Bai Liu crossed the heaving deck of the aircraft and walked toward the cockpit. Du Sanying blocked one side of him, and the objects flying in from both sides of the plane automatically swerved away from them.

When they reached the cockpit door, Bai Liu knocked.

The person inside forced the door open with great effort. The moment he saw two extra people on the plane, his expression changed in shock. Almost instantly, he drew the guns at his waist and aimed them at Bai Liu’s head, barking sharply,

“Who are you?! How did you hide on this plane and follow us here?!”

Bai Liu was wearing a thick down hat, and an oxygen mask covered his face, hiding most of his features. For a moment, the team member failed to recognize him as the same Bai Liu who had once turned the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau upside down.

“I was sent by Tang Erda, the former captain of the Third Branch of the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau, to handle the current situation.” Bai Liu exhaled a breath of white mist and looked directly at the team member. “He foresaw this.”

The team member hesitated, then slowly lowered his gun. “You’re the living heretic Bai Liu, the one Captain Tang was tracking? Captain Tang sent you?”

Bai Liu nodded.

The team member gritted his teeth, turned, and let Bai Liu into the cockpit. “Come in and talk.”

The captain sat in the pilot’s seat, his eyes bloodshot. His hands moved rapidly across the control panel, which was screaming with incessant alarms. Without turning his head, he asked coldly,

“What solution do you have?”

“You know I’m a living heretic, so I won’t be corrupted by the corpse fragments,” Bai Liu said calmly. “Open the cargo hold for me. I can take the corpse fragments, carry them on my body, and parachute down alone.”

The captain’s eyes shifted slightly. At last, he glanced at Bai Liu from the corner of his eye.

“You want me to hand over high-risk heretic objects like those corpse fragments to a high-risk heretic like you for safekeeping?”

His tone was aggressive, even carrying a trace of ruthlessness.

“What if you run off with the corpse fragments? What if you try to use them for something else?”

“If even a little of this heretic object leaks out, thousands upon thousands of people could die. Do you understand how precious human life is?”

“You don’t understand at all. To you, human life is probably something shallow, something not even worth as much as money.” The captain turned his gaze back, expressionless. “But it isn’t to me. And I can’t shoulder responsibility for the lives of so many people in Antarctica.”

“It’s not as if you don’t have a record. The Third Branch still hasn’t settled the account with you over the Rose Factory.”

“I won’t let you take the corpse fragments.”

The co-pilot couldn’t help but urge him, “Captain, this is still a way!”

Another team member was just as anxious. “Captain! Are you really going to insist on being torn into four pieces?!”

The captain snapped at them, cutting them off. “Enough! Later, find parachutes and communication equipment for these two, throw them off the plane, and let them return on their own. No more discussion!”

“My mind is made up!”

Bai Liu calmly exhaled another breath of white mist.

“The lives of the people you want to save are lives, but the lives of these team members and your own life aren’t lives. Is that it?”

“Who gave you the right to use your own life and the lives of these team members to exchange for the lives of the ordinary people you imagine?”

“Shut up!!”

The captain clenched his molars, the muscles in his jaw tightening. His eyes were bloodshot, filmed with a shallow layer of tears.

“Get off the plane!!”

Bai Liu continued indifferently, “They are human. Are you not human?”

“Or do you believe that you and these team members were born inferior, that whenever something happens, you should be the first sacrificed, dying in exchange for other people’s lives? Are you not afraid of death?”

The team members and the co-pilot fell into helpless silence.

Bai Liu lowered his eyes.

“But I’m not human. I’m a living heretic, a monster with no sense of morality or human emotion, a criminal. You were right just now, Captain. In my eyes, human life truly isn’t worth as much as money.”

“So in your eyes, there is no need to treat me too much like a human being.”

“In a crisis like this, using my life to preserve the overall situation aligns with the logic of a human worldview, whether emotionally or ethically.”

Bai Liu’s voice was light, steady, and certain.

“I am the one who should be sacrificed. Not you.”

“As for what you said about me using the corpse fragments, I won’t deny that I have a tendency to use everything. But since you brought high-risk heretic objects onto the plane, you must have some means of controlling a high-risk heretic like me, don’t you?”

Even the Third Branch team member, who had always disliked Bai Liu, could no longer bear to listen. He shook his head and refused flatly.

“But that’s used to remotely monitor the corpse fragments’ mental pollution and prevent riots. It requires driving mechanical metal monitoring clasps into the bones of every body part...”

Bai Liu interrupted him and answered without concern.

“Then use that.”

The team member looked up sharply and retorted in disbelief, “But you’re a living person! Because those were meant for corpse fragments, we didn’t bring any anesthesia equipment. There are thirty clasps in total. If they’re hammered in, the pain alone will kill you!”

“But the corpse fragments use them too, don’t they?” Bai Liu looked up at the team member with a very faint smile on his face. “I have always been the same kind of monster as it. Or rather, the same kind of heretic.”

“Isn’t it normal to control us with the same thing?”

The captain shouted to stop them.

“Even if you are a damned heretic, I will not agree to use that kind of thing on a living person. Bai Liu, get the hell off this plane—”

“Captain.” Bai Liu interrupted him peacefully. “There is no way to have it both ways in this matter. Either I endure this pain once, or all five of you die here together. You have to choose one.”

The captain ground his back teeth again and again. Dark bruises hung beneath his eyes, his pupils were blood-red, and the muscles over his cheekbones trembled from the force of his clenched jaw.

Bai Liu suddenly took one step forward and bowed slightly. His tone was sincere.

“Captain, you have people you want to save. I also have a monster I want to save.”

“I hope you can understand and help me fulfill this wish.”

The captain rose from the pilot’s seat, yielding his place to the team member waiting nearby.

He turned to look at Bai Liu, who was still bowing, and let out a long, deep sigh. His fingers, exhausted after so long at the controls, opened and closed weakly.

His gaze moved slowly from the haggard faces of the two team members still operating the instruments to the vast white clouds and mist outside the window. For a brief moment, he seemed to lose focus.

Then he closed his eyes and said hoarsely,

“...Come here. Four clasps will be enough. Wrists and ankles, to control the four limbs.”

Bai Liu straightened and thanked him with complete sincerity.

“Thank you.”

The captain waved a tired hand.

“...If it hurts and you can’t bear it, say so.”

Bai Liu was taken to the infirmary. Du Sanying waited anxiously outside. He thought he would hear screams from inside, or at least muffled groans. Having clasps hammered into bone without anesthesia sounded terribly painful.

But in the end, only a sound like a stapler clicking came from the infirmary.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Four times.

Then Bai Liu’s steady voice followed.

“Is it finished? Thank you, Captain.”

Du Sanying had originally wanted to push the door open, but he stopped.

He heard someone kneel inside, knees striking the cold floor with a bang.

“You are a heretic, a monster without fear. The Heretic Management Bureau—our Third Branch—will definitely monitor you for the rest of your life. We will never give you any chance to commit evil or harm people,” the captain said through clenched teeth, his voice full of hatred.

Bai Liu answered steadily, “I know. That is your position. I understand.”

The captain’s breathing was ragged and hurried. He seemed to be crying, his voice choked. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Then came two heavy, forceful sounds of his forehead striking the floor.

“But this time, I take back all my previous personal judgments of you.”

“Thank you for saving the other team members. Thank you for saving me.”

The two men came out of the infirmary.

Bai Liu gently rubbed his wrists. Yellow traces of iodine disinfectant remained on the backs of his hands, and strange distortions could be seen over the protruding bones. That must have been where the clasps had been driven in.

There were still tear tracks on the captain’s face, roughly wiped away. He nodded to Bai Liu.

“I’ll open the cargo hold for you. Go.”

Bai Liu led the still-dazed Du Sanying all the way to the lower cargo hold.

The moment they entered, the metal boxes storing the corpse fragments came into view. They had been arranged neatly in a circle, each two or three meters apart, with large amounts of foam and air cushions stuffed between them as separation. But some of the air cushions had been punctured during the turbulence and now lay limp on the floor.

Bai Liu told Du Sanying to stand at the cargo hold door and not come any closer. Preferably, he should not look either, to avoid mental pollution. Then Bai Liu went in alone to deal with the corpse fragments inside the boxes.

Du Sanying obediently stayed at the cargo hold door, his back straight as a sentry’s.

In truth, even if Bai Liu had not said so, he would not have turned his head to look at the things in those boxes. Those boxes gave him an inexplicably unlucky premonition, one that made every hair on his body stand on end.

Less than ten minutes later, Bai Liu came out with the corpse fragments wrapped in cloth and cold-weather clothing. He deliberately kept some distance from Du Sanying.

Bai Liu said, “Go contact the captain. Tell him to prepare for a full aircraft evacuation. Try to find a place where we can parachute down.”

According to the route in the game Ice Age, this plane most likely could not be saved. It would probably crash.

It was better to leave as soon as possible.

Except for the captain and co-pilot still in the cockpit, the other three team members were already waiting by the aircraft hatch.

They had been sent to teach Bai Liu how to perform a high-altitude jump. One of them would jump first to demonstrate in the air.

To avoid mental pollution, they stood far away from Bai Liu. With the wind howling around them, they had to shout to be heard.

“If you land in the sea, there’s a rubber raft in the parachute’s accessory pack. We modified it with heretic technology. It’s lightweight and can withstand extremely low temperatures. Once it inflates instantly, it can serve as a temporary landing point at sea. The raft’s load capacity isn’t high, so don’t place anything too heavy on it.”

“Be careful. Neither you nor the corpse fragments can fall into the water!”

“The water temperature here is too low. If you fall in, your life will be in danger. As for the corpse fragments, they’ll contaminate the water and corrupt the creatures here.”

“If you land on land, there’s a tent and some dry rations in the pack. They can sustain you for about a week. During that time, find a safe place and stay there. You have the Dangerous Heretic Management Bureau’s locks on you, and they have a positioning system. We’ll do our best to find you within a week.”

The three team members shouted until their throats were dry. Then they raised their voices again and pointed at Du Sanying.

“And Bai Liu, what is this person you brought here supposed to do?”

“Are you going to jump with him? Is this person a heretic like you? Will he not be affected by the corpse fragments?”

Bai Liu looked toward Du Sanying, who was shivering in the cold wind. Then he turned his head back and said,

“I brought him because my luck is generally bad, and unexpected situations happen no matter what I do.”

“But this time, I don’t want any accidents. So I brought him to prevent anything unexpected from happening afterward.”

The team member was confused. “What unexpected situations?”

Bai Liu lifted his eyes.

“For example, the corpse fragments falling into someone else’s hands.”

Three minutes later.

Under the captain’s orders, the side door and rear hatch of the plane finally opened.

The cold wind roared in. Everyone put on parachute packs, prepared their oxygen masks, breathing equipment, and cold-weather gear, and stood ready.

The plane shook more and more violently, almost to the point of losing control. Standing in the wind, Du Sanying was blown so hard that his feet nearly lifted off the floor. He had to grip the handles tightly to stabilize himself while trying to put on his own equipment.

As they put on the gear, the team members instructed Du Sanying on how to follow the jump.

“Normally, a tandem jump means you and he would be strapped together. But both you and Bai Liu are beginners. A tandem jump would be very unsafe, and he already has a corpse strapped to him. You can only follow him as you jump and try to land in the same place.”

“But the weather and conditions here in Antarctica aren’t suitable for skydiving. The only successful skydives I know of here were fixed-point jumps, not high-altitude jumps.”

“Because from high altitude, all visibility turns white, and the wind direction is unpredictable. It’s extremely difficult to position yourself and choose a landing site. So don’t force it. It’s fine if you search for each other after landing.”

“I originally planned to do a tandem jump with you. That would have been safer.” The team member sighed deeply. “But you refused.”

Du Sanying, who was clumsily adjusting the straps over his chest, paused almost imperceptibly. Then he raised his head and forced a smile.

“I’ll be fine alone. My luck is very good.”

But the person carrying me might not be.

So far, the only person who could survive around him was Bai Liu.

The team member thanked him solemnly.

“But whether you are a person or a living heretic like Bai Liu, please stay safe.”

“Thank you for saving us.”

As he spoke, the team member reached out to help Du Sanying adjust the tangled chest straps.

Du Sanying gave a small sound in response, turned his shoulder to avoid the team member’s helping hand, and lowered his head until it was almost pressed to his chest.

“...I can do it myself. Please stand a little farther away from me.”

The team member jumped first as a demonstration.

He stepped out of the hatch, glided, spread his arms, and vanished into the dense clouds and mist in an instant.

“With this kind of visibility,” another team member said, frowning, “the difficulty of following the jump is too high. It would be best for someone to follow you.”

“No need.” Du Sanying squeezed the parachute ripcord in his hand and said in a low voice, “...It’s fine. My luck is good. I’ll definitely be able to keep up with Bai Liu.”

The skydiving began.

Bai Liu leaped from the hatch, passing through thick clouds and icy mist.

The cold air was like tens of thousands of freshly sharpened single-edged razors, slicing through his heart and lungs, freezing his limbs numb, until even the wounds from the clasps no longer hurt as sharply.

He felt as if he had become a camera lens falling from a great height. The layers of cloud, mist, and seawater were like high-frame-rate images constantly switching before him, filling Bai Liu’s entire field of vision with dynamic motion.

Beautiful and ethereal.

Like the high-budget CG opening of a large-scale game.

It carried a trance-like, unreal chill, just like the frost now forming across Bai Liu’s face.

Beneath Bai Liu’s feet stretched fourteen million square kilometers of white ice sheet.

Above him was a plane on the verge of crashing, its tail already beginning to burn.

And cradled against his chest was his once and only friend, who was also his lover now broken into fragments.

Then what would he be to him in the future?

The future had not told him the answer.

So Bai Liu gave himself one.

In that cramped welfare home, every child longed day and night to be taken away by some strange man and woman.

It was just as they longed for parents who loved them, friends they could confide in, and brothers and sisters who would grow up beside them.

They longed for a family that existed only in fairy-tale books.

But Bai Liu never participated in the process of being chosen and taken away.

So Xie Ta asked him,

[Don’t you want a father?]

Bai Liu said,

[No.]

Xie Ta asked,

[What about a mother?]

Bai Liu said,

[No.]

Xie Ta said,

[Sisters or brothers. Is there anyone you want?]

Bai Liu said,

[Are they useful?]

Xie Ta seemed puzzled.

[Those seem to be the necessary components of a family.]

Bai Liu asked in return,

[Is a family useful?]

Xie Ta thought for a while, then shook his head honestly.

[A family seems to be a place established after two people decide to be together. It is bound by law, morality, and an emotion called love, and the people in it stay together forever.]

[Everyone seems to yearn for a family.]

Xie Ta asked Bai Liu,

[If you had a family without those necessary components, is there anything you would want to put inside it?]

Bai Liu had not answered him at the time.

Because he felt he would never need something like a family.

Two people being tied together forever was far too boring.

But two monsters...

That seemed not bad.

Now, Bai Liu and Xie Ta already met every condition for forming a family.

So if Bai Liu had a family, then Xie Ta would be his only family member.

He hoped that if there was a future, and Xie Ta existed in that future, and if Xie Ta was willing to love him forever and become Bai Liu’s family...

Then that would be enough.

That would be enough.

A senseless gale slammed violently into him at the moment Bai Liu opened his parachute.

—

Author’s Note:

The plot point cut off here, so this chapter is a little short. I’m sorry. The next chapter will be thick and long to make up for the word count. I’m working hard to update and push the story forward, trying to let everyone enjoy some sweet moments before the New Year!

It is a HE! It is a HE! We are about to begin the emotional scenes!