Seven was sitting by the bed holding a small bowl of millet porridge and feeding Fatty with a spoon. Fatty was leaning against a pillow and seemed to be downhearted.

“Gyatso went to see him?” Fatty swallowed some porridge.

“You know he did.” Seven put the bowl on the bed table and poured himself some water.

The reason why Fatty ended up in such misery was that Seven had set them up. He now knew that because Seven confessed. But just like Gyatso, he didn’t mind. After all, it was quite common among audiences.

More profit would always go to the more skillful players. There was nothing wrong about that.

“What’s wrong with him? Keeping that kid but not eating him?” Fatty moved his back to a more comfortable position, “Actually, you must be feeling worse, right, Seven? You were with the fox for so long, and served her for so long, and troubled so much to set us up… Only to end up with nothing! Even, it had become Su Bai’s contribution for causing the early birth and protecting him ever after.

“Even if Su Bai doesn’t eat the kid, as long as he can keep the kid until the MT 1 deadline, his contribution ratio will be the highest of us all, or even over 90%! I know you won’t care about those story points, but that kid must have some amazing benefit, otherwise you wouldn’t trouble so much. But now, it’s all gone.”

“I won’t mind. Just like you two won’t turn against me even though you hate me after being set up. MT 1 is not over yet, no one can know what tasks will come next, so I’m not letting myself get obsessed with it. He’s skillful, he deserves that much.”

“If you say so.” Fatty murmured, then suddenly smiled, “Hey, Bai is indeed insane. All of a sudden he’s having more mercy than you, a monk! Or is he just keeping the kid until he’s fatter?”

Seven shook his head, “It was a premature delivery, so he’s got only 80% of the spiritual energy. The longer he’s out there, the more energy will get loose and be taken in by the kid. And it will be less useful to eat him. It never occurred to me before that he may actually be a psychopath.”

“It’s hard to understand why he suddenly does something against his own benefit in a story world.” Fatty looked at the tea cup in Seven’s hand, “Monk, can I have a cup of water?”

“You just had your meal, it’s bad for your digestive system to drink water now.” Seven answered.

“Bullshit! I’m still too young to worry about health. Well, maybe I won’t live that long.”

“Amitabh, only good people will die young.” Seven used a pun.

“Alright! I regret to joke with you. Monks are good at joking. By the way, which of them do you think is going to win? Bai or Gyatso?

“Bai seemed to be a little strange lately. Although Gyatso has been injured and lost an arm, I’ll bet on him. Esoteric Buddhism from Tibetan is so mysterious, and he’s resourceful with all the stuff he got from the e-shop and the real world.

“You and him, you’re difficult to see through, and you’ve got a treasure with you… You’re so lucky, compared to losers like me.”

“I agree that Su Bai doesn’t seem to be a problem for Gyatso, but…”

“But what?”

“A psychopath can’t be judged by common sense.” Seven sighed, “If Su Bai dares to risk his life, do you think Gyatso’s willing to do the same?”

“No way… There’s no way to be so serious…” Fatty murmured.

“Nothing’s impossible for a psychopath. You said it yourself that Su Bai was a little strange lately. As far as I’m concerned, since the kid is still alive, Su Bai will not let some else eat him. If he totally loses his mind, no one can tell whether Gyatso or Su Bai is going to win.”

“The ferocious are afraid of the reckless, but the reckless are afraid of the desperate. Right?”

“Right.”

Seven got up and checked Fatty, “Your ptomaine can’t be cured right now.”

“I know, I’d probably stay in bed until the end of the story. I really appreciate that you guys didn’t kill me.”

Seven shook his head, “You look indeed miserable, but I don’t believe that you have to stay in bed.”

“Why?”

“It is a necessary preparation for all audiences to keep a way open for the future at all times, but to you, it’s more like a natural instinct.”

“For god’s sake, Seven, I’m not holding back! I swear!”

Seven pointed up to the sky, “In this story world, gods are everywhere, and a swear is more serious than in the real world.”

“Em….” Fatty paused.

Seven sighed, turned around and left the room.

The mortuary was deserted. Lam Chin-Ying had locked himself in the room since they got back. It seemed that some other accident had happened to him after he was hurt. Seven had been keeping an eye on him, but MT 1 wasn’t over yet, they couldn’t care too much for irrelevant people.

Seven left the mortuary and went back to the county government. In a wing-room, the fox demon was lying in bed, half human half fox. She was wrapped up by different kinds of bandages. Her wounds were bound up nicely, but those bandages were attached with magic and forced her to stay here.

When Seven walked in, the fox opened her eyes slowly and stared at him:

“I think it’ll just be a matter of time before I heal, even without your help.”

Seven understood what the fox meant. She accused him of putting her under house arrest for some obvious purpose in the name of doing her a favor.

“When boiled tea is served, most people would focus on the tea leaves and the taste of tea, but ignore the teapot. Sometime, the teapot may also be of great value.” Seven walked to her smiling, “Not bad, you may even be able to walk in another two days.”

“Monk, do you really think you can fool the heaven by such tricks?”

Seven cleared his throat and smiled, “It’s for your own good.”

The fox seemed to accept her fate. She didn’t stick to this topic, just humphed coldly and said, “I can still feel my baby. He’s still alive.”

Seven nodded, “Yes, he’s still alive.”

“That guy hasn’t eaten him yet?”

Seven shook his head. It wouldn’t be a problem if he had eaten the kid. And it would put an end to any debate about MT 1 so everyone, winner or loser, could sit down and wait for MT 2 to be issued.

“Do you know why?” The fox stared at Seven and continued without waiting for an answer, “Cats have one way and rats have another. Men have their earthly way to go, ghosts have their infernal way and we demons have our own.”

“You mean he is looking for his way?”

The fox shook her head. Most of her body was tied up, only her head could move a little.

“He has already found it. Seven, don’t you think it’s ironic? Even you can’t take full control of your way, but that guy has already found his.”

“I’m more willing to say that he’s just a psychopath.” Seven stared at the fox.

“Then we’ll just wait and see.”

“The oath’s due is the end of tomorrow.” Seven said. Then he blew off the candle in the room, walked outside and sat by the door with his legs crossed, silently facing the starry sky.

…

It was peaceful over there, but pretty intense in here.

Gyatso would either walk away or go extremely violent. He had made himself clear to Su Bai but Su Bai refused, so the only way to solve the problem was a good fight.

A mass of black air burst out from Gyatso. He appeared right in front of Su Bai and formed a gesture with his only hand. A strong burst of energy in a handprint came at Su Bai, he had to cross his arms before his body to shield the handprint attack. In the meantime, his legs went into the floor. Apparently the floor of this hotel was too weak to handle the aftermath of their fight.

Gyatso jumped into the air and kicked down. Su Bai was holding Gyatso’s feet with his palms as defense, so at last half of his body was stuck beneath the floor.

But Gyatso was not going to kill Su Bai. He was after that kid. Seeing that Su Bai was stuck, Gyatso grabbed the window frame and was about to jump out into the river.

Just then, Su Bai roared and hit the floor with one hand. The reacting force threw him up so he could catch Gyatso by his ankle. Then with a twist of his waist, he turned over in the air, pulled Gyatso back and smashed him against the floor.

In the meantime, Exorciser appeared in Su Bai’s hand. He first pulled it closer to himself, and then stabbed it towards Gyatso’s neck.

Gyatso glazed. He slid over the floor to the door and jumped up to his feet.

Su Bai didn’t follow him up, just stood there staring at him, holding his dagger.

“You’re serious?”

Su Bai shook his head. “You’re not?”