After the brief revelry came the approaching war.
After greeting Bai Liu, Guy quickly said his goodbyes and boarded the train with the assault team and dozens of heavy artillery units.
Alex stood near the front of the departing train. He watched as Guy leaned out of the window, smiling and waving at him. Alex's gaze was so intense it seemed as though it might pierce straight through him.
Tang Erda had left even earlier. As a new recruit of the First Assault Team who had joined through unusual means, he boarded a train around two or three in the morning and headed to the battlefield for adaptive training.
Bai Liu asked Spades to wash off the paint, store the balloons in the box Guy had found for him, and leave them in the room. Then he went to the training ground with the other recruits to receive their assignments.
Alex personally led them there. When they reached the entrance, he turned and looked at Bai Liu.
"I hope I never have to collect your bodies on the battlefield."
"Of course," he added with a strained smile, "it's very possible someone else will."
The smile quickly faded. Alex straightened and looked at Bai Liu with determination. "After I finish today's cleanup duties, I'm applying to join the Second Assault Team tomorrow. I won't stay a sweeper."
Bai Liu looked at him. "Because Guy joined the First Team?"
"Yes." Alex lowered his head and absentmindedly rotated the ring on his left ring finger. A soft, content smile appeared on his face as he murmured, "We've come this far together. Only death can separate us."
He patted Bai Liu and Spades on the shoulders. "Guy crossed your names off the commando list. Go be sweepers. It's safer."
With that, Alex jogged off, waving goodbye.
Bai Liu withdrew his gaze from Alex's retreating figure and looked at the shelves near the entrance to the training ground.
The shelves were rusted, stacked with thick piles of registration forms. A red notice board with white lettering was posted above them:
[Application Quotas for the Second Assault Team and Third Assault Team]
"It seems there's a player identity option here," Bai Liu said thoughtfully. "The main-line NPC recommends becoming a sweeper."
"But the game still provides commando applications."
The main objective of the game was to help Alex win the war. The winner would be the player who collected the most corpses within seven days.
From that perspective, both sweepers and commandos could complete the mission. But the cost-effectiveness was far too low.
Collecting corpses as a frontline soldier would be a pure labor competition. That didn't align with the usual design style of this game.
There had to be a shortcut to acquiring large numbers of corpses.
What was the most efficient way to obtain the greatest number of casualties in a war?
Simple. Start one.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes.
The mission "help Alex win the war" did not assign a fixed faction. It only specified the character and the condition for victory. Combined with the attitudes of the two main NPCs—Alex and Guy—it was highly likely there was an embedded subplot involving Alex's rebellion.
If the game designer had intentionally created Alex as an NPC with an unstable allegiance, as Bai Liu suspected, then Alex would have the potential to defect.
That would also explain how the players from the Reverse God's group had managed to join the opposing camp.
If Alex defected and joined the enemy, players aligned with the enemy could also trigger the main mission to help Alex win.
From this perspective, there were actually two player factions in this game:
One faction helped Alex—who had not rebelled—win the war.
The other helped Alex—after rebelling—win the war.
So the real question was: under what circumstances would Alex defect?
Alex was a gentle medical student who loved his hometown and country, yet held a negative view of war. But that negativity alone wasn't enough to push him into violent resistance or defection.
He believed that even if the war was wrong, he had to see it through to victory before atoning for its mistakes and compensating the innocent people harmed by it.
He had accepted the war as it was—believing neither side was innocent.
In Alex's mind, the incompetent government bore guilt, yes—but the backward enemy who had killed soldiers and ignited the conflict bore even greater blame.
Under these circumstances, Alex would naturally remain loyal to his own camp.
Even if Guy were to die on the battlefield, it wouldn't be enough to overturn Alex's fundamental belief system and drive him to defect. That choice had already been made when Alex joined his own army rather than volunteering for the enemy.
If Alex were to rebel, he would need a different kind of catalyst.
Bai Liu turned his head and looked at the railway track in the distance, where the train carrying Guy had long since disappeared.
He knew what the catalyst was.
"Choose sweeper," Bai Liu said, turning to Spades. "Any objections?"
Spades shook his head. "Anything is fine."
After Bai Liu and Spades entered the training ground and were assigned sweeper status, a communications soldier burst in, clutching a telegram.
His face was pale with shock as he shouted:
"Guy Davis of the First Assault Team has mutinied!"
"He suddenly turned on the battlefield and fired a bazooka at his deputy gunner, blowing his head off. He destroyed two of our hidden firepower positions!"
The soldier was trembling with fury, eyes bloodshot.
"That despicable bastard! He killed more than twenty veterans from the First Assault Team, then used enemy cover fire to clear the battlefield, seize supplies, and surrender to the enemy army!"
The entire training ground erupted into chaos.
That night, the fighting escalated again.
The First Assault Team's operation failed miserably because of Guy's rebellion. The general—who had risen to power through his wife's family—was furious. Overnight, he ordered a thousand heavy artillery units to the front line and merged what remained of the First Assault Team into the Second Assault Team. At dawn, he launched a second offensive.
Bai Liu and Spades—mere sweepers with only basic training—were also pushed to the front lines due to the expected mass casualties.
They were issued a simple military tent, several stretchers, two sapper shovels, small bottles of anti-infection medicine, a dozen suture kits, and several rolls of hemostatic bandages.
They were stationed beside Alex's camp. After settling in, Bai Liu and Spades lifted the tent flap and entered.
The light inside was dim. In the shadows, piles of corpses lay scattered across the ground. Alex sat motionless among them, as lifeless as the bodies surrounding him.
The young man who had declared that morning he would join the Second Assault Team looked as if his soul had been drained in a single day. In less than twelve hours, he had withered beyond recognition.
His uniform was splattered with blood and coagulated flesh from head to toe. His face was streaked with drying patches of blood. He stared blankly at the mutilated corpses before him. When Bai Liu entered, Alex's eyes flicked upward briefly—then dropped back down again.
Bai Liu walked to the table and lit the lamp.
The sudden light illuminated everything—the corpses, the cramped interior, and the narrow camp bed in the corner. The bedding was still tangled and messy, as if two people had once lain intertwined there.
Alex's gaze slowly shifted to the bed. He stared at it for a long time.
Then the weight of everything crushed down on him.
He bent forward abruptly, covering his face with both hands, and broke into uncontrollable sobs.
Only then did Bai Liu speak.
"Alex," he asked quietly, "what happened?"
Alex lifted his head. His voice was hoarse and unfocused.
"—I boarded the train after Guy. I was sent to the front line."
"I was worried about him. I was afraid something would happen, so I secretly swapped assignments with another sweeper and went to the First Assault Team's position. It was already late. There was heavy rain. The sky was so dark it felt suffocating."
"I saw Guy and his team moving their tents. It looked like they had received orders from the commander. Because of the rain, the lake had risen, so the raid had to be moved up."
"The captain proposed attacking from the east, beyond the lake. Guy disagreed. I heard him arguing fiercely with the captain, saying that the area wasn't a war zone at all."
Bai Liu knelt on one knee in front of Alex.
"Where was it?" he asked gently.
"There's an indigenous village there." Alex's face was streaked with dried tears. "Under international peacekeeping regulations, they've declared neutrality. They're not allowed to be attacked."
"Then why attack them?" Bai Liu asked calmly.
"Because the villagers took in displaced women and children from the enemy side. Later, the enemy began quietly relocating their families there because it was safe."
Alex paused.
"But many on our side don't see that village as innocent. The general submitted three applications to the International Peacekeeping Department to classify it as a war zone. All were rejected due to insufficient justification."
"So this time," Bai Liu said evenly, "the general intended to act first and justify it later."
Alex nodded faintly.
"But there are only women and children there," Bai Liu continued. "What's the military value?"
"It's not just that," Alex replied weakly. "The indigenous people place great importance on bloodlines and family ties. If the commando team could hold the village hostage, it would suppress them temporarily. At the very least, it would help us survive the rainy season."
"And…" He hesitated. "The Peacekeeping Department's restrictions aren't as strict as you think. If the other side fights back, it can be classified as an act of war. Then the village can legally be designated a war zone."
Bai Liu's voice remained steady. "Was the plan carried out?"
Alex fell silent for a long time before answering.
"…Yes. I saw Guy pack his gear and leave with the unit."
"We sweepers followed closely behind. It was already dark. I don't remember the time. There was more heavy rain. Then I heard artillery… and screaming."
"But the village didn't have artillery reserves. There shouldn't have been any gunfire."
Alex's breathing quickened.
"I didn't know what was happening. I was afraid for Guy, so I ran toward the noise—"
He shut his eyes as tears slid down his face.
"There were bullets and explosions everywhere. People were screaming hysterically. I couldn't hear properly. When I touched my ear, it was bleeding. The shockwave must have damaged it."
"I was shouting Guy's name like a madman. And then I saw him—on a hillside. Bruised. Covered in blood."
"I tried to run to him, but people grabbed me and screamed at me not to go. I didn't understand. He was my lover. Of course, I wanted to save him."
Alex opened his eyes. They were empty.
"Then I saw him raise his rocket launcher and sniper rifle."
"He was shooting at the soldiers around him. Coldly. Without hesitation."
"I know he was professionally trained. He used to be the best rocket soldier in the unit. But I had never seen that side of him."
"He looked like death itself." Alex's voice trembled.
"He pointed the launcher toward us. Toward me. He was crying—but smiling."
"He said, 'I'm sorry, Alex. I can't watch the people I wanted to protect suffer like this.' Marrying you was the thing I wanted most. After that… I think I can die happy.'"
Alex's tears slowly overflowed, and he took a shaky breath. "—He said he had no regrets left. That he was going to die for something else."
"I carried the bodies he blew apart back here one by one. Many of them were the same people who blessed us last night."
"Today they're lying here—torn to pieces by the person they blessed."
Alex whispered: "I don't understand."
"The factory director—the first person he ever loved—pursued justice. The people he wanted to protect were human beings."
Alex staggered to his feet. He pointed at the twenty or so shattered corpses on the ground. His face was twisted in anguish, eyes bloodshot.
"These people—his comrades—rescued him countless times. They blessed us. Don't their lives matter?"
He shook his head, backing away as if the bodies might answer him.
"This isn't right!" he screamed hoarsely. "Guy did something wrong! They didn't deserve to die!"