Bai Liu (6)'s hesitation at that moment was justified. If it had been me, I would also have suspected that she didn't truly want to escape and was deliberately stalling."
As Mu Ke listened, he gradually felt numb. He looked at Bai Liu and asked in a low voice, "Bai Liu, do you mean…?"
"It's obvious now, after synthesizing all the information. She was acting. She was lying to me—or to little Bai Liu." Bai Liu's expression was solemn as he reached this conclusion.
A chill ran down Mu Ke's spine. "Why would Liu Jiayi do that? Staying in the welfare home doesn't benefit her!"
Bai Liu's gaze shifted to Liu Huai's sleeping face. "She's trying to save her brother. She wants to stay in the welfare home and wait for her brother to come draw her blood."
"Then she'll die!" Mu Ke couldn't understand. "She's just a child! Isn't she afraid of death?"
Bai Liu paused. "She might not die."
Mu Ke grew even more confused. "Why? If her blood is drawn, she'll die once her health is depleted. She only has 50 health—it makes her even more vulnerable."
Bai Liu slowly lifted his head. "What if she has a personal skill that restores her health?"
Mu Ke stared at him for several seconds before looking utterly shocked. "What the hell?! You mean she's—"
Liu Huai stirred, pushed out of his half-asleep state. When he opened his eyes and met Bai Liu's calm gaze, he felt a chill spread through him.
"Jiayi—" Liu Huai shook his head as he remembered the argument he had had with Bai Liu before falling asleep. The drowsiness vanished from his expression, replaced by anxiety. "Bai Liu! You promised me you would save Jiayi! I've given everything to you! You promised!"
Bai Liu replied coldly, "Maybe your sister doesn't need anyone to save her."
He then explained his deduction to Liu Huai.
Liu Huai was stunned. His mind was sluggish from blood loss, and he looked at Bai Liu's expressionless face in confusion. "What do you mean, Jiayi was acting? Lying?"
Bai Liu raised his eyes. "Don't you understand? I told you long ago that your sister isn't as simple as you think. She's very smart—far smarter than either of us expected."
"The system was indeed trying to balance the game. It reduced both of your health values, mainly to weaken your sister, not you. This game wouldn't be fair to other players because her personal skill is too powerful. In a game where higher health provides an advantage, if it didn't weaken both her health and yours, this instance would lack any real challenge. She's practically a cheat in this game."
"Liu Jiayi has been acting like a good sister in front of you. Even little Bai Liu (6) was fooled. But in the end, a flaw appeared because of you."
Bai Liu stared directly at Liu Huai. "She figured out the game mechanics. She wanted to save you, so she didn't want to escape. She pretended to cough up blood to remain in the welfare home and wait for you to come get her. However, she doesn't want you to know her true identity.
"That forced her to be extremely cautious from beginning to end. Even so, she still slipped—because of you."
Liu Huai shook his head, whispering "Impossible" in disbelief. Without his arms, his body lacked balance. As he rose from the bed, he swayed violently, and Mu Ke hurried to support him.
Mu Ke couldn't bear to look at Liu Huai's expression. What Bai Liu was revealing now wasn't even the cruelest part.
Liu Huai staggered to Bai Liu. Tears filled his eyes; he seemed completely unable to process what he had just heard.
"How could that be… What identity? She's just a child. What identity could she possibly have? I'm the one who's supposed to protect her…"
Bai Liu looked up at him. "Liu Huai, from the beginning, we misunderstood the causal relationship. It wasn't you who influenced Liu Jiayi to enter the game."
Liu Huai stood motionless before him, head lowered, waiting to hear the cruel truth.
Bai Liu paused before stating clearly, "It was Liu Jiayi's desire that influenced you to enter the game. She likely became a player before you did. She's the one who forced the system to proactively weaken her health and bind her to her brother as a limitation. She's a player with an extremely special personal skill."
Liu Huai remained silent for a long time. At last, he slowly lowered his head to look at Bai Liu, his movements sluggish.
Bai Liu's expression did not change, nor did his tone. "Liu Jiayi is the Little Witch—the one who intended to team up with Puppet Zhang to compete in the league. She's the new star player promoted by the King's Guild, capable of restoring health. The number one newcomer on the Rising Stars list."
Hearts lazily crossed her legs, idly swinging her high heels. She looked extremely bored as she listened to the long and tedious report being delivered by the person below the stage.
The reporter read aloud in a clear voice, "Next is the analysis of the small TV data for the members of the King's Guild this season…"
"Among this season's team members, the newcomer 'Little Witch' has shown the fastest rise in overall statistics. Seven weeks after entering the game, she has firmly secured the top position on the Nightmare Rising Stars list. Her popularity and support rate have remained consistently high. Since joining the guild, her performance and support in several large-scale group battles have been outstanding. She has served as the core support in team combat…"
As he spoke, the reporter opened his system panel. A massive floating video screen appeared in front of the Queen, like a PPT presentation. He swiped through several panels before stopping on a particular video.
The title read:
"Taboo Witch's High-Energy Compilation — I Have a Bottle of Poison Tonight and a Bottle of Antidote. But Tonight Isn't Christmas Eve. Guess Who I'm Going to Kill?"
Queen of Hearts showed a rare hint of interest upon seeing the title. She straightened slightly and raised a hand to signal the reporter. "You edited a Little Witch support video? Play it."
At Hearts' signal, the video began.
The originally dark screen slowly filled with drifting white smoke. Within the swirling mist stood a player dressed in a black lace dress, barely half the height of an adult. She turned her head indifferently toward the camera. Her entire body was shrouded in a veil, obscuring her face and lending her an air of eerie mystery.
She walked barefoot through the misty jungle at dawn. Her pale skin was visible through the hollow lace embroidery, her steps light and graceful.
The grace shattered in the next instant.
A swarm of monsters emerged from the jungle. They seemed to grow out of the vines, writhing across the rotting ground before rising upright. Players ran and screamed through the jungle overrun with monsters, but they were quickly caught and devoured by the creeping vine creatures.
From beneath her black veil, she produced two glass bottles filled with liquid. She ran swiftly through the jungle. Blood-red mist rose around her as she scattered the liquid cleanly and efficiently.
The monsters rapidly decayed. The players who had begged her for mercy decayed alongside them.
Little Witch saved only her own teammates with precise accuracy. She never once turned her head toward other players, even though there was still plenty of antidote left in her bottle.
Clips from different games were spliced together at high speed. The witch hidden beneath the ominous black veil wielded poison to deliver death while dispensing antidotes with selective mercy. She moved briskly and nimbly between monsters and players. Her black garments became soaked in the blood of slain monsters and unfortunate players, growing heavier and darker with each step.
It was difficult to tell whether she was human or a ghost.
Blood dripped from the veil onto her pale feet. She casually shook it off—along with the desperate player clutching her ankle for help. A grotesque, bloody handprint remained on her skin before disappearing beneath the descending black veil.
"Little Witch demonstrates extremely precise judgment and high-level gameplay," the reporter continued. "Her attacks are simple, efficient, and ruthless. Her psychological resilience rivals that of many players who have competed in the league multiple times. It's hard to imagine that she is…"
The reporter glanced at the information on his system panel, his expression complicated.
Queen of Hearts smiled faintly and finished his sentence. "Hard to imagine that she's only an eight-year-old girl who cannot see?"
The reporter sighed. "Yes. She was only seven when she entered the game, yet she still managed to rank first among her batch of newcomers. She's exceptionally intelligent and adapted to her skill very quickly."
"Little Witch's skill is both rare and special. At the time, many guilds attempted to control her, threatening her into joining them. Instead of being manipulated, she recognized her own value and immediately initiated a bidding auction. She declared that whichever guild offered her the highest charge would be the one she joined."
"Yes, she's a very clever girl." Hearts smiled faintly at the memory. "All of the top ten guilds participated in that bidding war. It was absolute madness."
"She used those charged points to climb to the top of the Rising Stars list within just seven games. During that period, she moved between guilds, cooperating with different teams. This only made them realize her value even more. None of them dared to antagonize her. Instead, they competed to charge her more points in order to attract her. The bidding grew increasingly frenzied. I recall that some of her games received up to 300,000 charged points."
"Yes." The reporter clutched his chest as if recalling a painful memory. "That's an astronomical figure for a newcomer. Our guild alone charged at least six or seven hundred thousand points to her small TV before finally winning the bid."
Hearts casually scrolled through the information panel until her gaze stopped on Liu Huai's profile.
Looking at Liu Huai's helpless expression in the image, she laughed softly. Tilting her head, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, she smiled more deeply. "Even with that many points, this clever Little Witch might not have chosen our King's Guild if Wang Shun hadn't discovered her weakness—her brother, Liu Huai—who just happened to enter the game at that time."
"Queen, there's something strange," the reporter said as he flipped through the panel, clearly puzzled. "After Little Witch joined the King's Guild, why didn't she directly recruit Liu Huai into our guild? Instead, she used a roundabout method—controlling him through Puppet Zhang. Even after Liu Huai joined, she never revealed that she was the King's Guild's ace newcomer. Puppet Zhang treated Liu Huai cruelly, yet she never intervened."
He frowned, glancing between Little Witch's and Liu Huai's files. "It gives the impression that Liu Huai is her weakness. But the way she treats him feels distant… even ruthless."
"Now that the season is approaching, why is Little Witch still unwilling to accept the item we offered to fully restore her eyesight? Instead, she continues using temporary items in-game to partially restore her vision, maintaining a semi-blind state. And you've chosen to indulge her in this matter, which I don't understand. If she regained her full vision, she could contribute even more to the guild."
The reporter looked at Queen of Hearts, his face filled with confusion.
Hearts lazily lifted her feet, and her high heels slipped off. She didn't care. She merely glanced at the reporter across from her. "You didn't carefully read the information Wang Shun gathered about Little Witch? Go look at the core of her desire for entering the game."
The reporter froze before hurriedly opening the detailed personal file Wang Shun had compiled.
Under "Core Desire," Wang Shun had written:
I hope to gain my brother's love. I hope to stay with my brother forever. I hope my brother will love me forever.
It was such a childish wish—exactly what an innocent eight-year-old girl might long for.
But the reporter knew very well that the Little Witch who danced in the palms of countless guilds was nothing like that. She was bloody, ruthless, and indifferent—possessing the calculation of an adult and the unstable cruelty of a child.
Such a "core desire" felt almost like a deliberately thrown smokescreen.
His brow furrowed deeper. "Queen, I still don't understand…"
"You really don't understand women." Queen of Hearts placed her bare feet on the floor and leaned forward. Her smooth hair slid from her collarbone down across her pale chest. The reporter's face reddened slightly.
She continued leaning forward with a faint smile, utterly unconcerned about her posture. "Aren't you curious why her desire is to gain her brother's love? It's simple. Because she believes she hasn't received it."
The reporter stared blankly.
Hearts lazily rested her cheek against the back of her hand, smiling with lazy charm. "This is what a clever woman looks like. Little Witch's upbringing made her completely distrust men. She has an instinctive aversion toward them—especially Liu Huai, who is partially responsible for her harsh childhood. Yet she cannot force herself not to care about him."
She smiled faintly. "It's very similar to me. I don't trust men either. But that doesn't contradict my desire to be loved by them."
"Of course, we all know Liu Huai's core desire is to save his sister. But in order to recruit that suspicious and brilliant little girl, I chose to conceal the information we had uncovered about Liu Huai." Queen of Hearts shrugged lightly, exposing her pale shoulders, then reclined bonelessly in her chair. The smile on her face never faded. "I taught her a more reliable method to obtain the love she wanted."
The reporter paused. "You were the one who personally recruited Little Witch, so we don't know the exact process. I remember you taking a secret item from the guild warehouse and giving it to her. After that, she agreed to join us. What was it?"
"We're about to enter the league. It's fine to tell you." Hearts smiled lazily. "The item is called Psyche's Tears. It's an ideological item stored in a beautiful glass bottle."
"It's very suitable for her. According to its description, after drinking it, the user can stay with the person they desire forever. However…" She smiled slightly. "The medicine will guide the user into taking certain… interesting actions."
"I've drunk it as well."
Her tone was gentle, almost like an affectionate older sister whispering advice.
"Little Witch is hostile and wary toward men, but she has an instinctive trust and preference for women—especially an adult woman like me, someone with a similar experience and high expectations for her." Hearts lowered her lashes, shadows falling softly over her eyes. "With my guidance, she drank the potion."
"Under the influence of the medicine, she began controlling her brother step by step. She eliminated every possibility of him sharing his thoughts with others. Eventually, she turned him into a puppet."
The reporter shuddered involuntarily.
Hearts smiled. "But soon, she regretted it. She didn't want a brother without a soul. She began doubting whether the love obtained through an item was real. She also felt guilty for hurting Liu Huai."
"She grew more and more afraid of losing him. She wasn't satisfied, and she couldn't fully trust what she had obtained. She feared the possibility that they might not stay together forever." Hearts' smile deepened. "So, under my suggestion, and to ensure that 'forever' remained possible, she continued asking me for more Psyche's Tears. After all, system items don't lie."
The reporter felt a chill crawl down his spine. Even someone as clever as Little Witch had been thoroughly manipulated by the Queen of Hearts.
No wonder the men who had been hurt by her still defended her. Even after being used so thoroughly, they never spoke ill of Hearts. Instead, they longed for reconciliation.
Little Witch, too, was sinking deeper and deeper.
"The final outcome," Hearts continued lightly, "was that she began testing whether her brother truly loved her—by torturing both him and herself."
She extended a finger toward Liu Huai's image on the panel as if pitying him. "Such a tragic pair. The brother is willing to give up his life for his sister, while the sister still doubts him."
"And to ensure her brother's safety—and his love—she joined the league to earn an enormous amount of points."
Hearts looked up at the reporter and winked playfully, wagging her finger like a mischievous girl. "In our world, we call Liu Huai's experience… a test of sincerity. Of course, most men in this world would fail the sincerity test given by me—or by Little Witch."
The reporter recalled how Liu Huai had been forced to lose his best friend after being controlled by Puppet Zhang, the so-called "tests" and torment he endured. He quickly shook himself out of Hearts' charm.
"Still… what does this have to do with Little Witch refusing to fully restore her eyesight?"
Queen of Hearts laughed softly. "Would you love a woman who tested you like that?"
The reporter shook his head vigorously.
Hearts lowered her voice to a whisper. "Then what if she were blind? What if you believed she was just a helpless, pitiful eight-year-old girl who couldn't live without you? Would you still pity her? Would you still love her forever—even after everything she did?"
The reporter fell silent for a long time.
Finally, he said with mixed emotions, "I feel sorry for Liu Huai… He was tricked into loving such a sister."
"I don't think he's the pitiful one." Hearts' eyes were clear and cold. "The truly pitiful one is Little Witch. If Liu Huai ever discovers the truth and stops loving her… she will lose her mind."
"So her decision to sign up for the league after clearing enough instances…" the reporter asked cautiously. "Queen, do you approve?"
Hearts nodded casually. Just as the reporter sighed in relief, she added coolly, "But make sure her true identity remains protected. Don't let other teams find out. And don't let Liu Huai discover it either. Otherwise, both you and I will suffer the consequences."
The already-frightened reporter forced a bitter smile. "Of course."
"Oh, right." Hearts suddenly seemed to remember something. "Little Witch should be clearing an instance right now. Which one did she enter?"
"When she exits, inform her that she can begin team training. In Level 2 games where health is crucial, her HP—and that of any bound teammate—will be significantly weakened. I originally planned to bind her with a control-type player like Puppet Zhang to mitigate the system's HP reduction through multiplayer control. Unfortunately, Puppet Zhang died before that plan produced results. We'll need her to adapt to a new team strategy."
The reporter rubbed his temples. "The problem is, we don't know which instance she entered. We checked all active small TVs and couldn't find hers."
Hearts' eyes narrowed sharply. Her reaction was immediate. "Have Wang Shun check whether any instances have their small TV turned off. She's a top 100 player—she can disable her broadcast."
Then she abruptly sat upright, issuing orders calmly. "No. Forget that. Check Liu Huai's small TV directly. See if there are any suspicious players in disguise within his instance."
"Liu Jiayi is meticulous. She won't act outside her plan unless it involves Liu Huai."
Just then, someone knocked on the door. At Hearts' signal, a sweating Wang Shun rushed inside.
He stared at her, breathless. "Queen! Liu Huai has found out that Liu Jiayi is Little Witch!"
"Who told him?!" Hearts' voice turned icy as she rose from her chair.
Wang Shun panted heavily. "Bai Liu! He deduced the game mechanics! Little Witch managed to deceive everyone else—but she failed to deceive Bai Liu! Now, countless players are flooding Bai Liu's small TV! The audience has already surpassed 200,000! He's climbing the Rising Stars ranking rapidly! After he revealed that Liu Jiayi is Little Witch, her fans rushed over to his channel! What should we do?!"
Hearts' gaze darkened.
"Bai Liu?" she murmured coldly. "That newcomer again?"