Bai Liu looked at the system panel that had popped up. After Alex's favorability briefly dropped, it rose again. He realized that Tang Erda's matter had been resolved.
He was now in his dormitory, converted from a hotel in the town. It was a small room crammed with bunk beds for dozens of new recruits—this was the best room available.
Fortunately, everyone else was gone now. Only Spades, sitting beside Bai Liu, and Guy, sitting opposite him, remained.
Guy propped himself up on the bed with his hands braced behind him. Noticing Bai Liu glancing around, he smiled kindly. "Not used to it? These are already the best conditions here."
"But tonight, you'll probably have this room to yourselves and enjoy some private time." Guy winked. "Those new recruits will party all night in the town's taverns and brothels."
"After all, they don't know whether they'll come back alive from the assault mission. They might as well enjoy the military pay issued to them in advance."
Bai Liu looked at him. "You're going too, right?"
Guy shrugged. "Everyone from the first commando team is going. Alex usually doesn't allow me to attend these kinds of gatherings, but this time should be an exception."
He smiled casually. "After all, you have to give someone their last meal before they die."
Bai Liu considered this. "Alex will go with you, right?"
"Of course!" Guy's restrained expression couldn't hide his happiness. "He wouldn't trust me to go alone."
After confirming that Alex, the mainline NPC, would attend, Bai Liu immediately asked, "Can we go with you?"
Guy raised his head in surprise, then leaned forward and grabbed Bai Liu's hand. "Of course! I thought you wouldn't like this kind of occasion."
Beside them, Spades' gaze slowly lowered to where Guy was holding Bai Liu's hand. He paused for a moment, then looked away, lowering his eyes and rubbing his toes against the floor.
Guy remained completely unaware and continued excitedly, "I've also prepared a show for Alex tonight. It would be great if you two could come as friends!"
Bai Liu sensed this might be a hidden plot. Smiling, he asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"God, you've hit the nail on the head, Bai Liu!" Guy said, distressed yet delighted. "I was worried no one would help me. It's a big show, and it has to be done without telling Alex. Those guys can't keep secrets, so I have to handle it alone."
"It would be great if you and Spades could help."
"Of course," Bai Liu replied with a smile.
Guy jumped to his feet excitedly. "Then I'll go get the list. There's a lot to prepare."
After Guy left, Bai Liu let the smile on his face fade. Spades sat silently beside him. There was still no less than fifty centimeters between them.
Ever since leaving the camp, Bai Liu had deliberately kept this distance and had not spoken to Spades again.
He talked to Alex. He talked to Tang Erda. He spoke at length with Guy and even shook hands with him.
But he refused to speak to Spades.
"Are you deliberately not talking to me?" Spades asked, lowering his gaze.
Only the two of them remained in the room. Though he didn't look at Bai Liu, it was obvious who he was addressing.
After a few seconds of silence, Bai Liu turned to look at the open door Guy had left behind. "Yes."
Spades raised his head. "Are you angry that I kissed you?"
"No," Bai Liu replied calmly.
Spades frowned. "Then why won't you talk to me?"
Bai Liu turned to him. "Do I have an obligation to talk to you?"
Spades opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again. "But we have a special relationship. We should talk more."
"That was in front of Guy, for the main mission. In private, we are nothing." Bai Liu lifted his eyes. "I really hate you, Spades. I've said it three times. The most recent was forty-seven minutes ago. Do you need me to repeat myself?"
Spades fell silent. He idly shook the whip hanging from his left hand beside the bed before speaking again.
"That was forty-seven minutes ago. I thought you didn't hate me anymore."
Bai Liu looked away. "Mr. Spades, has anything happened in the past forty-seven minutes that would make me stop hating you?"
Spades answered honestly, "I carried your bag for you."
"Tang Erda also helped me carry it."
"You were happier when I carried it."
Bai Liu paused.
"I saw you look at me and smile a few times."
"I didn't," Bai Liu retorted calmly.
"You did. You were behind me—"
"Enough. Shut up." Bai Liu cut him off. He took a slow breath and turned away, his expression blank. His fingers tightened slightly on the edge of the bed. "That wasn't a smile for you. I was just making fun of Tang Erda."
Spades' whip stopped moving. "Oh," he said quietly, and fell silent.
"We have a special relationship in front of Guy, but not in private, right?" Spades asked after a while.
Bai Liu hummed in acknowledgment without turning back.
At that moment, Guy returned, dragging several large boxes, a long pole tucked under his arm, and a notepad clenched in his mouth. Burdened with too many things, he got stuck in the doorway.
Bai Liu and Spades stood to help him carry the boxes inside.
Guy collapsed onto the bed, panting. "God, this is more exhausting than fighting."
"What are these?" Bai Liu asked.
Guy sat up and smiled mysteriously. "Something that will make that little bastard Alex smile at me all day long. Of course, he usually smiles at me anyway."
"You know, when you like someone, you can't help but smile at them." He winked at Bai Liu. "Just like you did at Spades."
Bai Liu's expression froze.
Spades slowly straightened from the box he was unpacking and looked at Bai Liu with sharp eyes. Though he said nothing, his unwavering gaze clearly conveyed: You were smiling at me.
Bai Liu explained calmly, "No. I was laughing at Tang Erda."
"Oh, come on." Guy waved a hand dismissively and lay back down. "Lie to other people if you want. The way you looked at Spades and smiled is exactly the same as how I looked at Alex just now."
"What a wonderful period of love," Guy sighed dreamily.
Spades nodded in agreement.
Bai Liu slowly glanced at him. Spades hesitated for a moment before adding bluntly, "You were smiling at me."
"You weren't laughing at Tang Erda," he insisted. "You said it wrong."
Bai Liu smiled lightly and raised his eyes. "I misspoke. So what?"
"I smiled at you this time. That doesn't mean I'll smile at you next time. I can keep laughing at Tang Erda. After all…" He leaned closer and whispered into Spades' ear, "When Guy isn't here, I can smile at whoever I want, for as long as I want."
"It has nothing to do with you."
With that, Bai Liu turned and began organizing the items on the list with Guy.
Spades' earlier excitement gradually faded. He sat on the edge of the bed, head lowered as he sorted through the items in the box. He seemed deep in thought—or perhaps confused about why he felt so dejected.
Guy picked up the props from the list and noticed the subtle exchange between them. He nudged Bai Liu with his elbow and smiled knowingly. "What were you and Spades doing?"
"Nothing as exciting as the show you and Alex put on earlier," Bai Liu replied smoothly, changing the subject. He glanced at the list. "You two really have a good relationship."
Guy rested his chin on his hand, nostalgia softening his smile. "It hasn't always been good. We've argued before."
After a brief pause, he said abruptly, "Alex has a fiancée in his hometown."
Bai Liu showed appropriate surprise.
Guy raised an eyebrow. "What's that expression for? I didn't fight for his love. When Alex and I got together, he didn't have a fiancée. His parents arranged that later. As soon as he received her photo, he wrote back and refused."
He smiled faintly. "But you know what? I think I might be mentally ill."
"For a moment, I wanted to stop him from refusing. But that would've been unfair to the girl, and Alex thought so too."
Bai Liu listened quietly.
"Alex was an excellent medical student. He made many achievements in college. He even invented a medicine that can preserve a dying person's body, extending the time before death and saving more lives. That's why he became a clean-up soldier—he wanted to help these soldiers."
Guy's voice softened. "That girl was a small-town girl who admired him. Even after Alex told her he had a lover, she insisted on waiting for him to return. She said if he wanted to give up on her, he had to do it face-to-face after coming back alive."
"'I won't accept a rejection from someone whose life or death is unknown. That would be disrespectful to me.'"
Guy laughed faintly. "She's a good girl. She knows I'm a man, yet she even greeted me politely in her letter and arrogantly told us to come back alive to give her love a proper ending."
Lowering his head, he gently touched the wedding dress he had taken from the box.
"I'm a cunning person. I didn't tell Alex I'd been drafted into the commandos—but I told his fiancée. I begged her to let me marry Alex before she did."
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Despicable, right?"
"She didn't reply with a single word."
"She just rushed overnight to make this wedding dress in the size of a grown man and sent it to the front line. It was addressed to me. The words 'God bless you with eternal happiness' were sewn into it."
Guy raised his reddened eyes and smiled softly. "You know, Bai Liu, I'm a lucky person. I've never met many bad people. The people around me treat me with kindness, integrity, and shining hearts."
"But I am so bitter and sad." Tears filled his eyes. "Because every one of them has suffered because of this war."
"No one can be happy because of war. So why does war still exist?"
Bai Liu looked calmly at the crying Guy.
"Because God does not want you to be happy," he said. "So He created war."
At night, the town was brightly lit.
The impending war had illuminated it in advance. Everyone drank heavily as if they had already won the battle. Beer foam covered the streets.
The first assault team had booked an entire tavern. The veterans nearly emptied the wine racks, and the owner was busy hauling more bottles up from the cellar. The air was so thick with alcohol that a few deep breaths alone could make someone tipsy.
In such an atmosphere, anyone not drinking stood out.
Tang Erda held a glass of wine and sat beside Alex. They were drinking low-alcohol wine. Even Spades had taken a glass of sparkling wine and set it on the table.
Only Bai Liu held a glass of iced water.
"You… can't drink at all?" Tang Erda asked in surprise.
To him, it seemed unbelievable that Bai Liu didn't drink. He distinctly remembered that Bai Liu used to—
Bai Liu glanced at him faintly. "A social worker has no right to drink. If I work overtime and stare at a computer the next day, I'll get a splitting headache. I don't make trouble for myself."
Tang Erda: "…"
Life has really changed you, Bai Liu.
Spades sat to the side, watching Bai Liu chat with Tang Erda without saying a word. He opened his mouth to speak, but then recalled Bai Liu's earlier threatening smile and the line, I can smile at Tang Erda all the time. He swallowed his words.
Lowering his gaze, he looked at the vodka in his glass.
Generally speaking, the Reverse God strictly forbade him from drinking. It wasn't that Spades had poor alcohol tolerance or became dizzy easily. The problem was that when he got drunk, he became troublesome—he would say and do whatever he pleased. Anyone who argued with him would end up furious.
In short, he turned into a bully.
To be safe, Spades had no intention of drinking. The Reverse God had warned him many times that he easily offended people when drunk.
Although Spades didn't quite understand what was so terrible about offending others, he refrained from drinking simply because he'd been nagged about it too often.
Bai Liu took a sip of iced water and watched Tang Erda drink as if it were plain water. "You're a good drinker."
Tang Erda paused mid-sip. "For a while… I used alcohol to drown my sorrows. I built up a tolerance."
Bai Liu immediately understood what he meant and spoke apologetically. "I'm sorry."
"It has nothing to do with you." Tang Erda shook his head. He calmed himself and drank half the glass in one go, though his eyes remained clear. "It won't happen again. I drink less now."
Bai Liu smiled. "Being able to drink a lot is also a good thing. I quite like that about you."
Spades, sitting behind Bai Liu, straightened his back without expression.
Tang Erda's drinking ability had helped Bai Liu block many NPCs who tried to get him to drink. That was why Bai Liu said it.
But Spades misunderstood.
He rose, whip in hand, and sat down directly across from Tang Erda, pushing Bai Liu slightly aside. He set a glass in front of Tang Erda.
"Want to drink?"
Tang Erda, still lost in memory, blinked. "???"
He instinctively turned to look at Bai Liu behind Spades, confusion written all over his face. But before he could read Bai Liu's expression, Spades shifted, blocking him completely.
"I asked you to drink," Spades said coldly. "Why are you looking at Bai Liu?"
Bai Liu's calm voice came from behind him. "Drinking will cause trouble. Don't drink with him—"
Before he could finish, several heavily intoxicated soldiers nearby picked up on the tension. They leaned over the bar, clapping and cheering.
"Someone's challenging with vodka!"
"Boss! Bring out all the vodka in this place!"
"Have a drinking contest before the real fight!"
In the blink of an eye, the bar in front of Spades and Tang Erda was crowded with bottles. The surrounding crowd whistled and shouted, eager for a spectacle.
Spades remained expressionless. He lifted his chin at Tang Erda. "Are you drinking or not?"
As a main attacker, Tang Erda instinctively followed Bai Liu's lead in the game. He subconsciously searched the crowd for Bai Liu.
Spades stood, blocking his line of sight. "How long do you need to think?"
"He won't drink with you." Bai Liu stepped out from the crowd and stood in front of Tang Erda, meeting Spades' gaze directly.
Tang Erda sighed in relief and raised his hands in surrender.
A wave of loud boos erupted from the onlookers, who began dispersing in disappointment.
"You and I are a couple," Spades said relentlessly. He reached into the crowd and dragged Alex—who had been trying to sneak away—into the center. Then he looked at Bai Liu. "Alex is here. You should stand on my side. We have a special relationship."
Alex, abruptly pulled into the spotlight, covered his face, and wished for invisibility.
God, I'd rather be sent to the front lines.
Bai Liu sneered. "So what if it's special? Tang Erda and I also have a special relationship in battle. We're soulmates(¹). You're just acting for show."
Tang Erda felt a chill run down his spine at Bai Liu's tone. Bai Liu had clearly been provoked.
Trying to avoid being dragged further into this mess, Tang Erda attempted to retreat. But Bai Liu grabbed him by the collar and patted his shoulder twice.
Spades' gaze dropped to Tang Erda's shoulder. "A special relationship only allows two people."
"Bai Liu, you said it wrong again."
Bai Liu's smile became even gentler. "How could I be wrong? I have a special relationship with him. Isn't it perfectly fine to end the one with you?"
Spades pressed his lips together tightly, dark emotion flickering in his eyes.
Tang Erda: "…"
No, Bai Liu is really angry. I can't handle this.
If only Liu Jiayi were here. I have no idea what these two are doing!
Realizing he couldn't outargue Bai Liu, Spades stepped around him and stared at Tang Erda again. "Will you drink with me?"
Bai Liu smiled warmly and stepped sideways, shielding Tang Erda. "He's my soulmate. I'm responsible for him. If you want to drink with him, I can't just stand by."
He reached out, took the vodka from Spades' hand, and downed it in one smooth motion. Then he flipped the glass upside down onto the table.
Bai Liu raised his eyes and smiled. "How about you drink with me instead?"
Spades stared at him for a long moment. When he realized Bai Liu truly wouldn't back down—and would keep drinking in Tang Erda's place—he went completely still. His fingers curled slightly around the whip.
Alex, whose arm was still firmly gripped by Spades: "…"
Brother, please don't vent your anger on my arm. That really hurts.
Guy, help—!
Just when Alex braced himself for Spades to start a fight, Spades picked up a glass and drank without hesitation.
He mimicked Bai Liu's motion, setting the glass down and looking directly at him.
"Fine. Let's compete. If I win, we still have a special relationship. And you have to admit you were smiling at me earlier—not at Tang Erda."
Bai Liu paused almost imperceptibly. His fingers tightened slightly around the glass. A faint flush appeared beneath his eyes, and his voice softened for no clear reason.
"…If I have to admit it, then I'll admit it."
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(1) '灵魂挚友' directly translates to soul friend, but it sounds weird in english so I decided to change it to soulmate (platonic).