The Drowned Man from the Future

The elevator runs upwards and then stops, the doors open on both sides and Bai Liu slowly looks up to see Cen Buming, his eyes red and his hands clenched, standing outside looking at him.

The hatred, disbelief, deception, and murderous intent in the man's eyes finally boiled over into the worst he'd ever expected.

"So this is how that idiot saw the future ...... " Cen Buming's face twisted into a grimace, the sneer he grunted from his throat felt like it carried the smell of blood, his walk over was staggering, completely out of order but extremely fast, "How can you ...... Almost in a blink of an eye, he pasted in front of Bai Liu, grabbed him by the collar and held him down on the ground, and punched Bai Liu with a flourish of anger, "How can you ......"

Cen Buming's voice and fists were shaking, and there were tears shaking in his eyes as his voice broke and rasped, "How can ......"

"In [the future], kill Lu Yizhan with your own hands!!!"

"You already knew that didn't you! You've seen [Future]! You must know that the future, Heretic 0001, is Lu Yizhan himself!!!"

"He raised you with his own hands, stood in your way time and time again, did everything he could for you, warned you of everything, and you killed him!!!"

"Do you have a heart Bai Liu!!!"

Bai Liu's whip movement stopped, his pupils shrunk to a small point, all the pieces of his memory were instantly connected, and it was as if he had fallen into ice water, entering an indistinct and unreal state.

...... that day, yes, he had seen [Future], he had seen a small TV in [Future], a heresy, that showed a fragment of the future, and a person who was recording archive points, wearing the uniform of the captain of the first detachment, and he took for granted at the time that Lu Yizhan existed in this heresy as a prophet, and was just using this heresy's saving place to record archive point information.

He thought the heresy was whichever little TV showed [the future].

He really didn't expect ...... didn't expect ......

Bai Liu laughed softly in the ear of Bai Liu, who had fallen into a state of bewilderment - [It's normal that you didn't think of it.

Because you didn't realize that there are still human beings in this world who can still be self-aware after being used as a vehicle for heresy, right? No one would have thought that the little TV in the (future) is not a heretic, but the active Lu Yizhan.

[That's its soul trapped in the future.]

Even I didn't realize that Lu Yizhan was still trying to save you after what he's become.

[It has thus survived the realization that it believes you can change the ending of the world line.]

[- Even if it has seen all the world lines of the future long ago.]

Bai Liu drew out his whip and shook off Cen Buming who was on top of him, he braced himself on the ground and stood up, his chest rose and fell violently, and when he raised his head to meet Cen Buming's eyes, his dark pupils reflected the silvery-blue light that was reflected by the passage of space through the see-through window.

The light dispersed on the surface of his eyes into points of light that floated upward, like bubbles exhaled by a drowning man in the middle of the deep sea.

658 world lines spinning outside the window, the light in the pupils of Bai Liu's eyes dissipates, like the last bit of air bubbles exhaled by a drowning man dissipating into the deep sea.

...... can still remain conscious as a heresy carrier.

He should have thought of it, he knew it, he had seen it.

The Lu Yizhan who looked up from the last prison in the Rose Factory, covered in faded petals, smiled at him and said it's been a long time, the Lu Yizhan who sat in front of the couch, wiped his eyes, choked up and said fifty percent--

--The one who, as if he had lost all his strength, stood before him in release, and said indistinctly:

[I'm getting old.]

[Behind me, there is no one alive anymore.]

Lu Yizhan of .......

He should have thought of that. Why didn't he?

At this moment, even Bai Liu himself is a bit confused, obviously so many facts linked together to form the fragments, only need to reason in another layer to reach a conclusion.

Why didn't you think of that?

"You are emotionless!!!" Cen Buming roared in hoarse fury as he gripped the Death Ring tightly, flinging a long black blade along the silver light it turned into, aiming it at Bai Liu and slashing his head, "You did it on purpose!"

"You lied to Lu Yizhan! You obviously knew everything already, and you used his trust in you to get him to delegate the [Prophet] authority to you!"

"And then you kill him again! Win the game again!"

"Is playing with mortals and scavenging for pain so much fun for a monster like you?!"

Cen Buming stabbed Bai Liu in the shoulder and pinned him to the elevator wall, hissing in rage and questioning, "From the beginning, you set this up!"

Bai Liu slowly raised his head as he gripped Cen Buming's knife, clenched it tightly, and pulled it outward, his tone broken and raspy: "No ......"

Blood ran down the palm of his hand that held the blade.

"I didn't lie to Lu Yizhan ......"

"I just ...... didn't know Heretic 0001 was him."

"You just what?!" Cen Buming retracted his knife and slashed down, drew his knife and chopped again, brutally jamming the blade into Bai Liu's throat, forcing the question, "You've seen Lu Yizhan in the future... how could you not know that?!"

Bai Liu blocked it with his whip, the blade and the whip made a piercing clash, the elevator door slowly closed and began to sink, Bai Liu stretched out his foot and stepped on the elevator door, his shoulder was cut by the knife, the blood stained his white shirt and slid down the slope, staining a large area red in no time at all.

...... can't get the elevator to close up and go down.

If they saw him like this, they would definitely get involved and the situation would be out of control.

The knife in Cen Buming's hand got harder and harder, jamming into the bone in Bai Liu's shoulder, and his voice had the coldness of a rage gone to extremes: "Answer me, Bai Liu--"

"Don't come up with this shitty excuse that I don't know, I know how smart you are, there's no way you didn't push out that heretic 0001 was Lu Yizhan--"

"--Did you offer to see Heretic 0001 at that time, just to irritate him and make him suffer more, so that it would be easier for you to harvest?!"

Bai Liu opened his mouth, he really couldn't answer.

Under Cen Buming's assured questioning, for a moment, Bai Liu himself was dazed - was he really an emotionless monster, so he purposely pushed it out of his mind, letting Lu Yizhan suffer, and letting everyone lose the game?

But clearly, that's not what he thinks.

Bai Liu's voice once again appeared in Bai Liu's ear, soft and with a smile: [It's really fun to see you confused and in pain.

[I've been watching you and can tell you the answer to why you haven't deduced--]

You had a premonition, but people have a fear of things they care about, like Lu Yizhan running away from the future, and you're running away from the fact that there's a Lu Yizhan in Heresy 0001.

[You fear, you don't want to, so you refuse to recognize that the heretic, is Lu Yizhan himself.]

[- It's like you always think you can change the future that God has set in motion.]

"It seems you have no answer." Cen Buming coldly retracted his long blade as he flung his hand out, the Death Ring slipping from his ring into the form of a well, "And I have nothing to say to the sinner."

"Go into the well and repent for the rest of your life that is left."

[System Alert: Heretic 0009 Cen Buming used Monster Book Skill - (Sinner's Well) on player Bai Liu]]

[This skill can imprison those whom the Heretic himself deems guilty into a well full of monsters, if the imprisoned player has not come out of the well before exiting the game, he will die in the well (this skill ignores the Immunity Gold Medal), with a cooldown time of thirty minutes.]

The entire system ship began to turn at that moment, jolting so hard that the landing shaped the sinner's well to the left, just enough to topple Bai Liu's long whip that was blocking the elevator door, which closed in Bai Liu's constricted pupils, and flew down amidst the system ship's vibrations.

Bai Liu falls forward, he crosses over Cen Buming blocking the door and steps on the well of sinners which begins to consume him, Bai Liu throws out his whip and grabs the loop in the elevator and pulls himself down, he looks up and there is a very faint light in the pupils of those dark eyes on his blood stained face.

"I ...... might actually be a monster."

"But I have feelings."

Cen Buming looked at Bai Liu, who was unconsciously in tears, and his brain felt like it had been hammered by something, and he was briefly sobered up from his intense emotions for a moment.

The Bai Liu in front of me, who was crying senselessly, and the Bai Liu six years ago, who was curled up on Lu Yizhan's shoulder, crying calmly, have been reunited.

[Look at the person you're going to execute.]

[He's really not a monster, he's a human being.]

Cen Buming's heart clenched for a moment, and the Sinner's Well clenched along with his heart, to the point where it wrapped around Bai Liu's foot and stopped, going from the size of an elevator to the size of a fist.

[System Warning: Heretic Cen Buming's mentality is shaken and he is unable to treat player Bai Liu as a sinner and is imprisoned in the (Sinner's Well), and the (Sinner's Well) skill is about to expire.]

"Really." Bai Liu's voice with a smile came out from the well with a sigh, and the voice that had been seemingly floating in Bai Liu's ears finally came down to earth at this moment, "I had thought that having reached this point, Mr. Hunter wouldn't let you go any further."

"I didn't expect to go soft on you after all, Bai Liu."

A black-gloved hand peeked out from the edge of the wellhead, ripping open the originally narrowed opening as if it were a book, poking through the overflowing silvery-blue halo, gripping Bai Liu's foot and dragging him downward.

"The game still goes on." Bai Liu is in the well and smiles at Bai Liu, "Then I will have to intervene artificially."

Bai Liu held out his hand and he smiled, "Your soul, just accompany me into the well and play some other game."

"You're the only humanoid heretic soul on this system ship of mine, Bai Liu."

As soon as the words fell out of his mouth, Bai Liu grabbed hold of Bai Liu's ankle and yanked it downward, Bai Liu's soul was pulled out of his body, his shell's eyes were empty and he fell forward, at the same time, the elevator's door slowly opened, Mu Sicheng and Mu Ke, who had been anxiously guarding the side of the elevator's door turned back to see Bai Liu, who was slowly collapsing.

Mu Ke's expression froze.

"What did you do to Bai Liu--" Mu Sicheng's pupils narrowed, his hands quickly turned into monkey paws, and he stomped on the fence to use his strength to shoot into the elevator, the tips of his claws aiming straight for Cen Buming's throat, his voice furious and unable to stop, "--what did you do? "--Did what?!"

Mu Sicheng forces Cen Buming into the elevator, attacking like a tiger, Mu Ke catches Bai Liu and turns it over to Liu Jiayi and Tang Er fighting behind him.

"Look after him." Mu Ke took a deep breath, "Mu Sicheng and I will go up first, you guys wait for the next elevator after we go up and clear the area."

Liu Jiayi nodded seriously, and before Tang Er Ta had a chance to say anything, Mu Ke followed Mu Sicheng into the elevator.

The elevator closes in the middle of a violent fight. Tang Er fights and wants to follow, but Liu Jiayi stops him.

This always calm little girl is rarely six godless, her hand pulling Tang Er hit the corner of the coat is trembling, her eyes gray: "Tang Er hit ......"

"Bai Liu, out of breath."

Tang Er hit quickly half crouched down, he checked Bai Liu's signs, his expression also hard to see down, his gaming experience is a bit richer than Liu Jiayi, this kind of situation has seen a few times: "...... Bai Liu's soul has been pumped out of the body. "

"If you can't get your soul back, Bai Liu who logs out of the game will die."

"Before that, we absolutely can't let anyone destroy Bai Liu's shell, or else the life value will be zeroed out, the shell will automatically diminish, and then even if the soul comes out, it won't be able to log out of the game without the shell as a carrier."

"...... What will happen then?" Liu Jiayi looked at Bai Liu who wasn't even breathing and tried hard to control herself from crying out.

"Bai Liu's soul ......" Tang Er hit a pause, "will then remain on this ship forever."

"Go up first, you can't let Bai Liu's body and soul be too far apart, otherwise the connection will be broken and the subsequent fusion will be problematic."

The elevator slowly opens and Cen Buming practically wrestles the two wandering that attacked him like crazy out of the elevator, the violent commotion on this side of the elevator attracting the Deer Hunter crew that had gone elsewhere earlier, including Daniel who had been casually looking for his keys the whole time.

Daniel's original bored look changed and his apple-green eyes lit up when he saw Mu Ke and Mu Sicheng, who had been thrown to the ground by Cen Buming.

"Ciao~" Daniel crouched down, grinning and waving his right hand at Mu Ke and Mu Sicheng on the ground, "It's nice to finally meet you guys-"

"- my godfather's useless trash subordinates."

The comical clown mask on Daniel's face was askew as he laughed with great excitement and drew the green sniper rifle from behind his back, "I'll finally be able to kill you all and cut down on the exhaustion for my godfather!"

"Don't shoot at them!" Cen Buming drew his hand in a slash, knocking away Daniel's sniper rifle aimed at Mu Sicheng as he chortled coldly, "Obey orders in the league!"

The gun in Daniel's hand was knocked out of his hand, and he shrugged, bored, and gathered it behind his waist, "OK, if you have to force it."

Mu Sicheng jumped up and formed his claws into knives, slashing at Cen Buming's side of the neck with a vicious tone, "Who wants your kindness!"

The elevator opened again, this time the ones who came up were Liu Jiayi and Tang Er Ta, Tang Er Ta blocked in front of Bai Liu's body and Liu Jiayi's, and his expression was also very cold and stern, the look in his eyes towards Cen Buming was almost with a kind of furious condemnation in his eyes - he was able to extract souls! The only skill he could guess was Cen Buming's Sinner's Well.

After all, only Daniel's Soul Shattering Gun and Cen Buming's Sinner's Well are rules skills.

The only way to get Bai Liu's soul back was for Cen Buming himself to open the well of sinners and spit out Bai Liu's soul.

Tang Er picks up Bai Liu with his left hand and puts him in the corner, his right hand throws out the gun and drives it straight to Cen Buming's head, at the same time, Daniel, who has just hidden the gun behind himself, looks at Bai Liu's body, his lips slightly hooked, his apple green eyes widening out like a savage beast that smells something fishy.

"The Godfather ......"

The Joker smiled wryly, "I even dreamed about you last night."

"--That's a beautiful dream then."

"But what about when I woke up and you weren't with me and it turned into a nightmare."

He drew his soul sniper rifle, his face hidden under the mask was so excited that it twisted, out of everyone's expectation, Joker aimed the rifle at Bai Liu who was lying on the ground, the sniper rifle muzzle coalesced with disturbing green energy, and everyone heard the sound of the green bullets that could pulverize souls being loaded.

"How can you lie down so peacefully and dream when you see me for the first time?"

Joker said with lighthearted pleasure.

As if in slow motion, Tang Er's pupils clenched as he quickly retreated back to his defense while raising his gun to aim at Daniel.

Bai Liu's torso cannot be attacked!

Liu Jiayi holds Bai Liu in a death grip, using her torso to block as much as possible for Bai Liu, her eyelashes trembling with fear and helplessness, Mu Ke grits his teeth and taps the panel about to use [Flash Strike]---.

-But the whole field, the fastest, is still the last one.

Mu Sicheng blocked in front of Bai Liu with a speed that was almost invisible to the naked eye, his face had no expression whatsoever, it was a blank space that had not yet had time to think.

But he got in front of Bai Liu.

In Daniel's eyes, a kind of soporific scowling, his sights on Mu Sicheng's back - he'd expected that, as soon as he aimed his gun at the Godfather, all these guys would be scrambling over to get themselves killed.

Didn't Cen Buming say he couldn't target other players?

He didn't.

It's these stupid players who came over here to get themselves killed.

Daniel laughed harshly as he pulled the trigger.

--With a little more thought from these useless rubes, how could he shoot his own godfather?

His targets, since the beginning, have been these dumbasses who don't have their heads on straight and think they're so important to the Godfather.

Green bullets shot out.

Mu Ke's pupils shrank as he threw out a dagger to hit Mu Sicheng squarely in the back of his heart, Mu Sicheng was shaken by the blow and fell forward into Bai Liu's arms.

What hit him first was still a bullet.

Pale fire burned up on his body in an instant, Mu Sicheng In this moment, the brain is instead able to think - the original soul shattering gun shot, is this feeling ah ......

Wang Shun is right, it really hurts, it's like a thousand knives scraping through your body at the same time, being cut into a million pieces.

But what's even sadder is the feeling that the thinking is gradually dissipating.

It's as if your life, in this moment, has no meaning, and everything you've struggled and survived for is lifeless.

The fire burned Mu Sicheng face, he struggled to raise his eyelids, looked to his front, sleeping not a bit of life Bai Liu, suddenly smiled a little, his eyes fell tears down, and then a steady stream.

...... Now I don't even have a soul.

Are you still my friend, Bai Liu?

I wish I could ask you face to face you thin-skinned bastard ah ......

But now ......

It doesn't seem to be working.

Mu Sicheng's eyelids drooped, and the fire burned upward, trying to incinerate the last vestige of him, and what stopped the last moments of his thoughts were the very words Bai Liu had said to him the first time he had played the game with him--

-- [I promised him I would save him.]

Mu Sicheng pulled back a smile and he disappeared completely into the firelight, leaving no trace behind.

I believe you, Bai Liu.

[System alert: Player Mu Sicheng's soul is shattered, death confirmed, exit the game].