Chapter 229: Reality

Lu Yizhan's screen fades to black, and a new line of captions appears on the small TV.

[Setting the Game's Main Line Part 3 - The Fractured Intimate Team]

The scene fades in from a distance to a full sun over the sea and a misty, gentle mist, and then, as the eye turns inwards, to a huge, majestic temple, mysterious and beautiful, hidden in the blue sea mist and the firelight of the day.

But it is as if the temple had been in a vicious battle, littered with black craters from the fall of fire and stone, and the instantly recognisable fusion marks of Liu Jiayi's poison, Mu Sicheng's claw scratches, Tang Erda's bullet holes and Muke's dagger cuts.

The men should have been fighting here, but for some reason Bai Liu is the only one here now, and it is also a little strange that Bai Liu has not found any signs of his attack.

The fishbone whip flogging marks are well identified, Bai Liu looked for them several times from the footage and found none, but the attack marks of the other four men are everywhere ......

It looked as if Bai Liu did not exist or his presence was no longer relevant in a team battle where everyone was doing their best.

Continuing in, through the blackened jungle shrubs and the scattered grey stones, Bai Liu saw the trail of the four men he had been looking for.

Or maybe trail is not a good enough description, it should be corpse.

Liu Jiayi, with a bullet hole in her forehead, lies on her back with her grey eyes open, the poison from her hand spilling out onto the ground where Muke is slumped.

Muke's eyes were dazed, the dagger in his hand held only one, the other lodged in Mu Sicheng's chest, and Mu Sicheng was nailed to the tree by this dagger, leaning back against it, the claws in his hand hanging down at his side, blood dripping down.

The owner of this blood - Tang Erda - leans against a rock with his head cocked and his eyes closed, his throat scratched and bloodied, his hand still holding the gun, but the gun nowhere to be found.

Bai Liu finally knew why there was no sign of his attack - because it was a team civil war that he wasn't involved in, and which would not die.

At this time he heard behind him an indistinct voice coming from the clouds with an elusive laugh that echoed through the mountains and forests:

"It's game over for this world line, Bai Liu ."

"You lose."

The screen fades out and the colour of the subtitles on the small TV turns black:.

[Set game mainline DLC - game archive for other world lines]

The noisy picture on the small TV became clear, and the screen showed a plain white room identical to Heretic 0001, with a long table in the middle of the room and five earthy yellow file folders lined up on the table.

Behind the table sits a man in the uniform of the Bureau of Heresy Processing, the image is confined to his chest and his face cannot be seen, but the ID card he clips to his breast pocket can be seen, which reads [Captain of the First Detachment].

However, the name on the back is coded and Bai Liu cannot be seen clearly.

This first detachment leader is sorting out these file folders on his desk.

The file bag unfolds with a threaded clasp and the papers inside are arranged in order, Bai Liu sees the numbers at the head of the file row as [0002], [0004], [0601], [0005], [0006].

The leader of the first detachment was picking them up one by one to approve them, so Bai Liu could also see exactly what they were.

[Heresy 0004: Mu Sicheng].

[Mental Downgrade After (The process of downgrading from a normal human to a monster due to abnormal mental values): In the second semester of my sophomore year in 200X, I witnessed my classmate Yuan Qingqing being killed on the spot by the No. 11 bus due to his negligence, and later entered the game due to the influence of my college roommate Liu Huai, who was besieged because he was unwilling to join any big guilds... ...]

[...... After being induced by Bai six, he kills Liu Huai who betrayed him in anger and his desire to steal gets out of hand and he becomes a member of a wandering circus ......]

Archived ending for Heretic 0004 in World 0237: Assassinated by Liu Jiayi, the Little Witch]

......

[Heretic 0004 Archived ending in world line 0412: Abandoned by Bai Liu after three years of incapacitation, shot by Joker in a chase and dumped at the Heretic's disposal ......]

......

[Heretic 0004 was taken in by the Heretic Authority in world line 0045, number 0004, and released into society in world line sequence 0047 under the sponsorship of the leader of the first detachment (i.e. myself), and has been fully integrated into society in that world line, transformed from a heretic to a normal human being, with successful spiritual ascension ......]

[Formed a new team with Bai Liu in the current world line (serial number 0658), mental dimension stable, no obvious signs of demotion to monster ......]

Having sorted out this document, the captain went on to open the next one.

[Heresy 0601: Liu Jiayi].

[Mental degradation: congenitally blind, experienced a long period of abuse before the age of 6 due to her father's inappropriate behavior, her brother Liu Huai took her away when she was 7 years old and went to university, but still did not get rid of her father, and was then followed and pestered by him for more than a year ......]

[...... One day Liu Jiayi was kidnapped by her father and sold to a middle-aged butcher, Li Gou, as a prostitute daughter, and was later prevented by Liu Huai in an attempt to stop her, but in the process Liu Jiayi was severely stimulated by her contact with the gamer Liu Gou, and was sent to the The orphanage when a strong desire erupted to enter the game ......]

[Later, with the help of Bai six, he killed his father and Li Gou in reality, and his desire to kill got out of hand and he joined the circus ......]

[Ending of Heretic 0601 archived in World 0261: Arrested by the authorities while abusing a father and shot dead on the spot after resisting violently]

......

[Heretic 0601 was taken in by the Heretic Authority in world line 0068, number 0601, and released into society in world line sequence 0071 under the sponsorship of the leader of the first detachment (i.e. myself), and has been fully integrated into society in that world line, transformed from a heretic to a normal human being, with successful spiritual ascension ......]

This captain was quick to look at the dossier and after getting another copy done, he quickly opened the next one: the

[Heresy 0005: Hinchmani . Daniel]

[Spiritual Descension After: Born in the home of an international arms smuggler, due to family tradition, all the children were thrown by their father to grow up in gangs, not caring about death or survival, the children who survived are the ones who deserve respect ......]

[At the age of seven, his mother was shot dead on the spot for betraying his father. In order to teach Daniel, his father asked Daniel to film his mother being shot and ordered Daniel to play the video during his daily bedtime prayer to God as part of his family education ......]

...... Daniel was 14 years old when he was asked to lead a gang to intercept a smuggled arms shipment, but the shipment was actually Bai Liu's heretical smuggled goods. When he was about to be killed by his father, Bai Six intervened and contacted Daniel's father, giving him the smuggled goods for free and becoming a partner with him. ......]

[Daniel survived, and later his father adopted Bai six as Daniel's godfather as a gesture of goodwill ......]

[...... Bai six took Daniel under his wing and soon after Daniel entered the game. A year later, Daniel shot his father with a gun, shattering all of his limbs and skull, and brought his entire family to Bai six ... ...]

[Heretic 0005 archived ending in world line 0107: He stormed the Authority on a mission and was killed after killing 7 of our team members and releasing 108 heretics]

......

[Heretic 0005 is highly domesticated by Bai six, extremely difficult to capture, as of the current world line, killed successfully multiple times, failed to take in ......]

The captain hesitated for a brief moment as he took down another document, an extremely brief moment that was nevertheless caught by Bai Liu.

--which means this document is not the same for this captain.

Bai Liu's eyes moved to the document on the table.

[Heresy 0002: Tang Erda]

[Spiritual descension after: the original first team members, now the third team leader, the initial world line spiritually stable, and then because of the generation of hunters in the world line [0317] spiritual descension began to lose control, Tang Erda in the world line [0325] by the first team leader (that is, I myself) selected as the second generation of hunters to take over the [prophet] authority, responsible for killing heretics who have already committed crimes, and at the same time to shelter the imminent control of the imminent Heretics who have committed crimes ......]

[...... In as many as three hundred world lines, the heretic 0006 has repeatedly exploited his psychological weaknesses to maliciously contaminate his mind, and began to mentally descend in the world line [0642]. After continuing to persist for more than ten world lines, he completely mentally descended and disintegrated into a heretic, voluntarily taken in and voluntarily shot down... ...]

[Not to be destroyed under the guarantee of the leader of the first detachment (i.e. myself) due to its low harmfulness, it is under observation for the time being ......]

[...... teams up with current worldline (serial number 0658), heretic 0002 and heretic 0006, currently mentally stable, no sign of further descents for now ......]

Then came the last one, Bai Liu, looking at the document numbered [0006], which was much thicker and older than the previous ones.

The captain of the first detachment was quiet for a while before turning over this last document.

[Heresy 0006: Bai six (Bai Liu)]

[Spiritual Descension Process: Unknown, it seems that from the moment of birth, spiritual descension is complete ......]

[None found except current timeline This heresy is less harmful ......]

......

[Heretic 0006 in world line 0003 Archive ending: Using heretics to contaminate the world line successfully, game over]

......

[Heretic 0006 in world line 0407 Archive ending: Using heretics to contaminate the world line successfully, game over]

[Except for the current worldline, all worldlines found were successfully contaminated by Heresy 0006, the current worldline is lightly contaminated, the harmfulness of Heresy 0006 is currently unknown ......]

[In world line 0006, Heretic 0006 voluntarily defected to the Heretic Authority and was taken in, given the reason that a simple contamination event was too monotonous to maximize the benefits in the resistance, so he needed the Heretic Authority to fight him with all its might ......]

[Heretic 0006 asks to play a game of Heretic Contamination against the Heretic Authority, with the outcome being whether that world line is completely contaminated or not]

[As soon as he loses a game, he voluntarily accepts permanent internment, and if he keeps winning, he keeps the Heretic Authority existing as an objectively hostile instrumental benchmark that exists in every worldline and cannot stop fighting it.]

[And Bai six will use the rival organisation of the Heresy Disposal Bureau to stimulate the combat capabilities of his team and the productivity of his subordinates ......]

[Heresy Authority agrees to conduct its matchups ......]

[Heretic 0006 was semi-instituted in worldline 0006, released into society in worldline 0007 in sequence under the guarantee of the leader of the first detachment (i.e. myself), drop failed, worldline contaminated ......]

[Released into society in worldline 0008, drop failed, worldline contaminated ......]

......

[Released into society in worldline 0658 (current worldline), worldline lightly contaminated, no large scale heresy contamination events for now ......]

[...... Heresy 0006 suspected to have completed the process of spiritual ascension and can be successfully integrated into society ......]

[The ending of this world line is to be determined ......]

All the images on the small TV fade out and Bai Liu's lens is taken off by Cen Buming, in front of a thick metal door.

Cen Buming raises an eyebrow at Bai Liu: "Time's up, what have you seen that you haven't seen enough?"

"I saw the truth of the world." Bai Liu said.

Cen Buming looked at him, "That sounds even scarier than [the future]. "

Bai Liu smiles: "I agree with you on that one."

"So what's the truth?" Cen Buming asked.

Bai Liu says softly, "The truth is that our reality is a game that can be constantly restarted."