I Became a God in a Horror Game Chapter 237: Game Pool

Armand woke with a start from a deep sleep.

He sat on the edge of the bed, drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air for a long ti before he finally broke free of the nightmare.

Or rather, before he broke free of a reality that felt like a nightmare.

Armand clenched his hands. They were slick with cold sweat. The final image in his dream was Mu Shicheng lying on the ground, his head turned to one side, blood spilling out, his pupils blown wide.

The other man’s blood spread across the floor, joining the pool of blood beneath Armand himself.

Armand sat blankly on the edge of the bed, recalling that dream.

Or perhaps, recalling his previous life.

His Gege, George, was the Chief of the Third Division of the Dangerous Heretic Managent Bureau. From the ti Armand was old enough to rember, George had always been extrely busy. Because George’s work was very dangerous, he was fiercely protective of Armand. He planned every step of Armand’s life with rigid precision.

For example, George strictly forbade Armand from entering the Dangerous Heretic Managent Bureau, or from involving himself in any work related to heretics.

But Armand refused to accept that. The more George forbade him, the more he wanted to join. In his eyes, the work of the Dangerous Heretic Managent Bureau held an irresistible appeal.

It was the kind of world-saving job he had fantasized about.

Having admired his Gege George since childhood, Armand’s longing for the Bureau only grew stronger. During his rebellious adolescence, he went straight into the Bureau’s training camp.

That led to the first argunt between Armand and George. Armand caused a scene as if his life depended on it, and in the end, he got what he wanted.

George told him coldly, “Armand, you are timid and soft-hearted. You cannot bring yourself to be cruel to your enemies. If you stay that way, fate will punish you severely.”

Looking back now, George had been right.

George had always been right.

But back then, Armand had not yet been punished by fate. He still carried so unrealistic, naive fantasies about fate’s rcy.

Carrying those naive ideas like ticking ti bombs, he entered the Bureau. Then George assigned him to the safest heretic supervision departnt, where he handled clerical work.

The frustrated Armand spent his days listlessly counting and cataloging various heretics while seizing every possible chance to run toward the most dangerous front lines. But every ti, George’s sharp eyes caught him, and he was placed under even stricter control within the Third Division headquarters.

Armand felt an indescribable, hollow loneliness.

After he ca of age, everything around him was made of the high protective walls George had built to keep him safe from heretic contamination. Inside those walls, there was nothing but Armand himself. Even George remained cautiously outside the walls, eating through a layer of plastic shielding to avoid contaminating him.

And after Armand finished his training, he remained inside those walls.

There was not even anyone he could talk to.

Soon, that person appeared.

The Third Division under George’s managent was a storage area for high-risk heretics. It housed the most dangerous and valuable heretics. The locations of the Third Division’s bases were usually extrely secretive, and very few people could find them.

But all of that was an exception for the natural enemy of the Third Division.

Mu Shicheng.

Mu Shicheng was the Third Division’s greatest enemy. Every ti this arrogant thief visited the Third Division, he caused complete chaos. The mbers of the Third Division practically racked their brains researching the weaknesses of this elusive thief, trying to capture him.

After all that research, they had only managed to scratch the surface.

While Armand was stuffing bread into his mouth, he heard the nearby mbers ntion Mu Shicheng’s background for the thousand-and-first ti and could not help rolling his eyes.

“Mu Shicheng... His best friend died... Now he has no way of cooperating with anyone. He’s extrely antisocial. A lone wolf...”

“He seems to care about this a lot. If he hears anyone ntion it, he flies into a violent rage... We can exploit that point...”

With bread still in his mouth, Armand cut in indistinctly, “How can a dead friend count as a weakness?”

Then he cheekily patted his chest and volunteered himself.

“Unless you create a living friend for him. Only then would it count as a weakness. I think I’m pretty good. I can help you act as a spy and beco that little thief’s friend.”

The mber knew Armand was the Chief’s Didi, so he smiled and teased him.

“Do you know how that thief’s friend died?”

Armand honestly shook his head.

The mber deliberately frightened him.

“He was killed by Mu Shicheng himself! If you beco friends with him, maybe he’ll kill you too!”

Armand froze.

The bread he swallowed got stuck.

That night, the Third Division’s red alert blared.

Armand woke groggily from sleep and heard George’s grave voice over the broadcast.

“All sectors on alert! Mu Shicheng stole three Level 2 Red high-risk heretics and was shot in the waist by . He has now lost mobility and is fleeing inside the Bureau! All mbers are to conduct a carpet search!”

“—Kill on sight if necessary!”

The mbers searched room by room for the thief who had been shot. Their faces could not hide their delight. This approaching success allowed Armand, who had secretly joined the search party, to be overlooked by the mbers, who chose to turn a blind eye.

Armand followed the search with excitent. But after two rounds, George discovered him. After being scolded by George, Armand slunk back to his room in low spirits.

But the mont he returned to his room, Armand noticed sothing was wrong.

Sothing had snuck inside.

Armand had not closed the door when he left the dormitory. Although the intruder had been very careful, and everything in the room looked untouched, the sll could not be hidden.

Armand caught a very strong scent of blood.

His heart began pounding with nerves.

Armand knew perfectly well that he had no ability to stop the other person, so he pretended he had not discovered anything. He turned around, preparing to leave and notify the others.

But the instant he turned, sharp claws hooked around his throat.

A tall figure pressed against him, breathing heavily, and let out a wicked laugh.

“You’re sharp. Your nose is as good as mine. You slled my blood, didn’t you?”

Armand’s heart nearly leapt out of his throat. He raised both hands in surrender, but before he could say anything, the person leaning against his shoulder slowly slid downward.

Armand turned around in a daze.

He saw a young man about his own age lying weakly in a pool of blood. He was still wearing monkey headphones, and his breathing was rapid and labored.

This person was about to go into shock from blood loss.

Armand realized that imdiately.

He stared blankly at Mu Shicheng lying in the pool of blood, while his mind involuntarily echoed with all the background information he had heard about this savage thief.

[No friends... Alone... Seems very lonely... Can only talk to the person following behind him.]

[Every ti he steals sothing, everything he does is to please the person behind the scenes, to gain that person’s approval...]

[It seems that person behind the scenes has been expanding a smuggling line recently, so Mu Shicheng has been coming to the Third Division more and more often...]

Armand had thought the other person would be a weathered middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.

He had not expected him to be so young.

Blood spread from beneath Mu Shicheng into a widening pool. His eyes were vacant as he curled up on the floor. Instead of covering his wound, he was using his injured abdon to protect the three stolen heretic boxes tucked inside.

Armand pressed his lips into a straight line. He gripped the handgun at his waist, gritted his teeth, drew the gun, and aid it at Mu Shicheng’s head.

But no matter how hard he forced himself, Armand could not do it.

His Gege was right.

He could not shoot a living person like this.

Even knowing that this was a wicked fellow who had committed countless cris, Armand could still see in the dying Mu Shicheng’s eyes the sa longing he himself had.

A faint hope, and a craving to live.

A craving to be understood and acknowledged.

Just then, soone knocked on his door.

Armand started. On instinct, he propped Mu Shicheng up and hid him under the bed, then quickly wiped the floor clean. Trembling with fear, he sprayed a large amount of air freshener and lay on the bed, pretending to be asleep.

The person who ca in was an ordinary mber. He asked Armand, “Did you see any suspicious people?”

From the bed, Armand answered rapidly, his heart racing.

“No! The air freshener is because I just took a really slly dump, so I sprayed a lot!”

The visitor: “...You really didn’t need to tell that.”

Fortunately, no one suspected the Chief’s Didi. Amid the choking scent of air freshener, the visitor pinched his nose and left.

Armand collapsed weakly onto the bed.

After hesitating for a long ti, he placed a bottle of special healing agent and a roll of bandages under the bed.

Probably after a very, very long ti, a pair of monkey claws reached out from under the bed and, with a swish, hooked those things away.

Armand hugged his knees and crouched on the bed. His eyes were unfocused as he spaced out, wondering why on earth he had done this.

But before he could co up with an answer, a voice ca from under the bed. It had recovered so vitality, and sounded a little arrogant.

“Hey, what’s your na?”

Armand answered honestly, “Armand.”

A sneer ca from under the bed.

“Ugly na. You look exactly like the guy who shot . What are you to him?”

“...His Didi.” When he said this, Armand felt even more depressed.

Why had he saved the enemy his Gege had shot?

Under the bed, there was silence for a long, long ti.

Then the sa question Armand had been asking himself was spoken aloud.

“You... Why did you save ?”

Armand let out a long, lancholy sigh.

“I don’t know either. I just couldn’t stop myself from saving you.”

For so reason, a string of extrely mocking laughter and coughs ca from under the bed. Then there was a low laugh, followed by a curse.

“Idiot.”

Armand: “...”

Although I also think it was pretty idiotic, isn’t it a little wrong for you to say that?

When Armand woke the next morning, Mu Shicheng was already gone.

On one hand, Armand felt relieved. On the other, he could not help wondering if he had gone mad from wanting to earn rit, to the point that he had dread of catching Mu Shicheng.

But why would the “him” in the dream save Mu Shicheng, then let him go?

Armand could not figure it out, so he let it go.

But not long afterward, that notoriously evil thief visited the Dangerous Heretic Managent Bureau again.

This ti, however, Mu Shicheng did not take anything away.

Instead, he left sothing behind.

Like all arrogant master thieves in history, he actually sent an advance notice to the Third Division, and even nad soone specifically.

[—Coming to steal things on Wednesday. Don’t know what I’m stealing yet. I’ll decide when I get there. Have your Chief’s Didi, that guy with the ugly na, wash up and wait for at the door!]

George lifted his eyelids and threw the notice in front of a stunned Armand.

“Explain. Why has Mu Shicheng started targeting you?”

“...I don’t know either...” Armand wanted to cry, but had no tears. He truly regretted everything.

George took a deep breath. He stared at Armand for a long ti, then finally delivered his verdict.

“Regardless of what happened between you and Mu Shicheng, Armand, you must rember this. That man is a devil. Sooner or later, he will harm you.”

“But if you truly need an opportunity to recognize that reality, I will give you one.”

George scrutinized the guilty Armand.

“On Wednesday, take a gun and join the ambush with us.”

Wednesday.

A trembling Armand stood at the very front, holding a gun.

Soon, that thief arrived.

This was the first ti Armand saw Mu Shicheng run and steal.

Mu Shicheng was as fast as the wind, and as free as the wind. At a speed invisible to the naked eye, he laughed as he brushed past Armand, who had not even recovered his senses. Then he grabbed Armand’s wrist and pulled the dazed Armand into a run with him.

In the midst of flying gunfire and the screams of all the Managent Bureau mbers, the hostile thief and Armand ran wildly, like two children caught in the middle of a prank.

Armand was stunned. He tried to pull his hand free and leave, but at that mont, Mu Shicheng raised an eyebrow and smiled mischievously. Looking back at him through the wind, he said, “Watching them fail to catch us is pretty fun, right?”

Armand froze.

He turned his head back. Behind them were the mbers chasing them hysterically. Against Mu Shicheng’s extre speed, the twisted expressions of those running mbers looked sowhat comical.

It really was fun.

Armand could not help laughing.

Mu Shicheng ran very fast.

And Armand, whose hand he was holding, ran very fast too.

One after another, various heretics appeared beneath Mu Shicheng’s exquisite theft techniques. These dangerous heretics, which Armand had asured and organized, were tossed carelessly in Mu Shicheng’s hands as if they were not heretics at all, but rely his toys.

This did not feel like theft.

Nor did it feel like a cri that endangered the world.

It was nothing more than a ga this thief had decided to play on a whim.

Mu Shicheng casually threw a heretic to Armand. His lips curled into a smile.

“Do you know what this one does?”

“Number 8035...” Armand racked his brain, trying to recall the statistics he had compiled. “This one seems to be... Butterflies... in the Wind.”

He rembered that it could create a hurricane.

Mu Shicheng interrupted him impatiently, reaching out to open it directly.

“Won’t you know once you open it?”

A swarm of multicolored, strange butterflies fluttered out of the box. Wind fanned out from beneath their variegated tail wings. A violent gale swirled back and forth through the enclosed room, blowing so hard that it felt as if everyone’s hairline might be pushed back by a centiter.

Caught off guard, Armand was blown straight into the air.

Mu Shicheng grabbed Armand by the ankle to keep him from being blown away. He could not help bursting into mocking laughter.

“You’ve guarded this place for so long, and your Ge never even let you play with this?”

“Is this sothing to play with?!” Armand roared, collapsing inside. “Stop it right now! It’ll cause severe climate changes!”

“It won’t.” Mu Shicheng found his balance in the wind. He floated slightly above Armand, and after steadying Armand’s shoulders, he explained with a low laugh, “You really are stupid. Your Ge doesn’t know how to teach you. Watch closely. Every heretic has a weakness—”

Mu Shicheng guided Armand’s fingers to grasp the tail wing of one butterfly dancing in the wind. He whispered beside Armand’s ear.

“—As long as you control its weakness, this heretic becos your toy.”

Armand stared in disbelief as the butterfly in his hand stopped flapping and rested obediently on his fingertip.

Mu Shicheng gave a proud little hum of laughter.

“See?”

But the next mont, Mu Shicheng maliciously released Armand’s fingers from the butterfly and even flicked the butterfly’s tail feather with his index finger.

In an instant, a huge gale rose.

Mu Shicheng grabbed the panic-stricken Armand by the scruff of the neck and retreated rapidly through the hurricane caused by the butterflies. He laughed wildly and wantonly at the mbers rushing to chase them, then raised two fingers from his forehead in a salute.

“I’m stealing your Chief’s Didi to play with for a bit!”

They vanished into the sudden wind without a trace.

In reality, the wind did not carry them for long before Mu Shicheng stopped.

He received a phone call from soone unknown. His originally joyful expression instantly cooled, and his tone shifted from lively to steady.

“...Understood. I’ll bring the goods back. There are no security issues with the smuggling line.”

After hanging up, Mu Shicheng turned around and saw Armand.

Then he imdiately burst into laughter.

Armand had a face ninety-nine percent similar to George’s. At this mont, Armand, who had never experienced such stimulation before, had his brown hair blown into a bird’s nest full of grass clippings. His expression was one of complete, idiot-level daze.

Right now, he was sprawled on the ground on all fours.

It was not that he did not want to stand up. Mainly, he had never used a hurricane as transportation before, and Armand was a little wind-sick.

Mu Shicheng crouched in front of the prone Armand, half-smiling.

“I thought that old fogy’s Didi would be a little fogy. Didn’t expect a little idiot.”

Armand looked at Mu Shicheng gloomily.

“Say that again.”

Mu Shicheng suppressed a smile, stood with his hands in his pockets, and tossed several heretic boxes from his pocket to Armand.

“Alright, I’ve had enough fun today. I’ll find you to play again when I get the chance. Bye-bye.”

With that, he turned around coolly to leave.

Armand finally ca back to his senses. He looked at the boxes in front of him and suddenly froze.

These boxes were not only the ones Mu Shicheng had taken today.

Even the three boxes Mu Shicheng had stolen last ti, when he was wounded and saved by Armand, had been returned to him.

“Mu Shicheng—” After thinking it over and over, Armand could not help calling out to him. “You even returned the ones you stole last ti.”

Mu Shicheng raised an eyebrow and turned back on one foot.

“What? You don’t want to return them?”

Armand answered honestly, “You should have co to play today. The ones you took today were all Level 1 Red heretics. But these three are Level 3 Red heretics. They should have been your targets. Of course it’s good that you returned them to , but mainly, I’m afraid you’ll co steal them again next ti.”

“They were indeed my targets.” Mu Shicheng’s lips curled into a smile. “But last ti, I was caught by you. That theft naturally counts as a failure. These don’t belong among my spoils.”

Mu Shicheng waved his hand and left without looking back. There was laughter in his voice.

“I’ll definitely co steal them again. If you don’t want to lose them, work hard to catch , Armand.”

Armand stared at the three boxes and remained silent for a long ti.

Because Armand successfully brought back the stolen boxes, he finally gained the qualification to enter the front lines.

After that, Mu Shicheng would occasionally send Armand a notice. Armand seed to grow up overnight. He beca steadier, and every ti, he would use all his strength to pursue Mu Shicheng.

Whenever Mu Shicheng ca, Armand was always the one who ran the fastest, almost as fast as Mu Shicheng.

But he never fired a gun at Mu Shicheng.

Gradually, Armand beca the person in the entire Bureau who recovered the most stolen goods from Mu Shicheng.

In the process of chasing Mu Shicheng, Armand gradually matured. He beca more and more stable, more and more responsible, and his abilities grew stronger and stronger.

He beca George’s right-hand man.

The Vice Chief.

One day, after finishing dinner and registering the heretics, Armand returned to his dormitory and found a notice beside his bed.

It read—

[Vice Chief, not playing the chase ga anymore. Want to co out for a drink?]

The corner of Armand’s mouth twitched upward. After carefully confirming that his Gege was not around, he slipped out through the Bureau’s back door.

Armand arrived at the empty wasteland where Mu Shicheng had once swept him away with a gust of wind.

They occasionally t here.

Although neither of them knew why two people from opposing camps would do this, it had begun unconsciously, and then beca a tacit understanding between them.

The ground of this wasteland was very desolate, but when one looked up, there was an extrely brilliant night sky.

When Armand arrived, Mu Shicheng was sitting on a small hill, looking up at the stars.

“You’re here.” Mu Shicheng greeted Armand lazily and tossed him a bottle of wine.

Armand caught it steadily by habit, then looked up and paused.

He noticed that Mu Shicheng’s emotions tonight were not quite right.

“What’s wrong?” Armand sat down beside Mu Shicheng and asked.

Mu Shicheng tilted his head back and took a large gulp of wine. Then he exhaled a murky breath.

“That person assigned the managent rights of the smuggling line to . I won’t be coming to steal things anymore.”

After saying this, he went quiet for a mont.

Then he continued as if nothing were wrong.

“Next ti we et, both of us will have to fire our guns. Swap out that pretentious empty-shell gun of yours.”

After Mu Shicheng finished speaking, Armand also fell silent.

If it was only theft, it could still be treated as a ga.

But once it escalated into a smuggling line that could endanger everyone, it was no longer a ga between them.

It involved the lives and deaths of countless people.

Armand rarely drank, but at that mont, he took one fierce gulp. Wiping his mouth, he said, “I will.”

“I’ve played many, many gas. So were tragic, so were terrifying, and one...” Mu Shicheng looked up at the stars and murmured to himself, “—one made unable to forget it for the rest of my life.”

“But this period of ti was when I had the most fun.”

Mu Shicheng lowered his head.

He did not look at Armand, but he reached out his hand toward him.

“Thanks. For letting go, and for keeping company.”

Armand shook Mu Shicheng’s hand and said very seriously, “It’s okay. We’re friends.”

Mu Shicheng paused.

He was silent for half a mont, then gave a sneer.

“Do you know how my last friend died?”

“He was killed by you personally.” Armand held Mu Shicheng’s hand tightly. In his dark brown eyes was an unwavering firmness. “But I believe you won’t kill . Or rather, I’ll do my best to beco much stronger than you, strong enough that you won’t kill , and I won’t kill you either!”

Armand clenched his fist.

“I’ll beco strong enough to stop the things you want to do!”

Mu Shicheng pulled his hand back and turned his head away awkwardly. But there was a faint smile on his face that he could not quite suppress.

“...Brat. Don’t get cocky just because you caught a few tis.”

But perhaps neither Armand nor Mu Shicheng had expected that this would be the last ti they smiled at each other.

Three months later, Bai Six ca to transport a batch of goods.

During the handover, Mu Shicheng was discovered by George, who was on patrol.

After George determined that this was a batch of high-risk smuggled heretics that would cause serious consequences if they flowed into the market, he launched a fierce attack without hesitation. Mu Shicheng, who had stayed behind, had originally been struggling to cope, but Bai Six, who had already left after the handover, turned back and returned to the port.

With Bai Six’s assistance, Mu Shicheng captured the famous Chief of the Third Division on the spot.

The mont he saw that the person who had co was George, Mu Shicheng’s pupils shrank slightly.

And Bai Six, seated in his chair, did not miss that subtle change in Mu Shicheng’s expression.

Bai Six looked at George, who was kneeling expressionlessly on one knee before him, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

“You know this Chief?”

Mu Shicheng answered with difficulty, “I often go to the Third Division he manages to steal heretics...”

Bai Six turned his face and looked at Mu Shicheng indifferently.

“I don’t like people lying to . You know that by ‘knowing’ him, I an sothing beyond having rely seen him. Do you have feelings for him?”

“No!” Mu Shicheng denied it very quickly.

Bai Six turned back toward George thoughtfully.

“But your reaction when you saw this face cannot be faked. Since it isn’t him, it should be soone who looks very similar to him.”

He bent down and lifted George’s head, lowering his eyes to examine that face.

“Based on body type, you should be able to determine whether the person is a female direct relative. Therefore, this person should be male. And a male very close to you in age. Otherwise, you would not have mistaken the appearance at first glance.”

Mu Shicheng’s breathing nearly stopped. His hands clenched into fists.

“—It’s his Didi, isn’t it?” Bai Six calmly announced the answer. “Close in age to you, and perhaps with a certain degree of similar experience. Establishing a relationship from opposing positions like that—”

Bai Six lifted his eyelids and looked at the silent Mu Shicheng, his hands folded before him.

“—Is it fun?”

Mu Shicheng’s eyes were bloodshot. He let out a long, heavy breath. Without defending himself with a single word, he lowered his head and knelt on one knee.

“I beg you... let George go.”

He spoke word by word.

“I was the one who played too far. Next ti, I’ll control myself. If you kill him now, the Third Division will change its managent and layout. That won’t be convenient for our investigations...”

Mu Shicheng had prepared himself to continue, but he seed to realize how absurdly weak his attempt to persuade Bai Six to spare George truly was.

So after receiving no reply from Bai Six, Mu Shicheng fell silent, kneeling motionless before him.

Bai Six lowered his eyes.

“In respect for you, and for your hard work during this period, I can let him go.”

Mu Shicheng looked up in shock.

“Do not let it happen again.” Bai Six glanced lightly at George. “But before that, to prevent this Chief of the Third Division from rembering our smuggling route, he needs to see sothing.”

Mu Shicheng breathed a sigh of relief.

“—Is it so kind of mory-erasing item?”

“No.” Bai Six said softly, “I intend to let him try a new item I just obtained.”

“[Future].”

After George looked at that thing once, he beca motionless, as if his soul had been sucked away. He was like a corpse.

Bai Six had him thrown onto a patch of wasteland.

It was the sa secret wasteland where Mu Shicheng and Armand sotis drank.

Mu Shicheng secretly notified Armand to co and take his Gege away.

When Armand arrived in a panic, he carried the vacant-eyed George lying on the ground back on his own back.

That was the beginning of all the nightmares.

George did not speak a word for an entire month. He was constantly ready to commit suicide or harm himself. Under those circumstances, the desperate Armand finally snapped.

He logged into the ga.

After struggling and crawling through the ga until he cleared it, the dying Armand saw another side of the thief nad Mu Shicheng for the first ti on the big screen.

That person laughed wantonly and slaughtered at will. Human lives in his hands were toys he did not care about. He followed behind another person, transforming from a thief into an extrely sharp weapon that drew blood with every strike.

Armand stood blankly among the spectators cheering for Mu Shicheng as he tore out his opponent’s throat. He looked up at the friend on the screen, who felt utterly unfamiliar to him.

His mind went completely blank.

So those “gas” Mu Shicheng had spoken of...

Were like this.

They were like this...

Were they?

After winning another match, Mu Shicheng casually lifted his shirt to wipe away the sweat and blood dripping from his jaw. He waved impatiently at the cheering spectators and prepared to leave the stage.

Bai Six seed to act on a whim and turned to ask him, “Compared with this ga, and the ‘friend ga’ between you and that Vice Chief of the Third Division, which one is more fun?”

With his ntal value dropping, the desire for slaughter and theft was released. Mu Shicheng’s pupils contracted with excitent. His lips curled into a malicious smile, and sharp teeth showed at the corners of his mouth, making him look like a demon revealing his true nature after a bloodbath.

“Does that even need to be said?”

“—Of course it’s the gas in here.”

Armand stood in the bustling crowd like a wooden carving.

The huge screen behind him erupted with white light. The team led by Bai Six walked past Armand amid the cheers of the spectators lining the path.

And Mu Shicheng, the greatest hero of this ga, the one who had killed the most enemies, walked behind Bai Six.

His hurried, irritable steps knocked down Armand, who had only just cleared the ga and was still weak.

Mu Shicheng did not care which weak player he had knocked down in his disheveled state.

Imrsed in a certain emotion, Mu Shicheng only lowered his head and glanced back at the player who, after being knocked down, simply stared at him blankly with a mud-streaked face.

He gave a contemptuous sneer.

“Idiot.”

Then he left without looking back.

Sitting on the ground, Armand looked up in a daze.

He saw Bai Six in front turn back and et his gaze from a distance. Then Bai Six curled his lips into a smile that seed to pity him.

Armand saw Bai Six smile and mouth to him:

“It’s just a ga.”

Everything was just a ga.

In his blurred ntal state, Armand forgot how he logged out of the ga.

He stumbled back to his dormitory at the Managent Bureau, rummaged out all the notices Mu Shicheng had written to him and that he had kept until now, then frantically tore them to pieces and burned them in a fire.

The wine he had drunk with Mu Shicheng.

The heretics they had played with.

The bullets he had secretly swapped out for empty shells.

What could be thrown away, he threw away.

What could be vomited out, he vomited out.

What could be forgotten, he forgot.

Armand lay on his bed for a long, long ti.

When he closed his eyes, he seed to sll the scent of blood drifting from under the bed. He seed to hear that fellow laughing and calling him “shabi.” He seed to see that boundless, free starry sky above the wasteland.

But when he opened his eyes, Armand’s brownish-tan eyes were empty.

There was nothing inside them.

He stood up like a puppet, replaced the blank rounds in his handgun with live ammunition, and then contacted Mu Shicheng.

He did not know if Mu Shicheng would co.

He could only hope that Mu Shicheng still had the patience to play this “friend ga” to the very end.

And Armand would accompany him to the very end.

Mu Shicheng ca.

So Armand placed a period at the end of this “friend ga.”

Crying, gritting his teeth, he fired a gun for the first ti at this wicked fellow full of lies.

And this wicked fellow tore a large hole in his throat with his claws.

The mont before Mu Shicheng fell, he looked at Armand with disbelief, as if he could not believe Armand would do such a thing to him.

After he fell, Mu Shicheng’s face twisted with pain. He struggled to transform his monkey claws and crawled toward Armand.

Armand thought he was going to attack.

Using the last of his strength, he fired another shot at him.

That shot hit Mu Shicheng in the temple.

Mu Shicheng pinned Armand’s hand with his monkey claws and said hoarsely,

“—Captured your Gege. Sorry—”

Mu Shicheng’s hand rested over Armand’s hand, as if he wanted to give it a squeeze.

His unfocused eyes looked at Armand. Those usually bright eyes, always carrying a wicked smile, were now completely dull.

This fellow had clearly been shot dead by him.

But the final words he spoke to Armand were, “Sorry, I captured your Gege.”

Armand’s tears gradually overflowed.

He wanted to speak to this dead, wicked fellow, but he could not produce even a single syllable. Armand realized that his throat had been brutally torn open by Mu Shicheng’s monkey claws. His vocal cords were probably gone.

He could no longer speak.

Armand felt his body gradually growing cold, and his heartbeat slowly weakening.

The last thing he saw was a pair of leather shoes walking toward him, and a black whip dragging across the ground.

Armand saw this person kneel on one knee, turn the head of the Mu Shicheng he had shot dead, and gently cradle it in his arms. Then, with a gloved hand, the person solemnly closed Mu Shicheng’s still-open eyelids.

Armand heard this person lower his head and whisper tenderly to the dead Mu Shicheng in his arms.

“—If this is the ga of your choosing, then this is your [end].”

“However, death is only a deep sleep for you. Your soul is my eternal property, never to vanish. When you wake, we will et again.”

“Sleep.”

His tone was light and airy, as if a patient father coaxing a child who refused to sleep was telling a beautiful fairy tale about death.

Armand tried his best to lift his head and clearly see the face of the person who had co to collect Mu Shicheng’s remains.

But no matter how hard Armand tried to open his eyes and see that face clearly, the person’s strange, coaxing voice made his eyelids heavier and heavier, and his breathing weaker and weaker.

The mont before Armand completely closed his eyes, he thought:

If his Gege were here, he would definitely criticize him severely for overestimating himself and coming here to attack. He would also make him write a three-thousand-word self-reflection on his improper relationship with the enemy, Mu Shicheng, and hand it in before tomorrow...

A tear rolled from the corner of Armand’s eye.

His soul, fluttering like a butterfly in the wind, finally plunged into the deep sleep called death.

The hurricane within the walls finally ceased.

—

Author’s Note:

Xiao 4’s nesis has appeared!

A nesis is not a CP! These two do not have a CP line!! 4 is truly a straight man. Re-emphasized again and again.

Bai Six is a ruler who cannot tolerate betrayal, so he cannot tolerate 4’s “overflow” — external emotional attachnt. This is the reason 4 dies the most. Actually, Bai Six is the hidden force pushing everything from behind; it is intentional. However, since 4 is Bai Six’s property, whenever an “overflow” occurs, his mood still becos very foul.