HTCYH Ch 37

Chapter 37: Meeting Again

Tu Si stepped back with some grievance, hiding behind Wu Ming. Ai Lin gently patted Tu Si on the shoulder and whispered comfortingly, “The Captain was just anxious earlier, so his words came out harsher than usual. Don’t take it to heart. You’ve seen for yourself how dangerous this game is—the difficulty is worlds apart from your previous one. That pollutant… one touch and you’d be dead. In the future, you must keep respect and caution toward pollutants. Never approach them recklessly.”

Tu Si understood. He hadn’t intended to act spoiled—he was just bewildered that his Captain, who had always been gentle and soft-spoken to him, had suddenly shouted so harshly. A touch of annoyance lingered in his heart, but those emotions came and went quickly. Coupled with Ai Lin’s explanation and comfort, how could he not give the Captain a way to step down? Thus, he smiled and said, “I get it. I was being too careless, not keeping the Captain’s words in mind. I won’t do it again.”

As he spoke, the serpent that had split into two halves began to change again. Red, blood-like liquid bubbled out from its body, sketching the outline of a pair of eyes. The five pairs of limbs sprouted from its torso began to twitch, while the two halves of the body started joining together. The crystal orb rolled to the sides, looking at once like a fanged maw chewing it, and at once like a giant eye spinning madly, blinking again and again.

Seeing this sight, Ai Lin cried out urgently, “Hurry! Exit the game!”

Before Tu Si could react, the others in the team had already pulled out their phones, opened the app, and clicked “Complete Game.” Instantly, they vanished on the spot.

Tu Si stared at the four disappearing teammates, then at Wu Ming who remained immobile. Sidling up in a deliberately cheeky manner, he asked, “Captain, you didn’t leave because you wanted to see the MVP outcome screen?”

Looking at Tu Si—grinning foolishly despite having been scolded just earlier, now joking without shame—Wu Ming couldn’t help but let out a helpless laugh. “Do you want to see the summary screen and hidden cutscenes too?”

Tu Si nodded eagerly. “Why not?”

No sooner had those words left his lips than the serpent’s lower half—the part that had birthed the human embryo—shifted again. The embryonic body rapidly developed into the form of a baby. The umbilical cord snapped, and the infant began to cry loudly. In moments, it aged into a five-year-old girl, round-faced, wide-eyed, so adorably delicate.

The girl blinked at Wu Ming and Tu Si, then scrambled up like a cannonball, throwing herself straight into Wu Ming’s arms. In a sweet, childish voice she cried, “Uncle Bai, Uncle Bai! Xiu’er missed you! Why did you take so long to visit me?”

Tu Si’s jaw nearly hit the floor as Wu Ming gently patted the girl’s back and murmured, “Mm. Long time no see. Where’s your fake father?”

The little girl, speaking like a mini-adult, replied, “Liang Tiancai is busy! He has to support the family. That’s why I need to help with house chores! Uncle Bai, pretty brother, what would you like to drink? I’ll pour you some tea!”

Tu Si was stunned all over again—Wu Ming knew Liang Tiancai? Was this whole game just some extended training drill for Wu Ming’s squad, with him cheating the system left and right?

Then came a mocking voice from behind nearby trees: “Xiu’er, this isn’t your own home. Even if you make tea, they won’t dare to drink it. The moment you saw Uncle Bai, of course you ran up to cling—oh, you silly little face-obsessed brat.”

Tu Si raised his eyes and saw a man step out leisurely from behind the tree. Clad in a white lab coat, with gold-rimmed glasses and perpetually narrowed eyes, he casually carried a woman’s severed head in hand. Calm, collected, utterly at ease.

Tu Si saw the woman’s head first—it bore six parts resemblance to himself. The similarity made his hair stand on end, chills crawling up his spine. Then he looked at the man’s face—and froze altogether.

He knew him. That narrow-eyed doctor—he had seen him before, back when Tu Si was imprisoned in the Northern Myanmar laboratories. In the chaos there, it was this very “Doctor Liang” who had triggered discord within the lab and secretly helped Tu Si escape.

Tu Si stammered, pointing, “Y-Y-You! Doctor Liang?! Y-you’re actually Liang Tiancai!! Hahaha, w-what an honor, I-I’ve heard so much… long time no see… how… how have you been lately?”

The man adjusted his spectacles lightly, smiling like a coyote savoring its prey—malicious and venomous in every inch of expression.

He nodded, greeted Tu Si casually, and said, “Little Dodder Flower**, long time no see. How have you been lately?”

(*Footnote: Tu Si’s name literally means “dodder silk,” a parasitic plant; here, Liang Tiancai taunts him with it, turning his name into “Little Dodder Flower.”)

In truth, Tu Si was terrified of this “Doctor Liang”—or rather, Liang Tiancai. In the laboratory days, it was true that he had repeatedly offered Tu Si help, the only reason Tu Si had a thread of hope amidst torment and despair. Yet looking at him now, that same pair of smiling eyes over a mask radiated nothing but hidden malice and cruelty, sending chills down Tu Si’s spine.

As Tu Si scrutinized Liang Tiancai with unease, the little girl—Xiu’er—ran toward him joyfully. “Liang Tiancai! You’re finally back! I’ve been waiting so long the flowers withered!”

Liang Tiancai dropped the severed head before Wu Ming’s feet, bent down, and scooped the girl into his arms. “I told you to count to 300 before I returned. How far did you get?”

The girl ticked off her fingers. “One-ninety-eight. But it still felt so long.”

He set her back down gently and pulled from his coat a delicately packaged four-inch cake. Handing it to her, he said, “Then I’ll make it up to you with this cake, okay?”

The girl pouted, eyeing the cake for a long while before finally relenting. “Fine. I’ll forgive you.”

Since the moment Liang Tiancai appeared, Wu Ming hadn’t spoken a single word. He stood still, silent as a lifeless statue, but the aura radiating off him was indescribable. Tu Si could detect clearly that something was wrong with him—it made Tu Si nervous and unsure.

Yet Liang Tiancai acted as if he hadn’t noticed. He strode over to the monstrous serpent’s corpse, now gaping and split open. Pulling on white medical gloves, he crouched and extracted the crystal orb from within.

The wet, sickening sound of tearing flesh and shifting organs made Tu Si’s scalp prickle with gooseflesh. Watching Liang Tiancai tenderly wipe the orb with clean gauze gave Tu Si an almost phantom pain, as if his own eyes were being gouged out.

When finished, Liang Tiancai returned to the girl’s side, set her on his shoulder, and waved cheerfully at Tu Si. “See you next round.”

Then, turning to Wu Ming, his smile grew more twisted, more pointed. “Pleasure working with you. Let’s do this again sometime.”

Wu Ming still did not move. He didn’t speak. He didn’t even look up. Quietly, he lowered his head, staring at the severed woman’s head at his feet. His jaw clenched, his eyes dark as a storm.

Tu Si rushed forward, just about to demand what had happened, when his vision blurred. He stumbled once—and when he steadied himself again, he realized he had returned to the present, standing in the living room of the vacation villa in Thailand where the squad had lodged before starting the game.

Around him, the other members had also just reappeared, swaying slightly before opening their eyes and glancing around in confusion.