Chapter 132.1: Reality
Bai Liu looked at the TV. Lu Yizhan followed his gaze and found the TV talking about the local doctors in the community. Therefore, he casually asked Bai Liu, “I recommended you to see the community psychologist. Have you been seeing him on time recently?”
Lu Yizhan might be the one who was most worried about Bai Liu’s mental health in the world. Lu Yizhan was afraid this person would eventually be tempted to go make illegal money.
“I went to see him twice but I felt like I was close to making the psychologist question his psychological state. I stopped in order to do something good.” Bai Liu retracted his gaze from the TV and turned to look at Lu Yizhan, slightly raising an eyebrow. “I think you should be the one seeing a psychologist now.”
Lu Yizhan had a heavy beard and looked worried. He had heavy dark circles and he smelled of smoke. His clothes were wrinkled and there was dirt on them. At first glance, he didn’t go home all night yesterday. His eyes were bloodshot and made him look anxious.
Lu Yizhan just smiled bitterly at Bai Liu’s teasing and asked, “Why are you here?”
Bai Liu wasn’t the very nosy type. Previously, he was willing to come to the hospital to take a look due to Lu Yizhan’s noisy mouth.
Being so proactive wasn’t Bai Liu’s style at all.
“I came to see if you are going to smoke yourself to death.” Bai Liu glanced at the pile of cigarettes on the cover of the trash can beside Lu Yizhan. “How can you save money to marry your girlfriend when you are spending so much on cigarettes?”
Lu Yizhan raised the cigarette butt in his fingers and slowly blew out smoke. “They are cheap cigarettes. Don’t tell Sister Dian. I am really upset and uncomfortable. Several children had an accident again last night.”
Bai Liu nonchalantly followed Lu Yizhan’s words and asked, “Oh, what happened?”
Lu Yizhan was silent for a moment before taking a puff of his cigarette. “It wasn’t easy for the five children in the welfare home to survive. I don’t know what happened but they started to faint one after another last night. They were once again rushed to the hospital.”
“After checking, there were no problems with all the indicators. It was just severe anemia. They were checked the day before yesterday and the anemia wasn’t that serious. As a result, these children started to show symptoms of a coma in the early morning. They went into shock and even convulsed. The doctor said it might be caused by excessive blood loss but the children have been staying in the hospital and the doctor can’t find the reason for the excessive blood loss.”
“Where is Liu Jiayi?” Bai Liu asked casually and changed the topic.
Lu Yizhan’s frown grew deeper. “This child is also very strange. She suddenly slipped out after her brother yesterday morning. We only found her this morning and asked her what she was doing, but she didn’t say. The surveillance was broken and no one knows where the child went last night. We could only send someone to guard her. After she came back, we asked the doctor to draw her blood. Now it is being sent for examination.”
“She looks much whiter than she did yesterday, much like the children who had an accident last night. It is likely she has severe anemia.”
“Some of the police wanted to question her since her escape was too suspicious. It is just that her state is really bad so it is better to let the doctors see her first.”
Once Lu Yizhan’s floodgates were opened, he never stopped talking. He had been holding back all night and couldn’t find anyone to talk to. Now Bai Liu came to the door so he released it all onto Bai Liu.
Lu Yizhan sighed. “It isn’t just this. The welfare home isn’t right. I still feel there is a connection with those investors.”
At this point, Lu Yizhan anxiously poked his forehead with his thumb. It was as if by using his thumb to poke a hole in his forehead, he could find an idea to solve the case. “I have inquired. My colleagues investigating the case have the same idea. They have sent people from the entire department to investigate but it is too difficult to find clues. The missing children in the welfare home ran away by themselves and it is hard to know where they have gone. In addition, the identity of these investors are special. It will be hard to check them unless we have key evidence.”
Bai Liu nodded to show he had heard it but he instead asked, “Can I see those children?”
Lu Yizhan thought about it before nodding. “Yes, I can give you a guarantee. Currently, there are many people with adoption intentions coming to see these children. You should be able to see them.”
“The other children are fine but Liu Jiayi might be a bit troublesome. Since we asked the doctor to draw her blood, she has been hiding under the bed and not coming out. If we go in, she will start screaming and show an excessive reaction. I don’t know if she will be willing to let you in.”
Lu Yizhan went with Bai Liu to see the children.
These deformed children with excessive blood loss were lying on the beds with pale faces. Their breathing was weak, their body temperature low and even their hearts beat very slowly. The boundary between life and death seemed blurred in these children.
The blood ganoderma lucidum bred from adult desires was greedily and wildly absorbing fresh blood from the bodies of these young children. They were at the age with the fastest rate of blood recovery but it still couldn’t satisfy the blood-sucking speed of greedy and dirty adults.
“They can’t find out what is wrong with them.” Lu Yizhan couldn’t bear to see these children lying on the hospital beds and his eyes turned red. “It is too much suffering. They are just this old.”
Bai Liu gently stroked a child’s dry mouth with his fingers. His voice was very soft and it wasn’t known who he was talking to. “Don’t be sad. It will be better.”
[System notification: Does player Bai Liu want to use the item ‘blood ganoderma lucidum’ to cure the target on the hospital bed?]
[Reminder: There is only one blood ganoderma lucidum. Adults can take it three times and children can take it six times. There are provisions on the dosage and time of use of this item. Is player Bai Liu sure to use this item?]
Bai Liu: [Yes.]
[System warning: This item isn’t the player’s core desire and can’t be used directly by player Bai Liu in reality! Zizi… zizi… abnormal bug data intrusion…]
Bai Liu felt the cross on his heart become hot and the temperature of the coin seemed to increase excessively.
[…Unable to clear abnormal data… item ‘blood ganoderma lucidum’ has been used…]
The child’s throat bulged strangely like he had eaten something. Then he frowned and instinctively swallowed it.
The face of the weak child on the bed became ruddy in an instant. He slowly regained consciousness within a few seconds and opened his eyes with difficulty.
Bai Liu’s blank face appeared in front of him.
The child breathed weakly, his chest lightly moving up and down. He looked at the blurred face of this strange uncle in front of him and a warm feeling rose from his mouth. He licked his mouth and the very mature and lush mushroom flavor spread in his mouth.
He had eaten it from the teacher’s hand. The mushroom that was poisonous to all children had a similar taste but this was sweeter than that. It wasn’t bitter at all and was the taste of a fully mature mushroom. There was a type of fullness unlike human blood. It wasn’t the evil taste that came from children’s blood.
It was the taste of God, the taste of happiness at being saved.
“Let’s go to the next one.” Bai Liu returned to Lu Yizhan, who hadn’t noticed the child had abnormally woken up, and pushed out the slightly confused Lu Yizhan, closing the door.
The child saw that the strange uncle had left and felt a bit regretful and sad. His thin fingers placed on the hospital bed moved slightly like he wanted to catch the uncle who was leaving.
Then Bai Liu’s head stuck back through the crack in the door. He was very calm and didn’t feel shameless at all as he told the child, “Child, remember Uncle’s name and that Uncle saved you.”
“I am called Bai Liu. Once you grow up, remember to pay me back your medical expenses. Currently, you are too young to pay so I let you owe me first. I placed the IOU beside your bed.”
The child stared as Bai Liu shut the door after saying this. Then he didn’t know why but he suddenly wanted to laugh.
Thus, he laughed happily and weakly.
Outside the door, Lu Yizhan’s strange questioning voice was heard. “Why did you just look back?”
“…No reason, I thought I forgot to take my phone.”
After walking through five rooms, Bai Liu finally came to Liu Jiayi’s room.
Lu Yizhan already felt it was a bit weird. “Why did you suddenly become kind today and have an impulse to see the children?”
“I’m looking for clues. Didn’t you ask me to check it for you?” Bai Liu spoke nonsense without changing expressions and looked at Lu Yizhan like he was a fool.
Lu Yizhan couldn’t help falling into deep confusion. He had seen these children many times. Were there any clues he missed? There shouldn’t be.
Before Lu Yizhan could figure it out, Bai Liu had already opened the door to Liu Jiayi’s room.
The girl’s sharp cry instantly rang out loud enough to overturn the roof. The policeman responsible for guarding the room couldn’t help covering his ears and gestured for Bai Liu to quickly close the door.
Bai Liu was unmoved. “Liu Jiayi, it is Bai Liu. Let’s talk.”
The girl’s screams came to an abrupt end.
The guarding policeman and Lu Yizhan both looked at Bai Liu with surprise.
Under the watchful eyes of the policeman and Lu Yizhan’s strong guarantee, Bai Liu got his wish and entered Liu Jiayi’s room, provided that the surveillance tape was turned on and the recorder outside was connected.
One minute after Bai Liu entered, a policeman holding a phone walked over with an ugly expression. “Liu Jiayi’s brother, Liu Huai, is dead. The traffic department just informed us. He was in an accident this morning. This little girl cries when her brother doesn’t come. She called for him until she fainted and she refused to speak. What should we do now?”
Lu Yizhan turned on the recorder with a complicated expression and Bai Liu’s voice came clearly from it. “Liu Jiayi, can we talk?”
After a long time, a hoarse and dry little girl’s voice came out. “What do you want to talk about?”
The policeman holding the phone stared at the recorder with amazement. “Who is inside? Why does Liu Jiayi suddenly want to speak?”
“My friend, no, he should be Liu Huai’s… Internet friend,” Lu Yizhan spoke with an increasingly complicated expression.
Although he had no idea how Bai Liu and Liu Huai became friends.
Inside the room, Liu Jiayi crawled out from under the bed and curled up in a corner.
Her head was still buried in her knees. This was a very insecure, self-defense posture. Her bare skin and fingers were a scary white. Even the blue of the blood vessels could be seen.
Obviously, Liu Jiayi was in a state of excessive blood loss. This was guessed by Bai Liu. It was because the detoxification item blood ganoderma lucidum was only obtained from the Love Welfare Institute Monster Book – Plant Patient page. However, Liu Jiayi basically stayed in the welfare home from beginning to end and there was no time to collect this page.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” Liu Jiayi spoke hoarsely, not lifting her head.
Bai Liu always liked to get straight to the point. “You know that Liu Huai is dead, right?”
Liu Jiayi trembled uncontrollably and shrank back. She almost shrank herself into a small ball under the quilt and her breathing also became rapid.
She ran out this morning to find Liu Huai but she couldn’t stop Liu Huai’s death.
“His soul is with me, or it is partly with me and partly with the system.” Bai Liu continued talking slowly. “If you want to resurrect him, you need his soul. I won’t give it to you for nothing. I need something in exchange.”
Liu Jiayi was silent for a moment before asking, “What do you want?”
Bai Liu squinted at her. “You should guess what I want. I want your soul. I want you to accompany me in this year’s league. Then you can win the league and use the points for your brother. You can also use the wish to get out of the game. I promised Liu Huai to take you out of the game. This is my method to take you out.”
Liu Jiayi was finally willing to lift her head. Her gray eyes stared at Bai Liu. There were still obvious red and swollen circles around her eyes. She had clearly been crying.
She said, “You have a lot of ambitions. If I want to play in the league, why shouldn’t I directly follow the King’s Guild? They have a much higher chance of winning. Even if you hold my brother’s soul, as long as I win the league, I can use the wish to directly take my brother’s soul from your hands. The system will help me do anything.”
“Does that include you and Liu Huai being a brother and sister forever?” Bai Liu’s tone was calm. “I thought you would’ve had enough of this system that is full of lies.”
Liu Jiayi’s fists clenched as she remembered Hearts’ frivolous smile and the item called Psyche’s Tears.
The god-level item was already the highest level of item in the game but it still didn’t realize her wish.
“You can make a deal with me. I will completely reveal my skill and tell you that I can’t violate the deal. If I violate it, my soul will be imprisoned.” Bai Liu stared straight at Liu Jiayi. “At the very least, you can trust me to keep my word.”
7th anniversary celebration event
Proofreader: Purichan
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