chapter 47

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"One minute until the next stop, Hexagon Avenue. Passengers who wish to disembark, please prepare to do so," the sweet, clear voice of the announcer rang out. "Disembarking passengers, please do not block the doors and impede boarding passengers. Boarding first, then disembarking—"

Mu Sicheng's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He clenched his fists and cast a sidelong glance at Bai Liu, who was sitting with Du Sanying in the little My Little Pony car. "Bai Liu, what if you can't transfer the aggro? If these monsters' aggro stays locked on me, I'll be dead in no time."

"You have my 'Mermaid's Amulet,' don't you?" Bai Liu replied unhurriedly. "You can use it to teleport away once. We're just testing things this time—if it doesn't work, we'll deal with it then."

"Don't tell me you let me steal that item from you just for this? What good is teleporting?!" Mu Sicheng cursed. "The monsters' aggro will stay on me from start to finish. The moment they see me, they'll chase me."

Du Sanying looked at Bai Liu, his feelings complicated. "Bai Liu, are the mirror shards really inside the passengers? That would make this game…" impossibly difficult.

"If the shards really are inside the passengers," Mu Sicheng said, strapping on a speed-boosting wristband and flexing his wrists with a sneer, "then this game's difficulty is high even for a level two dungeon. Bai Liu, you sure know how to pick them."

"I should be able to transfer the aggro," Bai Liu said. "I have a weapon with a very strong aggro-drawing effect, though it's a bit draining to use. Oh, that reminds me—"

As if suddenly recalling something, Bai Liu pulled out a thousand points and handed them to the still-dazed Du Sanying. "I'll be buying a lot of stamina potions soon, so the price in my shop will probably go up. Hold onto these for me. If your price doesn't rise, buy them for me."

"Oh, okay." Du Sanying was nervously watching the doors, his emotions taut with the coming battle. Bai Liu's request caught him off guard, but he instinctively accepted the points. "You want me to buy stamina potions for you? Sure."

Bulk-buying the same item does indeed drive up its price in the player shop.

The moment Du Sanying took the points, Bai Liu smiled and patted his shoulder. "We need to work closely together in this game. When I need help, you'll help me, right, Du Sanying?"

Clutching the thousand points, Du Sanying nodded blankly. "O-okay."

[System prompt: Player Bai Liu has used 1,000 points to establish a stamina potion purchasing and cooperation agreement with player Du Sanying. When player Bai Liu requires assistance, player Du Sanying must provide timely help.]

"The train has arrived—"

Mu Sicheng stared coldly at the charred corpses—no, the passengers—waiting outside the doors. He clicked his tongue irritably, pulled his monkey-ear headphones down over his head, and in an instant, his face transformed: his eyes glowed a fierce red, fangs protruded from his lips, his hands became slender, powerful black monkey claws with razor-sharp nails, and coarse yellow fur bristled from his collar. A black-and-white striped tail curled from his waistband into a question mark.

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng has activated the personal skill (Thief's Full Armament)—]

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng has entered the skill form—"Monster Book: Capuchin Monkey Tamed by the Thief."]

Bai Liu stood on the car, his ankle strapped to the bumper car by Du Sanying's seatbelt to keep him from being thrown off.

He slowly drew a snow-white bone whip from his waist, flicking his wrist to test its weight, his gaze fixed intently on Mu Sicheng. When Bai Liu focused, his attention was absolute—at such moments, his concentration became almost inhuman.

As Bai Liu's body lowered and his eyes locked on Mu Sicheng, Du Sanying could barely hear him breathe. Bai Liu seemed to dissolve into a state of stillness, as if he were no longer a person, but a precision weapon calibrating its target.

Words like "focused" and "single-minded" were woefully inadequate to describe Bai Liu's intensity. Watching his pupils contract and seeing him go nearly a minute without blinking, Du Sanying felt as if the figure standing on his car was not human, but a machine of war.

The doors slid open. Scorching wind and clawing, flaming black corpses surged into the carriage. Mu Sicheng hung from a strap with one hand and one foot, watching the oncoming tide. Even as he maintained a façade of composure, sweat trickled from his temples as the heat soared.

The temperature warped everyone's vision; even the train's rubber door frames melted at the monsters' touch. Mu Sicheng took a deep breath, flexing his trembling monkey claws.

Watching the passengers writhe and burn, howling in agony, Mu Sicheng was seized by an uncontrollable terror.

If Bai Liu's theory was wrong—if there were no shards in these monsters, if aggro couldn't be transferred, if Bai Liu was just using him as a test subject—then the first to die would be Mu Sicheng, face-to-face with the monsters.

These burning, unquiet souls would be his future.

Doubt, anxiety, fear, even hatred and despair, all churned within Mu Sicheng like a firestorm, so intense he could barely breathe. In the face of death and unending torment, he wavered, his monkey claws trembling ever so slightly.

Perhaps no one could remain unmoved in such a scene—except for a monster like Bai Liu, who would risk anything for profit.

But there was no turning back. Bai Liu held his fate; if Bai Liu willed his death, he would die.

"Mu Sicheng." Bai Liu's voice cut through the smoke and flames, his eyes cold and mechanical, his tone calm and unruffled. "You are the most valuable card in my hand. I won't let you die. You will survive."

"So don't hesitate. Do what you must. Leave the rest to me."

Through the haze, the flying sparks, the corpses, Mu Sicheng met Bai Liu's gaze. The carriage was a hellscape of inextinguishable fire, the passengers' wails filling their ears, blackened bodies writhing in the inferno.

It was as if they stood at the heart of a battlefield of charred corpses, and Bai Liu's words were the call of a ruthless general, driving his soldiers to charge for his own gain.

And yet, bizarrely, Mu Sicheng felt a surge of courage.

For a fleeting moment, he saw himself and the leaping flames reflected in Bai Liu's unblinking eyes, and he truly believed Bai Liu would not let him die.

"Tch." Mu Sicheng suddenly grinned, turning away. He took a deep breath to steady his pounding heart. "If I die, Bai Liu, I'll haunt you to the ends of the earth."

As soon as the words left his lips, the red light in Mu Sicheng's eyes flared. His monkey-ear headphones emitted a shrill, manic laughter that echoed through the carriage. His tail hooked onto a strap, and he darted forward, moving with preternatural speed, his hands and feet a blur as he touched the monsters—his monkey claws darting in and out of charred bodies, extracting fragments and black ash. Du Sanying could barely follow his movements, seeing only afterimages.

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng is burned by fire. HP -1, Mental -1.]

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng is burned by fire. HP -1, Mental -1.]

…

Sweat dripped from behind Mu Sicheng's ears, sizzling on the iron floor like a hot brand plunged into water. After losing five points of HP, at last, the system prompt changed:

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng has obtained a mirror shard (1/???). Congratulations, you are the first player in the game to acquire a mirror shard!]

A shard, about the size of a three-carat diamond, glimmered in Mu Sicheng's scorched, blackened monkey claws.

He couldn't help but whistle, turning to Bai Liu with a half-laugh, half-curse: "Got it. You were right. Damn this game—the shards are tiny, I almost missed it. Do you know how hard it was to grab this thing?"

"But now the real fight begins." Mu Sicheng watched as the "passengers" he'd attacked staggered to their feet, their fire-melted eyes fixed on him, flames racing up their bodies as they lunged.

[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng has stolen from five passengers. The passengers are furious. They have decided to catch this despicable thief and punish him severely.]

Mu Sicheng swung himself up, clinging to a strap to dodge a passenger's grasp, but four more lunged at him. Veins bulging, he roared, "Bai Liu—!!! Draw them off!!"

Bai Liu stood atop a pink bumper car, bone whip in hand, the hot wind billowing his white shirt, his hair swept back to reveal eyes of preternatural focus.

With a flick of his wrist, the whip cracked through the air, striking the hand of a passenger reaching for Mu Sicheng with a crisp snap.

[System prompt: Player Bai Liu has used (Siren's Fishbone) to lash a passenger. Target's aggro has shifted. He has decided to catch this mischievous player and punish him severely.]

Author's note:

A friend joked that because 6's weapon is a whip, he really looks like a sadistic demon king.

Me: Is it just the whip?

Friend (after two seconds): Sorry, I misjudged the whip.

6: I'm just a long-suffering, laid-off worker (…)

Mu Sicheng & the soon-to-be-scammed Du Sanying: Know yourself!

Wielding 6's whip to threaten you: I hope you'll give me your nutrient solution. Don't play dumb. Even if you say you have none left, I won't believe it. If you don't give it, I'll catch you mischievous readers and punish you—maybe even kneel and beg for it!

555, just a little more! Almost at 100,000!

6: You're holding the whip backwards (…)

[System prompt: Author has been struck by Siren's Fishbone. HP -90.]