Chapter 190
The interior of the abandoned factory.
The fresh dry leaf roses that had been picked formed hills in the open space of the factory. The vagrants, who had been restored by Bai Liu, stared at the piles of 'stolen goods' that had been transported here this morning.
A few sweaty vagrants stood next to the rose bushes, wiping away the sweat droplets on their hands and letting out long breaths. They were the few people who had been taken by Bai Liu that morning to help dry the rose petals, the laid-off vagrants who had worked in the Rose Factory.
These piles of dry leaf roses were also brought back by them.
Someone was frightened by the piles of rose petals that were transported back and stumbled forward to ask the people, visible fear on his face, "Why did you steal so many roses back? You will be executed if you get caught by the factory people!"
"Yes yes, return it!"
"If you steal more than 1 kg of dry leaf roses, not only will the parties involved be killed but three generations of their family won't be able to engage in rose-related industries!"
After the Dry Leaf Rose Perfume spread around the world, the people of the Rose Factory appealed that the countries should make a special set of protection laws for them in order to protect the precious and limited resource that was the dry leaf rose.
Despite all the controversies, this set of laws still came out.
The content included those who criticized the dry leaf roses and those who promoted the theory that dry leaf roses were harmful, would be fined and detained. The exclusive copyright of the Dry Leaf Rose Perfume would last for 10 million years without sharing it with anyone and the act of privately studying the perfume was a serious infringement and they would receive a fine of more than 10 million yuan.
Anyone who stole, smuggled or illegally traded more than 1 kg of dried roses or more than three bottles and less than five bottles of low-grade Dry Leaf Rose Perfume would be punishable by death or suspended to life labor if the factory was willing.
A simple translation of the latter sentence meant that if the offender had committed a crime related to the dry leaf roses and the Rose Factory wanted it, the death row inmate could be handed over to the Rose Factory for handling-life or death.
At the beginning when the law was set, half the world protested against the harsh punishment. However, no one questioned the legitimacy of the punishment. Later, the popularity of the dry leaf roses rose and the price increased. More and more people couldn't afford to buy the perfume and the voices of resistance grew louder.
At that time, the Rose Factory issued a regulation. If they reported the hidden dry leaf roses obtained illegally around them and the people who developed the perfume, the factory was willing to give them a free perfume supply for 10 years.
Suddenly, there were voices attacking each other everywhere. It was said that at the peak, the Rose Factory received 100,000 calls reporting someone a day. After this battle, the Rose Factory simply and neatly investigated and punished many criminal civilians and the voices of opposition gradually weakened. Not many people questioned the set of laws any longer.
From the fierce resistance in the beginning to everyone being afraid of this pile of stolen roses-it wasn't just fear of the laws themselves but of the betrayal of some of them.
It was because the Rose Factory's whistleblower reward still existed. The reward might've been reduced from 10 years to 1 year but there was still a steady stream of people calling to report others.
There were even mothers or sons who were desperate to keep their dying children or parents alive. They would take the initiative to steal the dry leaf roses to become criminals and then force their families to report them. This way, the other person could get the supply of perfume for 10 years.
But now no one said the reason why they were afraid.
"I don't care if I die or not." One of the vagrants who carried the roses gasped. He looked at the frightened vagrants around him and laughed bitterly. "Mr Bai took such a big risk for us to get this pile of dry leaf roses out. He wasn't afraid of death. Is it our turn to be afraid?"
Someone stood up with a rise. He sighed with a complicated expression before raising his hand resolutely. "Mr Bai is a processing worker. He originally had no worries about food and clothing and could be rich and wealthy for a lifetime. Even so, he is willing to desperately help us and put such a big handle into our hands. He really believes in us pariahs."
The scene suddenly fell silent. Everyone looked at the pile of roses and their eyes became heavy.
"I know that you are all suffering and you are all afraid," The man said while turning to the other porters who stood up. "These flowers were carried by the few of us just now. We discussed it along the way. If any of you really want to get that one year's perfume reward by making a report to the Rose Factory-"
He looked at the mutilated and miserable faces of these vagrants. "Then report us porters, who originally moved them. We can't let the good person who stood up for us die."
"In this era, being a good person means breaking the law. Not everyone dares to take risks to be a good person." He smiled with tears in his eyes. His voice choked up and he raised a hand to wipe the corners of his cracked eyes. "Now without Mr Bai, the next Mr Bai will probably come after my daughter's grandson dies. I don't want him to die. He is too rare."
The man finished speaking. No one moved. They just stood there quietly and motionless.
One minute, two minutes... finally, someone moved.
The young woman who held a child and previously asked a question of Bai Liu handed the child in her arms to the person next to her. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, bending down to hold a large pile of roses in her arms. Then she turned to look at the people who hadn't moved yet.
"This pile of roses should be more than 1 kg." The roses lined her originally deathly white face with a type of rosy anger of a living person. She looked at these people and declared, "These roses were stolen by me. It has nothing to do with Mr Bai."
"I believe that Mr Bai will give my children a new, free world where there will be no more death penalties for stealing the roses." Her eyes were burning and the roses in her eyes were as bright as fire. Her words were clear and determined. "I am willing to die for this."
The eyes of the other people changed.
Gradually, the vagrants moved slowly and hesitantly toward the pile of roses, as if they had made up their minds.
They stepped forward and hugged the roses, the dry leaf roses that wouldn't wither, against their chests. The fire in their eyes bloomed brightly and passionately as they did so.
"This kilogram is mine..."
"My family has three children. Please give me 3 kg..."
"Can I get 10 kg per person? In any case, it is already a death sentence. It can't be worse than now..."
The huge piles of roses gradually disappeared and turned into small bouquets of roses in the arms of each vagrant. They stood in an empty space like actors offered flowers and performing a curtain play called 'Resistance' according to Bai Liu's previous arrangement and thoughts.
In order to appreciate their perfect, enthusiastic and heartfelt performances, Bai Liu presented a bouquet of dry leaf roses to these lonely and unknown homeless actors.
The porter who was the first to speak stared at the vagrants in front of him in a daze.
For so many years, there was never a collaborative resistance against the dry leaf roses that hadn't been dismantled by the whistleblowing reward of the Rose Factory. Now he just did what Mr Bai told him to do and...
This time, no one reported them for stealing more than 1,000 kilograms of roses.
The porter recalled what happened this morning.
As he was secretly carrying the roses, he worriedly told Bai Liu about the reporting reward. He anxiously said that those who helped carry the roses would definitely be willing to help Mr Bai and wouldn't betray Mr Bai, but he was afraid someone would have a different heart!
There was no way to stop this type of reporting behavior! As their leader, Bai Liu would be the easiest to target!
Bai Liu stood in the sun and looked up. The rose in his right eye contained a vitality and beauty that the vagrants had never seen before.
Bai Liu had a strange smile on his face as he asked the vagrant man, "Why do you want to put an end to this type of behavior?"
The vagrant was frightened. "If we don't stop this thing, everything you have led us to do will be completely scrapped..."
"First of all, all people are self-interested creatures. No one will let go of the available benefits in front of them or choose to take risks for what another person wants to do. This isn't logical. Therefore, this type of profitable reporting of others is fundamentally impossible to eliminate."
Bai Liu glanced at him and continued. "Secondly, I think you have been mistaken about one thing. I didn't lead you to do this. The main body of this matter is you. I am just the manager whose solution was purchased and you are the transactional party who paid the price."
"To sum it up, the only way to completely solve the matter of whistleblowing and reporting is to let the subject of the rebellion become everyone in your group, not me, an illusory symbol."
"Once you get the best benefits from this matter, the logic of reporting it won't hold up."
Bai Liu stared at him indifferently. "What you have to do is to instigate them and let everyone recognize that they are the subject of the crime. The object they want to report includes themselves."
"How should I do this?" The vagrant looked at Bai Liu with hope. "Mr Bai, how should I incite them?"
The corners of Bai Liu's mouth curved up and he revealed the friendly smile that Mu Sicheng, Mu Ke and Tang Erda would all feel numb at. "If it were me, I would probably say this..."
The vagrant stared at everything that was happening in the factory in a trance.
Almost every step that he carried out was according to what Mr Bai told him. Mr Bai even mentioned that he should emphasize more about children and offspring when speaking and to make eye contact with the mother who asked the question yesterday.
In this way, the mother would be the first person successfully instigated by him.
As long as the first person stepped out and broke the stalemate, the things that took place after would be handled well.
'It won't be a difficult thing to do,' Mr Bai commented lightly. 'For this group with common interests who have been oppressed to the extreme, they are the best to be instigated.'
It was because they had no worse option than the status quo.
~
Chapter 191
The vagrants distributed the roses and weighed them.
This pile of roses was around 1,400 kg. Bai Liu used up the single day quota of 900 kg collected by him and Liu Jiayi. Apart from the 360 kg left for Liu Jiayi, the rest of the roses were secretly transported here.
After distributing the roses, the vagrants looked at the few people in charge of transporting them with confusion. "There are so many roses. What is Mr Bai asking us to do?"
"In order to alleviate the symptoms of more people as soon as possible, Mr Bai has decided to grab the roses himself and create the perfume to be distributed to the vagrants," a delivery man replied.
If the matter of brewing perfume was previously mentioned, people would be shocked because this was a crime. Now there was the foundation of the previous matter and this step was natural for them.
Someone asked in a confused manner, "Has Mr Bai already obtained the recipe to make the perfume?"
There were two reasons why the Rose Factory had such a high status. The first one was the unique growing method of the dry leaf roses.
The second one was the secret recipe for the Dry Rose Leaf Gas.
The aroma of the picked dried roses was very easy to dissipate. If it wasn't processed and preserved in the form of a perfume in time, the aroma would only last a few dozen minutes at most.
It took more time to transport the roses from the flower fields to the abandoned factory.
For example, the aroma of the roses transported to the factory was so faint that they couldn't smell it unless they buried their heads in the flowers. This fragrance had no meaning to these dying vagrants, let alone in saving more people.
It was strange. The production of perfumes was similar. People knew that the main raw material of the perfume was a one-of-a-kind flower and it should be simple to reproduce the perfume.
Even if it couldn't be reproduced perfectly, the basic process of picking, sun drying, processing and stove drying could at least produce essential oils that preserved the aroma of the raw materials for a long time. As long as this type of preliminary processing could be achieved, the crude products could already be promoted for vagrants to use.
There were countless people who tried it and many people who risked their lives to secretly study the production process of the perfume. They tried many methods but unfortunately, no one could figure out the exact secret recipe.
Many people were aware of the basic processing steps of the dry leaf roses. The rough essential oil produced by this could only maintain the aroma for up to half an hour.
This was the case when the bottle wasn't opened. Once the bottle was opened, the aroma would instantly disperse.
It was only the perfume produced by the Rose Factory that could maintain the rich aroma of roses for a long time.
This showed that the subsequent processing steps were completely different from the raw materials processing step.
"Mr Bai hasn't obtained the secret recipe just yet." The porter sighed. "He is just a processor. He must be at least at the perfumer level to know the secret recipe."
The porter, who used to work in the Rose Factory, thought back. "It is said that... only the factory manager knows the complete recipe for the production of the Dry Leaf Rose Gas."
"So what do we do with the roses now?"
"Mr Bai said that we should dry and process them into semi-finished products first. We have many old factories here and there are many knockoff perfume processing factories that used to be Rose Factories. Later, they were seized because they were involved in infringement. However, many of the tools of these factories haven't been removed and can be used directly."
"What if we process it and Mr Bai still can't get the secret recipe? The semi-finished products can only be stored for a maximum of three days if it isn't a perfume..."
"None of us here have ever been a senior factory worker so we don't know what to do next with the semi-finished products or what tools to use. If we can't carry out the next step then many of the semi-finished products will have to be scrapped..."
The porter took a deep breath. "Mr Bai said that in three days, he will become a factory worker and tell us what to do next."
"Let's get started!"
Late at night, the flower field.
Liu Jiayi, who was demoted to a flower picker, sat on the edge of a field while wearing the protective clothing of a flower picker. Next to her was Qi Yifang, who silently followed her for the day. He was also wearing gloves and protective clothing.
Qi Yifang gave up the opportunity for promotion and was demoted to a flower picker along with the other Liu Jiayi.
Liu Jiayi wore the clothing and pulled her hair out of the collar of her protective suit. She adjusted the Blizzard Goggles over her eyes and raised her head to look at Qi Yifang through the goggles.
Qi Yifang's heart was full of mixed feelings when he saw Liu Jiayi's small face, which was the size of half his face, and the protective suit he gave her. He didn't know what to say.
He couldn't tell whether this action was similar to Bai Liu, but sometimes this Little Witch was a bit finicky, regardless of whether she was real or fake.
In the end, Qi Yifang sighed. "On this map, we just have to complete the task while guaranteeing the bottom line. In other words, we just need to pick 40 kg of roses and we won't be laid off and become vagrants."
He was quiet for a while and felt this Liu Jiayi's indifference to him, whether it was sincere or pretend. He couldn't help saying, "Wait. If you don't have enough then you can come and get me. I can help... I won't go far. Just call me if you need me."
After saying these words, Qi Yifang took the sack and prepared to go to the flower field. However, before leaving, he paused for a moment and his voice was extremely low. "If you have anything you want to avoid being shown on my small TV, you can do it. I won't look over at you."
Then Qi Yifang placed the sack on his shoulder and simply left.
Liu Jiayi blinked and didn't look away from the back of the departing Qi Yifang. Her gray mist-like eyes were like dumplings and she couldn't see anything.
It grew darker and flowing tentacles started to appear in the flower fields. The hideous looking rose vagrants reappeared.
This time, Liu Jiayi didn't take any action. After Qi Yifang left, she lay in a tent far away from the flower field and even encircled herself with the Magic Space item, restricting any creatures from entering the space. She protected herself perfectly.
Liu Jiayi lay there leisurely. She seemed ready to sleep rather than going to the field to pick flowers.
The usage rule of Magic Space was that the size of the empty space and the usage time limit had a specific maximum value. If the space was relatively small then the usage time would be longer.
Liu Jiayi only wrapped the Magic Space around an area of her size. This would theoretically allow her to sleep peacefully until morning.
Doing so ensured her safety but she wouldn't be able to gain anything. It didn't seem like a wise move when she was demoted, had no regular income and the perfume spending on the vagrants was going to expand.
If Qi Yifang was a bit crafty or couldn't help looking back curiously and noticed Liu Jiayi was doing nothing, he would definitely be shocked to come and help.
After all, it was a game where the perfume was equivalent to mental bleach. A day without working meant the perfume supply couldn't keep up with demand and going crazy was the inevitable ending.
However, this weather observer was currently operating a strong wind to get rid of the rose vagrants. He was very honest and kept his promise. He didn't turn to look at the situation on Liu Jiayi's side of the flower field.
Soon, the situation reversed.
In the flower field on Liu Jiayi's side, some vagrants with baskets on their backs appeared. They started to swiftly pick the dry left roses.
The vagrants were cautiously sticking to the edges of the field, avoiding the tentacles surging under their feet and the thieves who might come to steal their roses at any time. Their hands moved along the roses bushes so fast that almost only afterimages could be seen. The hands moved up and down along the flowers and in less than a second, their hands were full of roses that had just been picked.
Many of them were vagrants with related work experience as a flower picker. It was unfortunate that they became vagrants after being laid off for one reason or another. Then when the porters returned from transporting the roses this morning, they asked a question in the factory. 'Is anyone willing to go to the flower field at night to help Mr Bai steal roses?'
If someone had previously asked for their help to steal roses then these vagrants definitely wouldn't be willing.
However, tonight-the vagrants took out their long-lost speed and couldn't wait to pick the roses in the entire flower field overnight. Their eyes were glowing.
If Bai Liu really succeeded in becoming a factory worker and eventually the factory manager, obtaining the complete formula of the Dry Leaf Rose Gas, all the picked dry leaf roses could be processed smoothly to the coveted perfume and distributed to them!
This would allow them to live longer!
The vagrants thought of this and those who came here voluntarily became more vigilant and quicker in picking the roses. They looked left and right while picking. They had to avoid being attacked by the crazy rose vagrants while also avoiding being discovered and reported by other flower pickers.
Fortunately, the flower picker guarding the roses in this flower field was Liu Jiayi.
They had been notified by the porters before. It was only when they knew this flower field was safe that they dared to come and steal roses at night.
Previously, the one reporting the people who stole roses was the flower pickers. It was because stealing roses was something that made every flower hatefully gnash their teeth. If there were too many roses stolen from the flower pickers, it might be found out by the superiors and those flower pickers would be fined or even laid off!
Now their position had changed. The rose-stealing vagrants, or laid-off flower pickers, stole away with some the roses in their arms and were thrilled.
It was the first time they realized that picking roses was a harvest, a joyful labor.
Due to their hard work, the roses they harvested at the risk of their lives were no longer exploited by the people above. It would really become their own fruits.
This type of happiness wasn't something that could be felt by the low-level civilians who lived in pain every day, conscientiously going to work out of fear that they would be laid off and have no way to live.
But it was okay now-it was all due to Mr Bai.
After a night of hard work, the busy and pale-faced vagrants walked somewhere with a satisfied smile on their faces.
They came to the tent area quietly. After finding the right tent, they quietly, piously and willingly placed a part of the dry leaf roses they had picked in front of Liu Jiayi's tent.
This was the reward they were willing to pay.
~
Chapter 192
During the time when the vagrants were secretly picking roses in the flower field, Bai Liu was lying in the tent disguised as Liu Jiayi. He was exhausted due to his physical strength being consumed. His face paled and he returned to the appearance of Bai Liu. He curled up on the small bed in the tent and breathed out slightly. After resting for a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep due to extreme exhaustion.
As a player with a relatively low basic panel, Bai Liu no longer had the physical strength to use the high level skill card of Hearts. He had overdrawn his physical strength and he couldn't restore it by drinking physical strength recovery agents. In addition, Bai Liu's current mental value was low.
Under the influence of several factors, Bai Liu knew that he really needed to rest. He didn't have the strength to pick roses again tonight.
Fortunately, the scene that Bai Liu created previously gave him enough time to rest.
Yet within a few hours of falling asleep in the tent, the half-awake and half-asleep Bai Liu felt an extremely cold hand grasp his ankle in the middle of his dream. It gently pulled him as if to wake him up.
However, Bai Liu's entire body was currently wrapped in the Magic Space item.
What happened the day before yesterday happened again. Something broke through the barrier of Magic Space and touched Bai Liu. At the same time, the dizzying and rich scent of roses started to spread in the tent.
Bai Liu opened his eyes in a sober manner because of the thing that grabbed his ankle. In an instant, his consciousness started to blur under the impact of this overly strong aroma.
It was a very mysterious feeling. Bai Liu's brain could maintain a certain amount of thinking functionality but his limbs and muscles became paralyzed under the influence of this perfume. He was unable to move and his breathing became extremely slow. A kaleidoscope of red petals started to appear in front of him.
It was like he was being pressed down by a ghost.
Bai Liu felt that the hand grabbing his ankle seemed to realize he was awake. It let go of his ankle and the fingers meekly slipped into the trouser leg of Bai Liu's protective suit. It slowly crawled up Bai Liu's skin. The thin and cold fingers moved up along Bai Liu's warm thigh like a jade carving.
This type of slight touch was non-sticky and non-human, but there was indeed a skin-to-skin feeling that made it so Bai Liu couldn't help but arch his waist and shudder.
Bai Liu's Adam's apple moved up and down uncomfortably. He closed his eyes slightly and his breathing became heavier.
This right hand was already crawling to his...
Bai Liu was a person who wasn't very concerned about this aspect but after realizing that the hand in his pants was most likely Xie Ta's hand, the back of his neck felt a bit numb and he had difficulty breathing.
Bai Liu's eyes were red due to the aroma and he was groggy. He shook his leg vigorously but the right hand didn't respond. It just slipped along his trouser leg to the outside.
The hand seemed a bit confused. It seemed that due to having no eyes to see, it wanted to climb up along Bai Liu's body. Then Bai Liu resisted and shook it away with his leg, so the hand didn't know how to react.
In the end, the five fingers of the right hand curled up in the palm of the hand, making a posture that was a bit like well-behaved squatting. It curled up next to Bai Liu's feet with its wrist turned toward the outside of the bed. From the side, it looked like a small octopus curled up with its tentacles lowered.
Bai Liu lowered his gaze and saw the right hand squatting. For some reason, he felt a bit of grievance from the movement of the right hand, which was very similar to a cat's paw.
Bai Liu, "......"
Wasn't the other party the one acting like a hooligan? Why did it feel like he was doing something wrong?
The right hand didn't close itself off for a long time. It quickly recovered and struggled to grab Bai Liu's layers of protective clothing in order to climb up. Finally, it touched Bai Liu's neck and grabbed the rope that the coin was hanging from.
The pure white fingers twisted along the rope as if looking for something on the rope. It didn't find it and paused. Then it started to twist persistently a second time.
Bai Liu saw the movement of the right hand and knew what the other person was looking for.
Tawil was looking for the reverse cross.
The reverse cross was the carrier of communication between the evil god and believer. Bai Liu didn't know what happened to Tawil in the Rose Factory instance but based on the current situation, it was obvious that Tawil only had one hand and couldn't communicate with him smoothly. Therefore, the existence of the reverse cross at this time was particularly important.
Under the guidance of the reverse cross, the crippled god could issue oracles to his believer.
However, Tang Erda had taken the reverse cross from Bai Liu before entering the game.
Once the right hand rubbed against the rope around Bai Liu's neck the fourth time, Bai Liu leaned forward slightly and raised his hand to interrupt the movement of the right hand. He was eroded by the rose fragrance in the factory and flower fields day and night so he was a bit used to this concentration of fragrance. He was a bit dizzy but at the very least, he wouldn't pass out and could move a bit.
Bai Liu held the right hand in front of him. However, this right hand didn't seem to believe that Bai Liu would lose the reverse cross it had given him. It struggled to continue searching, fingers stubbornly entering Bai Liu's slightly open neckline.
Bai Liu's strength wasn't as great as this hand. Under the effect of the rose fragrance, his entire body was soft and he only had a bit of strength. Moving his hand was an action that took all his strength to do.
Seeing this hand that was acting like a hooligan without knowing it, something really indescribable would happen below the neck if he let it enter.
In order to prevent such a thing from happening, and to let this chapter pass the review smoothly, Bai Liu took out the professional ethics of a Jinjiang male protagonist. He quickly and calmly came up with a way to communicate with the one hand without speaking.
Bai Liu wrote a sentence on the palm of the right hand. [The reverse cross was taken away. I lost it.]
The right hand stopped struggling. It took two slow steps back before making the closed off motion of a little octopus squatting down.
Bai Liu, "......"
Bai Liu felt a rare sense of helplessness. He sighed lightly and leaned his head against the knuckles of the 'little octopus.' Then he used his fingers to slightly open Tawil's curled up fingers. He looked down and wrote one stroke at a time on the other person's white palm: [I'm sorry.]
Tawil paused before stretching out his finger. He stood up and wrote on Bai Liu's palm.
[Remember what I said to you before? The key to everything is in the hands of the Witch. The antidote or poison is the key to your choice...]
[Before the real death comes, the time on you is unique and irreversible...]
After writing, Tawil's palm covered Bai Liu's face. Bai Liu's eyelashes fluttered lightly. The other person's index finger touched his forehead, cold and gentle. It was as soft as when Tawil once kissed Bai Liu's forehead.
Then the pure white hand turned into scattered light pink petals that fell to the ground. They were dragged underground by the vines that emerged.
Bai Liu slept in the rose-colored prophecy.
The following day.
Bai Liu opened his eyes abruptly and sat up. There was nothing around him, just as before. Everything looked like a dream. Then Bai Liu sniffed his pillow and could smell the roses on it.
There was also the strong smell of roses from his thigh, neck and even waist. It was so strong that it was as if he had slept on roses all night.
There was indeed an uninvited right hand last night.
Tawil's appearance seemed to have many restrictions. He didn't know why Tawil was in a fragmented form but the vines that kept dragging him underground was the best proof.
Even so, under so many restrictions, Tawil appeared several times as if to remind Bai Liu to pay attention to something.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes.
Tawil reminded him of the oracle that was previously given.
Was there something he left behind that he hadn't thought about?
-The key to everything is in the hands of the Witch... poison or antidote is the key to your choice...
-Before the real death comes, the time on you is unique and irreversible...
Bai Liu was still thinking about this when clear footsteps were heard outside the tent. Bai Liu had recovered after resting all night and instantly equipped Hearts' skill card. The person outside was so close that their shadow was projected on the tent. In the last second, Bai Liu's body shape changed from an adult to a little girl and even his protective suit became smaller.
Qi Yifang's voice rang out with surprise outside the tent. "Did you pick so many roses last night?"
Bai Liu saw that he had changed back to the appearance of Little Witch and looked down at himself. Then he suddenly stopped.
He thought of something.
[The key to everything is in the hands of the Witch. Poison or antidote is the key to your choice.] The core of this sentence wasn't Liu Jiayi like he had thought before.
It was because in the current instance of Rose Factory, there were two 'witches.' According to this sentence, the antidote or poison was the key to 'your' choice. Then it became obvious that the 'witch' in Tawil's oracle wasn't the real Little Witch at all.
It was the false witch i.e. himself.
Bai Liu slowly raised his head with an amused smile on his face.
Tawil's oracle had long seen that he would turn into Little Witch to deceive other people. By the same token, if the 'witch' in the oracle was false then the 'poison' and 'antidote' that the false witch possessed shouldn't be the poison and antidote in the conventional sense.
If the 'key' in Tawil's oracle was the hint to clear the game then from the perspective of game designer Bai Liu, the antidote and poison were likely to be the two very different game ending choices.
According to this idea, the 'poison' in the Rose Factory game was too obvious. It was the Dry Leaf Rose Gas. If he chose poison then he would get the secret recipe of the factory, becoming the factory manager to pass the game.
Tawil said the witch could choose between poison or antidote, proving that there was both.
So what was the antidote?
~
Chapter 193
Bai Liu might've told the vagrants that he knew the solution to all of this but he hadn't obtained enough information about the specific solution to the Dry Leaf Rose Gas.
The current Bai Liu didn't know how to solve the Dry Leaf Rose Gas.
To put it simply, Bai Liu used his own life as collateral to write a blank check for the vagrants to solve the perfume. This way, the vagrants would do things for him first.
However, this check wasn't without a basis. There must be a solution to the perfume and he could most likely get it. This point could be inferred from Tang Erda's words about the Bai Lius (6) in other timelines.
Bai Liu (6) from other timelines could obtain it so the probability that Bai Liu could complete this task was more than 50%.
As a player who dared to bet when the winning probability was only 10%, Bai Liu now used the 'I can solve the Dry Leaf Rose Gas' as his precondition to fool others.
It wasn't until Tawil reminded Bai Liu of the oracle again that he could be sure that the specific solution to the perfume was a concrete 'antidote.'
If the rose perfume was a 'poison' then the 'antidote' corresponded to something that could dilute or neutralize the toxic and addictive properties of the dry leaf roses.
Yet in the game so far, Bai Liu hadn't received any information about this antidote and the system hadn't issued any related tasks. So from here, Bai Liu inferred that the antidote clearance path of the game was likely to be different from the conventional clearance path. In other words, there was no connection with the main task of becoming the factory manager.
Horror or plot games usually had three ends-good, normal or true.
The first two were relatively easy and simple. There was no need to discover all the hidden information in the game and they were the most common clearance methods for ordinary players. However, game designers usually hid a very deep game world story to make it more complete and there was more information about the real ending i.e. the so-called 'true ending'.
In order to play the true ending, the game path would be more dangerous and sometimes they would have to do something completely opposite to the main task to trigger special story points and get more information.
Obviously, Rose Factory was such a game.
Bai Liu had followed this route before but he made two preparations. He secretly prepared the 'poison' and his own Rose Factory while looking for the traces of the 'antidote' in the real Rose Factory at the same time.
He needed more information to get the antidote but this depended on Liu Jiayi, who would continue to advance in the factory. Bai Liu entrusted this part of the task to the little girl.
Bai Liu focused and closed his eyes to control all his emotions. It was only after he completely changed into Liu Jiayi that he opened the tent and walked out.
Qi Yifang was standing in front of the tent and looking at the small pile of roses with amazement.
Qi Yifang saw him come out and scratched his head with a bit of embarrassment. "I thought you needed my help..."
He was carrying a small bag of roses in his hand. He should be afraid that Liu Jiayi wouldn't have enough and he brought some over to make it up. Now it seemed that it was difficult to say who needed the extra roses.
Bai Liu shook his head and declined the roses handed over by Qi Yifang. He looked through Liu Jiayi's gray eyes at the Rose Factory with smoking chimneys that looked like a heavy industrial processing plant. His eyes were vague.
Inside the Rose Factory.
The dormitory for new processing workers was on the first floor of the factory. Dozens of people, both men and women, lived in a large area. There was no sour smell of sweat. There was just the lingering stench of rotten flesh and a faint rose fragrance that drifted on this putrid odor.
The odor was a mixture of fragrant and stinky, making people feel nauseated. People who entered for the first time wouldn't be able to bear the strong smell. They had to take a deep breath outside before daring to come in.
Liu Jiayi, the two members of the Kings Guild, Tang Erda and other processing workers slept in this huge dormitory.
After a whole day of hard work, the new processing workers only got three hours of rest before the sky became bright again.
In the dormitory, Liu Jiayi opened her eyes first. She had left the Blizzard Goggles with Bai Liu for him to disguise himself. That was her last vision item so it made her move blindly yesterday.
Fortunately, the members of the Kings Guild who followed her also carried a few vision items she usually used with them. Liu Jiayi politely thanked them and accepted the items. In return, she poured a small cup of antidote for the two people to stabilize their health.
The two people originally wanted to refuse as these items were originally prepared for Little Witch. Finally, under Liu Jiayi's persistent gaze, they drank it with mixed feelings.
They all understood that this was Little Witch's habit of never owing anything to her teammates.
Liu Jiayi was protected by Bai Liu a few days ago and rested well. In addition, she didn't do much physical work yesterday. It was done by the other two people. Compared to the processing workers who really sweated for a day, Liu Jiayi's physical and mental state were the best so at present, she was the only one awake.
The others, including the sharp Tang Erda, were exhausted. In addition, the rich rose fragrance in the air hypnotized them to sleep.
Liu Jiayi, as a player who was brought by the unlucky Bai Liu to directly smell the original fragrance of roses (the aroma from Tawil's hand), was much less affected by the rose fragrance in the factory.
Liu Jiayi might have the vision items but she didn't want to waste them. She had never used an item from yesterday to this morning since she could locate things with her ears. She had just gotten out of bed when Liu Jiayi heard an unusual sound.
It was a sound like a huge, octagonal spider spinning silk, weaving webs and crawling on the ceiling. The threads moved back and forth above Liu Jiayi's head. The movement was very small but Liu Jiayi still heard it.
There was the evenly undulating breathing and snoring of the processing workers lying on the narrow bunk beds, the crackling as the paint on the wall peeled off from time to time and the faint sound of something dragging and wandering.
She put on the vision item and looked up, but saw nothing. There was only the peeling of the old, mottled yellow wall and some dark red marks that had been smoked or colored. It looked a bit like dried blood stains.
Liu Jiayi frowned. As a person who had lived based on her hearing for a long time, she trusted her hearing more than her eyesight. On such a quiet morning, her hearing shouldn't be incorrect.
The only possibility was that this thing existed but she couldn't see it.
Liu Jiayi thought of this and immediately woke up a member of the Kings Guild who was sleeping next to her. The other person was half awake and half asleep as Liu Jiayi whispered in his ear, "Shh, look up now. Can you see anything?"
He wasn't fully awake but obeying the Witch's orders was already ingrained in these team members. He didn't hesitate to look up. After a while, he turned to look at Liu Jiayi in a confused manner. "...there is nothing."
This team member couldn't see it so it wasn't a problem with her eyes. Liu Jiayi's mind raced as she calmly and quickly thought about the problem.
There must be some type of monster on the ceiling but it couldn't be seen with the naked eye or vision items. So in this game, certain conditions needed to be met for the monster to be seen.
So what was this condition?
Liu Jiayi's thoughts moved extremely quickly. She had only been in this factory for a day and all that time was spent working. The information wasn't sufficient. Liu Jiayi felt that she couldn't use the clues from the factory to deduce the conditions for seeing the monster.
Normally, Liu Jiayi would take a step back and be conservative. She would leave this dormitory first and go back and unlock the monster after getting enough information.
Now she had another source of information-Bai Liu.
Bai Liu entered the game and told her about Tawil's oracle.
She didn't know what was so strange about these two people that they would stick together in every game, giving her goosebumps, but if Bai Liu was right, Tawil was the core monster of the game 'Rose Factory'. Tawil came to him the night before so the oracle that Tawil gave before entering the game was likely a hint to the game.
Liu Jiayi closed her eyes and recalled the oracle that Bai Liu had told her. She searched for valid information in every word, muttering in a low voice, "...Don't use your right eye to blossom desire..."
Bai Liu's right eye was eroded by the rose but his left eye was fine!
It was a hunt. Tawil was implying that Bai Liu should look at something with one eye.
Liu Jiayi suddenly opened her eyes when she thought of this sentence. She quickly covered the right eye of the confused Kings Guild member beside her and lifted the other person's chin. She aimed it at the corner where she heard the sound and asked in a cold tone, "Can you see anything now?"
The sleepy-eyed expression of the Kings Guild member tensed at once. His pupils contracted and his relaxed face twitched from time to time. It was as if he had seen something extremely terrifying but didn't dare to gasp or tremble in this atmosphere. Blood instantly drained from his face and his arms and legs became weak. He couldn't sit up.
"I-I see a lot." His voice and neck trembled as he turned to look at Liu Jiayi, saying very abruptly, "Little Witch, there are monsters all over the room."
~