Chapter 36: Reality (1/2)

The noodle restaurant owner gave Bai Liu two coins as change and Bai Liu put them in his old wallet. The kind-hearted restaurant owner hesitated a long time before telling Bai Liu the number and address of the couple. He said in a sorrowful tone that if Bai Liu could help them then help. It wasn’t easy for people to live.

It started to rain slightly when Bai Liu left the restaurant. He held a black umbrella and took a bus to the cemetery mentioned by the restaurant owner. In front of a silent gravestone, he quickly found the couple who had appeared on TV.

They weren’t holding umbrellas and stood in front of their daughter’s gravestone with red eyes. Their only umbrella was placed on the gravestone, covering the black and white photo of Guoguo who was smiling happily.

“You are… Bai Liu?” The mother’s voice was rough and hoarse due to crying all morning. She looked at Bai Liu with a hostile expression. “You called and said you have a way to bring Li Gou to justice? What can you do? What do you want? Money?”

Bai Liu smiled in the rain, the fog around his face giving him a strange sense of holiness. “I’m here to make a deal with you but I don’t want money.”

This might be the first time in his life that Bai Liu said, “I don’t want money.”

He told them, “I will help you realize your wish and get rid of Li Gou. In return, you will sell me your souls.”

The mother sneered as expected. “My soul? Another liar.”

She turned her head and stared at the black and white photo of Guoguo with red eyes.

The father watched Bai Liu vigilantly. Due to Guoguo’s matter, they had asked for help from many people during this period. They had tried all types of methods and encountered many swindlers.

They were prepared for a liar when they came to meet this person who said he could let Li Gou get retribution. They just wanted to try their luck. Unexpectedly, Bai Liu said something so outrageous. It was the first time they met a liar who wanted to buy their souls. He was just playing with their feelings.

The father gave a cold warning. “Liar, get out of here!”

The unmoved Bai Liu crouched down on one knee and stared at the photo of Guoguo on the gravestone. “Li Gou, 47 years old. A few months ago, he killed Liu Guoguo, a female student, at the entrance of Majia Alley and was sentenced to death. A week ago, all the evidence and documents related to the evidence suddenly disappeared. The relevant people involved also had vague memories and stated they don’t remember if they had seen the evidence. It has gone up for a retrial.”

Hearing the facts, the eyes of Liu Guoguo’s parents became full of resentment. They gritted their teeth and clenched their fists as they stared viciously at Bai Liu.

Bai Liu didn’t seem to notice that these two people were angered by his words and were ready to hit him. He just continued calmly, “If my guess isn’t wrong, this Li Gou said he will be released from prison without charge and the evidence will disappear.”

“How did you know?” The mother looked at Bai Liu with amazement.

They had been paying close attention to Li Gou’s actions in prison. Initially when he went to prison, Li Gou was irritable and crazy. He knew he might be sentenced to death and shouted all day long, angry and resentful. He said he wanted to retaliate against them.

Then not long ago, this person’s attitude suddenly changed. In the past one or two weeks, Li Gou even hummed in a good mood. He said that sooner or later, he would leave this damn place and the evidence would disappear. God wouldn’t wrong good people.

It seemed that he had expected to get out of prison so they suspected that someone was protecting that animal.

“Yes, you can understand it like Li Gou made a deal with a devil and sold his soul. That is why he could erase the evidence.” Bai Liu stood up and looked at the parents. “I am here to steal business from this devil.”

Liu Guoguo’s parents looked at Bai Liu suspiciously like they didn’t believe his words but a trace of desperate despair and hope filled their eyes.

People who were well-informed could indeed inquire about these things. They couldn’t rule out that Bai Liu was a liar deceiving them. However, they had really used all possible methods. They even asked someone to perform a ceremony to help Guoguo’s soul find peace even though they previously laughed at these feudal superstitions. They had done it several times.

“What are your conditions?” Liu Guoguo’s mother asked cautiously. “Is it money? We don’t have much money.”

Bai Liu smiled. “I said it from the beginning. I don’t want money. I want your soul debt.”

He was just curious. What would happen to the system if he bought the souls of these players before they entered the game? Would he have a higher level of authority than the system in the game? If Bai Liu had a higher soul authority than the system over the parents then could he control the parents’ system by manipulating the parents? Would he eventually dominate the system?

Bai Liu liked money but he hated being ridden by someone above him to make money. This made him feel like a low-level social animal at the bottom of a company. Therefore, he wanted to try and control the system in turn to gain the highest authority.

It seemed to have sensed Bai Liu’s dangerous thoughts. The coin on Bai Liu’s chest started to become hot and an alarm sound in a bad electric current sounded in his ears.

[System warning: zzzi—forbidding player Bai Liu—zzii—from acquiring the soul debt right of reserve players! Player Bai Liu is prohibited from trading with non-players outside the game!]

[System warning: Will soon—zzi—seal player Bai Liu’s Empty Old Wallet skill!]

Bai Liu sighed regretfully. The real world was monitored by the game. It seemed he couldn’t grab the souls of reserve players that the game was aiming at. That’s right, the game shouldn’t allow players with a higher authority than it to exist. If Bai Liu was the game designer then he would also stop it. Still, Bai Liu had to try even if it didn’t succeed.

Just as Bai Liu was going to give up, the fish scale hanging around his neck along with the coin started to slowly grow to wrap around the coin. The cold scale encased the hot coin and cooled it down in an instant. Then the system gave off an electric current that sounded like a scream.

[Warning—zzzi—abnormal data from the fish scale is invading—bug data intrusion—the abnormal data is being cleared—failed to clear abnormal data—occupied by abnormal data—zizizi.]

After the messy electric sounds, a new cold and magnetic electronic male voice was heard.

[System: Hello player Bai Liu. Do you want to use your personal skill?]

Bai Liu raised his eyebrow at this voice. This system voice was subtly familiar. It might have an electronic quality but it was better than the previous system. it was a few degrees colder than the previous system but it was still very nice. Bai Liu thought that this voice was a bit like the NPC Siren King that he met…

Bai Liu laughed. [Of course I want to use it.]

Liu Guoguo’s parents couldn’t understand some of Bai Liu’s words. They were hesitant but they really had no other choice. Even if Bai Liu was a liar and someone from a MLM coming to trick them, they needed to give Guoguo a bit of hope! Even if it was fake!