Tang Erda was so angry that he was about to faint. "Let me go, Lu Yizhan! You don't know how dangerous Bai Liu (6) is!"
Lu Yizhan suddenly became serious. "I will use my life to guarantee that Bai Liu has never committed a single illegal or criminal act in his life so far."
Tang Erda's eyes were red. "That is so far. Don't you understand that Bai Liu (6) is a natural criminal?"
"You just have to give him the slightest opportunity, and he will definitely commit irreparable crimes. You are also a policeman. Don't you know how to deal with such people when meeting them?"
"…Stifle crime, control behavior, and observe motivation." Lu Yizhan was silent for a brief moment before answering.
"Control and observation can be removed." Tang Erda's breathing became heavier, and his tone was extremely cold. "In the Heretics Handling Bureau, we have only one way to deal with heretics who are extremely dangerous and not controlled by law. It is to kill them."
After speaking, Tang Erda's arm slackened for a moment, and he broke free from Lu Yizhan's restraint.
Tang Erda twisted the arm that was held by Lu Yizhan and turned it down hard. Lu Yizhan let go in pain, and Tang Erda took the offensive. He struck his elbow against Lu Yizhan's neck and swung his left hand without hesitation. Then he fired a shot at Bai Liu, who was standing opposite him.
Lu Yizhan was caught by the neck and struggled with all his strength. He grabbed Tang Erda's hand with both hands, kicking him down onto the corridor floor. He used the strength of his waist to overturn Tang Erda along with the gun.
Tang Erda's gun fired, but he couldn't aim it. The bullet hit the metal wall in the corridor. There was the sound of the rebound and a heart-piercing roar as Lu Yizhan rushed toward Bai Liu. "Bai Liu! Get down!"
The bullet grazed Bai Liu's ear and smashed into the door of Room 0001. It was very strange. There was no sound at all as it fell softly to the ground.
Tang Erda's eyes and movements were bloody. "Do you know what you are saving?"
He used the force of his hands and locked the bone an inch below Lu Yizhan's Adam's apple with his index and middle fingers apart. Under this suffocation, Lu Yizhan had to let go of Tang Erda's arms. Tang Erda's right foot sharply bent around Lu Yizhan's right arm, which was clinging to him, and his knee slammed into the back of Lu Yizhan's head.
Lu Yizhan's head was pressed to the ground by Tang Erda's knee on his occipital bone. He felt that all his teeth had been loosened by Tang Erda's strong blow.
As expected, Tang Erda had been holding back his strength. This time, Lu Yizhan couldn't struggle at all.
Lu Yizhan's mouth was full of soreness, and blood oozed between his teeth, flowing to the ground and smearing his face.
Bai Liu was blocked in the corridor, and Tang Erda raised his gun again. Bai Liu calmly held the coin against his chest while squinting at Lu Yizhan being controlled by Tang Erda.
He might've promised Lu Yizhan not to use these monsters easily, but the situation at present wasn't easy, right?
However, the last time he used it, Bai Liu felt that he had been consumed a lot, as if his life force had been sucked away. This made him weaken quickly. He didn't know what would happen if he used it again…
Lu Yizhan saw Bai Liu's small movement of holding the coin and couldn't help trying to climb up from the ground. "Bai Liu! Don't use that! Don't summon those monsters again!"
In the dark corridor, a black figure rushed out at an extremely fast speed. Tang Erda reacted quickly. He waved his hand without hesitation and prepared to shoot this black figure that looked like a monster. However, the black figure moved extremely quickly and interrupted him with the rapid movement of its hand. The black shadow was about to steal his gun, but Tang Erda's movement was faster. He smashed the butt of his gun against the black shadow.
The black shadow was struck, let out a low curse, and quickly retreated into the shadows.
"?!" Lu Yizhan, who was lying on the ground, was startled and screamed, "Didn't I tell you not to summon monsters?"
Bai Liu shrugged innocently. "I didn't do it. Before I had time to act, these monsters came out on their own."
Mu Sicheng stepped out of the shadows. He wiped away the bloodstain caused by the butt of the gun with his thumb. Then he frowned at Bai Liu and said impatiently, "Who do you think is a monster?"
He held a gun in his hand and aimed it at Tang Erda.
A gun was pointed at him like this, but Tang Erda remained calm. "Sure enough, it is you, thief Mu Sicheng."
The moment the action of stealing the gun occurred, Tang Erda reacted instantly. This was the standard action of the Capuchin Monkey Thief under Bai Liu (6). He once had his gun stolen by another person while chasing him.
Then the other party played with the gun viciously. At the same time, he used the gun to kill all the team members chasing him, along with Tang Erda.
Another person walked out of the shadows and aimed a gun at him. It was Mu Ke. Liu Jiayi stood next to Mu Ke with no expression on her face.
The merchant Mu Ke, Little Witch Liu Jiayi, Capuchin Monkey Thief Mu Sicheng, and Tang Erda looked around slowly. These were all his old acquaintances.
There was still one more core team member, and then Bai Liu (6)'s Wandering Circus would be complete.
Five years later, these guys would be trained by Bai Liu (6) to become the best mad dogs under Bai Liu (6). They would become the monsters in Tang Erda's memories.
A thief who could steal his gun, Little Witch, who ranked fourth on the King's List, and Mu Ke. When Tang Erda started to investigate Bai Liu (6) hiding behind Mu Ke, this person's accumulated wealth had already reached an unbelievable level.
There was also one of the craziest players, the Clown Shooter, who personally slaughtered his entire team in the league. He was the son of a real weapons smuggler, a wanted criminal all over the world before entering the game, and someone who had links to major terrorist organizations.
This was also the Clown Shooter. In the initial timeline, he cooperated with Bai Liu (6) to kill Su Yang with a silver bullet.
Now nothing had happened.
These monsters, who would do evil things in the future, were still young. They hadn't grown to the point where the lives of many people were used to make up for the sins they committed. They hadn't grown to the point where he would kneel in front of the gravestones of those he was familiar with, crying in pain and collapsing.
Now these evil, monstrous prototypes were locked up by him in the bottomless cage. He just needed to lightly fire a shot, and the futures he couldn't avoid would never come again.
Tang Erda's unfocused eyes shifted from the wet and dirty Liu Jiayi to Mu Sicheng's face covered with bloodstains, holding the gun in a non-standard posture, and finally to Mu Ke's tense expression. The gun in Mu Ke's hand was aimed at him.
In the end, he looked at Bai Liu (6), who was standing in front of the room of Heretic 0001.
All of them were no longer the same as in Tang Erda's memories. They were too weak and thin. It seemed that Tang Erda's memory of their massacre was just an illusion he fabricated to comfort himself. Yet this idea was completely shattered the moment he saw Bai Liu (6).
Only Bai Liu (6) hadn't changed. He was still exactly the same as in Tang Erda's memories from all those timelines. He wore a simple and cheap white shirt and suit pants. He had a thin body and black eyes that weren't reflective.
Bai Liu (6) calmly looked down at Tang Erda, eyes so black that it seemed the night sky would never usher in daylight. He looked at Tang Erda like the abyss watching a hunter.
It was a very strange feeling.
Tang Erda had too many memories. He couldn't remember how many timelines he had experienced. There were so many painful memories in his mind that he couldn't remember most of the events.
However, he always had Bai Liu (6)'s black eyes while drowning in the countless memories.
Bai Liu (6) was like an indestructible and invincible evil god who was forever in the deepest recesses at the end of the story. He watched Tang Erda calmly with a slight smile on his face, as if pitying him and saying, "No matter how hard you struggle, you can't get the result you want. You can't save the person you want to save."
Those who had died countless times reached out and grabbed Tang Erda's wrists and ankles, trying to drag him down into a hell-like abyss. They howled mournfully at him, "Captain! Kill him! Avenge us!"
These memories were replayed repeatedly in every area of Tang Erda's brain that could arouse emotional feedback and finally mixed into a grayish-black, indistinguishable mass of memory called the hatred of everyone—it was no longer Tang Erda's memory alone.
It seemed that many people had gone to live in his mind at the same time. They existed by his side in every moment and every second, leaning against Tang Erda's ears with blood and tears on their faces and whispering, "Captain, why haven't you avenged me?"
Have you forgotten us?
Have you forgotten the team members who died for you, forgotten the meaning of your own existence, forgotten why you set foot on this road?
This type of anger that didn't stop and came from everyone would reach its peak the second Tang Erda saw Bai Liu (6) in every timeline.
It was like the ghosts who had been haunting him possessed him uncontrollably, roaring hoarsely at Bai Liu (6), "Why did you do that?!"
Committing such a heinous crime against innocent people, don't you feel pain when these ordinary people struggle so much because of you?!
This was what Tang Erda had asked when he first caught Bai Liu (6).
He was far less calm than he was now. Rather, Tang Erda couldn't keep his composure at all. The only thought in his mind was to shoot Bai Liu (6), who was sitting in the interrogation room.
Nearly two teams had died before they managed to capture this guy alive in the base. In addition, some of the team members were captured by the Wandering Circus and taken away.
For every minute and second of Bai Liu's (6) interrogation, the surviving team members in the base received videos of the captured team members being tortured to confess.
The team members captured alive suffered more horrific crimes than death. At the same time, it was filmed and sent to the phones or computers of every surviving team member in the base.
Just watching these videos, no one would feel that it was fortunate to survive, whether it was the team members who returned to the base or those who hadn't.
The clown's face appeared in the video. His face had the diamonds or clubs symbol painted in oil paint. There was a huge teardrop smeared with black paint under his right eye. The sides of his lips were exaggeratedly outlined in red and rose happily as he giggled.
He pulled the hair of one of the team members who had been tortured to the point that it was hard to see his human form. He said that if they wanted their team members back, they should exchange the boss for them.
Tang Erda could never forget the face of this team member, even in his dreams.
The uniform on this person's body was soaked with blood, and his entire body was trembling. The work permit on his chest was also stained with blood, and the faint word "Su" could be seen. The other words were all covered in blood.
The team member's hair was held by the clown, and his gaze, looking at the camera, was unfocused and completely scattered.
The clown seemed to suddenly remember something. He grabbed the hair and put the dying team member's face on the execution chair in front of the camera. He stared at the camera with drooping eyelids and said with a smile, "Oh, I forgot to tell you who is being punished this time. The identity of this person is the vice-captain of the third team, Su Yang."
Su Yang lifted his dirty, scarred face with difficulty. Blood dripped from the wound on his forehead into his eyes, all the way down his jaw, and onto the ground.
His wounds seemed to have been torn by the clown's movements, and the pain awakened Su Yang's remaining consciousness. He sluggishly turned toward the camera and said dryly, "Captain, be calm and don't go at their pace."
Tang Erda could hardly think. He stood in front of the video of Su Yang being abused, and there was a bloody white light in front of his eyes.
He told himself that he had to be calm, that he couldn't lynch prisoners with no evidence. He needed to uphold judicial justice. Su Yang was telling him this. Su Yang hoped that he would stick to his bottom line and maintain the final boundary between human and monster.
There was no difference between a law enforcement officer who lost his cool and started to abuse prisoners and the clown who abused the team members.
Tang Erda was eager to kill Bai Liu (6), who was sitting opposite him and still smiling at him.
However, the words that Su Yang said to him with a bloody face turned into an invisible bandage that tied him to the chair. It made the red-eyed Tang Erda maintain a distance as he questioned Bai Liu (6), the evil, manipulative man behind everything.
The veins on Tang Erda's forehead bulged, and he said viciously to Bai Liu (6), "The money you have, the wealth you have accumulated, is enough for you to spend recklessly for a few lifetimes. Why do you keep doing things like hurting others for profit? You actually smuggled evil into the human world!"
The corners of Bai Liu (6)'s mouth curved up. He rested his elbows on the armrests of the chair and clasped his fingers in front of him, silver handcuffs hanging from his wrists.
He leaned lazily against the chair, tilting his head slightly to look at Tang Erda opposite him and repeating Tang Erda's words with a smile. "Why do I smuggle evil into the world?"
He propped himself up using the table, leaning over and staring down at Tang Erda, who was immobilized in the chair by some pressure. The coin and reverse cross pendant slipped out of his shirt and dangled in front of Tang Erda's eyes.
Tang Erda put his hand on his waist vigilantly and looked up at Bai Liu (6).
Bai Liu (6) lowered his eyes. "Officer, why do I want to smuggle evil into the human world? It is natural because many people in the human world want to buy evil from me."
"I don't do things that have no benefits. In general, I am just a link in the evil supply chain. The ones you should really punish shouldn't be me, the smuggler, but those humans who continue to greedily buy evil from me. Without them, there would be no me."
Tang Erda held his breath and looked at Bai Liu (6).
Bai Liu (6) sat back slowly. "Why don't you punish those people?"
"Is it because there are too many? So many that it is more than half of the general population that you, as a group, are trying to protect? The law doesn't blame the public. Officer, I understand the truth."
Bai Liu (6) raised his gaze. "Back when cigarettes became popular, many people opposed them, from the government to many ordinary people who had a clear understanding of this thing. Even so, it doesn't matter how high the tax is, how strong the exclusion measures are, or even the fact that the harm smoking causes is printed on every cigarette box. This type of refreshing, mildly addictive, and health-damaging substance has become one of the most popular daily recreational items on the market, providing considerable tax revenue to most countries in the world."
Bai Liu (6) spoke softly while his eyes swept over Tang Erda's chest of pockets. There was half a cigarette case exposed there.
Tang Erda was caught by Bai Liu (6)'s gaze and instinctively squeezed his cigarette box.
"You see, you are also fascinated by this type of thing." Bai Liu (6) chuckled and spread open his hands. "Officer, don't you think you have a double standard? You can't even resist cigarettes. How can you ask ordinary people to resist the charm of the Rose Dry Leaf Gas? There is no fundamental difference between them. Both are refreshing, mildly addictive, and contain substances that are harmful to your health."
"Those two things aren't the same at all!" Tang Erda yelled angrily and retorted. "Don't twist the concept! I can quit smoking, but stopping that rose gas will kill people! They will wither!"
Bai Liu (6) finally laughed happily as he calmly looked at Tang Erda. "You know, when cigarettes first became popular, there were many people who said they could quit. Yet have you ever seen people who really quit cigarettes?"
"You are now swearing to quit smoking. Aren't you just trying to deceive people and using the act of smoking cigarettes as an excuse to feel safe? If they quit the Rose Dry Leaf Gas, they will wither. If you quit smoking, won't you feel extremely irritable because you want to smoke? Won't your state decline?"
"You will be in this state all your life, and you will need to resist this addiction all the time. Do you think this really counts as quitting?"
Bai Liu (6) smiled and looked directly at Tang Erda.
Tang Erda stared into Bai Liu (6)'s black eyes and couldn't say anything.
Bai Liu (6) retracted his gaze and continued calmly, "So, on the basis of not quitting and as long as the supply is maintained, this thing is actually the same as cigarettes. It can refresh you and boost everyone's productivity. It is a cheap and easy-to-obtain happiness."
"Do you think anyone will really reject this type of thing? No, lucrative capitalists are actively promoting it. This type of thing is used to improve the productivity of employees and, in the end, it will become something with the same status as coffee."
Tang Erda's breathing became short.
Bai Liu (6) looked at him with pity. "As long as this type of thing spreads, the people who are used to it will start to find reasonable excuses for its existence. It is the same as cigarettes. There are many countries in the world where marijuana is legal, and people even receive it as Christmas gifts. On the day when God is born, they celebrate with this evil item given by the devil."
"They might feel that this thing is wrong at first, but now look at them. They have started to feel that they have the right to enjoy these things. They are nobler than we are and have started to sympathize with us in the opposite direction. I'm sure you've already seen it, Captain Tang."
"Even if you print 'you will die if you smell it' on the label of the Rose Dry Leaf Gas, they will just tear it off as if nothing has happened and soak in the fragrance of the roses."
Tang Erda looked at the red warning words 'smoking is harmful to health' on his cigarette packaging, and his eyes felt like they were going to crack open.
"It isn't me you are trying to stop, it is those degenerate humans," Bai Liu (6) whispered softly. "I have told them to be careful of roses, but they still want to become evil puppets and wither for it. Why do you blame me, Officer?"
"Captain Tang!" The door of the interrogation room was slammed open, and a team member appeared. He glanced at the leisurely Bai Liu (6) with an extremely difficult expression. In the end, his eyes fell on Tang Erda's face, and he said with difficulty, "Something has happened. Please come out…"
The moment Tang Erda came out of the interrogation room, the team members all lowered their heads in silence. Some had red eyes and gritted teeth.
"What happened?" Tang Erda forced himself to calm down. "Did the other side send a new video?"
One of the team members smiled bitterly. "No, it is worse than that. Captain Tang, our arrest of the producer behind the scenes of the Rose Dry Leaf Gas has been exposed on the Internet. Now… we are being boycotted by many people."
"What does it mean to be boycotted?" Tang Erda asked calmly.
"Boycotting…" The reporting team member took a deep breath, and his eyes started to turn red. "They don't want us to arrest the producer of the Rose Dry Leaf Gas. They want to legalize this thing. Even though many people know about the dangers, more and more people are starting to indulge in its aroma…"
"They feel that the producer is reasonable and shouldn't be brutally arrested by us. They feel that the harm of this thing isn't as big as we said. On the contrary, it can bring great benefits."
The team member reported numbly. "Workers can complete their work faster after using it, students can easily get better grades, women become more self-disciplined and beautiful after using it, men can become strong, and the diseases of the elderly can even be alleviated by it. Even if there are some side effects, there is no need to resist at all. They think we are… we are…"
Tang Erda looked over with no emotion. "What do they think we are?"
"They think that we… are preventing ordinary people from enjoying what only the privileged can enjoy." The team member gritted his teeth. "It is because many people who seem rich are posting videos of themselves using this perfume on the Internet. The Internet police have deleted it, but people spread it privately. The spread can't be stopped at all."
"Those people are also controlling the narrative, saying we will stop the production of this perfume at any time."
Tang Erda closed his eyes. "Issue a statement explaining that many of the people they think are buyers are actually marketers of this perfume and are likely advertising and marketing it to encourage impulsive consumption by ordinary people."
"We have sent it." The team member smiled bitterly. "No one believes us at all."
"There is another very important reason. Once this perfume is used, you can't stop using it at all. Some of the polluted people are afraid that we will directly stop the production of the factory and have started to take the initiative to spray this perfume in public, forcing other people to be contaminated by this perfume against their will. Once contaminated by the perfume, people's judgment will drop so much that they seem crazy. They seem to have an irrational obsession with this thing and have started to join the boycott…"
"Captain, there are many polluted people sitting in front of the government and demanding that our department be banned…"
"Captain, that side is still sending videos over. What should we do?"
"Captain, the already polluted team members are starting to wither. Does Bai Liu (6) really know how to deal with this thing?"
"Captain…"
"Captain…"
Tang Erda's absent-minded gaze passed over the anxious, frightened, resentful, and familiar faces that surrounded him. He looked at them in a trance before finally stopping on the light-hearted face in the small window of the interrogation room.
In the small window, Bai Liu (6) turned to look at him. The dark, light-absorbing eyes were without any ripples as he smiled and mouthed, "Captain Tang, do the roses smell good?"
A piercing scream penetrated his eardrums. One of the team members staggered over with a computer in hand. "Captain! The clown is killing people!"
Tang Erda felt that he was fixed in front of the computer screen as he almost subconsciously opened the small video sent this time. A gun was aimed at a man who was slumped over on the ground, covered in blood. The clown playfully made a sound that was like a mechanical announcement at the beginning of the game.
"Beat the bad guy mini-game, ready—go!"
"Bang!" A shot hit the palm of the right hand. The man on the ground couldn't help raising his head and covering his hand while letting out a hoarse scream.
"Bang!" It hit the left ankle.
"Bang!" The right hand.
"Bang!" The left hand.
"Bang!" The calf.
Every time the beaten person was shot, he trembled like he couldn't control his pain response. Still, he tried his best to control himself so as not to make a sound or react. He didn't want this to be filmed and sent to his team members, his pain reaction making them shake in pain.
In the middle, almost all team members turned their heads away with red eyes. Only Tang Erda, who seemed to be stunned, stared at the screen without looking away.
The clown pressed the brakes twice before finally aiming the last shot at the man's head.
The clown stomped on the back of the beaten man. He grabbed the man by the hair and lifted his head back, aiming his face at the screen.
Su Yang's eyes, which were always gentle, weren't radiant at all now. His eyelids were stained with his own blood. He had always been the neat, clean, gentle, and reliable vice-captain of the third team, Su Yang. Now he was so dirty. If it were normal, he would rather endure the pain and take a bath before going to the hospital to see a doctor.
Now he didn't have that chance any longer.
The only word, "Su," that could be seen on the work card on his chest was completely stained red by the blood dripping from his face.
"From now on, if you don't release Bai Liu (6), I will kill one of your team members every hour, starting with him." The clown laughed and pointed his gun at the back of Su Yang's head.
Su Yang slowly blinked twice. His dry mouth moved, and his breathing was too weak to see. "…Don't be taken away by him. Captain, you must save those who are polluted."
Bang!
Blood splashed in Tang Erda's vision.