Chapter 583: The Temple of Nightmares

He looked down at the black and white photograph of the two men on the headstone, suddenly lowering his umbrella over Mu Sicheng's photograph and taking off his own black suit jacket over Muke's headstone.

Bai Liu, dressed in a white shirt and drenched in the rain, looked quietly at the two headstones and bowed deeply three times.

After bowing, Bai Liu walked back alone in the rain, stopping in the middle of the walk.

Not far away stands Lu Yizhan.

In front of Lu Yizhan is the headstone of Cen Buming, standing on one knee in front of it, holding a long grey umbrella, taking a cigarette from his breast pocket and lighting it, placing it on the headstone, silently propped up against it with his umbrella, waiting for it to burn out.

The rain drizzled between the two.

Lu Yizhan stood up, he put away his cigarette which was wet from the rain, turned around and was stunned for a moment when he saw Bai Liu, then subconsciously handed over his umbrella, blurted out, "Why don't you bring an umbrella out ......"

"Leave the umbrella to Muke and the others." Bai Liu says calmly.

Lu Yizhan's handing of the umbrella stops in mid-air.

Bai Liu and Lu Yizhan stare silently at each other through the grey umbrella that stagnates between them, as if there are many people standing underneath the umbrella when there is no one under it.

Perhaps it was because they both knew that they would never be able to walk under one umbrella again.

Lu Yizhan slowly lowered his umbrella and placed it next to Cen Buming's headstone.

Without umbrellas, they walked in the rain at a safe distance of three metres apart, without a word, towards the outside of the cemetery, and as Lu Yizhan walked he began to dig into his breast pocket, taking out the packet of cigarettes for Cen Buming and shaking it to get one out, only to find the box empty.

Lu Yizhan looked towards a kiosk outside the cemetery, where a large umbrella was propped up and a bench was underneath it.

Bai Liu walked over and Lu Yizhan bought cigarettes. While he was buying cigarettes he noticed that the kiosk actually had a freezer selling ice cream and he looked into the freezer and smiled a little for some reason at the strawberry lovelies, but the smile soon disappeared without a trace.

"A pack of cigarettes." Lu Yizhan was quiet for a moment, "Plus one of these, how much in total?"

Lu Yizhan took the food and went to sit on the bench, he sat on the left side of the bench and Bai Liu sat on the right side of the bench, he paused and handed Bai Liu the lovely multi in his hand: "Want to eat?"

"No." Bai Liu refused flatly, "It's not good."

"......" Lu Yizhan took it back in silence, he peeled off the outer skin and took a bite, the sweet and greasy texture made him panic inside, he paused and smiled with red eyes, "It's really not very good. "

"It's too sweet."

Bai Liu was quiet for a long time, then he suddenly held out his hand, and Lu Yizhan looked over at him in confusion: "I've already eaten half of it, do you want me to buy you another one?"

"It's not that." Bai Liu said calmly, "I want to smoke."

Lu Yizhan is utterly baffled.

"You don't hate ......"

"I want to smoke one." Bai Liu's hand was still splayed as he repeated it again with downcast eyes.

Bai Liu took Lu Yizhan's lighter and lit it himself. He bit down on the cigarette, his eyes half-lidded, the flickering light of the fire reflected in his dark pupils, and the white smoke that lingered through his long, drooping eyelashes scattered into clumps of fragments.

Bai Liu stopped after one puff, propped his hands on his knees and slowly bent over, looking at himself reflected in the puddles on the ground, his expression confused, and breathing deeply.

Drops of water fall from the eyelashes.

"So bitter." Bai Liu whispered, "The smoke is so bitter."

"So the smoke is so bitter."

Raindrops drip from the edges of large red umbrellas, there is a finished cigarette on an ashtray on either side of a bench that has been briefly sat on, and there is a finished cutie pie in the bin.

Lu Yizhan stands to the left of the bench and asks softly, "Are you sure you want to go this way?"

"I thought you were going to say again why I had to go against you." Bai Liu stood to the right of the bench and raised his eyes.

"No more." Lu Yizhan shook his head and he opened his mouth, "There is no other way for you to go."

Bai Liu looked calmly at Lu Yizhan: "You don't have any more either, do you?"

Lu Yizhan didn't say anything, he was just silent.

"I'll see you at the game then." Bai Liu turned away, his tone faint, "I knew you'd stop me."

"But I'm not going back either."

Lu Yizhan watches Bai Liu walk a little way to the other side, pauses for a moment, turns around and walks away to the other side.

They have finally come to this point, too, of going their separate ways.

Bai Liu returned to his rented house, changed out of his rain-soaked clothes and took a shower, as the tournament was tomorrow and he had to go into the guild today to discuss the final with Wang Shun.

For example, which are the backup players for the final on ......?

In-game, Wandering Circus Guild, meeting room.

The meeting room was empty and Bai Liu was the only one sitting on the stage. Wang Shun was dazed after two sentences on stage, and Bai Liu had to ask him to stop after two sentences.

"I really don't know what to say." Wang Shun touched his face, all with a bitter smile, "President, how can you fight when you're alone?"

"You haven't spoken to me now about the finalists' names."

Muke and Mu Sicheng ...... are out of the question, Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi are still around, but both are in a coma with serious injuries and can't log into the game at all, leaving Bai Liu alone.

"I'll fight alone." Bai Liu said very calmly.

Wang Shun was dumbfounded: "A man ...... beat?!"

"Hmm." Bai Liu lowered his eyes, "There's been a precedent for that, hasn't there?"

"That's Yuan Guang's special skill!" Wang Shun instantly understood, "But President you don't have his soul note, I remember you said ......"

Bai Liu looked up, "I have it now."

" Bai six gave it to me."

Wang Shun is utterly baffled.

After Bai Liu left, Wang Shun sat alone in the conference room, looking at the places where people would have sat and where Bai Liu had sat before, his mind empty of the information he had stored, unable to think of anything.

He had a clear sense that something had changed.

Both he and Bai Liu.

After taking care of the final, Bai Liu went back to his rented house, and as soon as he did, he heard a kind of cautious sound coming from downstairs.

--That's where Muke and the others lived before.

Bai Liu quickly went downstairs and pushed open the room where the noise had been made to see a terrified Du Sanying sprawled on the floor: " Mr Bai Liu!"

"What are you doing?" Bai Liu's eyes swept across the floor and stopped at the large mass of already packed clothes, he lifted his eyes, "You're leaving?"

"Yes." Du Sanying curled up behind his curtsy, he hugged his knees and tried his best to stay away from Bai Liu, "I-I'm ready to go back to the sanatorium, Mr. Bai Liu."

"I've contacted the people over at the sanatorium, and when I go over there, they'll prepare the cubicles I'll be kept in underground, I can have food brought to me via a food truck, and a change of clothes delivered to me by a pull-tube, and I'll never run into anyone again."

Bai Liu was quiet for a long moment: "It's not your fault what happened to them."

The words were the last straw for Du Sanying and he broke down and cried hysterically, shaking his whole body: "It's my fault!"

"If God Mu hadn't touched me, Muke touched me, they wouldn't have died!"

"If Tang Erda and Jiayi hadn't come up next to me, they wouldn't have been hurt!"

"It's all my fault! I never should have been friends with them, never should have come here, never should have met such nice people like them!"

"I've done them in!!!"

Du Sanying slumped to the ground, crying until she was in near spasm, vomiting, propped up on the floor and sobbing tears: "I've done ...... them in."

"You ran into me, too." Bai Liu reached out to pull Du Sanying to his feet, his voice still smooth, "But nothing happened to me."

"So it's not your fault."

Du Sanying raised his head, his eyes lifting from Bai Liu's hand reaching for him and landing on Bai Liu's calm face in an indescribable trance, "...... you okay?"

"How can you be okay?!"

" Mr. Bai Liu." Du Sanying choked back tears, "Obviously you're the one who got the worst of it from me."

"You've been victimized by me, and there's nothing left but you."

Eventually Du Sanying was picked up by the nursing home. He cried on the floor until he had a panic attack, and whenever Bai Liu came near him, he would become so frightened that he would even harm himself, falling to his knees and kowtowing frantically, begging Bai Liu not to come near him, as if he had a complete breakdown.

So Bai Liu stood at the door, as he had done when he picked him up, and quietly sent him away.

Du Sanying finally turned back while shedding tears, and he kept apologising.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry ...... Mr Bai Liu."

Bai Liu returned to his rented house and, looking at the complete silence, he realised as an afterthought that -

-- he was really, totally alone.

" Bai Liu ." Someone called his name and Bai Liu looked over in a daze as he saw Spades walking out of the room.

Spades walked up to him.

Spades hugged him with all his might.

"You're back." Spades said.

Bai Liu's expression is confused and confused as he is held tightly for a moment. It is cold now, but the body Spades is holding him in is warm, so warm that he feels like he is hallucinating, that he is not alone.

So warm.

Bai Liu asked in a trance, "Hello ...... hot."

It's so hot that it's coming out of the neckline.

"I've had a long body wash with hot water." Spades replied in a low voice, "I wish I could give you a warm hug when you get home."

Bai Liu slowly closed his eyes, he gave a very soft muffled sound and buried his head in Spades' shoulder.

"It's warm."

They lie in bed, hugging each other, Bai Liu curled up in Spades' arms, his eyelids drooping, his face full of exhaustion, soon to fall asleep.

He had dealt with so many things in the meantime that when he was actually able to relax, that long-suppressed feeling of exhaustion instantly rushed up to take his whole being to dreamland.

Half asleep, Bai Liu felt Spades rise as if to leave, and before he was fully conscious, Bai Liu took hold of the corner of Spades' coat and murmured unconsciously.

"...... Don't go."

"I'm already alone, you can't go."

Because it was agreed that when he was alone, Spades would show up to keep him company and would not leave.

Spades leaned down and gave him another firm hug, "I'm going to take another hot shower."

"I'm not hot anymore."

Bai Liu shrank into Spades' arms, his voice muffled, "...... It's okay."

"Don't go."

"I don't want to be alone in this house."

"I'm scared."

So Spades paused and quickly fell asleep, taking Bai Liu into his arms, he rested his jaw against the top of Bai Liu's head and patted Bai Liu's shoulder, his eyes radiating a very light silvery blue: "Don't be afraid."

"I will always be there for you."

Bai Liu goes to sleep.

Spades looked at Bai Liu's sleeping face and he dropped his eyes and kissed Bai Liu's forehead, "I love you."

" Bai Liu ."

"I won't leave you alone."

Spades closed his eyes and he too went to sleep.

"At last." Bai six laughed softly as he appeared in Spades' dream, emerging from a dark void and saying to Spades with a smile, "I thought you'd always deny me access to your dreams."

Spades turned his head and the moment he saw Bai six, the dark dream world brightened up and everything around him became visible.

The waves lapping at the shore, the ancient temple, the stone table standing in front of it, the prophet on the verge of complete petrification, and the evil god sitting on the other side of the stone table with a smile on his face.

The evil god smiled lightly and asked Spades, "You were so resistant to my entering your dreams before, why did you agree this time?"

"Could it be that you have considered a different outcome to the deal I, the evil god sacrifice, had spoken to you about?"

"You said that I, Bai Liu and Tavel, had to have one soul to guard the door." Spades tilted his head as he spoke in a flat tone, "You said it wasn't me Bai Liu loved, it was Tavel, and that if I looked at Bai Liu and Tavel living happily together on each world line, guarding it all from the other side of the door, the pain I generated would be up to the standard of a gatekeeper."

"So you asked me if I would keep the door, become the new evil god, and could grant a wish in exchange for it."

"Yes." Bai six spread his hands and he laughed lightly with regret, "It's a pity you turned me down."

"After that, Tavel's spirit entered your body and you and he were together with Bai Liu in a state that had not yet merged."

"I am very curious about your soul, the first time I have seen my own creation produce a soul."

Bai six smiles and stands up, and the next moment he appears in a flash on the shrine, looking down at Spades standing beneath it.

"It is so interesting that you have created a soul because of your love for Bai Liu, and a dream world because you have a soul and feelings, and that your newborn dream world can reject my visit."

"It shows, in a way, that you also have the potential to become a new evil god."

"Because you can deny desire."

"And at this moment, what desire has made you give up denying me-" Bai six smiled and spread his hands, "-that you should allow me to enter your dreams?"

Bai six curled his lips in amusement, "Let me guess-"

"Is it because of Bai Liu ?"

Spades bowed his head in silence.

"I told you that your soul's presence as a vessel would only prevent Tavel from awakening, and at this moment, you feel that your presence is not of any use to Bai Liu." Bai six took one step down from the top of the temple, lowering his eyes and whispering softly, "What you feel Bai Liu needs at this moment, is a human being who can embrace him warmly."

"-not you, a monster who is so cold that you need to make yourself roll over and over again with external objects."

"He needs the one he loves, not you, a turtledove who prevents the one he loves from awakening and only imitates, born to kill and suffer as a derivative."

A black whip appears in Spades' hand and he clutches it tightly.

Bai six smirked, "- even your weapons are something Bai Liu rejects with disgust."

"He was unwilling to accept this weapon until the last moment, whereas you have been using it since birth."

Spades The hand clutching the whip loosened one finger, one finger at a time.

The black bone whip fell to the ground and shattered into points of light.

"I believe you have understood for yourself that your creation was merely a design I made to be Tavel and Bai Liu, the two heirs I had my eye on in pain." Bai six smiled softly, "But there was a little accident, you have the same appearance as Tavel, and Bai Liu looks at you with the same eyes as Tavel."

"You have a soul because of his feelings for Tavel."

"Simply put, your soul was created as a monster because you stole Bai Liu's love for Tavel."

"And for now, if you give up Bai Liu and choose to become an evil god yourself, he won't have to become an evil god, Tavel can awaken and be with him, and the others won't have to fight back for my existence, and everything can be happy."

"-only at the expense of you, the accident."

"Your heart aches for Bai Liu's solitude now, but isn't that solitude what you caused?" Bai six let out a careless soft laugh, "If you had chosen to become the new Gatekeeper at the Evil Ritual and not keep stealing Bai Liu's love for Tavel for your own selfish love, none of this would have happened."

" Muke and Mu Sicheng will not die, Tang Erda and Liu Jiayi will not be seriously injured, Bai Liu will not be so alone and in such pain."

"Isn't this all because you've deluded yourself into wanting to be with Bai Liu?"

"You must have felt how much pain Bai Liu was in, how he blamed himself internally and felt it was all his fault, didn't you feel horrified when you hugged him?"

"Obviously you're the culprit?"

Spades' chest rose and fell slowly, his fists tightening and loosening, loosening and tightening.

"Do you think that your company will really make Bai Liu happy?"

Bai six gave a soft laugh, "Now you see."

"Your company is the thing that causes Bai Liu the most pain."

Spades' pupils flinched.

"So?" Bai six walked up to Spades and held out his hand to him, smiling inquiringly, "This is your last chance."

"Are you willing to make a wish to the evil gods and pay the price of your soul to become the new evil god and stop what is happening to Bai Liu?"

Spades slowly lifted his head, his hair lengthening to long, curly silver-blue locks, the pupils of his eyes turning silver-blue, and countless spheres levitating around him, his tone earnest.

"I make a wish to you."

Spades is surrounded by the wind and his soul is lifted up and Bai six floats around him in an endless sphere of silvery blue light, and the temple disappears into a vast silvery blue universe in which 658 world lines, which have become settled, float around Bai six.

Bai six holds the 658th orb lightly in his hand, his face illuminated by the warm glow of the orb, he smiles with compassion, " Spades, what would you like to wish from me?"

Spades said very gently.

" Bai six, I want to give this person behind me all the happiness that an ordinary person in this world can have."

"I want him to have company at the loneliest times in his life, I want everything he's suffering for to dissipate, I want everything he's lost to be recovered."

"I want to have someone to play his favourite horror games with all the time."

Spades raised his head, his silver-blue eyes filled with a very light shimmer: "I think he and the one he loves will never be separated."

"They can meet in a human way, be together in a human way, and end beautifully in a human death."

Bai six curled his lips in a smirk: "What a greedy creation, these add up to much more than one wish, what would you pay for them?"

Spades was quiet for a long time before he spoke in a very soft voice: "I would give my soul for that."

"I have a soul now, and I will be the next generation of evil gods, as you wish, to guard the gate forever."

Bai six smiled up, "As you wish."

--Human emotion is such an interesting thing.

Bai six looks at Spades and Tavel, who have almost merged, and smiles.

--From the beginning to the end, there is no such thing as a vessel producing a soul.

Spades was never a vessel, and the soul inside him was, from the beginning, a soul sealed by Tavel himself, but even Tavel himself was fooled into believing that Spades had a soul too.

Emotions make people foolish, make them miserable, make them weak, and make them deceive themselves.

Tavel wished for his soul because of his own feelings, but because Bai Liu was also his soul, Bai six also wanted Bai Liu's soul, so he did not actually grant Tavel's wish, and the deal was not made.

So the belonging of Tavel's soul has always been free, not in his hands, but always in the form of Spades, an NPC in the game.

But even he, Tavel, did not know that the deal had been struck, that his soul was already in the hands of Bai six, and that the game's incarnation, called Spades, was merely a vessel.

Tavel made the same mistake as Georgia in believing that when the deal was done, Bai six would obey the outcome, but it wasn't.

The evil gods also have the option of reneging on the deal.

And this time, Bai six tricked Spades into sacrificing his soul to him in the same way again.

The same monster, the same lover, the same way of deceit, his creation is clearly not a foolish thing, but it will step into the same pit again because of the blindness of its feelings.

The evil creature who brings misfortune will always wonder about himself and whether he should really be by the side of his beloved.

Is it true that His company brings only pain.

Although he will still not get Spades' wish or his soul in the end, his favourite heir is about to arrive at the temple and he doesn't want anything else to happen to Spades, or Tavel for that matter.

--with this deal, he can trap Spades in the past.

Bai six lowered her eyes, "You said you didn't want Bai Liu to be alone."

"But Bai Liu has always been alone."

Bai six arched her eyebrows: "Would you like to go back in time and be with him in his loneliest moments?"

Spades stops in his tracks as he leaves.

"Bai Liu at the age of eighteen, isolated and bullied by everyone, he doesn't remember Tavel and has no one around him, just one step away from stepping into the game, or even dying."

"He was very, very lonely."

"He felt from the bottom of his heart that he was a monster and he wanted someone to be there for him."

"He's scared."

"Would you like to see Bai Liu at that time?" Bai six whispered, "That would be part of your wish, wouldn't it? Not to have any of Bai Liu's time."

"Don't you want to go and have your own memories with Bai Liu before you do become an evil god, forever alone, watching over the bliss of being with Tavel? Then at least in the midst of endless emptiness and desire you have something to remember instead of keeping on licking that little stolen love in Tavel's skin."

"Don't you want Bai Liu, who doesn't remember anything, to say to you that I like you?"

"If you miss this opportunity, you will never hear it again after I have fully granted you your wish."

Bai six laughed briskly, "Evil gods don't dream."

"Don't you want to give yourself one last bit of fodder for your beautiful dreams?"

Spades turned, Bai six looked into his eyes and smiled.

--Everything was going the way he had written it [the future].

The next day, Bai Liu woke up, empty, with only some warmth remaining.

Bai Liu touches the temperature, drops her eyes, and suddenly exhales very softly.

He got dressed and logged into the game alone.

In-game.

The killer sequence is a mess, and Liao Ke is in a tizzy: " Where are the Spades?

"There's a game coming up, where's he gone?"

Bai Yi and Bai Jiamu sounded weak: "Probably because they didn't want to fight Bai Liu and ran away ......"

Lu Yizhan, sitting next to him, closes his eyes.

It's not that Spades couldn't have done it.

There is no one who wants to hurt the current Bai Liu more than he does.

"Let's switch to Zhou Gong for the team match." Lu Yizhan let out a long breath as he propped himself up on his knees and stood up, "If he doesn't want to play, let's not force him, let's go."

Liao Ke walked up next to Lu Yizhan, a situation that now had everyone on edge, and inquired worriedly, "Where is your soul note in Bai Liu, fighting, nothing will happen to it, will it?"

"Only half a sheet." Lu Yizhan's voice was steady as he stepped into the viewing pool and looked across at Bai Liu standing alone, his eyes still inevitably loose for a moment but quickly calming down, "If Bai Liu can't come to full agreement with my will, there's no way he can log into my panel with this half soul note."

"The Bai Liu from before might still have the possibility of using my soul note."

Lu Yizhan looked across to Bai Liu with a slightly baffled look in his eyes, "But now ...... it's impossible."

The host waved his hand excitedly, "Will both tacticians please come forward and shake hands!!!"

"The Wandering Circus side is actually playing solo!"

"The president of Russell Cemetery has soloed out of the plug before, but that was in mid-season, which is unheard of in a playoff final match!"

"I can imagine that if Bai Liu does win this game in this way, the Wandering Circus will be the team to beat next year!"

Lu Yizhan was just about to step forward when he saw Bai Liu across from him calmly raise his hand: "We're not giving up the singles."

The presenter was stunned, "Wait!"

" Bai Liu says their team won't give up the singles!!!"

"That means, he has to fight a single match!!!"

The host was thoroughly excited, his voice almost hissing as he held up the microphone, "Does that mean that Bai Liu is going to take on the Killer Sequence solo, in pairs, and in a group match all by himself!"

"My God, this is unheard of!"

"He's only got one get-out-of-jail-free card! Then there's two games where he can't use his exemption!"

"That's just crazy!"

"Let's see how Killer Sequence will take it!" The host turned to the Killer Sequence side, "This madness will also give the Reverse Gods, who have been playing it safe, a headache, right? After all, Bai Liu won the single match against the strongest single player, Spades, and the single match will also consume the gold medal, so the Reverse Gods side will probably choose to forfeit ...... "

Before the moderator could say anything, Lu Yizhan also raised his hand, his voice steady: "The killer sequence side will not give up the single."

"Out of the race, the Inquisitors against the Gods."

The presenter was stunned: "Out of the race, the Reverse God himself?!"

Liao Ke and Bai Yi were both stunned, Bai Jiamu completely overwhelmed and dumbfounded as he watched the calm and collected Reverse God prepare to take the field.

" Team Lu!" Liao Ke saw Lu Yizhan going up and couldn't help but shout out what he wanted to say.

Lu Yizhan turns his head over and smiles heartily, "Someone has to stop him before he really goes and does something bad."

"I've watched him grow up, there's no sense in watching him go on to become an evil god."

Lu Yizhan turned back to Bai Liu who approached him, took a deep breath and got up to walk forward, "I spoke to him."

"He's really going to be the bad guy in front of me, and the first bad thing that does-"

"-it would have to be to kill me."

"I'm not going to die, I'm not going to let him be the bad guy."

Lu Yizhan stepped up next to the viewing screen.

Bai Liu reached to his left, he let go of the death free card in his hand and raised his eyes, his tone flat, "I forfeit the death free card for this match."

Lu Yizhan paused for a moment as he also took out his own immunity card, looked across at Bai Liu, and then slowly put it down: "...... this game, I also give up."

Two exemptions from death fall to the ground.

The whole room was in an uproar.

"Wow!" The host snapped his fingers and intoned, "Another single match where both teams give up their immunity!"

"That dooms the odds that one person will die in this game!"

"And it's a single match between the tacticians of both sides, so that means that whoever's tactician dies in this single match-"

"-whichever team is the first to lose the game!"

[System Alert: Player Bai Liu Against the Gods confirms that he will not use the Death Free Medal in this match].

[...... game screening in progress ...... game loading in progress ......]

[Game loaded successfully.]

[System Alert: Player Bai Liu Against the Gods has logged in to the game copy "The Temple of Nightmares"]

Bai Liu entered a magnificent temple and opened his eyes.

He entered into the ultimate nightmare.