Chapter 322: Game Pool

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

"I heard someone say that the president has been the main attacker for many, many years, for as long as the Deer Hunter guild has existed."

"No matter how bad the battle is in a group match with the president as the main attacker, the tactician, Reverse God, never gets hurt because the president will do everything to protect Reverse God."

General Hua recalled, "If the Reverse God is a [prophet], the president is almost like his [hunter]."

"-[Hunters] who were born to protect [the prophets]."

"In the beginning it was said that everyone wanted the Reverse God to be the president, but he wouldn't have it and gave the position to the president, and said with a smile that he believed the president would be able to lead everyone to that future he saw."

"But the future is not yet here." General Waqan exhaled, smiling to himself, "The one who gave us the future is on the verge of escape."

Spades said calmly, "It's not a proverbial run."

General Hua Gan was stunned.

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

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

Hua Ganjun was stunned for a moment and laughed out loud, "Yes, we Buming truth [villagers], still have to follow the [prophet's] command."

Having said that, Hua Gan will jump down from the stool and use the tongs to remove the heavy sword of the Reverse God from the furnace.

After turning it over and looking at it a few times, he dipped it into the water: "It's almost done, Spades, where's that broken whip of yours, bring it over and start fixing yours."

Spades handed over the whip, which was shattered to a single handle.

General Hua Gan looked at him for a moment, "Although I never ask why I broke my weapon, this is outrageous!"

"Got into a fight with someone and it broke down." Spades explained perfunctorily.

Hua Ganjun was stunned: "There is still a player who can fight with you like this? The league is about to start, and the God of Reverse didn't stop you?"

Spades' face was expressionless: "The Reverse God joined the other side in beating me together."

WAGAN: "...... Then you must have done something quite excessive."

Spades eased himself down onto the back of the stool, rested his chin on the back of his hand and said, "Yes, so I want to apologise to that person."

Hua Gan will hold up the whip to take a closer look and casually return, "Go on then."

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

General Hua Gan nodded approvingly, "Indeed, have you figured it out then?"

Spades was silent for a moment.

General Hua Gan smiled, "Haven't figured it out, have you?"

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

"I'm Buming what he's thinking and Buming what he's upset about."

General Wagan dipped Spades' whip handle into the lava and smiled a bit impishly, "Love problems ah ......"

"Generally in my experience, you give her what she wants and she'll forgive you a little bit even if she doesn't say anything, is there anything the other person wants?"

Blackstripe paused, "There, 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."

Wagan cracked the whole thing open, "Then isn't it normal for the other side to hate you!"

Spades suddenly lifted his head and stared straight at General Wagan: "Can you do it? A whip that feels almost as good as my whip."

Hua Gan will be filled with questions, "Brother, do you know what class your whip is?"

"If I could produce a whip of your quality, I would have formed my own union already!" General Hua Gan said as he waved the whip from his hand, "Not to mention that the bones of your whip I have never seen a similar texture until now."

"I can't find bones like that in the entire game, nor in reality, and I don't even know what species of lizard monster reference you're generating such a sick skill prop from."

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

General Hua Gan was stunned: "Didn't ...... say lizard bones?"

"A lot of people said I was a lizard at first." Spades replies, "I thought I was a lizard too and just said I was a lizard bone."

General Wagan became more and more confused: "...... Why do you think you're a lizard?"

Spades recalls, "Because when it came out of its shell the lower half of its body was fishtailed, but with legs, and lying on the ground it looked like a lizard, I guess."

The town of Siren, where Spades was born from Tavel's skin before he had fully shed his mermaid form, had a huge fish tail on the lower half of his body, but his feet slowly grew out of it in a bizarre and unconventional way that almost drove the townspeople crazy.

The townspeople frantically slapped Spades, who was standing up, to get the "lizard man" to roll.

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

This misconception didn't dawn on Spades until the Reverse God entered the Slayer sequence and seriously explained to Spades that lizards don't play games.

--It turns out I'm a person.

"Can you make a whip for Bai Liu out of my bones-" Spades looked up at General Hua Gan, "-? "

General Hua Gan was startled and subconsciously vetoed, "No!"

Despite being overruled, Spades stared motionlessly at General Hua, who walked back and forth several times in annoyance: "No means no, not even if you make a hole in me!"

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

General Hua Gan turned to me and solemnly pointed out two fingers, "Secondly, even if you go into the game and pick the bones off, you won't be able to bring them out for me to make a whip."

"The game can only bring out injuries and game reward props, I haven't heard of anyone being able to bring out their own bones."

"Thirdly, 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, you need a recovery period from the time you pick a bone once until it grows back, I can't stay in the slayer sequence to make you a whip the whole time you're recovering from growing bones, and the deer hunters are preparing for pre league work, I have to be present."

"IMO, your whimsical solution is not feasible."

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

This look caused General Hua to stammer for a moment and prevaricate, "How do you solve it?"

Spades lowered his eyes to look at Huagan who had restored his whip to its original form in the furnace and drew it out, the dip emitting a silky hiss and scattering wisps of white smoke.

Then he raised his hand and bent it over the back of his neck, and with no expression on his face he placed the whip against the spine of his neck and slashed downwards without mercy.

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

In the palm of his hand is a bloody piece of spine.

"My whip can cut through time and space, so I can hurt myself in the Central Hall as well and be able to take out bones." Spades looked pale, "My regenerative powers are so strong that the bones I take out will grow back quickly and won't take you long."

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

The skin of General Hua's mouth trembled, and he was silent for a long, long time. He fished his cigarette case out of his pocket with a trembling hand, took one in his mouth and lit it before his eyes dared to descend slowly to the bone still dripping blood in Spades' pale hand.

"Do you ...... not feel it yourself?"

Spades pauses for a moment: "There's a sense of it."

Wagan will look at Spades incomprehensibly, "Then why the fuck can you dig your own bones out without a grimace?!"

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

With a start, he remembered what he had just said to Spades - [Give her what she wants and she will forgive you a little].

"What the other side wants, you have to pay such a terrible price to give ......" Hua Ganzhong sighed with a complicated look, "there would be no need to give it ah... ..."

"Bring it on." Hua Ganjun took the bone with his cigarette in his mouth, watching Spades start to take the bone again, he turned his body away uncomfortably, "Don't spill blood everywhere, be careful taking it yourself."

Spades gave a hoot.

General Hua Gan looked at the bones in his hand and took a deep breath, "Damn, what's all this ......"

The league is approaching day by day.

All the guilds are making their final mad dash and the atmosphere is much heavier not only in the gaming pool but also in the small TV area.

With the intense training of the circus, not only Mu Sicheng is screaming, but also Tang Erda is sometimes tired.

Mu Sicheng slumped vividly 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 pre-season, you haven't been this scared before, have you?"

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

Tang Erda lifted her shirt to wipe the sweat from her face and laughed a little at that, "I guess the start of college was okay?"

"Yeah, it was supposed to be okay ......" Mu Sicheng said sadly, "but I was consumed with the game all last semester and failed two of them at the end of the semester! This semester starts with a make-up exam!"

Mu Sicheng scratched his hair and howled in pain, "And I haven't even started my revision yet!"

Muke wondered from the bottom of his heart: "Why do you fail university exams when they are so easy?"

Liu Jiayi mocked mercilessly, "You're the only one we have here who will fail."

Bai Liu, who was on the sidelines, paused for a moment and spoke lightly, "I've hung up too."

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

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

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

Muke recalls thoughtfully, "I remember, I saw it on my CV, Bai Liu's grades were not very good, I think he did well in the entrance exams..."

"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 grade line."

Mu Sicheng was shocked: "You scored more than 100 points lower than me in the entrance exam!"

Then Mu Sicheng quickly fell into smugness, clutching his chest and raising his eyebrows as he looked at Bai Liu with a very unpleasant smile, "I didn't expect that, Bai Liu, you're so thick-eyed and look like a top student, but you didn't do as well as me!"

"It's strange." Liu Jiayi frowned, " Bai Liu is a strong thinker and learner, so he shouldn't have gotten a lower grade than Mu Sicheng, right?"

Mu Sicheng rages: "Hey-!!!"

Bai Liu thought for a moment, "When I was in high school, I didn't actually try very hard, I didn't know any better, I was more rebellious and my focus was never on my studies, but I only started to study seriously in the last half term."

"When the results first came out, I was persuaded by Lu Yizhan to consider repeating the course, but I didn't go."

Mu Sicheng rubbed his hands together and looked horrified: "What's going on, I'm scared to death that you're thinking of repeating this!"

Bai Liu scanned Mu Sicheng: "Normal people would consider repeating the exams after they've done badly, right?"

Muke asked curiously, "So why didn't Bai Liu go in the end?"

Bai Liu paused, "The orphanage suspended funding because there was no money and I turned eighteen."

Everyone was silent, even Mu Sicheng.

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

"Although the orphanage also has educational grants for children after they reach adulthood, there are not many of those grants and you need to have done well or worked hard before to get them, like Lu Yizhan, and it would be unfair for people like me to get them."

Bai Liu sat down on a chair and looked calm: "Although Lu Yizhan said that I should repeat my studies and that he would work hard to earn money to fill my tuition fees and living expenses after going to university, and then just let me work and pay him back, I finally refused."

Liu Jiayi couldn't resist asking, "Why?"

Bai Liu looked up, "Because I hate high school life, so forget it."

Wang Shun interrupts the group's conversation with.

"Everyone, the pre-season is in a day's time, so I'm going to talk to you about some key pre-game things to look out for, then please go back and get some rest tonight, before we enter the game tomorrow for the official draw for the tournament."

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

Wang Shun looked serious: "None of you have been given a death warrant now, you need popularity badly."

"So please try to play more spectator-friendly games to attract the attention of the crowd when you meet some of the lesser opponents in the pre-season."

"Secondly, the game pool will soon be closed to the public, and as has been the practice in previous years, the next game pool will be rented out to the public as a closed rental place with daily bids, and the guild with the highest bid on that day will be able to rent the use of the game pool for one day."

Wang Shun stressed, "Although the league has started, apart from Captain Tang, the rest of you are pure newcomers and the intensity of training is not enough."

"So not only will you be attending pre-season tournaments next, but the guild will also be actively bidding daily to rent the play pool, and once you do, please suffer a little on the day and continue to come to the play pool to train after the tournament, making 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 was fully reimbursed."

Wang Shun looks around at everyone and gives a knowing smile.

"Finally, I wish you all the best of luck and success."

The night before the league match.

Mu Sicheng is half-leaning under a white-lit desk lamp, his pouting mouth lazily tipped against his pen as he scatteredly scribbles with a highlighter in his textbook, revising for a subject he has to make up for.

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

That is Liu Huai's bed.

Because of the death in the dormitory, all the other students moved out in fear, except Mu Sicheng, who was persuaded twice by the hostel management to stay here alone.

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

"You're listening quite carefully ......"

As he said this, Mu Sicheng gave his head an annoying tug: "Aaaaaah! I wish I had only scored 485 in my GCSEs! I couldn't do the questions with all the league stuff in my head!"

Liu Jiayi, curled up in bed with a clumsy and ugly doll in her arms, reads with her eyes closed.

"Stupid brother ......"

"Bai Liu, the one you entrusted me to, seems to be bad at everything, but pretty good at keeping his word."

Liu Jiayi's door is knocked on twice and she immediately hides her doll under the covers and pretends to be asleep.

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

Liu Jiayi opened her eyes slowly, she took the hand of the doll under the covers and said very softly and gently.

"I have family that treats me well now oh brother."

"It was Bai Liu who found it for me."

Muke sat next to a hospital bench and put down the clothes he had just been stripped of after an EKG.

The doctor opposite looked at the typed ECG note carefully for a moment and nodded, "Further tests are needed in depth, but your condition has been more stable recently, just avoid strenuous exercise and keep your mind calm."

Muke rose, bowed politely and thanked him, "Please, Doctor."

The doctor smiled, "No need to be so polite, you've been a patient of mine since you were a child, but Muke you seem to be in a good mood lately, has something good happened to you?"

Muke looked up and smiled, "Yes."

"Meeting someone who allows me to exercise vigorously and have an uneven mind, but still be happy."

The doctor was stunned.

Muke did not wait for the doctor's reaction, but bowed again in farewell and turned unhurriedly to walk from the room.

Tang Erda had just come out of the room when he saw Su Yang and a group of third team members standing in front of him.

He gave a faintly imperceptible start, "You are ......"

"Let's go, let's get this all sorted out! Go get a drink!" The team rushed up with a whoop and a holler, playfully, "It's been a long time since I've had a drink with you!"

Tang Erda held the men down almost hand and foot, "What are you doing! I've left the Heretic Authority and I'm not your captain anymore!"

Su Yang smiled and arched her eyebrows, "Yeah, but can't you come and get a drink when you're away from us?"

"And we're not here to see Tang Erda, the leader of the third detachment, we're just here to catch up with our old friend Tang Erda, can't we?"

Tang Erda paused for a moment, then his shoulders slowly loosened and he gave a relieved smile, "It'll do."

As they walked down the road, Tang Erda and Su Yang walked side by side. Su Yang looked at Tang Erda twice and smiled, "I feel like you've changed a lot."

Tang Erda paused: "Did you?"

Su Yang nodded: "It always felt like you were preoccupied before, like you were carrying a lot of burdens we didn't know about, and you wouldn't tell us, and you were so tense every day."

"It feels like you're shielding everyone within your territory." Su Yang tilted her head and exhaled a white breath, "but then resisted everyone outside your door."

"But now, it feels like you've taken that burden off."

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

Tang Erda is quiet for a moment and smiles too: "There is a lot of uncertainty in retirement too though."

"But the burden did get picked up."

Su Yang smiled, "Is it Bai Liu?"

Tang Erda clutched a cigarette, a very light smile floating in her dark blue eyes, "Hmm."

Inside the game pool.

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

As people continue to climb out of the pool, the spinning game interface on the surface of the water gradually stops and darkens, and the bottom of the water turns from an illusory image to reality, with only the swaying waves of water reflecting the dim seven-coloured glow that spills down from overhead.

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

In the future, it will cost points to rent this place, and although it's not his to spend, he trained in the pool until the last minute, in line with Bai Liu's basic principle of "don't take advantage of a bargain".

Bai Liu was now the only one in the entire play pool, and just as he was about to walk out with his feet up, Bai Liu looked up and saw another man.

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

Bai Liu pauses in his walk out the door and looks directly at Spades.

Neither man spoke, just gazed at each other in silence.

Spades stands outside the play pool and Bai Liu stands inside it, a multicoloured glow silently flowing over the two.

The game pool, which had been crowded with people, was left to the two of them at this moment, but it did not feel empty, and an atmosphere that somehow pervaded between these two people took one's breath away.

Bai Liu spoke first, in a quiet tone, "What can I do for you?"

Spades paused for a moment and slowly held out his hand to Bai Liu: "For you."

Bai Liu drops his eyes to look at the object in Spades' hand.

In Spades' hand is a pure white bone whip.

--The bone whip is exactly the same as the one Bai Liu received from Tavel at the beginning.

Bai Liu just watched with her eyes downcast, droplets of water dripping down her lashes and into the closed play pool, rippling in circles in a mottled halo.

When Spades saw Bai Liu didn't take it, his fingers curled at his side, "It's a lizard bone whip of the same strength as your previous mermaid bone whip."

"Don't you want it?"

Bai Liu was quiet for a long, long time before he looked up at Spades: "Is it just the whip?"

Spades for a meal.

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

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

The material of the reverse cross is so special that Spades drove General Wagan mad without making a similar one.

Bai Liu nodded and reached out to take the whip, "Is that so? Then I'll take the whip for now, what will you use as collateral for the reverse cross?"

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

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

Bai Liu averted his eyes with a very subtle smile in them, "Can't believe it?"

Spades gave an honest nod and then a beat: "Is that okay?"

Bai Liu asks, "What about it?"

Spades took out a black marker and explained seriously, "If you really want it that badly now, I can draw one for you first."

Bai Liu: "......"

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

Halfway through the rinse, Bai Liu looks sideways at the mirror as if realising something.

Inside the mirror, Bai Liu has a very clear black marker of a reverse cross drawn down the middle of her collarbone, which stands 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, "...... actually let him paint."

After a brief pause to hear Spades' statement, Bai Liu simply unbuttoned his shirt, tilting his neck back to expose the skin in the middle of his collarbone, making it easier for Spades to write.

Spades steps into the pool, his eyes resting intently on Bai Liu's heart as he grips his pen and begins to draw.

Bai Liu averted his eyes, "Who taught you to draw when you can't give?"

Spades' eyes rested on Bai Liu's collarbone, and as he drew it, he said, "The gods taught me that."

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

Spades looked at Bai Liu for a moment, "The Reverse God says that when you don't have something to give someone at the moment, but you really want to give them, you can draw one for them first."

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

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

In the bathroom, Bai Liu buried her face in the towel and exhaled a long, slow breath with one hand over the towel.

He regrets a little that he asked Spades to paint it for him.