Game Pool

Bai Yi met Spades' questioning eyes, he opened his mouth to answer Spades' question, but at that moment, not a single word could come out of his throat.

The definitions of friend, relative and lover are all very simple, but for some reason Bai Yi felt that the answer to the question ...... was cruel to Spades.

Although Spades himself doesn't care.

Seeing that Bai Yi didn't answer him, Spades moved his eyes back again, "[Friends, relatives, lovers] These, again, are the same as [reality], you can't tell where the importance lies, right?"

"Then there's no need to tell me the answer." Spades kneecapped the whip that hung in his lap, eyes downcast, "It doesn't feel relevant."

Bai Yi was quiet for a long time before he smiled hard and hmmmed, "...... Indeed, none of this should matter to Spades."

"Because these things, like [reality], are just tender places for us weaklings to escape to."

Bai Yi murmured in fascination.

Since then, Spades hasn't asked anyone any reality-related questions, and just goes around solo gaming like he used to.

The people in the Slayer sequence also have a will to not tell Spades anything that has to do with reality.

Spades doesn't like living in Central Hall, he usually sleeps in the game, and if he finds a game he prefers after all, he'll often go to that game to sleep or rest.

For a long time before that, for example, Spades slept in Ice Age.

Bai Yi was once shocked that you actually like to sleep there, don't you feel cold where the temperature is so low?

Spades calmly stated that it would not.

Bai Yi asked in horror, why? Isn't it better to choose a warmer place to sleep?

Spades glances at him and says, I have a cold body temperature and I can't sleep anywhere warm, so it's all the same.

So Bai Yi stopped talking again and watched dumbfounded as Spades left with his whip to go to bed in Ice Age.

In fact, Bai Yi knew in his heart that all the sympathetic feelings he had for Spades were not needed by the other party.

Spades doesn't care what they, the average human players, think, not being a species that survives in the same environment as they do, and judging the world and the future by a completely different standard.

If anything, Spades is more of a monster that happened to get out of the game and into the player's fold by mistake.

Looking at Spades through human eyes is a stupid thing to do.

But once in a while ...... Bai Yi really feels sad when he occasionally finds so very subtle hints of something close to human in Spades.

--- Sad Spades, this guy can be quite human at times, so why can't he enter reality?

But Bai Yi knew in his heart that such sadness was unnecessary.

Because keeping Spades out of reality is the consensus of all players who exist in reality.

Bai Yi couldn't understand why the Adversary was so strict in banning everyone from coding Spades, but then he understood.

Once, when Bai Yi was in the lounge, the door was half-covered, and the moment he was about to reach out and push it open, he heard Spades' voice coming from inside.

"Adversary, were you the one who forbade everyone from coding my reality?" Spades inquired calmly.

Bai Yi's hand stopped when he tried to push the door open.

After a moment's interval, the Adversary answered, "Well, I'm the one who banned it, so what, you want to enter reality?"

"No." Spades paused, "But why shouldn't I go?"

The Adversary laughed a little, Bai Yi could see through the doorway that the Adversary was leaning back on the couch, his head tilted back to look at the ceiling as if he was contemplating, "Spades, it's not that you're not allowed to go to reality, you're allowed to go."

"But not now."

Spades asked, "Why?"

The Adversary said, "Because in the event that [reality] has no meaning to you, [reality] is just a copy of your game, and you'll see [reality] the way you see the game."

"If one day, [Reality] loses its game for you, or if [Reality] becomes unpleasant for you, you will not hesitate to choose to destroy [Reality], you have the power to do so."

"But the most essential reason is still because [reality] doesn't matter to you."

"Then in that way, you will become a monster in this copy of [Reality]." The Inverse God raised his head as he leveled his eyes at Spades, "You'd be destroying the [Reality] that everyone else is trying to protect with all their might."

Spades looks up, "Isn't [reality] a copy of the game?"

The Adversary rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, "You could say yes."

Spades continued, "So destroying copies of the game, isn't that something [players] do all the time?"

"The players I've met hate all copies of the game, they fear them and often break down and hiss about destroying them completely."

"Why is [Reality] a copy that these players are going to protect?"

Spades looked to Adversary, "Is it because these players like [reality] copies?"

"No." The Reverse God thought for a moment, he seemed to smile as if he found it amusing and looked towards Spades, "On the contrary, many of the players who come here to the system hate [Reality]."

"There must be something in [reality] that is very unpleasant to them, that greatly motivates them to get into the game, and for a lot of players, [reality] is probably no less scary than any of the games here."

Spades stared straight at the Adversary, "Then why are they protecting reality? Shouldn't it be destroyed by any means necessary?"

The Adversary smiled, "Hard to understand, isn't it?"

Spades paused and hmmm'd.

"It's not the copy of [Reality] itself that they want to protect." Adversary looked to Spades, "It's certain specific people in this copy."

"So even if the copy of [reality] is as repulsive and horrible and eerie as it is, forcing them to suffer and torturing them to survive, they will protect [reality] for these people."

"Humans, or rather Spades the player you see is such a creature."

"One instinctively goes after the presence, feelings, and values in other people themselves, and the desires that arise from this pursuit tend to be tougher than those that arise from oneself."

"By relying solely on profiting for oneself, one will become a subject of desire and spiritual needs, and the game will soon drive such a person mad, which is normal, for man is a product of the group, and it is difficult to satisfy one's own emotional and spiritual needs entirely on one's own, and one must look to other people in order to do so."

"You should have seen quite a few players who got into the game just for themselves and then died very quickly in the game."

"So most of the high-level players in this game are not in the game for themselves, but are in the game because of someone, or some very important person in [reality]."

The Reverse God dragged his jaw and looked at Spades with a smirk, "But they're still hard to understand for Spades right now, so it's good to hear about it."

"Spades if you want to enter reality, then you have to make it irreplaceable for you to do so." The Adversary patted Spades on the shoulder.

"When there exists in reality someone, or some people who are so important to you that you would be willing to destroy reality for their sake, no matter how much [reality] tortures you, that's when you'll be able to enter reality."

Spades was quiet for a long time, and the moment the Adversary stood up and prepared to leave, Spades abruptly spoke again, "Those very important people, are they friends, relatives, lovers?"

Bai Yi standing outside the door and the Reverse God inside were both stunned at the same time.

The Reverse God sat back down again with some amusement, "Bai Yi told you that?"

Spades hmmm'd as he lowered his head, "But what these are he didn't tell me."

"In the common sense, a relative is someone you are related to by blood, a friend is someone who is close to you and willing to help you and be there for you at all times, and a lover is-"

Speaking of [Lover], Adversary God clenched his fist and coughed a bit, his face reddened a bit, and he said bitterly, "Lover this well ...... although I already have a wife, but this is something that I can hardly explain clearly to you."

Spades squints at the Adversary, "Is it complicated, lover?"

"It's not complicated to say." The Reverse God scratched the back of his head and said shyly, "I fell in love with my wife at first sight."

"But what about saying it's not complicated, it's also complicated." Reverse God helplessly sighed a long breath, "I'm my wife's I don't know how many boyfriends, she's been very good to every boyfriend, and every boyfriend is okay, but I don't know why, maybe it's just a matter of near-luck, and there's always no way to go all the way to the end."

"I was so anxious before the wedding that I didn't sleep for a few days." Reverend God clasped his hands together and prayed devoutly, "I thank God for making it possible for her and me to get married."

Bai Yi, who heard such a big gossip outside the door, let out a breath of cold air - wow, even a highly intelligent person like the Reverse God would be worried about his marriage.

Bai Yi thought that only stupid people like himself were worried.

"You're Intelligence Point 96 and you can prophesy." Spades looked at the Adversary, "If you really want to know about the future of your marriage to her, there's always a way."

The Adversary slowly sat up straight, hands resting on his think knees crossed, head bowed in silence for a long moment before speaking, "...... I have no way to prophesy to her."

Spades looks at the Adversary, "There's no limit to your skills, so why not?"

"Because I fear." The Adversary slowly raised his head and looked at Spades, "I can foretell the future of my friends, of my loved ones, but I have no way to foretell it to her."

Spades stares at the Adversary, "What do you fear?"

The Adversary paused, "Of all the relationships that people need according to common sense, love relationships are the most special, you can expect that from your friends, loved ones are for the most part innate, only love is hard to pin down."

"Before I met her, no matter how high my intelligence value was, it was difficult for me to deduce what kind of love relationship I would have for myself and how it would progress."

"Love relationships are full of unknowns."

"You don't know what you'll fall in love with, and you don't know which one will or won't love you, and for how long." The Reverse God half-closed his eyes, "I don't know how far I can go with her either, so while I still love her, I fear not seeing her in the future."

"I'm not going to make any prophecies about my lover."

"For me then ......" Reverse God leaned back into the couch and whispered indistinctly, "A lover is probably the one who can make me fear a future without her."

Spades was quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking, then gave a serious assessment, "Hard to understand."

The Adversary God rested his hands behind his head, looked sideways at Spades, and smiled, "Indeed, it's hard for Spades to understand, isn't it, whether it's a friend, a relative, or a lover?"

"Your birth is different from a normal human, you have no relatives who are naturally related to you by blood, and friends if you ......"

"Spades, all the players around you are afraid of you, let alone being friends." Reverse God sighed, "Although we teammates know your background, there's no way to empathize with you, all we can do is not fear you."

"It's also hard for us ordinary humans who survive in [reality] to understand your thoughts, and it's hard for you to understand ours."

"There's no point in having a relationship between friends if they can't understand each other."

The Reverse God glanced at Bai Yi outside the doorway with seeming indifference, "It's disrespectful to be friends with someone on the basis of superficial sympathy, and the other person doesn't need it."

Bai Yi's fingers on the door contracted and he slowly lowered them.

"Lover's words ......," the Reverend God let out a long sigh, "I really can't understand this relationship, I'm still struggling myself, I can't explain more to you."

Spades is silent for a moment, "If I have [a family member, friend, lover], will you give me the code to enter reality?"

"I won't give it to you." The Adversary looked at Spades and smiled, "But at that time, Spades your [friends, relatives, loved ones] will give you the code."

Spades gave an oh, nodded as if getting an answer, then got up and walked away.

As Spades pushes the door open he sees Bai Yi standing outside, Bai Yi smiles and says hello to Spades, Spades nods his head "I see you" and walks away without returning the greeting.

Bai Yi was quiet and walked into the lounge.

He walked in and sat on the couch, the smirk on his face quickly disappearing as he sat in silence for a moment before taking out a carton of cigarettes, pulling one out for himself and holding it in his mouth before handing the carton across the room to the Adversary.

"Atonement." Bai Yi paused for a moment and said, "Adversary, I was wrong, I wasn't thinking straight, I won't ever think of secretly coding Spades' reality again."

The Adversary lifted his eyelids, extended his index and middle fingers to hold a box of cigarettes, drew them out and lit them.

Then the Reverse God spoke slowly, "Don't help the object you deeply fear out of momentary sympathy, and naively think to befriend the other person."

He exhaled a puff of smoke, the white smoke spreading heavily across the side of his face.

The Inverse God turned his head and smiled with a slightly arched brow, "It's easy karma, Bai Yi."

Bai Yi could barely understand why the Reverse God forbade everyone to encode Spades' reality.

But Bai Jiamu didn't understand, and he pressed Against the Gods several times on why he couldn't give the code to Spades.

Spades, this guy is an idiot! He won't do anything to destroy reality! So what if we give it to him! Let this guy sleep in a normal, warm bed for once! Bai Jiamu yelled.

The Inverse God always snorted and laughed at Bai Jiamu, who was much younger, and said [it can be given to him, but not now, and not by you].

[Wrong time!] The Reverse God always said to Bai Jiamu in a very quirky accent.

It wasn't until this moment, when the Reverse God was covered in blood and Spades was lying on the ground covered in bruises, that Bai Yi came to a realization.

When a monster has the power to destroy [Reality], until that monster has a weakness, it is absolutely not allowed to enter this copy of [Reality].

It's unfair to the monster, though.

Bai Yi takes one look at Spades, lying face down in a pool of blood, before withdrawing his own gaze and being dragged out of the conference room by Bai Jiamu.

After a while, the door of the conference room was opened again and Liao Ke walked in carrying a cross medical kit.

Liao Ke is a very non-existent member of the team, his looks do not match the name Killer Sequence at all, very gentle, with long thin eyebrows, flat old-fashioned glasses, a bit of unintentional fine lines at the corners of the eyes, but only twenty-seven or eighty-eight to less than thirty when you look at him.

But actually the second child is in high school.

Liao Ke looks very young, not old at all, but in fact this year is already forty-eight, the eldest son graduated from college more than a year.

"Oh, Liao Ke, you're here." The Reverse God rubbed his shoulders and made casual small talk, "Isn't your youngest daughter going to be a senior next year?"

"It's not easy for you to remember that." Liao Ke teased before half kneeling next to Spades and turning him over to tie him up with the restraints.

The Adversary crouched down to help.

Liao Ke tied Spades' hands and feet to the wall with restraints, then wrapped Spades' wounds with bandages, looked up at the Reverse God, and smiled, "My daughter reads pretty hard, but she has something she wants to do, and it's good to work hard for what you want to do."

The Adversary smiled back a bit, "It's nice to find what you want to do so young."

Liao Ke glances at Against the Gods, "Aren't you too? Getting into the game at a young age for what you want to do."

After a few seconds of silence, the Reverse God smiled again as if nothing had happened, "Enough about that, I asked you to come here today so that you could counsel Spades."

"It's true that I'm a non-harmful skill that can be used directly in the central hall." Liao Ke half-kneeled in front of Spades who was hanging up by the binding belt, his expression was a bit strange, "But this is the first time I've used this skill on Spades, are you sure this guy won't come to his senses halfway through and beat me up?"

The Reverse God sat cross-legged next to him, "Can't beat you up, his whip was chopped up by me."

Liao Ke smiled, "Then I'm relieved."

Liao Ke's gaze sinks as he looks directly at Spades, whose head hangs down in front of him, and draws a stethoscope, a pen, and a notepad in his hand.

[System alert: Player Liao Ke uses the Personal Skills (Questioning) and (Medical Record Writing) on player Spades].

The stethoscope extends levitatingly, the head of the stethoscope pressed against Spades' heart, and the earhooks float in the air like an amplified stereo, emitting a regular thumping heartbeat.

Liao Ke pulls out a pen, looks down and writes on a piece of paper, "Patient Spades, what are your primary psychological symptoms? How long has this been going on?"

"Tell me with your heart."

The sound of the heartbeat in the stethoscope became disorganized, gradually reversing from a regular thump to the sound of a poorly contacted electric current, and finally to Spades' own voice.

Spades' voice came out calmly from where it hung from his ear, "I feel happy and sad that it lasted a copy."

Liao Ke nodded, "Why are you happy and why are you sad?"

"Happy because I met Bai Liu, sad because I met Bai Liu." Stethoscope said.

"Do you have this happiness and sadness all the time side by side, or are you sometimes happy and sometimes sad?" Liao Ke asks.

The stethoscope was quiet for a moment, "Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes both."

Liao Ke writes on her notepad, the tip of her pen rustling on the surface of the paper, "Can you list for me some of the different scenarios in which you've been happy, sad, and co-existed?"

"Happy when I slept with Bai Liu, his body was warm, happy when I drank with Bai Liu, I hadn't drank before, happy when I married Bai Liu, he embraced me ......" The stethoscope suddenly went silent went on, "Sad scenes, it's hard for me to list."

Liao Ke's writing pen stopped, "Why?"

"Because I don't actually feel bad about it, but then again I do." Stethoscope said.

Liao Ke asks, "If a scene is one in which you don't feel very sad, but do feel sad, then that sadness might be coming from someone else, and who is that someone?"

"Bai Liu," the stethoscope replied smoothly this time, "He's upset, but I don't understand why."

Liao Ke asked softly, "Under what circumstances would Bai Liu be so sad that he would make you feel sad too?"

"The time to embrace me." The stethoscope said, "The time to cut out my heart, the time to marry me, the time to say goodbye to me, the time to perform an evil ritual and fight me ......"

The stethoscope was quiet for a long time, "He seems to be sad all the time."