“Immediately carry out the arrest of Heretic 0006, Bai Liu!”

Su Yang took out his walkie-talkie and issued a stern order. “Headquarters is transporting a large number of gas masks and exhaust fans here. The rest of the team, go to the outer perimeter, receive the exhaust fans, and blockade the entire factory.”

“We must control the fragrance released by the explosion within a certain range!”

The team members received the order, saluted, and turned to leave.

On the open ground in front of the factory, only a few team members remained with their guns aimed at Bai Liu, along with Su Yang and Lu Yizhan, who had completely failed to come back to his senses. He looked at Bai Liu, whose clothes fluttered in the night wind, in disbelief.

Bai Liu even had the leisure to wave at him, showing no self-awareness whatsoever as someone who had just committed a monstrous crime and ought to be fleeing immediately. He looked at Lu Yizhan with a smile.

“Remember to treat me to thirty years of hot pot, Lu Yizhan.”

Lu Yizhan was subconsciously led astray by Bai Liu’s words and almost blurted out a retort, wanting to ask if it had not been ten years of hot pot.

How had the price suddenly risen to thirty years?!

But before Lu Yizhan could ask that question, Bai Liu raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. He seemed to be able to see the team members circling behind him to arrest him, and he looked completely prepared to be captured without resistance.

The team members froze for less than a second before quickly stepping forward, pinning Bai Liu’s arms behind his back and locking his wrists with the sturdiest and most secure handcuffs.

At that moment, Su Yang’s serious warning came from the communicator hanging on one of the team members’ shoulders. “Be careful not to talk to him! Captain Tang said he has an extremely strong ability to bewitch people with his words! He is very good at guiding others into doing things for him!”

“Is that so, Captain Su?” The handcuffed Bai Liu slowly approached the team member’s communicator. Before the member could react, Bai Liu pressed the talk button with his chin and spoke into the communicator with a smile. “If I say I have a way to resolve the Rose Perfume on your body, am I still not allowed to speak?”

The eyes of all the team members instantly locked onto Bai Liu. One of them could not restrain himself and even took a step forward, grabbing Bai Liu by the neck as if to force him to tell them exactly what the solution was.

This was a method that could save Captain Su and the one thousand ordinary people in the Heretic Bureau.

Su Yang’s breath hitched for a second. Then he coldly ordered, “Put a mouth shackle on him. Before headquarters comes to take over, no one is allowed to have private contact with him.”

“Of course, if you’re willing to confess the locations where you planted the explosives, I can allow you to speak.” Su Yang slowed his tone; this was a common psychological pressure tactic used during interrogations.

Bai Liu sighed and answered honestly, “I really did try to stop it, but as expected, only an explosion can solve everything.”

Su Yang paused for less than a second. “Restrain his mouth. Forbid him from communicating with anyone, and don’t be guided by anything he says.”

The team members snapped a large ring-shaped shackle onto the molars on both sides of Bai Liu’s mouth, forcing his upper and lower jaws apart. This was generally used on Heretics to prevent them from attacking or biting people during transport, somewhat like a forced mouth opener used by dentists.

But it looked far more gruesome than a dental mouth opener.

Bai Liu was escorted down from the roof with his mouth half-open, unable to speak. When he passed Lu Yizhan, Bai Liu shot him a glance and used his handcuffed hands behind his back to gesture the number thirty.

Meanwhile, Lu Yizhan watched blankly as Bai Liu passed him and was shoved into the car.

For a moment, Lu Yizhan’s knees went weak. He took two deep breaths to steady himself, then looked up at Su Yang, who was getting into the car.

“Where... where are you taking Bai Liu?”

“Interrogation.” Su Yang stepped one foot into the vehicle and turned back to look at Lu Yizhan. “We’re handing him over to professionals, who will interrogate him using methods specifically designed for Heretics.”

After speaking, he pulled the car door shut.

The last glimpse Lu Yizhan caught of Bai Liu was of the man looking up at him, his eyes as calm as still water.

—As if he had anticipated all of this long ago.

————————

The car, which had nearly reached the factory, made an extremely sharp turn under Mu Ke’s driving and sped down another road, leaving black tire marks across the pavement.

“Bai Liu’s phone can’t be reached anymore, right?” Mu Ke kept his eyes on the road, but his entire body leaned toward the back seat, his voice so heavy it seemed as if it could drip water. “When Bai Liu made that declaration just now, he didn’t hang up the phone. Captain Tang, you know what Bai Liu has done for you, don’t you?”

“He should have been taken away by the people from your Heretic Management Bureau. You’d better return the favor and get him out.” Mu Ke’s eyes were shadowed to the extreme. “Otherwise, if anything happens to Bai Liu, I won’t let anyone in your Heretic Management Bureau off.”

“Including you, Captain Tang.” Mu Ke shot a sinister look at the rearview mirror.

Sitting in the back, Tang Erda’s mind was currently no clearer than paste. Bai Liu’s words just now had stirred him into chaos. It was clearly the same action as in the other timelines, but the purpose was completely different.

This made Tang Erda unable to stop himself from wondering: had the Bai Sixes of the other timelines also been trying to save people?

But Tang Erda quickly rejected that thought.

Bai Six had not been there to save anyone at all. The reason he went to the factory was to spectate—or rather, to admire the explosion that would break the world.

Bai Six knew exactly when the first-generation factory manager would detonate the factory. At that point in time, he had deliberately guided the entire Third Branch Team to the Rose Factory and stood on the rooftop with the best view, just to claim a front-row seat to the disaster that would torment everyone.

But Bai Liu was completely different.

This person had actually found inspiration in such an event and used a method with absolutely no way out to achieve what he had once been unable to do.

Tang Erda had never imagined that there could be a way to force others to follow one’s own pace by directly presupposing one’s own position, but this was indeed Bai Liu’s style of doing things.

The process was tragic, the method absurd. It mobilized a huge number of people, and the cost was high—fundamentally, it was not a method a normal person could come up with.

But Bai Liu had indeed achieved his goal.

The alarms echoed shrilly through the sky, over and over again. Lights began flickering on in the houses along the streets. Tang Erda saw panicked people running out of their homes, hurrying into cars while still wearing pajamas, moving toward the outskirts of the city amid the blare of the sirens.

At the same time, a considerable number of fully armed police officers arrived during the alarms. Tang Erda also saw some team members following along.

They wore masks and gloves, wrapped tightly from head to toe. Each person held a shield-sized exhaust fan that looked like an electric fan. They lined up in orderly fashion, forming a reverse-ventilation defense line five kilometers away from the factory.

The originally silent streets instantly became much livelier.

Tang Erda maintained his basic composure, doing his best to pull a single thread of logic out of the current bizarre situation.

“Bai Liu’s phone is off; he should be under the team members’ control. Mu Shicheng’s phone is out of the service area, so the situation on his side is unclear for now. If Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng were captured together by the Heretic Management Bureau as two high-risk Heretics, they will most likely be transported to headquarters for interrogation.”

Tang Erda exhaled a long breath. “If Bai Liu covered for Mu Shicheng and was captured alone—I know the Heretic Management Bureau has a stronghold three kilometers from here.”

“—It’s specifically used for the preliminary processing of Heretics who are about to enter headquarters. Since the explosion hasn’t happened yet, in order to obtain specific information about it, Bai Liu will likely be transported there for interrogation.”

“If, during the interrogation, Bai Liu says nothing and continues pretending to be the one who initiated the explosion in order to ensure this city-wide evacuation continues, what will happen to him?” Mu Ke asked calmly.

Tang Erda’s voice was somewhat hoarse. “...They can use certain Heretics on him... ones specifically meant for interrogation...”

Mu Ke’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Like that Murphy Magic Mirror, right?”

Tang Erda closed his eyes and answered with difficulty.

“...Yes.”

Mu Ke gritted his teeth and slammed the accelerator to the floor.

————————

Bai Liu was brought into an interrogation room with a black cloth over his head. Only after he was seated firmly was the black cloth covering his face removed.

Looking at the person opposite him, Bai Liu raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.

Su Yang’s eyes were dark as he stared at him. He reached his fingers into Bai Liu’s mouth and felt the shackles caught on both sides of Bai Liu’s molars. Su Yang’s fingertips hooked upward slightly, and with a clack, the mouth shackle that had prevented Bai Liu from speaking was removed from his face.

The pressure on his gums caused blood to seep from the corners of Bai Liu’s mouth the moment the shackle was taken out.

He nonchalantly licked the cold, metallic blood from his lips, looking up to meet Su Yang’s gaze with a half-smile.

“I didn’t expect Captain Su to be interested in interrogating me a second time.”

“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted to see?” Su Yang did not dodge his gaze and looked directly into Bai Liu’s eyes. “You clearly identified me as one of the people poisoned by Rose Perfume and used that to entice my team members. If they were the ones interrogating you, they would easily be caught by your hooks and led astray out of concern for me.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

With his hands cuffed behind his back, Bai Liu leaned back against the chair, the smile on his face deepening.

“So to protect your team members from being harmed by me, you chose to come yourself. Captain Su, you really are a good captain.”

“—You remind me of another captain who isn’t very popular.”

“Compared to you.” Bai Liu lifted his eyelids and smiled at Su Yang. “His treatment among his team members is truly pitiful. With something this big happening, no one even cares where he went.”

Thinking of Tang Erda, who had originally insisted on arresting Bai Liu but had constantly been questioned instead, Su Yang felt a pang of heartache and clenched his hands on his knees. However, he quickly forced himself to calm down and prevented Bai Liu from diverting his attention, continuing to confront him steadily.

The Captain was indeed right. Bai Liu was far too skilled at manipulating people’s emotions—an ability just like that of a Heretic.

“You wanted me to interrogate you, and now you’ve achieved that goal.” Su Yang looked straight at Bai Liu. “Now, are you willing to tell me where the explosion sites are?”

“No, I’m not willing,” Bai Liu said softly.

Su Yang stared at Bai Liu without blinking. “Why are you doing this? If you have some goal, you can tell us. Perhaps we in the Heretic Management Bureau can help you achieve it in a more reasonable way.”

“There is no reason.” Bai Liu looked at Su Yang across from him with interest. “If I had to give one, I suppose I just want to tell the other people in this world that besides cigarettes and alcohol, there exists a third kind of pastime that can make people ecstatic.”

“They should try the taste of the Rose.” Bai Liu leaned forward, drawing close to Su Yang’s ear, and whispered with a light laugh, “Because it is truly wonderful.”

“I believe your Captain would agree with me as well.”

Su Yang’s pupils contracted slightly.

—

Author’s Note:

A small interview:

Me, holding the microphone: Recently, readers have reported that Student 86 seems very happy playing the villain. May I ask if this is true?

2, angry: He’s not acting! He’s saving people!

Mu Ke, hateful: He’s not acting! He’s very dangerous!

6, smiling: I’m not acting.

2, Mu Ke: ......????

+1 [Lu Yizhan]: ...... = = I knew it.

That’s all for today. Everyone, don’t wait up!