Chapter 322: Game Pool

"Eh." Hua Gan tilted his head back, leaned against the wall and sighed, suddenly bursting out laughing, "I actually think it's childish too."

"I've heard from others that the Chairman has been the main attacker of Against the Gods for many, many years, ever since the guild Deer Hunters existed."

"In group matches where the Chairman appears as the main attacker, no matter how grueling the battle is, Against the Gods, the tactician, never gets hurt, because the Chairman will do everything he can to protect Against the Gods well."

Hua Gan would reminisce, "If the Reverse God is a [prophet], the chairman is simply like his [hunter]."

"-[Hunter] who was born to protect [Prophet]."

"In the beginning, it was said that everyone wanted to make Against the Gods the president, but he refused and entrusted the position to the president, and laughed and said that he believed the president would be able to lead everyone to the future that he saw."

"But the future isn't here yet." Hua Gan would exhale, smiling to himself, "The one who gave us the future is on his way out."

Spades said calmly, "It's not a proclivity to run away."

Hua Gan will be stunned.

Spades gazed at him without any expression on his face, "The Adversary is giving you the future you want in a different way."

"When you cannot see the future, you can choose to believe in the one who sees it."

Hua Gan will be stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Yes, we, the unknown [villagers], still have to follow the [prophet]'s command."

Having said that, Hua Gan would leap from his stool, and with tongs remove the heavy sword of the Adversary from the furnace.

Hua Gan flipped the sword over and measured it a few times before dipping it into the water, "Almost done, Spades, where's that broken whip of yours, bring it over and start fixing yours."

Spades handed over the whip that was shattered down to a single handle.

Hua Gan will look wooden for a moment, "While I never ask why weapons are broken, this is outrageous of you!"

"Get in a fight, and it's bad." Spades explained perfunctorily.

Hua Gan was stunned, "There's still a player who can fight you like this? The league is about to start, didn't Against the Gods stop you?"

Spades was expressionless, "The Adversary joined the other side to beat me together."

Hua Gan will: "...... Then you must have done something quite excessive."

Spades slumped slowly against the back of the stool, rested his chin on the back of his hand, and said, "Yeah, so I want to apologize to that guy."

Hua Gan will hold up the whip to scrutinize it and casually return, "Go on, then."

"But the Reverse God forbids it." Spades slowly lowered his eyes, "He said that going to random people until you figure out why the other person is doing this to you will only make things worse."

Hua Gan will nod approvingly, "Indeed, so have you figured it out yet?"

Spades was silent for a moment.

Hua Gan will laugh: "Didn't figure it out?"

Spades was quiet before speaking, "I feel like he likes me, but then again he's always sad when he sees me and always thinks a lot."

"I don't understand what he's thinking or what he's upset about."

Hua Gan will dip Spades' whip handle into the lava with a slightly impish grin, "Love problems ah ......"

"Usually in my experience, if you give her what she wants, she'll forgive you a little bit even if she doesn't say so with her mouth... does the other person have anything she wants?"

Blackstripe paused for a moment, "Yes, a whip similar to mine and a reverse cross."

After that, Spades was quiet again, "But I didn't want him to get it, so I broke it all."

Hua Gan cracks the whole thing open, "Then isn't it normal for the other person to hate you!"

Spades suddenly looks up and stares straight at Hua Gan will, "Can you do it? A whip that feels almost as good as my whip."

Hua Gan will be full of questions, "Brother, do you know what class of thing your whip is?"

"If I could produce a whip of your quality, I would have formed my own union long ago!" Hua Gan General said while shaking the whip in his hand, "Not to mention, the bones of your whip I haven't seen a similar texture until now."

"I can't find this kind of bone in the entire game, nor in reality, I don't even know what species of lizard monsters you generated such a perverted skill prop based on reference."

Spades glanced at the whip in the lava and replied calmly, "It's my bones."

Hua Gan will be stunned, "Doesn't ...... mean lizard bones?"

"At first a lot of people said I was a lizard." Spades replied, "I thought I was a lizard too, so I said it was a lizard bone."

Hua Gan will get more and more confused, "...... Why do you feel like a lizard?"

Spades recalled, "Because it came out of its shell with a fish tail on its lower half, but then it grew legs and looked a lot like a lizard when it was on its back, I guess."

In the town of Siren, Spades has not completely lost his mermaid form when he is born from Taville's skin, and his lower half/body grows a huge fish tail, but his feet slowly grow out of the tail, which is weird and unorthodox looking, and almost drives the townspeople crazy.

The townspeople frantically slapped Spades on his feet, trying to get the "lizard man" to roll.

So for a long time, Spades really thought he was a lizard, and when he encountered lizards in other copies, Spades would even go up to them to observe and mimic their movements.

This misunderstanding doesn't sink in until the Adversary enters the Slayer sequence and explains to Spades in all seriousness that lizards don't play games, and Spades comes to his senses.

-Turns out I'm a human being.

"Can I use my bones-" Spades looked up to Hua Gan General, "-to make a whip for Bai Liu? "

Hua Gan was shocked and subconsciously vetoed: "No way!"

Although rejected, Spades still stared at General Hua Gan, who walked back and forth several times in annoyance: "No means no, not even if you can see a hole in me!"

"Even if I were willing to do it for you, players are forbidden from harming each other in Central Hall, and there's no way for me to pick your bones, that's number one."

Hua Gan will turn to me and solemnly show two fingers, "Second, even if you go into the game and pick your bones off, you won't be able to bring them out to make a whip for me."

"The game can only bring out injuries and game bonus props, I haven't heard of anyone bringing out their own bones."

"Third, even if you did find a way to get the bones to me, a whip would take you at least four to six sets of spines, and you'd need a recovery period from picking the bones once until they grew back again, and I can't stay in the Slayer Sequence all the way through the recovery period while you grow the bones to make your whip, and the Deer Hunters are preparing for the pre-tournament work, and I'd have to be there."

"In summary, that whimsical scenario of yours is not feasible."

"Once all these problems are solved, you'll do it for me, right?" Spades looks at Hua Gan will, his eyes very focused and serious.

This look caused Hua Gan to stall for a moment and prevaricate, "How do you fix it?"

Spades looked down at Hua Gan as he took his whip, which had been restored to its original form in the furnace, and drew it out, dipping the water with a silky hiss and emitting a wisp of white smoke.

Then he raised his hand and bent the back of his neck, and with no expression on his face whatsoever he pressed the whip against the spine of his neck and made an unmerciful stroke downward.

Blood dripped instantly, and as Hua Gan looked startled, Spades slowly withdrew his fisted hand from his back and spread it out in front of Hua Gan.

In the palm of his hand was a bloody spine.

"My whip can cut through time and space, so I can hurt myself in the central hall as well, and can remove bones." Spades looked pale, "My regeneration ability is very strong, the bones I removed will grow back quickly, and it won't take you long."

"Problems all solved, now will you make me a whip?"

The skin of Hua Gan's mouth trembled, and he was silent for a long, long time, his trembling hands rummaging through his pockets for a cigarette case, taking one in his mouth and lighting it before his eyes dared to slowly descend to the still dripping bone within Spades' white palm.

"You ...... don't feel it yourself?"

Spades paused for a moment, "It's felt."

Hua Gan will look at Spades incomprehensibly, "Then why the fuck are you able to gut your own bones without a blush?!"

Spades was quiet, "Because that's all I know he wants."

Hua Gan will be stunned as he remembers what he just said to Spades - [Give her what she wants, and she'll forgive you just a little bit.]

"What the other party wants, you have to pay such a painful price to give ......" Hua Gan will sigh with a complicated look, "There would be no need to give it... ..."

"Bring it." Hua Gan would take the bone with a cigarette in his mouth, and as Spades started to take the bone again, he turned his body away from him, "Don't spill blood everywhere, take it yourself and be careful."

Spades hmmm.

Hua Gan will look at the bones in his hand and take a deep breath, "Damn, what's all this ......"

The league is getting closer by the day.

All the guilds were making a final mad dash, and not only the gaming pool, but even the small TV area was a lot heavier with gunpowder.

Stray circus is almost night and day training, high-intensity training under the various games, not only Mu Sicheng wailing can not stand, even Tang Er fight sometimes also show fatigue.

Mu Sicheng slumped lifelessly on his desk in the Wandering Circus lounge, his eyes bleak, "...... Soon I'm going to experience the most horrible thing in my life."

Liu Jiayi was speechless, "It's only preseason, you haven't been this scared before, have you?"

"No." Mu Sicheng retorted with a double-take, "It's not just preseason, I'm starting school."

Tang Er hit lifted up his shirt and wiped the sweat from his face, and smiled a bit when he heard this, "I guess the start of college is okay?"

"Yeah, it should have been okay ...... " Mu Sicheng said sadly, "but I was consumed with the game all last semester and failed two courses at the end of the semester! This semester started with a make-up exam!"

Mu Sicheng scratched his hair and howled in agony, "And I haven't even started reviewing!"

Mu Ke wonders from the bottom of his heart, "College exams are easy, so why do you fail them?"

Liu Jiayi scoffed mercilessly, "You're the only one of us here who'll flunk."

From the sidelines, Bai Liu paused and spoke faintly, "I've hung out too."

In an instant the entire office's shocked eyes were cast over.

"What's wrong?" Bai Liu returned those looks calmly, "Is it weird that I flunked?"

"I've always been average in my studies."

Mu Ke recalled thoughtfully, "I remember, I saw it on my resume, Bai Liu's grades didn't seem to be very good, the college entrance exams I remember seem to be--"

"485 points." Bai Liu took a sip of water and spoke in a calm tone, "I remember being quite a bit short of the first book line."

Mu Sicheng had been shocked: "Your high school entrance exam score is actually more than a hundred lower than mine!"

Then Mu Sicheng quickly fell into complacency, hugged his chest and raised his eyebrows, smiled with a very beat up smile and looked at Bai Liu : "I didn't expect ah I didn't expect, Bai Liu, you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, looking like an honor student, you actually didn't do as well as I did in the exams!"

"Very strange." Liu Jiayi English, "Bai Liu's thinking ability and learning ability are quite strong, how can he not score lower than Mu Sicheng?"

Mu Sicheng rages, "Hey--!!!"

Bai Liu pondered for a while, "In high school, I actually didn't try very hard, I didn't know any better, I was more rebellious, and my focus hadn't been on my studies, and it was only in the last half of the semester that I started to take it seriously."

"When the results first came out there was also some consideration of repeating the course at Lu Yizhan's urging, but in the end I didn't go."

Mu Sicheng rubbed his hands together and looked horrified, "What's going on, I've heard you say that you're considering repeating this thing and it feels so out of place that it scares me!"

Bai Liu swept Mu Sicheng glance: "Normal people will consider repeating the exam after the poor, right."

Mu Ke asked curiously, "Then why didn't Bai Liu go in the end?"

Bai Liu paused, "The orphanage suspended funding when I turned eighteen because I didn't have the money."

Everyone was silent, even Mu Sicheng was frozen.

This reason is ...... a bit surprising.

"Although the orphanage also has educational grants for children who have reached adulthood, there are not many places for that kind of grant, and you need to have good previous grades or have worked hard to get it, like Lu Yizhan, and it would be an injustice for someone like me to get it."

Bai Liu sat down on the chair with a calm expression, "Although Lu Yizhan said that he would let me resume my studies, and that he would work hard to earn money to fill in the gaps of my tuition fees and living expenses after he went to college, and then just let me return it to him after I worked, in the end I still refused."

Liu Jiayi couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

Bai Liu looked up, "Because I hated my high school academic life, so forget it."

Wang Shun interrupted the atmosphere of a group of people chatting:

"Gentlemen, the preseason game is in a day, so I'm going to talk to you now about some key pre-game things to keep in mind, and then I'm going to ask you to go back and get a good night's rest tonight, and we'll be entering the game tomorrow for the official draw for the game."

"First of all, the main stage of the league is in the center hall, and the days of no spectators, as you are used to, will soon be far behind us."

Wang Shun had a serious expression, "None of you have gotten a get-out-of-jail-free card right now, and you're in serious need of popularity."

"So please try to play spectator games to attract the attention of the crowd when you meet some of the lesser opponents in the preseason."

"Secondly, the game pool will soon be closed to the public, in accordance with the practice of previous years, the next game pool will be used as an undisclosed rental place, daily bidding for public rental, the guild with the highest opening price on that day can rent the game pool for a day to use the permission."

Wang Shun emphasized, "Although the league has started, the intensity of the training is far from enough as the rest of you, except Captain Tang, are pure newcomers."

"So next you will not only participate in the pre-season tournament, but the guild will also actively bid on the rental of the game pool on a daily basis, once rented, please trouble yourselves to suffer a little bit that day, and continue to come to the game pool to train after the tournament, and make sure to eat back the cost of the rental."

"I asked Mr. Charles about the expenses for the bidding portion of the game pool, and he said he reimburses them in his sole discretion."

Wang Shun looks around at all of them and gives a knowing smile:

"Finally, I wish you all the best of luck with the flag."

The night before league play.

Mu Sicheng half leaned under the white-lit desk lamp, pouting his lips lazily against his pen, scribbling with a highlighter in his textbook at one point and scribbling with a highlighter at another, reviewing the subject he had to make up for the exam.

As he drew, Mu Sicheng's eyes suddenly drifted to the empty bed to the left of the dormitory entrance.

That's Liu Huai's bed.

Because of the death in the dormitory, all the other students moved out in fear, but only Mu Sicheng was persuaded twice by the dormitory manager not to move out and lived alone.

"It's so annoying ......" Mu Sicheng muttered to himself, "If you were here, you could still draw me revision points, right?"

"You're listening pretty hard ......"

As he spoke, Mu Sicheng pulled his head in annoyance, "Ah ah ah! I wish I had only scored 485 points in the college entrance exam that year! I couldn't do the questions with the league in my head!"

Liu Jiayi curled up on her bed, a clumsy and ugly doll in her arms as she read with her eyes closed:

"Dumbass Brother ......"

"That Bai Liu you willed me to, seems like he's bad at everything, but kinda keeps his word."

The door to Liu Jiayi's room was knocked softly twice, and she immediately hid her doll and huddled under the covers, pretending to be asleep.

The door to the room was slowly pushed open, Xiang Chunhua carefully pushed the door open, tiptoed over to Liu Jiayi's bedside and tucked her in, touched her head, and then left again.

Liu Jiayi slowly opened her eyes, she held the hand of the doll in the quilt and said very, very softly:

"I have family that is good to me now oh brother."

"Bai Liu found it for me."

Mu Ke sits down next to a hospital bench, dropping the clothes he's just been stripped up after an EKG.

The doctor on the other side looked at the typed EKG note carefully for a moment and nodded, "Further conditions need to be examined in depth, but lately your condition has been relatively stable, just avoid strenuous exercise and keep your mind calm."

Mu Ke got up and bowed politely, "Thank you, Doctor."

The doctor smiled up, "No need to be so polite, you've been my patient since you were a child, but Mu Ke you seem to be in a good mood lately, did something good happen to you?"

Mu Ke looked up and smiled, "Yes."

"Meeting someone who allows me to exercise vigorously and be at peace with myself, but still be happy."

The doctor was stunned.

Mu Ke didn't wait for the doctor to respond, bowing again in farewell, he turned and walked from the room without a hitch.

Tang Er hit just came out of the room and saw Su Yang and a group of the third detachment members standing in front of him.

He was faintly startled, "What are you ......"

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go! Go drink!" The crew hooted and hollered as they rushed up, playfully, "It's been a long time since I've had a drink with you!"

Tang Er hit held the men down almost handily, "What are you doing! I've left the Heresy Authority and I'm not your captain anymore!"

Su Yang smiled, her eyebrows arched, "Yeah, but can't you come over for a drink when you leave us?"

"We didn't come here to look for Third Detachment Captain Tang Er to fight either, we're just looking for our old friend Tang Er to fight to catch up on old times, can't we?"

Tang Er gave a beating, then his shoulders slowly loosened and he gave a relieved smile, "It can be done."

On the road, Tang Er Ta and Su Yang were walking side by side, Su Yang looked at Tang Er Ta twice and smiled, "I always feel that you have changed a lot."

Tang Er paused, "Yes?"

Su Yang nodded, "Before, I always felt that you were preoccupied, as if you were carrying a lot of burdens that we didn't know about, and you wouldn't tell us, you were so tight every day."

"It feels like shielding everyone within your territory." Su Yang tilts her head and exhales a white breath, "but then resists everyone outside your door."

"But now, it feels like you're taking that burden off."

Su Yang turned her head with a smile, "I've never seen you so relaxed, looks like retirement is pretty good for a forty year old like you."

Tang Er hit the quiet for a moment and smiled back, "Retirement has a lot of uncertainties, though."

"But the burden did get picked up."

Su Yang smiled, "Is it Bai Liu?"

Tang Er hit clips a cigarette, a very light smile floating in his ghostly blue eyes, "Hmm."

Inside the game pool.

[System warmly reminds: Due to the upcoming league, the game pool will be closed soon, so please evacuate as soon as possible!]

Continuously people climbed out of the game pool, the surface of the water constantly rotating game interface gradually stopped and darkened, the bottom of the water from the illusory image into the ground, only the shaking and turbulent water waves reflecting the dim seven-colored halo of light sprinkled down from the top of the head.

Bai Liu stood up from the play pool, dripping wet water down his body.

In the future, this place will have to spend points to rent, although the money spent is not his, but according to Bai Liu always [cheap not take advantage of the son of a bitch] basic principles, he still in the game pool training until the last moment.

Bai Liu is now the only person in the entire pool, and just as he's about to walk out with his feet up, Bai Liu looks up and sees another person.

Spades stood outside the play pool, looking at him without moving.

Bai Liu's movement out the door stops and he looks straight at Spades.

Neither said anything, just stared at each other in silence.

Spades stood outside the game pool, Bai Liu stood inside the game pool, and the colorful halo of light flowed silently over these two people.

Originally people came and went in the game pool in this moment only the two of them were left, but do not let a person feel empty, an inexplicable atmosphere permeated between these two people let a person breathless.

Bai Liu opened his mouth first, his tone was calm, "Looking for me for something?"

Spades pauses and slowly extends his hand to Bai Liu, "For you."

Bai Liu lowers his eyes to the object in Spades' hand.

In Spades' hand is a pure white bone whip.

--The exact same bone whip that Bai Liu got from Taville in the first place.

Bai Liu looks down like that, drops of water running down his eyelashes, dripping into the closed play pool, rippling in circles with a mottled halo.

Spades saw that Bai Liu didn't pick it up and curled his fingers that were hanging down at his side, "It's a lizard bone whip that's the same strength as the mermaid bone whip you had before."

"Don't you want it?"

Bai Liu was quiet for a long, long time before he raised his eyes to Spades, "Just the whip?"

Spades for a meal.

Bai Liu calmly asked back, "You broke my reverse cross too, shouldn't you give it back to me along with it?"

"The Inverse Cross ...... " Spades' eyes wandered for a moment, "...... hasn't been fixed yet."

The material of the Reverse Cross is so special that Spades drove Hua Gan crazy not to make a similar one.

Bai Liu nodded and reached out to take the whip, "Is that so? I'll take the whip then, what are you using as collateral for the Inverse Cross?"

Spades stood expressionlessly in front of Bai Liu for a long time, as if he were a statue.

The man almost had [I can't think of anything I can pledge right now] written all over his face.

Bai Liu pulled back his eyes and looked away, with a very subtle hint of amusement in his eyes: "Unexpected?"

Spades nodded honestly for a moment, then gave a lurch, "May I?"

Bai Liu asked, "What about it?"

Spades removes a black marker and explains earnestly, "If you really want it that badly now, I can draw you one first."

Bai Liu: "......"

After logging out of the game, Bai Liu changed out of his soaked clothes and went into the bathroom to turn on the shower head and start rinsing.

Halfway through the rinse, Bai Liu looked sideways at the mirror as if he realized something.

Inside the mirror, Bai Liu has a very clear reverse cross of black marker drawn down the middle of her collarbone, standing out against her pale skin.

Bai Liu leaned back against the cold tiles and closed his eyes, tilting his head back to let the water wash over him and whispering softly, "...... I can't believe I actually let him paint it."

In the game pool Bai Liu, after hearing Spades' argument, paused only briefly before simply unbuttoning his shirt, tilting his neck back to expose the skin in the middle of his collarbone, making it easier for Spades to write.

Spades stepped into the game pool, his eyes resting intently on Bai Liu's heart, he took hold of the pen and began to draw.

Bai Liu averted his eyes, "Who taught you to give out or draw?"

Spades rests his eyes on Bai Liu's collarbone and says, "The Reverse God taught me that."

Bai Liu asked softly, "What did he teach you?"

Spades glanced at Bai Liu, "The Adversary said that when you don't have the means to give someone something for a while, but you want to give it to them badly, you can draw them one first."

"One day." Spades dropped his eyes back to Bai Liu's heart again, his tone serious, "I'll give you back the cross I broke."

"What others can give you, I can give you."

Bai Liu in the bathroom buries her face in the bath towel, covering it with one hand and letting out a long, slow breath.

He kinda regrets letting Spades paint him.