"The other guest with the whip left for the time being. He said he would give me the death I wanted once he found the heart."
Edmond looked at Bai Liu calmly and smiled as if he had expected this all along. "But I know he won't find it, because it isn't his heart — it's yours. You found where I hid it, didn't you?"
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow, turned a wooden stool around, and sat down. Looking up at Edmond with mild interest, he asked, "You don't seem like a simple NPC. How did you know?"
Edmond removed the charmed glasses hanging from his ears. His eyes seemed to hold an endless deep sea, broken ice drifting within them.
As if in a trance, he gently touched Bai Liu with his shriveled knuckles. "I've seen you — in someone's dreamlike prophecy."
Bai Liu asked, "Whose prophecy?"
"[The Judge Defying Gods], a man who betrayed God," Edmond murmured lazily. "I absorbed his memories. Through them, I saw the truth of everything — the future, and the prophecy about you."
"I was awakened by it. I could no longer forget what had happened, nor could I proceed toward death and extinction. Because it wasn't real. I knew I would come back to life."
"In the end, I had to punish myself over and over again at the hands of you players just to keep my existence intact."
"Only God — only God — can completely dissolve my sins and eliminate the existence of this evil, game-like world."
Edmond looked at Bai Liu with unfocused eyes, his lips trembling. "I saw in the prophecy that you could accomplish all of this."
"It was a prophecy of hope and despair — a destiny that belongs to you, and to God."
In a distant, reverent tone, Edmond recited the prophecy he had seen:
"The evil god boasts that there will be those who wander in his shadow.
The man in the shadow is fourteen years old.
Then the evil god gave this man a spine, a heart, and a divine emblem.
It boasts that this person will be its only believer.
The man in the shadow is twenty-four years old.
Then the evil god fell upon the snowy plains, and the undead believer drifted into the deep sea.
The spine, the heart, the divine emblem — all shattered—"
Edmond's eyes were fixed on Bai Liu. "The evil God changed. God died because of you, and evil lives forever."
As he finished speaking, his back arched and he began coughing violently, as though seized by an irresistible curse. He hurriedly pulled a bloodstained silk handkerchief from his pocket, covering his mouth as he coughed hoarsely, blood staining the fabric.
As if in great pain, Edmond tilted his head back, struggling for air. His face twisted with agony as sharp, ragged breaths tore from his throat.
He seized Bai Liu's hand in a death grip, his bloodshot eyes locking onto him.
"Only the game that God has walked through is real. Only the game that God has abandoned can be destroyed. Only the monster that God has killed will never exist again."
"— Bai Liu, the moment one enters this game, it becomes real in every dimension."
"If Spades completely destroys those corpses, Tawil will cease to exist anywhere — at any point in time."
"He will crack and weaken like all the monsters in the games you have passed before, and then completely, utterly, and forever disappear from every perceivable world, erasing even the traces of his existence."
"He is not a monster without weaknesses, my son. And the death you have given him is his only weakness."
Edmond's face turned a suffocating pallor. His voice grew so thin it was almost inaudible, tears filling his eyes. It was as if an invisible hand clamped tightly around his throat, preventing him from revealing more of the prophecy.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry."
"I know it is important to you. But my son, no one can escape fate — not even God."
"The price of defying fate is greater than you can imagine."
The moment Edmond released Bai Liu's hand, the invisible grip around his throat seemed to vanish as well.
He slid off the stool, staggered upright, and coughed weakly. Trembling, he pulled a flask of vodka from his waist pack, tilted his head back, and took two quick swigs before finally catching his breath.
Bai Liu's face remained expressionless. His hands still rested where Edmond had gripped them. His dark eyes were unmoving as he gazed across the table.
"Since there is a price for defying fate, then it is nothing more than a transaction."
Edmond looked back at him, his cheeks flushed red. "It was indeed a bargain. But the price was far too high. The god who traded for our fate was too greedy for anyone to redeem themselves from his grasp."
Bai Liu replied calmly, "If we can't trade, then we'll kill him and make someone else God."
With that, he pushed away from the table and stood up as if he had heard nothing at all.
Edmond shook his head and waved his hand weakly. "I know what you're here for — the fuel is behind the house. You may take it."
He took a sip of the liquor and muttered, "—Just save a barrel for me. I'll use it to burn myself."
"Everything… is almost over."
Bai Liu left without hesitation.
The group collected the fuel and headed back. Edmond had apparently anticipated their return and had already strapped the fuel onto the sleds, so there was no need to call Tang Erda to fly the helicopter over to haul it.
Everything went incredibly smoothly, yet on the way back, everyone remained silent. The atmosphere was inexplicably heavy.
Mu Sicheng wanted to ask about the prophecy, but the grave expression on Liu Jiayi's face stopped him.
Bai Liu handed the fuel to Tang Erda as if nothing were wrong, then returned to the helicopter to record data. He sent the other three to the tent to warm up and began preparing for Tang Erda's shift later.
He arranged everything flawlessly. However, instead of entering the tent as Bai Liu had expected, Liu Jiayi climbed into the helicopter.
She was shivering from the cold. Her gray eyes were red from the wind, and her voice was hoarse from holding back emotion.
"Bai Liu," she asked, "what are you planning to do?"
Bai Liu sat in the driver's seat and did not turn around — something he rarely did.
He might appear authoritarian, but ever since Liu Jiayi confronted him in the Rose Factory, Bai Liu had made a point of asking everyone's opinion before making decisions.
He was not a domineering tactician, but a rare, soft-spoken one who never avoided discussing problems with his players.
If Liu Jiayi had hesitated before because her suspicion conflicted with Bai Liu's usual style, then asking now might have seemed inappropriate.
But his silence confirmed what she had begun to suspect.
Bai Liu… was truly planning something outrageous.
She asked again, her voice trembling, "Bai Liu, do you dare look me in the eye and tell me what went through your mind when Edmond said Tawil would disappear?"
Bai Liu still didn't turn around, but this time he answered.
"I'm figuring out how to defeat Spades."
"And not destroy Tawil's heart in the process, right?!" Liu Jiayi's voice sharpened.
She tried to steady herself. "Bai Liu, wake up. Spades has already triggered the [True End] route. Most of Tawil's corpse has been destroyed. If you want to clear the game, you have to destroy the heart."
"Even if you defeat Spades — even if, taking ten thousand steps back, you force him out of the game — if you want to protect Tawil and prevent this game from ending, then you'll have to—"
"—Stay here forever with the heart in this snowfield." Bai Liu turned his head slightly and finished the sentence in a flat tone. "As long as one player remains trapped inside, the game cannot end. Its conclusion cannot be loaded into reality. Time will freeze. Tawil can continue to exist — even if only as a heart."
Liu Jiayi's tears began to fall like rain.
"Are you insane?!" she shouted. "You'll freeze to death here!"
Her voice shook violently. "Bai Liu, the system shop and warehouse in the game pool are closed. A game can't return to the pool until it ends. If you stay here and force us out, no one will ever find you again. Even soul notes won't work."
"You'll be alone. You'll run out of supplies bit by bit… and then you'll starve and freeze to death."
If Bai Liu intended to stay, she already knew what he would do next.
He would force them out.
Bai Liu did not deny it. Instead, he looked at her with a faint smile.
"No. I can eat monster flesh, become a monster myself, and survive—"
Before he could finish, Liu Jiayi stepped forward and slapped him hard across the face.
His head snapped to the side.
"You're a beast, Bai Liu."
She lifted her head slightly. Her eyes, hidden behind her goggles, were gray and misted with tears. Her cheeks were flushed red from crying, yet her tone remained sharp.
"You have to tell me. What the hell happened to you?"
She knew him. She knew how he operated — relentless, determined, impossible to stop. Once he decided on something, he would find a thousand ways to make it happen.
She could already see the path he would take.
And she couldn't stop it.
Liu Jiayi finally broke down, tears streaming as she gritted her teeth. "Bai Liu, you're unbelievable. I must've been blind to join your team."
Bai Liu lowered his eyes. A faint handprint marked his cheek.
"I'm sorry."
Liu Jiayi turned her face away and sniffled.
Since joining the team, Bai Liu had never apologized to anyone else.
He had apologized to her twice.
And yet even when he said it, nothing changed. When it came down to it, he still cared only about others — never himself.
Who even cares about him?
He just doesn't understand… he doesn't understand…
Her thoughts burned chaotically. She wanted to slap him again.
But in the end, she only sank back into the oversized seat, exhausted. She wrapped her arms around herself, curling into a small ball.
In a small, dazed voice, she asked, "Is that wandering NPC — Tawil — really that important to you?"
Bai Liu looked out the helicopter window.
The snowstorm had stopped. Rare Antarctic daylight poured across the endless white plains, refracting through the glass and casting a hazy pale glow across his face.
He was smiling.
In the clear, snowlit reflection, there was a softness to him — like melting frost.
"Yes." He turned to look at Liu Jiayi, his voice gentler than it had ever been.
"Yes."
"He's very, very important."