CH 229

The picture of Lu Yizhan faded and turned black. Then a new line of subtitles appeared on the small TV.

[Setting the game’s main plot line part 3 – fragmented, close team.]

The distant picture zoomed in. It showed a round sun shining on the sea and a misty and soft fog. After turning inward, there was a majestic and solemn huge temple, looming in the blue sea fog and the fire of the sun. It was mysterious and beautiful.

However, this temple seemed to have experienced a fierce battle. There were black potholes where flint had fallen and Bai Liu immediately recognized the corrosion of Liu Jiayi’s poison, the scratches from Mu Sicheng’s hands, Tang Erda’s bullet holes and the cuts from Mu Ke’s daggers.

These people should’ve fought here just now. The strange thing was that Bai Liu couldn’t find any traces of his attacks here.

The fishbone whip marks were easy to identify. Bai Liu searched the picture several times but didn’t find it. There were only traces of the four people’s attacks everywhere.

It seemed that everyone had done their best in this team battle but Bai Liu didn’t exist, or his existence had no meaning.

After continuing inward and passing through the blackened jungle bushes and scattered gray and white stones, Bai Liu saw the trails of the four people he had been looking for.

Or perhaps it wasn’t appropriate to describe it as a trail. It should be their corpses.

There was a bullet hole in Liu Jiayi’s forehead. She lay on the ground with her gray eyes wide open. The poison in her hand leaked out and spread to the ground where Mu Ke was laying.

Mu Ke’s eyes were blank and he was only holding one dagger in his hand. The other was plunged into Mu Sicheng’s chest. Mu Sicheng was nailed to the tree by his dagger and leaned his head against the tree. The claws on his hands fell to his side and blood dripped down.

The owner of this blood, Tang Erda, leaned his head against a rock with eyes closed. His throat was bloody from scratches. His hand was still in the posture of holding a gun but the gun was nowhere to be found.

Bai Liu finally figured out why there were no traces of his attacks. It was because this was a team civil war that he wasn’t involved in so he couldn’t die.

Just then, he heard an illusionary voice coming from behind him that was filled with an unpredictable laugh. It echoed among the mountains and forests.

“The game of this world line is over, Bai Liu.”

“You lose.”

The picture faded and the color of the subtitles on the small TV turned black.

[Setting the game’s main plot line DLC – the game save files of other world lines.]

The static-filled screen of the small TV became clear. It showed a pure white room that was exactly like Heretic 0001’s room. There was a long table in the center of the room and five khaki portfolios were placed on the table.

Behind the desk was a man in the uniform of the bureau. The screen was confined to his chest so his face couldn’t be seen. There was only the ID card clipped to the breast pocket that read ‘captain of the first team.’

However, the name behind it was coded and Bai Liu couldn’t see clearly.

The captain of the first team was sorting through these portfolios on the table.

The wire buckles of the portfolios were opened and the documents inside were arranged in turn. Bai Liu saw that the numbers on the file headers were 0002, 0004, 0601, 0005, 0006.

The captain of the first team was picking up and reviewing these documents one by one. This allowed Bai Liu to also see the specific content of the documents.

[Heretic 0004: Mu Sicheng]

[Spiritual dimensionality reduction (the process through which normal human beings are downgraded to monsters due to an abnormal mental value): In the second semester of high school in 200X, he witnessed his classmate Yuan Qingqing being hit and killed on the spot by No. 11 due to his negligence. Then he entered the game due to the influence of his university roommate Liu Huai and was besieged because he was unwilling to join a large guild…]

[…Later, under the guidance of Bai Liu (6), he angrily killed Liu Huai, who betrayed him. He lost control of his desire to steal and became a member of Wandering Circus…]

[Saved ending of Heretic 0004 in World Line 0237: Assassinated by Little Witch Liu Jiayi.]

……

[Saved ending of Heretic 0004 in World Line 0412: After three years, he lost his ability to play due to injury and was abandoned by Bai Liu (6). He was shot and killed by the clown and thrown to the heretics bureau…]

……

[In World Line 0045, Heretic 0004 was taken in by the heretics bureau and numbered 0004. Under the guarantee of the captain of the first team (i.e. myself), he was released into society in the World Line 0047. In this world line, he has fully integrated with society and transformed into a normal human being. The spiritual dimensionality rise was successful…]

[Formed a team with Bai Liu in the current world line (serial number 0658). The spiritual dimensionality value is stable and there are no obvious signs of being downgraded to a monster…]

The captain finished sorting out this document and opened the next one.

[Heretic 0601: Liu Jiayi]

[Spiritual dimensionality reduction: Has congenital blindness. Due to the improper behavior of her father, she experienced long-term abuse before the age of six. Her brother Liu Huai was admitted to university when she was seven years old and took her away. However, he couldn’t get rid of their father. They were followed and entangled by their father for more than a year…]

[…One day, Liu Jiayi was kidnapped by her father and sold to the middle-aged butcher called Li Gou as an adopted daughter. This was later stopped by Liu Huai but in the process, Liu Jiayi was stimulated by contact with the game player Li Gou. After Liu Huai sent her to the welfare home to protect her from being harassed by their father, a strong desire burst out and she entered the game…]

[Later, with the guidance and help of Bai Liu (6), she personally tortured and killed her father and Li Gou in reality. Her desire to kill was out of control and she joined the Wandering Circus…]

[Saved ending of Heretic 0601 in World Line 0261: Arrested by the authorities while torturing and killing a father. Killed on the spot after a fierce resistance.]

……

[In World Line 0068, Heretic 0601 was taken in by the heretics bureau and numbered 0601. Under the guarantee of the captain of the first team (i.e. myself), she was released into society in the World Line 0071. In this world line, she has fully integrated with society and transformed into a normal human being. The spiritual dimensionality rise was successful…]

The captain looked at this portfolio very quickly. He finished another one and opened the next one.

[Heretic 0005: Daniel Cinchmani]

[Spiritual dimensionality reduction: Born in the family of an international arms smuggler. Due to family tradition, all the children were thrown into the gang by their fathers to grow up and their life or death not cared about. Only the surviving children are worthy of respect…]

[At the age of seven, his mother was shot to death on the spot for betraying his father. In order to teach Daniel, his father asked Daniel to film the scene of her being shot and ordered Daniel to play the video every day when praying to God before going to bed. This was part of the family education…]

[…When Danial was 14 years old, he was asked to lead a gang to intercept a certain batch of smuggled weapons. However, this batch of weapons was actually heretic goods smuggled by Bai Liu (6). Daniel failed to intercept and kill him. He escaped to his home and was severely punished. He was ready to be abandoned by his father when Bai Liu (6) intervened in the matter and contacted Daniel’s father. He gave the batch of smuggled goods to his father for free and became his father’s partner…]

[As a result, Daniel survived. Later, his father recognized Bai Liu (6) as Daniel’s godfather in order to show favor to Bai Liu (6)…]

[…Bai Liu (6) took Daniel with him to teach. Daniel soon entered the game. A year later, Daniel shot his father with a gun and smashed all his father’s limbs and skull. Then he led the entire family to surrender to Bai Liu (6)…]

[Saved ending of Heretic 0005 in World Line 0107: Rushed into the bureau on a mission and was killed after killing seven of our team members and releasing 108 heretics.]

……

[Heretic 0005 is highly domesticated by Bai Liu (6) and extremely difficult to capture. Up to the current world line, he has been successfully killed many times but the containment has failed…]

The captain hesitated slightly when taking another file. This moment was extremely short but it was still captured by Bai Liu.

It meant this document was something different for the captain.

Bai Liu’s gaze moved to the documents on the table.

[Heretic 0002: Tang Erda]

[Spiritual dimensionality reduction: An original member of the first team and now the captain of the third team. He was stable in the initial world line. Then due to the creation of a hunter in World Line 0317, his spiritual dimensionality reduction started to get out of control. In World Line 0317, Tang Erda was selected by the leader of the first team (i.e. myself) as the second generation hunter to take over the Prophet’s authority. He is responsible for killing the heretics who have committed crimes while containing and controlling the heretics who are about to commit crimes…]

[…In as many as 300 world lines, he was repeatedly polluted by Heretic 0006’s malicious spirit, who took advantage of his psychological weakness. His spiritual dimensionality started to be reduced from World Line 0642. After continuing to hold on for more than 10 world lines, his spiritual dimensionality was completely reduced. He degraded into a heretic and was voluntarily taken into custody and killed…]

[Due to his low harmfulness, he wasn’t destroyed under the guarantee of the captain of the first team (i.e. myself) and was temporarily under observation…]

[…In the current world line (serial number 0658), he has teamed up with Heretic 0002 and 0006. His current mental state is stable and there is no sign of his spiritual dimensionality continuing to reduce…]

Then came the last one. Bai Liu looked at the portfolio numbered 0006, which was much thicker and older than the previous ones.

The captain of the first team was quiet for a long time before opening the last portfolio.

[Heretic 0006: Bai Liu (6) (Bai Liu)]

[Spiritual dimensionality reduction: Unknown. It seems that his spiritual dimensionality reduction was completed from the moment he was born…]

[Apart from the current world line, there is no world line where this heretic’s harmfulness value was low…]

……

[Saved ending of Heretic 0006 in World Line 0003: Successfully used heretics to pollute the world. Game over.]

……

[Saved ending of Heretic 0006 in World Line 0407: Successfully used heretics to pollute the world. Game over.]

[Apart from the current world line, all the discovered world lines were successfully polluted by Heretic 0006. The current world line is mildly polluted and the harmfulness of Heretic 0006 is unknown at present.]

[In World Line 0006, Heretic 0006 voluntarily surrendered to the heretics bureau and was taken into custody. The reason given was that the simple pollution incident was too monotonous to maximize the benefits during the struggle. He needed the heretics bureau to fight him with all their strength…]

[Heretic 0006 asked to play a heretics pollution match with the heretics bureau, with a world line being completely polluted as the outcome of victory or defeat.]

[The moment he loses, he will voluntarily accept permanent containment. If he wins, he will use the heretics bureau as a benchmark for an objectively hostile tool that exists in every world line that can’t stop fighting.]

[Meanwhile, Bai Liu (6) will use the hostile organization of the heretics bureau to stimulate the combat capabilities of the team and the productivity of his subordinates…]

[The heretics bureau agreed to this match…]

[Heretic 0006 was semi-contained in World Line 0006. Under the guarantee of the leader of the first team (i.e. myself), he was released into society in World Line 0007. The release failed and the world line was polluted…]

[He was released into society in World Line 0008. The release failed and the world line was polluted…]

……

[Released into society in World Line 0658 (current world line). This world line is mildly polluted and there are no large-scale heretic pollution incidents…]

[…It is suspected that Heretic 0006 has completed the process of spiritual ascension and he can be successfully integrated into society…]

[The end of the world line has yet to be determined…]

All the scenes on the small TV faded. Bai Liu’s lens was removed by Cen Buming and there was only a thick metal door in front of him.

Cen Buming raised an eyebrow and looked at Bai Liu. “The time is up. Have you seen enough?”

“I saw the truth of the world,” Bai Liu said.

Cen Buming looked at him. “That sounds more terrible than the future.”

Bai Liu smiled. “I agree with your words.”

“What is the truth?” Cen Buming asked.

Bai Liu said softly, “The truth is that our reality is a game that can be constantly restarted.”

The author has something to say: 

Let me explain the world view. 

The real world is equivalent to a large-scale online game. Every time a world line is completely polluted by the heretics, this world line is successful for Bai Liu (6), who represents the side of the monsters. He has won.

For the Dangerous Heretics Handling Bureau, every time a world line is polluted, it means they have lost this large-scale online game.

Whenever the game is over, both parties can restart the game and reload it. Before loading, they need to save the file in the ‘Future’ place. Therefore, the ‘Future’ place is a save point. 

Every time the world line is restarted, the serial number will increase by one. So far, the world has been restarted 658 times.