Spades carried Bai Liu on his back and leapt along the branches where there were fewer corpses, moving in long, powerful strides. Bai Liu swayed slightly with each jump.
To steady him, Spades first grabbed Bai Liu's calf. Then his hand slid upward to hold his thigh—
Midway through, Bai Liu calmly shifted his posture. He lowered his legs, sliding from Spades' shoulders to cling against his back instead. At the same time, he intercepted the hand that was about to move further upward and pressed it flat against Spades' side.
"I can hold myself up just fine," Bai Liu said evenly. "You don't need to help."
Spades made an unconscious sound. When he withdrew his hand to draw out his whip, his expression turned instantly cold.
The glossy black bone whip lashed out without warning, twisting through the air like a venomous serpent. It struck a corpse that had just leapt onto a branch, nearly splitting it in half.
Bai Liu glanced at the monster as it fell, its torso caved inward. "Did you deliberately hold back so you wouldn't split it in two?"
"Yeah," Spades replied.
Without even looking back, he flicked the whip again with almost identical force. It dented another corpse deeply in the middle, halting its movement without tearing it apart.
"These things can't be beaten to death," Spades said briefly. "If they're shattered, their numbers will increase."
Bai Liu's interest was piqued. "You used to play recklessly. You'd slaughter monsters indiscriminately, never caring about their quantity or condition. Why are you being so careful now?"
Spades glanced back at him indifferently. "Because these monsters aren't coming for me."
"They're coming for you."
He didn't elaborate, but Bai Liu understood.
Bai Liu fell silent.
Just as Spades finished speaking, a torso with exposed organs shot toward Bai Liu from behind. Spades' whip struck mercilessly, sending it flying away.
Even with such a rotten abdomen, Spades controlled his strength perfectly. No organs spilled out. The monster count did not increase.
After a brief silence, Bai Liu changed the subject as if nothing had happened.
"Don't you want to ask why the Reverse God and the others were kidnapped? They're your teammates. Given their strength, that shouldn't have been easy."
"Oh." Spades nodded, as though only just remembering. He followed Bai Liu's words without much concern. "They were tied up. What does that have to do with me?"
Bai Liu: "…"
"You're in the same league," Bai Liu said slowly. "Logically, you should show some appropriate concern for your teammates' safety."
Spades processed this quickly. "Then I'll care about them now."
He took out a golden bell from his waist, about half the size of his palm.
Seeing Bai Liu's curious look, Spades explained, "This is a reward prop from an ancient dungeon. It's called Twin Bells. When one vibrates, the other vibrates as well."
"We cleared that dungeon three times. There are six bells total, all bound to each other. If one rings, the other five ring too. In ancient or pre-modern dungeons where modern communication tools don't work, the Reverse God requires us to use these to communicate."
"He also created a vibration code system," Spades added. "Different patterns mean different things."
"A very practical communication tool," Bai Liu commented with interest.
Without hesitation, Spades took another bell from his system panel and handed it to Bai Liu. "I have two. I'll give you one."
Bai Liu glanced at it with a half-smile but didn't take it. "You'd hand over your team's internal communication device to me so easily?"
"You gave me your team's communication tool," Spades said matter-of-factly. "Why can't I give you mine?"
Bai Liu was silent for a moment.
He had, in fact, sold it to Spades for ten thousand points.
Spades simply tossed the bell into Bai Liu's arms. Then, holding the whip in one hand and the bell in the other, he began shaking it rapidly.
The bells rang simultaneously—from Bai Liu's arms and from somewhere far across the forest. The sharp sound startled many of the corpses, drawing them toward the source.
Spades shook it hard and fast. Bai Liu watched for a while but couldn't discern any recognizable rhythm.
"Are you using the vibration code?" Bai Liu asked.
"I don't remember the code the Reverse God made," Spades replied calmly.
Bai Liu paused, his gaze shifting to the bell still ringing frantically in Spades' hand. "Then what are you doing?"
"Didn't you tell me to care about them?" Spades answered frankly. "I'm expressing my concern."
Bai Liu: "…"
He looked down at the bell, then toward the distant members of Killer Sequence tied to the stakes, now surrounded by corpses drawn by the noise.
Bai Liu quietly withdrew his gaze and looked at Spades, who had finally stopped shaking the bell.
"Do you still need me to care about them?" Spades asked.
"No need," Bai Liu replied.
He finally understood why the Reverse God had been willing to offer five million points to help "educate" Spades.
-----------------
Across the lake
Bai Yi stared at the approaching corpses and screamed like a chicken being held down by four butchers.
"Ah! Who the hell is ringing the bell?!"
Bai Jiamu snapped, "Can you shut up? Your voice and the bell together are about to give me a concussion!"
"Between me and the bell, only one of us can stop!" Bai Yi yelled, kicking at a corpse climbing up the stake. "Judge! Tactician! Which one of us is ringing it? Make him stop!"
The Reverse God, bound tightly to his stake, sighed. "Bai Yi, the four of us have our hands tied. Logically speaking, none of us can be ringing a bell. So the one ringing it shouldn't be here."
Bai Yi's expression turned tragic. "Our sixth bell was stolen, wasn't it? I said from the beginning that five bells were enough! The extra one should've been destroyed! If it falls into someone else's hands, it's a hidden danger! But you insisted on keeping it, saying it had its own destiny. And now look what's happening—"
Bai Jiamu rolled his eyes. "Idiot. It's not the sixth bell. It's Spades."
Bai Yi instantly straightened. "Impossible. I've never seen Spades ring that bell. He wouldn't."
"That doesn't mean he won't now," Bai Jiamu said flatly. "This situation isn't simple. If he can't handle it alone, he might contact us."
Bai Yi exchanged a subtle look with him. [Do you really think that's possible?]
"I once saw Spades stepping on the bell and whipping it, trying to break it," Bai Yi recalled. "I was shocked and stopped him. I asked him why."
The Reverse God looked horrified. "That's an important team communication prop I worked so hard to obtain! Why would he try to destroy it?!"
"Because it was annoying," Bai Yi replied quietly. "It kept vibrating, and he couldn't turn it off. So he wanted to smash it."
The Reverse God's face nearly cracked. "That's because he never replies! Everyone else is actively exchanging dungeon information!"
Bai Yi smacked his lips. "Actually, I get it. It's like being stuck in a noisy work group chat. You can't leave. You can't mute the leader. And your phone keeps vibrating."
"But when Spades is happily playing alone, he doesn't want to be disturbed…"
The Reverse God looked like an old father struck with devastating realization. "…So he wanted to smash the bell I gave him?"
Bai Yi stomped the corpse below him and looked at the Reverse God sympathetically before changing the subject. "Anyway, I don't think he's ringing it. He probably doesn't even have a bell in this dungeon."
The Reverse God shook his head. "No. It must be Spades."
"Then who took the sixth bell?" Bai Yi pressed. "Could that person be ringing it?"
The Reverse God's eyes widened. "It must be Spades."
"The sixth bell was in the warehouse. Before this game, Spades told me his bell was broken, and he couldn't participate in team discussions. So I opened the warehouse and carefully gave him the sixth bell. I told him it was very hard-earned and asked him to take good care of it and not break it again…"
The Reverse God's voice grew faint. "…I didn't expect him to break it voluntarily."
Bai Yi: "…"
Bai Jiamu: "…"
This really was the tragic story of an honest father painstakingly buying a toy for his rebellious son—only for the son to throw it away and lie about it.
After a pause, Bai Jiamu turned to the Reverse God. "When those indigenous living dead captured us, we didn't resist. We surrendered and let them take us. How did you know they wouldn't fuse and devour us?"
The Reverse God calmly looked at the repaired wooden statue of the Evil God before him.
"Because the old Evil God statue is broken. It needs to be replaced. When that happens, cracks appear in the power of the old god. He begins searching for his successor—a new Evil God."
"Such religious transitions require large-scale sacrifices and ceremonies. When the conflict between old and new gods is intense, it's often accompanied by massive war."
He lowered his eyes to the charred corpses.
"In the birth ritual of a new Evil God, there must be sacrifices and witnesses. The sacrifices oppose the god. The witnesses have experienced the god's history."
"There are no better sacrifices or witnesses than us."
"They won't fuse with us easily. We must remain conscious to witness the new god's ritual. It is a tribute."
As he spoke, Alex, who had been hanging limp on the fifth stake, slowly opened his eyes.
He lifted his head and looked straight at the wooden statue of the Evil God, a strange smile tugging at his lips, filled with anger and sorrow.
The statue bore clear signs of repair. Its head, once cut by a scalpel and shot, rested upon the wooden body again, smiling faintly as it gazed down with scarred, pitiful eyes.
Before it stood a massive log split down the middle, the same wood used to carve the Evil God statue.
The corpses were carved into it with trembling hands, axes, and chisels. The outline of a new statue was already visible. With each stroke, the emerging figure became more lifelike.
The New Evil God was gradually taking human form.
Bai Yi stared at it for a long moment, unease creeping over him. He nudged Bai Jiamu lightly with his foot and whispered, "Hey… am I imagining it? The more I look at that carving, the more it looks like—"
The Reverse God inhaled deeply and stared at the smiling wooden face.
"—Bai Liu, right?"